Sorry for the late update! This chapter took some brain power!

Enjoy!

I put my hair up in a ponytail. No, it should just stay down. No, that's too boring. I braid it down the side. Who am I? Katniss? I groan aloud. Since when do I care about hair? I used to just tie it up, and go to school. The end. But now I have to do something to it? This is a completely foreign concept to me. I mean, sure, I'm going to a party, but it's for a three-year-old. And yeah, I'm going with Jack, but I'm still mad at him for abandoning me in a forest full of teratoids.

I cried so hard last night. I locked myself in my room and just wept. I killed a saber-tooth tiger. With my hand. What? I ended up passing out from lack of air, but then woke up from nightmares of long-teethed tigers. It was like that all night. I finally got some sleep when I collapsed on the eating table. I woke up to Jack staring at me. Then I slept in my room for a couple of hours. Now I'm getting ready for a little girl's birthday party. But I still don't know what to do with my hair!

I check the clock on the wall again. Twenty minutes past five o' clock. I need to hurry up. We have to be there by five-thirty.

I decide to just put my hair in a bun. It shows off my earrings, the ones I kept from Earth, the only ones I owned. They were my grandmother's pearl earrings, and the last time I saw Aunt Lucy, I stole them from her. She didn't deserve them. She wouldn't even take care of her orphaned niece. I got my ears pierced secretly, and wore them everyday. Sometimes people would try to steal them from me, but I'd just whack them with my backpack and run. They are my earrings.

I quickly slip on my shoes and head out of my room. I enter the Living Room of Coldness, expecting to find Jack, but the room turns out to be empty. I roll my eyes. Then I notice something odd. There seems to be an orange speck flying around the room. It gets closer to me, and I see that it's a gnat. Apparently gnats here are orange. I slowly get closer to it, walking on my heels, ready to squish it. It flies up to the chandelier in the middle of the room, so I circle it.

"What are you doing?" I hear. I nearly jump out of my skin. I turn my head to see Jack staring at me with an odd expression, kind of like the one he looked at me with this morning.

"Tracking a gnat." I say. He raises an eyebrow. "I don't like gnats."

"Well, alright then. You ready to go?"

I reluctantly turn away from the gnat. I sigh quietly. "Yeah." He nods and goes towards the door. I notice that he's wearing a jacket over his normal t-shirt, dress pants, and shoes that don't look like they were run over by a truck eighteen hundred times. I follow him. "Do we have to go through the forest again?" I ask, my voice dripping with fear.

"No." He says simply.

"So, across the plains?" I ask hopefully.

"Nah, that would take too much time." I look at him with utter annoyance and ask him as to just how we are going to get there. "You're not going to like it."

I glare at him. "Unless we have to ride a saber-tooth tiger to get there, I'm sure I'll be fine."

He almost looks as though he's amused, but doesn't make a remark. "No."

"Oh my gosh, Jack. We have to be there by five-thirty. How are we going to get there so quickly?"

He sighs. "Okay, so weird thing, right?" I nod to show that I'm following, but continue with my expression of irritation. "I can kinda teleport." he says in a small voice.

I snort. "Yeah, right."

"No. I'm serious." He steps closer to me. "And we need to go now," He continues to get closer to me, which excites me, but I quickly stomp out the excitement and replace it with uneasiness. "And you can't teleport, so I have to hold onto you."

He slides his arms around my waist and pulls me within make-out distance of him. "Okay," I say shakily. He stares at me with some sort of amusement again, and then the weirdest thing happens.

I feel like I'm being torn apart, but it doesn't hurt. It's extremely cold, like the portal was, yet it feels different. I don't really feel Jack anymore, and for a second I'm scared that he's gone, and I'm going to end up in some alternate dimension.

Then everything comes back together, and I'm right where I started: in Jack's arms. My eyes are squeezed shut. "Where are we?" I whisper. I hear talking all around us, the clatter of dishes, the scuttle of feet.

