A Katie Kazoo Christmas (15 page)

“That’s what he
says
,” Suzanne replied. “But you never know. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone to know his true identity.”

Katie shook her head. “Give me a break. He’s just a friend of my grandmother’s. I mean, think about it. Santa rides a sleigh. Nick got here on his motorcycle. And when was the last time you saw Santa Claus wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket?”

“I’m just saying it’s possible,” Suzanne said with a shrug.

“No, it’s not,” Katie told her. “You’re being ridiculous.”

Emma nodded. “Katie’s right,” she told Suzanne. “Nick’s just a nice old guy who is visiting her for Christmas.”

“Maybe,” Suzanne answered. “But you’ve got to admit, it would be really cool if Santa Claus was actually sitting out there in the living room.”

When Katie got to school on Wednesday morning, a crowd of fourth-graders were already gathered in the yard. Katie could see Suzanne in the middle of the crowd. She was talking very quickly.

“What’s up?” Katie asked as she walked toward the group.

“Suzanne’s telling us all about how Santa Claus is staying at your house,” Jessica Haynes explained.

Katie rolled her eyes. “Santa is not at my house,” she assured Jessica.

“Katie’s right,” Kadeem said. “I mean, Santa Claus? Who still believes in that?”

“Well, you would if you saw this guy,” Suzanne said. “The guy makes friends with reindeer!”

“So? I have animal friends, too! What about Pepper?” Katie insisted.

“Pepper is your dog, Katie,” Suzanne reminded her.

“And he’s my friend,” Katie said. “What does that make me? The Easter Bunny?”

George started to laugh. “Good one, Katie Kazoo!”

“I’m coming to
your
house on Christmas Eve, Katie,” Kevin said. “I’ll bet you’ll get your presents before anyone. You’ll be Santa’s first stop!”

Katie shook her head. “Forget about it,” she said. “Nick is not Santa. Besides, he won’t even be at my house on Christmas Eve. He’s got some friends to visit that night.”

“Of course he won’t be there, Katie,” Suzanne told her. “He’s got to leave and deliver presents all over the world.”

“Suzanne, cut it out!” Katie insisted angrily. She was getting really upset. She knew Suzanne didn’t really believe Nick was Santa Claus. She was just saying all this to get attention.

Just then the school doors opened. It was time to go inside.

Katie was never so happy to get into her classroom.

“Okay, gang, let’s see what your Secret Santas have brought this time,” Mr. G. said later that morning. He picked up his big red bag and began distributing gifts.

As soon as everyone was holding a present, Mr. G. said, “Okay, open them up!”

Emma W. was one of the first ones to open her gift. “Oh, cool!” she exclaimed. She slipped a small ring with a black stone on top of it onto her finger. The black stone turned yellow, then green, then bright blue.

“Ooh! It’s a mood ring!” she exclaimed. She looked down at the small card that came with the ring. It showed what all the colors meant. “See, the color changed to blue because I’m in such a good mood.”

Katie looked at her gift. She hoped it would be as cool as Emma W.’s. She opened it up and pulled out . . .

A big blob of plastic throw-up.

“Yuck!” Katie shouted.

Kevin looked over. “Cool!” he exclaimed. “That’s totally gross.”

“You can really creep people out with that,” George agreed. “You should put it on Suzanne’s tray at lunch.”

“Can you imagine her face if she saw that near her food?” Kadeem added, laughing.

Katie shook her head. She was pretty angry with Suzanne. But she wasn’t angry enough to do that!

“Kadeem, open yours,” Andrew urged.

Katie looked up from her plastic throw-up and watched as Kadeem opened his gift.

“Awesome. It’s another joke!” Kadeem said as he looked at the piece of paper that was wrapped around the gift. “It says, ‘Who is Dracula’s favorite baseball player?’ ”

“Who?” Andrew asked.

“The bat boy!” Kadeem laughed. He ripped the paper off the gift. “Check it out!” he exclaimed. “Baseball cards!”

