“Isobel, wake up!”
I was jerked awake as Cress shook me by the shoulders. I groaned as I slowly blinked my eyes open. It felt way too early even for me.
Glancing at the clock, I jolted upright. “What’s wrong?” It was first thing in the morning, and the sun was only just coming up. Something bad must have happened for Cress to be forcing me awake at this hour. I really hoped there hadn’t been another prank.
“Just get up. Quickly.” She raced into the closet, and I scrambled out of bed to hurry after her. She sounded too serious for it to be a prank, and I was starting to get worried, but as I entered the closet, I found her grinning as she slid into her UGG boots.
A little of my apprehension disappeared when I saw her expression, but I still had no idea what was going on. “Seriously, Cress, what’s the hurry?”
“You’ll see. Just grab your shoes, your gloves, and a warm jacket. We’re going outside.” She threw a pair of gloves at me, and I caught them midair.
She hadn’t bothered to change out of her pajamas, so I didn’t worry about it either. Thankfully, I was already dressed in a pair of thick flannelette pants and a cozy top, so I simply pulled on my jacket, shoes, and gloves, and then a beanie for good measure.
When we got out into the corridor, Anna was waiting for us, bouncing up and down on her toes.
“Finally,” she gasped, already starting to walk down the hallway. Cress and I hurried to keep up.
Other girls were emerging excitedly from their rooms, and there was a buzz in the air that was hard not to get caught up in. It was only once we left the building that I finally realized what all the fuss was about.
The flurries of snow I’d seen last night must have turned into a full blizzard because the courtyard was covered in a thick fluffy layer of snow. It glowed in the early-morning light and was so beautiful I barely noticed the biting nip in the air.
“Snowball fight,” a boy screamed from somewhere on the other side of the courtyard, and the serenity descended into chaos as balls of snow went flying. I squealed as one came hurtling for me, but Anna grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the way.
“Come on,” she laughed. “We’ve got to get out of the firing line.”
We raced away from the front of the dorm, laughter surrounding us as everyone in the courtyard joined in the fight. I followed Anna toward one of the benches lining the perimeter of the courtyard, and she ducked down behind it, gesturing for Cress and I to do the same. There was a row of bushes behind us, and it felt a lot more sheltered here than out in the open.
“Here’s what you need to know.” Anna clamped both hands on my shoulders and looked me square in the face. “The first snowball fight of the season is always brutal. Lives will be lost, but they won’t be ours. Our team motto is hit them first, hit them hard, and take no prisoners.”
I might have laughed if she didn’t sound so stern.
The sound of a whistle screeched through the morning air, and the snowballs stopped flying. I peeked over the top of the bench to see Coach August standing in the center of the courtyard. He was still in his pajamas too, but he was also wearing a thick coat and snow boots. Had he decided to stop the fight before it even really began?
“The battlegrounds are contained to this courtyard,” he called out, his voice projecting loudly across the wide-open space. “If you stray beyond it, you’re out. If you get hit, you’re out. No snowballs above the neck, so if you hit someone’s head, you’re out. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Coach.” The answer was loud as everyone in the courtyard responded. It sounded like the entire school was out here.
“Good. Then let this year’s first snow battle begin.” He blew his whistle, and screams and shouts echoed across the courtyard as snowballs started hurling through the air once again.
“Right,” Anna said. “Let’s build up a good base of snowballs so we can defend our fort.”
She and Cress got to work straightaway as they started scrunching together balls of snow in their gloves. I’d never made a snowball before in my life, but it didn’t take me long to get the hang of it. Once we had a few in stock, Anna started flinging them at anyone who ran by. She had surprisingly good aim, and she managed to knock out three kids in a row.
She lifted her arm as two other people dared to make their way toward our bench, but she quickly lowered it when she saw it was Sawyer and Wes.
“Ladies, how are we doing?” Sawyer asked as he crouched behind the bench with us. Wes winked at me and knelt down beside me.
“So far, so good,” Anna said. “We’re three for three.”
“I’m five for five.” Sawyer grinned.
“I didn’t realize this was a competition,” I murmured to Wes.
“With Sawyer, it’s always a competition,” he replied.
“How many have you got so far?”
“Not one.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I was too busy looking for you. I was hoping you might need protecting.”
I smiled up at him. “Well, it turns out I’ve got two pretty good teammates here. Anna isn’t letting anyone get within twenty feet of us.”
