“So what kind of costume do you want to get?” I asked Allie as we stepped into the mall the next day after school.

The place was busy for a weekday. Cheery holiday tunes poured out of every storefront, competing with each other and with the equally cheery holiday music playing constantly in the concourse. Hurried-looking shoppers went dashing from store to store or lined up at the coffee place to fuel up for more shopping.

Allie smiled at a little kid racing past us toward the Santa pavilion in the fountain court. “Not sure,” she said. “Just something Christmassy and cute, I guess.”

I realized she hadn’t been talking much lately about her goal to land herself a boyfriend before the Ball, though now that I thought about it, I wondered if it was a lingering hope that she’d be going as part of a couple that had made her wait so late to get herself a costume. But I kept quiet about that. Allie was a pretty chipper person in general, but the one topic that could get her bleak and gloomy like no other was her love life—or lack thereof. I didn’t want to bring her down by making her focus on her single status.

Instead I returned to our previous topic of conversation. My love life. Or lack thereof.

“So anyway,” I said as we strolled down the bustling mall concourse toward the costume shop, “the one interesting thing that came out of that disaster of a ‘double date’ at the bowling alley was this: Bruce mentioned that Cam hasn’t asked Jaylene to the Ball yet.”

“Really?” Allie glanced over, brows lifted in surprise. “That is interesting. I wonder if he’s afraid she’ll say no if he asks her too soon. I came up with a theory about that once—it’s called the Delayed Date Theory. It helps explain why guys are so lame about stuff like asking girls to the prom before the last possible second.”

We turned the corner and immediately had to dodge an empty baby stroller being pushed kamikaze-style down the mall by a wild-eyed toddler. Barely escaping with our kneecaps intact, we hurried down the concourse and ducked into the costume shop. The song selection there was a jazzy instrumental version of “Deck the Halls.” Or “Deck the Malls,” as Cam had always jokingly sang it to me whenever we’d heard it under similar circumstances.

“But never mind that,” Allie continued. “What we need right now is to get back to the More Than Friends Theory. Just because it didn’t work out on the first try doesn’t mean you should give up.”

“I don’t know, Allie.” I stepped over to the closest rack and started flipping absent-mindedly through the costumes. I’d been pondering the whole Cam situation all day, with only a brief break to focus on and pass my physics test. “I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m trying too hard.”

Allie was pawing through the costumes too. “Wow, the pickings are pretty slim here. I guess most people already have their costumes. Hey, but this one is cute.” She grabbed a sparkly white Christmas Angel costume and held it up. “Come on, I want to try it on. You can come with me and explain exactly what the heck you’re talking about with the ‘trying too hard’ stuff.”

We headed toward the dressing rooms at the back of the store. “I just wonder if I’m panicking for nothing, that’s all,” I said as we pushed our way between two racks of Santa suits. “I mean, Cam can’t really be happy with someone like Jaylene long-term, can he? What if I just wait it out? After all, if he hasn’t even asked her to the Ball yet, maybe he’s only with her because he thinks that’s what I want.”

“What?” Allie looked alarmed. “Lexi, no! Think about what you’re saying here. I mean, maybe you’re right. But he’s too special a guy to take that kind of chance. If you let that blond little Southern-fried—”

She let out an audible gulp as we rounded the corner into the dressing-room aisle. For a second I thought she’d stepped on a pin or something.

Then I saw what she’d seen. Or rather who she’d seen.

“Well, hi there!” Jaylene exclaimed, her face brightening as she spotted us. She was standing in front of the big full-length mirror on the wall opposite the individual dressing room stalls. “Y’all are just in time to give me your opinion. What do y’all think of this outfit?”

She twirled around in front of the mirror, showing off the costume she had on. It appeared to be meant to represent some kind of elf, though I couldn’t imagine any living creature surviving North Pole temperatures with that much flesh showing. The strapless green satin top laced up the front like a corset, hugging her curves and showing an impressive amount of décolletage. The flouncy little skirt—with the emphasis on little—was striped like a candy cane, with a hem that appeared to have been dipped in glitter. Jingle bells chimed on the perky hat atop Jaylene’s blond curls and the pointy toes of her slippers. Elbow-length satin gloves, a green velvet choker, and green fishnet stockings completed the look.

“They call it the Naughty Elf,” she explained with a giggle. “Isn’t that adorable? Ah’m just so glad they had mah size.”

“Um, it’s . . . cute?” Allie seemed to be struggling for the right words. “Doesn’t look very warm, though. You know, for December.”

Jaylene twirled around and craned her neck to check out the back view. “Oh, Ah’m not worried about that,” she said. “Ah’m sure once Ah’m out there dancin’ with Cam, Ah’ll be plenty warm enough.”

“Oh! So Cam asked you to the Ball?” Allie asked, sneaking me a quick look.

Jaylene nodded, making the bell on her hat jingle. “Last night when he dropped me off after our date.” She smoothed down her tiny skirt. “He tells me everyone dresses up for this thing, so Ah didn’t want to waste any time gettin’ started shoppin’ for a costume and miss out on all the good ones. Ah bet he’ll just love this outfit, don’t y’all think so?”

I couldn’t quite seem to respond. Seeing Jaylene there in the flesh—lots of flesh—in her sexy elf costume had apparently robbed me of the power of speech.

