“Who’s Buddy?” Tara piped up suddenly.

  “Huh?” I glanced at her, startled. She was clutching my phone and flicking her finger up the screen as she scrolled. She was reading my texts—again!

  “Is he Helen’s new boyfriend?” Tara persisted.

  “Helen has a boyfriend?” Alan asked.

  “I don’t think—” I started to say, but Tara interrupted.

  “Is that why Helen can never babysit us anymore?” she wanted to know.

  “Ewwww! I bet they, like, kiss and stuff.” Alan made a gagging noise. “That’s gross!”

  “I think I’d better take my phone back,” I said, but Tara ignored me.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked.

  “Yeah, is Eliot your boyfriend?” Alan chimed in. “Is that why you keep staring at him?”

  “I do not!” I sputtered, aware that my cheeks were probably the same color as Alan’s bright crimson jacket.

  “Yes, you do. I bet you want to kiss him!” Alan pursed his lips and made loud smooching noises.

  Tara started snickering. Then she started making kissy noises, too. In no time, the two of them were cracking each other up. “Mwah! Oh, Eliot, I loooove you!”

  It was all I could do not to slide under the table. I snuck a glance at Eliot. His face was frozen, and he had this deer-in-the-headlights look I’d never seen on him before.

  Then the librarian, Mr. Ortiz, came over to our table. “I’m sorry, but you kids are just too disruptive, and the students here are trying to study,” he said. “You need to take it outside.”

  “But—” I protested.

  Mr. Ortiz shook his head. “You already had two warnings,” he pointed out. “Next time, try the lower school library. They don’t mind a little noise there.”

  Eliot was already standing up to go. “Sorry,” I mumbled. I still couldn’t look at him.

  “Text me if you want to reschedule,” he said and headed for the door.

  Mortified, I packed up my books, collected Tara and Alan, and herded them out. “I can’t believe you guys did that to me!” I complained. “I’m so embarrassed!”

  “But it was fun!” Alan protested. And in fact, when I got them back to their house, both he and Tara were interrupting each other as they told their mother what a good time they’d had in the big kids’ library—until the mean librarian kicked them out.

  Maggie was smiling as she handed me two twenties. “I’m amazed that you managed to keep them entertained in the library for a whole hour,” she told me. “Good job!”

  Although I was still stressing about the party, and still embarrassed by the scene with Eliot, my spirits rose as I tucked those crisp new bills into my pocket. I’d earned almost a hundred and fifty dollars in two days!

  I had just left Maggie’s house when a text from Mina came through.

  Where are you? Need someone to massage Mrs. Lee’s foot. Her circulation is poor. Come home NOW.

  At the thought of squeezing Mrs. Lee’s flaky, bunion-covered foot, my cheeks turned green. I considered “not seeing” Mina’s message, but I needed to be on her good side more than ever. Scrambling onto my bike, I pedaled home, my mind more focused on numbers than the road.

  Thirty-six kids. That number went down to thirty-two if I didn’t bring two friends and their guests, which was easy, since outside of Buddy and the rest of the Royals, I didn’t have any other friends to invite anyway. I didn’t need to invite Marvel—he hadn’t even texted me. But thirty-two was still a gigantic number.

  I chewed my bottom lip and pedaled faster.

  Helen was for sure bringing Buddy, but if I asked her really sweetly and threw in some cherry-flavored Jolly Ranchers (her favorite), maybe I could convince her not to invite the two other people. That would get me down to twenty-eight kids, which sounded at least a little more manageable and would probably bring the food costs down a bit, too.

  As for the problem of Mrs. Lee… maybe I could decorate her hospital bed like a sleigh and have the guests take “rides” on it? No, scratch that—that was a terrible idea!

  I took a deep breath of the crisp, wintry air and told myself to keep positive. I still had time to solve this.

  “There you are. Finally!” Mina said as I walked into the apartment. She shoved a sponge into my hand and pulled on her shoes. “I have to run to the pharmacy before it closes. Mrs. Lee needs more pain medicine, and I want to get her some lavender tea. Then I have to go back to the laundromat. Now, after you massage her right foot, make sure to use the sponge to clean around the cast on her left foot. The skin is starting to flake.”

