My Christmas Star ( A Santa Clause Story Ft Bernard x OC)

Chapter 9: Be the Judge

Stella's POV

Ever since I got out of the hospital, I had been giving my mother the silent treatment and decided to spend the rest of my time in Illinois with my dad. Of course, my mom had to accept the fact that I wanted to live with dad before I "go off to college" because otherwise she'd be filled with more guilt than she was now. I mean, I kind of felt bad for leaving Charlie with mom and Neal, but we were still able to see him when mom let him visit.
Also, Dad's new form is really starting to kick in now. He's had rapid hair growth, weight gain and his hair is turning gray. He's also had a change in diet. It was always sweet stuff now. Mostly cookies and milk. I was also craving sweet stuff a lot more often as well. The only thing that made it different for me was that I wasn't gaining any weight.
One day, he decided to take himself to the doctor. He wasn't quite accepting the fact that this was happening to him but Bernard told me that he will soon.

Well, anyway, it's April now, the middle of April and my ears have been itching a lot lately. Bernard gave me an elf-made ointment that will subside the itching. Another thing is that my face has been tingly lately and Bernard told me that was a sign that the youth in my face was settling in to keep it from aging. He also said I'd most likely grow freckles or sparkle freckles, as I like to call them. I remembered something when I was at the North Pole and every kid either had freckles or sparkles on their cheeks. Bernard said that I could get either or both. Another thing I noticed about myself was my hair. It was growing a lot faster. It was falling a little past my shoulder before I became subject to the Elf Clause. And now it was falling to the middle of my back. 

I was at school one day and my cheeks started to grow the little sparkles and flush red. Just like Bernard's. And of course, SOMEONE had to notice it. And by someone, I mean the group of girls who wander around school like they own the place. I swear, ever since those girls saw Heathers for the first time, they've been acting like the main characters were based on them. I really didn't have time for them to choose me as a target today.
"Oh, look at that," the leader of the group, Karen, said. "Looks like someone got a little messy in Arts and Crafts."
Her minions laughed with her.
"At least I can actually get a passing grade in something as simple as Arts and Crafts," I shot back. "You can't even draw a cat."
Karen and her minions gasped. "Well, at least my parents are still together," Karen said, out of clear spite. I chose not to get offended by this because I knew she was trying to hit a weak spot.
"Oh, please Karen. The only reason your parents are still together is because your daddy makes all the money and your mom can barely make minimum wage," I said as I closed my locker.
"How dare you disrespect my family!" Karen yelled as she backed me up against my own locker.
"You literally tried to do the same thing to me, so your point isn't valid," I said to her.
"Whatever, loser! At least my parents actually pay attention to me!"
"Your point?" I said, again. "My point is that no one cares about you! You don't even have friends that care about you," Karen said. Her effort to hurt me was cute, but not damaging.
"Oh, please. As if you have friends. Yes, you may be popular but that doesn't mean you have many friends. You only have followers and people who know you for the horrible stuff you do. And if you think those two minions behind you are your friends they're probably just using you for popularity," I said as I pointed to the two girls behind her. Karen looked back at her two minions, Lindsey and Leslie. "Is that true?" she asked. "No, of course not. We would never do that to you," Lindsey said. "Yeah, she's just lying to get us to turn against each other," Leslie said in agreement to Lindsey. The three girls continued to argue, which gave me an opportunity to get away. I managed to make it to my next class before the late bell rang.

I was able to survive all the way to the end of the school day. But, of course, right when the academic part of my day ends, that's when things get miserable.
I was in the bathroom, getting ready to go to one of Charlie's soccer games. I had put on the jersey that my mother had made me and I was trying to cover up the sparkles on my cheeks with some foundation I decided to buy at a drug store on my lunch break. Oh, but of course, right when I try to take care of that distraction, another one comes right along.
I was blending in the foundation when all of a sudden, my ears started to poke out through my dark brown hair.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!" I exclaimed, trying to cover my ears with my hair. No matter how hard I tried, the ears still poked out. I then tried to cover it up with my hoodie.
"That'll do...for now," I said to myself as I pressed my hands against the edge of the sink and looked in the mirror. I sighed and went to leave the bathroom, but right as I went to open the door, it swung open, almost knocking me over in the process.
"Oh, look who it is." It was Karen.
"Yippee, you know how to use those circle-y things on your face called your eyes," I said, sarcastically as I shot a fake smile. I tried to scoot past them, but the power of all three of them stopped me.
"Not so fast, Calvin. We owe you," Karen said, giving me one of those devilish smiles that you see people do when they're about to do something terrible. They started backing me up against the wall
"Actually, Karen," I said as I stopped walking backwards. "I owe all three of you."
I then grabbed the trash bag closest to me and took it out of the trash can.