Chapter Text
Jackie loved Christmas. She loved the lights and the presents and the way people always seemed to be just a little bit happier than usual. It was unfortunate that Christmas was paired with cold weather. The only thing worse than the cold was trying to dress warm enough to make it to school without freezing, while also dressing light enough to not sweat to death under the heat of a public school classroom filled with teenagers.
She pulled off her denim jacket and shoved it into her backpack as her homeroom teacher made her way through the aisles of desks passing out some kind of flyer. Jackie accepted hers and held it out to read.
The words HOLIDAY HUNT were printed in big green letters against a red background. The page detailed a town-wide scavenger hunt that was being put on over the weekend to help raise money for the new community center. Teams of two were encouraged, with the winning team taking home a grand prize.
A smile crept onto Jackie’s face. She loved a game and already had the perfect partner in mind. Winning this thing would be a breeze. She tucked the flyer into the front of her notebook and started drafting her victory speech.
___
“I can’t be your partner.”
“What,” Jackie said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. An awkward looking freshman boy flung himself sideways to avoid walking into her. “Why?”
Shauna refused to meet Jackie’s eyes.
“I already told Taissa I would be her partner.”
Jackie looked around the hallway wondering if someone was going to pop out and announce that Shauna was pulling a prank on her. When no one did, she raised her eyebrows at Shauna.
“You what?”
Shauna rubbed her palms together. She briefly met Jackie’s eyes before quickly looking away.
“Tai and I have homeroom together, you know, and when Ms. Dawson handed out the flyers Tai said it seemed like fun and asked if I wanted to do it with her so I said yes.” Shauna shrugged. “I didn’t know that you would want to do it too,” she added quickly, “and I can’t just bail on Tai.”
“Oh,” Jackie said. “Oh, no of course. You can’t just bail on Tai.” Shauna’s causal use of the nickname agitated her in a way she couldn’t quite place. Jackie tried to play off her disappointment and smother the small flame of unexpected rage she was feeling towards Taissa Turner.
“Well,” she said in a forced chipper voice, “how exciting! It’ll be fun to compete against each other.”
Shauna gave her a surprised look.
“You’re still going to sign up?”
“Of course,” Jackie said with a laugh. Short of dropping dead, there was not a single thing on the planet that would stop her from participating in this damn Holiday Hunt.
Their conversation was interrupted by the bell.
“Wait, Jax,” Shauna said, “isn’t your fourth period upstairs?”
The unscheduled stop in the hallway had made Jackie late for math.
“Shit. Yes. Bye,” she said, taking off down the hall. She took the stairs two at a time and swung around the corner just in time to see her math teacher, Mr. Jones, push the classroom door shut. Jackie slowed her pace to a walk and approached the door. She tapped her knuckles against the wood twice and let out a sigh.
“Ms. Taylor,” Mr. Jones said as he opened the door, “so kind of you to join us. I believe that is your third tardy this month?”
“Are you sure?,” Jackie tried, “maybe we should check the math on that one.”
Mr. Jones let out a humorless laugh. “I assure you my math is correct.” He ushered her into the classroom. “You know the rules Jackie, three tardies…”
“I know,” Jackie said as she took her seat.
Mr. Jones smiled at her. “I look forward to seeing you in detention this afternoon.”
—
The door to Mr. Jones’ classroom was propped open when Jackie arrived to serve her after school sentence. She squared her shoulders before entering, mustering up the courage to face a room full of hardened offenders. Grabbing the straps of her backpack, Jackie stepped into the room to find one person seated in the back row.
“Natalie?”
The girl looked up from the notebook she was doodling in and met Jackie’s eyes.
“Jackie?”
Jackie knew Natalie from the JV soccer team and from sharing a few classes, but she didn’t know her. Aside from running into her once at the grocery store, Jackie couldn’t think of a single time she had seen Natalie outside of school and she wasn’t the type of girl to talk about herself on the bus to away games.
“Where is everyone?” Jackie asked as she took her usual seat in the room.
Natalie glanced around the room. “Everyone who?”
“You know,” Jackie said, twisting in her seat to face Natalie. She dropped her voice to a whisper, “the bad kids.”
