Chapter Three

Dave promptly fell onto his постель, кровати drowsy-eyed. He was glad that his room was almost completely furnished. His bedroom TV and Computer were in now, and this was еще of an aid than one would think. During the time without his Телевидение in his bedroom, Dave was playing his Resident Evil game in the Living-Room, which was much to Jenna’s displeasure, and in turn much to Dave’s annoyance with constant lines such as “Turn it down”, “Go exercise!”, and the most-used “This is a really gory game.” Jenna was of course right in her want to say these things, and Dave knew this but his conscience was not loud enough.

Dave was very tired after the Рождество Eve Program, due to the late time, and the drive home, but his mind was racing with the people he had met, mostly involving Rin, Saber, Kyle, Casey, and Grace. So with his computer now online and nothing else but sleep to do, Dave decided to type up little profiles about them.

Number 1, Casey
”Appears to be hot-headed, and energetic, but friendly. ”

Number 2, Asher
”Woman-crazed guy, who thinks he’s cool. ”

Number 3, Cas
”Some guy who likes Slender-man. ”

Number 4, Kyle
”Friendly, seems a bit anti-social maybe, a bit shy. Nice guy. ”

Number 5, Grace
”Seems anti-social, a little aggressive, logic-minded, smart. ”

Number 6, Craiger
”He has muscles. ”

Number 7, Rynk
”Dare-devil energetic person.”

Number 8, Saber
Dave paused here. What this would be a bit longer.
“Smart, mysterious, seems kind of smart-alik-like. Has a cousin. Can read people. Friendly.”

Number 9, Rin
Now this was the one actual mystery.
“Likes hoods, likes… disguises mayber? Secretive a bit, likes exploring, anti-social, appears to have bad family.”

While some of these were less true than Dave wished them to be, they were his quick and honest opinion, so he chose not to change them. However Saber and Rin stood out. Both very strange and a bit fascinating girls. It was definitely partly hormonal that Dave would have interest in them, but not completely. He would have to meet with Rin and find out еще about what was going on with her, and if that didn’t work, ask this “Ira”. And as for Saber, he knew enough about her now, but what would be the Далее step? Dave would have to act fast if he wanted this girl, lest another boy get her, but at the same time maybe he would like Rin more, или the other girls. He did not have any actual feelings for them yet, so finally he decided to wait and get to know them more.

On that note Dave fell asleep on his keyboard. The following morning he would wake up to find key-imprints on his face and a document with one-thousand-five-hundred-and-fifty-one pages of the letter “g” capitalized.

Soon realizing from his sore-awakening that it was in fact Christmas, Dave quickly rubbed his face to normal and ran out his bedroom door. His foot made quick contact with the door as it bounced back from the wall, sending the poor boy into what should have been “YAY! PRESENTS!” but ended up being “DOORS OF THE ANTI-CHRIST!”

To say the least, no one was asleep anymore. Dave did a little dance of pain as he jigged over to the Living-Room диван, мягкий уголок which he sat on for a good twenty секунды to let his toe heal up.

“That was an unexpected introduction.” Dave’s mother teased. She would have chuckled if not for being so tired. Jenna followed soon after, and the three had to force Dave’s dad out of bed.

Dave was not extremely excited as he dumped his чулок onto the floor, but his child-like nature still clung to a bit of enthusiasm. He received mostly candy, a bubble-gum candy-cane being the best of the bunch, and a lot of key-chains, which he had a fetish for (yes Fetish will be used a lot).

The presents themselves were mostly video-games, some movies, and a special волейбол that could be set to multiple bounce-settings. This one surprised him, but he still loved it, though he feared certain injuries from it in the future. That and Summer was not coming for quite a while.

Jenna got some books, a movie или two, a locket, and some tickets to a museum. The parents got some notes… the thought that counts.

Jenna left to the museum, and Dave decided to go for a walk around the town seeing how he felt a bit guilty about playing video games on Christmas. His parents joined him for a while, and soon were back inside the house from the cold. They сказал(-а) that they would Присоединиться him once they had some coffee, but Dave was not patient enough for that.

He came across one of the old lots that the kids would play in, and decided that he would explore it a bit. The snow was low here, and there were a lot of the giant tubes from before. “I should find out how all this got here.” He сказал(-а) to himself.

