22
As Devon waited for Cassidy to zip up the back of her gown, she was uncertain. “Do you think this color of red works for me?” she asked Cassidy. She’d gone to Cass’s house to get dressed, and the boys would be picking them up soon. “With my auburn hair I have to be careful. It seemed okay at the rental shop, but in this light I’m not so sure.”
“There,” Cassidy told her. “See for yourself.”
Devon turned around and peered in Cassidy’s full-length mirror. The long, fitted gown was made of a dark burgundy velvet, and seeing it with her hair, she realized that it was actually kind of nice.
“You look gorgeous.” Cassidy stepped next to her. “With me in my emerald and you in your burgundy, well, we look downright festive.”
Devon laughed. “We really do.”
As promised, Devon helped Cassidy with her hair and makeup. They were just finishing up when Cass’s mom called up the stairs to say the boys had arrived. “Ready for this?” Cassidy asked with a nervous expression.
“Sure. Why not?” Together they strolled down the stairs like they were princesses, and the looks on Lane’s and Harris’s faces seemed like a pretty good payoff. Devon was sure that no one—besides her friends—would guess that the gown had been rented. And no one, except maybe Bryn, would remember that she was wearing the same shoes from the homecoming dance.
Everyone, including Cassidy’s parents, pulled out their phones and started snapping photos. Like Devon had promised, she sent hers to Grandma Betty. And then, feeling surprisingly generous, she sent one to her mom. Not that she probably cared, since she was still treating Devon like an orphan.
“Did you get our sleigh there all right?” Cassidy asked Lane. “By the five o’clock deadline and without anything falling apart?”
“Yeah. You should see that place with all those sleighs! Pretty cool.” Lane held up a ticket. “And here’s our admission.”
“The sleds are all circled around the ballroom like it’s a racetrack,” Harris told them. “Kinda like the Santa Indy 500.”
“Were the judges there yet?” Devon asked.
“I don’t know,” Harris told her. “But you can bet they’ve been there by now.”
“Do you think we have a chance to win?” Cassidy asked the guys. “How did we compare with the others?”
“Hard to say,” Harris admitted.
“Let’s go,” Devon said eagerly. “I want to see this.”
Because Harris had driven tonight, Devon waited for him to open the passenger door for her, feeling slightly like royalty when she slid into the front seat. Already this was going far better than her previous two dates. Perhaps she had actually learned something from those disaster evenings. Perhaps she was growing up.
Because so many of the kids had exhausted their finances in putting together the Santa sleighs, everyone had pretty much agreed to forgo eating out before the dance tonight. This suited Devon just fine, because she was always too nervous to eat much before a dance anyway. The soup that Cass’s mom had made for them had been just about perfect.
Harris pulled up to valet parking and soon they were all out and strolling into the dance. As Devon considered the effort that the four of them had put into Project Santa Sleigh and the way this date had all fallen into place, she felt incredibly good. Like this was the way it was done. Even if their sleigh didn’t win tonight—although she felt they had a chance—she would go home feeling like a winner. She just knew it.
Bryn had been pretty impressed and amazed at the Santa Sleigh entries. To be perfectly honest, it seemed that many of them outshone her team’s efforts. She could tell that Abby thought so too. Maybe it really was better to be out of the competition. At least she wouldn’t have to admit that they’d lost.
The sleighs were numbered, and the team of judges was about halfway around the room when they stopped at a sleigh she actually recognized. The one that Emma had made for the assembly. As Bryn studied it, she felt slightly disappointed. Oh, the sleigh itself was still colorful and fun, but the toys and wrapped presents inside of it seemed rather miserly and somewhat anticlimactic. Especially compared with the other entries. Although there was a small flat-screen TV wedged into the back of it. But was that an appropriate gift for young children? “This one seems a bit dull,” she said aloud.
“Don’t be too quick,” Jack told her. “See this?” He picked up a remote with a note that said “Click me.” He pushed the button, then called the other judges to gather around to see. Together they watched a video where four adorable little kids were doing all sorts of fun things. To start with, the kids were trying on colorful new winter wear, and then they were watching a Christmas parade. Sometimes the teens were in the footage with the kids, but someone had edited to be sure their faces were obscured. Mostly it was just film of the kids. The next scene was the kids wobbling around on the same ice-skating rink where tomorrow’s party would be held. The legs of the teens showed as they helped the kids practicing some skating skills. This was followed by a lunch scene, and after that the kids played miniature golf and even went bowling. There were spots of the kids going shopping for Christmas gifts for their family members and shots of them wrapping the presents afterwards. Next they were filmed at a tree lot, where they picked out Christmas trees and then took them to their houses to decorate. There was footage of the four smiling faces waiting in line for a new Christmas movie and eating pizza afterwards. Finally they saw shots of the kids in their homes, proudly presenting food boxes and gift certificates to the surprised parents.
“Wow,” Jack said when he finally clicked it off. “Impressive.”
“Those kids really put a lot of thought and effort into their project,” Mrs. Dorman commented.
“And they invested a lot of themselves in it too.” Beth bent down to make notes on her list.
“That took some serious time and energy,” Mr. Worthington added.
Some of the other judges made similar comments, and eventually the team of judges continued on their way. As Bryn wrote down numbers for the other entries, some that were full of toys and looked flashy and colorful and charming, she couldn’t get that video out of her head. Emma and her team had really done it right.
It took nearly two hours to judge all the sleighs, but Bryn’s mind was already made up, and as she handed her sheet to Jack, she suspected she wasn’t the only one who’d felt this way. At least she hoped she wasn’t. In her opinion, if anyone truly deserved to win, it was Emma, Felicia, Isaac, and Marcus.
