Together through it all

17. Chapter seventeen: 31.12. It will all be over...

"Well, you probably don't mean it," said Ria, laughing. "Wait, add a little on this side as well."  Finally, she was pushing more snow on the right side of the snowman's butt.  Everyone was having fun.  They reminisced about their childhood days... "I remember one year when it also snowed during the winter like today. That day I looked out the window and thought about what it must be like to live in a country where it doesn't snow," said Ria  .  She looked ahead.  She saw a group of people in the distance behind the apartment building.  Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.  She got scared.  "There's someone going," she said slightly horrified.  She expected it.  She knew it... "Imagine if Lucas came here," Amelia spoke up. Rihanna turned to her, "I thought so too."

"You see. We told you that you like him."

"But I don't like him Amelia..."

"As you wish, but we'll arrange one for you one day anyway," Benji chimed in. El nodded in agreement. "How about we go to the schoolyard?"  Amelia suggested after a few odd looks between them all.  "Let's go!" shouted Benji. He started forward. He was going faster than the others. They were running down the hill. Amelia and El were sliding down on purpose. And Ria? She fell on her ass and went down the hill. Benji was laughing at her. She's very  downright unbelievably - mischievous. "My sweatpants are all covered in snow, but I have to admit it was worth it," added Ria, dusting the snow off her clothes.  A huge amount of flakes fell into her hair.  They gradually melted under the influence of the heat that radiated from her skin.

Everyone ran forward.  There was an innumerable amount of white snow sprinkled on the school grounds.  "Beautiful," Ria thought to herself.  The only thing missing was Lucas.  But the problem is that her friends still don't know about her romance with the most beautiful boy in school.  She stopped thinking about her secrets and turned back.  To the present.  Here and now.  She started following such a rule only recently.  She doesn't want to worry about the future, so she tries to live in the moment.  Despite the fact that she sometimes thinks with her friends about what it will probably look like in a few years.  Most often, they talk about the future of their classmates, but also about their own.  "Damn," a part of her brain wandered off again. She's back. In the real world. She looked ahead. She saw El and Amelia throw themselves into the snow and make angels. She joined them; and so did Benji. They all looked happy. Benji  he even shaped his angel's ass and a wasp shaft.Ria just laughed at him too.
Snow continued to fall from the sky incredibly fast and in great abundance.  It was wonderful.
Fairytale, dreamlike and unreal.

Simply perfect... Everyone walked forward.
Down the next hill.  Ria
didn't notice where she was going, and that's why she fell with her foot into a hole. "I found a sandpit! But to be honest my foot found it!" she shouted to perhaps half the town. Benji
burst out laughing as Ria nearly fell over
down. Somehow she persevered. She is
a strong and self-sufficient woman. "I got an idea," started El, how about we go sledding?"

