Chapter 27

"Max! Wake up!" Gazzy screamed the next morning. I groaned and pulled my blanket over my head a split second before he burst into my room. "Max! You have to get up now! It's an emergency!" he shouted.

I bolted up in bed. "What is it? Erasers?"

Gazzy grabbed my hand and sort of pulled me out of my bedroom and down the stairs, to the window. "Look at this!"

I shoved the curtains open, but alas, no Erasers. Nothing dangerous. I looked at Gazzy. "And you woke me up at 5 in the morning because…."

"It's snowing! There's no school today!" Gazzy cheered, running back upstairs.

"That's right, go bug Fang," I muttered. Seriously, why did everyone assume that just because I was the leader, I had to be woken up at the crack of dawn for things that weren't even that important?

I looked outside again. Well, the snow did look pretty. And it was our first time ever seeing snow.

I shook my head. "Pretty? Pull yourself together, Max."

"Let's go outside!" Gazzy yelled, running back downstairs with a sleepy-looking Nudge trailing behind him. Iggy followed with Fang, who was carrying Angel in his arms.

I looked at Gazzy, standing there in his Batman pajamas. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

Gazzy shook his head. "No way!" he protested, then flung the door open and ran outside.

Thirty seconds later, he ran back inside. "It's too cold! It's too cold!"

I laughed. "Told you. Who wants hot chocolate?"

"You're sure you won't burn the hot chocolate?" Fang asked, smirking.

I elbowed him. "Hey, I can make hot chocolate," I replied. He gave me a look that said, I doubt it.

Nudge, who was now more awake, was pulling marshmallows and hot chocolate mix out of the cabinet. "I want to help!" she offered.

"Me too, me too!"Gazzy added, jumping up and down.

I arched an eyebrow at Nudge, remembering how she'd set the oven way too high, then gave in. "Okay, everyone can help make breakfast."

Soon, we were all sipping hot chocolate, while waiting for the cinnamon rolls that Iggy had made to finishing baking.

Suddenly, Jeb walked into the kitchen, looking pretty tired. "What's going on here?" he asked. "I heard yelling…"

"We're having breakfast!" Gazzy yelled, and Jeb winced, then looked at the clock. "At 5:30 in the morning?"

I shrugged. "Blame Gazzy. He's the one that woke us up."

"Yeah!" Nudge agreed, making a face.

"Hey!" Gazzy yelled.

"Guess what? No school today!" Iggy exclaimed, grinning.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah, it's a snow day!"

Jeb frowned as he began to make some coffee. "Who told you that?"

I frowned, looking at Gazzy, who shrank down in his seat. "Gazzy did."

"Wouldn't we have gotten a call if school was canceled?" Jeb asked.

"But Jeb…can't we just miss this one day?" Nudge asked, pouting.

Jeb shook his head. "School is important."

I smirked. "Yeah, that's why we missed a week of school to go to Disneyland, right?" I asked.

Jeb frowned again. "Max, you really should-" he began.

"Yeah!" Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge all yelled at the same time. Actually, even Angel yelled "Yeah!", even though she didn't go to school.

I grinned. "See?"

He sighed. "Alright. Just one day, though."

"Yay!" Nudge cheered, leaping up from her chair as Gazzy and Iggy slapped high fives. Angel was giggling like crazy, and even Fang might have smiled a bit.

I grinned. "Awesome."

~~::~~

"Sneak attack!" Gazzy screamed, and proceeded to throw a snowball at the back of Fang's head.

I rolled my eyes. Nudge looked up from the snowman I was helping her build and started laughing hysterically at Fang.

I looked at her. "What's so funny?"

"Gazzy nailed him with a snowball!" she exclaimed, continuing to giggle. I stuck my tongue out at her and looked over at Iggy, who was throwing snowballs in Gazzy's direction, with some help from Fang.

"Come on," I told Nudge, grabbing her pink mitten-clad hand and dragging her over there.

"Aaah! Attack!"Gazzy yelled, launching a snowball at me. I dodged it, and it hit Nudge.

"Hey!" she shouted, bending down to scoop up some snow. "You are so dead! I am going to wipe that smile off your face!" Standing up, Nudge took aim, threw the snowball – and hit Iggy instead.

"Who did that?" he yelled.

"Nudge! Nudge did it!" Gazzy sang, dancing around. Iggy grinned.

"Get them!" he yelled, and Gazzy and Fang started hurling snowballs at us.

"We're going to dieeee!" Nudge wailed, ducking behind the snowman we'd made. I rolled my eyes, looking at Angel, who was sitting happily on the ground next to the snowman.

"Angel, help me!" I told the three-year-old.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!" was her response.

"You're no help!" I muttered, then grabbed a handful of snow and stood up. "Hey, Gazzy!" I called, and he turned around and looked at me. "Yeah?"

I smirked. "Take this!" I yelled, hurling the snowball at him. It hit him right in the face. Most kindergarteners would probably start crying, but not Gazzy. He just stood there laughing.

I put my hands on my hips. "What's so funny?"

Before I could get a response, I was ambushed from behind by Fang and Iggy. Well, mostly Fang.

"Retreat, retreat!" Nudge was screaming from somewhere behind Gazzy.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, you already retreated!" Between Nudge who wanted to retreat and Angel, who was happily singing Christmas carols, I didn't have much help.

That was okay, though.

While the boys were distracted by Nudge retreating, I took the opportunity to stock up on snowballs. Then I jumped out from behind the snowman and started pelting the boys with snowballs.

"Hey!" Iggy yelled, throwing one at me. Of course, it almost hit Angel instead.

"Angel, you're in our line of fire!" Gazzy protested, when suddenly the guys were attacked by…. Nudge?

"For Narnia!" she hollered, throwing more snowballs at them from behind. I attacked them from the other side. It looked like we were actually winning.

Until Jeb walked right in the middle of the fight.

"Jeb!"Gazzy whined, as one of Iggy's snowballs actually hit Jeb, right in the chest.

Jeb frowned. "The school just called."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And? I told you, we're not going to school today."

"Then you should be glad to know that school is in fact canceled," Jeb told us.

I grinned as everyone else started celebrating.

"Best day ever!" Nudge cheered.