A Pocketful of Miracles
By Lillie Bell, Alicia Blade, and Kaitlyn Fall
Troubles more or less,
Bother me I guess,
When the sun doesn't shine.
But there's that pocketful of miracles,
And with a pocketful of miracles,
The world's a bright and shiny apple that's mine, all mine.
Chapter Two
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, lalalala."
"Oh god."
"Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, lalalala."
"Kill me now."
"Don we now our –"
Mina's incessant singing came to an abrupt halt as Lita slapped a hand over her mouth. Amy smothered a relieved sigh and returned to her book. Not that she could concentrate, anyway. The arcade was filled with people, chattering and laughing and playing computer games. There was the usual dings of the machines, and occasional whirring of the blender, and jingles of coins falling into the slots. Between the noise, the faint melody of Deck the Halls, of which Mina had been singing along to moments before, floated through the speakers.
"What?" Mina whined when Lita released her. "I like Christmas carols!"
Lita swiveled her stool back to the arcade counter and licked her thumb to turn the page of her magazine. "No one likes Christmas carols."
"I do." Mina clasped her hands, eyes shining. "Christmas is the most romantic time of year. What, with the mistletoe, and miracles, and fireplaces, and snow –"
Lita glanced pointedly out the arcade windows at the bare streets of the city. "Snow?"
Mina scowled. "Well, all right, maybe not snow. But if Andrew did his shopping right, there'll definitely be mistletoe."
Without looking up from her book, Amy couldn't help but add, "Did you know that mistletoe is often spread by bird feces? I'd hardly call that romantic."
Mina made a noise that sounded like a dying cat.
Lita snorted. "Amy, where the heck do you get this stuff?"
Amy closed her book. "Wikipedia. Do either of you know when Andrew's getting back? I've cleared my entire day to help him out, and he's not even here."
Mina nodded over to the automatic doors. "Ask and ye shall receive."
Amy turned as Andrew hurried into the arcade, holding a tremendous amount of bags considering it was only supposed to be a small party.
Lita jumped up from her stool. "Do you need help –?"
"No, it's okay," Andrew said, ducking behind the counter before she could reach him and hurrying into the back room.
Lita raised an eyebrow. "That was rude."
"He's got our Christmas presents," Mina said dreamily.
"How do you know?"
"I doubt he's bought himself something from Victoria's Secret."
Amy eyed her book longingly, but Andrew appeared again all too soon with a bag stuffed with decorations. He handed a trail of green tinsel over the counter to Lita. "Would you please start hanging this up? Ladder's in the back. Mina, you can have the candy canes – just hang them from the tree. Amy, here's –"
But Amy was destined to remain empty-handed. Amongst the ornaments, a small velvet box tumbled out and clattered onto the counter. All girls froze. Mina and Lita regarded the item as though it were a sacred treasure. Unmarked, without a ribbon. Too red to be Tiffany's. Too pretty to be from a cheap shop.
"What's that?" Lita asked.
"Who's that for?" Mina said simultaneously.
Andrew laughed, sounding a little embarrassed. He picked up the box. "Actually, it was from the Santa at the mall. He gave it to Darien, but of course Darien didn't want it, so –"
"Let me see."
Mina practically snatched the box from Andrew's hand and tugged at the lid. Andrew lunged forward to steady it. "Be careful."
"What's in there?" Lita said, but Mina had already gotten it open. "Marbles?"
"Marbles," Mina echoed, her voice dripping with disappointment.
"Marbles?" Amy said, taking the box gently from Mina, who surrendered it without a fight. Her grandfather used to play marbles – he still had a whole sackful sitting in the attic of ones he'd won in school.
Amy studied the milky-white spheres, and ran her finger along the plaque.
CHRISTMAS MIRACLES
"That's quite cute," she said. "I'm sure a lot of children would get a thrill out of the idea. They'd probably tuck the marbles under their pillow on Christmas Eve or something. What a sweet gift."
"I'd much prefer to hang my gift from my earlobes," Mina said beneath her breath, but her muttering was ignored.
"It's a nice thought," Lita said. "A box of little miracles."
Andrew grinned. "Well, actually, Darien broke one, and Serena ended up falling from the balcony. Talk about a miracle."
"WHAT?"
Andrew hastily held up his hands as he was met with three horrified expressions. "I said that wrong. Let me try again."
Once the story was explained properly, and the momentary outrage had died down, the four set to work. Amy had the unpleasant task of blowing up green and red balloons to hang amongst the baubles. There was no pump, so she had to do it all manually, and it wasn't long before she got light-headed and had to sit down at the counter again.
