Summer extended into November that year, by some miracle. Kendall remembered because he, James, Carlos, and Logan had been able to go trick-or-treating without their winter coats (the four of them had gone as The Beatles). He also remembered that winter finally arrived on the worst day of Kendall's life.

His parents had been fighting even more than usual. Normally, they only fought when Mr. Knight was home. By October, they were fighting over the phone when the Wild played away games and Kristian was in another town, another state.

Thirteen-year-old Kendall heard all of it. All of the accusations from his mother, all of the excuses from his father. Kendall didn't want to believe any of it. He didn't want to even consider that his dad-his then-hero- was with other women while he was gone, didn't want his father to be the reason that his parents' marriage was falling apart.

On November 9th, it finally reached a breaking point. Kendall had been playing street hockey with Logan and James and Carlos in front of his and Carlos's houses when the four heard shouting, a crash, and a bloodcurdling scream. Kendall took off before any of the other boys could process what they had heard.

Kendall threw open his front door, and was met with the sight of his parents' wedding picture smashed, the frame shattered, Mrs. Knight attempting to comfort a hysterical eight-year-old Katie, and his father running around, packing everything that belonged to him.

"Dad?" the blonde boy asked cautiously. "What's going on?"

Kristian Knight stopped packing and turned to face his son. "Kendall, your mother and I are getting a divorce."

Kendall stared at his father for a minute. Then, he slowly said, "It's because you slept with all those women, isn't it?"

Kristian's eyes flared, and he turned to his soon-to-be-ex-wife. "What the hell, Krystin? Feeding him lies so that he turns against his own father? Is that your plan?"

"I never breathed a word to him! Do you thi-"

"Shut up! Just stop it!" Kendall interjected sharply. Both adults stared at their son. "You guys are being ridiculous! Mom never told me anything! Did you honestly think that your arguments were quiet? I could hear EVERYTHING!" With that, Kendall turned and ran out the door.

James, Carlos, and Logan were standing out there waiting for him, having heard everything. Carlos ushered them into his house. Kendall made it to the couch before he collapsed, sobs wracking his body. The boys all held onto each other, much like they did when James's dad had first hit him, or when Carlos's older brother had been killed hid a head-on crash that caused the Latino to wear it ever-present helmet. The four stayed that way for hours before the doorbell ringing brought them back into reality.

Kendall really had no idea what was going on. His brain wasn't working. It was stuck on repeat, playing a single sentence again and again.

Kendall, your mother and I are getting a divorce...Your mother and I are getting a divorce...Getting a divorce...A divorce...Divorce.

Kendall vaguely remembers Mrs. Garcia telling him that his mother was there, and his friends giving him hugs before he left with her. He sort of remembers his dad saying good-bye.

What Kendall remembers like it happened yesterday is the snow that fell as his father got in his car and drove away. The first snow of the year, fresh and new. He should have been celebrating. He should have been counting down the games until his team had regional play-offs for hockey. He should have been down at the pond with James and Carlos and Logan, checking to see if it was frozen enough to skate on, even though they knew it wasn't.

But he wasn't. He was standing in his driveway, watching his use-to-be hero drive away, never to look back.

His eyes glanced toward the sky, at the falling snow, and one thought crossed his mind: "The weather here sucks."

&&&BTR&&&

Wow. I cannot honestly say that I was planning on it to be this intense.

I've been wanting to write this one for a while, but I just couldn't find the inspiration. But after a conversation with my mom, and with the way the weather has been here in Colorado, and the weird dream I had last night, it kind of slapped me in the face.

So, I don't know if you guys have noticed it, but I've seen other people put up playlists of songs that help them with chapters, or something to that extent. So I'm going to do that with this one, and if you like it, tell me, and I'll keep doing it. And if you don't like it, tell me, and I won't do it anymore.

For this one, the main four songs that really helped me set the mood were:

'Time Wastin' by Heffron Drive

'Til I Forget About You' by Big Time Rush

'Numb' by Linkin Park

'You Were Mine' by the Dixie Chicks

Thank you so so so much for reading!

Xoxo, UB