⌜ chapter ten ⌟

"I suck at this!" Letty groans as she slams her math book shut and then turns to face Eric.

"What are you working on?" He asks as he looks over at her.

"Nothing. I'm done with my homework for good. I think I may just drop out of high school, become an artist." She says, and he smirks.

"You're only in the ninth grade." He says, and she shrugs.

"So?"

"So, I think your dad may frown upon that." He says, and she sighs. "You know, maybe I can help you study. I am a year older."

"We're in the same math class." The brunette argues, and he nods.

"Exactly." Eric pulls his chair over and sits down next to her. "Which problem are you stuck on?"

"All of them." She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. "I say it's nap time, you wanna take a break?"

"We've only been up here for half an hour." He says, and she looks at him, but he's looking at her book.

"Since when do I have to convince you to take a break?" She questions, and he smirks.

"Since I know that you've been struggling with math for awhile now, and your grade is dropping." He says, and she sighs, resting her forehead on his shoulder. "Come on, Letty."

"Why are you mean?" She complains, and he looks at her.

"I'm sure we can figure it out." He says, and she lifts her head to look at him, ready to argue that there's no point and she doesn't want to.

But neither of the teenagers were expecting how close their faces are to each other now, and her dark eyes meet his. Eric's gaze drops to her lips, and she doesn't pull away from him like he thought she was going to. He then starts to lean toward her, and her eyes fall shut.

Morgan suddenly runs into the boys' bedroom, causing the two teenagers to jump and pull apart. The little blonde quickly locks herself in the bathroom, confusing them both. Eric and Letty look at each other, and she raises an eyebrow.

The brunette stands from her seat then and walks over to knock on the closed door. "Hey, kiddo, is everything okay?"

"On the first say of Christmas​, I murdered Santa Claus..." Morgan starts​ singing, and Letty looks back over at Eric with raised brows.

"Uh, maybe you should go get your parents." She tells him, and he nods.

Mrs. Matthews walks into the room soon after, and Eric's not far behind her. "How is she?" They both ask.

"Listen for yourself." Letty tells them, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door.

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas—" Morgan's still singing, and her voice is getting louder with each line.

"Morgan, if you come out, I'll let you play with my make-up." Her mom tells her.

"And a happy new year!" She continues her song.

"Morgan, come out. Santa's fine." Eric says as he knocks on the bathroom door.

"No, he's not." She argues.

"Well, then how come he just called me on the phone?" He asks.

"He did?"

"Yup." He nods.

"What did he say?" She asks.

"He said, ho ho h— Oh! Oh!" He grabs his chest and pretends that he's in pain.

Morgan thinks that she killed Santa Claus because the man pretending​ to be him at the mall seemed to have a heart attack while she was sitting on his lap. The elf that was there didn't make things better. That's why she's locked herself in the bathroom.

"Stop it." His mom scolds as Letty smacks his chest, and he laughs.

"What?" Eric asks, still laughing.

"You're an idiot." His best friend tells him, and he leans against the wall beside her. His shoulder's touching hers as he rests against the wall, facing her.

"He, uh... He said you've been a very, very good girl, and I should give you something really special." He calls through the door.

"Like what?" Morgan asks.

"Whatever you tell her, she's going to want it the second you open that door." His mom tells him.

The teenage boy looks around the room and then pulls a flannel off the back of his closed bedroom door. "How about my new flannel shirt that you like so much?" He offers.

Morgan opens the door and quickly takes it from his hand. She has to open and close the door three times because it keeps getting stuck. Letty then looks back at Eric and laughs because he's going to have to give her something else to get her out of there.

"Okay." He sighs.

"You guys have fun with this." Letty shakes her head.

"You're leaving?" Eric asks, masking his disappointment as she looks up at him.

"Yeah, I have to get to work." She tells him.

"You have another shift?"

"Yeah, I mean... Money doesn't earn itself. I want to save up a little extra to get Shawn a nice gift for Christmas this year." She says, though that's only half true, and then she leaves.

Letty gets off work later that night and then heads back to the trailer park. While she's walking, she runs into Miller, and he smiles as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"There's my favorite girl."

"Get off me." She nudges him. "I don't know what other girls you've been touching."

"Someone's crabby." He grumbles as he straightens out his jacket.

"Hey, Scarlett. Can I ask you something?" Shawn walks over to them, gaining their attention, and he seems upset. "Do you have five bucks that I can borrow?" He asks. "It's for a class present for Feeny."

"I would if I could, but I don't have any money on me." She tells him, glancing up at Miller.

"Sorry, dude, I'm broke too." The older boy says when Shawn looks at him as well.

"Look, uh... Let me see if I can get some together for you. Okay?" The brunette says, and Shawn nods.

"Thanks, Scarlett."

"Of course, we gotta stick together​." She says, and he offers her a small smile.

—

Letty runs over to Shawn after school and gets his attention. "Hey, Miller and I managed to scrounge up that five bucks that you asked for. I hope it's not too late." She says as she holds it out to him.

"Minkus already bought Feeny's present, but I do owe Cory." He tells her.

"For what?"

"He gave the money to Minkus so that my name would be on the card because I couldn't pitch in my share for the gift." He tells her.

"Then pay Cory back." She says, and he hesitantly takes the money from her.

"Really? You're sure." He asks, and she smiles.

"Absolutely. Merry Christmas."

"Christmas isn't for another few days."

"It's not about the day, Shawn. It's the people you spend the season with." She tells him. "Take it, I insist."

