The cafeteria at Boston Arts Academy was very large and modern-looking. The majority of it was, like Mr. Carey's classroom, white. The floor tiles were white. Each table was a crisp white that looked as if it had been carefully polished daily, which it had. The walls, too, were white, except for the one wall that was all glass. The high arched ceiling was also completely glass and no snowdrifts rested on its curve, for it was carefully scraped clean each day.

Sunny sat at a table in the corner, accompanied by Jake Squalor. While many people invited him over to their tables, he told them that he would talk to them later and sat alone with Sunny.

They talked the entire lunch period. She barely ate any of her chicken and mashed potatoes. She was too interested in getting to know Jake—what he liked to do, why he was in Boston, and if his mother was who Sunny thought she was.

"Yeah, life at home can really be a pain in the ass sometimes," Jake said, prodding his chicken with his fork. "I'm just glad she moved out."

"She?" Sunny repeated questioningly.

Jake nodded. "Mom wants me to call her my sister, but that will never happen. She isn't my sister, and as far as I'm concerned, she never will be."

"She isn't..." Sunny started, studying his face. Then she gasped. "Oh god, is it...?"

"Yep," Jake replied, grimacing. "Carmelita is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. She's incredibly spoiled. She's almost 21 years old, and she stills acts like she's 5. It's ridiculous."

"So I guess she hasn't changed since I knew her," Sunny said, shrugging.

"Not one bit. That's one of the reasons I was so excited for winter break to end—she'd go back to college."

"What college does she go to? Harvard?" she asked jokingly.

"Yeah."

Sunny nearly spewed her lemonade all over the table. "Pardon my French, but how the hell did she get in?" she asked, half shocked and half amused.

"Mom's close with a guy on the admissions board. And you know she has a lot of money, so you get the picture," Jake explained.

"Wow. Does Carmelita get good grades?"

Jake snorted. "No. But she doesn't completely fail, though, and Mom keeps up the bribes, so she stays in."

"Do you think she will do the same for you?" Sunny wondered quietly.

"Probably not, but, not to be arrogant, I don't think I need it as much as she does. I actually work hard, believe it or not."

"I believe you."

They sat silently for a while, poking and nibbling at their lunches with the school's bent flatware.

The bell rang.

"Well then," Jake said, standing and grabbing his backpack. "I've got to get to Biology, and you've got to get to...?"

"English," Sunny replied, looking at her schedule.

"Cool. I'll show you there." Jake held out his hand. Sunny took it, and they left the cafeteria together.

After school, many students lingered out on the front lawn, impatiently waiting for their parents, siblings, or chauffeurs to pick them up. Some students walked a block or two in the snow to catch the bus, but most had someone coming for them or drove home themselves in their shiny, expensive cars.

Sunny was one of the ones who had someone come to pick her up. Although Jake was one of the ones who took the bus, he insisted on waiting for Sunny to be picked up before he left ("No one really cares when I get home anyway," he explained).

They sat together on a stone bench on the lawn, trying to catch snowflakes in their mouth, but neither succeeding.

"I've almost got one!" Sunny exclaimed, sticking her tongue out as far as it would go. The snowflake flew lazily away from her, carried by the wind. "Darn it," she said.

"It's okay; you'll get one soon. I hear they have a huge stash in that Good Humor truck that sometimes comes around," Jake said with a grin.

She shoved him gently. "Snowcones don't count! And that's in the summer!" she said, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jake said. "But I'll show you who's winning when I'm walking around with a thousand snowflakes."

Sunny grinned at him. He smiled back.

Suddenly, the honking of a car startled them, and Sunny looked up to see a black sports car pulling up to the front of the circle.

"Oh, that's my sister," she said to Jake. "I have to go."

"Okay," he replied, getting up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sunny."

"Hey, um, you can come meet her, if you'd like," she offered.

"Uh..." Jake said, the slightest look of panic in his eyes. "No thank you, I really should catch that bus. Um, bye."

"Oh, alright then. See you soon," she replied as she left him to go to the black car.

She watched as he grabbed his bag and pulled up the hood of his jacket, trudging through the snow toward the street. She was snapped back to reality as he turned the corner, and she quickly pulled open the door of the car.

"Hey, Sunny, how was it?" her older sister asked with a big smile. Violet had always been very pretty, and had been told that her smile could light up a room—or in this case, a car. And it was true.

"Pretty good," Sunny replied, climbing into the passenger seat and pulling the door closed.

"Did you make any friends? I saw you with some guy as I was pulling into the circle."

"Oh, um, yeah." Sunny buckled her seatbelt as Violet made the turn onto the main road. "That's Jake."

"Hmm. He's cute," Violet remarked. "But don't tell Alan I said that."

"Don't worry; I won't." Sunny smiled and rolled her eyes.

Violet was engaged to a man named Alan, who worked as a lawyer for a very important firm. He had recently obtained a job in Boston that would earn him a large raise, which was why they had moved.

"So do you like the school so far?" Violet inquired.

Sunny nodded, and proceeded to tell her sister about her classes, what she thought about her teachers, and if the food served at lunch was decent. She had just started to tell her about her Biology teacher when she saw the other car come skidding toward them.

She covered her eyes as she heard the crash.