"We're at the party." He says with a normal volume. I open my eyes and peer around the room. I see people of all kinds. From humans to Glaciviri to– animals? They're all dressed nicely and look to be in a generally good mood. How rude could you really get at a little girl's birthday party? Though it does seem a bit extravagant for a toddler.

I realize that Jack is still holding me. I awkwardly step away from him. "So–"

"Jack!" I hear someone yell. Jack looks over my shoulder and a smile spreads across his face. I turn around. A tall Glacivir with white hair, about nineteen years old, that looks somewhat like Jack is coming toward us. I quickly step to the other side of Jack before the Glacivir gets here. "So glad you came!" The two of them embrace and then playfully shove each other like young boys. I simply observe this, having no idea what to do. The Glacivir looks over at me with small interest. "Excuse us." He says this to make me leave – I'm not stupid – but where would I go?

I get nervous. "Jack," I say quickly.

"Right." Jack says. He looks over at me, "I'm awful at introductions. Ana, this is my brother, Christian. Christian, this is Ana."

Christian instantly becomes nicer to me. We shake hands and exchange greetings. "So, Ana is just Ana?" Christian asks.

Jack looks suddenly embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Ana is . . ." He trails off.

Christian takes on a mischievous look, much like Jack's. "Oh, I see."

"Yes," Jack says with annoyance. "But don't tell everyone.
But Jack's brother doesn't seem to hear him. "I have to tell everybody." he says. Jack tries to tells him not to, but Christian has already started back in the direction from which he came. Jack glares wide-eyed at the ceiling – which is very high up and littered with twinkling lights – and groans loudly.

He pulls me aside. "Okay, be prepared for a lot of staring. Most of my family is going to want to talk to you, and maybe some people I'm not related to." I glance around the room and come up with an estimated two hundred people.

"And exactly how many of these people are related to you?" I ask with a growing notice of eyes on my back.

"Oh, a quarter of the people here." He says. I groan.

So I'm going to have to talk to about fifty people tonight. Yay.

I hear the click-clack of heels behind me, and a finger taps on my shoulder. I turn around, disappointed to see Kaliegh smiling at me. She's wearing a short red dress with white, puffy cuffs as if she's the young, female version of Santa Claus. "Hi!" She squeals. "It's so great to see you again."

I turn my head to look at Jack, who is now standing next to me, with an expression of disbelief. "She's kidding, right?"

"I'm not kidding." Kaliegh answers, her voice gone of its false gaiety. "I'm done picking on you now, and I was thinking that we could be friends." She turns to Jack. "But don't think that I'm done teasing you about all this." He rolls his eyes.

I consider her offer of friendship for a moment, and then figure that I'll need a friend besides Jack, especially if the predicted happens. "Hmm, well okay." She smiles at me.

"Ooh, yay." Jack says sarcastically. "Kaliegh finally has a friend."

"I have friends." Kaliegh quickly argues.

"The elves don't count." Elves?

She makes a sound of disgust and opens her mouth to yell at him, when someone puts a hand on her shoulder and she's instantly silent. I look to see who it was, and am surprised to see a big man in a red suit with a long, white beard. Santa Claus.

I quietly gasp in shock. I look to Jack, but he doesn't seem interested in the fact that Santa Claus has his hand on Kaliegh's shoulder. And neither does Kaliegh for that matter.

Kaliegh pastes another fake smile on her face. "Hi, daddy."

My mouth drops open. I elbow Jack, and he turns his head to look down at me. "You don't tell me anything." I whisper angrily at him. He clearly understands what I mean and is trying to hide the smile creeping onto his face. "'Old North' is Santa Claus? How did that not come up?" He shrugs as if he somehow doesn't know, and playfully bumps shoulders with me.

A thick German accent catches my attention. "Jack Frost! I heard that old prophecy from man in moon has come true!" I notice that Kaliegh is no longer in our little group, and so I instinctively step closer to Jack.

I think back to the three times that I went to the mall to sit on Santa Claus's lap before my parents died. I asked for one of those china dolls every time, but never got one. Now I know that it was because my parents couldn't afford one, but back when I was only four I thought it all Santa's fault.

