"Hey KK, wake up." Sollux shook Karkat's shoulder and he sighed and opened his eyes.
"What?!" he grumbled.
"There'th a blizzard." Sollux said. Karkat sat up immediately.
"Wait, what?!" Sollux pointed to the window, where plenty of snow could be seen blowing by. Gamzee was sitting next to Tavros and their chaperone was talking on a walkie-talkie. Karkat groaned and lay back down. "We're fucking trapped in here, aren't we?"
"Yep." Sollux said.
"Great."
"G'morning Calliope." Roxy mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"Good morning Roxy." Calliope said. "Um, by the way. There's a blizzard outside."
"Huh? What?" Roxy stood up and looked out the window. "Well shit, there is."
"And we're stuck in here for now." Calliope said.
"Look on the bright side of things." one girl said. "At least every cabin has a bathroom."
"Okay, yeah. That's true." Roxy said, giggling.
"Do we even have any food?" Calliope asked.
"I have pretzels, chips and some gum." Roxy said, pulling the items out of her bag. "But nothing to drink."
"We can just melt snow." the chaperone said.
"C'mon! Think of this as sleepover!" one girl said. "Let's do everything we do at sleepovers!"
"Like what?" Calliope asked. "I've never been on a sleepover."
"Pillow fight!" Roxy declared, throwing her pillow at Calliope.
"Yeah!" the one girl cheered. "Everyone grab a pillow and attack!"
Half a second later they were all ducking and hitting pillows and laughing loudly.
"Why are they being so loud?!" Karkat grumbled. They could hear the girls from their cabin.
"Dunno. What are they even doing?" Sollux asked.
"Probably some stupid girl things." the chaperone said. "Okay, did any of you bring snacks?"
"I've got thome cheetoth." Sollux said, holding up a bag.
"I've got faygo." Gamzee said.
"Okay…and all I have is a bunch of dried fruit." the chaperone said, holding up some bags. "Now, we have to make this last the whole blizzard. So, don't eat too much."
"What are we supposed to do while we're stuck here?" Tavros asked.
"Play on your phones or talk. I don't care." Their chaperone went back to talking on his walkie-talkie and Karkat pulled out his phone and started playing flappy bird. The others did the same and soon the cabin was filled with the familiar ding!-ding!-ding!-thwack! "Okay, will you guys please turn the god-damn volume off or something?!"
"Where's the fun in that?" Karkat asked. The chaperone scowled and went back to his walkie-talkie. Karkat grinned and kept playing. Ding-ding-thwack! "Fuck!" Sollux reached up and took Karkat's phone.
"Hey KK, what'th your high-thcore?"
"Hey, give that back!" Karkat reached for the phone but Sollux held it away.
"Three? Theriouthly?" Sollux smirked and tossed the phone back to Karkat.
"Fuck you." Karkat grumbled. Sollux grinned and sat next to Karkat. He started playing flappy bird and Karkat listened to the on-going ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!
"I can go on for awhile." Sollux said. Karkat rolled his eyes and went back to his own flappy bird. Ding-ding-ding-thwack!
"Shit!" Karkat tried again. Ding!-ding! Sollux reached over and tapped at Karkat's screen. "Fuck! Stop!" Thwack! "Jesus Sollux! Cut it out!"
"Heh-heh." Sollux went back to his game. Karkat reached over and tapped at his screen. Ding!-ding!-thwack! "My thcore'th thtill higher than yourth." Sollux pointed out.
"Whatever. Shut up." Ding!-ding!-thwack! "Shit!" Karkat chucked his phone at the wall. Gamzee jumped and spilled the faygo he'd been drinking on his shirt. He chucked Karkat's phone back to him and put his bottle of faygo down.
"Shit. Do you think this motherfucking miracle will wash out?" he asked, staring at the red stain.
"How the fuck should I know?" Karkat grumbled. Gamzee shrugged and took his shirt off. He turned around and looked for a shirt in his bag. Tavros's face was red and he looked away from Gamzee. Karkat rolled his eyes and glanced at Gamzee. His gaze was drawn to the back of his right shoulder.
"What'th that thcar from?" Sollux asked, pointing Gamzee's shoulder. Gamzee stopped and looked to where Sollux was pointing.
"Oh, that's nothing. Just something that happened during the summer." he said. He pulled a clean shirt on and went back to drinking what was left of his faygo. Karkat could tell they all wanted a better explanation but Gamzee obviously wasn't going to give them one. So Karkat just went back to playing flappy bird.
"Okay, time out!" Everyone collapsed on the mattresses, laughing. Roxy grinned at Calliope.
"Had fun?" she asked.