Dave popped his head through one of the tubes, which had nothing inside, which he assumed, though he did expect some form of graffiti perhaps. There was one drawing on the floor of it though, small and black. It had a picture of a girl and a boy, fairly well made, with the initials R and N-T. No doubt this was a drawing from two lovers.

“R… Rin maybe. With my luck it probably is. I don’t know any other R people… или do I?” Then Dave remembered that Rynk had an R in both her normal name, Relm, and her nickname. He took this opportunity to pull out his phone and snap a picture really quick. He was so intrigued by this mystery that he was easily startled by the sound of a large thump outside.

He jumped upward, bumping his head on the roof of the tube. “OOOOOOOOOOOWAH!” He groaned, rubbing his head frantically, which echoed in the tunnel. Outside he heard the sound of someone giggling, a little girl by the sound of it.

Dave crawled out and looked around frantically. His eyes saw where the thump came from. It was a dent in the snow; boot-imprints, with circle-dents in them. “Hello!” He called out. No reply. Dave walked around to see the вверх of the tube, and still nothing, so he climbed up it (which took three tries with how steep it was) and surveyed the area from there. Then he felt something poke him, and he jerked вперед landing face-first into the snow, which thankfully kept him from injuries, though it was still painful.

The giggling came again, but this time Dave knew where from. He jumped up, ignored the nausea from his fall, and darted in the direction of the tube’s end. He ran straight into… Asher.

The two collided with a large *POW* followed by two *OOF*’s, and finished by two *THWOMPHS* as their buttockses it the floor. “Dude! Eyes on the front!” Asher scolded as he slowly got up. Dave didn’t notice what Asher was saying, he was too perplexed. He did notice Asher though, which was at least something.

Asher seemed to be explaining his reason for being in the area, but Dave was not paying attention still, and interrupted him by asking a bizarre question; “Do Ты giggle like a little girl by any chance?”

Asher’s brain seemed unable to figure out how to answer this question, and his face seemed unable to figure out how to figure out what to figure out for his brain. A small “Oo” came out, which made Dave hold back a chuckle, but Asher did answer shortly after “… Yes. I do it a lot. Just the other day, I сказал(-а) to myself,” Asher took a moment to clear his throat then finished “WHAT KIND OF Вопрос IS THAT!?”

“Sorry…” Dave replied, realizing how dumb the Вопрос was. “I just heard someone giggling, so I tried to find out who.”

“… hm…” Asher put on a very detective-looking face, with a well-placed chin-rub, then replied almost as if a light-bulb was above his head “I’ve got an idea!”

Asher picked up his Santa-hat, which Dave had just noticed, seeing how it was hidden by the snow till just then, and walked over to a дерево stump. He then sat down and pretended to be minding his own business.

“Is thi-“

Asher waved Dave away before he could finish. Dave could only guess this was a trap. He chose then to keep his distance and walked about ten steps back. If something was going to happen, it would happen soon.

A минута later a small figure snuck out from underneath a куст, буш and attempted to snatch the Santa-hat, but instead Asher tugged forward, causing the little person to jerk in front of him. Dave ran up and quickly saw that this was a small розовый and purple-haired girl, with a grey hoodie, a large purple scarf that covered most of her face, and purple pants. The розовый hair, especially its color and large size reminded Dave of Аниме characters, and the fact that the girl had large eyes only increased this.

“Aw…” The girl complained. “You found me. Hi!” She waved to Dave, who while still a bit perplexed waved back.

“What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“Dave…” He answered.

“Are Ты the new guy?” She continued.

Asher answered this for him, “Yeah, this is the guy.” He turned to Dave, “Found your stalker.”

“Sorry, Dave.” The girl apologized with a small smile. “I just like following people, and spying… and hats… and… lots of stuff.”

“hm… Do Ты come here often?” Dave asked.

“Yep.” She answered. “It’s really fun, and sometimes I find buried treasure.”

“By that she means cans, string, and hats… really… old… hats.” Asher added.

“They’re not old!” The girl сказал(-а) in a sort of hurt voice. “They’re vintage.”

