Girl Online (25 page)

“Penny, look at the bridge,” Mum says, nudging me.

I open my eyes and see that we’re on the Brooklyn Bridge already, about to go under the first arch. On the other side of the river, the Brooklyn skyline stands solid and brown against the pale sky. My panic has passed, like a cloud skimming across the sun.

Once we get to Brooklyn, the cab pulls into a residential side street lined with trees. The houses are all four stories high and made of brownstone. We stop outside a house halfway down. A flight of steep stone steps leads up to a bright red door. A Christmas wreath made of holly and mistletoe hangs in the center of the door, and a miniature stone Santa is standing at the top of the steps, grinning down at us.

“Oh, it looks so lovely,” Mum says, speaking my thoughts aloud.

But as I get out of the cab, my head fills with fearful thoughts.
What if you and Noah don’t get along? What if it’s really awkward spending Christmas together?
However, before I can torture myself any more, the door of the house opens and a little girl comes flying out. Her shiny dark brown hair is so curly it falls around her face in perfect ringlets. She looks at us shyly through huge brown eyes.

“Have you come for Christmas?” she says in the cutest New York accent ever.

“We certainly have,” Dad says.

Sadie Lee comes out onto the steps. She’s wearing a flour-dusted floral apron over her dress. “Hello!” she cries. “Welcome! Welcome!”

Noah steps out after her and we instantly make eye contact. “Hey,” he says softly.

“Hey,” I say back. Then I start busying myself with my suitcase to try to hide my embarrassment.

“Let me get that,” Noah says, bounding down the steps. When he gets to Dad, he stops. “Hi, I’m Noah,” he says, holding his hand out.

“Pleased to meet you, Noah,” Dad says, shaking his hand. “I’m Rob.”

I give a sigh of relief—so far, so good.

“Are you Penny?” Bella says to me as I come up the steps after Noah.

“Yes, I am. And you must be Bella.”

She nods and grins shyly before turning to Noah. “You were right, Noah.”

“Shhh,” Noah says instantly.

“Right about what?” I say.

“She looks just like a mermaid,” Bella says.

“Man! I thought you said you could keep a secret!” Noah says, winking at me.

Noah’s house is straight from a cozy feel-good American movie. The hallway is the size of a living room. A beautiful grandfather clock stands in the corner next to a wide staircase. Noah and Sadie Lee lead us through an archway on the left, into a huge but really homey kitchen. I breathe in the rich smell of chocolate brownies.

“So, you guys will be sleeping in the spare room,” Sadie Lee says to Mum and Dad. “And, Penny, you can go in with Bella.”

“You have to have the top bunk,” Bella says to me gravely. “I don’t like the top bunk cos I’m scared I might fall out.”

“The top bunk would be great,” I say, smiling down at her.

She takes hold of my hand. “Do you want to come see?”

“Yes please.” I look at Noah and he grins at me.

“OK, but don’t be long. We have a tree to decorate, remember?”

“Oh yes!” Bella squeals, and she starts tugging me by the hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

Bella’s room is on the second floor of the house. She leads me across the landing to a door with a handmade sign stuck to it, saying: ALIENS KEEP OUT! (
AND PIGS
.)

“Noah made that for me,” Bella explains. “I don’t like aliens—or pigs—so that’ll stop them coming in.”

“Good idea,” I say, trying really hard not to smile.

Bella’s bedroom is possibly the greatest kid’s bedroom I have ever seen. The main wall is covered with a mural of famous fairy-tale characters, from Snow White and her dwarfs to Dumbo the elephant and Little Red Riding Hood.

“My daddy made that for me when I was born,” Bella says, noticing me staring at it. “But now my daddy’s in heaven.”

“I’m really sorry about that,” I say, crouching down in front of her.

“My mom is too,” Bella says matter-of-factly. “I think she might be an angel.”

“I’m sure she is,” I reply.

“This is my bed,” Bella says, turning and pointing at a set of bunk beds next to the opposite wall. The bottom bunk has a curtain going all the way around it.

“Cool bed,” I say, really meaning it. “I love the curtain.”

“Me too,” Bella says. “Sometimes I pretend it’s a tent. I like your voice.”

“Thank you.”

“You sound just like Princess Kate. I love Princess Kate.”

I take my case over to a space in the corner of the room and open it to get out a sweatshirt.

“Is that your doll?” Bella says, looking at the china doll lying in between my clothes.

“Yes, it is.”

“Cooool!” Bella runs over to her bed and dives through the curtains. She reappears clutching a beautiful rag doll. “This is Rosie,” she says, holding the doll up to mine. “Can they be friends?”

“Of course they can.” I pull the sweatshirt over my head.

“Hello, I’m Rosie,” says Bella, putting on a high-pitched doll voice. “What’s your doll’s name?” she says, turning to me.

“Oh. She hasn’t got a name.”

“She hasn’t got a name?” Bella looks at me wide-eyed, like I’ve committed the worst crime known to doll-kind.

“Why don’t you give her one?” I say, trying to redeem myself.

“OK then.” Bella frowns for a moment, then she picks up my doll. “I’m Princess Autumn,” she says in a grand voice. “Autumn’s Noah’s name for you,” she whispers to me. “Only I’m not supposed to tell you. Do you love Noah?” She tilts her head to one side.

“Oh, well, we’ve only just met each other so—”

“I think he loves you,” Bella interrupts. “He was writing a song about you last night. He never writes a song about any other girls. Grandma said he was acting all love-struck. ‘Love-struck’ means being hit in your heart by the emotion of love. That’s what Grandma told me.”