After the car crash, I stopped believing in Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Faery. And now Father Christmas is standing right in front of me. Who would've thought?

I feel eyes on me and look up to see Santa Claus looking directly at me. "Ana Dirone?" he asks. I nod my head. "You ended up with Jack Frost?" He points at Jack, and I nod again. He laughs outright. Jack looks like he wants to punch Santa Claus. He sets his jaw, which still somehow makes him look taller, and I can't help but notice how handsome he is. I swing on my feet a bit, and feel like I'm in a movie from the 1930's.

Santa stops guffawing and says, "But you're so nice." He sounds like he's really trying to figure out why I ended up with Jack now, so I get to listen to him verbalize his thoughts. "You have been on naughty list twice, yes, but still. Makes no sense."

Jack becomes suddenly interested in what old Saint Nicolas is saying. "You've been on the naughty list twice? What did you do?"

I shrug. "I don't know exactly what I did. But if I had to guess I'd say that it was because I stole some gym clothes once or twice, I punched the lights out of Rupert Gines, I poured maple syrup in the pants of all the boys in the orphanage, and because I cut Geometry class once or seven times." I timidly say.

He laughs. "You are bad." He says this with a seductive tone, although I don't think he meant to. I feel my cheeks freeze up and a shiver runs down my spine, which I try to hide.

"Interesting," Jack and I turn away from each other to see Santa studying us. I realize with horror that he was observing our entire conversation, and my cheeks turn blue for an entirely different reason. "Anyway, congratulations, Jack. And good luck, Miss Dirone." He walks away before either of us can reply to what he's said.

I spin on my heels until I'm facing Jack again. "That was so weird." I say. He quickly agrees with me. I look down at my feet and notice that we've been standing in the same spot since we got here. "Are we going to stand here all day?"

He sneers at me with false irritation. "No." He bends his arm as if I'm supposed to loop my arm around his.

"You're not serious."

"Am so. It would be incredibly rude for me not to escort my lady at a party."

I step back from him the slightest bit. "Your lady?" I ask, hiding the giddiness that my new title gives me.

"My arm hurts." He complains.

I laugh and slip my arm through his.

We walk away from the wall that we were standing by, and I notice that we're in a ballroom. There are big double-doors on the opposite side of the room, doors that we probably would've entered from if we'd come here like normal people. There's music playing from somewhere. I compare it all to my Aunt's wedding when I was four. It was very similar to this. It was held in a hotel, and the ballroom was coloured completely brown, not white; there were tons of red-clothed tables, and there was a Christian Rock band playing, they sucked.

Jack stops us by a couple that are whisper yelling at each other. He lets go of me. "Marla," he says, addressing the tall Glacivira with pink hair. She doesn't hear him. "Marla," he says again, but louder. Still, she doesn't notice him. "Marla!" he shrieks.

She flinches and turns around. Her eyes immediately catch me off guard. The irises are white, as if she's blind, but I doubt she is, and her pupils are purple. I will never understand the Glaciviri.

When she sees him a smile breaks out on her face. "Jack!" she exclaims. She hugs him tightly. When they break apart she pinches his cheeks. "Oh, I haven't seen you in forever!"

He backs away from her grasp and then rubs his cheeks. "It's been three years."

"That's a long time."

"No, it is not." he says incredulously.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

While they continue to talk, I notice the Glacivir that Marla was arguing with just moments before. He's looking at Jack with a pained expression, and I begin to wonder who he is. He has jet-black hair, and his skin is a very dark blue. He must sense me watching him, because he glances over at me and glares. I sneer at him in response.

My stare-down with the Glacivir is cut off when Jack slips his arm around my waist and pulls me to his side. He's grinning like an idiot, as he should be. He'd have to be stupid to just randomly grab me.

"Hello," Marla says to me, and I shake her hand. She looks at Jack and me with her white eyes. "Oh, you two are so cute!" she squeals. I smile, simply because I have nothing else to do. I feel Jack's grip on my waist tighten, and I wonder why he gets so uncomfortable whenever anybody makes a reference to us as a pair. Didn't he know this would happen if I came? Not to mention the fact that he keeps holding me like this.