“Jackie, this is an hour of after school detention. It’s the equivalent of a parking ticket in the real world.” Nat smiled. “The real bad kids get a different kind of detention.”
“There are different kinds of detention?” Jackie asked. She filed Natalie’s response away in her brain to use later in case anyone asked her about getting detention. She’d keep her answer breezy — it’s nothing, barely even a parking ticket in the grand scheme of things.
Natalie nodded. “Anything short of full Saturday detention doesn’t even go on your record. This is essentially a slap on the wrist meant to scare kids like you from being late to class.”
“Saturday detention,” Jackie repeated, “like The Breakfast Club.”
Natalie stared at her for almost a full minute before responding.
“Yes,” she eventually said, “like The Breakfast Club.” Natalie tapped the pencil in her hand against her notebook. “So what are you in for?” She asked with mild curiosity.
Jackie sighed.
“Three tardies in a month. You?”
“Skipping homeroom.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. The only noise in the room was the sound of Jackie’s shoe tapping against the floor.
“So,” Jackie said, “does Mr. Jones actually like, check in on us, or can we leave?”
Nat leaned back in her chair. “He’s in the classroom next door flirting with Ms. Morgan. He saw you come in and will stop you if you try to leave before the hour is up.”
“Okay then,” Jackie said, turning away from Natalie to face her desk. “I guess I’ll do homework or something.” She opened her backpack and pulled out her history textbook and a notebook. As she opened her notebook, a colorful piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the ground.
Jackie bent down to pick it up.
“Oh my god,” she said, gripping the paper in her hands, “I just had a brain storm!”
Nat raised her eyebrows. “Is that painful?”
Jackie stood up and spun around to face Natalie.
“You can be my partner for the Holiday Hunt!”
“Your what for the what?”
Jackie crossed the classroom and slammed the flyer onto Natalie’s desk.
“The Holiday Hunt? They handed these out in homeroom.”
“I skipped homeroom,” Natalie said matter of factly, “hence the detention.”
“Oh, right. Okay. It’s a holiday scavenger hunt,” Jackie explained, pointing at the flyer. “The school is putting it on with the town to raise money for the new community center. It’s $20 to sign up and the winning team gets a prize.”
“Gee-whiz,” Natalie said in a sarcastic tone, “that’s so exciting!”
“Isn’t it?” Jackie said.
Natalie’s face was blank. “No.”
“Come on, Natalie,” Jackie pressed, “it will be fun!”
Natalie gave her a look. “Don’t you do everything with Shauna Shipman? Shouldn’t she be your partner?”
“We don’t do everything together,” Jackie said defensively. She tried to keep the annoyance from her voice. “She’s partnering with someone else. It doesn’t matter. This isn’t about her, this is about us — a new dynamic duo out on the town.”
“That was a terrible collection of words.”
“Come on, Natalie,” Jackie said, “aren’t you tired of the whole loner stoner thing? Why not try something new?”
“I am not a loner stoner,” Nat snapped.
“Prove it,” Jackie challenged, “be my partner.”
Natalie looked down at the flyer again.
“Is there a cash prize?”
“Well no,” Jackie admitted, “not technically, but I think that the prize is better than cash.”
Natalie looked up at her. “What’s better than cash?”
“Free Joey’s?”
Joey’s was the most popular sandwich shop in town. Having a regular Joey’s order was the unofficial citizenship test of Wiskayok. The easiest way to identify yourself as an outsider was to ask for a menu at the sandwich shop.
Natalie still didn’t look convinced.
“Free Joey’s,” Jackie said again, leaning in for dramatic effect, “for life.”
Natalie shook her head.
“You’re lying.”
“It’s on the flyer,” Jackie said, “read it for yourself.”
Natalie studied the paper for a minute. “Alright fine,” she finally said, “I’ll be your partner.”
“Yes!” Jackie shouted, pumping her fist. “This is going to be awesome.”
“You’re paying the entry fee though,” Nat said, “and we better win.”
“Believe me,” Jackie said, a slight manic glint in her eye, “we’re going to win.”
__
Shauna was waiting for Jackie in the parking lot. As Jackie approached, she saw Shauna shove the journal she had been writing in into her backpack.
