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I glanced over at Carson to see if he was as outraged as I was, and of course, he just sat there, looking like he hadn’t a care in the world. When his eye caught mine, he shrugged. “No biggie. We’ll do it.”
I opened my mouth to speak, to disagree, but I stopped myself. There was no point. I was stuck—cornered. And he knew it, too. There was no way I could have a suspension on my permanent record.
I grunted and snapped my mouth shut, calculating in my head what this meant in terms of time spent with my nemesis like the convicted calculating their time in jail. Two weeks of planning prior to winter break—gathering supplies, garnering donations, putting the tree up, shopping, and organizing everything. Then there was the delivery of presents and supplies a few days before Christmas.
Ugh. Not only would this mean spending time with him outside of school these next couple weeks, but I’d have to see him over the break as well. I preferred to avoid him as much as possible, which was saying something since his younger brother was my best friend. It took a lot of skills—ones I had perfected over the last nine years—to carefully navigate his house with minimal interaction.
I realized too late Mrs. Parks had been giving instructions during my musing, so I tried to catch up and pay attention.
“Everything you need to know about the current budget is right here,” she said, handing a folder to Carson. “Of course, any added donations you can get from local businesses would be great. You want to try to get the most bang for your buck. The Angel Tree will have tags for needy members of the community and for the residents of Sweet Water Nursing Home, but we also adopt five families and provide a full Christmas to them, which is what the food is for. You’ll be buying the kids presents, but also everything the families would want or need for Christmas dinner and breakfast—muffins, cookies, juice, coffee. There’s a suggested list in there.” She pointed toward the folder in Carson’s grubby paws, and I glared at him.
The second we exited her office, it was mine. No way was he getting control of this entire thing. I was more organized, the responsible one.
Mrs. Parks cleared her throat, eyeing me as I star
ed a hole through him, then continued, “You have a week to prepare and start garnering donations, then the tree needs to go up. You’ll want to get the food for the families last, just before delivery on the twenty-second. I’ll touch base then, over the break. Any questions?”
I forced a smile. “No, ma’am.”
Mrs. Parks glanced to Carson, who lazed back in his seat. “Nope. We’re good,” he answered.
“Good.” Mrs. Parks steepled her hands on her desk. “I’m glad you two have agreed to work this thing out between you. I hope you’ll learn something from collaborating on this project, maybe make amends.”
Blah. . .Blah. . .Blah. . .
I shot to my feet. “May we be dismissed?”
Mrs. Parks nodded and waved toward the door, so I hightailed it out of there. Once I was outside, I waited for Carson. The second he shut the office door behind him, I snatched the folder from his hand. “I’ll take that, thank you,” I said, opening it and skimming through the contents.
Carson folded his empty hand, then grinned.
His teeth were so white it was abnormal. Didn’t he ever frown?
“Looks like we got off easy,” he said.
Easy? Easy! I’d hardly call having to work with him from now until Christmas easy. But whatever. If it didn’t bother him, then it didn’t bother me. I was fine, cool as a cucumber.
“I’ll meet you at your house after school,” I said.
“Can’t. I have an afternoon session today. We have our first meet this weekend.”
I scowled. Of course I would have to work around his schedule.
“But I could just stop by your place after,” he added.
“No!” I yelled, then I inhaled, calming myself. “I mean, I was going to hang with Ethan anyway, so I don’t mind coming to your house.” The last thing I needed was him showing up to my place and my parents having an epic throw-down.
I tipped my chin up. “How about seven? Does that suit your busy schedule?”
Carson pursed his lips like he was thinking it over, and I tried not to notice how full they were. The gesture did funny things to my insides.
“Sure. That works,” he drawled, then winked and brushed past me, bumping my shoulder in the process, and just when I was about to tell him, excuse you, he turned my way and saluted. “Seven it is,” he said.
I waited a moment, allowing the irritation to dissipate from my bloodstream like a drug, wondering how one person could be so infuriating. When I turned to stomp off in the other direction, I crashed into something solid. Oomph.
I stumbled back, then blinked up to see Ethan and nearly collapsed in relief. If there was one person I wanted to run into right now, it was my best friend.
His amber eyes went wide as the moon as he took in my face. “What the heck happened to you?”
