A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Quick note here. I know "retarded" is not the word to use when talking about mentally disabled folks - but back in the early '70s, that was the "PC" word; my hometown even had the "Doty House for Retarded Children". So there's no need to PM me - and Happy New Year, everyone!
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Giddy, Kris nearly bounced all the way up the stairs to school; Mar had driven her in, since Charlie's phone call had her running late. Charlie was coming in for Christmas! Kris had been wanting to meet him ever since Mar had told her about her oldest son being in Vietnam, though Kris had been disappointed that he was in the Air Force and not the Army, like Joshua. Charlie had sounded really nice over the phone, with a belly laugh just like Mar's; he'd been tickled at having a little sister, and he'd laughed when she'd told him about her big brothers. Mar was planning on spending part of Charlie's leave — the school's Christmas break — back in Arizona, to have New Year's with her family and give everyone a chance to welcome him back.
Maybe if Kris asked, Frank and Joe could come, too. Granted, everyone said Christmas was for family, but technically, it'd be New Year's…
Kris managed to calm down once she hit the crowded hallway. Frank and Callie were chatting by her locker; Callie was okay, even though they weren't friends. Callie was in eighth grade already, but she was always nice to everybody, and it was obvious that Frank really liked her. Kris used her little bit of telekinesis to slip the red envelope into Frank's book-bag while she told him about Charlie. Frank being there meant that Angie and her crowd hadn't messed with Kris's locker, to her relief. Kris opened it, and stopped.
A small box wrapped in red foil and tied with a green ribbon sat on the shelf, with a tag that had "From Santa" typed on it.
Kris blinked. Only Frank and Joe had her locker combination — Angie and company never bothered with the lock; they pried the hinges open, or sprayed baby powder and other stuff through the vents. Frank wasn't in her class, so he couldn't have drawn her name, and the brothers wouldn't give her combination out. So…it had to be Joe.
What was the point of it Joe being her secret Santa and not telling her if he then did something like this?
"Something wrong?" Frank said.
Kris shook her head, then grabbed the box off the shelf and started putting her books in from her book-bag.
"Chet and Iola are having the Christmas party on Saturday," Callie said to her. "I told Iola that's your birthday, too. She said her mom would make a cake and add that in, if that's okay."
Kris stopped. "Um…a cake? Why?"
"Her original parents didn't celebrate birthdays, Callie," Frank said.
"Oh." Callie reddened. "I mean a cake for your birthday. If it's against your religion…"
"No!" Kris managed, then tried again, blushing herself. Thinking about it, Mar had mentioned something like this. "I mean, um, it's fine. I…um…I mean…thanks."
"Thank Iola," Callie said, smiling. "It was her idea."
"She doesn't know about birthdays?" someone sneered behind Kris. It sounded like Angie Thompson. "Oh man, how dumb can you get?"
Feeling stupid, Kris shrank back. Frank turned, but Callie beat him to it.
"Maybe if your parents beat you up whenever you asked a question, you'd be dumb, too, Angie," Callie said sweetly. "So what is your excuse?"
Angie didn't answer that, only swept on by, giggling and snickering with her crowd.
"Ignore them, Tag," Frank said.
"And you keep right on asking stuff," Callie said to her. "The real dumb people are the ones like her that never ask and think it's cool to pretend they know everything. They'll stay stupid and you'll get smart."
Still feeling stupid, Kris kept her gaze down. But she had to bring it up. "Um…I don't know if it's rude, big brother…"
"It's okay," Frank said. "Just say it."
"Well…Shimá said people give people stuff on birthdays, right?" Kris waited for Frank's nod. "Um…I don't want them to do that. I mean, it's so close to Christmas, and it's kinda short notice…"
"I get it," Callie said. "I'll tell everyone."
"Having a birthday near Christmas is really rotten," Frank said. "You better get moving, Tag. Homeroom."