Not that I'm complaining.

The dark-haired Glacivir steps towards the three of us and grips Marla's waist. The smile on her face falls to a frown. I reluctantly step out of Jack's grasp, merely because the creepy Glacivir is doing the same thing.

And then for some reason I feel alone. I feel alone because I don't really understand where I am, but I know for a fact that I'm not on Earth. The only person that I really know is Jack, but I've still only known him for two months. And I'm just nearly fifteen years old, and on my own. Of course I should be used to this by now. I've been an orphan for a decade.

I then put both my arms around Jack's middle and bury my face in his chest like a child. I don't think anybody minds, I'm not included in the conversation anyway.

I smile faintly because he's so tall that I don't even have to bend over to do this. I register his arm resting on my shoulders, and continue to hear talking for a while, but eventually the loudest thing is Jack's heartbeat.

He shakes me a little. "You okay?" His arm slides down to my waist – its favorite location – and I remove my head from his chest to his shoulder.

"Yeah," I say quietly. "That guy freaked me out though."

"Well, I'd hope so," he says, and for a moment I think he's insulting me. "Otherwise you'd be quite odd." We laugh.

"He's Marla's husband. Which makes him my brother-in-law." he explains. "He's pretty creepy and nobody likes him. We all think he should go die in a hole."

"I think you can add me to that list." I say. He laughs until the skin around his eyes crinkles, and I nearly stomp on my own foot when I notice how adorable that is. "So," I start, trying to change the subject in my head, "What's his name?"

"Dreadrick."

"Dread-rick?" I sound out. "Like people 'dread' to meet him?" He doesn't laugh. "Get it? It's a pun." Still, he doesn't find it amusing. "And it wasn't funny." I feel awkward, so I pull away from him, but he tightens his grip on my waist when I do so, making it impossible for me to move.

"Where are you going?" he asks me, a smile in his voice.

I raise an eyebrow at him in question. He is acting weird. And I'm not talking about his usual it's-totally-normal-to-be-able-to-freeze-things-with-my-hands-slash-teleport-slash-fly. I'm saying he's acting weird for that.

"Is there something the matter?" I ask.

He doesn't look at me when he says, "Not that I can think of."

Oh, he's lying, I know him well enough to realize when he's hiding something from me, and he is fibbing! I wonder what it is. . . .

Perhaps I could guilt it out of him. No, that wouldn't work. Especially when he's holding me like this! I never thought being so cold would be such a disadvantage. Well, I did as a human, but now the cold is good.

I feel like someone is stepping on my feet, but it's funny, because I'm not dancing.

Jack and I both look down to see a little girl twirling around, but then tripping on her feet, or other people's feet, and falling a short distance to the ground. She has purple hair like mine, half tied up in a ponytail, half scattered around her face. She's wearing a puffy yellow dress, making her look like a ballerina with long skirts.

"Hi, Naomi." Jack says to her.

She looks up at him with fright. Her eyes widen and she inhales a short breath. Then she runs off, screaming, "Daddy!" as she goes.

"Well, that went smoothly. Don't you think?" says Jack sarcastically.

"Oh, I think it went splendidly."

"Agreed." We shake hands, and then laugh in each other's faces.

We don't notice Christian standing in front of us with Naomi hanging around his neck until we hear her telling her father about how Jack is the scary stranger that was talking to her earlier. "Uncle Jack is not a stranger, Naomi. You know him."

"Nu-uh." Naomi states stubbornly.

"Okay, fine." He puts her on the ground and grabs her hand. "Naomi, this is your Uncle Jack. Say hello."

"Hewwo." she says with the cutest voice I have ever heard.

"Okay, Sweetie," Christian says to his daughter. "Can I leave you with Uncle Jack now? Since you know him." She nods her head, and so her father gives Jack a quick, "Thanks" and runs off.

Not exactly star parenting, but, hey, what do I know?