  With that, Mina rushed out the door, leaving me alone with Mrs. Lee and her crusty feet.

  “Hello, Pippa darling!” She waved. “You’re my savior!”

  Taking a deep breath, I moved toward Mrs. Lee.

  My phone buzzed. I swiped to wake it up and read:

  Dreams Come True—NCT 127

  %% (Eung Eung)—Apink

  Dynamite—BTS

  Start there and then we’ll talk. C u 2morrow.

  The text was from Marvel. I was surprised at how much my whole mood brightened when I saw it. I felt a grin spread across my face.

  Mrs. Lee wiggled her toes. “Ready, dear?” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “I know it’s every girl’s dream to massage old-lady feet!”

  That actually made me laugh out loud. Mrs. Lee’s eyes twinkled.

  “What do you say we watch a little of this K-drama I just started?” she suggested, waving the remote control. “It’s about a rich young woman who crash-lands in North Korea and is found by a young soldier. Oh, my, he is so handsome!” She leaned toward me. “I have it on good authority they’re going to kiss in this episode,” she whispered.

  “That sounds great,” I admitted.

  “Very distracting,” Mrs. Lee said, waggling her eyebrows again.

  The credits rolled and we settled in to watch, me rubbing gently at Mrs. Lee’s instep. Despite having no idea how I was going to pull off this party, and despite having Mrs. Lee’s foot in my face, I suddenly didn’t feel so bad.

  10 BOZ

  20 Days Until Christmas Eve

  (Wait… Less than Three Weeks?)

  Later that night when I was alone, I queued up Marvel’s first song on my phone and bobbed my head to the beat.

  What took him so long to send this? Maybe he forgot about me, I thought, but quickly tamped down my doubts. He was probably super busy this week, that’s all. That’s why he didn’t text me till now.

  But what was he busy with? Did he play any sports? Was he part of any clubs? I didn’t even know what school Marvel went to, I realized.

  Maybe tomorrow at pageant rehearsal I could fix that. I stood up and headed to my closet. There wouldn’t be a lot of time between the end of basketball practice and the start of rehearsal, but now that Marvel had texted me and I knew he was thinking about me, I wanted to look my best.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I turned to the door just as Jung-Hwa peeped into my room.

  “Are you busy?” he asked. “I want to set up the Nativity scene before Mina gets home. It’ll be a nice surprise for her.”

  “Just a second,” I replied. “I need to pick out my outfit for tomorrow.”

  “All right. Don’t be too long, or you’ll miss out on all the fun.” He smiled. As he closed my door, I turned back to the closet, where I surveyed my limited options with a critical eye. What did you even wear to look cute at a church’s pageant rehearsal?

  It was too cold for my brown sundress, and I had outgrown the purple top with the rhinestones. Of course, there was always the navy dress I had worn to my Lakeview interview… but that was probably too formal. I wanted to look good—but not like I was trying to look good. Tapping my chin, I rummaged through the dozen or so tops hanging in my closet and finally decided on a pink-and-lime-striped cotton shirt. I wore it only on special occasions—when I wanted to look like I actually had a personal style.

  Carefully, I pulled the shirt off the hanger and stretched it out on my chair next to my best pair of jeans so they would be waiting for me when I got home from school. Then I switched off the music and headed into the living room.

  “A little to the left… a little more… aigoo, now you’ve gone too far left.”

  Mrs. Lee shook her head critically as Jung-Hwa carefully nudged around ceramic Nativity characters on the coffee table. In the background, It’s a Wonderful Life played. It was one of Jung-Hwa’s favorite movies to watch during the holidays, although I never knew what made it a Christmas movie.

  “Mina still not home?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” Jung-Hwa said.

  I sat down cross-legged next to Jung-Hwa and assessed the progress they had made, which wasn’t much. They had put up the barn and the manger, along with Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, but there was still a lot more work left.

  I pulled the giant plastic tub of pieces toward me and began taking out everything that remained. There were a swarm of ceramic farm animals, a handful of angels, and the Three Wise Men. And then, near the bottom of the container, were my all-time favorite pieces—because they were us. Me, Mina, and Jung-Hwa.