“Uh… u’kay.” Asher rolled his eyes, but the girl didn’t notice.

“Why are Ты two here? Come to find treasures? Oh! Do Ты wanna see my secret hiding place?” The girl suggested.

“Where is it?” Dave asked.

The girl dashed through the large lot and eventually came to one of the tubes, which a large cracked piece in it. She pushed it away, revealing a small hole underneath. Dave was extremely surprised, while Asher was a little repulsed. “That can’t be clean.” He noted.

The little girl giggled, “I thought boys liked to get dirty. That’s what my sister сказал(-а) anyway.” Then jumped into the hole.

“Hey! We can’t help it if we see a hot chi-“

“I think she meant actual dirt, Asher.” Dave interrupted, wincing a bit at the double-meaning.

“Oh… right. Yeah that’s what I meant.” Asher сказал(-а) weakly. “… So do we have to g in it?”

“I don’t think I could fit.” Dave answered. “I could try though I guess.” Dave knelt down and squeezed вперед into the hole, but only half of him made it inside. And he could not pull himself out. “… PERFECT!” Dave yelled as he squirmed to get out. To his dismay, Asher was trying desperately to not laugh, but sadly not doing a good job.

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Dave yelled.

“Alright, alright. Calm your holes!” Asher yanked Dave out of the hole, then the girl popped up behind them.

“Did Ты get stuck in the hole?” She asked, starring curiously at the dirt marks on Dave’s clothing.

“… No.” Dave lied with a stern look of annoyance.

The girl laughed anyway, “Aw man! I wish I could’ve seen that! Ты can’t get in through there. It’s too small.”

“Then why did Ты want us to see the hiding place?” Asher questioned.

“Well Ты saw it didn’t you? I’m the only one who can fit in it… and don’t tell anyone, или my big sister will get you!”

“Yeah, like that’s a big threat.” Dave puffed in an egoistic tone.

“I wouldn’t…” Asher suggested.

“Why? It’s not like she’s I-…” Dave froze in mid speech, and turned to the girl again, “W-what did Ты say your name was?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m Holly. Nice to meet you… I сказал(-а) that last part didn’t I?”

“Uh oh.” Dave cringed. He had just dissed the supposed scourge of the town. He could only pray that падуб, holly, холли would not tell her sister this later on.

“Uh… could you… not tell your sister I сказал(-а) that, Holly?” Dave asked in a slightly scared mood.

“Well… okay… but I don’t think matters.”

“Why?”

падуб, holly, холли didn’t answer. Instead she pointed behind them. Dave knew what this meant. He slowly and weakly turned around, while Asher seemed less afraid but still obviously not pleased by who they now would have the “pleasure” of talking with.

The girl was the same as the день before, her mood curious, with a small smirk, as if she knew Dave was unpleased by her being there. Dave would have noted in his head her rather attractive appeal, but he did not want to make another wrong decision and hit on this particular female. Asher on the other hand…

“Ira!” Asher greeted to the Tense-looking teenager, “Girl Ты looking fiiiiiiii-“

“I’m going to stop Ты there and beg myself to not rip out that thing that dangles at the back of your throat.” A mature, yet very girlish voice threatened from the face of Ira Idens. It was if it was her eyes that were doing the talking, as they almost seemed on огонь with danger. Asher stopped.

“Uh… h-how long have Ты been there?” Dave asked weakly.

“I always watch my little sister play. Making sure she’s безопасно, сейф is one of my only good-girl traits Ты could say, so naturally,” she took a минута to smirk a little wider “I’ve been here the entire time.”

“Oh… sorry then… that was… stupid to say.” Dave apologized.

“Please, Ira replied turning her face a bit, making her hair flip as if a slap was hitting Dave, “we both know you’re apologizing because Ты don’t want me to give Ты a bad time.”

“Actually… I was being sincere.” Dave replied. Ira turned towards him again and rushed up to him, a bit too close then he wanted. She seemed to be studying him for a moment, then moved back a bit and replied “I believe you, but I still have the option of not accepting, so maybe I could do something to make Ты earn forgiveness… or…”

Dave didn’t stop her. This girl looked a bit innocent aside from her stare, but he already felt as if she would rip his throat out in a second.