"Thanks." He says, and the pair walks to the Matthews' house together. She leaves him in the backyard with Cory and goes inside to find Eric.

Letty heads into the living room and sits next to her best friend on the couch while he wraps a present. His dad's sitting on his other side writing in a card, and Morgan and her mom are at the piano. Mrs. Matthews has her daughter's hand in her own, and she's playing a Christmas song.

Eric starts talking to Letty as he wraps, and she turns her body to face him. She has her leg pulled up on the couch, and she tries messing him as he finishes with the gift that he's working on. He grabs her hand, stopping her from tugging on the tape, and she smiles innocently when he turns his head to glare at her.

Later on that night, Cory and Shawn run in through the front door, and they're bouncing a basketball as they make their way into the living room. "Not in the house." Mrs. Matthews tells them.

"You guys are playing with that so much I'm afraid you're gonna wear a hole in it." Mr. Matthews says as he glances over at the boys.

"Who cares? It's his ball." Cory says, and Letty looks over at Shawn. The younger boy smiles at her.

"Close the door, please."

"You guys ready for supper? Shawn, Scarlett, I've got plenty if you two want to stay. I can call your parents." Mrs. Matthews tells them.

"Thanks, Mrs. Matthews, but we're stringing up the lights tonight, and I kinda want to be with my dad." Shawn tells her.

"And I sit with his mom and laugh at them every year." Letty adds. "It's our own fun little tradition."

"Okay. Well, before you go, I want you to take these Christmas cookies to your mom." Their best friends' mom tells Shawn. "And I have some for you and your dad too, Scarlett."

"Thanks, but he's not real big on sweets. Miller and I can just steal a few from the Hunters." She says, and Mrs. Matthews nods.

"Alright."

"I helped make them." Morgan proudly tells them.

"Yeah, careful when you bite into them. One of Barbie's little plastic shoes is missing." Eric says before looking up at Letty. "Oh, hey, you left your sweater in my room when we were studying yesterday."

"That's where that is?" She quickly tells Shawn to wait for her before jogging up the stairs to go and grab her sweater. She finds it on the chair by the desk.

When the brunette turns around, she sees Eric walking into his bedroom as well. He smiles as he looks at her. "I found something else too." He tells her, and she raises her eyebrows as she walks over to him.

"And what's that?" She asks, and his smile widens as he holds up a fake mistletoe above their heads. "Ah, speaking of old traditions."

"You can't blame a guy for trying." He shrugs, and she smiles as she looks up at him.

"Scarlett!" Shawn calls from downstairs, and Eric sighs as he glances behind him, letting his arm rest at his side. "Let's go!"

Letty stretches onto her tippy-toes as she rests her hand on the side of the older boy's face, and then she presses her lips to his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Eric." She smiles at him before heading back downstairs to where Shawn is impatiently waiting for her.

"Old traditions — kiss on the cheek." Eric mutters before tossing the mistletoe onto his bed and going back downstairs as well.

"Finally!" Shawn yells when he sees the brunette. "What's taking so long?"

"Nothing. You're just impatient." She says as she pulls her sweater over her shoulders. "Come on, then. Aren't you in a hurry to get home?"

"Merry Christmas, you guys." The younger boy says as Letty makes her way over to the front door.

"Merry Christmas." Letty smiles at the Matthews family.

"Merry Christmas, Shawn. Merry Christmas, Scarlett." Mr. Matthews says.

"Hoops here tomorrow?" Cory asks his best friend.

"Do I have a choice? You're the only guy on the block with a net." Shawn says.

"You coming back with him​?" Eric asks as he looks at his own best friend.

"Possibly." Letty says, and he nods as he looks at her. She smiles when her gaze meets his again, and a smile spreads across his face as well.

"Shawn, you gonna be okay?" His best friend asks him.

"Hey, when I got friends. I can get through anything." He says, and Letty smiles at the two younger boys.

Shawn's dad was recently laid off at work, so his Christmas is going to be about as big as Letty's: one to two presents, tops. That's also why he couldn't give Minkus the five dollars for the present for Mr. Feeny.

The two get back to Shawn's trailer, and his mom walks over to Letty. "Your annual gift from your secret admirer arrived here this morning." She whispers.

"Really?" She asks, and Mrs. Hunter nods.

"Come on, I put it over here." She tells her, and they go to the table. Letty opens the oversized yellowish-orange envelope and pulls out a letter.

I saw this a few weeks ago, and it made me think of you. I hope you like it.

—J

"One of these days, you're going to have to tell me who this J person is." Mrs. Hunter says, and Letty pulls a small, velvet jewelry box out of the envelope.

The teenager opens it, and her eyes widen when she sees the necklace that's inside, it's a single rose hanging upside down from the bottom of the stem. "Oh my God." Letty mutters in disbelief as she pulls out the rose gold necklace.

"Wow, whoever this person is — they have beautiful taste." The older woman says. "I didn't know that you like roses."

"Yeah, they're my favorite flower." She tells her.

"Turn around, let me put it on you." Mrs. Hunter says, and Letty turns. The chain is just long enough that she'll be able to hide the necklace under her shirts​ so that her dad won't see it.

"I can't believe he got this for me." Letty mutters, looking down at the rose.

"So J's a he." She says, clearly intrigued. "Is he cute?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since we were kids."

"And he still sends you a present every year for Christmas?" She questions. "I say you find this boy, and you marry him. He's a keeper in my book."

"I can't believe he got this for me." She repeats, and Mrs. Hunter chuckles as she looks at the teenage girl.