Chapter 9

December 31st, 1999

The new millennium was coming. It was only four hours away now. Was I ready? I dunno, is anyone ready for a literally once-in-ten-lifetimes milestone? The year two-thousand loomed, hung perilously in front of our adolescent faces, ready to pounce on us and make us new. We were at mine and Winter's little dummy apartment today. That is where we were gonna rake in the new year.

The whole crew was here, myself, Jaune, Emmy, and even Russ had come around all by himself on the bus. My brother wanted to come, but he wasn't allowed out of the house after dark by himself. And to think when we were ten, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. Jaune and I went trick-or-treating back then, and now all of a sudden, little Whitley couldn't be trusted to his older sisters? You can see who the favourite child was for yourself.

"So what're we gonna do when all computers stop working at midnight?" Emmy asked, halfway between joking and serious.

I laughed. "Start a revolution with spears and slingshots, obviously."

"But we won't have any money then! How do we afford things?"

"Spears and slingshots." Russel repeated for me. "Weren't you listening?"

She crossed her arms, kicking a couch cushion in his direction. He narrowly avoided it, the pillow just barely grazing across the top of his hair. Which today was died along the front a vibrant red. And shaved along the sides. A very new-age look, but I liked it. None of our teachers did, but Russ and I agreed that they could shove that kind of idea right up where the sun didn't shine.

"Oy, watch where you're kicking that!" I said, as the pillow narrowly avoided taking out a vase full of flowers on the counter. "If we break anything, Winter's gonna be pissed as hell."

"No, I'm not." She said, materializing from the kitchen. Well, less 'kitchen' and more' closet with a fridge and a tiny oven'. This apartment was anything but spacious. "I hate that vase, if you break it, who cares, I'll just buy a better one."

I hobbled over to the pillow, my leg brace doing an excellent job of supporting me and my stupid injury. I bent over to get it, trying to keep all my weight on one side.

"Why haven't you replaced it already?"

She shrugged. "Laziness, mostly."

"Isn't there an Ikea, like, literally just down the road?" Emmy asked.

"Yeah, but again, laziness."

"That's a whole lotta lazy. Why not just 'accidentally' have it fall out the window? I'm sure a fall from the third floor would be enough to encourage it to get replaced."

My sister smiled.

"I like the way you think, Em. But not today. Today, we celebrate the most arbitrary of holidays without throwing my vases, okay?"

"Okay."

A large plate of food was brought out and set down on the table between us all.

"Snacks, anyone?"

I immediately reached out and grabbed like six bits of cheese before anyone else could. There was always a limited amount of cheese at our apartment since cheese is apparently crazy expensive, worse than even dark chocolate by weight. We bought our cheese from this little farm-fresh store down in Manotick, next to the restaurant my sister worked at. It was considerably more expensive than the cheap stuff at Costco, but I always found it didn't leave that plasticy aftertaste.

"Weiss," my sister scolded. "Remember to share. That's for everyone."

"Mmm, don't wanna." I said, shoving two of the hunks of cheese in my mouth. Ugh, it was good. I could see Jaune's face fall a little. "Except maybe for you."

I offered him a piece of cheese.

"Thank you very kindly," he said, taking it from me before turning to the others. "Anyone wanna split this with me?"

"Still lactose intolerant."

"Ew, I'm not gonna share with you."

"I had a bunch in the kitchen. Thank you, though."

I sat back down as Jaune shrugged, grabbing a corn chip and laying his cheese on it. He dipped the combination into the little bowl of salsa. This looked like such a good idea, that I might try it. I grabbed a chip as well, doubling up on the salsa on my cheese. I was good!

"Holy cow!"

I dipped the rest of my chip into the salsa to collect some more. Yep, just as good the second time around.

"This is amazing!"

"Wait, did you just double-dip?" Emmy asked, her tone becoming almost disgusted. "Why would you do that in our bowl of salsa? No one's gonna have any more of that!"

