Final chapter of Winter's second arc. I didn't think we were already here.


Winter Wonderland: Part Ten

Kai and Thorne walked behind everyone else on the way back to Scarlet's farm. As losers, not only do that have to dig up Thorne's snowplow but they had to drag all the sleds home. It wasn't hard because sleds don't weigh anything but they were bickering about how they didn't notice Cress on the back of their sled.

"She doesn't weigh anything!" Thorne yells.

"You didn't feel her arms around you?" Kai yells back.

"She has little noodle arms and I have a thick jacket!"

"Seriously, how did you come up with Cress sneaking onto their sled?" Scarlet asks the winning team.

"We doubted Thorne would've noticed," Cinder responds. "He did say he thought Kai was behind him despite Kai being in front of him and he was holding on to him."

"We planned to have Cress say something halfway through and her presence would've made them lose control, slow down, or tip over," Winter explains.

"But then you and Wolf had some mishap which I didn't see until you zipped in front of us," Cress says.

"My bad," Wolf interjects, "we saw Winter hide her hair and I accidentally blindfolded Scarlet and flew off."

Scarlet laughs. "I honestly didn't want to lose, especially to them."

Scarlet points back at Kai and Thorne who are still arguing. They likely won't stop blaming each other until the snow melts.

-o-

The next day, most of the crew wasn't lucky since they had to go back to school the next day. The snow stopped last evening, the roads were clear enough for school to be held, and it didn't snow in the morning. However, Kai lucked out since the elementary schools were still cancelled which meant he got to stay home and watch the twins while Torin and Mallory were at work. Since Kai was home, Thorne decided to skip class as well since it gave him and Kai a chance to deal with his snowplow without their friends watching them.

Kai had to bring the twins with him which Thorne didn't mind. They'll play in the snow while they deal with the snowplow. The snowplow was under what looked like a mountain of snow. Thorne took at least thirty minutes to find where his snowplow was parked.

Or so he thought.

The twins were excited to get to go out, especially to Thorne's house since he had a giant yard. But when they found out Thorne had a snowplow, they wanted to see it so they were impatient and rushing Kai and Thorne who were using car brushes and shovels to clear the snow. The twins weren't helping and there was a lot of snow.

"Why do you have a snowplow?" Quinn asks Thorne.

"To plow snow," Thorne responds.

"Why is it under snow?" Skyler asks.

"Because I didn't plow the snow."

It's Quinn's turn again. "Why didn't you plow the snow?"

"You have a snowplow," Skylar adds.

Thorne huffs, looking down at the twins who blink back innocently. He can't blame them for asking since they're cute and curious kids but wow. Thorne's listened to Kai's complaints about them running amuck in the house or bothering him and Thorne never understood since he's an only child and his friends don't have siblings, unless Cinder and Winter count. Before Kai and the twins, the only sibling interaction he's seen was Cinder and Winter.

"That has been my life for months," Kai responds.

-o-

"Wow, your plow looks beautiful!"

Kai and Thorne look up from their newly recovered and cleaned treasure to see their friends entering Thorne's yard. It's only noon and they can tell by the uniform pants and skirts (since they were wearing jackets over the polos and sweaters) that it's Lunar Academy's lunch hour. Kai and Thorne look at each other, wondering what everyone's doing here since they didn't tell them they were spending the day with the snowplow. They didn't want them to know and neither of them could've spilled since they were digging out the snowplow the whole time.

For some reason, Kai and Thorne blame the twins although it was easy for the crew to piece together their coincidental absences.

"We brought ice cream!" Winter yells excitedly, nearly singing those last two words. She was also the one who complimented the snowplow's beauty with her cheery voice.

In her arms and Cinder's are cartons of ice cream they picked up on the way here because what else do people eat in the winter? It makes absolute sense since it wouldn't melt on the way and any other food would get cold. There are many different flavours to choose from, varying from classics to specialties. Chocolate and vanilla to lemon meringue pie. So many other weird ones.

"Of course you brought plastic spoons that'll break on impact," Kai says.

"And we got the twins some cookies," Wolf says before he's cut off by the twins jumping him for the treats and for him. They hang on his arm and scream for joy when Wolf lifts them up and down.

Scarlet can't look away at the two little girls crushing on her man. "Wow."

-o-

After using so many plastic spoons since theirs kept on breaking, they ended up getting real spoons from inside of Thorne's kitchen. They cleared the snow off the fountain's edge and took a seat, passing the different cartons back and forth to share every flavour.

"I can't tell if my head is cold or if I'm having brain freeze," Winter says, holding the spoon in her mouth as she puts serious thought into that question.

"My mouth is numb," Cress says, not sure if that came out right. She heard a lisp in her voice.

"Best lunch ever," Cinder states.

Sitting in Thorne's backyard during school and eating ice cream in the winter? Best lunch ever.

"If only someone was here to take our photo like this," Winter mutters, fiddling the spoon in her hand.

"Wait…" Kai mutters as he raises his head. He sees them by Thorne's house, patting snow against the house to make a picture. "Quinn, Skylar, come here!"


Okay, so this is the last chapter for Winter's arc and for the year. I must say that 2020 has been quite the year for this story. I got three arcs up and revamped most of the story. I don't know about you guys but I'm happy.

I don't know when the next arc will be up. I'm currently writing the seventh chapter of the next arc as I'm publishing this chapter. If I don't finish the arc early enough, then it will definitely be up on the story's next anniversary (July 29th, 2021). In the meantime, feel free to guess who the next arc belongs to.