hola peeps here is another chapte just for you ;) thanks to all you who reviewed my last one and I hope you like this one too

disclaimer: I don't own the night world or the characters unfortunately... -_-

oh and jez and Morgead are 13 and 14 I think I will do... and then I don't know how old the rest of the gang is anyway but you know

Skating

"Why are you making me do this?"

"Because it'll be fun, duh. And besides," Jez flashed Morgead a sweet smile as she slung her skates over her shoulder. "it's not like it'll be troubling you in any way…right?"

"'Course not."

"Good."

Jez climbed in the back of her uncle's old Pontiac with the rest of the gang and slammed the door after Morgead grudgingly got in after her.

"This is gonna be the best!" Thistle squealed from the front seat. She twisted around and tittered, "Don't you think, Jez?"

Jez grinned wickedly and agreed, "Definitely."

Raven's head popped overtop of the seats and she sighed, "Why does Thistle get shotgun and I'm stuck in the trunk?"

"At least the back dash is torn out," Jez shrugged and flashed a mischievous smile at her friend. "And hey, we gave you the option of sitting in Val's lap."

Val guffawed obliviously, and Jez and Morgead shared a look.

From the other side of Val, where Pierce sat squished unceremoniously against the window, he muttered, "Ignorant oaf."

Jez dug her shoulder into Val's arm – which wasn't hard since she was pressed right up against him – to get him to shut up while Raven chided Pierce from behind them.

"We should have walked," Morgead muttered out the window, and Jez wiggled around to look at him.

She held up her mitten covered hands and said, "You realize it's like, -20 out there, right?"

"You realize we're vampires, right?"

"Still," Jez pouted and tugged absently on her scarf. "what's so bad about this?"

"Yeah," Thistle agreed in front of them. "This is great!"

Morgead gave them both a sardonic look and motioned vaguely at the interior of the car. "Look at us, we're packed like sardines. Val can't even sit up straight, and Raven's in the trunk, for god's sake."

"Oh, you're just cranky 'cause you didn't want to come."

"No. I'm cranky because you're sitting on me."

Thistle giggled and Jez shrugged, nearly hitting Morgead in the jaw with her shoulder. "It's not like I'm totally on top of you."

Morgead glared out the window again and muttered, "You might as well be."

"Would you two give it a rest," Pierce deadpanned.

"We're here!" Thistle cried excitedly, cutting off a scathing reply from Jez.

Jez's uncle pulled into a parking space and told the gang to have fun as they piled out of the car laughing and yelling.

Thistle popped the trunk for Raven and giggled when she unfolded herself and crawled out.

"Glad that's over," she mumbled. Raising her voice a little, she said, "I'm not sitting back there on the way back!"

Everyone laughed, even Morgead and Pierce did a tiny bit.

The gang bustled over to the edge of the pond and hogged the benches. There were a few families there with little kids in puffy snowsuits and helmets, and there were teenagers sipping hot chocolate in groups.

"There's so many people here today," Raven mused in her quiet way. She was sitting on the bench beside Jez, looking out at all the people skating already. "I would have thought it was too cold for so many people."

"Who knows," Jez shrugged.

Everyone else seemed cold – they were all bundled up, with only their faces showing. Jez herself was wearing a warm coat and mitts and a scarf, but they were more for show than anything. The rest of the gang was dressed similarly, though Morgead had neglected to wear anything more than a black jacket and tuque.

Jez finished lacing her skates and stood up. She looked at Thistle as she struggled to do her own laces.

"Need help?"

Thistle turned her big eyes on Jez and nodded solemnly. Thistle may have acted like a child, but no one in the gang treated her that way.

So when Jez finished up Thistle's skates, she whapped her on the head and said, "Learn to tie your skates, loser."

Thistle stuck out her tongue and waddled towards the ice. Jez followed her, being careful not to slip and fall on her butt before she'd even hit the ice. She hadn't been skating in a long time, so she wasn't confident she would be all that graceful.

Raven trailed after Jez, waving her arms to keep her balance. She grabbed at Val when he walked by to keep her balance, and hung off of him until she was on the ice. Jez and Thistle laughed as Raven pushed off of Val and shakily glided towards them. Val gave her another push, laughed loudly, and then went off with Pierce.

Jez caught hold of Raven's arm and steadied her when she reached them.

"I guess I'm a little rusty."