"That's not a bad idea. The sledge is at my mom's house. Me and Benji can run down there." Amelia said. They turned back. They trotted contentedly through the snow. The sound of rustling warmers accompanied their steps. They gradually disappeared under the cloak of darkness and snow. El began to feel strange. She didn't like how dark it was outside. In the distance, someone was walking through the school's main gate. A medium-tall person wearing a long gray-brown jacket. His face was not visible. "Who is it?" El asked.
"I do not know. But he looks a bit like Benji,” Ria chimed in.
"No, it won't be him. Benji didn't have such a long jacket and he's a bit taller than that person." The unknown person just stood there. He looked dangerous, but primitive at the same time. He muttered something under his breath. "Let's go. We should go opposite direction to get faster to Amelia and Benji. "
"That's not a bad idea El."
They wanted to go from the other side beyond the school gym, but an unknown person went in that direction. "Fine, if we go past the cafeteria on the other side, nothing should happen to us," said Ria. She was holding El by the sleeve of her jacket. They waded slowly through a thick layer of snow. The stranger was nowhere to be seen. Both of their hearts were beating faster. What if that person does something to them? They spotted him immediately. He was on the other side of the school grounds, but even so, he could be heard talking to himself in Russian..., "Weird..." Ria began, but didn't have time to finish the sentence. That is, when she saw a large group of people pass through the main gate. "That probably isn't Amelia and Benji," she said.
"No, but Lucas and his friends!"
"WHAT?!" she screamed in alarm in a choked voice. Very subtle Rihanna. VERY SUBTLE... El quickly redirected her to the opposite end of the school. They slipped through like nothing. Ria immediately put her hood over her head. She didn't want to attract attention. "We should go immediately to Amelia and Benji," said Ria. "How about we go see Lucas and his friends?"
"Forget about that Eleanor!"
In the end, they went opposite their friends. They walked a little along the sidewalk, then across the road and stopped on the other side in the middle of the sidewalk. "Where are they?" despaired El. "I don't know, but if they don't appear as soon as possible, I will tear them apart in my teeth..."
"Oh, there they are!"
"Thank goodness. You're so lucky you weren't there."
“Why?” Amelia asked.
"Lucas was there," El explained. Benji's mouth dropped open. Amelia immediately spoke up, "We're going there!"
"Her?" he began, pointing at Ria, "And with hair like that? Definitely not! With that hairstyle, I wouldn't even let her take out the trash in front of the apartment building..."
"Fine... So where are we going?"
"Well, we're going to see Lucas," Amelia said confidently.
"Forget about it immediately," Ria warned her.
"I have to agree with Rihanna on this one," Benji lamented.
"Okay. So, we're going to my dad's. Maybe the sledge will be there," Amelia said.
"Wait? You don't have the sledge?"
"Nope."
They made their way forward along the sidewalk next to the apartment buildings. Rihanna was still haunted by that bad feeling that her friends were going to find out about her secret relationship that didn't last very long... She was zoned out when she heard the sound of a notification on her cell phone. She took it out of her pocket. Lucas wrote to her: "You know Ria, I recently read a statement. It said that you can recognize your girlfriend by just three things, even on miles away. 1. symbolic height; 2. your smile 3. your red hair that shines even from twenty meters away..." She smiled. She wanted to text him back, but she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She thought it was one of her friends. But this was something like murder for her peaceful existence among friends. Tern, who was looking at her was Lucas. He was standing about twenty-five meters to her right. Her friends were walking behind her, so they must have noticed him. "Ria, there's Lucas!” Benji said into her ear louder then it would be necessary. "Go to him!" urged Amelia. Ria has wanted to go to him for a long time, but she can't because she doesn't plan to tell them all about this until New Year's Eve. She looked ahead. No one anywhere. Should he run forward or stay with his friends? That's a question of peaceful social life or disclosure. She chose option C. "Let's go please," she said. No one was listening. They were all minding their own business because Lucas suddenly disappeared. He went back to his friends. Ria thought for a second that he wasn't even there and she was starting to hallucinate or something "Shall we turn it around?" Benji asked.
"We can. I think it will be pointless to go get the sled, since El should be home as soon as possible," said Ria. They turned back. Rihanna's bad feeling grew more and more. What if she reveals herself in any way possible. "The fear is just an emotion.  But a as strong emotion as  love. So if they found out that you are dating him, you would get rid of your fear," she calmed down in her mind. She walked forward and didn't look at what would happen because she wants to leave it to fate. Even though she had a hunch that someone, anyone, would come up with something. Maybe not Lucas, but her friends. And what if Theo appeared here and everything would he revealed for the reason that he is as jealous as possible. Suddenly, everyone heard a large number of male voices. Lucas's gang? Maybe... But this looked more like guys in suits. Among them was someone in all black. He was wearing a long coat, a sweatshirt and a hood on his head. He was tall, but so were others near him. Ria walked forward, but then two of the guys in suits stood in front of her. They picked her up saying, “No questions. We'll explain everything to you on the way." She didn't understand what was going on. Why would someone just take her with them out of the blue. Her friends stood there looking at her in disbelief. The rest of the fancy-dressed guys said something to them and then followed the ones taking Ria . They carried her in the direction beyond the apartment blocks to the houses near the shops. Finally they turned into a secret alley between the gardens. Someone was waiting for them there. It was the person dressed all in black. His hands were behind his back. His face was not really visible. The light of the bright moon but in the full moon the smile on his face lit up a little.The two guys laid her down.
She sat there not understanding what was going on. A long hand of a tall person in black appeared in front of her face. It was Lucas. He planned it all for her. He helped her stand up and put a bouquet of flowers in her hands. He took off his hood. His black hair fell in his face. He was smiling. Ria too. She didn't expect something like this, and especially not today. Actually, not at all. She would never say something like that about him... “I've read your book that you wrote, but you never sent it to any publisher. I thought this might surprise you, so I called my whole old hockey team," he explained.
"You mean the hockey team from when we hated each other and Theo forced me to go to one of your games?"
"Yes. They are the only ones who were willing to help me with this surprise."
"Is this everything you've had planned or should I also expect something else?"