Despite Angie, Kris felt light again, as if her heart would fly right out of her chest. That they wanted to do something like that…that meant…maybe…the others thought she was a friend, too? She'd thought that Frank and Joe's friends considered her just a hanger-on, tagging along behind them and getting included in stuff because Frank and Joe insisted on it. But a cake for her birthday? Iola and Chet didn't have to do that. Maybe…just maybe…
Kris found Sharon's locker and looked around the hall quickly — no sign of her, and no one paying attention. Just a touch of mage-Gift, and Sharon's lock popped open; Kris set the bag of Christmas candy on the shelf, closed the locker, then scurried off to homeroom. Just enough time to tell Joe about Charlie…then she passed his red envelope up to him when Miss Hawkins wasn't looking. Luckily, Wendy sat between Kris and Joe, and while Wendy wasn't a friend, she wasn't mean, either. Hopefully Joe would wait until after homeroom before he opened it.
It'd felt good buying that book for Sharon, too. Sharon had been awed over Kris's book collection, and they'd spent a couple hours swapping ghost stories and poring over What Witches Do in fascinated horror — if that was what witches did, then Kris wanted nothing to do with the so-called 'new age of Aquarius' those hippies had talked about. Then Kris had taken a chance and told Sharon the real story behind her and the brothers' kidnapping last year — and Sharon believed her, had ooh'ed and ahh'd and gasped in horror in all the right places.
Then the really unexpected: Mar had invited Sharon to stay for dinner, and Sharon's parents had allowed it.
A friend. Kris had a friend.
The homeroom bell rang, startling Kris out of her thoughts. Everyone was rushing to get out of the room; she had a few minutes. She pulled the little wrapped box out, opened it…and sat back, stunned.
A twinned quartz crystal, as big as her palm.
Both points were water-clear, save for a flaw in the center of one that refracted the sunlight into rainbows inside the crystal. Kris turned it around and around, watching how it caught the sunlight and how the flaw filled it with color. She'd started collecting crystals over the summer, after her visit to the reservation. Quartz was common out in Arizona, and she'd brought home quite a few sizable points and clusters, which all sat on her window sill, shining in the sunlight.
Kris blinked, and blinked again, trying to get her eyes to clear. It was beautiful. It was perfect.
The she looked up, saw Joe watching her.
He grinned and dashed out of the room.
Oh man. And Mar didn't want her doing anything extra special for Joe? For her big brother who was doing stuff like this for her?
Hopefully, the red envelopes would even things out a little.
Kris gathered up her books and binder and put the quartz carefully in her sweater pocket. She wasn't going to leave it in her locker for Angie's crowd to get at. But now she had math class, which she hated. Simple sums were all right, but anything past that confused her, and Mr. Gregory didn't help matters.
"Kris?" It was a breathless voice behind her — Iola.
"Um…hi," Kris said, shifting uncomfortably. "Callie told me about the cake."
Iola smiled, dimpling. She was dark-haired, dark-eyed; she could've been a princess in a fairy tale. "Well, it's really for you and Joe and Frank. Me and Chet wanted to make up for all that horrible stuff last year. Um…you're good friends with them, right?"
Kris nodded, unsure where this was leading. Iola was in Angie's circle, after all; it was weird she'd even talk to a bottom-scraper.
"Well…" Blushing, Iola looked around, lowered her voice. "I kinda got Joe for Secret Santa. I mean, I know what stuff boys like, but I'd like to get something special for him. I know he's into all that mystery stuff, but I don't know anything about that or what he's got already."
Translation: she'd traded around names and gotten Joe. Kris hesitated. She knew Iola really liked Joe, but she also knew that Joe wasn't into all the icky boy-girl stuff.
"Please?" Iola begged. "I know he doesn't like me much. But maybe I can…well…convince him. I tried asking Chet, but he just laughed at me."
Then again, maybe this was a way Kris could do something special for Joe, through Iola. "I've got math class right now. But…um…today's one of my tutor days, so I have to stay after school. If you want to meet me then, I mean."
