Page 47 of A Class of Her Own

“Well, I’m not wearing the hat.”

“Who found you a Santa costume?” Ruby bared her teeth at me.

“Aryn,” I replied. Aryn’s neighbor, it turned out, had a Santa costume from when his children were little, and he’d been willing to loan it to me for the night. I owed him big time for the favor. “Are you trying to tell me this is how I’m paying her back?”

“All I know is that Aryn says you’re wearing the hat.”

The hat in question was a vertical candy cane, rising off the top of my head, and making me at least two feet taller. It was humiliating. I shook my head, but Ruby raised her eyebrows, and, somehow, mind-melded with me, sending me images of how unafraid she’d be to use modern medicine to get her way. I offered one deep sigh and disappeared into the faculty bathroom to change.

The striped sweater was too big, which wasn’t much of a surprise, and the scratchiness was annoying but survivable. The hat, however? Oh my heavens, the hat. It sat on top of my head, snapping snugly beneath my chin so that I looked like a face peeking out of a candy cane. It was snug to my cheeks and chin, so no hair showed -- just my giant face, sticking out as a long contraption rose above me, forming a hook. I stared in the mirror for a while, and when I’d been there long enough to see the humor in it, I snapped a picture with my phone and sent it to my sisters.

Ash:Framing it

Willow:Checking outside to see if pigs are flying

I still had a small smile on my face when I arrived back in the cafeteria, which shrunk when I realized I had to duck to make it through the door. I found my friends talking a few feet away and knew they’d seen it because they were trying very hard not to laugh. I rolled my eyes at them and turned back toward the door when the sounds of families arriving caught my attention. We’d advertised it as a party, so people had come wearing all sorts of holiday things, including jingle bells, which really added to the chaotic feeling.

Good news: no one was going to pay me much mind.

Bad news: I should have taken some preventative headache medication before coming.

I made my way to where Principal Wall was taking his place in Santa’s recliner and had to admit that the costume had turned out well.

“Looks like you managed to pull it off,” he said when I was standing near him with my gigantic candy cane head. “I hope we have a good turn out.”

“The holidays are busy, and Christmas is less than a week away, so we’ll see,” I mumbled, distracted by trying to keep an eye on everything going on.

“That’s what I like -- that positive attitude. You really have a gift for putting a Pollyanna spin on things,” he muttered back.

I glanced at him, and he returned the look. Stalemate. I’d been in a few of those, but when it came to staring contests with bosses, I tried to keep it to a minimum.

“Thanks for being Santa,” I forced some genuine gratitude into my tone.

“Thank your committee for making tonight happen.”

His tone said he doubted I’d helped at all. I was about ready to launch into a snippy reply when Hailey popped into view. Up close she looked even more beautiful in a red velvet dress with a white, fake-fur collar and a pearl necklace. She had snowflakes dangling from her ears and a big, warm smile. Ford and his two kids, Henry and Hillary, were a step behind her as they took everything in.

“John,” she smiled at our boss, “you look wonderful. The students will be so excited.”

Principal Wall returned her warm greeting. “The cafeteria is transformed. You did a great job.”

Hailey looked to me. “It was Meredith’s doing. She ran the committee.”

He didn’t bother to look at me when he made a noncommittal noise. “Looks like we have people arriving. Are you all ready to go, Mrs. Claus?”

She nodded and turned to greet some children who had run straight to the big man. “I am.”

Ford worked his way around the kids between them and leaned to rest a hand lightly on Hailey’s waist as he placed a kiss on her cheek. He whispered something that made her face turn pink. It sounded like “under my Christmas tree,” but I couldn’t be sure. All I did know was that watching that tiny interaction brought up the sharp pain in my ribs I’d been experiencing lately.

I immediately slid into my place of comfort and took charge, forming a line to see Santa, making sure the cookies and milk were ready to go, picking up any garbage people dropped, and generally observing everything. These types of gatherings weren’t really my scene. I was a pro at hanging on the sidelines and avoiding getting tangled in any lengthy conversations by always staying busy, but a few parents came to chat with me about their student, and I met them with openness. After all, I understood how much they loved their children and cared about their education. We were on the same team there.

“We have a situation by the cookies,” Ruby hissed in my ear as she brushed past me.

“What’s going on?”

“Milk puddle at ten o’clock, growing into nine o’clock, now taking over eight o’clock . . .”

I pushed off the wall where I’d been leaning and darted after her, only my stupid candy cane hat somehow got hooked on the basketball net hanging above me. I was moving so swiftly and the cane got caught so tightly that I actually came off the floor and swung feet forward by my head for a second before my momentum stopped and I flew backwards, stumbling as my feet touched the ground again. A tearing sound released me from the choke hold, and I dropped to my bum under the hoop.

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