I stopped, halfway through chewing the very-clearly double-dipped chip. I glanced nervously back over to the other three. Jaune and Russ were looking over at Emmy as well, who had this look on her face like I'd just stabbed Stripes and made him into a fashionable hat. I looked to Jaune. Then Russ. They blinked at me for a moment, before looking right at each other. Then, by some miracle of timing, they both reached forward and dipped two chips into the 'tainted' salsa.

"Ugh!" Emmy yelled, dropping her celery into her lap. "You three are gross!"

"I feel fine. Russel?"

"I'm all good. Looks like there's nothing gross about double dipping."

I flushed, hearing my sister chuckle from the kitchen.

"Awe, you guys..."

Russel slapped me on the shoulder as Emmy stood up from the table in a huff, disappearing to the bathroom. "We got you, girl. Right, Jaune?"

"Hell yeah, we do. I'm not afraid of no cooties like little miss prim and proper over there."

"It's not cooties, you idiot, it's bacteria and germs!" she yelled from the other room.

Russ chuckled in her direction. "With the amount of curry you eat I'm thinking you have enough fire and spice in your mouth were germs won't even matter."

"UGHHH!"

"Gosh, she's a little strange, eh?" Jaune said quietly, taking more salsa on the same chip again. Jaune is also a double dipper, it seems. What a guy.

"Eh, I still love her," I replied, grabbing some cucumbers. "She's weird, but she's ours."

"I'm not anyone's!" she chastised, returning back into the room. "You've gone and ruined all the salsa, so now what am I gonna eat? The guac? I don't think so!" She sat down at the table again.

"You got something against guac?" Winter asked, coming back into the side room with another bottle of Coke and her book. She slumped herself into the couch behind the table, but not before passing the table and grabbing some corn chips off of it. "I made this guac by hand."

"No, no, it's… ugh I just won't eat anything! You all are messed up!"

We laughed. Emmy crossed her arms and pouted. So cute.

"So, how's the leg?" Russ asked, refilling his glass of dark and fizzy. "Still hurts?"

I shrugged, doing the 'so-so' thing with my hand. "I'll live. The limp makes me look like a monkey, though."

"Gym class exemptions must be alright, though."

"Yeah, but we were doing floor hockey, and I'm kinda good at that, and now I can't play."

"So, what, you makin' Jaune play for two?"

I laughed. "Jaune can barely play for one."

"Hey!"

"What? It's true! You suck at hockey!"

He made a frumpy face. Jaune's frumpy face has always been adorable. "That's because I'm not born in Canada."

"Neither am I, dummy," I gestured to Russ. "Literally only he is Canadian here. And Russ, you're pretty good at it, right?"

He took a second to think about it.

"Nope. I suck."

"See?" I turned back to Jaune. "It's not about being Canadian, it's about practice and determination. What do you think, Em?"

She raised her hands in front of her. "Keep me out of this, this is between you and your boyfriend."

I blinked at her.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend."

Winter's head popped up from behind the couch. "We will have none of that talk in this house. You are all too young for that."

"I am too young for that." Jaune parroted.

"So am I, Emmy." I followed up.

Although I'll admit, we did spend almost every non-school waking moment together. But that sort of talk was way too early since we were only twelve. Well, almost twelve.

"You know what I meant." She chimed, defensively. "You guys make my life so hard."

"Sorry, which one of us has to sleep in a leg sling, do physiotherapy, and require help going up and down the stairs?" I asked, leaning over the table with my chin in my hands. I gave her an innocent little grin. She glared back for a second. I always assumed that whenever I did that, whomever I was doing it to would just stick their tongue out at me, as was usually the case with Jaune or Russ. But not so with Emmy.

No, I received a cucumber slice to the nose.

"Ha!" I sat back, shocked. How dare! The little green circle of cold stuck to my face, refusing to fall off. Jaune and Russ did nothing to help, sitting back in their respective chairs and giggling like little girls. "Why?!"

"You were too close to my face. Dunno why you're complaining, you got free vegetable."