“Or I could let Ты go. You’re new… young… attractive to an extent. That’ll by Ты a free-pass for now.” Ira then walked to the side of Dave and whispered “Maybe my cousin sees something in Ты after all… and truth be told I see it to, but I’ll decide later if I want some of it или not.”

Ira was now past them a bit and finished with “Welcome to Mob Suez, new-guy.” Turning to face him with a sort of cute and sort of intimidating grin, “I could use some fresh blood to play with. This is going to be fun.” And finally, Ira kicked a bark-piece from under the snow, sending the icy-padding everywhere. When it settled, she was gone, and come to think of it, so was Holly.

This was not like how Dave met Rin, или Rynk, или Casey, или Grace, или Saber. Even with Grace’s hostility, или with Saber’s mysteriously brief chat, Dave felt little against them, and later on would want to learn еще about them. This girl however, he would avoid if he could. This girl was not someone he wanted to be-friend.

Asher attempted to save the moment and joked “She’s a nice chick. Too bad she’s like… A vampire Jigsaw, y’know, from the Saw movies.”

Dave was snapped out of his trance of confusion by the name jigsaw and replied “I don’t think Jigsaw is the right word for her…”

“Well what do Ты think is?”

Dave shrugged, “I have no clue.” Then he thought of the picture he took. “Hey Asher, do Ты know anything about this?” He pulled out his phone and zoomed in on the drawn picture.

Asher was a bit hesitant to answer, “Uh… y-yeah… I got it…”

“And…?”

“W-well… it’s… not my business.”

“… Who’s business is it?”

“… Uh… nobody’s.”

Dave’s eyelids fell half over his eyes and his brows rose. “Yeah, right.”

“Sorry, man but I can’t say. You’ll have to ask R-… you’ll have to find out yourself.”

“… Fi- oh crud!” Dave had just noticed the time on his phone. It was already eight. He had been gone for an час at least. His parents were probably upset that he was gone so long, and would most likely feel left out

“I gotta go.” Dave announced before dashing out of the lot, waving to Asher as he ran. Asher waved back with slight confusion, then walked off through the streets.

When Dave arrived back home, his parents were actually talking with Kyle’s parents, and Kyle was sitting on the couch… talking with no one. His sister was not there, and Jenna being her anti-social self was not going to strike up a conversation. And by the looks of Kyle’s face, the guy was not enjoying the neglection.

“Hey, Kyle!” Dave waved as he opened the screen door and walked inside. Kyle instantly got up, his pouting replaced by his friendly smile as he greeted Dave back.

“You here to exchange gifts или something?” Dave asked.

“Yeah, we have one for Ты too.” Kyle answered. He walked over to the Рождество дерево then pulled out a bag with two boxes inside. He handed it to Dave, who excitedly looked through the contents. The first box was at least twenty pucks for his guitar, all with a special super-hero picture on it, and the секунда was a rock-CD. Dave was pleased, but instantly felt guilty that he hadn’t gotten Kyle anything.

“Well this stinks.” The words slipped out from Dave’s mouth. He turned to see a very hurt expression from Kyle. “N-not the gifts! They’re great!” Dave reassured. “It just stinks that I didn’t get Ты anything.”

“Oh.” Kyle realized, relief passing through him. “Don’t worry about it. I got plenty of gifts. Besides, the best gift is giving, или something like that.”

“Well still, how about we go and I’ll buy Ты a burger или something some день или something.”

Kyle shrugged, “Sure. Sounds great to me.”

“Nice to see Ты too, David!” Dave’s mother yelled from the kitchen. Dave winced, and called out “Sorry Mom! I ran into a girl while I was walking!” {WHAT AM I SAYING!?} Dave thought. {NOW SHE’LL THINK SOMETHING’S GOING ON!} Too late to stop it; his mother was already in front of him, looking down with fixed stern eyes.

“A girl???” She inquired.

“I-it wasn’t anything bad!” Dave defended. “She was just being a jerk!”

This changed his mother’s mind about what was going on, but now she wanted to know what jerkiness could keep him for an hour.

“And what else??”

“Well I talked with a guy named Asher, and this little girl named Holly.” Dave answered truthfully. “I just Остаться в живых track of time.”