Iola's face lit up. "Really? You're the greatest. Thank you!" Then, before Kris could flinch away, Iola hugged her and skipped off to her next class.
Stunned, Kris stood there. She'd never been called the "greatest" by anyone before. Iola had never been mean to her, but Kris had stayed wary of her. Iola was Angie's friend, after all, Iola being a cheerleader for the middle school basketball team.
Kris made it to math class barely ahead of the bell, and slid into her desk next to Joe. He was holding something in his hands, turning it over and over — a bottle of Old Spice, with torn wrapping paper on his desk.
"Um," Kris said, staring. "What's that for?"
Joe startled, then shoved a small white card into his pocket. "My Secret Santa gave it to me."
Iola really needed help, then; even Kris knew better than to give Joe that. Kris touched the quartz in her pocket, but right then, Mr. Gregory came in and started writing out the homework problems on the board; he was a pock-marked man with thick glasses and scraggly beard. Once his back was turned, she leaned over. "Hey," she whispered at Joe. "Thank you."
He blinked at her. "For what?"
"For the quartz," Kris said. "It's beautiful."
He gave her a lopsided grin. "It wasn't me."
"Mister Hardy, Miss Mountainhawk," Mr. Gregory said, without turning around. "Share your juicy gossip with the rest of the class, instead of whispering about it, please."
Her face hot, Kris shrank down into her seat, as the rest of the class laughed.
"Kris was just thanking me for a gift, sir," Joe said. "Sorry."
"Oooh, they're in love," someone said behind them, to another chorus of mean laughter and muted cat-calls. "Joe's got a girlfriend."
"An ugly little girlfriend," Angie Thompson said from the back of the room, to more laughter. "What's the matter, Joe, Iola turn you down?"
"Miss Thompson," Mr. Gregory said, "your opinion was not asked for. For that, you can come up here and do problems one through five on the board, if you please, and you'll see me after class. Kris, since you're so prepared that you can talk about other things in my class, you can do the same for problems six through nine. Joe, ten through twelve. Up here, people. Now."
Standing next to Angie Thompson while trying to figure out long multiplication in front of the whole class…not the best start to the day, especially when Angie kept "accidentally" erasing Kris's work when Mr. Gregory wasn't looking. Kris had tried to do them at home, but hadn't gotten very far. She'd planned to ask Frank for help, but had kept putting it off…
Total, complete disaster. Mr. Gregory held her back after class, made her wait out in the hall while he talked to Angie, then after Angie huffed out, he called Kris in and told her he was placing her back in remedial math in the Special Ed trailer, in place of his class. Kris only stared at her shoes, let his words wash over her; his breath stunk like the valerian in Mar's garden room. At this rate, she'd never catch up.
To her surprise, Joe was waiting for her in the hall when she finally came out. "Bad?" Joe said.
Kris nodded. She wasn't going to cry, not here. Not in the hallway.
"He's mean to everyone," Joe said. "It's okay, Tag."
"More trailer classes," Kris whispered, wiping at her eyes; Joe walked with her to her locker. "I'm just a dummy. A retard."
"You're not. You just need to catch up, that's all. What'd you get from your Santa? Can I see?"
She pulled the quartz out from her pocket. Even under the hallway's fluorescent lights, it gleamed.
Joe gaped. "Wow. That's cool — it's got a phantom!" He traced the flaw. "That's where another crystal tried to form. See?"
"Joe, come on. It was in my locker. You and Frank are the only ones who know my combination. I know it was you."
"Nope. Sure wasn't." Joe looked around the hallway, lowered his voice. "Mine's Iola. Here." He pulled out a slip of paper, identical to all the ones in the Santa basket; it had Iola's name printed on it, with an ink-stamp of Santa.
His was Iola? And Iola had him? Oh…brother. Kris bit her lip.
"What's wrong?" Joe said suspiciously.
"Um…nothing. But how they get in my locker? I don't want someone messing it up again."
"Magic," Joe said, grinning again. "Just like your envelope, Tagalong. How'd you do that? That was totally killer."