I blinked, peeling the offending green circle off my face. In an act of rebellion, I ate the damn cucumber in one bite, glaring at Em the whole time.

"Meanie."

"Weirdo."

We stuck our tongues out at each other for a minute, trying to outdo the others' childish faces. We were going nowhere, so we gave up. Jaune and Russ seemed amused by us, as usually they were. Russ broke the silence next.

"So anything exciting happen to anyone the last little while?"

He'd been gone to his grandparent's house in Florida over Christmas, so he'd missed some stuff.

"Not really-" I started, being cut off.

"Yeah, Weiss had a piano recital." Jaune cut in.

"Jaune, shut up." I said, elbowing him in the side.

"What, you were really good! It was all Christmas music and stuff from all the other students, but she was doing the entire Nutcracker suite. All twenty minutes of it!"

"Jaune. Shut up." I elbowed him again. "You said you wouldn't tell."

"What, were you there, Jaune?" Emmy asked, an evil grin crossing her already smug face.

"Yeah, front row, why?"

I buried my face in my hands. "I invited him as my guest and they put him front and centre."

A loud and collective awwww came from Russ, Emmy, and my sister in unison, flushing my face a bright red. Jaune was just too damn proud of himself for his own good. I punched him in the arm. Man, I wanted to disappear. He had promised he wouldn't tell that I'd invited him as my guest. But hey, at least he hadn't told them that we'd gone 'out' for dinner first or anything.

"Hey, but before the show, Weiss made me take her on a daaaate."

This motherfucker.

I rearranged his face with a pillow.

/…/

One hour remained.

Then the new year. No, the new millennium.

Our movie was finished, and it was alright, I guess. I don't know if I was a fan of the 'new' Star Wars movie yet, but it was fine. Winter had found it for sale in Blockbuster back in October, and we'd just never gotten around to watching it. It felt a little predictable, and the acting was, lets be honest, brutal. But the podracing scene was by far the best.

Can't believe they killed Liam Neeson, though. Caught me by complete surprise. I actually almost left the room. Stupid leg, making it too much effort to get up. Actually, while we're on the subject of this, why is it that the Jedi are supposed to be these impenetrable warriors, with years and years of lightsabre training, yet it's always one Sith apprentice that can absolutely wreck shop on these guys like they're damn padawans? Like, fully serious, Qui-Gon should have had no problem slicing that cheat-sword wielding red idiot in half.

Anyway, that's beside the point.

The movie was done, and now it was around eleven at night. We were parked up on the couch, all huddled together like people-shaped peas in a corduroy pod. Winter was in the kitchen, having what had to have been her fifth cup of coffee. Emmy was actually lying across our laps, facing in with her arms wrapped tightly around me and her face pressed hard into my stomach. I didn't know if she was asleep or intentionally trying to smother herself, but she was out and I was stuck. Winter stuck her face over the back of the couch.

"So what you-" she yawned. "-kids wanna do now?"

I was still wide awake.

"I 'unno. Maybe we should go outside!"

"It's the middle of winter, Weiss." Russ said, pointing out to the balcony where a large amount of snow had built up against the glass.

"Yeah, but you all brought your coats, right?"

"Y-yeah, but-"

"Then we'll go outside!" I cheered, moving to get up. I, however, could not. "As soon as we get this lump off of me!"

The lump squeezed tighter. "Mmm-mmm." Her voice vibrated against my stomach, the ticklish feeling making me squirm. "Mno."

"Emmy, get up." I said down to her hair. Her head shook. "Damnit Em, what if I have to pee? Would you let me up then?"

"No."

My shoulders dropped and I rolled my eyes so dramatically my head nearly came off.

"Look, you can sleep next year, how about that?"

"Blech."

"Psst, Weiss." Jaune whispered, catching my attention. I looked over, to see he had his fingers mere centimetres from her sides. My face lit up.

"You have five seconds to get up, or else."

She tightened. "Else what?"

"Five..."

"No."

