After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Author:Jordan Sonnenblick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2010-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

TO: [email protected]

FROM: [email protected]

Hi Steven —

I hope you’re staying warm over there. Or cool, if it’s hot in the Africa hemisphere. Whatever. I just mean it’s weird to celebrate Christmas without you. Tonight Uncle Neil did all his famous impressions, but they didn’t feel as funny without you doing the little ba-dump-bump drum thing on the table after the punch lines.

I scored big with the presents, but you know I’ve never really been into presents. Remember that first Christmas after my diagnosis, when everybody gave me mounds of toys and video games for the hospital? But my favorite part was playing snowball fights with our cousins and then you carrying me to bed.

No snow this year.

I have a ton to tell you again, if you ever stop banging on hollow logs long enough to read your mail — not that I’ll ever send this anyway. Things are crazy here. I have a girlfriend. A girlfriend! Remember that girl Lindsey that Mom was teasing me about during that one phone call, but then you had to go because of the monsoon or whatever you call it? Well, she likes me. And I like her. Can you believe we gave each other presents today? Mom and Dad made her come here because of the whole grounding issue (long story), but at least they let us take a walk to the park so we could get a break from Mom chasing us around with hot cocoa and a video camera. Speaking of cameras, Lindsey had been taking pictures of me all week at school, but wouldn’t tell me why.

So we exchanged gifts. I got her a box of oranges in a cool crate that says IMPORTED FROM CALIFORNIA on the side. Long story, but she made me share one with her right there in the empty gazebo. It’s pretty messy eating an orange with ski gloves on, but we had fun. I had given her my usual speech about how presents don’t mean much, and she shouldn’t go to any trouble, blah, blah, blah. She didn’t listen. First, she whipped out a rectangular gift about the size of a lunch box. There were little reindeer riding bikes on the wrapping paper, which I thought was cool.

I felt like Lindsey really understood me, you know?

But then I opened the box, and there it was: a Hello Kitty bicycle horn, bright pink. It was ghastly. Lindsey said, “Do you like it? I saw it and thought of you because of the whole bike … you know … uh, Jeff? Say something?”

So she gave me these puppy-dog eyes, and I forced myself to smile and say, “Uh, it’s perfect! Thanks, Linds. I’ll get this onto my bike, um, right away!”

Then she busted out laughing. “I’m kidding, silly! It’s just a joke. I would never make you put that on your bike. But here’s for being a good sport!” And she fed me a chunk of orange. Juice got all over my face, but then Lindsey wiped it off with her mitten.

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