Katie was glad Kadeem liked his gift. The other kids seemed pretty happy with theirs, too.

George loved the glow-in-the-dark stickers he got.

Emma S. couldn’t wait to use her new silly straw at lunch.

Andrew was excited to try out the new mini-magic trick his Secret Santa had bought for him.

Mandy was having a lot of fun playing with the kaleidoscope that had been in her package.

Katie looked from her make-believe vomit to the ring on Emma’s finger. Emma’s ring was bright blue. She was obviously happy with her present.

But Katie wasn’t happy with hers. In fact, if she had been wearing Emma’s ring, the stone would definitely be a cold, angry black!

“Plastic throw-up! Can you believe it?” Katie shouted as she and Suzanne walked through the mall on Wednesday evening. The girls had met there after Katie’s cooking class and Suzanne’s modeling class. They both needed to buy holiday gifts.

“I told you that boys could be real jerks,” Suzanne reminded her. “You’re the one who always says I’m wrong.”

“Well, not all boys are jerks,” Katie insisted.

“A girl would never have gotten you a present like that,” Suzanne said. “She would have gotten you something pretty. Something like that.” Suzanne pointed to a hair clip that was decorated with purple feathers. “That’s what I’m going to buy for our class grab bag.”

“But what if a boy picks it out of the bag?” Katie asked her.

“I don’t care,” Suzanne said. “I’m not going to buy a boy gift. No way!”

But Katie had to buy a gift for a boy. After all, she was Kadeem’s Secret Santa. Luckily, she already had a plan.

“I’m getting my gift at my mom’s store,” she told Suzanne. “Why don’t you do that, too? There are lots of books that both boys
and
girls would like.”

Suzanne thought about that for a minute. “I could look, I guess.”

“Cool,” Katie said. She started walking toward the Book Nook. Suzanne followed close behind.

“Wow! Look at that line of kids waiting to meet Santa,” Suzanne said as they walked past the Winter Wonderland. “Some of them sure don’t look happy about it.”

Katie shrugged. “I think they’re unhappy about waiting in line for so long. Not about meeting Santa. Kids love Santa.”

Toot toot!
The North Pole Express train let out a loud whistle as it moved along the track in front of Katie and Suzanne.

“I wonder what’s inside those boxes,” Katie said. She pointed to the brightly wrapped gift boxes that sat in the train’s caboose.

“I’ll bet they’re fake presents,” Suzanne said. “Just like that Santa is fake. After all, everyone knows the real Santa is staying at your house.”

That made Katie really angry. She was tired of Suzanne saying that Nick was Santa Claus.

“Nick is
not
Santa Claus!” Katie shouted.

“So, who is?” Suzanne asked her.

At that moment, the woman in the elf costume walked past them, holding a little boy’s hand. Katie thought the elf looked like she was having a lot of fun. A lot more fun than Katie was having arguing with Suzanne.

Katie looked closely at the elf. Her name tag read, “Ella the Elf.” And the little boy whose hand she was holding looked really excited to meet Santa.

“Well, Katie?” Suzanne asked. “Who do you think Nick really is? Do you think that guy in the chair is the real Santa?”

“Don’t you think I know that’s just some guy in a Santa Claus costume?” Katie said. “But Nick isn’t Santa either. The real Santa isn’t here in Cherrydale!”

The little boy turned and stared at Katie. His face turned bright red. A tear fell down his cheek.

“THAT’S NOT SANTA!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. Then he turned and raced back to his mother.

Ella the Elf glared at Katie and Suzanne. “That wasn’t nice,” she scolded them. “Why do you big kids have to ruin this for the little ones?”

Katie felt terrible. “I’m really sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to ruin anything.”

“Why don’t you two get lost before you make some other kid cry,” Ella told them.

“Come on, Katie,” Suzanne urged. She pulled Katie by the arm. “Let’s get out of here!”