The evening of Christmas Day, Bernard marched into Santa's office. "Santa, we need to talk."
Santa looked up from packing up some things from his desk. The next day was the beginning of the off season for him, and he was going to spend some time with Charlie before taking a trip to Disney World with Carol and Buddy. "Oh, Bernard. I'm sure you'll do fine with this whole Beck thing."
"We are in way over our heads here."
"Oh, you just need to be posi-"
"She's insane."
Santa took Bernard by the shoulders and pushed him down into the chair opposite his desk. "Bernard, you need to get a hold of yourself. I don't know what happened between you two, but I suggest you figure out how to get past it."
Bernard sighed, rubbing his temples. "I know I'm being unprofessional, Santa. I apologize. But you didn't know her when we were young. You weren't there when she was suspended from the Pole."
"Then why don't you fill me in? I'm sure your point of view is legit." Santa said diplomatically.
"Did you really just say 'legit?'"
Santa shrugged. "What? I can be hip, too! But we're talking about you here."
Bernard settled back in his chair. "Well, we went to elf school together." Suddenly he perked up, as if he thought of something. "I'll be right back," He stood and hurried out of the room and down the hall, to his own office.
Bernard rummaged through his desk. Coming up empty-handed, he moved to the large bookshelf that lined one wall. Running his fingers over the bindings, he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a thick photo album and removed an old, yellowed photo. He returned to Santa's office, the bearded man looking expectantly up at him.
"We were in the same graduating class," He handed the photograph to Scott, who put his reading glasses on to get a better look.
A group of about thirty or so young students smiled back at him. They all wore the same uniform of dark trousers or skirts, neatly pressed shirts and sweater vests with the Elfheim school crest on the front. Santa smiled. The dress code had become more relaxed in more recent years.
He easily spotted Bernard – an awkwardly tall young boy with a mass of dark, curly hair, smiling shyly at the camera. He had lost the chubbiness in his cheeks since then photo was taken, but looked mostly the same. He searched the photo for Beck.
"Where's Beck?"
"Oh, here." Bernard took the photo and pointed her out to Santa before handing the picture back.
Santa peered at her. Unlike Bernard, she was about the same height as the rest of her classmates (She seemed to have gotten taller since then). Her face was blurred, apparently from moving her head at the same time that the picture was snapped. Though it was fuzzy, he could make out a laughing expression on her face, immortalized by a photograph.
He gently put the photo down on his desk, and looked at Bernard, motioning for him to continue.
"Mother Nature certainly had her pegged," He began, "She was a lazy, rude, selfish…Scrooge. We've known each other our entire lives."
A little boy with curly, black hair and big pointed ears played on a swing set. He lied on the seat of the swing on his belly with his arms and legs outstretched, pretending to fly.
His companion, a little girl with a messy red braid and smaller pointed ears, hoisted herself up so that she was standing on the seat of the other swing, albeit a little unsteadily.
"Look Bernard, I'm bigger than you!" She laughed, looking down at him.
"But I can fly, and that's better than being tall, Becky!" Young Bernard told her, continuing his imaginary flight.
Little Becky's nose wrinkled, and her face turned pink in jealousy. "I'm going to go play a better game!" She hopped down from the swing and marched off, leaving her friend confused.
A few hundred years later, it was the first day of elf school. Bernard timidly walked to the back of the room, placing his new books on a desk in the corner.
"Hey, Giant."
Bernard cringed and pretended not to hear.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, freak!" A blonde haired boy walked up, knocking his books off his desk.
The bully's friends walked up behind him. One of them piped up, "It's a wonder he didn't hear you with those gigantic ears of his!"
The rest of the boys chimed in with insults like "Giant" and "Dumbo" as Bernard stooped to retrieve his things. The bully stomped on his books, wrinkling and dirtying them on the floor before he could touch them.
"Stop it, James." He addressed the floor, standing up.
"What was that?" James pushed him back down to the floor. His comrades laughed.
The other students in the room started chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" as James's buddies pulled Bernard's jacket over his head so that he couldn't see. They then proceeded to beat him up, with Bernard not even attempting to stop them.
"Hey!" Someone shouted over the pandemonium. Becky rushed over and pulled James off of Bernard. "Lay off him! What's he ever done to you?" Once James stopped, his cronies stopped to get a better look at what was going on.
"Go play with some dolls, ya dumb girl," James sneered. This enraged Becky.
"Why I oughta-" Becky grabbed him by the shirt collar, made a fist, and relieved him of his two front teeth. While he sat on the floor crying, she turned to the other bullies. "Anyone else?"
