It was much colder than it usually was when I woke up the next morning. I looked down at myself to see that I was still covered by my blankets, but for some reason, there was a chill in the room I hadn't ever felt before.
I looked around, expecting to see Lena, but she was nowhere in sight. Kristie still slept across the room from me and everything else hadn't been disturbed. So why was it so cold in here?
I checked the time to see it was eleven. Hank and Nay usually let us sleep in on the weekends now that we were going to school. I'd never slept in this late before.
The tank top and pajama shorts I had chosen to fall asleep in did nothing to help keep me warm as I pushed myself out of bed and made my way toward the door. There had to be a reason it was so cold in here, right?
I opened the door to the hallway and stepped outside, immediately bashing into someone's chest before I could even take two steps out the door.
"Ow," I groaned, rubbing my nose. I looked up at Dex and glared. "Why do you have to be so hard?"
He smirked down at me. "That could be taken in the wrong way."
I didn't get it, but I wasn't about to ask. Chances are I didn't want to know anyway.
"So, are you okay?" Dex asked me now, and it took me a moment to figure out why he was asking me this. I then remembered what had happened in Malicius's classroom the day before. Leaving his classroom like that would sure be a nice surprise for him...
"I'm fine," I answered, even though I wasn't so sure how truthful that really was. "I'm just really cold."
Dex blinked. "That wasn't the response I was expecting, but okay."
"Why is it so freaking cold?" I snapped, rubbing my arms up and down as a chill ran down my spine. "It's never been this cold in the morning."
I turned toward the front door and began down the hall, hoping it would be warmer outside and that the sun would warm me. Dex didn't seem very cold, but he was wearing jeans and a jacket, so of course he was going to be warmer than me.
But when I opened the door, I did not expect what I saw. The ground and everything outside was covered in a thick blanket of white snow as it lightly fell from the sky.
My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped in awe. "Whoa..."
I could barely remember the last time I had seen snow. I'd been very young, so young that I couldn't even remember if it had been when my parents were alive or not. I couldn't even remember how it felt, but here it was being squished under my bare feet.
I couldn't help the big smile that stretched across my face as I suddenly ran out deeper into the snow. The cold no longer bothered me as I ran through the snow.
"Dex, it's snowing!" I called out to him happily, sounding like a child. "It's snowing!"
Dex didn't seem as excited as I was. "Violet, go back inside and get dressed!" he practically scolded. "You're going to get sick!"
"What, are you my mother?" I laughed as I kicked a pile of snow up into the air. "Live a little, will you?"
I couldn't stop laughing, and I suddenly wasn't cold any longer. It was snowing, it was actually snowing, and it all just seemed... so... magical.
I spun around in the snow as it fell around me. I was barefoot and my footprints were scattered in the snow around me. I was just ecstatic. After all the stressful things that had been happening lately, this made me forget about it all. It made me almost feel like I was a kid again.
I looked back at Dex when I finally stopped spinning, still smiling and laughing. And what I saw surprised me. He was giving me a look I'd never seen from him before. He didn't look scared, but... in awe. Like he couldn't take his eyes off me.
I turned away from him and my attention went back to the snow. Before I could do anything, however, because Dex then wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and picked me up off the ground. I squealed in surprise. "What are you doing?" I demanded.
"You're going to get sick if you stay out here like this any longer," he told me, and he really did sound like a mother. "Or at least you'll get frostbite, and I'm sure you wouldn't like to lose any toes."
He was right, but I hadn't even thought of any of that. Seeing something like snow made me feel like a little kid again and I'd pretty much stopped thinking about anything else.
He practically carried me to my room and forced me inside, telling me to change into something warmer. With a roll of my eyes, I shut the door with him in the hallway and did as I was told, stripping my tank top off so I was now shirtless.
Suddenly the door burst open, causing me to scream in terror.
"It's snowing!" Aiden announced, a thousand years too late. "Get up, Kristie, it's snowing!"
"Hey!" I shouted, covering up my bare chest. "I'm changing here!"
Aiden ignored me and moved to wake Kristie up. Without a second thought, I used my powers to tug on the back of his shirt to move him away from her and back toward the door.