“Well Далее time call. We were going to go out with Ты while it was still fresh outside.”

“I think it’s still fresh, Mom.” Dave noted, turning his head to the still cloudy day. His mother seemed a bit embarrassed that he was correct but did not Показать it long.

“Then Ты can help deliver these to the neighbors.” Mrs. Hyatt pulled out some Рождество ornaments that she had no doubt bought at the store since they did not have the time for any special банановый хлеб или Конфеты to give out. There were at least twenty with little Теги saying “Merry Chrstimas, from the Hyatts”

Dave’s throat began to sore up a bit. This was not going to be fun in the least. But there was no way he would be able to change his mother’s mind, so he picked up a batch and started out the door.

Kyle followed after him with a pile of his own. “You don’t have to help me.” Dave assured.

“Yeah I guess, but it’s better than sitting down on that диван, мягкий уголок all day.” Kyle noted.

“I wouldn’t be too sure.” Dave groaned as they started off.

The first five houses were simple neighbors, and not really anyone they knew, but the sixth had Casey opening the door, wearing a pajama вверх and bottom, with a sleeping медведь in the middle of the shirt. Dave held back a chuckle, but Kyle was able to keep her from noticing.

“Hi Casey.” He greeted cheerfully. “Me and Dave are passing out Рождество gifts to the neighbors, and we brought Ты one.” He handed the gift to Casey, who they had just noticed seemed rather tired. She nodded a bit and closed the door.

“… I expected her to be more… energetic.” Dave commented.

“She doesn’t like mornings. I think we woke her up from her sleep actually.” Kyle winced. “I hope that didn’t affect her present-opening mood.”

They continued on through the улица, уличный and had only three left of their combined forty-two. Dave knocked on the door and Craiger opened the door. “Happy Christmas.” Craiger greeted, with a slight bow of his head, and a sip of his morning coffee. He had an opened rob on, which thankfully had some pajamas underneath, and thankfully had no body-odor around him, which Dave almost pre-maturely winced at in expectance.

“Who’s there?” Another voice asked from behind.

“It’s Kyle and Dave!” Craiger yelled back. *thump thump thump thump bumpf *shove* “Hey guys, c’mon in!” Rynk greeted cheerfully with her pretty accent as she let the boys inside.

Dave and Kyle were a little cautious at first, but overcame this soon after they were inside the house. It was a nice two-story building, with a small kitchen, dining room, large living room, and whatever was in the right hallway. Tan walls, and a crackling fireplace Далее to a couch, and a depressingly under-decorated tree, aside from the lights.

Rynk was running around to get them some hot-cocoa so fast that they did not even get a good look at her before she disappeared into the kitchen.

“Are your parents asleep?” Dave asked.

“My Aunt drops by now and then, but that’s about it.” Craiger informed. “You can sit down if you’d like.” And so they did.

Rynk ran to the living room and quickly put two mugs in front of them then sat down on another couch. It was then that Dave got a bit of a surprise. Rynk was wearing a purple tang-top, and black shorts, which revealed that on her arms, and at the bottom of her legs she had crescent-moon tattoos. Also she did in fact have a brass arm-band on, which was causing the bulge that they had seen the день before, though Dave barely noticed it now.

Kyle would have reacted the same way, but he had known for a long time already, however by the look he made, it appeared to unnerve him a slight bit, which Dave could only assume had to do with pure-thoughts, not that Rynk was dressing inappropriately, but boys are prone to such thoughts some time или another. Thankfully Kyle was not the type of person to prolong those kind of thoughts, and Dave himself was good to censor what he would see most of the time.

Rynk was playing a small hand-held device for a few секунды when she instantly hit pause, looked over to them, and asked “Hang on, why are Ты here again?” Both Dave and Kyle blushed a bit out of embarrassment, and thankfully Rynk had not notice that they had been starring for so long, and Dave could only pray that Craiger was not paying attention. One hit from that guy would probably make the tooth-fairy rich.

Kyle snapped out first and answered “Dave’s mom sent us to pass out ornaments to the neighbors.” He placed one on the table.

“Oh. Thanks.” Rynk smiled at them then returned to the game.

“She’s excited about seeing a new movie.” Craiger explained calmly. “She’s playing with her new present to keep herself entertained till then.”

