Should I message Ru back?
But Harry was nudging me. “Photo?” We were at the very top of the wheel. “It’s the last circle, and Elijah can’t kill us when we’re three hundred feet up.”
I flinched.
“Don’t look like that. It’s just for us. And look.” Harry held his battered handset up. It was the same ancient model as my dad’s but had a Sleigh Another Day sticker on it. “This thing’s so old we’ll just be two blurs.”
“Fine.” I stood next him. “But one take only.”
He took it as I was still speaking.
How had Harry managed to get the perfect light on his face? His chin back, textbook smile. There was even fake snow behind him. But me? I was a blinking green person, who looked like they were mid-chew on a particularly challenging Christmas toffee. Oh well. I typed in my number so he could send it over and then it was time to say bye. I immediately rang Grace.
“Where are you? And are you OK?”
She sighed. A really long sigh. A really long happy sigh? “OK?! I just saw Joseph D Chambers, so, erm … slightly more than OK actually!”
Phew. She didn’t sound upset.
“So what’s up… No one posted any pictures of me, did they?”
“No! Not one. You’re in the clear.”
I did a celebratory dance-shuffle, much to the amusement of Harry, who had just walked back past. “So … what is it?”
“What it is … is…” Grace took a deep breath. “How do you think the village hall will cope with bringing the outdoors indoors?” She paused. “Mol, I MANAGED TO GET A SNOW MACHINE FOR THE PARTY.” Her voice wobbled as she jumped about. “Grampy G’s Grotto is going to go OFFF!!!!!”
I was so happy it was good news, not her being upset. But I couldn’t head off to celebrate with her until Elijah had given me the all-clear, so we agreed I’d ring once I was done and she would go with Dad and Tess to Wagamama, then come back to pick me up. First stop was the posh portaloos (that had full-length mirrors on the doors!), where I scrubbed at my green paint so hard I triggered a workout alert on my watch. When I finally looked more normal (although, I’d swapped bright green for bright pink), I headed to the production office and found Elijah leaning against a golf buggy.
“Hi,” I said. He didn’t even look up from his phone.
“Sooooo… You can say thank you now.” He was scrolling like his thumb was in a race. “Best view of the city, am I right?”
“Yeah, it was pretty cool actually.” I leant over to try and see the photos he was looking at. “How did all the press go?”
“Would have been better if I could have revealed who Little Elf Girl was.” He finally looked up. “Oh, and you decide to look like a normal human girl now, do you? Thanks so much.”
“Anytime.” I smiled.
“Glad you said that. Because after today’s effort, I’m going to need you to come to Edinburgh next week.” He what?!
“But—”
“But wouldn’t that red-carpet clip get so many views online?” He gave a quick smile. “Don’t worry, you can bring Grace. I’ll chat to your parents, get it all sorted. We’ve invited some pretty major influencers down to the pop-up winter village. Should be fun.”
Fun?! Fun for me was sitting in a dark room until January.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “I’ll do Edinburgh.” I lowered my voice. “And then that clip is MINE.”
“We have ourselves a deal. Although, one question. A top secret big idea one. What do you think the Bells would say about a little remake of the ‘Love Your Elf!’ video? A brand new look that feels a lot more NOW. Get some cameos, give it the star treatment.” Elijah smiled smugly. Could he not see how horrified I was?! “Joseph wouldn’t do it, no way. He won’t do a single thing to do with this film. But Maeve maybe. Especially if we gave some of the streaming proceeds to charity.” He got lost in his awful idea. “And we’re pretty tight with Ed Sheeran.”
Ed Sheeran? ED SHEERAN? How would I manage to keep my identity secret if I was forced to be in a video with Ed “Zillions of Fans” Sheeran? I might as well run into school dressed as an elf screaming, “I’m the cutest little elf in the world and Zaiynab, Matt, my nice normal life, BYE, it was nice knowing you.”
“As delightful as it sounds, it’s a no from me,” I said firmly.
Elijah rolled his eyes. “Yet again, Molly, thank you for your assistance in helping me get press and get that job. So very much appreciated.”
But I was here, wasn’t I? And none of that was my responsibility.
“So am I good to go then?”
“Sure. Although…” He checked his watch. “Can you do one little thing? Head to the ‘Christmas in London’ photobooth set-up and get one solitary photo on the bench.” My eyebrow rose. What would he do with it? “Don’t give me that. I won’t use it anywhere. I just want to know if it’s working as the photos are coming through all distorted. Oh, and can I borrow that hat? I want to show it to wardrobe as an idea for some crowd props in Edinburgh.”
Fine. I handed it over and headed off. Grace and Dad wouldn’t be back for an hour, so this meant now the crowds had gone, I could also have a nosey around for any spare film bits for the raffle. Oh! And I could email the village hall with the confirmation form and to check about the snow machine.
I grabbed a gingerbread steamed milk from catering and a handful of Lebkuchen biscuits (my fave) and headed in.
WOW!
A huge snowy London street opened up, street lights flickering on the cobbled streets, snow falling, the sound of the brass band playing carols floating in the distance. Red, snowy post boxes, old-fashioned shop windows lit up with boxes of chocolates and gorgeous gifts, even a nest of robins hopping about on branches. In the middle was the photobooth bench where they’d been getting everyone to pose – the gifs were scrolling by on a fake bus stop video screen opposite.
Apparently it was a recreation of the street and bench where Joseph and Maeve’s characters kissed, and, according to a man I’d walked past earlier, was “swoontastic”. But he was wearing a jumper with an up arrow that said “This Guy Is Christmas Crackers”, so not sure how much his opinion could be trusted.
I did what Elijah wanted and sat down on the bench, smiling for a selfie. It really did look like a picture-perfect Christmas scene. I watched the gifs scroll through on the screen. Couples doing stupid poses. Pretending to throw snowballs. Pulling on the ends of a giant bow on an even more giant present. Kissing under the mistletoe. I looked up at the bunch dangling above me. It was probably good Grace was eating katsu curry, not seeing all these loved-up couples, having their perfect Christmas moment – just like the ones she’d wanted to have with Simon.
Even though it was all so fake. So set up.
More flicked by … a guy not realizing the camera was going and getting caught in the middle of pulling his jumper off, his girlfriend cracking up. Two guys kissing as they held up a “Happy Holidays” sign. Two young kids holding hands. Erm … why was I smiling?
