December 24

                                    

                                          
~67 Days till Leap Day~

                          
People always asked Rosie why she bothered buying a Christmas tree if she was Jewish.  And Rosie always responded the same way: mind your own business. 
                          
But that Christmas Eve, as Rosie helped her mom hoist the discount pine tree up the stairs to their apartment, Rosie wondered the same thing.
                          
The tree was leaning sideways across the stairs, still an impossible distance from the doorway of their apartment.
                          
As her mom tried to clear the entryway, Rosie checked her phone for messages.  Nothing.
                          
"Alright." Her mom grunted, her face half-hidden in pine branches.  "One more push. Three, two, one!"
                          
Rosie leaned her shoulder against the banister and yanked up on the bottom of the tree as hard as she could.  It rose with a swoosh and Rosie's mom managed to tug it through the doorway and into their living room.  
                          
They were still trying to shove it upright when the doorbell sounded.
                          
Rosie's dad stepped in, his graying hair disheveled and his old plaid coat wreaking of cigarette smoke.  "Am I early?"
                          
"Dave, you made it!" Rosie's mom stepped over to him and stuck out her sap covered hand.
                          
"Helene."  Rosie's dad wrapped her mom in a forced hug. Rosie cringed at the awkwardness.
                          
Her dad pulled away from the hug and patted Rosie stiffly on the shoulder.  He held out a tray of limp potato pancakes.  Rosie assumed she meant for her to take them into the kitchen.  The soggy patties lay in one of her dad's old pans, as if he had cooked them himself, but Rosie was certain these were from the frozen aisle at the grocery store.  Meanwhile, Rosie and her mom had spent three hours making rugelach pastries from scratch.  Not that her dad cared.
                          
He frowned at the tree as she left the room.  "I thought I was here to celebrate Hanukkah."  
                          
Rosie's mom forced a smile.
                          
It was a tradition.  Her dad spent Christmas Eve at her mom's house and her mom spent Christmas at her dad's house.  The two days of the year her parents were forced to talk to each other.  They told themselves it was for Rosie's benefit, but Rosie dreaded their Jewish Christmas brunch as much as her parents did.  Luckily, this year Hanukkah fell the week of Christmas, so they had an excuse for getting together.  Every year got more and more painfully awkward as Rosie grew up.  
                          
She set the potato pancakes down on her mom's flimsy dining room table and pulled out her phone again.  Still nothing.
                          
She unlocked her phone to make sure her message had been sent.  Sure enough, it had.
                          
Texts to: Hailey and Pablo
                          
-Rosie- What is going on with Brie?? Pls tell me!! 
                          
It had been two full days since Brie left the apartment in tears and Rosie hadn't heard from her since.  She was seriously worried.  
                          
"What's this?" Her dad appeared behind her and snatched her phone from her hands.  "Family time.  No phone."
                          
"No, dad, come on."
                          
Her phone was blinking.  She'd gotten a message!
                          
Rosie pulled the phone from her dad's fingers and walked back into the living room.
                          
-Pablo- Sorry, Ro. My lips r shut.
                          
Oh yeah? 
                          
Rosie started to type, but her dad stormed into the living room behind her and grabbed her phone again.  "You don't get to walk away while I'm talking to you."
                          
"Can I finish my message?"
                          
Her dad grabbed her wrist-- so suddenly and with such strength-- that Rosie screamed.
                          
Rosie's mom darted into the room.  "What's going on--"
                          
"Your daughter." Her dad's breaths were short and shallow.  "Is ruining Hanukkah with her phone addiction." 
                          
Your daughter.  It was like her dad was trying to distance himself from her as much as possible.  Rosie felt tears coming to her eyes.  "Okay, I didn't ask for you to come!  You can stay at your fancy condo, I don't care." 
                          
Her mom fixed Rosie with an icy stare. "Roselia Hirschel, you are being incredibly rude to your father!"
                          
Rosie threw her hands in the air.  "Are we gonna light the menorah or not?" 
                          
"Not today we're not!" Her dad's voice boomed through the apartment.  "You're in a rotten mood and I don't need you spoiling my day.  See you tomorrow!"  He pulled open the door and slammed it behind him.
                          
Her mom sank into their couch and closed her eyes.
                          
"Mom--" Rosie started to say, but her mom shook her head.
                          
"Go to your room, Rosie."
                          
Rosie opened her mouth to speak-- to apologize, to say anything-- but her throat felt clogged and tears burned in the corners of her eyes.  Her dog, Rex, waddled along behind her on the stairs, panting.  His tag wagged back and forth, but Rosie wasn't in the mood to play with him.  
                          
She could feel her family's shame and disappointment weighing down on her.  She would never be enough for her dad and she had to accept that.
                          
Rosie shut her bedroom door behind Rex and collapsed onto her bed.  Unlike her dad's house, her bedroom at her mom's was tiny.  Her old mattress sank under her weight.  The walls were painted deep purple and chipped in places where Rosie had pulled off her old posters of Selena Gomez and One Direction and taped up Voldemort and Malala.  She stared at the ceiling, where Pablo had painted her the entire Hogwarts castle as a birthday present.  
                          
Pablo.  
                          
Her message.
                          
Rosie reached for her phone before she realized her dad had taken it with him.  No matter.  She still had her laptop.  Rosie tugged her laptop out from the charging cable and pulled up her messages.  
                          
-Rosie- Oh yeah? When have u ever kept a secret??
                          
Pablo responded right away.
                          
-Pablo- Lmao, true ;) 
                          
                But srsly Rosie, let it go. It's Christmas Eve
                          
-Hailey- Ya, and some of us actually celebrate it!  My phone was buzzing during church!!  
                          
                 Are you trying to get me killed by my parents???
                          
                Plus, Rosie, didn't u hear Brie?  She told us to forget we ever heard anything.
                          
-Rosie- Too late.  U already heard.
                          
Rosie knew she was being insensitive, but the curiosity was killing her.  What if something seriously wrong had happened?  She remembered Hailey's face frozen in shock at the apartment, like her parents had just caught her necking Zach.  The way Pablo had covered his mouth.  Pablo didn't get spooked easily. 
                          
-Rosie- Pleaseeee.  U said it urself.  It's Christmas Eve.  
                          
I'm worried about her.
                          
She waited for the longest time before three blinking bubbles popped up, signaling Pablo was typing.  
                          
-Pablo- Rosie.
                          
                Brie's abuela died.
                          
➣