Surely that was the only logical reason Mum could be waking me up at whatever ungodly time this was?!
“Molly. It’s half ten,” Mum whispered. I rubbed my face. There was a Quality Street wrapper stuck to it. “And you’ve got a visitor.”
Visitor? But Grace would already be at her Nutcracker rehearsal? And … well, I didn’t know anyone else.
I rolled out of bed, semi-slid downstairs, then ground to a halt in the kitchen doorway. Why was there a life-sized, gift-wrapped present filling the kettle?!
“I ducked out of dance.” Grace lifted her arms up to shrug. “Ouch.” The huge decorated cardboard box over her shoulders that covered down to her knees whacked her in the chin. “I needed to tell you the news in person. I ran straight here!” She wasn’t even pausing to breathe. “And let me tell you! A box is NOT a streamlined running outfit.” Even if my brain wasn’t still powering up, this would be a lot to deal with. “To be honest, I wasn’t enjoying dance anyway. The only thing anyone wanted to talk to me about was you.” She huffed, some glitter from the top of her cardboard box raining down over Sosig, who was just blinking up at the talking present in shock. “I’ve had a glimpse into the world of elf fame, Mols, and I did not like it. Not one bit.”
I couldn’t love my best friend any more than I did.
“Sorry.” I rubbed my face. “I’m still half asleep. And my best friend is a Christmas present. Is it OK to ask, er, what news?”
Grace tutted like it was obvious. “The date!”
“Thirteenth December?”
“No! The date, sorry ‘meet and greet’ with Joseph D Chambers? For the auction?” Oh yes. She took a deep breath. And another. “And the fact that I put it online this morning and it’s already raised…” She paused. We’d hoped it could add a couple of hundred pounds to the total. “One. Thousand. Pounds.” She grabbed me. “ONE THOUUUUUSAND POOOOOOUNDS, MOOOOLLLLYYYYY?!” She tried to hug me but her arms could hardly reach around the box, and I just staggered back into the fridge.
“Did you really just say … ONE THOUSAND POUNDS?”
“So liitttt!” Dad said, popping up from behind the worktop. Had he been there the whole time? He circled his arms in front of him. “Go Grolly! Go Grolly!”
One. Thousand. Pounds?!
This was HUGE!
And once it finally seeped into my brain, Grace and I both screamed. And jumped. And screamed all over again.
We’d done it. Hit the fundraising target. Mr W was going to freak! Holly Hospice too!
Once we’d got our breath back, Grace decided to ditch rehearsal and plot how we could raise even more, so we headed up to my room. She had to pull off the box to fit up the stairs.
“Not sure why I didn’t think of taking it off before I ran a mile here. Guess I didn’t think outside the box, lol.” She laughed at her own joke as we sat on my bedroom floor. “Seriously though, can you believe Harry and Elijah made this happen?” I already had a suspicion Harry would do anything for Grace, but Elijah was a surprise. “Joseph too, I guess? One degree of separation and all!” She fanned her face. “Hang on. This means Joseph D Chambers knows about Grampy G. Which means” – she clutched my arm – “Joseph D Chambers knows I exist!” I let her do an adequate amount of swooning before I moved on to actual details and asked if Elijah had been in touch.
She nodded.
“Yup. He let me know press would be covering the actual meet.” Nice – more publicity for Grampy G’s fundraiser! “Or ‘intimate meal for two’ as I called it online, as Elijah’s sorting some kind of meal on a boat. Oh and he said he’s going to have to vet the winner before it gets announced to make sure they’re ‘not a weirdo’. His words.”
“Fair enough!” I had given Elijah all the out-of-control fan stories this film needed with my antics on the red carpet.
“My suspicion is it’s Maeve’s who is the high bidder. Getting her man!” Grace cackled. It was lovely seeing her this happy. “Elijah’s so great, isn’t he?” I said nothing, feeling super guilty that Grace didn’t know the full story about Elijah. “It’s such a shame he didn’t invite you, us, to London…” said Grace. “Just seeing London this close to Christmas would be awesome, tbh.”
Would be nice to see Ru too?! Nope! Why did that thought just pop up?
“Well, Elijah did kind of ask…” I fiddled with my dressing-gown belt.
“Sorry.” Grace leaned right up to my face. “Did I hear that right?”
I had to keep this casual.
“Well, yeah. But I said no, cos of keeping the whole Elf Girl thing under wraps.”
“But we figured out every other event?” Grace winced. “Well, almost. And now if everyone at school knows anyway” – I involuntarily shuddered – “you should at least try and have some fun? Edinburgh and Liverpool were cool! Admit it. And no little green elf should take that away from you.” I saw her point. “And Elijah would love you for ever? We could try and friend adopt him?! Think of the film perks!”
But I didn’t smile. And she noticed.
“Bit harsh, Mol?”
That was it. I couldn’t do this any more. I had to get the Elijah thing out in the open.
“OK. Look, don’t get mad. But there is something I didn’t mention...” Grace folded her arms. “When I first met Elijah, I didn’t just say yes to the events. I sort of … had to.” And as shocked as Grace was, I told her all about Elijah threatening to release the clip of me on the red carpet, and me having to go to the events. She made me go through what had happened in Pizza Express three times, sentence by sentence.
I sighed. “Honestly, I still cannot work him out. He does all that, but he also comes through with prizes, and hotels, and…” I sighed. I’d thought about it too much, and still had no answer.
“Blackmailing you though, Mol? That’s not OK. Although…” She prodded me accusingly in the ribs. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!” She sighed and shook her head. “And all this time I thought Simon was the worst person I knew!”
“Please forgive me, oh great cardboard-boxed one.” It was a genuine plea. But Grace was still smiling. Phew. “In my defence, you did have some stuff going on.”
“Hmmm,” she said, fake-annoyed. “I thought the deal was we Jingle Ladies told each other everything? No secret left unshared?!” But she’d already shuffled across the floor and was yanking the big box of prizes out of my cupboard. “Anyway, I was thinking. Now Elijah’s helped with the meet and greet, we could ask if he’s changed his mind and will let us auction some of this stuff online too?”
But I was staring at the box in shock.
“Oi … what’s that face?” Grace wriggled towards me. “MOLLY, WHAT IS THAT FACE?!”
But then she saw it too. On the side of the box.
“It’s … it’s … the same … as … the popcorn container!” I pointed at the drawing. The bad, very bad, outline of a dragon with a nose ring.