“Meet you back down here in a few minutes?” Jason asked as she, Abby, and Amanda were exiting the ballroom. Jack and Beth had offered the girls the use of their hotel suite to get ready.
“A few minutes?” Bryn frowned. “Is that all we have?”
“It’s almost 7:00,” he pointed out.
“Well, we might just be elegantly late,” she retorted.
As she rode the elevator with Abby and Amanda, she asked what they thought about the sleighs. “Did any of them stand out to you?”
“Sure,” Abby said. “One in particular—and not just because they’re friends either.”
“Emma and Felicia got my vote,” Bryn confessed.
“I picked them too,” Amanda admitted.
“Wouldn’t that be cool if they won,” Abby said as they hurried down the hall to the suite the Hartfords’ had offered to share with them.
Because they’d already done their hair and makeup, it didn’t take long to dress, but when Bryn stepped out in her long white gown, Abby frowned ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?” Bryn asked her.
“Nothing,” Abby said quickly.
Amanda was starting to giggle.
“What is it?” Bryn looked over her shoulder, trying to see the back of her dress. “Do I have a price tag hanging somewhere?”
“No, nothing like that.” Abby was giggling now too.
“What’s going on?” Bryn demanded.
“Nothing.” Abby tugged on Bryn’s arm. “Let’s go. It’s almost 7:30, and I want to be there when they announce the winner.”
Yet it was obvious that both Abby and Amanda were amused by something as they rode down the elevator. When it stopped at the lobby, Bryn pushed the Close button on the elevator panel. “I refuse to let you guys out until you tell me what’s so funny,” she told them.
Abby and Amanda exchanged amused looks, then turned back to Bryn. “It’s just that . . .” Abby laughed nervously. “You sort of look like . . . well, like . . .”
“Like you’re getting married,” Amanda finished for her.
“Yeah,” Abby said. “Is that a bridal gown?”
“What?” Bryn tried to peer at her reflection in the smoky mirrored wall inside the elevator. “A bride? Seriously?”
“Yeah, but you’re a really pretty one,” Abby said as the door opened.
“I look like a bride?” Bryn repeated in a horrified voice as they exited the elevator. “Really?”
As Jason walked up to meet her, she could see that he had a slightly puzzled expression, which he quickly turned into a grin. “Don’t you look pretty!” He handed her a box with a red-and-white wrist corsage.
“Amanda and Abby think I look like a bride,” she hissed at him.
He laughed. “Well, I can kinda understand that.”
“Come on,” Abby called to Bryn. “Kent says they’re about to announce the winners. Don’t you want to hear it?”
All Bryn could think about was that everyone thought she looked like a bride. She’d wanted to be the belle of the ball—not a bride! As they walked into the ballroom, it all flashed through her mind—all the time and effort she’d put into her appearance, how she’d carefully picked everything out, how she’d spared no expense, how her dad had hit the roof when he’d seen the bill. All for what?
Emma was so excited that it almost felt like she was floating as she and Isaac and Felicia and Marcus walked into the ballroom. She felt pretty in her rented mint-green dress and thrift store shoes, and Isaac looked and acted like a real gentleman in his rented tux. This was going to be fun!
“Look at all these sleighs!” she exclaimed as they walked the perimeters of the ballroom. “Do you guys realize how many kids’ lives are going to be touched by this?”
“I can’t wait to see everyone at the ice-skating rink tomorrow,” Felicia said. “I even have a few more things to add to our sleigh.”
“Wow, some of these sleighs are really something.” Marcus pointed to one that was heaped high.
“Ours looks a little empty in comparison,” Emma said as they came to it.
“But that was the plan,” Isaac quietly reminded her.
A small crowd of onlookers was watching the video with interest.
“Looks like it’s doing just what we hoped it would do,” Marcus pointed out.
“Anyway, the kids sure had fun,” Felicia added. They continued on around the circle, checking out all of the competition.
“I didn’t know we had so much creativity at our school,” Emma admitted after they made the complete circle. “People really worked hard on this.”
Mr. Worthington was trying to get everyone’s attention up in front, announcing that they were getting ready to reveal the winners of Project Santa Sleigh. “To do this, I’d like to invite the chairs of the committee up here.” Emma watched as Bryn, escorted by Jason and trailed by Amanda and Abby, got onto the small stage.
“It looks like a wedding,” Isaac whispered to her.
Emma laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
Bryn took the microphone from Mr. Worthington. Emma could tell she wasn’t exactly comfortable in her long white gown, which did seem rather wedding-like. But she graciously thanked everyone for coming, making a sweet little speech about the enthusiastic participation in the contest. Finally she handed the mike to Jason.
He held up an envelope. “This, my friends, contains the winning entry—the four lucky people who will win the grand prize of Rose Bowl and red carpet tickets.” He waved it in the air. “You guys ready?”
Everyone cheered and he slowly opened the envelope. “The winning sleigh is number 37, and it was put together by Emma Parks and Isaac—” But that was all that Emma could hear because everyone was clapping and cheering. Isaac swooped her into a lifted hug, and then the four friends did a group hug. Finally they went up to the stage to claim their prize. Emma didn’t think she’d ever had a happier moment.
The celebration got even better when, later on, she was congratulated by all her friends in the DG. Every single one of them seemed genuinely happy for her and for Felicia too. As they were all gathered around the table, chattering happily together, Emma realized that the DG had grown—not just in numbers but as people too.