Kris looked down. He wouldn't believe her. He and Frank always thought her Gift was a stage magic trick, and kept pestering her for how it was done. "Um…magic."
Joe rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, don't tell. I know all you magicians swear that big top secret oath to not reveal your secrets. I'm gonna learn all that stuff, too, and start baffling you back!"
"I have to get to History," Kris mumbled, and fled before he could ask her anything else.
So he didn't have her for Secret Santa. He had Iola. But…that meant someone else had her combination. Someone else could get in her locker and leave all kinds of bad stuff. Mud smeared on her books, dead frogs stolen from Mr. Mack's lab, rotten milk spilled on her papers, horrible stuff that made her late and got her in trouble and had everyone laughing at her.
No. Frank and Joe wouldn't do that to her. Maybe…maybe Joe knew who her Santa was, and helped them. Or Frank did — he was hanging around her locker this morning. Maybe Frank and Joe told whoever it was about her liking crystals, too. Everyone knew they were neighbors, after all. Hadn't Iola just done the same thing for Joe? At that, Kris breathed a little easier. Mystery solved.
But that meant someone else was being nice to her. Someone who wanted to, for no reason other than a piece of paper drawn out of a basket. Kris wasn't sure what to make of that. Maybe it was just a trick…what was the phrase Frank used? A set-up. Look what her own parents had done, after all. Someone could've fooled Joe and Frank. Someone could be playing at being nice, just to get at her.
Kris stood there, breathing in and out, slow and deep until the panic calmed. No, Frank and Joe wouldn't fall for that. They knew everyone. They knew who the bullies were, and they were tons smarter than she was.
Her hand kept straying to the crystal in her pocket all through the day, tracing the planes, touching the tips; it was always smooth and cool to her fingertips. When the remedial English teacher (Miss Hawkins) told the Special Ed kids to write a short essay on what they wanted for Christmas ("and make sure you use at least three paragraphs"), Kris brought the stone out and set it at the top of her notebook page where she could see it. The Special Ed trailer was always a bit gloomy because of the small windows, but the crystal was a bright, happy bit of sunlight.
A shadow fell over her. Kris looked up.
"Your Secret Santa?" Miss Hawkins smiled her usual teacher-y condescending smile.
Kris nodded.
"Can…I…s-s-see?" The slow, deliberate voice was Tina, a chunky retarded kid about Kris's age — no, 'Downs syndrome', according to Miss Hawkins, who corrected kids primly whenever she caught them using the other word.
Kris handed her the crystal, and Tina ooh'd over it, turning it around and around in her hand and giggling when she saw the rainbow it cast on the desk. Kris watched her, fascinated; Tina's face was like a lump of unbaked dough, but when she smiled, she looked like a goofy Pillsbury dough-boy. It was funny and cute, in a way.
"Did your Santa get you anything yet, Tina?" Miss Hawkins said, still smiling.
Tina shook her head. "N-n-no. An-angie said…she w-w-wasn't…w-w-wasting m-m-money…on-on-on…s-s-stupid retards."
Miss Hawkins's smile froze. But then one of the boys brayed in laughter, and Miss Hawkins turned on him.
Tina handed the crystal back to Kris. "P-pretty. Th-thank…you."
Kris bit back sudden tears. Just once, just once, she wanted to get back at Angie and her crowd. But Mar had warned her about using her Gift like that, and Mar would know somehow, Kris was certain. Making it right doesn't mean doing a wrong, Mar had said. Teaching a lesson to scum is useless — it just remains scum.
Kris set the crystal back on the notebook, and tried to focus on the essay again, couldn't. Miss Hawkins was still smiling in that frozen way, even as she turned to the other Special Ed kids to help them with the essay (another retarded kid even worse off than Tina, and a couple boys who were "Neanderthals", according to Joe, and "just dumb" to everyone else). However, Kris sat there staring at her paper, wondering how to make paragraphs over not wanting anything. Miss Hawkins had only looked at her weird when Kris had asked, and finally Kris decided just to make something up.