  When I was four, I had begged Jung-Hwa to put me into the manger scene. I desperately wanted to be in the cozy-looking barn with all the farm animals. So Jung-Hwa bought a five-color paint set at the Dollar Store and went to work. In addition to a mini-me, there were a drummer boy Jung-Hwa and an innkeeper Mina. And although the paint was a little chipped, and our faces looked like they were melting into themselves and, as a matter of fact, it was kind of hard to tell that they were us at all—in spite of all those things, they were my absolute favorite Christmas decorations.

  I placed the three figurines to the side and scraped together some fake hay from the bottom of the tub. I looked up just in time to see Boz creeping closer. His head was tilted to the side, and his yellow eyes were trained with unsettling intensity on the Pippa figurine.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I warned him.

  I grabbed the figurines and hid them close to my side, which was unacceptable to Boz, who immediately revenge-jumped up on the coffee table to knock over Mary and Joseph, his tail twitching with triumph.

  “Oh, get over here, you adorable monster,” Mrs. Lee commanded.

  Boz looked at her with narrowed eyes, but when she made a grab for his tail, he reluctantly leaped into her lap.

  I gave him the stink eye before returning to the work at hand.

  “I’ll put up the angels and the Wise Men,” Jung-Hwa told me. “Can you start on the farm animals?”

  “Got it,” I said.

  As I gathered my petting zoo of pieces, I scanned our too-small living room, trying to envision cramming twenty-eight kids in here. I automatically filtered out Mrs. Lee’s bed and her hoard of knickknacks and put our couch back in its proper position. Factoring in the armrests, we could fit six kids on the couch. Then, if we folded the coffee table up against the wall, a dozen more could sit on the rug.

  “Six there…” I craned my head toward the kitchen, then looked toward the entry hall. “And another three over there…”

  “Pippa is so dedicated,” Mrs. Lee whispered to Jung-Hwa. “Listen to her count all the farm animals—how meticulous!”

  “The lambs look perfect.” Jung-Hwa smiled at me. “Do you need any help with the others?”

  “No, thanks. I’m almost finished,” I said, feeling a little guilty. Just then, Boz leaped back onto the table and began batting a goat between his paws. He started to take off with it, but I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. “Bad!” I said, removing the goat from his pointy teeth as he hissed at me.

  “He’s just upset because there aren’t any cats in the Nativity scene,” Mrs. Lee informed me. “You just want to be a part of it all, don’t you, Bozzy?”

  Trying not to roll my eyes, I replaced the goat and moved on to the camels. I set the first one directly behind the Wise Man with the crown, then picked up the second one. I was moving him into position when Mrs. Lee said, “Why there, dear?”

  I blinked. “Um, because the Wise Men ride camels?”

  “Oh no!” Mrs. Lee shook her head vigorously. “That’s a, what do you call it—not an urban legend—but it’s a myth. The Wise Men rode horses! I saw a documentary about it.”

  “Really?” Jung-Hwa looked doubtful. “Did they even have horses back then?”

  “I’m pretty sure they did,” I said. “Otherwise how could you have the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?”

  Jung-Hwa nodded. “Excellent point, my gangaji.”

  “The documentary was on PBS,” Mrs. Lee put in. “So you know it’s true.”

  I tapped my chin as I regarded the scene. “Well, our manger set doesn’t have horses, and it seems weird not to give the Wise Men any sort of transportation.” After all, Mary and Joseph had a donkey and the angels had wings, which was pretty much the best sort of transportation you could ask for. “I don’t want the Wise Men to miss out.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you, Pippa,” Mrs. Lee said. Then her eyes lit up behind her glasses. “I have an idea! Jung-Hwa, would you be a dear and hand me my purse?”

  Jung-Hwa obediently passed Mrs. Lee her giant handbag, and she rooted through it for a moment. “No, not that… no… no… aha!”

  With a triumphant smile, she held up a miniature pink Cadillac, complete with fins and a white convertible top. “I got it from one of those makeup demonstration parties a couple of weeks ago,” she explained. “I just knew it would come in handy!”

