“Your first prop could be this…” Ru passed me a mechanical robin that had fallen on the floor.
“Deffo. And if you see anything else, we’re still on the hunt for raffle prizes.” Yes, it was a bit cringe to ask, but I imagined Grace’s face if I got some proper signed merch and it made it all OK. “Like anything signed by the cast or a props that are going spare?”
“I’ll see what I can do…” Ru said, in a way that sounded almost promising. Although, if he knew about the music video, maybe he was better connected than he was letting on? Maybe his parents could pull some more strings? I stood up, but my notebook dropped off my knee and flopped open on the Christmassy lyrics I’d been working on for The POWR.
“Wait…” Ru picked it up. “Did you draw this?” Around my ideas I’d sketched Grace’s smiley face under a big “Jingle Ladies”. And on the other page my family sitting round a Christmas tree, a horse wrapped up underneath it. “You never said you were pro?!”
“Thanks,” I said, snatching it back up. For all my being careful about not letting Ru know about the stupid song and why I was really here, somehow looking at this felt like he was getting a shortcut to the real me. I stuffed it back in my bag.
“Was that Grace?” Ru asked. “She looks just how you’d described her.”
But he’d already seen too much, so I mumbled “yes” and started to walk, narrowly dodging the mistletoe. But once we were on the move, we began to leave all the weirdness behind, and I started telling him all about how Tilly had just won a pony-grooming competition with a Shetland called Spud. I put my foot in it by starting to say Billy, but styled it out with a coughing fit and blaming a rogue crumb. Ru didn’t pick up on it, and instead just asked more questions about Grampy G’s Grotto and I told him about the snow machine. And how I’d gone full YouTube tutorial to make 3D paper snowflakes. And that I was going to borrow the lights from the ‘OTT house on our road’ (aka mine). And despite not knowing Grampy G or Grace, he didn’t look bored once, and told me it was going to be awesome, and offered a hand if I needed help googling back-up venues. And his enthusiasm made me slowly forget all the stress about being Elf Girl and instead start feeling like Grace and I really could pull off something special for her granddad.
“No waaaaay.” Ru stopped dead at the end of the fake street, a big grin on his face. “Is that what I think it is?!”
I looked round the corner to where he was pointing.
Oh no. Pleeeeease no!
A pen of five of the cutest, fluffiest reindeer were chomping on some hay.
THE MONSTERS.
And Ru was walking towards them. “Are these yours?” And now he was stroking the one with massive horns that was giving me serious side-eye.
But what could I say? How many reindeer-hire firms did one film need?
“Erm … yes?” I didn’t make a single step forward though.
“So cool!” He stroked the one next to it. “You should have said the Reindeers ‘R’ Us crew were still here! I can’t believe I’m getting to meet them.”
Nor could I, Ru. Nor could I.
I shuffled slightly closer to the pen. The big one sidled towards me. Were reindeer attacks a thing? Like how hippos were surprisingly dangerous?
“Nice reindeer…” I whispered, holding my hand out.
“Look at you, pretending to be scared to make me feel better.” Ru laughed. I couldn’t smile back; I was focused on not getting a festive antler up my nose. “So what are their names?”
I swear all the reindeer simultaneously looked up at me like five big furry lie detectors. Enough shade, guys?! I had to look away. The guilt was too much.
“Erm.” C’mon, Molly, think of something. “Rodney. Derek. Malcolm.”
Why had I just named all of Mum’s library colleagues?!
“I thought you said it was the female ones who still had antlers at Christmas?”
Why was Ru a leading reindeer expert right now?!
“Yes. They are. And those are their names.”
He quietly repeated, “Rodney. Derek. Malcolm” while stroking the middle one’s neck. Derek, the big one, looked like he wanted to impale me. Not very festive, Derek! Thank goodness my phone rang, and unlike Ru I couldn’t answer quick enough.
Dad was outside, so we headed towards the entrance and stopped under the flickering light of a fake old-fashioned street light to say bye.
“Guess it’s bye then,” Ru said gently. But was he … leaning towards me?!
Why was he looking at me like that?!
Why was he tilting his head?!
“Dasher…” He stopped, his face incredibly close to mine. “Can I ask you something?” Gulp. I could feel his breath on my neck. I nodded, not saying a word. “Would it be OK if…” What was happening?! “If I asked…” It felt like my world had shrunk to just this one metre square. “Why your neck is … green?”
Ah! I almost collapsed back. What on earth had I thought was happening?!
“Long story…” Well, it might be short. I didn’t know. I hadn’t made it up yet. BUT I wasn’t ready to tell him, to tell anyone, about my elfy past! Especially when we’d been getting on so well. And he’d also realize that under pressure I named reindeers “Rodney”. “But it involves a very green, er, very avocado face mask.’”
His eyes narrowed. “And your … arms?”
“It was actually a full body mask.” His eyes lifted up to my head. “And hair.”
And with the quickest bye possible, I trudged to meet Dad, the whole weird day scrolling on repeat through my brain. But as I headed towards town, not one single person did a doubletake or asked about Elf Girl. Even though the song was getting bigger, so far it was just the eagle-eyed waitress back home who’d connected the dots. Maybe I could survive this?
And maybe this Christmas was salvageable? Grace had enjoyed today. The party was taking shape. And I’d had a really nice time with Ru. Which wasn’t a problem because we were just friends, and I was still one hundred per cent very much a Jingle Lady.
And as I stood in the pick-up area looking for Dad’s headlights, my phone pinged. A voice note from Ru.
“Sorry, but reindeers are bad with phones. Just ask Derek.” Even though it had only been ten minutes, it was nice hearing his voice. “All hooves and…” He stopped, lost in where the joke might go. “Hooves?” He stopped, laughed, then composed himself. “Probably should start again, but seeing as you probably won’t reply to this I might as well carry on. I wanted to say I had a good time today.” He paused. “Learning about naked mice was a highlight of course.” Another pause. “And seeing you was also OK I suppose … maybe.” I could picture the grin he was doing. And realized I was smiling too. But that was OK. Jingle Ladies could smile at messages and it didn’t have to mean anything. “So, if you want to do it again in Edinburgh, let me know? I’ll be there all weekend. Or don’t reply and I’ll get the hint.”
But Dad’s car lights swept in and Grace jumped out the millisecond it stopped.
“Don’t panic,” she said, breathless.
“You said that earlier.”
“But this time I mean it.” Uh-oh. “Two words.” She gulped and the beginnings of Christmas cheer instantly melted. “There’s a photo of what I can only describe as an elf and some kind of supermodel on the internet. And the elf is you.”
CHAPTER
10
TO DO:
•Pack jumpers (make sure Mum doesn’t sneak in long johns – AGAIN)
•Present idea – buy Billy a hoof pick?
•
