I Applied for a Delivery Job and Got Turned Into a Flying Reindeer?!

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Silence swept through the clearing as every eye trained itself on Vixen.

Vixen's eyes, however, immediately sought out Justin. Her expression hardened, and he could feel the same resentment coming from her as everyone else.

"It is less than one month until Christmas," she announced, finally looking at the rest of her class. Her voice carried easily across the crowd. "That means I have less than five weeks to whip all of your sorry tails into proper fliers!"

Tails? Justin thought with an uncomfortable lurch. Do we even have tails?

After a few seconds of searching, he discovered that he did, indeed, possess a new limb growing out of his spine. It was short and stubby, covered in the same white and brown fur as the rest of his body. He even found that if he concentrated, he could get it to wag up and down.

Okay, yes, he thought with his cheeks burning, so I have a tail now!

"You!"

With a gasp, Justin realized Vixen was pointing directly at him.

"Stop playing with yourself and pay attention!"

Justin's cheeks burned even hotter as jeering laughter rang through the crowd.

"Since you can't be bothered to listen to lectures," Vixen went on, "you can be the first to go through the course. Get up here, buck!"

By now, Justin's ears were ringing with embarrassment. Feeling like he was walking through quicksand, he made his way to the stairs and climbed up onto the stage with Vixen. If anyone hadn't been staring at him before, they definitely were now.

"Stop!" Vixen snapped. Justin froze. "Where is your Rider?"

"I...My...What?"

"I'm here!" Lena shouted, sprinting out of the crowd to join Justin on the stage. She was still carrying that piece of leather.

That's a saddle! Justin realized with a jolt. What's going on here?

"Shyalena The-Sky-Is-In-Her-Eyes," she said, snapping into a salute. "I volunteered to be Justin's Rider, ma'am."

Vixen gave her a long, hard look. "The-Sky-Is-In-Her-Eyes? Where have I heard...yes, I remember! You're the one who..."

"I requested a second chance," Lena said quickly, looking down at the floor. "Santa himself gave me his permission."

Vixen snorted. "You were given a second chance, and you chose the lightless one as your mount?"

The crowd started muttering again.

Lena gritted her teeth. "I didn't..."

"Quiet!" Vixen snapped. Justin wasn't sure if she was talking to Lena or the crowd, but both fell silent anyway. "Well, I can't pretend like you two aren't an ideal match. Very well, then. Saddle him!"

Lena stepped forward, raising the saddle. Without thinking, Justin recoiled from her.

"Wait, what is this?" he demanded.

"Justin!" Lena hissed. "Don't make a scene! Just let me put the saddle on—"

"No, this is going too far!" he said, pushing it away. "I don't care how you all took what I said last night, I don't care if I have fur and hooves now, I don't even care if you keep calling me the lightless one! But I'm not going to let you saddle me like a freaking animal!"

"You think you're too good to wear a saddle?" Vixen demanded haughtily. "As if every single one of Santa's reindeer hasn't worn one for over a thousand years?"