When Winter Comes

Chapter 3: Winter Remembers

It turned out the kid I walked into in the hall was in my science class, and to make it all even better, he was my partner.

The boy sat down at his seat next to me. His tie was perfectly done and tucked under his sweater. Austin never had a nicely fixed tie. He was always asking me to fix it for him. I used to think it was cute; it felt like he needed me. Now, it felt like he was just childish.

"Is this enough room between us? I wouldn't want you to think that I was intruding on your desk," the boy joked next me. "Your Highness," he added with a smirk.

I shot him a glare. "Well, I would actually prefer if you didn't sit with me at all, but that's not going to happen, is it now?" The boy drove me mad.

He chuckled and dropped his large bag onto the tan hardwood floor.

"Jason Calver, please join me for a second in the front," Mr. Trennington said and pointed at the boy next to me.

My mouth gaped. He couldn't be Jason Calver. Jason Calver and I joined this school at the same time. We grew up here together. Until I was 12, we were practically inseparable, but then Emma and Taylor came, and middle school began.

"You can't be Jace," I said under my breath.

"Oh it's me, Winter." He smirked and winked at me before going up to talk to Mr. Trennington.

I watched as he made his way up to the desk. He walked with his head high. Jason Calver walked the same way when he was a kid. I would know. We used to always walk to classes together.

I spun around in my chair and faced a girl behind me. She didn't look familiar, but then again I'd been gone for a year.

"Hey do you know the boy I'm sitting with?" I asked the girl. She stared at me with huge blue eyes.

"You're Winter Ozlin." She shuttered.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, and who is the boy next to me?"

"It's Jason Calver," she quickly said and then hid behind her marble notebook.

"Asking about me?" The boy said. I looked up to see his blue eyes shining at me. His annoying smirk lay on his lips. It made me want to hate him even more. "It's true. I am the Jason Calver." He placed his tan arms on his waist and looked up towards the ceiling. He looked like he was trying to be a superhero. In the past, I used to think he was.

"I can't believe this," I groaned and banged my head against the hard counter. The test tubes around my head jiggled.

"I can't believe you didn't recognize me," he laughed.

"You didn't even mention knowing me in the hallway!" I said and lifted my head. I glared my brown eyes at him.

"Not my problem," he said and pulled his notebook out of his backpack.

My heart sunk at that moment. Jason was my best friend when we were seven. We went to class together. We ate every meal together. He was even my first kiss. My first kiss, now that was a memory that was hard to forget.

. . .

"I can't believe we're doing this!" I giggled as Jason dragged me through the woods. He hands were soft holding mine. It didn't even matter that it was raining out. When I was with him, my sun was always shinning.

"It's okay. I told my brother to make sure nobody came tonight." He smiled. I couldn't see the smile because he was running in front of me, but I heard it. Behind the sentence I heard giddiness and love.

We were going to the high school tree house, which was half a mile off school grounds. Jace's brother had made the tree house when he was a freshman. After that he declared that only high school students could use the tree house. The tree house was usually used for small get-togethers and dates. The stories us middle schoolers had heard were epic about this place. Nobody in middle school had ever stepped foot into the tree house. It was like a myth.