Naomi turns her head to me. "Are you my aunt?" she asks.

The air gets colder instantly, and I imagine that Jack feels just as uncomfortable as I do. "Uh, why would you ask that?"

"Because Uncle Jack has his arm awound you."

Jack immediately removes his arm from my shoulders. "But now he doesn't. See?" He and I both laugh awkwardly, but Naomi doesn't get it. "No, I am not your aunt." I clarify.

"Okay!" she exclaims, as if her simple question didn't shake any foundations. "I wike your hair," she says randomly. "It's just wike mine!"

"Oh, yeah. Your hair is just like mine! That's so cool!" I say with over exaggerated enthusiasm. I look over to Jack in question, and in response he conveys the expression of a completely confused creature. Well, then. So helpful.

Naomi tries spinning again, and then falls flat on her rump. Jack helps her back into a standing position, and she asks him if he's spoken to his parents yet. I admire how smart she is for a little kid, being able to make connections so quickly.

"Uh, no." Jack says. I glance at him worriedly, because he sounds really nervous.

"Then wet's go!" She grabs his hand and pulls him towards the far side of the room.

He turns his head back to me and mouths the words, Stay there.

Well, it looks like I'm staying here.

"Hello!" I hear next to me. I jump away from the sound, and when I look to see what it was, I see a human-sized bunny. "I see that you know Jack Frost." the giant talking jackrabbit inquires with an Australian accent.

I slowly process the fact that I'm talking to a bunny. And it's talking back! "Uh, yeah." I say weakly.

The bunny begins to look as though it's smug. "Ah, and that would lead me to believe that you are his soul mate." I nod my head numbly, not fazed by the fact that someone just referred to me as Jack's soul mate, but rather that an abnormally large bunny from Australia referred to me as Jack's soul mate! "Well, how does it feel? To know that you're stuck with him for all eternity?"

In response I say something real smart like, "Uh . . ."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The bunny laughs. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny. And you are?"

"I–I am Ana." I state dully.

He furrows his brow. "You aren't one of those stupid kids from Earth, are you?"

I can only bring myself to be slightly offended by this, what with being so distracted with trying to comprehend my speaking partner. "No, I am not stupid. I'm simply surprised at with whom I am speaking." I throw in the word, 'whom,' to sound intelligent, and am pleased when it works.

"Oh, yeah, you're not stupid. Hardly any kids your age know how to use 'whom.'" I smile faintly, extremely uncomfortable and alone. I wish Jack or Kaliegh were here. But no. I'm stuck with what appears to be a very rude holiday figure. I cross my arms over my chest. "But, really," he starts. "Aren't you a little depressed?"

"About what?" I ask curiously.

"About having to be with Jack Frost forever, of course." He laughs. I get very angry then. I keep it inside though, because I am at a party. But this rabbit on steroids has no right to insult people that I care about just out of the blue.

"No, I'm actually quite pleased." I say complacently. Then I realize what just came out of my mouth. I'm pleased? Where did that come from? I didn't really think when I spoke, which I have seriously got to remember to do. I can't just go around saying dumb stuff like that.

But, actually, was it dumb? Or did I subconsciously mean it?

I look back to the Easter Bunny, and see him staring at me in complete shock. It's all I can do to stifle a laugh. "You mean, you don't think he's a terrible menace or anything?" he asks.

"No," I snap. "He's not that bad. And I don't see how it's any of your business."

"I was just trying to help you out, kid."

"Well, I'm a big girl. I can handle myself." I retort.

He sneers. "Whatever."

As he hops away, I say, "What a rude kangaroo." under my breath. I'm disappointed when he stops and his bunny ears twitch. He hops back over to me.

"What did you just call me?" He leans close to me. "I'm a bunny." I shrug as if to say, whatever, and he bounces away. I sigh from exemption.

I turn around only to find more people behind me, and figure that I jinxed something. There are two middle-aged Glaciviri wearing crowns, which strikes me as a bit odd, but I don't make any comments. Jack is standing next to them sheepishly with his shoulders hunched, like a child trying not to get in trouble for a bad score on a test. I guess that they are his parents.