"Yeah. But that was tiring." Calliope said.
"Hey Roxy, can we have some snacks now?" a girl asked.
"Sure!" Roxy held up the pretzels, chips and gum. "Which do you want?"
"Chips!"
"Pretzels!" Roxy opened both bags and handed some out.
"Want some Calliope?"
"Sure, I'll have pretzels." Calliope reached into the bag and pulled out a handful. She sat next to Roxy and ate them while Roxy had some chips. While they ate some girls started telling funny stories. The chaperone finished talking on her walkie-talkie and listened politely. Calliope thought she looked a bit tired.
"Um, Jade?" one girl asked the chaperone. "Um…can you contact the cabin my brother's in?"
"Sure. Which cabin is he in?" Jade asked, puling out her walkie-talkie.
"Cabin two. Um, can you ask if he's there?"
"Can't you just phone him?"
"I tried, but he's not answering."
"Okay, hang on." Jade pressed some buttons on the walkie-talkie. "Hey, John. Is everyone there in your cabin?"
"Yeah, why? Are some of yours missing?"
"No, Emma's wondering about her brother. He's in your cabin."
"Oh, he's asleep with the covers pulled over him."
"Can you please wake him up?!" Emma yelled.
"Sure, hang on." There was a pause as John went to wake up Emma's brother. "…Um, Jade?"
"What is it?"
"Uh, okay y'know that trick of putting clothes and stuff under your blankets so it looks like you're still there but actually you-"
"John, please tell me this is one of you're pranks!"
"…Nope."
"He went to see the burned-down house!" Emma cried. "He said he was going last night!"
"Oh, dammit. But I'd gotten patrols out there! They should have caught him!" Jade said.
"Well, I'll ask some others and see if they did, okay?" John said.
"Okay. Let me know if you get results, whether they're positive or negative."
"Okay." Jade put the walkie-talkie down and sighed.
"This is all my fault!" Emma wailed. "I should have stopped him, or told someone!"
"It's not your fault!" Jade said. "And it's going to be fine. There were plenty of patrols out last night, I'm sure someone caught him." Jade patted Emma's back and the atmosphere in the cabin had become rather awkward.
"Hey, have you seen Emma's brother Rick?"
"No, why?"
"Uh…well, he's not here and his sister said he was going to the burned-down house last night-"
"John, you just screwed up massively. What the hell?!"
"I'm sorry! I'll keep asking! Um, let me know if you hear something!"
"I will."
"What wath that all about?" Sollux asked the chaperone.
"A kid went out to that burned-down house last night and isn't at his cabin right now."
"Oh shit." Gamzee said.
"Yeah." Karkat sighed and leaned against the wall. Well, the trip was going fabulous!
"Hey, move over for a thec." Sollux said. He crawled past Karkat to the window.
"What are you doing?" Karkat asked.
"I thought I thaw thomeone." Sollux wiped the condensation on the window away and peered out it. "Huh, gueth not."
"No one's gonna be visible out in that storm." Karkat commented. Sollux nodded and sat back down. Karkat lay down by the window and stared at the ceiling.
"Weren't there patrols around the burned-down house?" Tavros asked.
"Yeah, but that doethn't mean the guy couldn't get patht them." Sollux said.
They spent the rest of the day playing on their phones until the batteries died and eating cheetos and dried fruit and they melted some snow for water. Karkat didn't want to try drinking faygo.
Calliope and Roxy were both quiet, as were the other girls, for the rest of the day. It wasn't until later that night, when the snow was calming down a bit, that a call came in over the walkie-talkie.
"Jade! They found him!" John said.
"Oh, great! Where was he?" Jade asked.
"At the burned-down house. He keeps saying that the ghost shielded him from the snow."
"She did!" a voice in the background yelled. "I'm not crazy! Or delusional!"
"Rick!" Emma cried. Jade handed the walkie-talkie to Emma.
"Emma! Hi, did you worry?"
"Of course I did, you idiot!" Emma yelled. "Don't do something like that ever again! You're not necessarily going to be saved next time!"
"Ha-ha! Okay, okay! I get it. Sorry for worrying you."
"You sure sound carefree, considering you were just stuck in a blizzard!"
"But I wasn't cold! The ghost kept me warm. Though I forgot to ask her name."
"I don't care about a stupid ghost. I'm just glad you're alive."
"Okay, enough chick-flick moments. I'm glad too. Now go to bed."
"Yes mother."
"Ha-ha. Good night."
"Good night." Emma handed the walkie-talkie back to Jade and she started talking to John. Emma's friends breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her. Calliope smiled and looked out at the snow. Good thing that turned out alright.