Page 14 of His Secret Santa
She nodded. “So, are you guys just not going to do the Secret Santa thing?”
“We have to,” Jamie said. “It’s a senior tradition.”
“When do we choose names?”
“Tomorrow morning, in home room,” Jamie told her.
“Maybe I’ll get one of you guys.” She smiled. “That would be cool.”
Holden didn’t want anyone to draw his name, but there was no getting out of it.
Jamie flashed a half-grin at Abby. “If you drew my name, what would you get me?” He was beginning to relax and gradually returning to his old self.
“I, uh…” She laughed softly. “I don’t know. What would you want?”
A date with you. Holden saw it clear as day on his face. Did Abby see it, too?
Jamie didn’t have the chance to answer before McKenna and her best friend and fellow cheerleader, Tonya Simpson, approached their table. Abby’s bright mood doused immediately, and she averted her eyes from McKenna’s haughty stare.
“Abby. What’re you doing here with… these two?”
“Just… having lunch,” Abby spoke quietly.
“That wasn’t really my question. Why are you eating with them? And not with us?”
Jamie looked up at the head cheerleader. “Maybe she wanted better company.”
“And that would be you and your butt buddy?”
Holden stared at his tray. He was still feeling the effects of their last encounter; he wasn’t ready for another.
“Yes,” Jamie confirmed. “I believe it would.”
McKenna rolled her eyes at Tonya who scoffed and returned an eye-roll. “Hanging with these queers is social suicide,” McKenna told Abby. “Come back to our table, before you’re ruined.”
Holden fully expected Abby to get up and go with them and was shocked when she didn’t. Clearly, McKenna still intimidated her, but she stood her ground.
“I’ll take my chances,” Abby murmured with a nervous hitch in her voice.
The look on Jamie’s face revealed his shock—and glee—that she decided to stick it out with them.
“You’re making a big mistake.” McKenna glared at her. “You are aware I make all the calls on the squad.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Abby replied softly. “Because I quit.”
“What?” It was McKenna’s turn to be shocked. “Because of these fags?”
Abby met the other girl’s stare. “No. Because of you, and her.” She glanced at Tonya. “And all the others who think it’s okay to be mean and cruel. I’m not like you and I don’t want to be. At my old school, my squad was respected because they weren’t bullies. They were nice.”
“Oh, they were nice.” Tonya snickered. “I heard about your school. I bet the whole squad was a bunch of dykes.” She cast Abby an evil look. “Maybe you were, too. And that’s why you like the queer boys—you’re just like them.”
McKenna nodded. “Yeah, that’s it, isn’t it? You’re just a big ole lesbo, aren’t you?”
Abby sighed. “Even if I was, I’d rather be a lesbo than… whatever you are.”
“You mean, the hottest, most popular girl in school?” McKenna smirked.
“Maybe you are all that… right now,” Abby said. “But high school is almost over. And when you leave this place, you’re going to have to start over, introduce yourself to a whole new group of people. And out there in the real world, there are a whole lot of people who don’t take kindly to bigoted jerks. But the good news is, you still have time to change before you go out into the world.”