"What is all this?" Thirty heads snapped up to see the teacher, or Mrs. Claus, in the doorway. She took in the scene – a bruised Bernard with a bloody nose and ripped uniform, Becky brandishing her fists, and James with blood pouring from his mouth like a waterfall. James saw his opportunity. He ran to the teacher, hiding behind her.
"That giant kid went crazy! My friends tried to stop him but Becky joined in and punched me!" He blubbered.
"Alright, that's quite enough." She grabbed Becky and Bernard firmly by the ears and led them down the hall to the Principal's office.
The two sat beside each other in the stiff chairs in awkward silence. Becky swung her short legs in the air.
"How's your nose?" She asked, trying to make conversation.
Holding a wad of tissues to stem the flow, he shrugged, staring at the floor. His eye was swollen nearly shut and the surrounding area was a nasty grey.
"James is such a jerk." She declared.
Years later, teenaged Becky was walking to school alone. She wondered where Bernard was – he always walked with her. She even went to his house, but he wasn't there, so she figured that he must have left already. When she reached the school yard, she saw James and his friends laughing riotously. She was unconcerned until she saw Bernard.
He was standing with his tongue frozen to the flag pole.
She marched over furiously. "Get lost!" She snarled at the bullies, and everyone but James left, laughing.
"Without your little boyfriend, I would be a very bored guy." He leaned against the flag pole, ignoring Bernard.
"He's not my boyfriend."
"So you are available?" James moved closer to her, smiling with two rows of perfectly straight, white teeth.
Becky's face turned pink, but she regained her composure quickly.
"Your breath smells."
He looked a bit taken aback for a moment. "Have fun playing patty cake." He stalked off. Despite herself, Becky stared after him, lost in thought.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to Bernard, who was avoiding her gaze.
"Don't move, okay?"
Bernard rolled his own eyes and mumbled something unintelligible.
Becky moved behind him and grabbed the sides of his head between her hands securely. "Ready?"
He squeaked something that sounded a bit like, "No."
"One – two -"
"AAAUGH!"
The two made it into class as the teacher was taking roll.
"Rebecca?" The plump woman called.
"It's Beck." She corrected her.
The two took their seats beside one another. Throughout the school day, Bernard diligently took notes, hanging on the teacher's every word, while Beck doodled and passed notes and threw paper airplanes, occasionally stealing a glance at James. After class, they packed up their books.
"Is Yuletide Literature boring or what?" Beck laughed, pretending to shoot herself with a handgun.
"Well, you might get more out of it if you would actually pay attention." He retorted.
"Where's the fun in that?" She grinned. She glanced behind her shoulder at James, who was lingering with his friends. "You go ahead, I'll catch up."
Bernard left the school building, but sat on a bench to wait for Beck. He felt badly for not walking with her to school that morning, even if he had been somewhat indisposed.
He waited for a good half an hour, before he became curious.
What the heck is she doing in there?
He reentered the building. Bernard walked down the hallway and into the classroom, stopping in his tracks at what he saw.
Beck was quite preoccupied at the present time, stuck in a lip lock with a certain blonde bully. She was standing on her toes, with her hands planted firmly on James's shoulders. She backed him up into the teacher's desk, and when he nearly toppled over backward, she giggled.
Bernard must have made a noise because their heads swiveled around to look at him. James grinned smugly. He walked up to Bernard. "Should have moved a little faster, Gigantor." He whispered in his ear, patting him on the chest in a falsely chummy way, and walked out of the room whistling. He stared at Beck in shock.
"I told you to go without me." Beck crossed her arms and looked anywhere but at him.
"Yeah, so you could suck face with James!" He burst angrily.
"It wasn't like that!" She insisted weakly.
"Oh yeah?" Bernard challenged. "What was it like? Was he trying to retrieve your pencil from down your throat with his tongue?"
Beck glared at him. "I don't believe you!"
"Well, I don't believe you!" He paced furiously. "Of all people, James! You should be with someone better! Someone like-"
"Someone like you, you mean?" Beck stared at him. Bernard's ears turned dark crimson.
"No!" He blurted. Beck looked shocked. "Why would you even ask that?" He forced a laugh to hide his embarrassment. "Why in the world would I like you?" There was an awkward silence that seemed to drag on for eternity.
Trying to regain control of the situation, "Good!" Beck shrugged, feigning nonchalance.
"Fine!"
"That's perfect, because girls like me don't go with losers." Beck shot back harshly and shoved past him out of the room, determined not to let him see her cry.
Bernard stared at the empty doorway.
Very nice, Gigantor, he scolded himself inwardly, kicking a desk.
"…So, you and Beck?" Scott asked tentatively, conveying his meaning by hooking his pinkies together.
