Chapter 24

Later that day at lunch, I leaned over and poked Iggy. "Hey, who's your Secret Santa person?"

He shook his head. "I'm not telling!"

I frowned. "Yeah, sure. You know, you don't have to always follow the rules. I don't."

"And look at how much trouble that gets you in," Fang murmured, overhearing our conversation. I glared at him, then turned back to Iggy.

"So, who is it?"

"Who is what?" Nudge shrieked, running up behind me with her lunch tray and nearly spilling her food all over me. Gazzy came running behind Nudge and almost smashed into her.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, Gazzy, sit down."

Nudge pouted. "Max, you're supposed to call me Tiffany-Krystal at school! That way people won't know…." She lowered her voice and glanced around the cafeteria suspiciously. "….our secret!"

I laughed. "Nudge, just sit down."

"My name is Tiffany-Krystal!" Nudge insisted, but she sat down on the other side of me, and Gazzy sat on the other side of Iggy.

"So," Nudge continued. "What were you saying to Iggy?"

I frowned. "Exactly, I was talking to Iggy. Not you." I turned to Iggy. "So what were you saying?"

"I can't tell you whose name I chose!" Iggy replied, then began eating his food rapidly.

"I bet it's Fang," I whispered to Nudge, who giggled despite not even knowing what we were talking about.

"Well, our class is doing a big gift exchange!" Nudge told me. "It's going to be so much fun! I'm going to give someone the best gift ever!"

"We're having a big party in my class!" Gazzy yelled from the other end of the table, his mouth full. "There's going to be cookies and hot chocolate and movies and we're going to make gingerbread houses!"

I laughed. "Well, that sounds like fun. I bet our class is gonna have a party too!"

"Doubt it," Iggy said. "Mrs. Jenkins doesn't believe in fun."

I grinned. "Yeah, you're right. But still, the Secret Santa thing is going to be awesome."

"Hey," Iggy said. "Whose name did you pick, Max?"

"Uh…." I trailed off. If I told him that he wasn't supposed to know, he'd get suspicious! So I made something up quickly. "It's Matt!"

"Matt, huh?" Iggy replied, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Well, okay."

Sorry, Ig, I thought, frowning. I can't let you know that I picked your name.

~~::~~

"Okay, Max!" Nudge whispered when we got on the bus later, after school. "Who's your real Secret Santa person?"

I frowned, looking right and left. Iggy and Gazzy hadn't gotten on the bus yet because they had to go get Gazzy's backpack, which he left in his classroom.

"Tell me!" Nudge hissed, her face breaking into a smile.

I shook my head. "Okay, okay. It's Iggy."

"Awwww!"Nudge murmured, her hands clasped together. "That's so cute! You should give him a kiss under the mistletoe!"

"What?" I asked, reeling backwards. "Uh, no. No way. I was thinking more along the lines of cookies or something stupid like that."

"Heart-shaped cookies!" Nudge replied dreamily. "And mistletoe!"

I shoved her into a seat as the boys got on the bus. "Nudge, shut the hell up!"

Her eyes widened. "Max, that's a bad word!"

"Hi!" Gazzy called, waving, as he led Iggy towards the back of the bus where we were sitting. As usual, Fang was in the front with Jaz.

"Hey," Iggy said, sitting down next to Gazzy. He grinned. "What's up?"

"Mistletoe!" Nudge squealed, from somewhere behind me.

I grimaced, then gave her my best Nudge-I-am-going-to-kill-you death glare. She cowered against the window.

Iggy frowned. "What?"

"Uh….she said…. 'There's a mystery toe!'" I stammered out quickly, realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Mystery Toe!"Gazzy yelled. "I should change my fake name to Mystery Toe!"

I laughed. "I'm sure your teacher will enjoy that."

"I didn't say-" Nudge started, but I covered her mouth with my hand.

"Shhh," I whispered. "This stays between you and me."

~~::~~

Later that night, I enlisted the help of Nudge and Mystery Toe to help me make sugar cookies for Iggy.

"Why are we making cookies at midnight?" Nudge moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Because otherwise Iggy will find out!" I hissed, pulling supplies out of the cupboard. "Nudge, go set the oven. Gazzy, get a bowl and a spoon or something like that."

"Aye aye!"Gazzy whispered, then ended up making a huge racket as he pulled every single bowl out.

"Shhhhh!" I hissed at him. "Silence!"

"Aye aye!" he repeated, and made an even bigger commotion with putting all the other bowls away. I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, did you turn the oven on?"

She nodded. "I put it on 800 degrees, that way the cookies will bake faster!"

I grinned. "Good. Now we need to mix the batter."

Well, it turned out we didn't have sugar. I shrugged. "Oh well. It'll probably taste fine without it."

Also, we only had one cookie cutter. And it was in the shape of a Jack-o'-lantern.

"It looks cooler that way," Gazzy whispered, as we finally finished cutting out every cookie and shoved the cookie sheets into the oven.

I grinned, standing back. "This is going to be the best Secret Santa gift ever."