"Hello," the Glacivira with snow-white hair says merrily. "It's so nice to finally meet you." Jack cringes at this, and I wonder as to just what the heck is wrong with him today. I smile politely and shake hands with Jack's parents. I suppose it is kind of awkward that I'm meeting his parents. Especially since we're not even dating or anything. I finally feel bad for Gaylord Focker.

His father speaks with a deep voice. "We're so glad that he finally found you. He was beginning to get a bit lonely, wasn't he?" He and his wife both laugh. And I assume that it's some sort of inside joke.

"Anyhow, you may call us Demetria and Raiden."

"Okay, I'm Ana."

"Oh, what a wonderful name." I smile and thank her. No one has complimented my name since, well, ever. "How old are you?" she asks.

I rack my brain for the date until I realize that it's the twenty-forth of July. "I'll be fifteen on Saturday."

"Oh, well, then you two are the same age!" Raiden exclaims. He takes on an expression of pondering. "Sort of." I look at Jack for a moment, and can't help but feel bad for him. He's staring at the floor, looking totally miserable.

I turn my attention away from him, and notice a grey-haired, chubby Glacivir coming toward us.

He turns to Jack's father. "Lord King, may I please have a word with you?" At his words my eyebrows shoot up and my jaw drops in surprise. I see Jack squeeze his eyes shut, as though he's been kicked. I realize what he's been hiding from me.

His parents walk a few paces away, so I step over to Jack. "You don't tell me anything!" I whisper-yell at him for the second time in the past two hours. "Your parents are royalty!?"

He nods. "I was going to tell you."

"But?"

"But I forgot?" he tries.

"How the heck could you forget something like that, Lord Prince?" I mock.

His voice deepens. "Don't call me that."

"You mean, don't call you things like Prince Jack?"

"Stop it."

I stand on my toes, so that he isn't so much taller than me. "Make me."

"Sorry about that." Raiden says. Jack and I pause our argument and turn back to his parents. "We have some trouble with a new class we're trying to start," he continues. "We can't find a teacher for Algebra."

The smile on my face becomes real at his words because "I can teach Algebra. I graduated from it last year with 102.7%."

This delights Jack's parents, but I can feel Jack glaring at me.

"Well, that's fantastic!" sings Demetria. She turns to her husband. "Problem solved, huh?"

"Indeed." he says. "Well, we must be going. Again, nice to meet you."

"You too." I say, and they walk away.

I turn ninety degrees to my right until I'm facing Jack again. "Looks like I'll be teaching Algebra." He glares at me for about six more seconds and then storms off. I laugh and I'm certain that he hears me because his pace quickens.

Practically skipping, I make my way over to Kaliegh, who is leaning against a wall near the big double doors. "Hey," she says, without looking up. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend." I reply. "And he's mad at me right now."

She looks up with interest. "What did you do?"

I lean against the wall with her. "Nothing really. Just called him out on his crap."

"Ooh, I would've liked to see that." I nod. "So what kind of crap did you call him on?"

"Well, he doesn't tell me anything." She raises an eyebrow. "I'm serious." I insist. "He didn't tell me that your dad is Santa Claus, he didn't tell me about the rude Easter Bunny, and he didn't tell me about him being a freaking prince."

"Seriously? You didn't know?"

"Of course I didn't know. He didn't tell me!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down." she says. "But don't get too mad at him for it. He had his reasons."

"Oh, like what?" I snap.

She gives me a tired look. "He doesn't get along well with other people. That's why he moved to the edge of the kingdom. But he's still lonely. I guess he didn't tell you because he figured someone might tell you things about him that would make you not want to be around him."

Okay, so those aren't bad reasons. I moan. "Oh, now I just feel bad!"

She laughs. "Don't feel bad. He was still an ass about it."

She stops talking, so I hold my face in my hands with shame. "Actually, correction;" she continues. "He's still being an ass." I look and see her pointing somewhere. I follow her gaze and see Jack glaring at me. When he catches my eyes, he smirks at me.