Thistle chortled and danced away, spinning on one foot as she went.

"Show off!" Jez yelled.

Jez and Raven skated around slowly and watched Thistle do tricks until they were both used to the feeling again, then they followed her and did little tricks of their own.

"Jez, look over there," Raven pointed to a couple of boys their age on the other side of the pond.

"Food?"

"No," Raven scolded. "They've been watching you for a while, they probably think they like you."

"Oh yeah?" Jez twirled gracefully and glanced at the boys again. There were five of them, and some were being more blatant than others. "How do you know they're not looking at you?" she asked.

Raven tsked and shook her head, sighing, "Oh, please, Jez."

Just as Jez was about to defend her friend, Val yelled, "Raven!"

He shot up and grabbed Raven's hand, whisking her away from Jez. Raven laughed and the pair danced away across the ice together.

Pierce pulled up beside Jez and they watched Val and Raven for a moment.

"I am so tired of hearing him talk on and on about her," Pierce sighed.

Jez peered at him from the corner of her eye, but she didn't answer.

"By the way, Morgead's still over there sulking. Do with that what you will."

With that, Pierce pushed off and glided smoothly over to Thistle, who'd managed to fall on her rump, and was being fussed over by some woman.

Jez turned around to look for Morgead and – just as Pierce had said – he was still seated on a bench with his skates beside him. He was staring moodily off to the side, rubbing his bare hands together and breathing on them absently.

Jez skated over and huffed, "I told you you should have worn gloves."

Morgead glared at her and blew hair out of his eyes. "Whatever."

Rolling her eyes at Morgead's stubbornness, Jez sat beside him on the bench and immediately felt the cold through her jeans. She reached over and grabbed his hands in between her own and began rubbing them.

"Why aren't you skating?"

Morgead refused to look at her when he answered, "I don't want to."

"So you'd rather sit here in the freezing cold doing nothing?"

"Maybe."

"Morgead."

Jez sighed, glancing back out at the pond at the rest of the gang.

Morgead… she thought to him. Come on, everyone else is skating. It's fun. You can't just sit here and do nothing.

"Watch me."

A man a few feet away glanced over and gave them a strange look.

"Why are you being so lame?"

"Because."

Jez dropped Morgead's hands and scowled. "Morgead, just come on!"

"Jez, drop it already!"

"No!" she jabbed Morgead in the chest and snapped, "Not until you tell me why you refuse to come skate for a bit!"

"Well, why do you want me to skate so much, hmm?"

"Morgead!" Jez shrieked.

"Fine," he snapped. He sighed and rubbed his neck absently. "Just – just don't laugh."

Jez frowned briefly and nodded.

"I…can't skate," Morgead sighed. "I never learned."

Jez blinked and opened her mouth. She sat there for a minute staring at a stony-faced Morgead before she thought to say, "Never?"

"No."

"Well," Jez stood up and put her hands on her hips. "I guess I'll have to teach you. Hurry up and put your skates on."

Morgead did as he was told, and soon enough Jez was holding his hands and coasting in front of him as he balanced on the ice.

"That's it," Jez laughed, "You're getting it."

"Don't lie, Jezebel."

They kept up the lesson, and pretty soon Morgead was skating with barely a discernible wobble, though his stopping and starting was still sketchy.

"Okay so, you don't suck as much now," Jez told him as she skated slowly beside him.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Incoming!"

Jez ad Morgead both turned their heads in time to see Val charging up like a linebacker on ice to the two of them. Jez could have easily gotten out of his way in time if it weren't for Morgead. He seemed to forget he was standing on skates and immediately went to side step Val, but instead he slipped and fell, flailing to the ice, and grabbing hold of Jez's jacket in the process.

The two of them yelled as they came crashing down to the ice, Morgead hitting butt first, and Jez slamming her knees on the ice beside him. She collapsed on top of Morgead's chest, knocking the cold breath right out of him. They both lay moaning on the ice as Val came to a sharp stop right in front of the pair, spraying a plume of snow overtop of them.

Jez rolled off of Morgead and onto the ice beside him. She could hear a few people laughing – her gang loud and clear – and a few people calling out if they were all right. But mostly, people glanced at them and went on as if they hadn't just almost killed themselves.

"Jez," Morgead groaned, turning his head and blowing tuffs of hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I am never doing this again."

"Agreed."

thanks for reading! review your thoughts or ideas if you have any