"Get out," I snapped. "I'm changing!"
"You're choking me!" Aiden gasped, but I didn't care.
"You done?" a new voice suddenly asked, and I turned to see Dex making his way into the room. His eyes went wide and his face turned red when he saw my arms covering my chest.
"Will you two just get out of our room?" I screamed.
This woke Kristie up, who seemed very confused by the three of us standing around the room, one of us shirtless while the other two were just standing there like idiots.
"Let me get dressed!" I shouted, shoving Aiden out of the room with my mind. He knocked into Dex on the way out, sending them both flying out into the hallway. I slammed the door shut behind them.
Kristie didn't ask any questions and I continued to change. Soon, she began to change as well and then we both made our way out of the room and into the hallway where our teammates were waiting for us, including Anthony. All three of them were dressed for the snow.
My teammates and I all hurried down the hallway and outside, all of us clearly excited about the snow. It was something that never happened in the places where we had used to live before we joined the DAU.
"Hey, Violet!" Anthony suddenly called out, and I turned just in time for a snowball to smack me right in the face.
Dex and Aiden both laughed as I wiped the snow from my face. Anthony stuck his tongue out at me, but all I did was pick up some snow and chuck it right back at him.
He dashed out of the way and the snowball hit a tree. I then turned to see him forming another one that he threw at me again.
I ducked out of the way of the incoming snowball, hitting the ground and rolling back up onto my feet. I grabbed some snow up off the ground and chucked it at Anthony. He wasn't able to dodge it and he went tumbling onto the ground.
"Snowball fight?" Aiden laughed. "I'm in!"
Dex shrugged. "Count me in, too."
We turned toward Kristie, who shook her head. "I'm going to build a snowman," she informed us. "It's something I've always wanted to do."
"Well we'll have equal teams then," Anthony announced. "It'll be Aiden and me against Dex and Violet."
Dex and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay," we both said in unison.
And then the war began. Forts were built and snow was thrown, and I had no idea how we would decide the winner unless someone forfeited, but I knew that was never going to happen when Dex and Aiden were on the two teams.
We hadn't made it a rule to not use our powers, but that didn't stop us. Aiden and I could both throw the snow without touching it, considering he could control water, while Dex would go invisible and throw as hard as he could and Anthony threw them so quickly that I couldn't even see them.
I rolled out of the way of a snowball, almost hitting the front gate as I scrambled up into my feet. Before I could throw a snowball back at him though, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to see that it was a person, but it took me a moment to recognize them. And when I did, I nearly screamed.
"Tom!" I shrieked, and it really didn't sound as attractive as I would have liked. "Wh—what are you doing here?"
This got the attention of my friends, who immediately stopped using their powers to build things out of snow. Dex rolled his eyes and kicked a pile of snow.
"I was on a walk and was thinking about you," Tom informed me, and I felt my face heat up through the cold air. "I wanted to see if you wanted to go get coffee with me."
It took a moment for me to find my voice. "Um, sure," I nodded, unable to control the smile that stretched across my face. "I'd love to go get coffee with you."
Suddenly, a snowball came whizzing through the air and slamming against the back of my head.
"Ow!" I shouted, turning to see Dex lowering his arm. "Dex!"
"Oops, sorry," he called back out to me lazily. "Watch out. Snowball incoming."
I glared at him. I felt very tempted to throw one back at him, but I couldn't use my powers since Tom was there. And I wasn't about to stoop to his level. Even though I really, really wanted to.
I turned back toward Tom and forced a smile, choosing to ignore Dex and his childish behavior. "Let's go," I dismissed, opening the gate and stepping onto the snowy sidewalk.
Tom smiled at me and he started off in whatever direction we were getting coffee was, and I followed right behind him. It was suddenly strange to be alone with him when I usually never was.
It took about five minutes to get to our destination, which was a small building that didn't look like very much at all from the outside. But I guessed that I shouldn't have judged before even going inside.
"What is this place?" I asked as he led me inside.
"A coffee shop," he answered. "But they also sell pretty good food during the afternoon."
I wasn't expecting him to take me to a place like this, but I wasn't complaining. It was nice just spending time with him.
