Dark Prospects

A/N: Ok, everyone wants Mrs. Clause so I will TRY to put her in somewhere. Can't promise anything though, my muse is very irritating (worse than Noel if you'll believe that…).

Tragedy Ann: Noel does get better later (no really, she does…) Yes, everyone seems to love Noel getting yelled at. I can't imagine why… *thinks about this* Well anyway, thanks for reviewing.

TheAlmightyMasterT-Chan: Thanks. And I completely agree with you that we should bother ff.net with emails until they're coming out their ears and they finally listen. ^_^ I will definitely read your fic, but it will have to be tomorrow because all my teachers are plotting against us poor defenseless students, trying to kill us with homework.

Ace-of-Spades: Thank you. It's always nice to know that someone actually likes what I write.

Sanely Challenged: Me? Tricksy? Mwahah—*cough* I mean—you've got to be kidding… *nervous laughter*

Akiko, Keeper of Sheep: Thanks. I'm glad I'm not a complete disaster and grammar/spelling (like my teacher is so fond of telling me. *grumbles*).

Bernard: Well I wasn't going to (I'm sure), but if you absolutely insist, I will continue with the torture.

GriffinFox: For some strange reason, everyone seems to want to strangle Noel… She does have a reason she's so bitter though, and it's—*muse walks in and strangles Phobic*—it's something I apparently can't tell you yet… Thanks for the review.

Criminally Insane: Guess who's at the bottom of my review list? Oh look! It's you. If you don't pay me in two days I'll tell my brother what REALLY happened to his favorite hat. And don't think I won't Manda!

Please tell me if I missed anyone. And I hope you're all happy because I wrote this during math class JUST to get it up. And I was rushed so there might be some errors, sorry.

Chapter 4: The Girl From Mars

After another week or so had passed, Noel began to warm up to the other elves. Well, sort of. She spoke civilly to Judy and cut back slightly on the sarcastic comments to Curtis, but to Bernard she was still awful. And the elf was sure she knew exactly what she was doing too. She was weakening his group of allies. The sweeter she was to them (though he found it extremely difficult to think of her as sweet), the less they would want to strangle her, leaving Bernard all alone.

Well at least he had Charlie to back him up, who was still angry at Noel for that day last week. However, instead of seeking him out to be rude to him, the girl avoided Charlie at all costs. It was unusual behavior for her, but fortunate for Bernard, who now spent a large amount of time with the boy.

A few days ago, Bernard and Charlie had been very amused (to put it lightly) when Noel had somehow managed to get some of her long hair tangled in a sewing machine without her realizing and it had gotten sewed into a sock. The elf at the machine insisted he'd had nothing to do with it, but, then again, that elf had been Curtis (not one to normally work at a sewing machine) so Bernard was inclined to disbelieve him.

Judy had been appalled, of course, that Charlie and Bernard were laughing mercilessly and refused to speak to them for a grand total of two hours. It was definitely a price worth paying, they'd mutually decided, just to see the look on Noel's face.

After that, the girl had been particularly unkind to Bernard when she caught him out side of Charlie's company. Even more so than usual, but it didn't bother him much.

Which led right back to the subject of Charlie. Why would she avoid the other human like that? Did she fear him? The thought was ridiculous, but then it fit so perfectly. Why the girl would fear Charlie on sight was beyond Bernard. He had been moderately nice to her (nicer than Bernard, at any rate…), and he didn't have a dangerous look to him.

Deciding not to pursue the complex thought any further, Bernard got up from the couch he'd been resting on, planning to go find Charlie to protect him from Noel or Santa to complain about Noel to, whichever came first.

Unfortunately, things almost never go as planned.

"Hey." Bernard winced as he heard a familiar voice behind him. Noel didn't wait for him to respond. "So why do you wear that barrette everyday? Where I come from only girls wear barrettes."

"And where's that? Mars?" Bernard suggested, though Mars wasn't the first red place he could imagine her living in…

He could almost feel her rolling her eyes. "Yes, Bernard, I come from Mars and I got here when my alien space ship crashed." Her voice thick with sarcasm.

"You must be a really bad driver then," the elf noted.

She glared. "Maybe I wasn't driving my 'UFO'. Maybe I killed the driver because he was as stupid as you are."

"I wouldn't put the intent to kill past you, but really, you're way to small to do any real damage to anyone." Bernard commented.

Without warning, Noel yanked one of his curls harshly. Unprepared, Bernard yelped in pain. It didn't hurt that badly, but that wasn't the point!

He glared coldly at her. "What was that for?" He demanded.

Noel kept a straight face, but her eyes were dancing with laughter.

Then she smiled.

Bernard blinked, but when he opened his eyes Noel was already leaving. What had that been? Did she really have the nerve to smirk at him after she had just tried to rip his hair out? Or had she…? No, that was impossible, wasn't it? Wasn't it?

He didn't call her back.

A/N: Hello? Anyone still reading? *the sound of crickets* Oh, okay. *walks away sadly* Well you can't expect anything done during math class to be even remotely good, can you? You can? Okay, I'll just go then…