Chapter 3

When he was in middle school, the boys and girls would eagerly look forward to getting gifts from their Secret Santas. Parrish had given out his fair share of inexpensive yet always appropriate gifts, because his mom had insisted on it. At first she’d gone with him to help him select the perfect gift—she was class mom and knew all about his classmates—but he learned fast, and eventually he was able to do it himself. He always picked out a gift exactly right no matter if the recipient was a boy or a girl. Angelica always read books about horses, so she got a copy of Black Beauty. Michael S. talked about going camping with his dad every weekend, so Parrish found him a 5-piece nesting mess kit. And while Parrish would have liked to give a special gift to the redheaded boy who sat in front of him, he never drew the boy’s name.

He also knew—even at that age—if he just handed a present to Danny Devlin, it could result in a punch in his nose.