“And it’s not working!” Rynk announced as she put the game down and walked over. “Maybe I could come with Ты guys? I REALLY need to do something to calm down.”

“Uh… Sure… “ Dave began “But I think you’d want to change into something warmer first.”

“You’re talking about my Татуировки aren’t ya?” Rynk smirked. Dave cringed a bit, trying not to blush from embarrassment. Rynk chuckled, “It’s okay. A lot of people get surprised. It’s not like I pierced my tongue или belly-button though.”

“I… guess.” Dave answered weakly.

“Uh, Mate, your chocolate’s getting cold.” Craiger informed. Dave quickly looked down and heaved a huge gulp of the какао down his throat, trying not to continue with awkwardness. This of course burned like acid, and the contents went back into the mug.

“So- *cough* sorry.” Dave apologized.

Rynk was laughing, “Don’t be. It was funny. That and is your throat okay now?”

“I hope so.” Dave groaned as he rubbed his neck-skin.

Craiger handed Dave some water to cool his throat off. Dave took a slower gulp this time, and thanked him soon after. “So Ты guys ready to go?” Rynk asked, pulling on her sweater. And had already gotten on some jeans.

Craiger stayed in the house for the moment, while the three teens left. Dave, Kyle, and Rynk dropped off the last two ornaments, called Dave’s parents telling them that he was out with friends, then started off to the park that Dave had yet to see.

“Should we ask Casey if she wants to come too?” Dave asked, feeling a little guilty that he left her out.

“Well it’s ten…” Kyle noted, looking at his own phone, “she should be up by now.”

After a quick detour, Casey also joined the group, and thankfully not as tired as before. Halfway to the park Casey yelled to the others “Race Ты guys the rest of the way!” then dashed off and took a corner.

Rynk herself ran to the right and scaled a house in mere секунды before running after Casey on rooftops. Dave and Kyle… well…

“Well we Остаться в живых already.” Dave sighed.

“Wait!” Kyle сказал(-а) excitedly. “There’s a shortcut through that house!” Kyle pointed to a house at the end. They jogged over and saw that there was a path from its backyard all the way to the back of the park. They would have second-guessed breaking and entering, but the thrill of the moment caught the boys first, and they were soon over the front gate, and running through the path.

A brief thought went by Dave as to how he missed such a forest-like area in such a cement-looking town. He assumed there were none until now.

Dave could see the park clearly now, but he was еще distracted by the quickly approaching Casey from one end, and Rynk would appeared to be preparing to jumps to a дерево from a building. Kyle fell behind a bit, but Dave charged forward. He slipped a bit on the ground, sending him into the bushes on the side, but quickly jumped up and darted back to the park.

Panting and wheezing he stood triumphantly on a large rock that was in the park, then collapsed on the ground. Rynk walked over and insulted “Cheaters.” Though she was only playing around.

“Says the one who went Spider-girl!” Casey quipped from behind. Kyle emerged from the trail panting even еще than Dave before collapsing as well.

It took a good three минуты before Dave and Kyle were energized again, and even then, Dave felt a dizziness in his head. A slight blurriness came around Dave, but this soon left as he focused on his surroundings. There were a few green patches of trees around what was probably трава under heaps of snow. Each was around ten или so yards, and there were maybe five in total. They circled the play-area, which consisted of a white and tan LONG play-set, and boulders that were dulled to not be too sharp for kids to be around. There was also a basket-ball court, that was pressed through the small forest-area, and a rec-center at the end of the park.

But past the trees and small patches of snow-covered трава was what made Dave grin an almost devious grin, not that his thoughts were devious, but more-so he could picture such a cool image of himself in this area that he grinned proudly. It was a skate-board rink, and a big one at that.

Dave turned to Rynk briefly and asked “Is that where Ты got your name idea?”

“Actually no.” Rynk сказал(-а) with a small chuckle. “I don’t even ride a skate-board. Casey does though, and she’s really good too.”

“Oh stop you.” Casey teased.

“So while Ты were dying there, I got an idea.” Rynk announced. “Let’s see who can go through the entire play-set in the quickest time!”

“I just got my energy back.” Kyle complained.

