Chapter Twenty – One: Waiting

Allie's POV

The days went by in a blur. The only difference is now with every day that passed, I actually got older just like every other human. Laura and Neil were great and were more than happy to have me live with them. When Lucy came along, I did everything I could to be of help. It started with assisting dinner and dishes here and there every once in a while and when the baby arrived, I helped out with her. I wanted to do everything I could to show how appreciative I was that they took me in. As Charlie and I got older, I noticed we drifted apart a little in our interests, but we remained close. Charlie found himself getting in trouble more and more as we got older, while I found myself in honor classes. Not that that really made a difference between us though, whenever he needed me, I was there. I was always there on the sidelines.

"Allie?" I heard my friend, Carissa, trying to get my attention, "Allie, are you even listening to me?"

"I'm sorry I missed it." I apologized.

"Of course, you did." She responded pointedly, "Charlie walked down the hall, you know Danielle has her sights on him. There's no point in trying."

"I'm not interested in Charlie." I told her. It was a lie. She knew it, I knew it. There wasn't a reason to point it out nor a reason to act on it, it was one sided. He was into Danielle and she was all over him. It didn't matter too much anyway, in a couple of years I'd be going to culinary school and he'd be heading off to university somewhere. There was no point in telling him how I felt, it was too late. Before she could say anything, I asked, "Will coming with us to the festival this weekend?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I have to bring my siblings with us though. My parents are still working overseas and my cousin decided to make other plans for the day."

"That's fine, I can see if Lucy wants to come, I think her and Jeanette are around the same age and I don't mind chilling with Zach if you and Will want to hang out on your own for a bit."

"You are awesome!" Carissa exclaimed.

"You two are going to be late to class." Principal Newman warned as she passed by us.

We quickly grabbed our books from our lockers and darted off to class.

Sasha's POV

"Scott, we need to find someone else to teach at the elf school." I told him as I walked into his office. I was put in as temporary replacement while someone with more qualifications was found. It's been five years and I'm still waiting on my replacement. "I don't know how much longer I can be nice to these kids before I start turning into him." I gestured to Bernard.

"They might as well be prepared for when they start working." Bernard commented, "I'm not going to baby them."

I looked from Bernard to Scott.

"Do what you need to do." Scott agreed, "Don't let them walk all over you."

"I'm taking you two up on that." I told them, "But you guys need to find a replacement after Christmas, I'll be going on leave as of New Year's." I walked out of his office before they could say another word and headed home to prepare my lesson plan for tomorrow.

Scott's POV

It took a couple of minutes to get Bernard and Curtis' attention. Curtis had a look of confusion all over his face, one that questioned why she had come in with the interruption. Bernard had one concern. Sasha hadn't been acting like herself for the past several weeks. The brief visit she had just made was a little abrupt and rash for her. Her moods had been a little off and her appetite had changed some, so it wasn't really a leap to make the assumption I had in the past few weeks. If I was correct, something told me she hadn't told Bernard yet. With their conflicting schedules this time of year and how busy we were this time of year, she might have not had the time if she was.

"Curtis, I'm sure you can start interviewing for new teacher right after Christmas, so that Sasha can go on leave." I told him, "This was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement anyway." I looked over to Bernard, "I want you to go on leave with her when she does, Bernard. I don't think it'll hurt you to take some time off with her."

Curtis nodded in acknowledgement, but Bernard continued to stare at the door. I decided to change the subject to why we were having this meeting this afternoon. They had something to tell me and before Sasha came in they were beating around the bush with it. Since I had a meeting with the council later this evening, I wasn't going have them continue to beat around the bush. We didn't have enough time for that. Whatever they wanted to tell me, I'd rather them tell me now.

Sasha's POV

Bernard got home an hour after I did. Togo greeted him at the door as he came in and followed him around until he sat down on the couch next to me. Once Bernard sat down next to me, Togo laid down next to the couch.

"So what's going on with Scott?" I asked him curiously.

"De-Santafication." He answered, "He doesn't have a Mrs. Claus, so the magic that made him Santa is starting to reverse. There's also Charlie, he's been causing trouble at school."