He laughed and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “Well, then, I guess I’ll leave you girls to it. Good luck out there.”
“You too.”
Wes grabbed Sawyer, and the two of them took off again. They were in their element as they darted across the battlefield, dodging snowballs and returning fire.
From the safety of our fort, defended by Anna, I could see the courtyard was total chaos. There were some kids like us who had taken cover and were defending their positions. Then there were others like Kaden and Luther who were in the thick of the action. The two of them were dominating the fight from the center of the courtyard, and I couldn’t tell if people were simply too intimidated to try to take them out or if they were simply that good.
Cress let out a small sigh beside me, and I grinned when I realized she was watching them too. “Are you checking out Kaden?” I said, nudging her with my shoulder.
“Maybe.”
‘Definitely.”
“What?” She laughed. “I can’t help it. My boyfriend looks good in his snow gear.”
“Boyfriend?” I gasped.
“Yeah.” Her eyes glittered with excitement. “We made it official when I got back to school last night.”
“Aw, I’m so happy for you both.”
“Yeah, congrats, Cress,” Anna interrupted. “But can we gush about this later? We have a snowball fight to win.”
Cress and I shared a look and then laughed. Anna was taking this game far too seriously. Still, we both tried to focus on the task at hand, probably out of fear Anna might turn her snowballs on us if we didn’t.
I was distracted when I heard a giggle coming from somewhere beyond the bushes behind us. Cress and Anna didn’t seem to notice, but I turned and pushed the branches aside as I tried to see who was there.
There was a flash of long red hair as a girl ran past, closely pursued by a boy. He playfully tackled her to the ground right in front of me, and the snow went flying up around them as they landed.
“Got you.” He laughed as he hovered over her. They had their backs to me, so I couldn’t see either of their faces. I was wondering whether they knew they were out of bounds and would be disqualified from the snowball fight. But then the boy lowered his head and kissed the girl as she lay under him in the snow.
I quickly pulled back from the bush and resumed my place next to Cress. “Oh, my gosh,” I said. “I know Anna wants us to stay focused on the fight, but there are totally two students kissing on the other side of the bushes behind us.”
“Really?” Cress laughed. She turned to take a peek through the branches and giggled. “Wow, they’re really making out.”
“Okay, I have to see this,” Anna said, leaving her post at the corner of our bench. Given how seriously she was taking the snowball fight, I was surprised she was willing to take her eyes off the game for a second. Apparently, her curiosity was too great.
“Shit, that’s Veronica and Eric,” she said, jolting back from the bushes, her eyes wide with surprise.
“What?” I crawled up beside her and took a second look. The guy had pulled back to look the girl in the eyes, and now they were farther apart, I could see Anna was right. And from the adoring way Eric was looking down at Veronica, this wasn’t just some surprise snowball fight fun.
“Why is Veronica making out with a scholarship student?” Cress asked as I faced the girls again. “She’s always hated them.”
I knew that wasn’t totally true. Veronica had told me she didn’t actually have a problem with the scholarship students, and seeing her with Eric made me wonder if her cruelty toward them was just part of the carefully crafted persona she’d built for herself at this school. Still, I probably wouldn’t have believed she was kissing a scholarship student either if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
“I guess she doesn’t hate all of them,” Anna replied, her eyes still bulging. “Do you think they’re together, together? Or do you think they’re just caught up in the moment?”
Cress glanced through the bushes again. “It kind of looks like they’re together, together. Look at the way they’re smiling at each other.”
Anna and I crowded in to see. Veronica and Eric were covered in snow, and he was helping her to her feet. I’d never seen her look so lighthearted, and there was a bright sparkle in her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her, and the way he held her showed familiarity that couldn’t be faked. But seeing as they didn’t know anyone was watching them, why would they be acting anything other than genuine.
“Wow, I think you’re right,” Anna said. “People at school would lose their minds if they knew about this.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t tell anyone,” I said as I pulled away from the bushes. I was starting to feel bad about intruding on their privacy. “They seem happy and clearly want to keep it a secret. Why would we ruin that?”
“Are you forgetting that Veronica put posters around the school of you in your café uniform?” Anna asked.
“She did.” I shrugged. “But I don’t really care anymore, and she kind of did me a favor. I hated keeping the truth about that from everyone, and my life’s better with it all out in the open.”
