I have a secret identity.
Throughout the year, I'm simply known as Hayley. However, during the Christmas season, I'm known as the Secret Santa. I go from club to club, arranging exchanges between the members while wearing my trademark get-up: a santa suit topped by a snowman head.
For a while now, I've been putting off a visit to a couple certain clubs. I knew there'd be a year where my services would be needed and this is that year. Normally I have members of the club do exchanges with one another, but this time I'm having the two clubs make gifts for each other.
Caprice's art club and Mekki's writing club. They don't know what's coming, but I'm more than sure the spirit of giving will bring them a little bit closer, even if they're fighting with one another.
I arrive at Caprice's club first. Allison immediately stands up, nearly slamming her knees into the table she's sitting at. "It's that snowman person!" She screams. Everyone turns towards me. Eileen puts on a scowl. "Oh, it's the weirdo. I was wondering when you'd get to us."
Wallace seems uninterested, but speaks up. "Before you even get into it, give it a rest. Weird or not, I haven't heard a single club complain about the little event the Secret Snowman over here does."
Caprice takes a dramatic pose. "And he even asks the club leader for permission beforehand!"
I nod my snowman head. Wallace arches an eyebrow. "Do they even talk?"
Caprice scratches her head under her iconic tophat. "Well, I don't know. He gave me a piece of paper with the request on it. I tried getting them to talk but I guess they're really gung-ho about keeping their identity a secret!"
A few more nods from me.
"That's what makes it so fun!" I have to resist laughing inside of my costume's head. Allison seems to have been looking forward to this.
I fetch a piece of paper from inside my santa suit. Holding it out, I tap it a few times and then turn it to Caprice. She looks at it intently.
"Oh! He wants to know what everyone wants. He'll come back in a day or two to assign everyone their gifts. Then he'll come by again in about a week to collect them. A couple days later, they'll be handed out. Anyone who wants in is s'posed to write on a piece of paper what they want."
Slips of paper are passed around by the club. Caprice collects them all and hands them over to me. "I'll make sure the slackers get their gifts in on time, just make sure you pair everyone up well!"
I give a little salute and head on out. I had to be very careful with my handwriting or Caprice would notice it was me writing out the directions on those old-style pieces of parchment. Next up is Mekki's club. Where Caprice might've not noticed my careful changes in handwriting, I'm sure Mekki will. I had someone help me out with that.
Mekki wanted to make my arrival a little more of a surprise than Caprice did, so I have to get there by a certain time. Mekki's waiting in the hallway when I show up. I've even taken a different path around the school to mask the fact that I just left the art club.
She claps her hands together when she sees me heading down the hallway. "Excellent, you're here! One second." Mekki enters the club room. Even through my snowman helmet, I can hear her talking loudly.
"Alright everyone! Today we have a special guest you may have heard of. I said I wasn't going to do any events this season so everyone could enjoy it with their family, but I don't think a little something extra will hurt." A slight pause.
"That said, please welcome our guest!" She pushes the door open and I dramatically leap through the doorway, striking a pose on landing. Mekki has to stifle her laughter. I don't mind making a fool of myself like this, no one knows it's me. Plus, so long as people are smiling, I'm already doing half my job.
"Whoa! The hell's that?" Tanya immediately asks, recoiling a bit in her seat. Heather smirks. "It's the Secret Santa. You haven't heard of them? It's some person who goes around arranging gift-giving between clubs. It's actually quite novel, if a bit silly."
I place my hands on my hips, nodding. I do the same with Mekki as I did Caprice, handing her a sheet of paper with the directions for the gift exchange on it. She peruses it, practically scrutinizing it for any sort of clues. She then scans the club room. No one's missing, so she concludes it can't possibly be one of the other club members. She's not one to stand an unsolved mystery, which is why I came here on a day where I had no classes. They wouldn't expect me to get here in this weather on my own.
"Alright! Anyone who wants to participate in the gift exchange just has to write their what they want. Somehow, our friend here already knows everyone in the club's name." I can see her furrowing her brow a little, trying to figure out how I know such a thing. She's probably thinking I looked at the club registry.
Darren is just as curious. "I wonder how they pulled that off? Is that the same of the other clubs too, Heather? You seem to know more about this person than I do."
She leans back in her chair, humming. "Yes, it seems they usually do know the club members' names. I guess it adds to the mystique."
Tanya laughs. "Well, whatever, right? Who cares who they are or how they know. They're doin' somethin' fun, so lets join in on it. 'Tis the season and all that, yeah?"
Everyone seems to agree and sheets of paper go around, the members all jotting down what they'd like for gifts from one another. "We'll see you soon, then!"