I moan again and tip my head back, which results in banging my head against the wall. I gasp in pain and press my hand to the back of my head.

"Wow, you've got it bad."

I look over to Kaliegh with annoyance. "What are you talking about?"

"You like him enough to actually feel bad for," she trails off an gestures to over where Jack is standing. "That."

"What? I do not like him." She raises an eyebrow. "That much."

"Oh, please!" She pushes herself off the wall, and so I do the same. "When I delivered the letter the other day, you were practically swooning over him."

"I was not!" I shriek.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she says mockingly. "Did I say 'practically?' I meant totally."

I try glaring at her, but it doesn't work. We both start laughing uncontrollably. "Shut up." I gasp out.

Our laughing dies down, and a young Glacivir offers Kaliegh champagne. She sets her hand on her hip. "Seriously?" He starts chuckling and walks away. Kaliegh sneers at his back.

"What was that about?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes. "He was joking around. He knows I can't drink alcohol, even though I'm like, four thousand years old." I raise an eyebrow in question. "Immortals that are under twenty-one can't drink alcohol, even if we're way past our teens."

"Oh, that's interesting." Then something starts to itch in the back of my mind. "Wait, Jack has alcohol. Brandy. I found it once, but when I looked again it was gone."

"Huh, weird. But it's like I said, he gets lonely." She stops there, but I pry for more of an explanation. She sighs. "It's not like it would kill us to drink alcohol, it just makes us do stupid things," She pauses. "And puke. A lot."

"Okay." I say, my mind elsewhere.

"Hey," Kaliegh starts, regaining my attention. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I say, wondering what she would want to ask me.

"On Earth, I heard that girls have, like, sleepovers?" she asks. I nod. "Oh, okay. Cool." She falls back against the wall and says nothing else.

"So, that's it?"

"Yup." she says, her mind also clearly elsewhere. I lean back against the wall, too.

I think of falling snowflakes. I would wait at the orphanage window for the first snowfall every year. I was never allowed to go outside for it, so the window was the closest I got. Winters in Michigan were always pretty cold, probably since it's so near to Canada.

"Dude," My thoughts are interrupted. "Could you stop making it snow?" Kaliegh asks.

Of course I was thinking of snowflakes. There's snow falling all around me. I reach out, and a snowflake falls on my hand. I smile at the bitter cold of it.

"Seriously," Kaliegh says. "You don't want to start a blizzard in here, do you?" I look over to her absentmindedly, and she's staring right at me. I realize she thinks I'm making the snow, probably because it's only falling on me.

"Oh, I'm not doing this." I say quite certainly. "I wouldn't even know how to start it." I notice an abnormally large snowflake and poke it. It explodes into a bunch of tiny ones. I giggle.

"Then who–" Kaliegh stops. "Oh." I look to her in question, and see her glaring at something to my left. I follow her stare.

Jack. My anger at him melts away, just like the snowflakes on the floor. He's staring at me sweetly, and Kaliegh is right, I am totally swooning over him, no matter how much I wish I wasn't. I know instantly that the snow is an apology, and smile at him.

"Ugh," I hear Kaliegh behind me. "You two are too cute for me." She shoves me forward – not particularly hard, but I wasn't ready for it and snow always makes me a bit ditzy – and I collide into Jack. He helps me up, since my feet are sliding from under me. Once I'm standing upright, my head clears. Kaliegh inhales a loud breath. "Oops." She runs off.

Jack isn't touching me, for one of the first times tonight, but he certainly looks like he wants to.

"I'm sorry." I start. "I just got mad. You probably had a good reason for not telling me about everything."

He looks at the floor. "No, it's my fault. I should've told you and I definitely shouldn't have gotten so irrationally angry." He met my eyes. "I'm sorry."

I cock my head slightly to one side. "You sure can certainly talk pretty." I comment.

He smiles impishly. "Well, I am a prince."

I step slightly closer to him. "Not to me," I say, my remark formulating in my mind. "To me, you're just an idiot."

