Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [11]

Chapter 11

It was a rather breezy night. Jae was in her room, sitting in front of the computer. She sighed in defeat when a half-hour passed and she hasn't made any progress in her research. She planned to find out some things about this... Grinch, but it was always that same story about the green monster that appeared on the internet.

She never actually heard that the Grinch has passed his own bloodline. Which meant that he started a family. And that his children bore his blood. And his children had children. And those children had children. And on and on, until now, where a faint trace of his bloodline has been found resurrected. Or that's what Skye told her.

Because it was the same situation with Skye and his cousins. Their ancient grandfather was Santa Claus himself. Or that's what Skye told her.

Jae still doesn't know what to do with this information. Does that mean that Santa Claus really does exist or did he just exist because people believed in him? What of their magic? Jae was pretty sure that had come from Santa Claus, too. If people didn't celebrate Christmas, what would happen to Skye? Would that affect them? Would that affect the Grinch as well?

And why, oh why, was she tangled right in their mess? Why did she meet Skye? Was it merely a coincidence or was she needed some time in the future?

Jae rested her head on the desk, not quite softly, and groaned loudly. All these questions and thoughts are all jumbled inside of her head. And none of them made sense. And none of them has answers. But for some reason, she had this inner desire to help them.

"She's my friend."

A small smile crept onto her face. Friend, huh? She's Santa Claus' friend. What a weird world.

It was that long ago when she understood Santa Claus didn't exist. She was 7. And every Christmas, they had this family tradition to write a letter to Santa Claus, claiming to be a good girl or boy and what gift they wanted. She didn't know if that tradition started years before she was born, but she didn't once question it.

Because Santa Claus always, always, wrote back to her the next morning next to a present that she personally asked for in the letter. Those were the times she thought Santa was real. And then one Christmas, she was old enough to finally understand. Understand that her mom would always ask her what toy she wanted before Christmas. Understand that they'd go shopping, and her mom would always split up with her so she wouldn't see her buy the toy she wanted. Understand that it was her mom's handwriting whenever Santa replied in those letters.

She didn't tell them that she didn't believe in Santa anymore when she found out. She let her mom continue what she was doing. And when she was finally 14, old enough to find writing letters to Santa were boring, the replies stopped as well.

She remembered though, one Christmas when she was too young to understand. She barely turned 4, but she remembered she adored Santa. She was always ecstatic to open up presents and then show them to her mom and her brother. Her brother was upset about something that night, but she can't remember the reason why.

She was playing with her new toys, praising Santa again and again for the new doll she asked for in her letter. And then Adams, who was pissed off, suddenly snatched her toy away from her and told her that Santa wasn't real.

She cried that night. She vaguely remembered throwing a tantrum. Santa is real! she would say again and again. You're lying!

Adams immediately apologized after that. Told her that she was right and he was lying. They made up. And next Christmas, she recalled that Santa visited for the first time. Now that she thought about it, it must've been Adams. To apologize for being a jerk.

She had crept downstairs, heading towards the bathroom. And then from the corner of her eye, she had seen him. Santa's shadow. And when she had hurried to get down the stairs to greet him, he was gone. And new presents have been found underneath the Christmas tree that night.

Jae slumped in her seat as the memories began to fade. Maybe she'd try researching again tomorrow. Because if anything told her about her research, the Grinch particularly liked to ruin Christmas. And what would happen to Skye if Christmas was ruin?

She got up from the computer seat and then dived into her bed. The bed creaked underneath her weight but it held, despite how many times she did that. And then she escaped into the dream world.

***

She hasn't seen Skye ever since that day in Sir Wynter's room. Sir Wynter hasn't brought it up with her anyways. And they haven't talked again. Sure, maybe it really was a one-time thing, but Jae still felt disappointed.

Maggie started hanging out with her more outside of their class together. Seems like her friends ditched her and it resulted in Maggie seeking company with Jae and Sam. Although Jae didn't think Sam and Maggie had any proper conversation yet.