"Gosh, no." Bernard said. "She caught me off guard, that's all."
The next day at school, Beck arrived to see a commotion in the school yard. Students were standing in a circle, cheering. She shoved past them to see Bernard and James in a full-on fist fight.
"What the hell are you doing?" She shouted, getting some looks for her language. She stepped in front of James, who was about to throw a final punch.
"He's not worth it," She murmured against his neck. James looked frustrated at having been interrupted, but pleased that he had won something. Beck turned on Bernard, who was catching his breath and holding an apparently broken nose. "Just what are you trying to prove?" She asked as the crowd dispersed.
"I'm not worth it?" Bernard asked, glaring at Beck.
She shook her head. "No one ever accused you of having any sense." She hissed. James wound his arm around her shoulders and the two walked away, leaving Bernard kneeling in the snow alone. Beck never looked back.
Beck and James eventually broke up, and Beck continued to string along a series of other boys. After graduation, everyone received their workshop assignment. Bernard, having graduated at the top of the class, was given a promising job as the assistant head of Research and Development, an entry-level management position. His department specialized in developing new toys and improving on old ones. It handled blueprints and prototypes, and was the most important branch in the Workshop. No toys were made without having first been run past him.
Beck, on the other hand, barely graduated elf school. She skipped, ignored her school work, and spent her days painting graffiti on buildings and setting off tinsel bombs. She was placed in Doll Assembly.
She was fired after one week, when every doll she made had either its hair or its limbs ripped off in a frustrated rage. Her next position was a dishwasher in the kitchen. She kept this position for a total of three weeks. Her coworkers were distracted and, frankly, a little frightened by her frequent outbursts of rage. The last assignment before her suspension was stable hand, and she kept this job for most of the year.
"That assignment ended when she accidentally gave the reindeer team colic on Christmas Eve," Bernard told Santa.
Santa's eyebrows shot up, and he listened intently.
"Beck singlehandedly ruined Christmas for a lot of kids, all because she didn't listen. That Santa hooked up the reindeer-in-training instead, but they couldn't get to all the houses in time because the team didn't know the route." Bernard wearily rubbed his face. "I'm not the only one around here with hard feelings," He tried to make clear, "When the Santa Claus at the time confronted her about it, she exploded. I was one of the unlucky ones who got to witness it, because he called in all the department heads, as well as the Head Elf at the time. By then I was in charge of Research and Development.
"At first, she just kind of stood there and took the lecture, but soon she became more agitated. It eventually escalated into her becoming defensive and shouting at Santa. He suggested that she 'take a break,' which is just a euphemism for Suspension. This really set her off, and soon snow globes were being shattered and books were thrown. I actually got a small concussion that night." He laughed bitterly. "Anyway, this fiasco ended with a few of us having to physically restrain her. I'll never forget her face. We were down on the floor, and I had one of her arms pinned. There was so much confusion and screaming that I don't remember much. Beck looked at me and she had tears in her eyes. 'Do something,' she begged me. I guess I was feeling nostalgic or something, because I begged her not to cry. But she said to me, 'I'm not crying. Babies cry.'
"I stood back and watched them drag her out, and she stared directly at me until they turned the corner. And until today, that was the last time I saw her." He ended unceremoniously.
Scott sat back in his chair, stroking his beard with a troubled expression on his face. Bernard looked up at the grandfather clock. It was past eleven. He looked at Scott apologetically.
"I'm sorry I stayed so long," Bernard told him, "I should probably go." He stood to leave.
"Sit down." Santa told him. He did. "Don't tell me a story like that and expect me to digest it by myself!"
Bernard stared at his hands in his lap sheepishly.
"Now, I've only seen her for a total of about ten minutes…while she was conscious, at least," Santa chuckled a bit, "But it seems to me like the hard feelings are mutual." He looked at Bernard pointedly. "And I don't like butting into other people's business, so that's all I'm going to say on the subject." He stood up and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit they hay. Me and the Missus are leaving tomorrow morning. Good night, Bernard." Bernard wished him the same and left.
The Head Elf let himself into his apartment building, the same one that Beck was staying in, and took the elevator to his home. Being the Head Elf, he had the entire top floor to himself – not that he was home much anyway. He tossed his beret on the nightstand in his bedroom, changed for bed, and set his alarm for work.
As he fell asleep that night, he felt Beck's betrayal of him and of the North Pole as freshly as he had so many years ago.
And perhaps, although he would deny it if anyone asked, he felt a little bit of guilt as well.
Chapter 3 done! Next time we get to see Beck joining the elvin workforce once again!
Review please! Critiques welcome!