MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Beth wanted a Kacy or Jaitlyn story about losing hope and finding it again. Also snow. So here it is. xD

Kevin sat slumped at the lunch table, his Scandinavian outfit resting in a pile at his feet. He felt hurt. And heartbroken. And betrayed. Like any and all hope he'd ever had was gone.

He picked at his disgusting Salisbury steak and didn't even eat the roasted potatoes that were usually delicious for caf food. He thought that he and Anya were pretty good together. But after what just happened…he wasn't too sure about anything he thought.

He was still sitting listlessly at the table (Joe, Nick and Stella were all letting him have some space), when he heard a chair scrape next to him and someone sit down. He didn't look up, even when he realized it was Macy sitting there. He tried to put a smile on his face, simply because it was Macy and it was nearly impossible to not smile when Macy was around. But it wasn't a true smile and Macy could tell.

"I heard what happened," she said softly. "Stella told me."

"Yeah, well, it was her fault," Kevin said harshly.

Macy flinched. "She was just trying to help a friend. She didn't know it would backfire and hurt you. But I guess you wouldn't understand something like that, would you?" she said defensively.

Kevin looked at Macy and instantly knew what event she was not-so-subtly hinting at. And he instantly felt sorry. He knew that Stella was just trying to help Anya out; it wasn't her fault that Anya morphed into Kimmy-with-a-heart-over-the-i. It just really sucked that it had to be his girlfriend. With the amount of exes Joe had, it should have been him. Or Nick. They were the experts with girls.

"I'm sorry, Macy…I just…I'm a little…hurt."

"And mad?" she asked.

"And that."

"Well, you probably don't want to hear this, but I'm sorry. You two seemed really sweet together."

"Yeah, well, she couldn't take people laughing at her, so I don't know about that too much."

"Well, the fact that she can't take people laughing at her is her own damn problem. Don't blame yourself."

"Why shouldn't I? I didn't make things any easier. I just danced around like a ninny and ignored the fact that people were laughing at us."

Kevin pushed his tray back violently, put his head down on the table and frowned.

"Kevin," Macy said softly. She scooted her chair closer to him and hesitantly reached her hand out towards him. Resting her hand on his arm, she gave it a light squeeze. He looked up at her. "Kevin. The fact that you can ignore it when people laugh at you is a really great strength. So you danced in the atrium and people saw you. Who cares?"

"Kimmy," he answered instantly.

"Forget about her. If she couldn't handle the fact that people laughed at her and that caused her to break up with you, she's not worth it. If she's afraid to be herself, then she doesn't deserve to be with you."

"I guess…but I still feel lousy."

"I know, Kev. I know," Macy said.

"It's hard enough for me already. With girls I mean."

"You'll get better. You have Joe and Nick to learn from."

Kevin smiled slightly. He lifted his head from his arms and really looked at her this time. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said, a satisfied smile on her lips.

He wrinkled his brow in thought for a moment. "You do realize though…Joe and Nick are horrible with girls, right?"

Macy rolled her eyes. "I was hoping that in your depressed state, you'd ignore my bad examples…"

Kevin smiled. "Little chance of that happening, Misa. I never ignore what you say. It's kind of hard with that bossy tone."

Her mouth fell open in outraged shock. "I'm not bossy. I'm authoritative."

He laughed. "That's what all bossy people say."

Macy's face became devious. "You want bossy? Fine. Snowball fight. You. Me. Right now. Loser buys hot chocolate and cake at the bakery on Fifth Street after."

"Skip class for the rest of the day?" Kevin was shocked.

"Nothing but review for finals…no biggie," Macy said, grabbing his hand and leading him down the hall.

"Mace…We shouldn't…" he started to say, but the hopeful look on Macy face made him quickly add, "not without our coats and gloves and stuff."

Macy smiled and pushed him towards his locker. Kevin quickly got his stuff and met her at her locker.

"You're going down. I hope you know that," he told her.

She snorted as she closed her locker and turned around. "Really now? You do realize I am the star pitcher of the softball team, right? No mercy on the field of battle, Lucas."

"You do know that I'm a beast when it comes to snowball fights, dontcha, Fangirl?" Kevin asked, looking down at her with a raised brow as they snuck out of the side door by the band hall and out to the parking lot.

"Call me Fangirl again and I'll have to call you by your full name, for fairness's sake," she said automatically.

"You wouldn't Percy me…" Kevin said slowly.

"Would if I hafta," she said, flinging a handful of fresh powder at his face before taking off for the practice fields behind the school.

Kevin ran after her, intent on giving the tiny brunette a sound and brutal (but non-violent) thrashing.

After the better part of twenty minutes, the once-pristine field was covered in footprints and littered with hollowed-out spaces that had been made in a snowball-making frenzy. Kevin couldn't feel his arm anymore, and he knew he had lost his hat somewhere by the soccer goal…

He didn't really mind though. This had been the epic-est snowball fight he'd ever taken part in. And it wasn't even over, knowing Macy. She would keep pelting him with snowballs until he admitted defeat or they got caught.

"Hey, Mace! I haven't gotten any facefuls of snow lately! You still have snowballs?" Kevin called out.

"I'm empty," Macy admitted with apprehension.

"HAH! I still have one! I will see victory. And you will have to buy the cake and—!" Kevin said, but he suddenly found himself on his back with Macy on top of him.

"Pinned ya," she gasped out.

Kevin stared up at Macy. He was aware that the back of his head was pressed into a rather large mound of snow and that it was slowly soaking into his hair, but he couldn't really feel it. He was a little preoccupied with the crazy girl that had tackled him and was resting on top of him. Her cheeks and nose and ears were flushed and her eyes were a little teary from the cold and her hair was curling wildly and she was sniffling a little, but the smile on her face was absolutely brilliant and Kevin realized he hadn't thought about Anya/Kimmy/Whatever Her Name Was Now since Macy had convinced him to cut class and threw snow in his face.

It was nice.

Macy shifted slightly and Kevin snapped back to attention.

"You know," he told her. "Tackling's not allowed in a snowball fight."

"It is if I say it is. I'm the one who challenged you. We play by my rules on that account."

"Fine. But you ran out of snowballs first. That means you pay," Kevin said.

Macy heaved a sigh. "Okay, whatever you say. This was mostly a ploy to get you feeling better anyway. So what if I'm going to be down nearly twenty bucks? You're smiling again," she said, getting up and giving her hand to Kevin. The two walked out towards the parking lot. "Come on, my car," she said.

"You skipped classes to get me to try to feel better?" Kevin asked, a smile tugging on one side of his face.

"Did you not notice how many people you snapped at? I had to fix that. You are not supposed to act like that. You are supposed to be funny and happy and joyous and affectionate and sweet and hyper and…you just weren't."

Kevin stopped in his tracks and stood in the parking lot in thought.

"Kev?" she asked. "You okay?" she walked the few steps back towards him and suddenly felt herself being pulled forward into Kevin's arms and froze when she felt his lips press lightly against her cheek.

"More than okay, Mace," Kevin answered with his usually happy smile.