  “I may not be a history buff, but I am pretty sure that there were no pink Cadillacs at the Nativity,” Jung-Hwa pointed out, but he was smiling as he took the little car and positioned it behind the Three Wise Men.

  “Oh, but look. It’s perfect.” Mrs. Lee clasped her hands with pleasure.

  And it was, I had to agree. The color of the little pink car somehow just pulled the whole Nativity scene together. I shook my head and smiled. I really loved our manger and these animals and the magic of Christmas, even in the middle of all my problems.

  Together, we put the finishing touches on our Nativity scene. The last animal had found its home when Mina came into the apartment, bringing a gust of frosty air with her.

  “There you are, yeobo.” Jung-Hwa stood up to greet her. “Are you hungry?”

  “I’m okay,” she said. She slipped off her shoes, then glanced past him. “Oh, you put up the Nativity scene! It looks nice. I hope you didn’t make Mrs. Lee work hard.”

  “Only a little.” Mrs. Lee smiled. “Pippa did most of it.”

  Mina gave me an approving look. That made me feel a little warmth in my chest, like there was a miniature wood stove in there, throwing off a cheery orange glow.

  “You should eat something,” Jung-Hwa told my sister. “It’ll keep you strong. Let me slice up some fruit.” Without waiting for an answer, he headed to the kitchen, and I followed after him and Mina.

  “You were gone a long time. Was the laundromat super busy?” I asked as my sister unzipped her coat and hung her scarf up next to the door.

  “Not really,” Mina said. “Mainly it was just that one old man who always washes his colors individually. You know the one. He takes forever to transfer them from the washer to the dryer.”

  “One is better than none,” Jung-Hwa said.

  He finished slicing up some fresh apples, kiwis, and Korean pears, and set them down on the counter near us. Mina popped a bite of apple into her mouth, her eyes thoughtful.

  “Slightly,” she agreed. “In any case, sponsoring the church pageant hopefully will bring in new business.”

  Mina looked over at me and I froze, a chunk of sticky kiwi clutched in my palm, as I waited for her to lecture me about the importance of impressing Pastor Oh. But for once, she didn’t attack me.

  “Thank you for stepping up to this responsibility with Pastor Oh,” she said. “I appreciate it. He called last night and had nothing but good things to say.”

  She grabbed one more slice of apple from the plate and stood up with a stretch. “I’m going to take a shower,” she told us. “Pippa, don’t forget to help Jung-Hwa with the dishes.”

  As I watched her leave, the warm glow in my chest expanded. Mina hardly ever said thank you to me. This meant she really did appreciate what I was doing. And who knew? Maybe tomorrow I could volunteer extra time for rehearsals. Pastor Oh would be even more grateful for me, and Mina would be so happy that I would have no trouble convincing her to let me have the party.

  But as I stood at the sink, watching the dishpan fill with soap bubbles, I couldn’t make myself worry about the party. Not tonight.

  Tonight, I was finally starting to feel the magic of the season.

  * * *

  “Pippa! The school bus will be here in twenty minutes!” Mina shouted.

  “Coming!” I leaped out of bed.

  I’d overslept and had to take a rushed shower. As I soaped up, I thought about the idea I’d had this morning.

  What if we just moved Mrs. Lee back to her apartment for that one afternoon?

  Jung-Hwa and I could carry her stuff up the night before, or even the morning of the party. Then she could stay there for the afternoon. Mina and Jung-Hwa could keep her company (which would have the added benefit of keeping Mina and her scowls away from my Lakeview friends). I would even help carry Mrs. Lee back down when the party was over, if that’s what it took.

  It could work!

  My stomach rumbled, which made me think about party food. Maybe I could look up some of the dishes Caroline had suggested—I had no idea what caprese salad was; it sounded fancy—and re-create them.

  Satisfied with the idea, I grabbed a towel and headed back to my room. I dried off and changed into my Lakeview uniform in record time. Just as I was about to head out the door, I remembered my navy tie. The tip of it stuck out from underneath my pink-and-green T-shirt. I smiled when I saw it. I was looking forward to wearing the shirt tonight—and to seeing Marvel.

 

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