“My best friend the criminal,” Shauna said with a shake of her head, “she used to be such a good person.”
“Ha ha,” Jackie responded, “an hour of after school detention is like getting a parking ticket at the mall — barely a real punishment.”
Shauna frowned slightly. “You don’t even have your license yet, how would you know what it’s like to get a parking ticket?”
“Not the point, Shipman!” Jackie said, starting down the sidewalk away from the school. Shauna fell into step beside her.
“How was detention? Did you join a gang?”
Jackie laughed. “Yes, I did. They elected me president.”
“President of the gang on your first day?” Shauna said, “that’s impressive.”
They rounded the corner to leave the school grounds and ran directly into Natalie.
“Sorry,” Natalie said, fighting to pull her right glove on with her left hand already covered. She looked up at the two of them. “Oh it’s you, hey.”
“Do you need help?” Jackie asked. Without waiting for an answer, she reached forward and tugged Natalie’s glove all the way on.
“Thanks,” Natalie said, flexing her fingers to warm them inside the gloves.
Shauna was giving the two of them a very strange look.
“Alright well,” Natalie said. She pointed down the street. “I have to,” she stepped into the road to move past Jackie and Shauna, “but I guess I’ll see you on Saturday, Jackie. Bye, Shauna.”
Shauna’s eyes snapped to Jackie as she waved goodbye to Natalie.
“Why will you see her on Saturday?”
“Hm?” Jackie hummed. “Oh,” she started walking again, “Natalie is my partner for the Holiday Hunt.”
Shauna jogged to catch up with Jackie.
“She’s your what?”
“My partner for the Holiday Hunt,” Jackie said. “I wish it didn’t get dark so early,” she mused, “I wanted to go to Blockbuster on the way home but I am not walking through that parking lot in the dark.”
“You’re doing the Holiday Hunt with Natalie?” Shauna asked again. “Since when?”
Jackie wasn’t exactly proud of the joy she took from Shauna’s bewilderment at her choice of partner, but she didn’t hate it either.
“Since we had detention together and I asked her to be.”
They stopped at an intersection. Jackie pressed the button on the crosswalk and swayed to the rhythm of the voice telling them to wait to cross. Shauna looked like she was trying to solve a riddle in her head.
“What’s the problem, Shipman? You partnered with Taissa, so I partnered with Natalie,” Jackie said. The light changed and Jackie stepped into the road. “It’s just a friendly little competition.”
__
Jackie woke up before her alarm on Saturday morning. She had three hours to kill before she needed to meet Natalie and decided to use them to finish wrapping the presents she had been hiding in her closet for the last three weeks.
She felt a slight pang in her chest as she wrapped the book she had bought for Shauna, but soothed it by reminding herself that Shauna had picked a different partner first. Did she wish that she would be spending the day running around town with her best friend? Sure. But she was determined to have just as much fun winning the Hunt with Natalie as she would with Shauna.
Natalie was already at the community center when Jackie’s dad dropped her off. Jackie walked towards her pulling two Santa hats from the inside of her coat.
“I brought us hats to wear,” she said, holding one out to Natalie.
Natalie stared at the hat.
“Come on, Natalie,” Jackie said, wiggling the hat around, “have a little fun.”
Natalie closed her hand around the fabric.
“Nat,” she said, pulling the hat onto her head. “My friends call me Nat.”
Jackie twisted the hat in her hands. She took a deep breath to keep herself from screaming and wrapping her arms around Natalie in excitement. They were friends! She crammed her hat onto her hand and settled for looping her arm through Natalie’s.
“Well, Nat, you ready to win?”
___
Jackie and Nat joined the crowd in the community center parking lot waiting for the event to start. A small stage had been erected and two women stood chatting behind a podium. Jackie tried to seem casual as she swept the crowd looking for Shauna.
“She’s over there,” Nat said, nodding towards the far side of the lot.
Shauna was standing with Tai and another girl Jackie recognized as Van, the JV goalie. She caught Jackie’s eye across the crowd and gave her a wave. Jackie waved back.
“So are you two, like, in a fight?” Nat asked, watching the exchange.
