A Love for the Mistletoe

A Love for the Mistletoe: A Love for the Pages Prequel Story

"Now, that's just cheesy." Deana examined the sparkly green shade she'd painted her nails, but I knew that wasn't what she found so ridiculous.

I put my own sparkly-red-tipped nails on my lap and looked across the room at the backup of people Deana was referring to. To get into the gym-turned-fake-winter-wonderland, you had to pass under mistletoe. Even with the teacher chaperones parked a few feet away at the punch-and-Christmas-cookies table, couples had no qualms about kissing each other in front of a photography club member snapping pics just because a couple of sprigs of fake leaves and berries were dangling overhead. I blushed at the idea of kissing someone so publicly. I blushed at the idea of the guy who popped into my head when I thought of doing just that.

Deana gave up examining her nails and leaned back on the bleacher. "Joe didn't have the money for the donation for a picture, but he still tried to kiss me when we passed under it. I was having none of that. I thought he was such a gentleman." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "As if. He's more like a perverted abominable snowman." Joe, decked out in an entirely white suit, had left his date several dances ago to go talk with his friends over by one of the basketball hoops. He lifted both hands and growled, as if on cue, causing one of the girls nearby to shriek in delight.

I laughed and pulled my shawl tighter over my shoulders. A strapless shiny blue dress might make me look like the perfect ice princess for the Holiday Dance, but it was in the single digits outside and the gym wasn't exactly doing the best job at keeping the indoors that much warmer. I searched the crowd for Deana's twin sister. "Where's Margot?"

Deana shrugged and gestured to the long line of couples lining up for the mistletoe. "Her date actually asked permission to kiss her for the camera, so she took him up on it."

I shook my head as I spotted her in line. "The tragedy." I grabbed the clutch purse I kept next to my waist and grinned, thinking of Margot's smiling face. She certainly didn't think it was cheesy.

"What do you keep in there, a book?"

I froze as I pulled the small, tattered paperback out of my clutch purse. I guess I had stretched the material to cram it in there.

"Oh. I was joking, but..." Deana leaned over my shoulder. "Oo. Pride and Prejudice?"

I felt a rush of excitement. "You're a fan?" I'd only been friends with the twin transfer students for a couple of weeks, if that. They'd been paired up with me for lab and we'd immediately hit it off. They just didn't see me much outside of class yet, or they'd notice the books I kept within reach at all times, in case a lull in activity ever bored me. Like the lull in activity that was going to a dance without a date.

"Sure. Mamma showed Margot and me the BBC version years ago." She squeezed her hands together. "Colin Firth! I wish he was my date to the dance instead of Joe."

I sniggered. "I don't think the chaperones would approve, considering you're underage and he's like your dad's age. Maybe your grandpa's age."

Deana shrugged. "They'd get over it. His British charm would win them over." She grabbed my book from me and started flipping through it. I almost ripped it out of her hands, but I knew sane people didn't think of their books as their babies. "Can I borrow this?"

"Sure," I said, tucking my hair back behind my ear. "Just... Take good care of it."

Deana rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to drop it in the punch bowl, if that's what you mean." She stared at the book and gestured for me to go. "Speaking of, could you get us a couple of glasses?"

"I was going to read—"

"Uh uh!" Deana cut me off. "You've been sitting here since you got here. Get up and get out there! Why come to a dance if you're just going to read?"