[ C h a p t e r - E l e v e n ]

Chapter 11

I wonder what Jonah is doing. The dance is just now starting and I'm sitting at work, beside Mere, waiting for Ms. Antoinette to dismiss us. We've had a bunch of customers today because we've been closed ever since Friday due to the snow storm. Bunches of parents were rushing in here buying last minute gifts for their children, video games galore.

"Wipe that look off of your face," Mere snapped as I sighed.

I looked up at her, my eyebrows furrowed. "What look?"

"That look of despair," Mere complained, scowling.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "It's not despair, its curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat, so I suggest you stop being curious," Mere smirked, earning a frustrated sigh from me. I didn't bother to complete the quote. "Anyway, what are you wondering about, girly?"

"I wonder what Jonah's doing," I replied, biting my lip.

"He might be at the dance or he might be at home; he's only a call away, you know?" Mere replied, swinging her legs as she sat halfway off of the counter.

I groaned. "Yeah, but he's angry at me," I buried my face in my hands.

"Who says you have to be the one to call him?" she asked mischievously. She clutched my phone in one hand and her own in the other, dialing Jonah's number on her iPhone.

"Hello?" his familiar voice asked. Meredith pinched her nose, causing her voice to go up a few octaves, which resulted in her sounding nasally.

"Hello there, this is Caroline Chrysanthemum and I'm from Chrysanthemum Company, we sell Chrysanthemum Crayons. Would you like to make a purchase?" I held back my laughter. The background was quiet.

"Excuse me?" Jonah asked.

"Can you not hear me? Are you in a crowded place?" Meredith asked him, sitting cross legged on the counter.

"Actually, I'm not," he replied. A voice in the background caused my ears to perk up.

"Jonah? Who is that? That isn't Savannah, is it? We're supposed to be on a date!" Waverly snapped. I felt my stomach clench and I suddenly felt sad.

Before we could hear Jonah's response, Meredith hung up the phone. It was quiet for a moment as I drew circles on the desk, in deep thought. Mere decided to speak up. "Vanna, do you...like him?"

I slowly shook my head, biting the inside of my cheek. "I just don't want to lose a friend to someone like Waverly," I told her.

Was I telling the truth? I know what I said was true but was I answering Mere's question honestly? Both of my mistakes caused even worse consequences. First, I snapped at Waverly over the phone and she ended up getting Jonah to go to Winter Wonderland with her. Then, I tag along with the twins who destroyed her $200.00 dress and I end up getting caught by Jonah himself, who ends up going on a date with the girl.

I'm guessing Mere decided to change the subject. "So...what are your plans for Christmas?"

I pursed my lips as I shrugged. "Spending it with my family, I guess. What about you?"

I looked up to see Mere staring at her lap. She shrugged slightly while fiddling with her hands. "My mom and dad left for vacation, so I'll be spending this Christmas alone."

I can't believe I'm doing this; I know it's going to be a bad idea. "Mere...do you, maybe, want to spend Christmas with my family?"

Her head perked up and her eyes shimmered with excitement. Then her smile widened even more; I'm guessing she realized that my family included my brother, the one she's been dying to meet for the entirety of our friendship. "Really?"

I nodded and she vigorously bobbed her head, her eyes widening slightly. Although the girl is nearly 20 years old, she acts like a five year old sometimes. "We're having a Christmas party, so bring a dress."

"I will!" Mere smiled widely as she nodded her head again. Ms. Antoinette exited the backroom with two gift bags in her hands and a motherly smile on her face.

The sight of the gifts made me smile, instantly shooing the thoughts of Jonah and Waverly aside momentarily. She handed the purple bag to me and the pink one to Mere. I slowly opened mine while Mere ripped hers apart.

I was greeted with the sight of two new video games; one that I went and talked to Ms. Antoinette about how it was supposedly great and had perfect graphics. It also had a gift card to a store in the mall that I was going to use soon. I furrowed my eyebrows as I realized that she gave me two of the same games.

She walked over to me and smiled. "That Jonah boy was eyeing it, figured you weren't one to buy gifts. Consider it a push; it's time you get into another relationship."

I smiled at Ms. Antoinette and nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Antoinette, but I'm not going to be in a relationship with that boy anytime soon."

"Liar," Mere pretended to cough and I glared at her before smiling at Ms. Antoinette.