This time, I can’t prevent myself from laughing. And the more I laugh, the harder it gets to stop. I feel giddy with happiness. Noah has a pet name for me. He was writing a song about me! Sadie Lee called him love-struck!

Now Bella’s giggling too—so hard it’s making her ringlets bounce.

“All right, what’s going on in here?”

We both jump at the sound of Noah’s voice—and carry on laughing.

“Don’t tell him,” Bella whispers through her giggles.

“I won’t,” I whisper back.

“Are you guys gonna help me decorate this tree or what?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Bella cries, and she runs from the room.

“Well, you two sure seem to have bonded,” Noah says, looking at me quizzically.

I nod and go over to join him.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says.

“Me too,” I reply, and for a second I think he’s about to kiss me. But then Bella races back across the landing and grabs us both by the hand.

“Come on, slow coaches!”

And as Noah grins at me and shrugs apologetically, I feel hit in my heart by an emotion very close to love.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Christmas tree is as tall as the living room and almost as wide as the bay window it’s stood in. Its needles are thick and glossy and fill the room with a delicious piney scent. Mum and Dad head out for some emergency Christmas shopping, so Noah, Bella, and I set about decorating the tree from a battered old trunk full of the most beautiful glass baubles and ornaments I’ve ever seen.

It turns out that pretty much every decoration has its own story. As we hang them on the tree, Sadie Lee sits beside us in a rocking chair and recounts each tale. “My mamma bought me that Santa the year I turned sweet sixteen. That snowman belonged to your granddaddy—he called it Stanley. The reindeer was given to me at a church party back in Charlston.”

Finally, all of the baubles are on the tree.

“Don’t forget these,” Sadie Lee says, handing Bella a box.

“Candy canes!” Bella exclaims.

The box is full of green, red, and white striped canes. They’re shiny and bright and smell of peppermint. Carefully, we start hooking them over the branches of the tree.

“Yum!” Bella says, popping one in her mouth.

“Hey, Miss Piggy!” Noah says with a grin.

“I couldn’t help it,” Bella says. “It fell into my mouth.”

We all start to laugh and Noah offers me a candy cane. It tastes just like a stick of Brighton rock.

“Is it time for the angel?” Bella asks Sadie Lee.

“It sure is, honey.”

Noah takes a parcel wrapped in red tissue paper out of the trunk. Very carefully, he unwraps it to reveal a beautiful angel with wavy blond hair and a long ivory silk dress. Two wings made from golden gossamer fan out from her back. Noah climbs onto a chair and gently places the angel on top of the tree. Bella starts clapping her hands in excitement.

“Can I turn on the lights, Grandma, please?”

“Of course you can, honey.”

We all wait as Bella scrambles around the back of the tree. “Merry Christmas!” she cries, and the tree comes alive with golden twinkly lights. It’s so beautiful, I can’t even speak.

“Merry Christmas,” Noah whispers in my ear, putting his arm around my waist.

I snuggle into him, glowing with the thought that this is going to be the best Christmas ever.

• • •

It isn’t till the afternoon that it dawns on me that I also don’t have a single Christmas present for anyone. Noah doesn’t seem all that keen on going shopping so I head out to the local parade of stores with Sadie Lee. I buy a pumpkin-scented candle and some fizzy bath goodies for Mum, an American cookbook for Dad, a book about princesses for Bella, and a beautifully carved set of wooden mixing spoons
for Sadie Lee—when she’s not looking. I decide to try a music shop for Noah’s gift, but as soon as I get inside it dawns on me that I don’t even know what kind of music he likes. And
then
it dawns on me how little I still know about him and I have a moment of panic. How can I feel so strongly about someone I’ve only just met? It doesn’t make sense. I look at Sadie Lee sheepishly.

“What kind of music does Noah like?”

She instantly laughs. “That boy likes just about every kind of music. I’m not kidding—he could make a tune from the whistle of a train! But if you had to pin it down, I would go for something old—on vinyl. He loves vinyl.”

I head off to the back of the store, where there are racks and racks of records. As I flick through them, I smile as I breathe in the smell. It’s almost as good as the smell of books. Almost, but not quite. In the end I pick a record by someone called Big Bill Broonzy, just because I love the name. I take the record over to the counter to pay.

“Awesome choice, ma’am,” the guy behind the counter says with a wide grin.

“Thank you,” I say, feeling very proud that I’ve actually gone into a vintage record store in Brooklyn and made an “awesome choice”—even if it is entirely by accident.

The man’s smile grows even broader. “Cute accent. Where are you all from?”

“England.”

“No way!” He grabs my hand and shakes it enthusiastically. “Well, that just made my day.”

I look at his greying dreadlocks and the silver skull on the chain around his neck. He looks so interesting.

“Would you . . . ? Could I . . . ? Would it be OK if I took a picture of you?”

He instantly grins. “Why, yes, of course, ma’am. How do you want me?” He starts puffing out his chest.

“Just as you were, looking at the record would be great,” I say.

The man re-creates the pose and I take the shot. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He hands me a business card from a pile on the counter. “And when you get back to England you can tell people you met Slim Daniels.”

“I will,” I say, glowing with newfound confidence. I’m no longer a stupid schoolgirl who always makes mistakes, I’m the kind of person who makes awesome choices in Brooklyn record stores and takes photos of people with names like Slim Daniels. Nothing—not even when I take a step backward and almost knock over a display stand—can ruin my happiness.

• • •

When Sadie Lee and I get back home, Mum is playing an elaborate game of princesses with Bella in the living room, and Dad and Noah are in the kitchen, preparing some veggies for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner. They’re laughing their heads off as we come in. This is good—very good.