"This is nice," I told him as we sat down.
He nodded. "It is," he agreed. "It's pretty small, but I come here a lot. The coffee's great."
I hadn't seen him as a coffee drinker, but I guess that was just something else I didn't know about him. This made me realize that there was actually a lot that I didn't know about Tom.
A waitress came up and asked what we wanted to drink, and we both said coffee even though I hadn't ever really drank coffee before. When she came back with them, she asked what we wanted to eat, and after glancing quickly at the menu, I ordered a sandwich and Tom ordered a burger.
We didn't say much as we waited for our food, and I couldn't help but feel awkward. It seemed as if Tom had something he wanted to say, but I didn't think it'd be the right thing for me to ask him what it was.
Finally, our food arrived and it took some of the awkwardness away, though not all of it. I poked at my food, hoping he would say something to break the silence.
"Why do you live in that big, old place?" Tom asked as he picked at his fries. "Do your parents, like, hate you or something?"
You would think that that comment would have hurt me, but it didn't. I knew my parents loved me; I had no doubt about it. It was just the thought that they were no longer with me that hurt.
"My parents are dead," I whispered. It wasn't something I liked to say out loud. It wasn't even something I liked to think about.
"Oh..." Tom's eyes went wide in shock. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"No, it's fine," I assured, even though I did have a sudden pain in my chest. "It was... a long time ago. I was four. It was a... car accident."
That seemed like a pretty generic reason; it was something that was unfortunately common. But I knew that that wasn't how my parents had died. They'd been killed by their own teammate. Their own friend.
I tried to act like I wasn't upset by it, but I didn't know how well I was doing that. Anyone would get emotional at the thought of their deceased parents.
"What about the others that live there?" Tom asked me now. "Have their parents passed as well?"
I remembered how Dex's aunt had said his mother may have been alive. That must have been excruciatingly difficult for him to deal with. It didn't excuse him from being rude, but it was still upsetting.
"Dex's have," I answered, knowing I couldn't tell him the actual answer without telling him the whole story. "And Kristie, um..."
I still had no idea what Kristie's past was like. Even she didn't know it. She still couldn't remember anything from before she woke up in the hospital. I couldn't help but wonder if we were ever going to find out her past.
"Kristie's have, too," I finished, since that was the easy answer to go with.
Tom nodded. "I see."
"Aiden's there for... behavioral reasons," I continued to lie, and it was something I thought was pretty believable if you knew Aiden.
"That's understandable," Tom shrugged, and I bit down on the inside of my lip to stop myself from smiling. "Aiden's sure... Uh..."
"Difficult," I finished for him. "He's difficult."
Tom laughed. "I guess that's a word you could use."
"And Anthony's..." I found myself pausing again as I tried to think of what to say. Anthony's parents were still alive, and he clearly didn't have any behavioral problems. "I, uh... I actually don't know why he's there. He doesn't share much. He's very... aloof."
Okay, that was a major lie, but I couldn't come up with anything else so that was what I was going to have to go with.
"Anthony? Aloof?" Tom laughed. "Okay, whatever you say."
It was just as ridiculous as it sounded. But at least he seemed to believe me.
"And Lena?" he asked me now.
I shook my head. "Lena doesn't live with us. She just comes over a lot."
He nodded. "I see."
Silence washed over us again, and I didn't know what else to say. I really didn't want it turning awkward once again, but if one of us didn't say anything soon, it definitely would.
"So," Tom said just as I opened my mouth to speak, and I closed it tight and waited for him to continue. "I... I have something I wanted to ask you."
I gulped, unsure whether it was good or bad. "Okay," I nodded.
I knew since we sat down that he had something he wanted to say, and now he was finally going to get to the point. What could it have possibly been about?
Oh, no. What if he somehow remembered seeing me use my powers? Or what if he had somehow truly seen what had happened to Freddie, of Malicius's classroom? Did he know my secret? Did he know I wasn't normal?
"Well, I was just wondering... if... if..." He stopped and cleared his throat, and I felt my mouth go dry. What was he trying to say? "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me?"