"Anyway, have a good Christmas and New Year's, Ms. A. I'll see you at the party, Mere," I called as I exited the store, my body shivering slightly as the darkness surrounded me.

***

When I got home, it was 8:30 P.M. and the dance would be ending in an hour and a half. I should've gotten up the guts to ask Jonah as a friend. It's better than sitting at home. I'm sure Ms. A would've let me have the day off if I just asked.

I decided to play my new video game with Jer after I showered and changed into my pajamas. I walked over to my brother's room and knocked on the door. He opened it and gave me a questioning look. I simply held up the game and nodded towards the living room. He nodded excitedly, nearly diving down the stairs. I rolled my eyes. He reminds me of Mere in so many ways. When we got downstairs, I placed the game into the disk holder with a small smile on my face.

Jer tossed me a controller while furrowing his eyebrows. "What's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing," I shrugged, waving a hand carelessly.

When the startup screen came up, I went to click 'Begin Game' but Jer had other thoughts in mind and paused it. I glared at him. "Unpause the game," I demanded.

"No, not until you tell me what's got you so down in the dumps," he crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

I glared at him for a moment before sighing. "You're infuriating."

"Just tell me and we can start the game," he replied, waving his controller around in the air mockingly.

"It's Jonah," I muttered.

"When is it not?" he murmured.

"Shut up and let me speak," I told him. He nodded his head as if encouraging me to talk. I explained the story to my brother who listened intently, nodding along and muttering, 'wow' and 'you're stupid' occasionally.

My brother scratched the back of his neck before squinting his eyes. "You sure you don't like this guy?"

"I don't like him," I barked while I glared at him. "I just don't want him to be manipulated and hurt by Waverly. Believe it or not, he's a pretty good person."

"You could always invite him to the Christmas party." He told me and I looked at him as if he was insane. I was seriously contemplating whether I should chuck my controller at his head or not.

"Are you stupid?" I hissed. "Mom and dad would be all over him like Nutella on toast!"

"Great analogy sis," he snorted. "And I'm sure Dad would just ask him a few questions; it'd be no big deal. If it's that much of a problem, then I could invite him as my friend."

"No," I quickly answered. My brother smirked mischievously. "Jeremiah Harp, you better not."

"I better not what?" my brother asked as he tilted his head to the side as if he was innocent.

I balled my fists up angrily. "If you invite him to the Christmas party, I'll punch you in the throat. I'm not even kidding," I threatened

My brother pretended to gasp, placing a hand over his mouth. "Is that a threat, little sister?"

"No, it's a promise," I growled. My brother grinned before ruffling my hair.

"You have a good idea though; those come once in a lifetime with you. Why not make the idea a reality?" my brother asked, leaning his face on his left palm. I reached out and kicked his left arm, causing him to tip over and hit his face on the wooden floor.

"Invite him and that's the last thing you'll do," I hissed.

***

"You're stupid!" my brother shouted.

"You're a cheater!" I slammed my controller down onto the floor.

My brother glared at me. "I am not. You're just mad because you don't know how to play," he scowled.

"You're the one who taught me!" I exclaimed, tossing my hands up into the air.

This caused my brother to roll his eyes and stand up. He started stretching while looking down at me. "Well, if you'll excuse me; I have homework to do and people to invite to parties."

I glared up at him. "You do not!" I hissed as I got up.

Instead of replying, my brother raced around the house, up the stairs and into his room. I was close behind him, threatening to twist his leg around his head twice and use it as a jump rope.

I stood outside of his door, pounding on the wood like a mad woman. "Open the door!"

"No!" my brother replied.

"Open the door!"

"You're going to hit me!" my brother reasoned.

I stomped my foot before walking to my room, glaring at the floor as I went. I closed the door loudly behind me and slumped on my bed. I looked at the time. The dance ended a half hour ago.

I looked at my phone, which I left upstairs, and realized that Mere had texted me twice. One of them was asking about the Christmas party and the other asking me to call her as soon as I get the message.

Dialing her number, I waited only two seconds before hearing her loud voice squeal into the phone. "Hello?"

"Guess what?" she repeatedly shrilled.

Wincing slightly, I pressed the phone back to my ear. "What?"

"He called back!" she hissed into the phone and I furrowed my eyebrows. "Jonah called back! I didn't block the number!"

"You idiot, why didn't you block the number?!" I asked.

