This is like the third or fourth time I've tried reviving this so bear with me. Anyway, I'm Jelly and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
The stack of instructions for college applications shook lightly in her petite, bare hands. She was warned to wear gloves earlier that morning but the weatherman said that the chances of snowing were slim, and certainly not enough to stick to the ground. Her friend snickered into her scarf as she looped her arm through her own, pulling her closer and melting into the thick jacket. Nat never did like admitting that Leah was right, even when she was nearly shuddering in her light sweaters but graciously accepted the warmth. She stared at the snowflakes falling onto the paper, hoping they would melt quickly and smear the ink so she wouldn't have a reason to keep them anymore but they stayed frozen. As they started walking by Leah's house, she took the stack from Nat and tossed them into her yard. Nat looked at her through tired, chocolate eyes.
"That's littering." She said. With her hands now freed, she crossed them to hug herself and keep all of her body warmth to herself.
"Listen," Leah said, tugging along Nat for them to keep walking to her house. "You finished applying for all the colleges you wanted to. Now that you're done with that, you can just relax for winter break. You know," She held her and out for a few flakes to fall in only to immediately melt. Then she took her wet hand and pressed it against Nat's face. "Chill out." Leah giggled softly as Nat flinched away and used her sleeves to soak up the melted snow.
"Ugh." Nat groaned, her nose scrunching up in disgust as she wiped her sleeve against her leggings. She looked back up at Leah. "I'll chill out after my party." Her eyes pulled back down to the snow not yet cleared from the sidewalks. Most of it was unseen, though, as her wavy brown locks was often in front of her face. "Still have to pay for the music and food."
She sighed, slouching forward at the thought of the ridiculous amount of money. But her mother absolutely insisted that she have a large 18th birthday party, even if her parents wouldn't be able to attend. They moved back to their home country a while ago and left Nat with her brother, who left her to find a place for himself since he was too old to be babysitting his baby sister, and Nat was already old enough to take care of herself. Leah came over enough that the soon-to-be adult barely noticed that she was alone in her home.
"How are you gonna get the word out?" Leah asked.
Nat looks up at Leah again, and let a huff of cold air out. "I'm hoping I can get Bree to let everyone know." Her eyebrows rose in worry. It made her anxious to ask a very popular girl from school to tell everyone else but just letting Bree know would be more productive than trying to contact everyone on her own. Bree had a large following so she hoped that the short-tempered woman would show some kindness and help out poor Nat. "I'll DM her later but once we get home I'll tell everyone else."
"I'll invite the marching band kids, too." Leah said, not bothering to ask Nat if she wanted to because she would've done so anyway.
"Hm." Nat hummed softly, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks and butterflies beginning to crawl out of their cocoons to feast on her insides. Her brown eyes peered up into Leah's crystal green ones. "All of the marching band kids?"
Leah smiled with pity. "Yeah, even Evan." Her smile turned to a smirk as she watched Nat's eyes light up at the mention of her crush's name. She chuckled especially loud to tease Nat of her boring crush. Even his name didn't interest Leah, she never really liked him. But the thought of him made Nat happy, so she had to deal with it until she moved on. Leah pulled out her phone to send a mass text to all the band kids that she knew, pressed send, then held it up for Nat to look up. "See? They'll come. Trust me!"
Nat hummed again, content in her voice as they walked on and started to pass the mansion just next to Nat's home. It was incredibly large, incredibly extravagant, and incredibly out of place in the otherwise middle-class neighborhood. A long time ago, the house was actually one of the smaller ones until the owners renovated it into the pride of the neighborhood. They've since moved out, and left the empty mansion for sale for a few months now. The girls barely noticed the SOLD sticker poorly plastered onto the FOR SALE sign.
Their eyes wandered from the sign over to the three people standing in the driveway of the mansion. Each of them had been staring up at the falling snow and heavy, grey clouds looming over at them. They stared in a child-like wonder, their eyes were so focused on every single corner of every single snowflake that they didn't notice the two girls staring at them in confusion One with dark-red hair and thick eyeliner noticed them, light blue eyes flickering over to them then alerting his companions of the girls.
He easily intimidated Nat. His hair seemed absolutely unnatural and the rings around his eyes were frightening as it contrasted his pale face. Still, she called over to them. "Are you guys all right?" She half expected them to turn away and ignore her, but the blonde woman of those three instead approached Nat and Leah, leaving the two males behind.