A small bow and I'm on my way. It's going to be a bit of trek back, but first I need to stash my suit.
After looking over each of the gift requests, I change them up a bit to disguise that their requests come from an artist or writer. I pass them out to the members of the clubs, even the club leaders. They try to decline at first, but I force them to take their assignments.
The initial week passes and everyone has completed their gifts for one another. A couple days later, I run into a bit of a snag. I have classes on the same day that I'm supposed to hand out the gifts. They both invited me to their clubs so I could meet the mysterious Secret Santa.
I'm not sure if my plan will work, though. I have something in mind to get their gifts to them without blowing my cover. I head to Caprice's first, since their club starts an hour earlier than Mekki's.
I open the door and give a small wave to everyone in the class. Allison, like last time, is the first to greet me. She probably thought I was the Secret Santa. "Oh, oh, you made it! We weren't sure you would since your classes are a little tight around now."
I just shrug. "I have a little downtime between my last and next class, so I figured I could pop in."
Caprice beams at me. "Good! We all would've gotten a little suspicious if you didn't show up." I wonder who put that thought in her head. She probably wouldn't assume it was me, anyway. Maybe it was Wallace who started connecting the dots.
I take a seat in the corner, listening in on people chatting with my headphones off of one ear. They're all excitedly chattering about what they're hoping to get. I put on a small smile.
The door swings open and in comes the Secret Santa. Just on time. They've got a sack slung over their shoulder. Naturally, whatever the writers did wouldn't take that much space, so it's probably just padded. Everyone sits up in their chairs, like kids on Christmas.
"Hiya! I know you don't like to dice words, so hand out the gifts!" Caprice tells the person wearing my suit.
They nod and swing the sack over in front of them, rummaging through it. Caprice wrote down "ANYTHING!!!" in big old blue letters, so I made sure to tailor her gift to something I know she'd like. Even though she's good at hiding it, I know she's having a hard time with the whole conflict going on, especially at this time of year. I had Mekki write her something calm and peaceful. Caprice immediately recognizes her handwriting and style of prose. For once, the overwhelmingly loud girl is at a loss for words.
Eileen was also pretty nonspecific, stating that since I knew so much about the club already, I'd be able to assign the right person and item to her. What she doesn't know is how much I pay attention to what people around me say when they think I'm not listening. Though a lot of her works are a bit darker, I know she has a soft spot, too. She has a fondness for seasonal apparel, so I had Darren write a story focused around seasons and the comfort of the clothes people wear in them.
Allison wanted a cute picture of one of her favorite characters from a series she's been watching lately, so I had Heather write a short story about the character having fun. Heather's a fairly versatile writer, so she pulled off writing about another subject pretty well.
Wallace wanted any kind of manga-style comic, so I nudged Tanya to buying him a comic book since she's pretty into those lately. The club members seem a little confused at first, most of all Caprice, but they seem to settle into the warmth of receiving something from a group of people they've considered enemies lately.
Caprice doesn't know how to thank Secret Santa, who just waves off the notion and gives her a small thumbs up. They take their leave and everyone settles on talking about the gifts they weren't expecting and how they're pretty pleased by them. I check the clock on the wall. "Well, I'm going to head to the library. I didn't study for my next class' test so I'm gonna try to cram beforehand." Caprice nods and I leave.
Secret Santa is nowhere to be found, probably finding somewhere to hide out while waiting for the next club's meeting.
Little under an hour passes and I arrive after Secret Santa does and is handing out the gifts from the art club. Most of them are left speechless. Caprice's assignment was also similar to Mekki's, involving calm. I knew that she'd unconsciously gravitate towards drawing someone appearing similar to Mekki, who she knows is also struggling with the fight between the two. A blonde girl stands with her back towards the viewer, looking over an open field, all drawn in pen and ink.
Tanya received a five page hand-drawn superhero comic from Wallace, Heather received a Sherlock Holmes-esque picture from Eileen, featuring a female investigator. Darren received an action-filled picture featuring a fantasy setting from Allison.
Mekki looks to me, still somewhat shocked. "How did they know," is all she has to ask me. The only way I can respond is with another of my typical shrugs. I hang around for a bit, listening to the club showing off their gifts. After a while, I give Mekki the same excuse I gave Caprice. Once I've left the club room, I see Secret Santa standing off to the side. They take their snowman hat off.
"Do you really think this is going to work?" Oliver asks me, trying to fix his hair from the silly hat he had to wear to help me pull this off. The thought of the Secret Santa being either of us will never cross the two girls' minds.
I smile at him. "Have a little faith in the Christmas spirit. It won't fix everything, but it's a start."