My friends nodded with understanding, and Anna let out a sigh. “Okay, so I guess we’re keeping Veronica’s snowy rendezvous with Eric a secret.”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Cress agreed. “I hear her mom’s a social-climbing nightmare. She’d probably freak out if she knew about this. And the two of them look so cute together; I’d hate to be the reason they broke up.”
Veronica’s actions finally felt like they made sense to me. If she really was with Eric, then maybe she pretended to date Noah to hide her real relationship, especially from her mom. Maybe Eric was the boy that got caught in her room. It was actually all kind of romantic.
“Incoming!” Anna squealed as she noticed a group of guys charging toward us from the side. They were pelting snowballs at us in quick unison, and from the angle they were approaching, the bench offered us no protection. We’d taken our eyes off the game for a minute, and our fortress had fallen.
“Go, go, go!” Anna shouted, waving her hands at us.
I scrambled to my feet and started to run with Cress and Anna right behind me.
“Damn it,” Anna cried. “I’m out.”
“I’m down too,” Cress groaned.
I started to slow down and looked behind me so I could check on my friends, but the girls shouted at me to keep running.
“Save yourself, Isobel,” Anna cried out. “Live to fight another day.”
She looked deadly serious, so I did as she ordered and continued to sprint away along the perimeter of the courtyard. It was no use though. There were three boys and only one me. And they were fast. I had no hope. I ran until I reached the corner of the boys’ dorm. There was a walkway leading down the side of it, but I knew I couldn’t take it without being knocked out of the game. There was no escape for me, so I crouched down to quickly gather some snow together before I stood tall and turned to face the boys pursing me.
I kept my snowball cradled behind my back as they closed in. They were laughing as they slowed to a walk and surrounded me. Each one had a snowball gripped in their hands. My lone snowball would be useless against three guys even if I did trust my aim to get one of them out. Which I didn’t. I kept it hidden behind my back in case by some miracle they all missed and I had the opportunity to escape. It was a long shot though.
The three boys lifted their snowballs above their heads. With the wall to my back and the boys fanned out in front of me, there was no room to dodge out of the way and nothing to use for protection, and they were so close there was no chance they’d miss. I shut my eyes tight as I braced for impact. It was about to be game over for me. Anna would be so disappointed.
But then I heard shouting, and as I opened my eyes, Noah appeared in front of me. He was cradling a pile of snowballs with one arm, and he was launching them at the three guys with the other. He threw them hard and fast and with unnerving accuracy. Noah might have been brilliant at soccer, but I was surprised he wasn’t also the star of the baseball team with an arm like that.
The guys had been so focused on me they weren’t able to react fast enough. And by the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late. They were out of the game, and they groaned with frustration as they trudged off through the snow.
Noah turned to me, his eyes bright with excitement and his cheeks flushed from the cold.
“Thanks, Noah, but you didn’t have to do that.”
A playful smile was on his lips. “Maybe I like coming to your rescue?”
I scoffed. “I don’t need rescuing.”
“Well, maybe I just wanted to get you out myself.”
I glanced down at the snowballs in his hands. He wasn’t primed to throw them at me, but I’d just seen exactly how quickly he could move.
“Oh, are you going to take me out with one of those?” I asked, taking a slow step toward him. I still had one snowball behind my back. Perhaps if I could get him to let his guard down, I might be able to throw mine first. “You’re going to hit a girl while she’s alone and unarmed?”
“I never said I played fair.” He taunted me as I came to stand before him. He tilted his head to watch me, his eyes narrowing like he was trying to figure me out. Trying to understand why I would walk toward him when he was threatening me with snowballs. He was so focused on my face he didn’t see my arm as it sneaked out from behind my back.
I lifted the snowball above my head and crushed it against the side of his face. “I never said I played fair either.”
There was a stunned look in Noah’s eyes, but then he burst out laughing. The sound was so light and full of joy I found myself smiling too.
“You got me there, Crash,” he said through his chuckles. “But you also got yourself. No snowballs to the face, remember?”
“Oh, I forgot about that.” I shrugged but my smile didn’t drop. “I think it was worth it.”
“I can see that.” He grinned.
It was strange sharing this moment with Noah. It was easy and fun. It felt like it shouldn’t belong to us.
“I guess we should join the rest of the spectators,” Noah said.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
And just like that, the moment was over. As we walked back to the dorms, where everyone who had already been knocked out was gathering to watch, I spotted Wes across the courtyard. He was frowning in my direction, and I had a feeling he’d just seen Noah and I together. We hadn’t done anything wrong, but why did my stomach twist uneasily like we had?
