Chapter 21

 

“Bianca, is there a card or anything inside?” Bianca’s father asked, frowning in perplexity as he watched Bianca carefully fasten the necklace around her neck.

 

“No…” said Bianca, picking up the white box the jewelry box had been in and double-checking inside.  “Wait.”  She picked up the black jewelry box and lifted the velvet-wrapped piece of cardboard the necklace had been mounted to.  Underneath it was a white piece of paper.  She pulled it out and unfolded it to find a message addressed to her.  “There is something,” she said slowly, trying to read it.  The writing was the same shaky, hardly legible script that had been on the nametag.  But after staring at it for a moment, she was able to make out what it said.

 

Dear Bianca,

 

This is not a joke.  I know that’s what you think, but I promise you, it’s not.  I can’t explain why or how, but I’m not really gone, Bean.  I’m an angel.  I’m still here, watching over you.  You have to believe me, baby.  I know it sounds unbelievable, but you have to believe.  I love you.

 

Yours forever,

AJ

 

Bianca shook her head, tears rising in her eyes.  She didn’t know what to believe.  Someone was messing with her mind; they had to be!  This couldn’t be true.  Angels… angels were just characters in the Bible, in the Christmas story.  They were just pretty creatures with wings and halos that fluttered around Heaven.  AJ could not be an angel.  AJ could not be writing her notes and sending her Christmas presents.  AJ was gone, and she would never be able to see him or speak to him again, not until she got to Heaven herself.

 

That’s what the logical half of her brain was telling her.  But the other half… the other half was hoping it was true.  Bianca wanted it to be true.  She wanted to believe in the possibility that AJ was out there somewhere, not alive exactly, but still there with her, not just in heart, but in… spirit.  She wanted to believe that they could still communicate with each other and be together in some sense.  But… how could it be like that?  She had known people who died before, and none of them came back as ‘angels’.  None of them wrote her letters and sent her gifts and tried to talk to her from beyond the grave.  She had learned early on that when people died, they were gone forever.  No matter how much she wished it were different, that was the way it worked.  This went against all reality.  It just couldn’t be true.  She wanted it to be, but it couldn’t.  Someone had to be playing some kind of elaborate joke on her.  How they had managed to pull this off, she did not know, but they had to have done it somehow.

 

But the handwriting… even the handwriting looked like AJ’s… a bit shaky and lopsided, but it looked so similar…

 

It’s only shaky because it’s forged.  AJ’s signature is all over the place; anyone could copy his writing, Bianca’s sensible side firmly told her.

 

“Bianca?”

 

Bianca looked up to find both her parents staring at her, their eyes wide with concern.  She had almost forgotten where she was and what she was doing.  Her cheeks reddened, and she let the note fall.

 

“What did it say, sweetie?  Who’s it from?” her mother asked worriedly.

 

Bianca felt trapped and unsure of what to do.  Should she show her parents the note?  They might think someone was stalking her… or think she was going crazy if they thought she believed it.  But who else could she say it was from?

 

“Howie,” she said abruptly.  “It was from Howie.”

 

“Howie?  Well… how did it get here?”

 

“Um…”  Bianca thought quickly.  “… well, according to the note, he sent it to Brianna and had her stick it under the tree for me as a surprise.  She must have snuck it in when she came over yesterday afternoon.”  Bianca forced a laugh and inwardly praised herself for coming up with a good lie so fast.  She normally was not a very good liar.

 

“Oh!  Well, how sweet,” her mother said, beaming.  “There’s not… uh… anything going on between you and Howie… is there?”

 

Bianca reddened.  “Mama!  Of course not!” she exclaimed.  “Howie’s just a friend.  Besides, he’s got Krystle, and I… well…”  She trailed off with a shrug, knowing her mother would understand what she meant.

 

“Okay, okay.  I was just wondering.”

