The Year Without Christmas (Sweet Valley Twins: Super Edition Series)

"Lila, you go first." Jessica Wakefield held the big hat full of tiny scraps of paper out to her best friend.

This was the first day of Sweet Valley Middle School's Christmas vacation. In two days, Jessica and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were hosting a Christmas Eve party. Everyone they had invited was now gathered around Jessica in the Wakefields' living room. They were drawing names out of a hat to see whom they would be "Secret Santa" for.

"Well, naturally. Don't I always go first?" Lila Fowler asked as she swept her long brown hair over her shoulder.

Jessica smiled sweetly. Even though Lila was her best friend, sometimes Lila's constant bragging drove Jessica crazy. She had to fight the urge, but Jessica decided not to say anything, because she wanted Mike McClusky to think she was a kind, generous person.

Mike had moved to Sweet Valley from Florida only about a month ago. Jessica didn't know him very well yet, but she could tell that he thought she was cute. That much was obvious from the way he kept smiling at her from his seat across the room next to Lila.

Jessica thought he was an absolute dreamboat. He had wavy blond hair and gorgeous bright green eyes. He was taller than most of the boys in the seventh grade, although he was in the sixth. He also seemed to have a great sense of humor. Right now, he was rolling his eyes, and Jessica had to stifle a giggle.

"Make sure you pick the best name out of the hat, Lila," Aaron Dallas joked from across the room. Aaron was Jessica's sort-of boyfriend, and he was funny and very cute. But Jessica didn't even bother to laugh at his joke. Ever since Mike had movedto town, she had eyes only for him.

Jessica's friends from the Unicorn Club--a group of the prettiest and most popular girls at Sweet Valley Middle School--were sitting on one side of the living room. Elizabeth's friends--mostly from the sixth-grade newspaper, Sixers, and other projects she was involved in--were sitting on the other. The two groups of friends didn't always get along, but they were getting along today. The holiday spirit had infected everyone.

Lila rummaged in the felt hat and pulled out a slip of paper. Her eyes widened as she read off the name to herself. Jessica wondered who she'd picked. Me? Jessica guessed hopefully. As Sweet Valley's resident millionaire, Lila would be the perfect person to have as a Secret Santa. She'd probably ignore the ten-dollar spending limit they'd set and go ahead and buy Jessica something really expensive and fabulous.

"Who did you get, Lila?" Ellen Riteman asked.

"It's a secret," Elizabeth Wakefield said with a smile. "That's why it's called Secret Santas."

"Oh." Ellen giggled, turning beet red. "Right."

Jessica walked around the circle of friends, holding the hat in front of each one and waiting for them to pick a name.

"Cool!" Aaron exclaimed as he read his slip of paper. "This is going to be easy."

"This isn't," Ken Mathews complained. "I'll be shopping for hours."

"Oh, man," Winston Egbert groaned as he made his selection. "Can I pick again?"

"No!" Jessica said. "Definitely not." Really, if the boys were going to be such whiners about the whole thing, then maybe they shouldn't be invited to her party. She hoped none of them had picked her name. But, of course, if they had, they wouldn't be groaning.

Anyway, if a guy was going to choose her name, then she wanted it to be Mike McClusky. It would be so romantic if he were her Secret Santa! He'd give her a much better present than any of those other guys, because he'd truly and deeply care whether she liked the gift or not.

Jessica held the hat toward her twin. "Go ahead, Elizabeth. Your turn." She smiled.

Elizabeth took a name out of the hat. When she read it, her eyes widened in surprise. She looked stunned, in fact. Then she recovered, looking up at the group with a broad smile. "Great! This is going to be a real challenge."

I wonder who she got, Jessica thought. I'll have to ask her later. Even though the Secret Santas were supposed to be top secret, Elizabeth couldn't keep that information to herself forever. After all, she and Jessica were identical twins, and that meant they should share everything.

Of course, just because they looked identical, with long blond hair and blue-green eyes, that didn't mean they did everything exactly the same way. For instance, Elizabeth probably wouldn't even want to tell Jessica who she'd picked. She'd act all honorable and refuse to break the rules. That is, until Jessica convinced her to spill the beans.

Jessica lived for breaking rules. She'd be the first to tell Elizabeth whom she was Secret Santa for. Jessica believed in sharing crucial information. What good were secrets--about Santa or anything else--if you couldn't share them with somebody?

"You go next," Elizabeth said, holding the hat toward Jessica.

"OK," Jessica said, excited. She rummaged around in the hat. Please pick Mike's name, please pick Mike's name.... She grasped a scrap of paper and opened it.