He laughs. "Fair enough." He smiles widely at me, and something pulls at my heartstrings. I'm careful to let it be, but not to ignore it.

I notice that most of the guests to Lady Naomi's party are gone.

Oh, wow. I just referred to a three-year-old as a lady. It is definitely going to take me a while to get used to this.

Jack slips his arm around my shoulders. "Come on, I just have to do one thing, and then we can leave." I sigh in contentment.

I see Kaliegh, Saint Nick, and the ill-mannered Easter Bunny leaving through the doors, and feel jealous. I know that's not how we'll be leaving.

We walk over to Jack's family. I meet Christian's wife, Lerdona. Jack's mother pulls me aside and tells me to go to the schoolhouse on Sunday for information about my job.

They all stand together for a picture, including an old Glacivira that I assume is Jack's grandmother. Dreadrick and I are standing by the wall, away from the camera. I try to keep my distance from him, but every time I sidle away from him, he simply moves closer. His scent is stale and the feel of his eyes on my body are even worse. I wish to be rid of him, but I don't see that ever being permanent. I believe that this man always gets what he wants.

I hear the snap of a picture, and am disappointed that I missed it, being so preoccupied with the creep that can't take a hint. Jack pulls me away from his completely inappropriate brother-in-law. He starts to ask me if I'm ready to go, but his brother cuts him off.

"Whoa, whoa, Jack. You aren't leaving so soon?" Christian asks, holding Naomi in one of him arms.

"I think you know the answer to that." Jack says. "What do you want?"

"No reason to be so rude. I know you're not particularly photogenic, but geez." Jack huffs impatiently, so Christian quickly says, "I just wanted to ask you about when I could drop Naomi off for those ice skating lessons you promised for her birthday." Naomi squeals in delight.

"What?" Jack asks with a cheery tone, as not to upset Naomi, I suppose.

"You know," Christian says. He then mouths, Play along.

Jack opens his mouth with what I'm sure is no intention to play along, so I talk faster. "You can drop her off on Monday, right, Jack?" I smile hopefully at him. He glowers at me, but doesn't seem to be truly angry.
"Of course," he says with a tight smile. "Monday it is." Naomi laughs happily, and her father walks off with her. Jack turns to me. "You are evil."

"I know," I say with mock sardonicism. "Bounding for the happiness of a child. Truly, a sin."

He laughs. "Whatever. Can we go now?"

"Since you want to so badly, yes." I reply.

He rolls his eyes, and winds his arms around my waist, pulling me against him. "Hold on tight." I wrap my arms around him tightly, and squeeze my eyes shut.

The tearing with no pain starts again.

Everything comes back together, again.

I pry my eyes open, which had for some reason frozen shut. I find us in the living room of Jack's house. Same place we were three hours ago.

I'm still pressed up against Jack, and turn my head to face him. He's staring at me with the same amusement that I've seen already several times today. I smile timidly back. I have a premonition of something, but can't quite tell what, only that it isn't anything bad.

He kisses me. I stand on my toes, so that he doesn't have to bend his neck so much, and that so I don't have to strain mine so much either.

It's wonderful, despite the awkwardness of it being my first kiss.

When we break apart, I can't help but smile, even though I probably look like a giant idiot.

Then again, he does too.

We let go of each other, but then he puts his arms back around my waist, and I lay my hands on his upper arms.

He smiles alluringly at me. "Well, I guess we're together now."

I audibly wince. "Sorry," I say. "But no."

His brow furrows. "What do you mean?"

"My mother used to tell me that I wasn't allowed to date until I was fifteen."

He laughs breathily. "So even though that's only two days away, you won't let me say that?"

"Nope." I always told myself that I wouldn't date until I was fifteen, just like Mom said. His kissing me two days prior doesn't mean that I'm going to fall back on that now.

He rests his forehead against mine. "But I've already kissed you."

"True," I sigh, feeling as if I'm putting on a show. "I suppose there's nothing I can do about kissing."

"Perfect." he says, a grin in his voice.

And perfect, it is.