Disclaimer: You know the drill...

"Go away, Sissy," Ulrich told her, tired, his feet dragging on the ground as he did his best to keep walking past the girl.

"I just have a juicy bit I think you might be interested in," she told the boy sweetly, a smug smile adorning her face. "You'll never guess who I saw yesterday."

"You're right, I won't," the brown haired boy snapped, just begging she would take a hint and leave. "Because I won't be guessing."

"I saw Yumi," she told him, completely unfazed by his sarcastic comment and obvious lack of interest.

"That's amazing, Sissy," he told her, "It's not every day you actually see someone beyond yourself in the mirror."

She huffed, just starting to grow angry. "Very funny. Well, it just so happens I saw her yesterday with a boy at the coffee shop downtown."

"So?" he asked, doing his best to seem completely uninterested. "This matters to me, how?"

She looked at him carefully. "Well, isn't she your girlfriend or something?"

Ulrich scoffed, brushing past her. "Hardly," he told her over his shoulder. "It's none of my business who she spends her time with."

He was grateful that Sissy had finally stopped following him (despite the look of joy that radiated off her), and did his best to keep his brooding off his face as he walked through the courtyard to his next class.

Despite what he had told Sissy, it did matter to him. Just the fact Yumi went out with the other boy... her fianc... made it very clear what she thought of him and Ulrich himself. No matter how many times she had called him this weekend, talk was cheap if your actions did nothing to change it.

It snowed that night. A kind of light, gentle fall at first that blankets the ground in a soft sheet, making everything appear new and bright. It stayed like that for a while, just falling and falling and falling.

After a while, though, it got heavier, until the snow was so thick one could barely see his hand in front of his face. It came down in clumps, almost hail, filling up the streets and flooding into lawns and houses, until it completely covered everything. It didn't stop.

It just kept snowing.

Yumi woke up cold, her thin blanket doing little to keep her warm. Shivering slightly she pulled the quilt up tight around her, tucking it beneath her chin in an effort to warm up, but it was little use.

She at last awoke from sheer cold itself. Closing her eyes sleepily as she pulled herself up out of bed and blinked. It was still dark.

Her light showed red in the black of the room, glaring at her from across the room, reading 9 o'clock. She blinked again, wondering in the back of her sleepy mind what was going on. Either situation would have been odd. The dark made her think it was still night, but she was very sure she had went to bed much later then nine, meaning she had slept clear around the clock. On the other hand, it could just be morning and her mother hadn't waken her up. But then what was the darkness for? Had Xana blackened the skies or something?

She reached over for her light, pulling the string with a soft click, but nothing happened. Trying it again, she clicked it once more, with no results. Growling softly, she dug under her bed in the dark, her hand falling upon a flashlight she had stuck there. "Damn power must be out," she muttered.

Clicking on the flashlight, she winced her eyes at the brightness. Turning it over to the window, she nearly dropped the flashlight at what she saw.

Snow was piled up against her window, all the way from the far bottom to the highest top. Rushing over, she tapped against the glass, their tried desperately to open it, to no avail. The window was sealed tight.

"Jesus," she swore. Looking over at her light as she headed back over to her bed to get her cell phone, she noticed the little "am" sign on the clock. It was morning then. Mom had just not awoken her because her clock was plugged in, unlike Yumi's, which ran off batteries.

Pressing the speed dial for Jeremy's phone, he answer with a groggy incomprehensible question on the other end. "Jeremy!" she cried into her mobile. "We've got a problem."
Okay, that's all I have time to write today.

I will be continuing this story despite flamers (which, thankfully, have died down). Thank you for all you who have offered support despite others' hostile manners. It won't be updated for another week since I'm leaving for Michigan this morning at about 6 am (groan). I should be sleeping. Ah well, I'll just sleep on the plane.

Also, check out my new story at fictionpress. It's just a funny, cynical commentary I'm writing about the weirdness of the world. I'm having a lot of fun with it.

The next chapter of "Feeling Guilty" will probably be longer. I just haven't had much time to write lately, with all the craziness.

See you next week

Dream Fox

Also, I'm looking for Betas for all of my stories if anyone is interested. Please email me if you are and I'll get back to you as soon as I'm home!