"Allie's told me a little about what he's been up to." I responded, "Does he know?"

Bernard shook his head, "No, council meeting started before we had the chance to tell him. We'll tell him before things get really busy though."

"How long does he have?"

"Christmas Eve."

"You might want to tell him sooner."

"So how'd things go with Dr. Histmas this morning?" Bernard changed the subject.

I shrugged, "He ran some tests, I should be hearing back in the next couple of days. We both kind of had an idea of what it was, we're just waiting for the test to confirm."

"What do you guys think it is?"

"Well, I missed my period, and certain foods I love I can't be around without getting sick, and-" I stopped myself when I noticed his reaction when the words started to sink in.

"You're…" He managed to sputter out.

I nodded, "I think so."

"I'll start training Curtis to step in as Head Elf while we're on leave." He responded, "Did you want to move into something slightly bigger or do you want to stay here?"

"I'm not sure." I responded, "If it's just the three of us, I think we'd be okay staying here."

"If?" He paled slightly.

"Well, you and David are twins." I replied referencing his brother, "It wouldn't be too far-fetched if we ever ended up having twins."

"Twins…"

"We don't know anything for sure yet." I reminded.

"You'll let me know as soon as you find out?"

"You'll be the first to know." I promised.

Allie's POV

After school, I turned in an article for the newspaper, a simple review of Justin Timberlake's new album – not my thing but it was what they wanted me to write on. I would have rather picked up Bowie's new album or Weezer's – and then I went to meet Charlie by the car so he could drive us home. As it had been for the past couple of months, his car was there but not him. I pulled out my cell phone and texted him, 'Where r u? We have 2 go.'

Five minutes later, he texted back, 'Be there in 2 min.'

Ten minutes later, he showed up wearing a sheepish look on his face. An apologetic smile graced his face as he scratched the back of his head, he started something along the lines of an apology for being late. I stopped him though, "Don't worry about it, it's not like I was waiting that long. Fifteen minutes at most. How's Danielle?"

"How'd you know I was talking to Danielle?"

I leaned against the car, "Not too hard to figure out, she's all you've been talking about for the past few months. I've also known you since we were kids."

"Fair." He replied, "You get that article turned in?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "You want the CD? I don't want it."

"No." He scoffed, shaking his head. He paused for a moment as if a lightbulb went on in his head, and the said, "Danielle might though, she loves NSYNC and wanted Justin's new CD."

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and handed him the CD, "Hope she enjoys it more than I did."

"Thank you." He smiled.

"Don't mention it." I forced a closed smile. The last thing I wanted to be was his Cyrano, but here I was the stuck in my own hellish version of Some Kind of Wonderful. Although if he ever came to me to play chauffer to him and Danielle, I would be shooting that down in a heartbeat. He unlocked the car and we both got in.

As we started to drive home, he asked, "Got any plans tonight?"

"Why?" I asked him, "What are you up to?"

"Proving a point to Principal Newman."

"You want to be a little more descriptive?" I asked him. He looked at me briefly when we reached a red light, raising an eyebrow. I stared back incredulously, "Charlie, if you keep doing this you could get expelled. So, Principal Newman has a bur up her ass, we just have to deal with her for two more years."

"I'm not going to get expelled, it's just a little spray painting in the gym." He responded dismissively, "Do you want to come with us?"

"Us?"

"Yeah, Danielle's coming too."

I groaned internally, 'Of course, she is.' I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts, then replied, "I think it's best if I stay behind. Your parents are supposed to be going out tonight and one of us needs to watch Lucy." I then advised, "If you leave after your parents, I can cover for you. Just make sure you're back before they are."

He thanked me ecstatically and promised that he'd make it up to me. As much as I'd like to believe him, I highly doubted that. I was still waiting on the last thing he promised he'd make up to me for and that happened over a year ago. It was like I was always waiting on Charlie nowadays.

"Don't worry about it." I told him, "Just try not to get expelled."

"You're not going to warn me not to get caught?"

After a moment, I answered dryly, "No."

He laughed lightly, knowing he had been caught too many times for that warning, "Fair enough."