Hey y'all! The author's note will be much shorter than last time, as long as I don't get on the tangent train today. This chapter takes place on Saturday, December 6, 2003. It's winter and the boys are going to teach our lovely little Hortense to play hockey at the pond. Fun fact: I accidentally wrote Logan and not Hortense in the first chapter, so we gotta get rid of this name for my sanity.

Lol, when I wrote Big Time Glasses everyone still calls him Hortense, we're going to ignore that and break my own canon.

Anyway. Happy reading! Enjoy!

Hortense thought he wanted the pond to freeze over. After all, the only thing Kendall was talking about since Halloween was hockey. Kendall was so obsessed with hockey, he didn't even get a real Halloween costume. He just went as a hockey player.

As it turns out, Hortense did not want the pond to freeze over. The ice looked thin, right about to crack. And that meant that if enough pressure was exerted on the icy surface, the ice would crack, and they could all drown. Hortense did not want to drown.

Unfortunately, his new friends were unaware of this. They just laced up their skates, skating around, hockey sticks in hand. Another problem: Hortense didn't have any skates of his own.

He decided it didn't matter too much, it wasn't like he was going to actually play. Not on that thin ice, about to cave in. So he stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do all bundled up like this. He felt like how astronauts might feel in their space suits.

"Hortense?" Carlos called over his shoulder. "Guys, where's Hortense?"

"Over there!" Kendall pointed directly at him. "Hortense! Come on, we're going to teach you how to play."

He shook his head. "I don't have any skates."

He thought that would be the end of that, they would leave him alone because there was no logical way to solve the problem.

"That's okay!" Kendall yelled across the pond. He was skating towards him, back on to safe, regular ground. It must be hard to walk with skates on, but Kendall only stumbled a little bit. "I still have my old ones in my bag somewhere."

Hortense tried to protest, but Kendall was already rummaging through his bag. With a flourish, he pulled out a pair of dirty, battered, and torn hockey skates.

Hortense reached for them.

"Sit down, Hortense. Take off your boots."

He complied and reached for the skates again. Kendall either didn't see or care, because he was slipping the skates on for him. He's in the middle of tying a complicated knot that Hortense could probably tie up himself. If he knew how.

Hortense flinched away, a blush burning his cheeks. "Kendall, I can tie them myself."

Kendall nodded, not listening. His fingers were still working on manipulating a particularly stubborn, crusty shoelace into a knot. "Yeah, but this isn't like tying shoes. It's harder. And my skates are old, so the laces are different than they should be."

Hortense jerked his foot backwards and attempted to stand. The shoes felt tight enough anyway. What was this next problem? Oh, yes. Standing.

He stumbled the minute he thought he regained balance and tumbled directly into Kendall, who caught him easily.

"I can tie my own skates," Hortense offered weakly. His poor reasoning made him blush harder.

"Let me finish."

"I can!"

Kendall smiled at him, obviously unconvinced. "No, you can't. I'll teach you later though, I promise."

With that, Hortense nodded.

So Kendall finished tying up Hortense's skates and grabbed his arm, guiding the small eight year old to the ice. Hortense shivered from a painfully cold gust of wind and slipped. Kendall caught him.

"Sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to."

"Don't apologize. Me and James and Carlos are going to help you."

"Okay."

—

Hortense was thoroughly and completely convinced that he still had no idea what he was doing, even after three hours of this. He had held onto Kendall for dear life the whole time, stumbling whenever the blonde boy tried to leave him standing alone for one second.

He wanted to be done. Hockey was so difficult. He wasn't good at it, he was unbalanced and uncoordinated.

"It's okay, Hortense. You're just learning," James said, sitting next to him on the floor. James was untying his own skates. Hortense still needed Kendall to finish before he could get the dreaded things off his feet.

Kendall appeared quickly beside him, and explained the process carefully. "You have to be really gentle with these laces, or else they'll get all knotted up and you won't be able to use them anymore."

Hortense nodded. "Aren't you going to teach me?"

Kendall pulled off the second of Hortense's skates and tossed him his boots. "Yeah, but tomorrow. I just untied them."

"Please?"

Kendall sighed dramatically. "Hortense, I just took them off you!"

The smaller boy bit his lip and nodded. He didn't mean to make Kendall angry, or, exasperated? Yes, exasperated. He didn't mean to do that. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

Hortense stood up shakily, the frozen grass not as slippery as the pond ice, but slippery enough. Instinctively, Kendall grabbed his arm to steady him.

Hortense flinched again, but that only made him stumble. As always, Kendall caught him.

"We're going to go to James's house," Kendall explained. "His mom even made us hot chocolate! She doesn't usually do that. She thinks it causes acne. She's nice though, but sometimes she scares us."

"Not your house?"

Hortense had been to the Knight household before. Only a few times, but he knew his way around a little bit. He had met Kendall's mom, who was really nice. She always had dinosaur chicken nuggets at her house. He'd met Kendall's sister, Katie, too. She was three, also nice, like her mom. Once she had tried to make a bargain for his whole plate of chicken nuggets. A failed bargain, of course.

But Hortense didn't know James's mom. And the fact that Kendall said she was scary? That made Hortense even more nervous.

This nervousness got worse as the four boys paraded up to the door. James twirled his house key around his finger before sticking it in the keyhole and turning the doorknob. The door opened.

This was the nicest house he had ever been in. It was big and clean, and everything was black and white, like an old movie. There was a huge kitchen island in the center of the tile floor. Three cups of hot chocolate swimming with fat marshmallows sat on top of it. Only three.

"Hi, boys," James's mom said. Her eyes settled on Hortense. "What's your name?"

"Hortense," he stuttered out, watching her eyes widen. "Um, Hortense L-Logan Mitchell."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do people call

you Hortense?"

He nodded.

"Ugh, I don't like that name. Boys, call him Logan from now on."

The boys nodded quickly and took their seats around the kitchen island. Hortense—Logan, Logan stood next to Kendall, watching everyone drink their hot chocolates. Kendall turned to him, confused. Then he got it.

"Ms. Diamond," he called. She turned. "I think Hor—Logan wants hot chocolate. And a chair."

Logan smiled at Kendall, silently thanking him. So there he was, sitting next to Kendall at James's kitchen island, drinking hot chocolate. Really good hot chocolate.

And now, everyone was calling him Logan. Maybe Ms. Diamond was right about his name.

Oh my goodness gracious I finally get to call him Logan now! I'm so relieved. Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter is spring 2004, which I don't know what to do about, but summer 2004 is looking very Jagan-y. Have a lovely day!