“Me and Shauna?” Jackie said. “No, we’re not in a fight. We watched a movie together last night. Admittedly it’s kind of weird to not be doing something like this together, but I get to do it with you.” Jackie bumped Nat with her shoulder. “Our first memory as proper friends.”
“You’re really caught up on that friend thing,” Nat observed.
Jackie smiled. “I’m just honored to be allowed into the stoner loner circle of trust.”
Nat rolled her eyes but smiled.
“Jackie!”
Jackie turned towards the sound of her name. Lottie Matthews was pushing through the crowd towards her.
“Hey, Lottie,” Jackie said.
Nat looked back towards Lottie and immediately turned back around. Jackie caught the movement out of the corner of her eye but let it go, chalking it up to Nat being a bit shy.
“Are you doing the Hunt?” Jackie asked Lottie.
“Yeah, I am. Van asked me to be her partner yesterday and I had nothing better to do so I said sure,” Lottie craned her neck to look over the crowd. “I’m actually trying to find her now. I was late to meet her and she must have wandered off.”
“She’s over there,” Jackie said, “with Tai and Shauna.”
Lottie stepped down off her toes and looked at Jackie.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, glancing at Nat’s back, “you and Shauna aren’t partners for this. Weird.”
“Nat’s my partner,” Jackie said happily. She patted Nat on the shoulder. “Nat, you know Lottie, she’s on the soccer team with us.”
Nat finally turned around and gave Lottie a tight lipped smile.
“Hi, Lottie.”
Lottie grinned at Nat.
“Hey, Nat.”
Jackie felt like she was missing something. She was prevented from investigating further by one of the women stepping up to the microphone to start the event. Lottie gave Jackie and Nat a smile before slipping back into the crowd to make her way towards Van.
“Welcome everyone,” the woman said, “to the Holiday Hunt!”
The crowd cheered in response.
“You should have all received your welcome packets when you signed up — but I will go over the rules quickly now. When I am finished speaking each team will receive the first clue to start the game. Solving the riddle on the clue will lead you to a location in town where a task will need to be completed to receive the next clue in the scavenger hunt. Vehicles of any kind are prohibited to move between locations.”
“We have to walk?” Nat whispered to Jackie as the woman continued through the rules.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jackie whispered back, “I know all the shortcuts through town. We’ll make it to the first location before half of these people even get out of the parking lot.”
It took another thirty minutes for the rules to be explained and the starting cards to be handed out to each team. A volunteer handed Jackie a green envelope. She flipped in her hands while she waited for the scavenger to officially start.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the woman on the stage said. She held a larger bell in her hand and swung it up and down. “You may begin!”
Jackie tore into the envelope and pulled out the card inside. She huddled closer to Nat and read the clue out loud.
“Christmas wishes can come true, if you just ask you know who.”
Nat took the card from Jackie’s hand and turned it over.
“That’s it? That could mean anything.”
Jackie repeated the phrase to herself. The answer came to her in a flash. She grabbed Nat by the wrist and pulled her along after her. Several people around them jumped at the sudden movement.
“I know where to go,” Jackie said, dragging Nat through the crowd.
Jackie left the community center parking lot and ducked into a small side street that ran parallel to the back of the building. Halfway down the street she stopped in front of a chain link fence and placed her foot on the lower half.
“What are you doing?” Nat said, looking deeply confused.
“Shortcut.”
Jackie heaved herself over the short fence and gestured for Nat to follow. Nat hesitated for a second before scrambling over the fence and landing next to Jackie.
“Where are we going?” Nat asked as they raced through a large parking lot she had never seen before.
“To the post office, duh,” Jackie said. She led Nat to a gate at the side of the building and pushed the lock up. Nat followed her out onto the street. She spun in a slow circle and frowned.
“Wait, how did we get on Monroe?”
“That lot takes up two blocks,” Jackie said as she jogged down the sidewalk. “Elm is a dead end so if you cut through the lot you don’t have to waste time going down Willow to get back out onto a connecting street.” She stopped in front of a tree line on the side of the road. “After you.”
Nat still looked confused. “Into the woods?”
Jackie waved her hand impatiently. “This path leads to Banner and from Banner it is only a block to the post office.”
