I hurl another snowball at Wren's retreating form. I keep missing and falling over, tripping over myself in the snow. He's outdistancing me, and I throw another wet glob of snow in vain, knowing I won't hit him, just for the thrill of doing it. He's out of sight now. Breathing heavily, I kneel down, supporting my body with my arms on my legs. Where is everyone? Maybe they just forgot me. Sometimes I wish I could just fall in the snow and lie there forever, untroubled by the world.

Experimentally, I sit down onto the snow. In no time, I'm covered in a fine layer of snow. I'm finally starting to relax when suddenly I'm picked up.

"Hey!" I start to protest. Guess who it is, Wren. He must have doubled back over and taken me by surprise. I try to wriggle loose and be back on me own two feet, but I can't. I hate the feeling of helplessness, so I just cross my arms until he lets go. To my surprise, he doesn't. He just continues walking as if I wasn't there, still carrying me bridal-style.

He stops for a second, slowed down by me. Taking advantage of his moment of distraction I push off and fall down into the snow. Initially I had planned to land on my feet, but instead I find myself all sprawled over the ground. Wren offers his hand and pulls me up. I dust the snow off of my face.

"I accept my defeat," I say.

"Finally," he smiles slyly.

Suddenly, I take off running towards the forest, where we had initially planned to meet my friends. I half expect him to pelt me with snow, but he doesn't. I guess he's being a gentleman now. I finally arrive at the fence, crawl under, and sprint over to the river. It's frozen over and starting to accumulate snowflakes.

Wren follows, and I catch sight of my friends on the far side of the river. I run over to join them, and I almost slip and fall on my face but Wren catches my arm just in time.

"Thanks," I breathe. Then I catch sight of their expressions. Bailey has a suspicious smile and Takeda is looking at me with eyes that ask too many questions. I have snow everywhere, and we both took longer than them to arrive. A lot longer. I realize what they're thinking and shake my head, eyes wide. I can tell they don't believe me, so I give up the charade. They can think what they want. Defiantly, I grab Wren's hand and pull him over to the other side of the river just to see their reactions.

They just shrug and chase after us. Half a minute later, I'm on the ground and so is Wren. Bailey and Takeda run off, laughing. I get up menacingly. They're sure to have some time on the ground too after I'm through with them.