"Four..."

She buried her face deeper into my shirt, almost hard enough to become one with the soft cotton.

"Three...You better let go."

"Nuh-uh."

"Two..."

She blew a raspberry into my stomach, making me giggle.

"O-one..."

In hindsight, I should have see this coming. But I did not, as I was a mere child with poor foresight.

"Zero. Jaune?"

He jabbed his fingers into her sides.

"WAAAH!"

She tightened and rotated, coiling up like a spring and pulling the two of us off the couch and tumbling onto the floor, where we landed with a muffled whump. I let out a short yelp as a tiny twinge of pain went down my leg from the middle of my thigh. Emmy quickly untangled herself from me and sprang backwards, away from the couch and away from Jaune and his pointy fingers. She glared at all of us as I did a quick, laughing once over of my leg. All seemed well. Except for Emmy.

"What the hell, Jaune?!"

He laughed so hard he was in tears. Russ was, as well. I think I was the only still able to form sentences. Which was good, since, after hearing an loud noise and a yelp, Winter had returned to the living room in a rather speedy fashion.

"What's going on in here, Weiss why are you on the floor, boys what's so funny?!" all came out at once.

"They threw me off the couch!"

"Technically you threw me off the couch." I corrected, pointing a finger at her. This was probably not the smartest thing to say, as I could see Winter's eyes glaze over in red. "Ar-arguably my fault, though, no one needs to pin any blame anywhere."

My sister visibly softened. "Well, as long as everyone's alright."

"We're good!" I said, turning back up the couch. "We were just deciding to go outside, right guys?"

Russ and Jaune nodded, wiping tears from their eyes. Winter huffed, smiling at us like we were somewhere between annoying and adorable, and that seemed like it was alright with her.

"If you kids want to go outside, you better bundle, it's like twenty below."

"Yes, Winter!" I called for everyone. "Hey c'mon, let's go!"

I stood up from the floor, taking my time and bracing myself against the couch as I did so I wouldn't put too much weight on my poor, aching leg. Emmy got up as well, keeping her distance from us all, clearly worried she'd be tazed again. Fair point, I'd have done it if I could reach.

"Kay, I need someone's help." I gestured to grab the group's attention. "I have to take the brace off to put pants on, and I can't do it by myself because I'm not allowed to bend that far yet."

Normally Winter would be the one to do this, but she had stepped back into her bedroom, probably to change.

"I'll help." Jaune said, almost immediately. I cringed, ever so slightly. Not because I didn't think he could do it, Just somewhere deep down I didn't quite feel right having him see me like this. So vulnerable.

"I got this, buddy." Russ said, slapping him on the shoulder. "You go help Em."

Emmy made a face. "Jaune will not be helping me with anything."

He just shrugged, as I stepped away with Russ and into my own bedroom. It was out of the way enough that no one would be able to see into the room. This was probably the most embarrassing thing anyone has ever seen me do up until this point, and I was a lot happier that it was Russ and not Jaune. I'd have been okay with Em doing it, up until the part where she'd need to tighten the clasps as I know she'd do them too tight.

"Ahh..." I landed on my back on the bed, swinging my legs up onto the soft comforters. "Okay, you may begin."

Actually, I'm also glad Jaune didn't see how messy my room was. What a disaster.

"How do I do this." he asked, coming over and kneeling down on the floor next to my bed. "I don't wanna break it again."

"Just unclasp it and open it like a clam shell." I gestured sort of at my knee.

He did, fiddling with the clasps down on my shin, having difficulty with how tight Winter had tightened them so the brace would work properly. As his hands came up along my leg, he didn't even flinch once, getting each clasp open with fair amounts of force. Even the clasp way up on my upper thigh posed no threat to Russel, even though any other male around our age would get squeamish and shy around touching a girl. Especially on the thighs. That is where super-cooties came from.

"Like so?"

The two halves separated.

"Yep. You're braver than most, Russ."

He shrugged. "It's just a leg."