Luckily Allie wasn’t similarly afflicted. “Well, since you asked,” she said, “I’m not sure that outfit is, um, exactly Cam’s cup of tea. He’s more the fuzzy reindeer or snowman type of guy. Right, Lexi?”

“Yeah,” I blurted out, trying not to stare at Jaylene’s cleavage. “He’s kind of, you know, conservative that way.”

“Oh, come on, y’all!” Jaylene shimmied in front of the mirror, smiling blissfully as she took in her own reflection. “What self-respectin’ man wouldn’t love a cute lil’ costume like this? Ah think Ah’ll get it. Thanks a bunch for the input, though, y’all!”

She jingled off back to her dressing room stall. Allie grabbed my arm and yanked me into an empty cubicle nearby.

“That was close!” she hissed into my ear. “Do you think she heard us talking about her when we were coming in?”

“Didn’t seem like it. That corset she’s wearing probably cut off the blood supply to her ears.”

“Shh!” Allie looked alarmed. “Let’s not talk until—you know.” She tilted her head in the general direction of Jaylene’s dressing room stall.

She hung the angel costume on the door and started peeling off her clothes. I slumped on the hard triangular seat in the corner of the stall and waited, staring off into space. I was fine with not talking for a few minutes. Maybe that would give me time to figure out whether I’d really known Cam as well as I thought I did.

Allie was adjusting the halo on her outfit when a tap came on our door. “See y’all later!” Jaylene called in to us.

“Bye,” Allie and I called back.

We waited until we were pretty sure she was out of earshot. Then I let out a long breath of frustration. “Listen, Allie,” I said. “Do you think I wasn’t trying hard enough with Cam?”

“Make up your mind—are you trying too hard, or not hard enough? Anyway, what do you mean?” Allie tugged at the hem of her white skirt. “Like, last night at the bowling alley? I already told you, I—”

“No, not that.” I sat up straight and stared at her. “I’m just starting to wonder if Cam was actually as happy in our relationship as I always assumed. Is he really just a conservative, fuzzy-reindeer-costume kind of guy? Or would he maybe have appreciated a little more excitement, a little more naughty elf or whatever, and I wasn’t trying hard enough to see that?”

Allie’s eyes widened. “Oh, Lexi . . .”

“No, really. We thought he’d never go for someone like”—I glanced cautiously toward our cubicle door—“um, you-know-who. But look at them now! Maybe that’s what he likes about her. She keeps him on his toes, gives him something fresh and new and sexy and different. Instead of me, who just sort of took him for granted.”

“So what are you saying? You’re not giving up, are you?”

“No way. Since when do I back down from a challenge?” I smiled grimly. “No, I’m going to do exactly what you’ve been telling me to do. Pull out that More Than Friends Theory. Give it a real test. Starting with finding my own sexy costume for that Christmas Eve Ball.”

Allie looked dubious. “Um, are you sure?” she said. “I mean, I know I’ve been telling you to do the More Than Friends thing. But I’m not sure a head-to-head sexy competition with Jaylene is, you know, the best way to do it. That naughty elf costume was, well . . . and she has, um, you know . . . I’m just not sure how you’re going to top that, okay? Maybe it’s better if you stick to being yourself.”

“What, you mean dress up as a test tube or something?” I grinned to let her know I wasn’t insulted. “Anyway, that angel costume looks great on you. So get it off and come out and help me find one for myself.”

Despite her doubts, Allie loyally helped me dig through the racks of Christmas costumes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much luck. All that was left in my size were frumpy Mrs. Claus dresses and a snowman costume that would have made me look like the Michelin Man.

Biting my lip, I glanced toward the clearance rack at the back of the store. That was where the leftover Halloween stuff hung, dusty and forgotten amidst all the Yuletide frenzy.

“Come on,” I said grimly, heading that way. “Let’s see if there’s anything we can use over there.”

Allie trailed after me. “Maybe you could go as a vampire and try to scare Jaylene back to Georgia,” she joked halfheartedly as I dug into the costumes.

“Hey, look at this.” I pulled out a shimmering pair of emerald green see-through harem pants. I held them up against my long legs, casting a critical eye downward. “Looks like they’ll fit.”

“What is that, a genie outfit?” Allie asked. “That doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas.”

“And here I thought you were supposed to be the creative one,” I said. “All we need are the right accessories. . . .”

A few minutes later I was in the dressing room, twirling around in our creation. In addition to the translucent green harem pants, which billowed gauzily around my legs and allowed free view of my (thankfully clean and hole-free) white panties, I was wearing a green vest with red and white trim that we’d taken from a boy’s-sized Santa’s-helper outfit. It ended several inches above the waistband of the harem pants and didn’t quite close across my chest, so I was also wearing a wide candy-cane-striped headband as a makeshift tube top underneath. Oh, and a festive Santa hat just to top it all off. At first I felt a little queasy at the thought of going out in public with so much of me exposed, but I reminded myself it really wasn’t any different from walking around the community swim club in a bikini.

“Ta-da,” I announced, twisting around to check out the back. “We can call it a Christmas Genie.”

“More like a Rated-Xmas Genie,” Allie commented wryly. “Or better yet, a Triple-Xmas Genie.”

“I don’t care what you call it.” I stared at my reflection, trying to imagine what Cam’s reaction would be when he saw me in it on Christmas Eve. Jaylene wasn’t the only one who could make his life fresh and exciting. “All I care about is that it works.”