The Transfer Student

Chapter 21: Secret Secret Santa

"I swear I didn't know! I'm so sorry!" Karin apologized furiously as I moped around.

"Yeah..." I answered vaguely.

Liz cackled brazenly, "I've already sent them our payment and papers through mail. It's too late to take anything back now!".

I glared at her, "I've realized, thank you very much. Just in case you haven't realized, I live in the same home as you. You're welcome".

Liz blew me a raspberry, "Someone's in a sour mood today".

"No duh".

In first period, which was Math, it was relatively quite until independent work time.

"Oh my god! It's Secret Santa today" a girl whispered quite loudly behind me.

"I know! I can't wait until they hand them out in last period! Eek! I hope Shintaro's got mine!" a second girl continued.

I sighed and plugged in my iPod, preferring not to listen in anymore. I'd been dreading what I would have to end up opening in class, hopefully, it wasn't going to be something embarrassing.

Eventually, the dreaded last period crawled into place in the form of homeroom, Kakashi's class.

"Alright class, I know everyone's been waiting for this moment for a very long time...but here it is! Secret Santa time!" Kakashi announced as he threw on his Santa hat and pulled out from behind his desk a sack full of presents.

Nearly the entire class cheered which was also echoed by several other classes down the hall. I laid my head down on my desk unhappily as Kakashi called out names for people to go up and receive their presents.

One by one, people left their seats to get their Secret Santa presents until, "Sasuke" Kakashi called.

Sasuke stood up and winked at me but I wasn't about to tell him that his Secret Santa wasn't me. He'd find out once he opened the present.

"Elvira!" Kakashi beckoned me up to the front of the class.

I sighed and lazily got up out of my seat to grab a squarish box. I shook it but it made no sound.

"Liz!" Kakashi called again.

This went on until the whole class was sitting down with a present in their hands. Kakashi then put away the Santa get up before allowing us to open our presents.

"What the?!" Sasuke's confused cry rang out.

I looked up with an amused expression on my face. Sasuke pulled out a pair of boxers covered in pink hearts.

"You're kidding, right?" Sasuke asked, looking at me.

I shook my head and stuck out my tongue, "Wasn't me".

"What?" now doubly confused, Sasuke looked to Gaara.

Gaara only shrugged his shoulders, though a pink tinge resided in his cheeks.

Liz couldn't contain herself anymore, "Ha ha ha!" she doubled over, clutching her stomach as she cried tears of joy.

Sasuke's temple throbbed angrily as he bunched the boxers up in his fist, "Wow. Thanks a lot, Liz, I wonder if they're even in my size".

Liz took a few deep breaths to calm herself, "Oh, don't worry, they're in your size alright" she winked at him.

"What the?!" Sasuke's face turned a deep red and we all suddenly understood why Gaara was the one to be embarrassed.

"Gaara..." Sasuke murmured in a dangerously low voice.

"I'm sorry! I swear! Liz blackmailed me!" Gaara wailed as he pleaded for his life.

Liz proceeded to open her present which was a thin square shape, "Oh damn! It's Super Junior!" she shrieked with excitement.

Liz leaped on me, suffocating me with an enormous bear hug, wailing her gratitude.

I gently prised Liz off of me, "I'm not your Secret Santa" I said with a bemused expression.

Liz's face went blank, "Eh? You're not?".

I shook my head but smiled, "It was Karin".

Liz's expression didn't change. Instead, her eyebrows buckled in towards her nose. I could tell that Liz hadn't come to trust her completely, but seeing as Karin knew what her favourite kind of music was...it was saying a lot.

"Open yours now" Sasuke urged me.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes before ripping away the wrapping paper. I saw a pack of three books, a series.

"Brooks Burner...the series?" I read aloud.

I flipped open the cover of the first book and a card was nestled snuggly within. I curiously took out the card and opened it.

Elvira May,

I heard you liked reading and these seemed to fit your taste. You should connect well with this series. They're quite popular in America so I thought that you might enjoy them. I've got a lot more of these where I got your present.

Have fun.

-Your secret Secret Santa

"Didn't you over do it a little, Sasuke?" Liz queried as she read the card over my shoulder.

Sasuke shrugged, "I'm not your Secret Santa".

I nodded, "I didn't think so" I said without looking at him.

I scanned the classroom, only seeing people busy opening their own presents.

"Hm...my secret Secret Santa...?" I mumbled to myself.

I took out the books from my bag and brought them into my room. As I read through the first few chapters, I realized that it was a relatively easy book to read. The level of literacy was not too high but that wasn't what had caught my attention. The story was based around a teenage girl who was a daughter to a former F.B.I officer. Due to death of her father and the absence of her mother, she had moved to Europe but now, the F.B.I were after her, to recruit her saying that, 'Your heritage is of the utmost importance to us'.

I recalled the note that was given to me with the book that I was currently using as a bookmark, "I should connect well with this series, huh?" I said out loud.

Who was my secret Secret Santa?