“You can watch if Ты want, Kyle.” Rynk noted. “Or just wait to go last.”

“… I guess.” Kyle replied.

“Okay… um… who’s going first?” Dave asked.

“Let’s have Miss Parkour do it first.” Casey suggested. “That way we know what time to beat, seeing how she’s the expert with climbing and such.”

“And that doesn’t annoy you?” Dave asked, clearly not thinking his Вопрос through.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Casey asked, narrowing her eyes at Dave.

“Nothing! Sorry. Dumb question.” Dave apologized. “Uh… Rynk! Hurry! Please!”

“I’ll time you.” Kyle suggested as he walked to the opposite side of the park. Twenty секунды later Rynk was off.

She ran up one of the two slides, snow and all, jumped over the first bridge, slid down the following slide, then ran to the tall swings, and immediately began climbing up one of the poles. She then wrapped one leg around the вверх spine-pole, and began swinging from the chains holding the swings. She then landed hard on the ground, though no one could tell if she was alright, then easily made her way up the rock-climbing Стена and slid down the final slide, triumphantly landing on the ground with her hands raised in a very “ta dah” fashion.

“Twenty-one seconds!” Kyle announced. “Who’s going next?!”

“Dave!” Casey suggested. There wasn’t anyone else to go, and he did not even want to try to change Casey’s mind, so he prepared to make a fool of himself.

“GO!” Kyle yelled. Dave easily went up the slides, thankfully this was not the challenging part, then ran across the bridge, and instead of sliding down the curved slide, he jumped over it, giving himself three extra seconds. He then went to the swings and began climbing up, but soon found himself slipping. To think quickly he jumped onto one of the supporting poles, and then the next, and the next, and then the final one, which made him land hard on his rear. “ERK!” He groaned in the buttocks pain. He forced himself up then instead of climbing up the climbing wall, he got an idea.

Dave moved to the side of the swings as not accidentally fall over one, and then ran at full speed at the climbing wall. In turn, Dave RAN up it, and with a firmly placed foot, accidentally launched himself over the final slide, and found himself falling painfully quick into the snow below himself. *WAMF!*

His face was cold and hurt at the landing but Kyle’s voice assured him that he was still alive when the referee announced “TWENTY-ONE SECONDS!”

Dave could not see Rynk’s face, but she was briefly shocked by this, though she did not Показать any jealously, as she subconsciously felt that if she had taken the same approach her time would have been quicker. Casey however felt a bit nervous now. Twenty-one секунды to beat.

Casey walked up to the point, then Kyle yelled go, and she was off. As easily as the others she got past the first phase of the set, which gave her five seconds. The секунда phase she climbed from свинг, качели to swing, giving her eleven more, then when she got to the climbing-wall, a piece of snow slipped her (as she climbed) and she fell backward into the snow.

The others ran over and quickly helped her up. Casey groaned, holding her head a bit. “That wasn’t… fun.” She mumbled out. “And that doesn’t count.”

Kyle голубь in and helped Casey to one of the rocks to sit on. She was a bit flattered by this act of kindness, but did not Показать it.

“Uh… do Ты want a rematch?” Dave asked.

“Uh… no.” Casey answered candidly. “I’d rather not get killed by snow again.”

“Well what should we do now?” Rynk asked.

“Snowman?” Dave suggested.

“I’d rather not.” Casey answered.

“Why?” Dave asked, a bit surprised by the answer.

“Have Ты seen ‘The Snowman’?” She asked.

“Uh… no, why?”

“I have!” Kyle added.

“Come to think of it I think I have too.” Rynk added next.

“What happens?” inquired Dave, feeling slightly left out.

“Well in short… magic snowman, kid bonds with him… snowman dies.” Casey explained.

“Oh… That’s… depressing.”

“It is.” Casey enforced. “I mean I didn’t cry, but it made me pretty depressed last Christmas. Ever since then I don’t make snowmen. It’s too sad when they get melted.

“What about Frosty?” Dave suggested. “He didn’t melt.”

“I kinda wish he had.” Rynk chuckled. The others stared at her with disbelief. “What?! The Birthday thing was annoying!” She defended.

“Come on, Casey. It’s not going to get ruined, I promise.” Dave reassured.