She had a fully matured body but didn't look that much older than Nat and Leah. Her spiked hair was arranged in an odd fashion, pulled back into four short ponytails. She wore a black dress that seemed like it was too thin for this weather but she showed no signs of discomfort in the cold. Teal eyes bore into them like a mother scolding some children but a teasing smirk danced on her lips.
"We're fine, thank you. Not used to snow all that much." She looked back her male companions. "Just moved in from the desert, you know?" Her smirk grew wider as Nat and Leah immediately nodded now that the situation was cleared up. The woman eyed the two of them and chucked a little bit at the sight of Nat and the way she shivered in her light clothing. "You girls live around here?" She asked.
"Yeah." Nat said. "I live right next door." She eyed her house longingly, not that the conversation was uncomfortable, just that it was taking place in the cold. She looked back at the blonde woman. "Did you three just move in?"
The older woman blinked in confusion before looking at the two males who waited patiently, then craned her neck to motion for them to come over. "We did, but it isn't just us three." She looked back at the girls and finally smiled, a gesture so warm and happy that two didn't know why it made their hearts skip a beat. "I'm Temari, by the way."
A quiet, brief gasp escaped Leah's mouth. She turned to say something to Nat but had been interrupted by the man with brown hair. He looked older as well, but maybe a bit younger than the blonde woman. "Kankuro." He said, a simple introduction but he didn't look like much of a conversationalist. He noted how shocked Nat's face turned. She flinched back just barely, but noticeable enough to the three.
Nat's eyebrows rose as she glanced at the one with red hair and dark eyes. She looked away immediately as the sight of him utterly terrified her. Leah saw his frown before he introduced himself. His lips fluttered quickly but Leah didn't hear him, so she leaned in closer to him.
"My name is Gaara." He crossed his arms in frustration, easily short-tempered apparently. Temari chuckled in amusement, making Gaara glare at her out of the corner of his eye before settling back on Nat. "What about you?"
Butterflies that already escaped their pods stopped gnawing on Nat's innards. At the sound of his voice, they began to swarm together and crawl all about her stomach until they travelled up bloody tubes and into her throat. Their wings and antennae rubbed against the walls of her throat as they pushed themselves out into her mouth. They rubbed against her teeth, her gums, her tongue, and they tasted sweet. She was afraid of speaking, afraid that if she opened her mouth then the butterflies would pour out of her mouth and pelted by snow, only to seek refuge in her mouth again.
"I'm Natasha." She spoke quickly to test out the possibility that the butterflies inside of her would in fact not swarm out and into her face. "You can call me Nat, too." This time she could be understood, because the threat of vomiting insects vanished as they retreated back into her stomach and into their cocoons. Her friend smiled at her as she spoke much more confident.
"And I'm Leah! It's really nice to meet you." Her smile and enthusiasm infected Temari and Kankuro, but couldn't reach Gaara as he had not been looking at her. Instead, he examined Nat just out of pure curiosity.
"Well," Temari said. "It was nice meeting you two, but my brothers and I still have some things to take care of." She turned around quickly and started to walk back to the mansion, throwing a wave over her shoulder and motioning for the two guys to follow her. "We'll talk to you later!"
Kankuro looked back at the girls with a grin and waved a silent goodbye before heading after Temari and leaving behind Gaara. He continued staring at Nat as if her existence was just an odd thing he found interesting to have happened. He took half a step forward, enough for her to take two steps back so instead he leaned in closer and blinked. A small smile pressed itself onto his face.
"See you around." He turned about quickly and disappeared into the mansion.
Leah giggled at the sight of Nat's pink cheeks and started walking ahead of her. Nat sighed, a stray butterfly taking the opportunity of her open mouth and fluttering out only to suddenly collapse and disappear in the snow. She stepped over it and started catching up to Leah. The grin plastered in her face teased her and made Nat roll her eyes.
"You like him."
"Yeah." Nat said.
If you like the story, be sure to leave a review! Don't forget to give that heart button a click to add to you favourites/follows. Thanks for sticking with me and the second chapter is in the works but with me being on break, hopefully this goes somewhere. Bye, Guys!