When Fenella got back to her shack that night, she dropped her backpack on the floor and threw herself on the bed. This was only her second day in the Winter Territory and already she had been bullied, made friends, got a job, stole from her job, and lost her potential lover. She sighed and buried herself in her blankets. Her textbooks lay on the floor with her homework strewn on top of them. She didn’t bother even trying. If Winston wasn’t going to date her, all the studying in the world wouldn’t help her.

The next day, the teacher introduced Kate to the class. Kate was all smiles and she talked about herself like she had prepared in advance to do so. The teacher had her sit on Winston's other side. Fenella and Nitro exchanged glances. There was no doubt that Kate coincidentally had all the classes that Winston had.

“Maybe he won’t like her when he gets to know her,” Nitro whispered as she and Fenella watched the two pass notes.

Kate dropped her pencil and it rolled under Winston's desk. He picked it up and gave it back to her. She blushed as they made eye contact, then she turned away.

“It's hopeless,” Fenella squeaked.

Nitro grabbed Fenella's eraser and threw it at Winston's desk. It bounced off and hit Kate in the face. Winston bent down to get it for Fenella and for a split second, Fenella and Nitro saw rage on Kate's face. Her lips curled into a snarl, her eyes narrowed into slits, and her teeth clenched tight. Her furious expression was gone almost instantly and she rubbed her cheek with an awkward, but adorable smile.

“Did you see that?” Nitro asked once Fenella got her pencil back.

“That was actually kind of scary,” Fenella said. “I thought she was going to attack someone.”

“Me thinks the girl is not as sweet as she’s trying to make us believe.” A twisted grin spread across Nitro's face. “Winston Winter would never date a jerk. We just have to get Kate to show us and him her true colors.”

The teacher sensed whispering among the class and turned to them with a sour expression. “I hope everyone's paying attention. All of this will be on the test. Literally all of it. Anyway, like I was saying. Blah blah blah blah with the importance of blah.”

Nitro began scribbling on a piece of paper. She folded it up and gave it to Fenella.

“Pass this to Kate.”

Fenella tapped Winston on the shoulder. “Pass this to Kate.”

Winston reached for it, but before he could grab hold, the teacher swooped in and tore it from his hands.

“A note?” the teacher demanded. “Note passing is the worst offense a student can commit! How dare you try to communicate with your peers without distracting the rest of the class by talking?” She cleared her throat and read the note out loud. “Kate, do you want to hang out with us after school? From Nitro.”

Kate smiled. “I’ll wait for you outside of detention hall!”

“Great!” Nitro said.

“Detention for both Nitro and Fenella!” the teacher said. She walked back to the whiteboard. “Winston, you’re lucky you didn’t touch the note or you’d be joining them! Now where was I? Blah blah blah…”

Fenella leaned over and whispered to Nitro. “Why did you invite Kate out?”

“To trap her,” Nitro whispered back. “We'll pretend to be her friend, make her drop her guard, and then try to get her mad.”

“Principal Principal SnowHills will flip if he finds out I’ve been passing notes. This better be worth the detention.”

“Relax. We won’t be in detention,” Nitro said.

----------------------------------------

Several hours later, two brooms with wigs were being babysat by a teacher too underpaid to care. Nitro and Fenella met with Kate in the hallway and walked with her towards Polar's locker.

“So,” Nitro began, “is Kate short for something? Katie? Kaitlin?”

“Nope! Just Kate. I’m named after my grandmother who served as an emergency medic during the Freezing Cold War. That’s where she met my grandfather.”

“Interesting backstory for your grandma,” Nitro said. “What’s yours?”

“Is it tragic?” Dahlia's voice made the three girls jump. Dahlia had been in the middle of writing “Dawleeuh" all over her locker in glittery marker, but she stopped when she saw the group walking by.

“Uh, a little,” Kate replied. “I don’t really want to get into details about it. The wounds are still fresh.”

So help me if she’s sweet and relatable, Fenella thought bitterly.

“Was it a bad childhood?” Dahlia demanded harshly. “Did your parents not love you enough?”

“No! Nothing like that! I was homeschooled and my parents loved me very much, but they died in a car accident. I’m living with my long lost aunt who nobody knew about beforehand. She doesn’t have the credentials to homeschool me, so I came here.”

“You lost both your parents?”

Kate nodded. “I’m an orphan and sometimes I feel like my long lost aunt, who’s also verbally abusive and emotionally distant, only took me in because of my inheritance.”

Nitro, Fenella, and Dahlia exchanged glances. That was exactly the kind of tragic life that warranted a boyfriend like Winston.

Kate continued. “The worst part is that I’m all the way over here in Snowy Way, while my parents are buried clear across the Winter Territory on Icy Island. I can’t even visit their graves when things get too difficult.”

“Has it been hard for you to make friends?” Fenella ventured.

“Not at all!” Kate's face brightened slightly. “Everyone has been so nice to me, especially Winston Winter. Don’t you just love how his first and last name start with the same letter? It’s so cool that I just have to say both every time!”

Nitro looked ready to throw hands. Fenella stepped between her and Kate. “Let's go find Polar and see where we should go to hang out.”