I felt my jaw drop. This had not been what I had been expecting; I had completely forgotten that the dance was even happening. And now Tom was asking me to it!
I had to clear my throat just like he had because I had lost my voice. "You want to go to the dance... with me?"
"I do," he nodded. "I... really, really do."
Tom wanted to go to the dance... with me. I felt like I was dreaming. I couldn't believe my ears. He actually had asked me to the dance.
I had either been quiet for too long or looked too shocked, because he then said, "So? What do you say?"
I swallowed, trying to gain my composure back. I snapped my mouth shut and smiled. "Of course," I finally answered. "I would love to go to the dance with you."
Tom finally smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. Clearly this had been something that had been bothering him for a while, but I was glad he had finally told me. I was glad that he had asked me.
We ate our food and talked for a little bit, no longer having any awkward silences between us, which I was thankful for. Once it was finally time for me to go back to the DAU, I was sad. I wanted to spend more time with him.
He walked me back to the front gate, and I couldn't help but wonder if this whole outing had been a date. I mean, he'd ask me to get coffee with him and then he'd paid for my food. That was a date, right? I didn't even know.
As we got to the front gate of the DAU, I nervously eyed the scanner pad I was supposed to put my hand on so the gate would open. Would he think that it was weird? I guess there was only one way to find out...
I reached out and placed my palm against the scanner. It scanned it quickly and the gate opened just enough for me to slip inside.
I turned to Tom, who seemed impressed. I still couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
"Whoa," he said, his eyebrows rising. "High tech."
I nodded nervously and forced a laugh. "The people who own this place are really... big on safety."
"I can tell." He looked over my head at the DAU, his eyes glancing over it all. It was so much bigger than just the one section my team was assigned to. There was so much more I didn't even know about. Other teams, other people...
I took a step toward the gate, turning toward Tom and smiling. "I had a great time with you," I smiled, and it was the truth. "And I'm really looking forward to the dance."
Tom smiled back at me. "So am I."
I could have sworn I saw him lean in toward me, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Before I could even react, however, a snowball came flying by my head and smashed into the side of Tom's, causing him to clutch his head and step back away from me.
I turned where the snowball had come from and laid my eyes right on the culprit.
"Dex!" I shouted.
He shrugged uncaringly. "Oops."
I turned back toward Tom and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am so sorry," I apologized. "He's a jerk."
"It's fine, it's fine," Tom waved away. "Doesn't hurt anyway."
But I knew that was a lie. The bruise on his cheek was already forming. And all from a snowball. Dex had gone all out and had used his powers on this one.
Stretching up on my toes, I kissed the bruise as lightly as I could. Tom flinched only slightly.
"Don't make him throw another one," I heard a new voice call out, and I turned to see that Lena had joined them while I was gone. Her head poked up over the fort they had made while Anthony smacked a snowball Dex was forming out of his hands.
"I'll see you on Monday," I told Tom, just wanting to get him out of there so he wouldn't get even more hurt.
He smiled back at me. "I'll see you on Monday."
I slipped through the open gate and closed it behind me as Tom turned away and made his way down the snowy sidewalk. I made a beeline straight toward Dex.
"You jerk!" I shouted, using my powers to chuck a snowball at him. "That was completely unnecessary!"
"I think it was completely necessary," the stronger boy shrugged, forming another snowball in his fists.
I used my powers to throw another snowball at him. He easily dodged it and chucked the one in his hands at me. If smacked me right in the face, but luckily he hadn't used his powers when throwing it at me.
"You're such a jerk!" I cried.
He only shrugged once again, completely unfazed by any of his actions. Why the hell was he so rude? Did he seriously have nothing better to do with him life than to just make me miserable?
"So, what was that all about?" Lena asked, popping out from behind her snow fort and making her way up to me. "You looked pretty dang happy before Dex pelted you with snow."
I shrugged, trying my hardest to not make it a big deal even though I wanted to jump and scream and holler. "It's not anything that big or anything," I said, and Lena gave me a look. "He just asked me to the dance, that's all."
Before Lena could even have any sort of reaction, Dex was slipping on the snow below him and crashed onto the ground. I was too surprised at the fact that he'd been the one to fall that I didn't even laugh at him.
