All I Want For Christmas Are My Two Front Teeth
Eva's POV
"Please Mom? She can share my room. There's plenty of room for everyone else. Make Derek sleep on the couch this year. He won't mind," I begged.
"I don't know, where are her parents that they can't get home for Christmas?"
"They're stuck in Russia. They're having a blizzard over there right now and the fuel tanks on the planes froze so they can't really take off…Please Mom? She doesn't have anywhere else to go. If she can't come home with m, she'll have to stay with one to our teachers." I tried to sound disgusted, but staying with one of our teachers would be cool, but not cooler than staying with me.
"I guess if its her only other option…"
"Eeeh! Thank you so much Mom! I'll be on my best behavior and won't do anything to bother Derek, promise! I'll see you soon!"
"I take it your Mom agreed?" Mick asked, throwing things in her suitcase.
"Of course. Why else would I shriek and promise not to bug Derek?" I asked flopping down on my bed.
"You have a point, but what's so bad about staying with a teacher?"
"Nothing. But if you really wanted to stay with me, I had to play the guilt card. And are you almost done? We have to me downstairs in a minute and 58 seconds.
"Yup," she answered, zipping it shut.
***
"You know, I don't even know what your parents look like so I'm not much help spotting them," Mick commented.
"Mom probably sent Derek to pick up because she's getting ready for our whole family to show up."
"Where's your Dad?"
"At work." My phone vibrated then. It was a weird feeling since it didn't work at school.
"Hot guy?" Mick asked hopefully.
"No. Just my idiot brother." My brother was anything but hot. "Where are you?"
"I'm running late. Chill out. I'll be there in like 10 minutes. If you're not at the main entrance by then, I'm leaving without you."
"Quit being a jerk Derek."
"I'm not kidding. I have places to be too."—Click.
"We have 10 minutes to get our stuff and to the main entrance."
"Let's go then!"
We made it, but barely. Derek knew the Tampa airport was super busy this time of year, but it still wasn't nice. Me and my stupid promise.
Derek popped the trunk and we loaded our bags in. He honked as I closed it. Mick and I slid in the backseat amongst the junk and garbage.
"Ever clean your car out?" I asked, truly grossed out. And this was coming from a girl who was going to be making a living out of digging through other people's trash.
He glanced in the mirror and smirked, "Nope."
Mick leaned close to whisper in Korean, "I thought you said your brother wasn't hot?"
"Well, he wasn't last time I saw him and he's my brother. That would be weird if I thought he was hot. Why? Do you think he is?"
"From what I can see, he's totally eye candy."
I rolled my eyes. It was going to be a long Christmas break.
***
"Hurry up guys. I only have 15 minutes to meet Shannon and it takes about 15 minutes to get there, so get moving."
I had a really good comment ready to spit out, but it would most likely somehow get back to Mom.
As soon as I closed the trunk, Derek sped off down the street. "Who's Shannon?"
"His girlfriend."
"Go figure a guy like him would have a girlfriend. I knew it was too good to be true."
"Did Derek leave you two to lug your suitcases in her by yourselves?" Mom asked, opening the door.
"Hi Mom. This is Mick. Mick this is my Mom," I responded almost automatically, thanks to Madame Dabney's class.
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Alverez."
"It's nice to meet you too, my dear. But please, call me Janice, or Mom if you prefer. Mrs. Alverez is too formal for me."
"Okay then, do you want to see my room?" I asked, trying to avoid an awkward situation.
"Sure."
"Do you need help carrying your bags up there?"
"No, we're good," I answered cheerily as we ran up the stairs.
***
That night after dinner, I cornered my Mom in the kitchen. I was clearing the table while Derek was sucking face with Shannon in the basement and Mick had engaged Dad in a heated discussion over college football.
"Can Mick and I go into town tomorrow? I need to finish my Christmas shopping and Mick wants to see some of Tampa while she's here."
"Sure, have some fun before the chaos starts when your relatives arrive. And while you're there, could you pick something out for your brother from your father and I?"
"Thanks Mom!" I quickly agreed, thinking of the perfect gift for Derek. I promised not to bother him, not not to embarrass him. This Christmas keeps getting better and better, I thought evilly.