“Why are we going to the post office?” Nat said as she followed Jackie into the woods.
“Because that’s where the clue leads. Christmas wishes can come true, if you just ask you know who? It’s obviously about sending a letter to Santa. Where do you send letters? The post office.”
Nat laughed. “Damn Jackie, I underestimated you.”
Jackie shrugged. “That happens more often than you think. Once we get to Banne—”
The sound of voices stopped Jackie in her tracks. Someone else was on the path ahead of them. She held an arm out to stop Nat and crept forward. She stepped into a small clearing and saw a familiar face.
Shauna grinned at her.
“Empty lot to Monroe?”
Jackie couldn’t help smiling back.
“Path in the woods to Banner. Banner to the—”
“Post office,” Shauna finished.
Tai pushed through the trees.
“Shauna are you su—”
She looked at Nat and Jackie.
“What are you two doing here?”
“I’m just following Jackie,” Nat said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just following Shauna,” Tai said.
More rustling sounded behind them and the four of the traded looks. Lottie sauntered into the clearing with Van trailing behind her.
“Told you,” she said over her shoulder, “following Shauna and Jackie is the easiest way.”
“That’s cheating, Lottie,” Jackie said.
“Nowhere in the rules does it say that you can’t follow other people,” Lottie said. “And you two have a freaky knowledge of all the roads in this town, so I figured it was the safest bet.”
Jackie and Shauna traded a smile, but Tai was not happy.
“Wait, if you two know all the same routes,” she pointed at Jackie and Shauna, “and you two,” she gestured to Van and Lottie, “are just going to follow them — this isn’t going to work.”
Tai had a point. Any shortcut Jackie knew, Shauna knew too. They had discovered all of them together. Unless one of the teams was delayed by a particularly hard clue they would spend the entire day right on each other’s tails.
“You know,” Lottie said, stepping into the middle of the awkward little circle, “we could all work together and just share the prize.”
“Wouldn’t a team of six be against the rules?” Van asked.
“No,” Tai said, “not officially, the teams of two is a suggestion, not a direct rule. In theory, as long as each of us is present for every clue we can function as a single team.”
Nat scratched at the back of her neck. “Okay but how do six people share two passes for lifetime Joey’s?”
“A custody agreement?” Van said.
“We just trade off,” Lottie said, “I mean, we all already know we’re all going to make the varsity team next year so we’ll see each other plenty. This might be a good chance to get to know each other better outside of soccer.”
Jackie looked over at Shauna, who hadn’t spoken.
“What do you think?” She asked.
Shauna shrugged. “It’s easier than spending the day trying to outrun you.”
Jackie smiled. The universe had a funny way of working things out.
Tai tapped the watch on her wrist.
“Great, we’re now one big happy team, but this little meeting cost us time so,” she waved her hands at Jackie and Shauna, “lead on.”
Shauna stepped out of Jackie’s way.
“You’re the one who found this path,” she said, “we’ll follow you.”
____
The six of them followed the arrows on the floor to a backroom of the post office. One of the mail slots on the wall was decorated with lights and labeled with a sign reading: NORTH POLE DIRECT. A two foot tall plastic elf holding a candy cane stood under the mail slot smiling at them.
Jackie approached the piece of paper taped to the wall next to the slot and read it out loud.
“There is nothing elves love more than singing Christmas carols while they make toys. But sometimes, they forget the words! A box on the table behind you—”
They all turned around to see a shoebox wrapped like a present sitting on the desk.
“Contains the lyrics to some of their favorite carols. Select a card from the box and help fill in the missing words. If you get them correct, you just might get a letter back telling you where to find the next clue!”
“This seems easy enough,” Shauna said, approaching the box. She took the lid off and withdrew one of the cards. “Super easy,” she said, holding the card up. “Filling in the missing lyrics for Last Christmas.”
She grabbed a pen off the table and started writing.
“You sure you got it Shauna?” Van asked.
Shauna smiled. “Of course I do, this song is played constantly.”
She finished writing and crossed the room to drop the card through the mail slot.
“What now?” Natalie asked.
“There is probably someone on the other side checking to make sure it’s right,” Tai said, “let’s just give them a minute.”
