Free The Son of Someone Famous by M.E. Kerr

made my mother mad,” Brenda Belle said.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said.
    Then she said, “Be thinking about what you’re going to give me to prove we’re going steady. Ty Hardin gave Christine Cutler his football letter, and a little gold football she wears on a chain.”
    â€œI’ll be thinking,” I said.
    â€œI’m going to work on a mash note for Ella Early, too.” Brenda Belle giggled and squeezed my arm. “Nothing Power is the greatest invention since sliced bread!” she said.
    â€œIt’ll have to be our Christmas gift to each other,” I told her, “because I’m flat broke.”
    â€œMerry Christmas,” Brenda Belle said. We were in front of her door. “Merry Christmas and a real Nothing New Year!”

Notes for a Novel by B.B.B.
    â€œI don’t see how you can be going steady so suddenly,” my mother said. “Nothing happened last night, did it, Brenda Belle?”
    I realized a strange thing when she said that: Adam and I hadn’t even kissed.
    â€œNothing like that ,” I said. ‘‘We just kissed.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    â€œOf course I’m sure.”
    â€œYou were very talkative when you came in,” my mother said.
    â€œWhat has that got to do with anything?”
    â€œWell, you mentioned that you had a little punch. Are you sure you remember everything that happened?”
    â€œMother,” I said, “we didn’t have sex. I’d have remembered that.”
    â€œDon’t say that, Brenda Belle!”
    â€œWhat? Don’t say what?”
    â€œS-e-x,” my mother said.
    â€œWe didn’t have relations,” I said. “We didn’t make o-u-t.”
    â€œNo one buys the cow if he can get the milk free,” my mother said.
    â€œThanks a lot,” I said. “Mooooooo.”
    â€œI’m sorry, dear. It’s just that I’m a little bewildered. He didn’t even give you a Christmas gift, did he?”
    â€œHe will,” I lied. I planned to buy myself a box of candy in Corps and say Adam gave it to me.
    â€œAnd what about your gift for him?” she said.
    â€œI’m going to give him a plant,” I said.
    That was sort of true, even though it wasn’t a plant yet. It was still a sweet potato. I decided to take it right down to him without being asked, because I was afraid that if I called, he’d say not to come. I didn’t completely trust Nothing Power yet, and I wanted to see Billie Kay Case again.
    I arrived about two thirty that Christmas afternoon.
    Dr. Blessing answered the door. “Come in,” he said. “Are you a friend of Adam’s?”
    He didn’t even remember our meeting the night before.
    â€œI’m Adam’s girlfriend,” I said. “Brenda Belle Blossom.”
    â€œOf course,” he said. “You look a lot like your Aunt Faith. . . . Adam’s on the phone, talking to his father,” he said as we walked through the kitchen. I could see Adam standing over near the refrigerator, hunched over the telephone receiver.
    â€œCome in and meet Mrs. Waite,” Dr. Blessing said.
    â€œThat’s all right,” I said. “I know who she really is. Adam told me all about being her neighbor.”
    Billie Kay Case smiled up at me as I entered the living room.
    â€œWell, hi, Betty Belle,” she said.
    â€œBrenda Belle,” I said. “Is that Janice?”
    â€œYes, dis is my little snookums, Danice,” she said. She was holding this Siamese cat that was trying hard to get away. There were scratches on her arm. “Little Danice is afwaid of trangers,” she said. The cat spat at her. She slapped its nose.
    Dr. Blessing was walking around the room wearing the same suit and tie he’d had on the night before. He kept clearing his throat nervously and frowning across at Billie Kay and her cat.
    There was a certain amount of tension in the