As usual, Tina struggled through hers, reading it out loud as she wrote it. All through the class, as she worked, Kris kept eyeing the crystal, how it caught the dim light and sparkled with rainbows, as Tina read about wanting Santa to bring her pretty rocks "j-j-just l-l-like…K-k-k-kris's", sounding it out word by word as she wrote. Finally, as everyone was gathering papers and books up to head back to the main building, Kris picked the crystal up. Decision made.
"Here," Kris said, and placed the crystal in Tina's hand.
Tina stared. "B-b-but…th-th-that's…y-y-yours."
Kris lowered her voice. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm your real Secret Santa. It's supposed to be a secret, okay?"
"B-but Ang-angie…s-s-said…"
"She was lying. You know how mean she is. You like rocks?"
Tina nodded. "P-p-pretty rocks. M-mommy…c-calls m-me…her l-l-little…c-cr-crystal." She touched something on her chest: a rough amethyst point wrapped in delicate copper wire and strung on a leather cord. "Sh-sh-she g-gave…m-me…th-this…f-f-for m-my…b-b-b-birthday."
"My mom and I were out in Arizona over the summer, and I brought back lots of crystals. Would you like to come over and see them?"
That seemed to confuse Tina for a moment, but then she broke out in another Pillsbury Doughboy smile. "R-r-really? Y-you…m-mean…it?"
Kris nodded, and walked with Tina to the girl's next class, even though that made Kris late for Mr. Mack's science class; Tina was in completely different classes from her, save for homeroom and Special Ed. Luckily, Mr. Mack was in the supply closet and didn't notice.
Sliding into a seat at the back next to Sharon, Kris couldn't get what'd happened out of her head, and she scowled at Angie, who sat in the front with Susan, Lisa, and Iola, all whispering and snickering as they glanced back towards Kris and at Joe (who sat in the front row).
"Where's the box?" Sharon whispered, as Mr. Mack passed out the day's lab supplies. "You had it in homeroom — your Santa thing?" When Kris looked at her, Sharon blushed. "I…um…was just curious what you got. Almost everyone else got candy."
"I gave it away," Kris said.
"You…what?"
Kris glanced; Mr. Mack was still distracted. "You would've done the same thing." Quickly, she whispered what had happened, and Sharon looked outraged.
"That was really mean," Kris whispered finally. "I mean, Tina can't help that she's like that. I'll leave a note for my Santa in my locker and explain."
"Mine gave me candy," Sharon said. "Does Tina have a locker? I ate some of it already, but not the candy canes and they're big enough to be gifts all by themselves."
Kris blinked. She hadn't expected that.
Now there were two girls glaring at Angie from the back of science class, and Angie looked uncertain whenever she caught sight of them. Joe sat in the front row, near the windows; even he noticed something was up. When the bell rang, Joe threaded his way back before Kris could gather her books up.
"You two look ready to murder someone. What happened?"
Kris whispered the whole tale again as they left the room, and then there were three people glaring at Angie as she passed them in the hallway.
"I'll tell Frank. Maybe he'll have some ideas." But Joe looked glum. "I don't want to short my Santa person…but maybe I can get Aunt Gertrude to bake some cookies for Tina."
"Don't give her the Old Spice," Kris said, and Joe rolled his eyes.
"If Tina comes over your place tonight," Sharon said to Kris, "I can bring some of Mom's peanut brittle. You can bring the cookies over then, Joe. That way it doesn't look like we're throwing her a pity party at school."
"You're pretty smart for a girl," Joe said, grinning, and ducked down the hall to the lunchroom before either girl could retort.
Finding Tina's locker and popping the lock with her Gift was easy enough. Kris kept a nervous watch as Sharon slipped the big candy canes into Tina's coat pocket, then shut the door and re-locked it. Then both Sharon and Kris headed off to lunch, but Kris was still thinking.
This whole secret Christmas thing was going to drive her insane, she knew it. Now she had to get special stuff for four people…