I nodded, agreeing as I sat upright. "'Spose you're right. Can you hand me some pants?"

He leaned back and grabbed the pair of loose jeans I had been wearing during dinner earlier. He tossed them to me.

"Do you need my help, or are you good with this?"

I shrugged. "A little help would be nice. Just slide them on over top my jammies."

He grabbed the waist of my pants, and slid them over my feet, stuffing the cuffs of my pyjama pants down the denim holes.

"Why'd you let me do this and not Jaune?"

I shivered as he carefully slid my leg into my pants. My mouth stwitched.

"I dunno. I just don't really know why not. I trust him, and all, just..."

"I think I know."

"Why's that?"

"Because I think you li-ike him." he said, with a sudden, effeminate tone in his voice.

"Hey." I snapped. "Don't be gross, Russel. It's nothing like that."

"Mmm, okay, whatever you say."

I'd have kicked him, but he currently had my legs under his control, so I could do nothing but sit and scoot my butt into my pants. Also my prime kicking leg was out of commission. Stupid leg.

"It's not true!"

"Uh huh."

I tried anyways. The moment my un-clamped leg moved off the bed, a short spike of pain fired down it like a lightning bolt. I winced, sucking air in through my teeth and trying not to cry as Russ just chuckled down at me while he struggled with the button on my pants. I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Just put the brace back on."

He did as he was told, wrapping the polymer cage around my leg again and folding it closed with multiple snaps. Once they were clicked in, he tightened ever clasp so it was constricting but not blood-off-cutting around the tight denim jeans. And my leg.

"Happy now, Ice Queen?"

"I will hurt you if you mention any of this to Jaune." I threatened. Hard to be threatening in pink jeans and a hoodie with Rowlf the Dog on it, though. If anything, it worked against me. I relented, and allowed myself to be pulled up and into a standing position. "C'mon, we're gonna go outside."

As we reconvened in the living room, I had my hand firmly gripped around Russ's wrist to make sure he'd behave. He did, so I didn't have to exert any force. Both Jaune and Emmy were already in their coats and boots and ready to leave the house. I have to say, Jaune's little red pom-pom hat was about as cute as snow hats come, if we're being honest here. And Emmy's little earmuffs, ugh if I was Winter's age I'd be hard pressed to not snuggle their adorable little selves into my face. How my sister was able to stop herself from doing just that is a true display of rigorous self-control.

"I can't believe you let a boy touch you, Weiss." Emmy said, recoiling slightly.

"Were you gonna do it?" Russ asked. Emmy looked away. "Didn't think so."

"It's against my…ugh, never mind, let's just go." She turned and pushed herself out of the house and into the cold hallway.

I chuckled in her general direction as I pulled my coat and scarf on, trying my best to replicate Winter's fancy and fashionable knot that she liked to tie for me, but I came up way short. I ended up just undoing the whole thing and settling with 'fold in half then stuff the ends through the loop' way of tying. You know, the classic.

With our coats on, we all ended up outside the house and in the little snowy hallway that separated the two apartments. This complex didn't have normal hallways that were inside, no, they were built like old motel buildings with the walkway that was outside in the cold. Sadists.

"Hey, wait up!" Winter called, hopping out the door after us with only one boot on and her coat loosely thrown around herself. "Geez, I'm supposed to supervise you guys, but you're always runnin' off on me!"

I flushed. "Oh yeah, sorry."

She got her other boot on with a sigh, her hands on her hips but a smile on her face. She briefly shook her head, the dyed bangs flopping weightlessly against her face like curtains, before pushing forward towards the stairs. "Come on, guys. I have an idea."

We followed her down to the parking lot, both Jaune and Russ helping my disabled ass down the steep, open steel staircase so I didn't trip and fall. Thanks to the copious use of salt our landlady liked, the stairs were never iced over or dangerous, the were just rusty as hell. I knew they'd eventually rust off the building, but by my calculations, that was a long way off.

