Cursed

Chapter 5

"C'mon, Summer, we're going to be late for school!"

It was their first day of school, and already the girls were off to a bad start. Summer accidentally set her toast on fire while trying to warm it, Winter froze her water glass while she was putting on her pendant, and the bus was going to get there before they did.

"I'm coming!" Summer yelled. She was sweating; not because of the rush, but because she accidentally filled the room with heat and they hadn't had time to fix it. Her long blonde hair was sticking to her face, and beads of sweat were visible on her forehead.

The girls ran down the stairs together, passing their grandfather on the way down. "Be careful!" he yelled to them as the ran out the door.

"We will!" Winter called over her shoulder. The girls ran all the way to the bus stop and nearly ran into the other person at the bus stop.

"Christopher!" Winter exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Hey, Winter," Christopher said, just as surprised as Winter was. "Did you finally convince your grandpa to let you go to school?"

"Why else would I be here?" Winter laughed.

"Who is this, Winter?" Summer asked, giving her sister a confused look. "Do you know him?"

"Yes," Winter said. "He's my friend."

"And who's the lovely lady with you?" Christopher asked.

"This is my sister, Summer," Winter said. "Remember, I told you about her? Identical blonde twin?"

"Oh, yes," Christopher said. "Now I remember. I should've known since you guys are, well, identical."

The twins laughed. This happened more than they thought it would.

The three of them talked for a while, learning all about each other. When the bus came, they hardly even noticed. The bus driver had to honk his horn at them so they would hurry up and get on. The three of them laughed and quickly boarded the bus, heading off to school.

***

At the end of the school day, Winter and Summer had made quite an impression. As it turned out, Christopher was a pretty popular guy, and the twins had made several friends that day.

"Hey, Winter," Christopher said, running to catch up with the girls as they boarded their bus. "Do you want to sit with me?"

"Well I was going to --" Winter tried to say, before Summer elbowed her ribs. "Ow!" Winter said, rubbing her side. Summer gave her a go sit with him look. Winter turned to Christopher. "Sure, I'll sit with you," she said.

"Great," Christopher said, smiling. He headed to his seat. Summer looked at Winter.

"What?" Winter said. Summer's eyes went wide in annoyance. "What?" Winter said again.

"He likes you!" Summer said, exasperated. "He's flirting with you. Do you like him?"

"He does?" Winter said, smiling shyly in Christopher's direction.

"And you like him," Summer said. Winter tried to deny it, but Summer stopped her. "Don't even try to deny it. I know you too well. Now go over, sit with him, and don't blow your chance to get a boyfriend."

"Okay, okay," Winter said, following her sister's orders. She went over and sat down with Christopher.

"What's going on?" Christopher asked.

"Nothing," Winter lied. "My sister just wanted to make sure I was okay sitting with you instead of her today. Considering that we're new and all."

"Oh," Christopher said. "So, a bunch of my friends are hanging out at Whitney's house tonight. You remember Whitney?" Winter nodded. "Okay, so they told me I could bring whoever I wanted. So do you want to come with me? You could invite your sister too, if you wanted."

"Sure," Winter said, "it sounds like fun."

"I'm just warning you, they are going to be playing a bunch of childish games," Christopher said. "It's one of their birthdays - I can't remember who's - and they're celebrating growing up by playing childish games once more."

"That's fine," Winter said. "I'm secretly a child at heart." The two of them laughed. They then talked and laughed all the home.

***

When they arrived at the party, Winter was astonished to see how many people were there. Christopher began to walk up to the house, while Winter just stayed there staring.

Summer nudged her sister. "Sis, don't let your date walk away." Winter looked up, surprised to see that Christopher was already at the door. Winter ran to catch up with him, while Summer walked, laughing at her sister's patheticness.

When they got inside, Winter was surprised, again, to see everyone there. "Whoever's birthday this is, they know a lot of people," Winter said under her breath.

"What, love?" Christopher said.

"Nothing," Winter said. Then her heart skipped a beat. She realized that be had called her love. Did it mean anything? Was it casual, or did he actually love her?

Christopher grabbed her hand and dragged her into the house. They danced and ate for a good hour before the party host called everyone together.

Winter saw it was Whitney who was yelling for everyone's attention. It must be her birthday, Winter thought.

"Hey, everyone," Whitney said. "So it's my birthday today, and to celebrate me becoming sixteen, we are going to play some of our old childhood games for the last time. First, we are going to play hide and seek tag!"

The game started with Christopher as "it". Winter hid under a table. As he walked by, it was clear that he saw her, but he made an effort to ignore her. He even winked at her, right before tagging Summer, who was hiding in a closet across the hall.

While Summer was "it", Winter hid under the bed, hoping her sister wouldn't find her. But she did. Winter tried her best to crawl out before Summer could tag her, but she couldn't get out. She raised her arms over head, thinking for some reason that it would protect her from being tagged.

A blast of ice shot out of Winter's hands, covering the edge of the bed in ice. Winter gasped simultaneously with Summer.

"Winter!" Summer whispered, scolding. "You've got to get your powers under control!"

"I don't know how this happened!" Winter whipser-yelled back at her sister. "I wasn't even thinking about it!"

"Take it down!" Summer whispered, panicked. "Now!"

Winter tried to take it down. "I can't take it down! It's stuck somehow!"

"What do we do?"