It was lunch time. The three of them were together and as usual, Maggie had only been talking to Jae. Sam trailed behind the two of them, his face blank and unresponsive.

After they bought their own food and were carrying their trays, looking around for one empty table, Maggie suddenly waved her hand somewhere in the cafeteria. "Jae, look! It's my Science groupmates! Do you mind if we join them today? I promise they're really cool."

Jae's eyes widened a bit. "R-really? Is it ok if we intrude?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Of course it is. These guys are awesome. C'mon!" She went to them first and Jae instinctively looked behind to catch Sam's gaze.

Sam stared with an intensity he hasn't shown before. Jae looked at him pleadingly, her eyes a contrast to his, soft and insistent. They were having one of their silent conversations again.

Let's eat with them!

No.

C'mon, Sam!

No.

Just once! I promise we'll leave if you don't like them.

No.

Please!

...

"Camilla! Come on!" Maggie's voice shouted from the background. Sam broke the gaze first, a sign of defeat. Jae's lips twitched upward as she turned around to follow Maggie, Sam following behind her.

When they reached the table, an exact 2 chairs were left open for the two of them. Maggie excitedly introduced her to the group. "Guys, this is Camilla Jae! Camilla, this is Sean, Faye, Mae, and Rica!"

There were four people. Sean was the guy in the polo shirt. Faye was the girl with the short hair. Mae was the short but beaming girl. Rica was the timid girl. Jae sat down beside Maggie and Sam quietly sat down beside her. "Nice to meet you," Jae said.

"Nice to meet you as well!" Mae replied in a cheerful tone. Then she pointed at Sam in an obvious but unobvious way. "Who's he?"

Maggie darted her eyes at Sam and made a face. "That's Jae's best friend. Follows her everywhere."

"Maggie," Jae said in warning. Sam had stilled beside her.

"He doesn't speak. Ever," Maggie added.

Sam suddenly stood up and the silence pierced the atmosphere. He didn't make any more eye contact, turned around, and left. He didn't bring his food.

"Sam!" Jae called out. But he was already walking away.

Rica cringed visibly. "You didn't have to say that, Margaret," she said to Maggie.

Maggie frowned. "What? I was telling the truth!" she said defensively. Jae was torn between following Sam or staying at the table. She already stood up when Maggie grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?" she asked, a bit hurt.

"I'm going to follow him," Jae said.

"Leave him, Jae. You don't need to baby him like you always do. He needs to learn how to socialize by himself. And how could he do that if he's always with you?" Maggie pulled her down back to her seat and Jae frowned in confusion. Has she been stopping Sam from hanging out with other people?

"No, that's not—Sam's really just like that before I met him. He only hangs out with people he likes," Jae explained.

Sean laughed loudly. "That meant he doesn't like you, Margaret."

Maggie's brows furrowed. "No, he's just a picky-a*s brat. You shouldn't be so biased towards others. That guy needs to grow some balls." Jae wanted to defend her friend but she added, "Also, is he really that conceited? Only hangs out with people he likes? But what if nobody liked him?"

"Maggie," Jae said.

"What? I'm just saying!" she said defensively.

And then Jae remembered how polite he was with her mother. Sam wasn't picky. Sam wasn't conceited. Sam just wanted to live his life simply. And if he can have less drama in his life with lesser friends, then he'd do just that. But Jae was different. She didn't like drama as well. That's what Sam liked about her. That's why Sam liked to hang out with her. Because she was different. And she approached him first.

Jae finally stood up. "See you later, Maggie," she said, a little bit cold.

"Camilla!"

But Jae was already walking away. She went in line to buy lunch again, two sandwiches. It was a waste to leave their lunch there, but she can't face them again. And after she bought the sandwiches, she headed out, towards the tree. Their tree.

Sam was waiting. He knew she'd come. Even if Jae wasn't sure herself if she'd come, Sam trusted she'd come. Because right there, underneath the tree, he laid a blanket. And beside him were two boxes of Chinese takeout.

Jae's smile widened. Sam was leaning against the tree, his eyes closed. If she were anybody else, she would have thought he was sleeping. But she knew Sam was aware of her. The ghost of a smile on his lips told her so.