"Walk much?" Aiden questioned, grabbing onto his arm and helping him up off the ground.
Dex yanked his arm from Aiden's grasp and snapped something at him under his breath, too quiet for me to hear. Aiden rolled his eyes.
"Violet, that's so amazing!" Kristie squealed, and for the first time ever, she was showing the reaction that I was feeling right then. "Don't you know what that means? It means you're going to marry him!"
Dex threw a snowball at the wall of the DAU so hard that the wall cracked, causing that part of the building to shake. Hank and Nay would definitely appreciate that...
Lena let out a sigh. "Just imagine if he'd used that kind of force on the one he threw at Tom's head."
I didn't want to imagine it. I'd thought he'd used his full strength on the one he'd thrown at Tom, but I guess I was wrong. Sometimes it was scary how strong he truly was.
"She's not going to marry Tom," Lena drawled, looking over at Dex and rolling her eyes. "It's just a stupid myth."
"You don't know that," Aiden snickered as he fiddled with his coat. "They could go to the dance together and fall in love. Then they'll graduate and get married and have babies—"
Dex suddenly kicked Aiden's right leg from underneath him, cutting him off and causing him to slam against the snow. He seemed to have the wind knocked out of him to the point he couldn't even speak.
"Good job," was my comment.
Lena sighed. "Serves him right, I guess."
"What are you even doing here, anyway?" I asked Lena. "Not that I don't love having you around or anything."
Lena shrugged. "I felt like you guys would be out playing in the snow. I was right."
I looked around and noticed that one of my teammates was not there. "Where's Anthony?"
"Hiding, probably," Lena answered with another shrug. "We were having a snowball fight before you showed up."
I looked over at Dex. "Clearly," I glared, still sour over what he had done to Tom.
"I don't think I'm going to the dance," Kristie suddenly informed us.
Lena frowned. "Why?"
She frowned. "I had lots of boys ask me, but after my hair changed colors, they didn't want to go with me anymore," she answered, and I could tell she was trying to not make it seem like it was bothering her even though it clearly was.
"Forget them," I frowned. "Their loss."
"You know, I could take you to the dance, Kristie," Aiden suggested, his face suddenly turning red. It was really weird seeing him flustered. "If you want, of course."
Kristie's face suddenly lit up. "Really?" she beamed. "That sounds great!"
Lena crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "About time."
Aiden glared at the blonde, who ignored him completely. Before any of us could say anything else on the matter, our two mentors came rushing out of the building, looking to where Dex had thrown the snowball against the wall.
"What is going on?" Nay demanded, her eyes then moving to the crack Dex had caused. She looked between the two of us and glared. "One of you two did this."
I pointed at Dex. "Don't look at me."
Nay placed her hands on her hips as her glare hardened at Dex. "Inside," she ordered. "Now."
Dex sighed, following our mentors back inside with a roll of his eyes. I didn't really feel like playing in the snow anymore, at least for the day, so I most likely was just going to go back inside as well, because it was starting to get cold even through my heavier clothing.
Suddenly Anthony sprung up from behind one of the forts, pelting Lena right in the face with a snowball. Aiden burst out laughing while Kristie looked absolutely horrified. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, unsure if I should have the same reaction as Aiden or Kristie.
"Ha!" Anthony laughed loudly. "I win!"
Lena slowly lifted herself up off the ground. She wiped the snow from her face and turned toward the nerdy boy. Her face was red and her hands were balled into fists.
"Wanna bet?" she snapped, holding her hands together and forming a large ball of ice.
Anthony's eyes went wide. "Oh, no."
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Yay. An update after two months.
I hate myself.
I come back on after a month and I see changes. Changes I don't like. Why are stories now only under one category? Why are the profile layouts still hideous? Why must things change?
I hate change.
And Wattpad keeps telling me I need to verify my email even though I've gotten the email telling me to verify it a ton of times and I've followed the link to verify it so I am currently getting no emails from Wattpad. Not that I really have time to read them because I have over 40,000 and that's not counting the two months Wattpad hasn't been sending me emails.
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