The Christmas Crusade [NaNoWriMo 2015]

❄ Chapter One ❄

Moose Delancy really hates her job.

She shoved on her ridiculous looking shoes and put on her sickeningly green hat. It was after school on a Monday and she was stuck in this costume with a shit ton of homework in her backpack. Wonderful.

She felt herself being pulled into an arm link. She turned to glare at her best ("and only, Moose") friend, Babs Amour. The other girl gave her an overly large smile before laughing and straightening her own hat.

"C'mon, Moose, smile! It won't be that bad. Besides, you whip through your homework, so don't even complain." She had a point there.

"But why do we have to do this every year. We shouldn't even be allowed to work, this has to be violating the child labor laws." Moose trudged after Babs as they made their way to the Workshop, smiling at the different kids and pretending to be chipper about going to their hell job.

"I hear the exact same rant, Moose, I don't need to hear it again," Babs interrupted, opening the back door to the Workshop. Moose pouted ("I did not!") and followed her friend inside.

The Workshop was bigger than what you would expect. Instead of it just being a closed off space, it was literally a large house where kids can come in, talk to Santa, and make crafts with the elves. It was actually pretty cute, if your heart wasn't a black pit like Moose's heart. ("It's not, she's just exaggerating").

"Everyone, gather 'round," Nicole shouted. That was another thing; almost all the workers were teenagers. Like Moose said, labor laws. All the workers gathered around the pretty girl who seemed way too tall to be an elf. Then again, there were only about three short people. Nicole stepped down to make room for their boss, Candy Kane.

Yes. Candy. Kane.

She cleared her throat. "As you all may know, our Santa had quit because the police found copious amounts of meth and weed in his apartment." There was an uproar of cheers and whispers. No one knew that happened, but now they did.

It's not as if it was that big of a loss. No one liked the guy. He was a jerk and was like that stereotypical bum Santa who just drank beer, burped, and made parents wary and kids scared. You know the sort from those shows and movies? Yeah, that was him.

Candy tried to get everyone's attention. She raised her voice. "And that is why we have a new Santa who will be joining us today. Come on in!" She cheered and clapped, Nicole following suit. Everyone slowly joined in, wondering who the poor sucker was this time.

He stepped through the door and it was dead silent. Santa was young. He could've only been one or two years older than Moose, max. He smiled at everyone, a bit nervously, and tried to straighten his Santa hat.

There was an uproar. Some of the elves went straight to talk to him (Nicole and Co.) while others observed and eavesdropped from afar. Some of the more dramatic ones went to Candy to complain, saying that a young Santa would ruin everything ("the elves as teens made sense because we just looked smaller compared to the balding, fat guy, now it's chaos!").

Moose and Babs hung back and started setting up shop, making sure that Candy could see them. Extra pay. As they set out the non-toxic glue, Babs craned her neck to get a view of the new Santa. It was certainly not beneath Moose to do the same, but she didn't want to have to explain to the others that "feminism does not mean women are better than men, that is misandry and it's just as bad as misogyny".

The ruckus died down eventually and Nicole yelled at everyone to get started, still hanging on to the new Santa. Moose and Babs reminded themselves to catch his name. They sat down at their workstation and snickered as Nicole was told off by Candy.