The crowd had died down somewhat, as most people headed out for lunch rather than stay in. Without the constant chatter, the Christmas carols were loud and clear from the speaker. Amy found herself absently humming along to Winter Wonderland while she sipped at a cup of tea to wash the taste of rubber from her mouth. She watched as Mina and Lita argued over the best way to drape the tinsel around the room, while Andrew busied himself in and out of the kitchen with what looked like the beginning of many delicious Christmas platters.
Amy's attention returned to the velvet box, now sitting on a shelf behind the counter. She wondered whether Andrew would mind if she took a marble for her grandfather. They were nice looking, and he'd appreciate the thought.
Amy waved to Andrew next time he hurried past. "Do you mind if I take a marble from that box?"
Andrew barely glanced over at her, too absorbed with the tray in his blue oven mitts to pay attention. "Sure thing. Help yourself."
Amy slipped around the counter and took the box from the shelf. It was so light that she had a moment of panic that someone had stolen the marbles, but when she opened the lid to check, they were all still there.
They really were a beautiful color. And smoky, too, as though there were little clouds inside the glass. Amy held one up to her eye to take a closer look. She'd seen hundreds of her grandfather's marbles before, but none had looked like this –
Quite suddenly, as though someone had tugged the ball right from her fingertips, the marble flew forward and smashed onto the ground. It must have landed on a layer of dust or something, because a puff of smoke billowed up from between the shattered glass.
Amy gasped, her heart lurching. "Andrew, I'm so sorry, it just slipped –"
But Andrew had returned to the kitchen, and the other casual employee was on the opposite side of the room giving out "Christmas-flavored" lattes.
Amy glanced around, still open-mouthed, still waiting for someone to scold her. As she turned to the automatic doors, they whooshed open, and a boy about her age traipsed in, running a harried hand through his windswept brown hair. Amy froze, knowing how she must appear – a customer in a staff-only section with a guilty expression on her face and a broken marble at her feet.
"I can explain!" she cried.
The boy stopped, his frown easing. "What?"
"It was an accident."
"O…kay…" The boy took another step forward.
"I'm allowed to be back here."
He was going to call for the other employee. Amy knew he would. The other employee didn't realize that she was Andrew's friend. He didn't understand that she had asked permission to be behind the counter. And the broken marble was an accident. Just an accident. It could have happened to anybody.
Amy's face was getting hot. Why was the heater on in this place, anyway?
"My friend works here," she said, although the words seemed to be getting stuck to the roof of her mouth as she spoke. "I know the health and safety regulations require all customers to be on the other side, but it was only for a second – I just wanted to get a marble for my grandfather, but one of them slipped, it was an accident, I swear, and you don't need to call for anyone, because I know the manager here and he let me come behind the counter. Did I say that already?"
While she had been speaking, the boy had taken a seat at the counter, resting his chin on his palm and leaning forward with that frown still on his face, as though he was either listening intently or preparing to call the other employee.
Amy stared back at him, panting from her rambles and waiting for him to say something. When several seconds passed and he still didn't speak, she added meekly, "Did you want a milkshake or something?"
A smile finally broke through the boy's frown. "Well, actually, I was just looking for a payphone."
A rush of air passed Amy's lips. "Oh." She glanced down at the broken marble. "It really was an accident, you know."
The boy nodded seriously. "Yes, I'm sure it was."
And now he just thought she was stupid.
Amy threaded her fingers through her short hair and pointed to the back corner. "There's a phone over there. Don't use two quarters in a row or they'll get jammed."
The boy's lips quirked. "Thanks." He slipped off the stool and weaved through the game machines to the payphone.
Amy watched his retreating back, then groaned and grabbed a dustpan to sweep up the broken marble. "Stupid stupid stupid."
"Of all the people in this arcade, Amy, you're the last one I'd call stupid."
Amy glanced up from the floor. Andrew smiled and held out a hand to help her up. "What happened?"
Amy accepted his assistance, brushing off her knee-length denim skirt and placing the dustpan on the counter. "I… uh… dropped a marble. I'm so sorry."
Andrew laughed. "That's okay. Guess today's the day for clumsiness. If even the smooth, suave Darien can drop a marble, you can too." He wriggled his eyebrows. "So? Did you get a miracle as well?"
Amy glanced over at the payphone, where the boy was leaning against the wall, hands in pockets, the phone cradled between his ear and his shoulder. Composed. Collected. Cool. A glaring contrast to her own disastrous demeanor.
"Miracle?" she said with a sigh. "No. Not quite."
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