She groaned loudly. "I don't know, I was only thinking about helping you," she told me, annoyance laced in her voice. "Hold on, he's calling back again!"

She waited a moment before dialing his number. I was told to go on mute, so I did so. This reminded me of 4th grade, whenever I liked a boy, I'd have a friend of mine call him and ask him if he liked me. The whole time, I'd be on the phone, though.

Jonah's voice entered the conversation. "Caroline Chrysanthemum?"

"No, this is Sally Saddle-seller, owner of Sally's Saddle Selling Supply. You need it, we got it. How may I help you?" she put on her best western accent and I snorted. Her accent was terrible, to put it nicely.

"I need to speak to whoever the real owner of this number is," Jonah replied.

"Well, you are, young man. I am Sally, the owner of this fine telephone and this even finer establishment," Mere continued.

He sighed. "Let's count the amount of people I gave my phone number to, Waverly and Savannah. This voice sounds awfully familiar, almost like Meredith."

"You must be incorrect, boy, because my name is Sally, I am also the owner of the fine establishment and this fine telephone, which you are currently holding up; the business is unbelievable. It's horse riding season and our prices are way down there so our amount of customers is way up there," Mere continued blabbing. I face palmed. It's winter! How is it horse riding season?

"It's winter, Meredith," Jonah sighed.

Meredith just laughed. "Not where I'm at, champ."

"We have the same area code!" he exclaimed in a frustrated tone. "Just give it up, Meredith."

Surprisingly, Mere took his advice. "What do you want?"

"Why'd you call me earlier?" he asked.

Mere sighed, I could imagine her shrugging. "Since Vanna was working, I decided to take her phone and look through her contacts. I recognized your name and decided to call you."

"Why not call her brother? Aren't you obsessed with the guy?" Jonah drawled.

"I'm not obsessed!" she sounded shocked that Jonah would say that. "It's just a small crush."

"Anyway, why'd you call?" he asked.

"Since you like to harass Vanna, she didn't get her job done so she had to finish. I promised her I'd wait up so we could receive our gifts together and I had no work to do, so I just decided to do some prank calling," Mere lied. She's such a good liar, better than I'll ever be. Wait... has she ever lied to me?

Jonah was quiet so Mere spoke up again. "Was I interrupting something?"

"Not exactly," Jonah trailed off.

Mere made a confused sound. "Was I interrupting your date?"

"It wasn't a date..." Jonah replied. I grabbed my drink and started sipping on it. I decided to try and chug the whole thing since the conversation wasn't going in the direction that I wanted it to be going in.

I was halfway through chugging the drink when Mere's blunt reply caught my attention. "Of course, but if it were with Vanna, it would have been a date, right?"

I started choking on my drink. I'm sure my face was bright red as my throat burned and my eyes watered. I managed to keep the phone to my ear at the same time. "What?" Jonah asked.

I apparently wasn't the only one shocked by her bluntness. "I don't recall stuttering," Meredith responded.

"That was just...surprisingly blunt," Jonah muttered and I nodded as I began breathing normally.

"Anyway, what'd you do on this date?" Mere asked. She didn't even get the answer to the last question! What is she doing?! Why do you care? I don't!

"It wasn't a date; all we did was see a movie." Remind me to never assume that Jonah and I go on a 'date' if we happen to see a movie.

"That's not considered a date?" Mere pressed.

"Not in my book, no," Jonah replied.

Mere let out a breath. "Did you tell this girl that it wasn't a date?"

Jonah was hesitant for a moment. "You're leading this girl on," she told him.

"I'm not! At least, I don't mean to! I just don't want to seem like a jerk," he excused.

"While not acting like a jerk to one girl, you've been acting like a jerk to another," Meredith chided.

Jonah seemed confused. "What?" he asked.

"Well, I've got to get going," she quickly ended his call and I took myself off of mute.

"What's wrong with you?" I hissed.

"Well, a lot of things," she replied sassily. I let out a frustrated cry.

"You made it sound like I like him!" I explained.

"So? Why would he believe me?" she asked casually.

"You're my best friend, I tell you everything!" I snapped.

"Oh well, if he asks- deny it and laugh," Mere instructed. I frowned slightly at her terrible advice.

"Anyway, I'm going to go," I muttered.

"Deny and laugh, Vanna! Deny and laugh!" Mere shouted as I hung up the phone.