It took the five a long time to decide where to go. Dahlia wanted to go to the coffee shop and Fenella couldn’t explain why they had to stay away from there for a while. Kate wanted to take a walk through a nearby snowy forest and Nitro wanted to hang out on the off-limits school roof. Finally, they came to a compromise that made no one happy and spent the next few hours on a nearby park's playground.

“They need to shovel the playground,” Dahlia complained about the inch of snow at her feet. “I shouldn’t have to walk through slush.”

Kate took a seat on the swing set. “It’s been so long since I’ve been on an actual playground. I remember me and my friends back home would try to make the swing go all the way around.”

“Bet you failed,” Dahlia muttered.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“We did.” Kate was oblivious to the malice in Dahlia’s voice. “My friend almost made it, but he ended up flying off and breaking his arm when he landed on a patch of hard ice. If he had only been a few feet to the side, he would have been safe in the snow.”

“We had a playground we used to go to back in the Autumn Territory,” Fenella said. “There were three separate play structures and each of us would take one and pretend it was our base. Then we had to go raid the other bases and try to take over.”

“I lost a tooth here in fifth grade,” Nitro said.

“I found it,” Polar added. “We chucked it at the Other Girls.”

Dahlia scowled at them. “I remember why I don’t like you now.”

“Have any of you ever played the game where one person is a lava monster and everyone else has to stay off the ground to be safe?” Kate asked.

“Yes!” Fenella said. “We'd throw water at them to ‘cool off the lava' so we’d be safe for ten seconds.”

“We used snowballs!” Polar said.

Kate grinned. “What’s stopping us from playing that now?”

Dahlia scoffed. “We're way too old for baby games.”

“We're never too old!” Nitro squealed. “I want to play! Not it!”

“Ugh. Nitro, this is why you’ll never be popular,” Dahlia said.

Kate smiled at her. “There’s nothing wrong with nostalgia. I’m sure even you used to play during recess with your friends. Besides, running around on the playground is great exercise.”

Dahlia scoffed and rolled her eyes. Kate shrugged and turned to Fenella. Fenella bit her lip. Kate was smiling at her, waiting for a response, but all Fenella could think about was her and Winston walking off into the sunset together as Fenella was shipped back to the Autumn Territory. Kate wanted to be friends, Fenella knew that, but she couldn’t let her win. Becoming friends would make it harder to take Winston away from her.

Fenella kicked the sand at her feet. “I don’t really want to play.”

The smile left Kate's face. “Is it because I got mad when Nitro’s eraser hit me?”

Fenella, Nitro, and Polar stopped moving. Dahlia looked at them, confused.

Kate shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’ve always had a temper. I’m trying not to, but it’s hard. I was hoping you guys missed it, but I guess you saw. I’m doing my best to not get angry all the time. I’m sorry.”

The remorse in Kate's voice broke Fenella. “No! It’s not that! I mean, I’d love to play with you!”

“Really?”

“Sure!” She grinned at Dahlia who gave her an annoyed look.

“Not it! Not it!” Nitro called and took off for the top of the playground.

Just for today, Fenella thought. We can stop being enemies for one day.

They had originally intended to play for maybe twenty minutes to relive their childhoods, but those twenty minutes became an hour and that one hour became more. Sunset came and went and still they played in the dark. Dahlia, who had decided to sulk on the swing set, reluctantly joined in after seeing how much fun the others were having. She whined the entire time about how they were forcing her to play, and didn’t stop complaining even when they told her she didn’t have to. Their game of tag slowly evolved into hide and seek and that turned into a game they made up as they went along. Soon, Polar, Nitro, and Fenella were seated at a pretend restaurant while Dahlia and Kate took their orders.

Nitro and Fenella pretended to flip through an imaginary menu. Polar was watching the stars. The park was in the middle of a residential area, but still not a place he was comfortable being in so late at night. Only a single lamp lit up the darkness, but it was located by the picnic tables a good distance away from their spot in the snow below the playground.

“Maybe we should go home,” Polar said. “It's dangerous to be out so late.”

Nitro laughed. “We're five teenagers loitering around a playground at night. People are afraid of us.”

“True,” Polar said.

Nitro put her pretend menu down and looked to Dahlia and Kate. “I’ll have a bowl full of all the condiments you have mixed together.”

“I want a salad made entirely of silverware,” Fenella said, giving Nitro a smug look.

Not to be outdone, Nitro picked her imaginary menu back up. “And for dessert, I want the sponge you use to wash the dishes.”

“For dessert, I want the contents of your vacuum cleaner.”

“And to drink, I want a literal brick from the foundation.”

“And I’ll have an avocado with a straw in it.”

Polar gave them a disgusted look. “If that’s the kind of restaurant we're at, I’ll just have the water.”

“You don’t want to know what we put in the water,” Kate chirped.

Polar threw his hands up. “Check, please!”

Dahlia gave the group a disgusted look, but went with Kate behind the slide to pretend to make the food. The two made violent chopping noises, fake screams, and repeatedly hit the playground. They came back.

“If the food starts moving, let us know and we’ll give you free breadsticks,” Kate said.