She sat on the opposite side of the blanket, laying down the two sandwiches between them with the Chinese takeouts. They were silent. A moment of peace.

Sam broke the silence first. He opened his eyes and stared right into Jae's. "What took you so long?" he said with a sneer.

"Bought some sandwiches," Jae replied.

"Yeah, well I bought food as well," he said.

One of Jae's brows rose. "Yeah, I can see that."

Then they were silent again.

But Sam spoke again first. "I wasn't sure you were coming," he said in a whisper.

"Me neither," Jae admitted. Sam's shoulders slumped downward. But Jae added, "Because they were out of tuna sandwich."

It took a moment to register her sentence. A snort came from Sam's direction. Jae tried not to smile. And then they were chuckling.

"Damn it, CJ," Sam said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Oh don't be a crybaby, Sam. Of course, I'm coming. I'm your friend." She emphasized the word friend. "Well, I'm hungry. I'm eating this." She grabbed the Chinese takeout and the chopstick.

But Sam didn't stop staring at her. Friend.

***

Maggie started to hang out with her less and less. They didn't talk about what happened that day in the cafeteria, but it was obvious it bugged the two of them. But Maggie was too proud to talk about it, and Jae couldn't care less.

She adored Maggie as a friend, but if she were just going to insult her best friend, then she'd rather not be friends with her. Jae was a little bit disappointed for how Maggie acted, especially when she was getting attached to her.

There was one time when she wanted to just apologize to Maggie and then tell her that if she ever insults Sam again, then their friendship was over. But it slowly dawned on her that their friendship wasn't that strong to begin with. It was already beginning to tear down, only holding on with the last bit of string it has left. There was no way she could fix it.

But finals were just around the corner. After that, the second semester will begin. New schedules. And she might not even have the same classes as Maggie again. She was already flung out of Jae's mind a week before finals night. Even the gray-haired guy that kept darting in and out of her mind was shut out for the first time.

Jae was almost struggling to keep up with all the requirements she has to do for a whole entire week. A book report, a movie review, increasingly-difficult Math drills, notebooks and a thesis for their level 2 research paper. She was trying to finish the paper first. But it was difficult because she started researching too late. She forgot about it until earlier this week when the teacher asked how it was doing.

She has pulled two all-nighters already but she only finished half of it.

"What the f**k are you doing?"

It was surprising hearing Sam say such obscene words, but Jae only stared at him. They were hanging by the tree. They had a free period that the teacher called 'review day' even if everyone knows nobody will take their notes and review for the upcoming exam. There was still too much to do.

So they hanged out here, where Jae brought her brother's laptop with her to start on the book review. She hasn't read recently, but she'll be doing a book review about that book she read last Christmas where she went shopping with her brother.

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing?'" Jae asked Sam.

Sam furrowed his brows, obviously irritated. "You haven't slept again, have you?"

Jae didn't reply as she got onto writing the book review. Her fingers tapped the keyboard and Jae was so sure her fingers were sore just from tapping the keyboard for two whole days. She heard Sam groan.

"This is what happens if you start early," Sam hissed.

Jae cringed. She stopped typing. "I know that, Sam!" Her eyes were so tired, she could fall asleep right now. But she has to finish this before this period ends, just so she could have one less problem to think about.

Sam snarled at her and then grabbed the laptop from her lap. "Hey!" She tried reaching for the laptop but Sam wouldn't give it to her. "Give it to me! I need to finish—"

Sam rolled his eyes as he pushed his hand to Jae's face. "Goddamn, CJ! Sit your a*s down and sleep!" he said through his teeth. Jae stopped pushing him and stared. "I'll help do this for you. Just take a nap," he added a little more quietly.

"But..."

Sam greeted her tired eyes with his piercing gaze. And Jae knew she could do nothing now that Sam has made up his mind. She leaned against the tree and watched him turn his attention to the laptop, reading whatever she started with. And she fell asleep to the sound of fingers tapping the keyboard.