“mmm… Okay…” Casey allowed. She got up and soon they were literally rolling in the snow getting tons of large balls of the stuff. It was a VERY tall snowman, fat and jaggedly-curved, with a face made entirely of sticks, and no hat whatsoever, though the arms were impressive. Kyle made them, and did well as they were open, yet snow. No doubt they would crumble soon, but for the moment they stayed up, and that was a nice touch.

They took turns snapping фото with themselves and the snowman. When Casey got her picture, *thunk* sludge-ice-ball right in the chin-bone. She fell onto the snowman, which was utterly destroyed. She reared around furious, and fixed her eyes on a green-hoodie, which she darted at going at full speed. Dave was extremely surprised at how fast this girl was, especially when angry.

The girl darted away, but Casey kept at her heels. The others chased, but weren’t able to keep up. When they turned a corner, Casey had the girl on the floor of the улица, уличный and had just landed a solid перфоратор, удар, пунш in the girl’s face.

Dave tore Casey off the other girl with surprising ease. Either he was stronger than he thought, или she was lighter. Both possibly, though he hoped for the former. Casey struggled at first, but quickly stopped, and Dave let her go.

The short hoodie-girl got up and spat a bit of blood onto the road. Her black hair was dry, yet it looked wet, and her dark green eyes fixed treacherously not at Casey but at Dave. “Keep your pet in control, why don’t you!” He sneered.

“You hit her with an ice-ball!” Dave defended, unaffected by the insult. Casey looked as if she were to pop a gasket any секунда now.

“Get out of here, Dia!” Rynk yelled, taking a challenging step forward.

At first the girl only glared, but then she laughed a bit menacingly, and jogged off yelling back “Wait until she hears!”

Casey was about to charge after her, but Dave put his arm in front of her.

“She’s going to tell Ira!” Casey сказал(-а) in a furious tone. “If she does that, who knows what’ll happen!”

“Well I’m not afraid of Ira.” Rynk noted.

“Well Ты don’t see me cowering,” Casey reminded, “but now she might go after Dave!”

“After me!?” Dave staggered back a bit. “Why?!”

“Well in this case, Ты seemed the most… leader-like, at least Dia probably thinks so.” Kyle informed. “And Ira attacks the leader… then the person who actually did the thing.”

“She can’t really be THAT bad… please tell me she can’t really be that bad…”

No one replied. Suddenly everyone Остаться в живых their interest in playing outdoors.

The small group decided to go to Dave’s house for the rest of the day, making up the excuse that they got cold; and once they thought about it, they were very cold, but the tension of the encounter made them forget. They had not noticed that it was almost twelve, and soon there would be Lunch served.

“What’s wrong with your friends?” Dave’s mother asked. His Друзья were sipping какао quietly, without saying anything.

“Some girl named Dia Vice threw an ice-ball at Casey…” Dave answered lowly “so Casey attacked her.”

“… Is she alright?”

“Dia или Casey?”

“Well… both.”

“Well Dia was spitting out blood, and Casey has a bruise under her chin. That and Dia ruined our snowman.”

“Well maybe Ты should go talk to Dia’s parents with Casey?” His mom сказал(-а) with a hinting tilt.

“I don’t know where she lives, или who her parents are.” Dave replied, hoping that this was enough to get his mother from making him go.

“Well then I’ll talk to her parents, but I would have preferred Ты stood up for your friend, Dave.”

Dave’s mother walked back into the кухня to finish a few turkey sandwiches she had been making. Dave felt a sting by her words. It was not that he did not want to help her friend, but еще that he felt he would make things worse if he were to visit Dia’s house. And he really did not know where she lived in the first place.

The Друзья snacked on the sandwiches, then Rynk invited them all to the movie she had planned to go to. “What movie is it, anyway?” Dave asked.

“The Hobbit.” Rynk answered.


“LORD OF THE RING MOVIE!” Casey jumped up from her сиденье, место, сиденья and rushed out the door. The Друзья chuckled a bit hen followed. They ran off to the mall, but as Dave neared the corner, he saw падуб, holly, холли wave to him as she walked towards his house area. This unnerved him a bit, but he did not want to say anything, and followed the others.