Page 91 of Pride High 2: Orange
“Hey, man,” the surfer boy said with an upward nod. “How’s it hanging?”
“Like ornaments from a tree,” Cameron replied, intending it to be a charmingly festive response. He didn’t realize how dirty it sounded until everyone laughed. Including the surfer, which made him blush.
“We’ll be in my room,” Mindy said. “So I can give Cameron his present.”
“Okay,” her mother replied. “Have fun.”
Mindy seemed disappointed in this response. “They could have at least asked us to keep the door open,” she complained as they went up a flight of stairs. “They areseriouslyunderestimating how desperate I am. My sister’s boyfriend spilled eggnog on himself earlier and all I could think about was licking it off his pecs.”
“I would have been right there with you,” Cameron laughed. “I’m crazy about blonds.”
“Isn’t everyone,” Mindy said with a sigh. “You can see why I feel the need to have a fake boyfriend.”
“Okay, but you can’t expect me to compete withhim.”
“What!?” Mindy grabbed his arm and pulled him into her room. “You are so handsome. Oh my god! Do you have any idea how excited I was to go on a date with you?”
“You sure were pretty that night,” Cameron said. When she sat on her bed and smiled at him, he added, “And you look amazing right now. Something is different.”
Mindy’s smile even got bigger.
“Your braces!” he said. “They’re gone! Which means the tooth fairy was here last night instead of Santa Claus.”
“He’s here now,” she said, nodding at him. “I love the hat.”
Cameron had forgotten he was wearing it. The hat was red cloth and white trim with a cotton ball hanging off the floppy point. “Santa loaned it to me. But seriously, you look great.”
“I’m so happy to have the braces off,” Mindy said. “Especially when brushing my teeth. Now we just need to find someone for me to kiss.”
“That guy on the couch,” Cameron said. “We’ll take turns holding him down so we can get our depraved lips all over him.”
“Yes!” Mindy said with a laugh. “Although you might have some explaining to do when your boyfriend finds out.”
“We’ll take photos. Anthony won’t blame us when he sees for himself.”
Mindy giggled. “We belong behind bars.”
“We really do.” Cameron sat on the bed next to her as she began to unwrap her gift. “Is it weird that I got you a present?”
“If it is,” she said, reaching for something on her nightstand, “then I’m weird too. Here.”
“Hey, thanks! When you mentioned that downstairs, I thought it was part of the act.”
“Nope! I meant to give it to you after the play and forgot.”
They gleefully shredded paper together. Cameron didn’t have much time to consider his gift before Mindy gasped.
“This is beautiful!” she said. “Umm… What is it?”
“A pencil holder,” he explained.
Which sounded boring, but he was proud of how it had turned out. The base was a wooden heart, the shape full and round. To go with it, he’d even hand-carved a pencil so that it resembled a quilled arrow.
“I love it!” Mindy said, plugging the pencil into a small hole in the heart. “And now I’minlove.”
“I thought about painting it,” he said, glancing around a bedroom filled with pinks, purples, and lots of girly things that his father would probably describe as frilly, “but the natural color was too nice.”
“It’s perfect,” Mindy said. “Thank you!”