***
"What do your parents like?" Mick asked.
"A lot of things, why?"
"I want to get them something for Christmas. You know, for letting me stay with them."
"Get them, like, a Starbucks gift card or something like that."
"But that's so generic."
"Do you know how much my family like coffee?" I asked as we left the café we stopped in for a snack, holding my traveler's coffee mug.
"If it's any bit as much as you do, a lot."
"Oh, more than me. I'm not allowed to carry a travel mug to work. They are."
"Alright. I give. Lead the way to the Starbucks."
"My pleasure." We turned the corner and I glanced into a storefront window. Yup. Still following.
"Hey, let's check out the pet store," I said abruptly, pulling Mick through the front door and up to the display in the window. She looked at me questionably. I lowered my voice while petting the puppies in front of me, "The group of guys across the street, baggy sweatshirts and jeans. They've been following us since around quarter to 10 this morning."
"I see them," she answered, moving to the fish tanks against the wall. "They wouldn't really test us over break, would they?"
"No, I don't think so. At least, I hope not."
"But why would they test us with a bunch of guys that look like thugs?"
"I don't think they would. Maybe they're following someone else?"
"I don't know. Let's see."
For the next 45 minutes, we used every counter surveillance technique Mr. Solomon had taught us. They were definitely following us, and I had run out of coffee. It was so hard, the Starbucks was within sight, I really wanted to go in, but we couldn't. Mr. Solomon had told us not to corner ourselves and to leave plenty of room to run or fight if needed. The Starbucks was crowded.
"They are definitely following us. Should we tell them not to?" Mick suggested eagerly.
"I don't think they'll listen."
"That's the point."
"Mick!"
"What? It was just a suggestion…" she trailed off.
"If they're still following us in an hour, we'll "wander" into an alley. 'Kay?"
"Okay."
The hour sped by and it was starting to get dark. We found ourselves in an alley where no streetlights could reach.
Time to play the role of frightened little rich girl. It was quite easy; we had plenty of practice in Roseville. "I don't think is right? You sure this was the right way?"
"I don't know. The guy said it was a bit of a shortcut, but this is a dead end." We turned around to go back, but found the alley entrance blocked. Bingo.
"Could you guys please move? We need to get back out," I asked timidly, not showing my true colors.
The shortest guy smiled. "I don't think so missy. This is our territory. You play by our rules."
Beside me, Mick raised her eyebrows. "And they would be?"
"Oh you don't want to know."
Mick cracked her neck; I could just imagine how much she was enjoying this. "Don't I?"
"No, you don't," he said advancing toward us, trying to intimidate us. Wrong move.
"Should we teach them a lesson, Mick?"
She turned to me, "I think we should."
"Aww, look. They think they're threatening. How cute."
I almost choked on my laughter. "Hold my bag, will you Eva?"
I smiled, this wasn't going to end well…what am I talking about, of course it will. "Sure."
Mick grinned evilly, and promptly smashed her fist into the short guy's face, knocking out his two front teeth. He screamed naturally, then proceeded into an unending stream of curses, which were impossible to make out, on account of his missing teeth.
The rest of the guys that had been at the entrance to the alley, were shocked for all of 30 seconds, then ran toward Mick.
After Mick had taken out 4 of them with a 360-degree triple roundhouse kick, I realized that I was missing out on all the fun. Before Mick could take them all out, I had to have a little fun, so I dropped our bags and proceeded to do my fair share of head smashing. With all of them taken down, some missing a few teeth, others with bloody noses, and a few with broken bones, I flipped my hair back and picked up my bags.
"Think they'll stalk anyone again?"
"I don't think so," I replied, then looked down at the hideous face before me, "You never know what girls know these days. Some may just be able to kick your butt."
"Can we go to Starbucks now for that gift card?"
"Sure, and before Mom gets here to pick us up, I need to find an embarrassing gift for Derek. Any suggestions?"
"How do you think he'd respond to a box of tampons?"
So, there you have it. And I was just wondering if you guys would want me to put up a short companion piece to this one about Derek and the box of tampons? If you want me to write it, leave a review!
Ps: snow days rock!