“Mine won’t,” Dahlia added. “I’m the better cook. Kate’s probably will.”

“Can I get a refill?” Nitro gave them her non-existent cup.

While Dahlia and Kate had their backs turned, Nitro dropped her voice. “Okay, it’s time to dine and dash.”

“We can’t do that!” Fenella said. “They’ll serve us to the next guest if we do!”

“I just had water.” Polar said. “I’m in the clear whether we pay or not.”

Hearing their conversation, Kate turned back to the group. “Everyone enjoying their meal?”

“Now!” Nitro yelled and leapt out of her seat. Fenella fell over and stumbled after her. Polar got up, but Kate and Dahlia caught him before he got very far.

“We have your friend!” Dahlia called after Fenella and Nitro's retreating backs.

“Keep him!” Nitro called.

“Nitro!” Polar cried.

Nitro made a heart with her hands and grinned at him.

“This isn’t fair! I only had water!”

“You’re an accessory to theft of food!” Kate snarled. “To pay for the crimes of your accomplices, you’ll be washing dishes for the rest of your life!”

“Nitro!” Polar cried.

“Fine, fine.” Nitro walked back and gave Dahlia an imaginary card. “Keep the change.”

“To your credit card?”

“I’m a good tipper. Give Polar back.”

With the night getting older, the group grew more tired. They took a break from their games to relax under a fir tree. Occasionally the wind would move its branches and traces of snow would fall in a flurry.

“Hey, Fenella?” Kate started. “Are you cold at all? I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“No colder than Dahlia should be,” Fenella said.

“You're jealous,” Dahlia muttered.

Fenella continued, “but, no. Not really. I was freezing when I first got here, but I think I got used to it.”

“I didn’t think people from other territories could get used to the weather,” Kate said.

“If I ever visit another territory, it’d be Summer,” Dahlia cut in. “Can you imagine me and my girls on the beach? We’d be the envy of everyone! I was born in the wrong season, that's for sure.”

Kate smiled. “I want to go to the Spring territory. I once had a poster of a field of spring flowers on my wall.”

“Smuggled in by a limo driver?” Polar asked.

Kate nodded. “My abusive aunt ripped it up after we had an argument because she knew it would hurt me.”

Fenella took a breath. She had to convince Kate to leave Winston alone. It was a now or never situation and with every word Kate spoke, Kate was becoming more and more worthy of the title of main character and the love interest that comes with it.

“Kate, you need to stay away from Winston Winter,” Fenella said.

The wind picked up again and more snow fluttered to the ground. There seemed to be an endless supply of it on the branches. For a moment, there was silence as everyone processed what had just been said.

“Why?” Kate asked. “He seems so nice.”

“He is,” Fenella said, “but I need him to date me so he can introduce me to his mother, and then his mother can get me on the king's good side, so Principal Principal SnowHills can’t send me back to the Autumn Territory after First Round.”

“And then he’s going to date me,” Dahlia said, “to fill the void left in my heart by a bad childhood!”

Kate was taken aback. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for an answer. She drew her knees up to her chest and looked sadly at the ground.

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I never knew I’d be such a burden on everyone. Winston Winter has been so nice to me. He was the first person to talk to me when I moved here. He made me feel happy. It's been so long since I’ve been happy. I’m sorry.”

Kate looked back up to the group, but their faces were stone. This was not an issue they would budge on. Kate’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. Her voice cracked. “I always cause trouble for people. I’m trying my best to be useful and good, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t. I don’t want you guys to hate me. I’m sorry.”

No remorse from the group. There was too much on the line for them. Kate would not be getting her way with tears this time.

Fenella spoke slowly and clearly. “We need you to leave Winston alone.”

Kate sprang to her feet and grabbed Fenella by her shirt collar. Kate yanked her to her feet and pushed her away into the snow. Her face was twisted with rage.

“Stop it!” Polar and Nitro shoved Kate back against the tree when she advanced on Fenella. The tree shook and snow poured down around them. Kate kicked at the pair, who wisely backed away.

Dahlia took Fenella's hand and helped her to her feet. “You’re a monster!” she yelled at Kate.

“At least I got my parents to love me,” she shot back. “Just like Winston will! He’s going to fall in love with me and we're going to get married, and then I’ll be so rich I’ll never have to see my stupid aunt ever again!”

“You only want him for his money?” Fenella snarled. "What about your inheritance?"

"I can't touch that money until I'm eighteen!” Kate said. “Assuming my good for nothing aunt hasn't spent it all by then. Winston is my only hope of escape and I’ll be dead before I give him up to someone like you!”

Kate took a step forward. At that moment, the wind kicked up full force and knocked an avalanche of snow down on Kate's head. The weight of the snow and the speed it fell made her buckle and fall to the ground unconscious. Nitro and Polar scrambled to where she lay and dug her out. She wasn’t breathing and her neck was twisted at an angle that no unbroken neck could be in.

“Guys,” Nitro breathed. “I think she might be-”

A scream erupted from behind them. Fenella, Nitro, Polar, and Dahlia spun around in terror. The ghostly form of Kate was staring in shock at her nearly transparent hands.

“What….What did you do?” she screamed.