 

Bianca smiled tightly and crumpled the note up in her fist.  “I’m going to take my stuff upstairs,” she said, hurriedly scooping her new presents into her arms.  “Be down in a few.”  Struggling to keep the load in her arms, she dashed out of the living room and up to the safety of her bedroom.  She needed a few minutes alone.

 

***

 

That night, Bianca called Eddie.

 

“Sorry to bother you on Christmas,” she said, “But you remember that note I got at the store a couple weeks ago?  The one from ‘AJ’?”

 

“Yeah…” replied Eddie.  “Why?”

 

“Well, I got another one this morning… along with a Christmas present.”

 

“A present?  What was it?”

 

“A necklace.  A necklace with an angel pendant on it.”

 

“And the note was from…”

 

“AJ.  Supposedly.”

 

“Aw, I’m sorry, Bean.  Try not to let it upset you though.  I’m sure it’s just someone messing with you, someone having some harmless fun,” Eddie assured her.

 

“I know,” Bianca said dully.  She knew that had to be it, but she wished it wasn’t.  She wished it really was AJ and not some crazy fan playing a trick on her.

 

“But, hey, at least you got some jewelry out of it.  Is the necklace nice?”

 

“Yeah, it is,” Bianca said, smiling down at the necklace, which was still hanging around her neck.  She wasn’t sure if it was made of real gold and diamonds or not – she was thinking not, if it was just someone playing with her – but it was pretty anyway, and she liked it, so she figured, why not keep it?

 

“Well, at least your little note-sending buddy has good taste then.”

 

Bianca smiled.  “Yeah, I guess.  Well, I’ll let you go now, Eddie.  I just wanted to tell you that.  Merry Christmas.”

 

“Merry Christmas to you too, Bean.”

 

With that, they hung up. 

 

From the other side of the room, AJ sighed heavily.  It seemed he had failed again.

 

***

 

The rest of Bianca’s Christmas vacation in North Carolina passed quickly, for most of it was spent making preparations for the New Year’s get-together with Brianna and her other old high school friends.  Although she was not really looking forward to a party, she did knew she would enjoy seeing her friends again, many of whom she hadn’t seen in years.  She was also glad for something to occupy her, for whenever she got bored, she got depressed.  When she was busy, it wasn’t so bad.

 

On New Year’s Eve, Bianca drove to Brianna’s apartment.  The apartment was old and rather shabby, but Brianna had done her best to keep it looking reasonably nice.  It was small, but cozy.  The two girls spent the late afternoon decorating and preparing food.  At around six, their friends started arriving.

 

Hayley was first.  As soon as she walked in the door, Bianca could tell she hadn’t changed a bit in the years since they had last been together.  She was just as tell, red-haired, and crazy as always.  She bounded into the room, hugged them both, and told Bianca how sorry she was about AJ.

 

“Thanks,” Bianca said, with a sad smile.

 

“I wanted to call you, but I didn’t have your number, and… well, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to say,” explained Hayley.  “I can’t believe such a horrible thing happened.”  Bianca just nodded, not knowing what to say back to that.

 

Louise arrived next.  Her entrance was much mellower than Hayley’s, but she hugged Brianna, Bianca, and Hayley as well and then offered her condolences to Bianca.  Then came Liz, and after her, Nicole.  Finally, all six members of their old “gang” were there.  They turned on the TV, but didn’t watch the New Year’s festivities.  Instead, they talked for a long time, filling each other in on everything that had gone on in their lives since the last time they had spoken.  Bianca listened more than talked, for most of the past year of her life had revolved around AJ, and she didn’t want to talk about that.  She enjoyed hearing about the others’ lives and trying to forget her own.

 

By the time midnight rolled around, all six of them were nice and drunk, and for the first time in over a month, Bianca actually felt happy.  As she watched the ball drop in Times Square on the television, she thought hopefully, It’s a new year.  Things are going to get better from here on out.

 

She had absolutely no idea what would be in store for her in the next year.

 

***

 

 

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