Winter's truck sat patiently waiting for us, covered in a light dusting of snow and under the single, lone street light in the lot. The snow fell gently against it, like a picture from a calendar or postcard. She had recently bought this crummy old Ford, which we had affectionately named 'The Super-Dirty', from the first ever government auction website for the grand total of four hundred dollars. Best winter beater of all time. Now, we still had the Pontiac, but she kept it in a storage locker over the cold months so it would stay rust free.

As a group, we all cleaned off a window and door so we could get in without bringing the white and frosty in with us.

"Alright, mount up, soldiers!" Winter cheered, getting two rousing whoops from Jaune and Russ. I tried not to shiver as my whoop was interrupted by a bunch of snow falling from the roof of the tall truck right down the back of my coat. Emmy caught me doing the ack face and laughed as she climbed into the back of the truck with Russ and Jaune. I shook out the snow and climbed up into the passenger seat, having to drag my sorry ass up the tall side steps and into the soft cloth seat.

"I have an idea that I think you four will like." Winter explained, cranking the tired old service truck into life. "Seat belts, everyone."

Five clicks.

And then we were on the road. As it turns out, not many people were out driving at eleven-thirty at night on New Year's eve around the Nepean neighbourhood. Most of the population of Ottawa was downtown on Parliament Hill, watching the concert on the big sound stage they'd set up. Winter had asked me if I'd wanted to go, but hanging out with eight-hundred-thousand people in the cold with a bum leg didn't exactly sound appealing to me. But eating bad Chinese food and watching movies with my friends to ring in the New Year was much better. In my opinion.

"First stop, Tim's!"

We plowed along the empty neighbourhood, down towards the shopping district just south of us in the area we all called 'Riocan'. Nice little collection of stores, nothing too imposing. But there was a Tims we could all get to on one bus. We spent a lot of time at this particular donut shop hanging out after class as it was, as I said, readily available to us.

Winter's truck cut a smooth and easy path through the snow as she pulled in to the uncleared parking lot of the Tim's, up to the drive-through speaker before being shut off. She cranked her window down.

"Hi, welcome to Tim Hortons, can I take your order?" came a sleepy and depressed sounding voice from the little black speaker.

"Yeah, we'll have, uh, four meduim hot chocolates, and one extra large triple-triple."

A moment of button beeping. "That's nine dollars twenny-four, up at d' window."

The line went dead as we advanced around the side of the building. Clearly someone was not impressed having to work New Years. I wiped my nose on my sleeve as we arrived at the window. A very sullen and disappointed looking teenager was manning the window, which slid open with a whoosh. Winter handed over a ten, which the surly teen stuffed into the register before handing back the three quarters and a single, green penny. After about a minute of mulling about in the lonely store, they came back to the window and handed out two trays of drinks, one with three hot chocolates and one with one and the coffee. We thanked the young teen who didn't reciprocate as we left.

The drink was warm through my mittens and the steam pooled around my face with a dampness that I think we all found quite nice. Em, Russ and Jaune were busy in the back seat handing around their own drinks to one another and arguing between themselves. Jaune caught me staring and smiled at me without stopping his argument with Em. I quickly flushed and retreated into my seat so he couldn't see me anymore.

Shit. Maybe Russ was right. Nah, he couldn't be. Russel didn't understand the intricacies of being a girl, how would he know?

I distracted myself by counting streetlights and gently sipping the piping hot chocolate as we made out way to a park that was just on the outskirts of what was considered Nepean. Still well with in Ottawa city limits, but the neighbourhood didn't stretch out this far, so we were alone in the dark serenity. I counted thirty-seven streetlights before my sister pulled us into the parking lot of the little soccer park. She shut the truck off, and it rattled into the cab as the old steel didn't like the cold or the having to work in it.

"C'mon, you four. I've got something you'll all enjoy."

We all got out of the truck and followed her around to the back. She dropped the tailgate with a heavy thump and grabbed her toolbox, dragging it over to herself and cranked it open. It was lined with fireworks.