They stood in a semi-circle facing the mail slot for a few more minutes.
Nat broke the silence. “Are you sure you got the lyrics right?”
“Of course I did,” Shauna scoffed.
They waited another minute. Faint classic musical played out of a speaker on the wall.
“Should we do another card?” Jackie asked, pointing to the box on the table.
“No,” Shauna said, “we did this card right. We don’t need to do another one.”
She stepped up to the mail slot and pressed her face towards it.
“Hellllooooo,” she called, “can we get the next clue?”
Her request was met with more silence.
Shauna smacked her hand against the slot. “Hello?”
“Maybe they’re not home?” Van offered.
“They have to be there,” Shauna said, “it’s part of the Hunt.”
She picked up the plastic elf on the ground in front of her. Jackie wasn’t sure what Shauna’s plan for the elf was but almost immediately after she touched it, a cheerful voice rang out over a loudspeaker.
“Please do not touch the elf.”
“Um, Shauna,” Jackie said carefully, “the powers that be want you to set the elf down.”
“We got it right!” Shauna said, swinging the elf around, “give us the next clue!”
“Put the elf down,” the loudspeaker said, “or you will be disqualified.”
“For god's sake,” Natalie said, “release the elf, Shipman!”
Shauna dropped the elf. It landed sideways on the floor with its sparkling little eyes staring vacantly at the wall.
The speaker crackled again. “Please fix the elf.”
“Nobody touch the elf,” Shauna said threateningly. She spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at the speaker on the wall.
“We figured out the clue, so either you give us the next one or the elf gets it.”
Lottie gasped Shauna’s name and placed her hand over her heart.
“Oh my god,” Van whispered to Tai, “Shipman is going to kill the elf.”
“Shauna is not going to kill the elf,” Jackie said. She leaned towards Shauna. “Please don’t kill the elf.”
“Give us the next clue!” Shauna shouted again at the speaker.
The voice from the speaker was no longer cheerful. “Look kid, you didn’t get the clue right. The lyrics you guessed are wrong.”
“No they’re not,” Shauna argued. “I wrote them correctly — once smitten and twice shy
I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye. That’s how the song goes.”
“That’s what you wrote? Shauna,” Taid groaned, “that isn’t right!”
“Yes it is,” Shauna said.
“No,” Tai assured her, “it’s not. The lyrics are once bitten and twice shy.”
“Bitten?” Shauna laughed. “That cannot be right. What the fuck does that even mean?”
“I don’t know,” Tai said, “take it up with George Micheal, not me. But those are the lyrics.”
Shauna frowned. “I don’t think that’s right. Why would it be bitten? It’s smitten. You know, like when you have a bit of a crush on someone — you’re smitten. Once smitten, twice shy.”
“I know what smitten means,” Tai said, “but it is not the lyric in the song.”
“Maybe it’s mitten!” Van chimed in.
“It’s smitten,” Lottie said, nodding at Shauna. “Once smitten, that makes sense.”
“No,” Tai said forcefully, “it’s not. It obviously isn’t because we would have been given the next clue if it was!”
“It’s bitten,” Jackie said, giving Shauna a sorry smile.
Something slid out of the mail slot and onto the floor. Nat picked up the heavy red envelope.
The speaker turned on again. “It’s BITTEN. Now please fix the elf and get out.”
Van bent down and stood the elf back on his feet. She gave him a gentle pat on the head before leaving.
“I don’t thi–,” Shauna started. Jackie grabbed her by the sleeve and shoved her out of the room.
—
“New rule,” Tai said as they exited the post office, “we all have to agree on the answer before submitting it.”
“And no more harming Christmas characters,” Lottie added. She shot a dirty look at Shauna as she said it.
“Once bitten is a crazy lyric,” Shauna said defensively. “And I wasn’t going to hurt the elf.”
“Can we all just agree,” Tai said, “no more answer submission without sign off from everyone.”
Everyone but Shauna nodded. Jackie gave Shauna a look.
Shauna crossed her arms. “Fine, whatever, we all have to agree.”
“Great,” Nat said, holding up the red envelope, “so, next clue?”