Free December Secrets by Patricia Reilly Giff Page B

of the line. His head was way back. His pink eraser was sitting on top of his nose.
    Beast was a very funny boy.
    She'd pick Beast for her special person.
    She tried to think of ways to make him happy.
    Beast loved to draw.
    Emily had an almost-new box of crayons. All of the points were sharp.
    Except for the red crayon.
    That's because red was her favorite. It was alsobecause she had drawn lots of red turkeys last month.
    She'd give Beast the box of almost-new crayons.
    All of them except for the red one.
    The class marched into the art room.
    Emily took her seat. Maybe Beast wouldn't see that the red crayon was missing.
    “Guess what month this is?” asked Mrs. Kara.
    “December,” everyone yelled.
    “Very good,” said Mrs. Kara. She passed out drawing paper. “How about drawing some December things?”
    Emily took her crayon box out of the art cubby.
    She pulled out a yellow crayon. She'd make a big candle-holder like the one Ms. Rooney had drawn.
    Matthew poked her in the back. “Can I borrow a green crayon?” he asked.
    She passed it back to him.
    “Guess what?” he said. “I'm going to pick Beast for my secret person.”
    Emily frowned.
    “He's my best friend,' Matthew said. “He invited me to his Thanksgiving sleep-over last week. It was the best party in the world.”
    “Oh,” Emily said. She drew nine sticks for can-dles. She put big orange flames on them.
    She tried to think of someone else to pick for that special per-son.
    Dawn Bosco leaned over. She looked at Emily's picture. “That's very nice, Emily,” she said.
    Emily smiled at her. Maybe she should pick Dawn.
    Emily looked at Dawn's picture. Dawn had drawn a picture of a girl. She had a great big pink chewing-gum bubble coming out of her mouth.
    “I like your picture too,” Emily said.
    Dawn smiled. She drew a pink sweatsuit on the girl. She put blue polka dots on the sweatsuit.
    “Hey, that's me,” Emily said.
    Dawn picked up a green crayon. She drew a little green mark on the girl's pink sweatsuit. Shedrew it right on the knee. 'How come you didn't let me get ahead of you in line?” she asked.
    Emily looked at the green mark. She didn't answer.
    Mrs. Kara clapped her hands. “Hold up your drawings,' she told the class. She looked around. “Just lovely.”
    Emily ducked her head. She hoped Mrs. Kara didn't know that Dawn's picture was supposed to be Emily.
    Emily certainly wouldn't pick Dawn for her secret person. She'd have to pick someone else.

Chapter 3

    Wayne O'Brien was a nice boy, Emily thought. Maybe she would pick him.
    Wayne liked fish a lot.
    She could cut out fish pictures. She could draw fish in a bowl. She could buy fish food so he could feed the class fish, Drake and Harry.
    Wayne was a perfect special December person.
    Emily waited until the bell rang. Everyone lined up to go home. They raced out the door.
    Emily went up to Ms. Rooney's desk. “I picked a secret person,” she said.
    “Nice, Emily,” said Ms. Rooney. She pulled out a notebook. “I'm writing down all the secret persons. That way, no one will get left out.”
    “My secret person will be Wayne,” Emily said.
    Ms. Rooney looked at her book. “Sorry, Emily. Someone chose Wayne already.”
    “Oh,” Emily said. “I was going to pick Beast, but—”
    Ms. Rooney shook her head. “Someone picked him too.”
    Emily looked at all the desks. She tried to picture who sat at each one.
    Should she pick Sherri Dent? No.
    Linda Lorca? Not really.
    “How about Dawn?” Ms. Rooney said.
    Emily thought about the green stain. She thought about Dawn's picture. She shook her head. “No.”
    Ms. Rooney looked at her book again. “I have a perfect secret person for you,” she said.
    “Who?”
    “Jill.”
    “Jill Simon?” Emily asked.
    Ms. Rooney smiled. “That's the only Jill we have.”
    Emily smiled too. She shook her head a little.
    Jill was a crybaby. A fat crybaby;
    And fat crybabies were no fun.

    “Yes,” said Ms. Rooney. “I think Jill would be