Wait, fireworks?

"Dude, sweet!" Russel said, grabbing a roman candle. "This is awesome!"

I grabbed one as well, turning it over in my hands.

"That seems dangerous?" Emmy tried, crossing her arms and hiding behind Jaune, who himself seemed intrigued enough to take a gander into the box.

"Nah, don't worry about it." Winter said, pulling out some mortars and a barbecue lighter. I hopped up onto the tailgate, using Russ for support to take weight off my leg. About fifty yards away from the back of the truck, Winter had crouched down and set up the little mortars facing away from us. She yelled back over her shoulder. "What time is it?"

I checked my watch, taking a sip of hot chocolate. Damn it was good. "Eleven-fifty-three."

Wow, that had caught up to us quickly. I didn't realize it had been so long at the coffee place and driving around the town.

Winter strolled back over to us, and helped the others up and into the back of the truck. "Damn, it's almost time, kiddo." She rubbed my hat with a gloved hand. "See, I was gonna hang out with my friends from school tonight, but I think blowing stuff up with you guys is a lot more rewarding."

"How much different would that have been?" Jaune asked. "What would you have done at that party?"

Winter shrugged, taking a harsh swig of her coffee. "Probably snag a New Year's kiss from Alexi's friend James, get drunk as hell, and eating far too many of those little cupcakes Lex's mom makes."

"Ew, people kiss on New Years?" Emmy asked, sliding as far away as possible from Jaune and Russel. I subconsciously scooted closer to Jaune. "What a gross tradition."

Another shrug from my sister. Another shiver from me.

We sat and drank our drinks for the next five minutes, letting the snow fall gently against us. It was unnerving how empty the city was at this hour. But at the same time, it was nice how full I personally felt, sitting there in the cold, the dark, with only mediocre hot chocolate and Jaune to keep me warm. I liked it. I felt whole.

"Okay folks, I think it's time."

She strolled back over with the lighter spun around her index finger with a light skip in her step. She seemed just as excited as I was.

"What's the minute?"

I checked again. My heart jumped. "Fifty-nine!"

The millenium loomed. The sound of the lighter clicking was a welcome one. Followed shortly by a sharp set of sizzles. Winter dropped the lighter as she stumbled back over to us.

"Okay, they're one a thirty-second delay, everyone take cover!"

We didn't, of course, sitting put in the back of the truck. I could barely contain myself, tapping my leg uncomfortably quickly against the cold tailgate. My mitted hand found Jaune's, and I clamped down around it. He didn't resist, in fact he actually gripped back. My heart continued its apathetic arrhythmia as I watched and waited for the zero hour.

"Count me down, Weiss-Cake."

I pulled my watch wiggling my sleeve one-handed. The second hand ticked closer.

"Ten… nine… eight..." I took a breath of cold air, skipping a few seconds. "Three… two… one..."

The second hand clicked over.

January 1st, 2000.

The fireworks went off, lighting up into the night sky. The explosions weren't as big or as impressive as Canada Day, ninety-eight. But they were to me. Especially when I did what I did next. Winter's original plan for New Year's with her friends had given me an idea, and Russel's annoying pestering may or may not have been correct. I wasn't sure yet, but I thought I might try it out. Not even twelve years old yet, but hey, no one was stopping me. The warmth of Jaune's cheek on my mouth was the warmest it'd been since we'd left the house and frayed into the cold winter air. It was only momentary, but it was comfortable.

And I'm sure the snow in front of us started to glow red as I backed off into myself again, hiding behind the cloud of steam in my hot chocolate.

The saying every New Year's always goes 'new year, new me', and that never held any resonance with my. Right up until that moment, however.

New me, hell yeah.

The other's all cheered and celebrated, Emmy and Russ jumping down off the truck to start throwing snow at each other under the glow of the cheap gas station fireworks. Jaune had been dragged down with them, my sister joining in the fun. I stayed up on my perch to watch.

I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to feel in that moment.

But I knew I liked it.