Freezing Cold

Chapter Three- Freezing Over

    "Myst! Are you even listening to me?" Hunter let go of my hand and stopped walking.

    Of course I wasn't listening to him! He was holding my hand and he expected me to not do a complete mental freak-out? I was screaming in my head, He's holding my hand! He is HOLDING MY HAND! AHH!  I was too focused on thinking loudly and not skipping through a field of daisies to hear anything he was saying.

    I bashfully looked down. "Not really. Sorry, Hunter." Grinning, I joked, "Do you forgive me?"

    He shook his head. "Not really. Sorry, Mystral," he mocked.

    Frowning, I slapped his arm. "Shut up and walk. Where are we going anyways?" I asked curiously.

     After we’d left Gina’s, Hunter told me he had something he wanted to show me, but refused to tell me what it was. I’d assumed he’d at least give me a clue to the location.

    Taking my hand again, he began walking, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Hmm... Maybe if you had been paying attention, I would have told you! But now I don't want to. I don't even wanna talk to you anymore."

    I laughed. "Oh yeah? If that's true, then why are you holding my hand? Because I'm pretty sure holding hands is one step ahead of talking."

    Hunter dropped my hand as if it was poisonous. "Ew! Get away from me!" 

    "Whatever. By the way, you're still talking to me." I pointed out, putting my hands in the pockets of my jeans so he wouldn't be able to use them to make me confused. I'm gonna get over him, I told myself. But it’s really tough to concentrate on that when he won’t stop acting silly.

    He came closer to me once more and sighed dramatically. We were walking together, but not quite touching. "You're impossible to not talk to." He slung an arm around my shoulders with a smile. "And extremely hard to stay away from." At that moment, I felt my face heat up in a way that wasn't normal for someone with ice powers.

    "Hey, look! We're here!" Hunter steered me toward a lake. "Ta-dah!"

    I looked at him quizzically. "That's your big surprise? An empty lake?"

    He scoffed. "It’s not just an empty lake. With your powers, we can ice-skate!"

    "Are you dumb? We need the skates. Unless you have a random conjuring power I never knew existed, this walk was pointless."  

    Hunter walked behind a bush and picked up four skates. "See? I'm always prepared!"

    I raised my eyebrows. "How many girls have you brought here Hunter?"

    Grinning, he replied, "Besides you, just Flor.” His face became contemplative. “We used to come here every time it froze over, but in eighth grade, we just… stopped."

    I groaned internally. When are we gonna do things that aren’t related to Flor? Everything’s always about her. I decided not to voice my thoughts, instead blowing out a breath to freeze over the lake like the good little friend I was. 

    After that, we skated around a little. I made no making eye-contact and stayed out of his way. I was pushing him as far away from my heart as possible by not letting him near me. I vowed to completely avoid him for the entire school year. Once it ended, I would never have to see him again. To cope, I filled my head with thoughts about anything I saw: the way my skates made tracks, the trees around the clearing as the danced in the breeze, and any other detail I would have previously overlooked.

     The plan to not like him was working pretty well, considering the fact I had no one else to throw my feelings at. That was how I’d stopped my crush on him the past few years, by concentrating on liking someone else. There had been many cute guys I’d never spoken a word to that made practical targets.

     Eventually, Hunter must have figured I was upset because he made an actual effort to come closer. His fancy maneuvers made it really tough to evade him, but I continued to try.

    Despite my valiant attempts at escaping him, Hunter was more experienced at this sport, catching up to me quickly. "Myst, stop trying to run from me! What did I do? Mys. Myst. Mystral."

    In annoyance, I looked at him. "Saying my name in different ways isn't going to help!"

    He stuck out his bottom lip in an exaggerated pout, beseeching me to tell him. "Myst, I've been trying to do everything right. I took you to a place I don't take many people to and I got you food. Come on, I got you food! You would normally be kissing the very ground I walk on just for that. You haven’t been acting like yourself. Answer me! What did I do?"

    I growled in frustration. "It's just me, all right? I want to make a change. I’m getting really bored of being Flor’s substitute. I'm done with it.”

    Hunter took my hands in his own, looking at me pleadingly, almost desperately. Who is this guy and what has he done with my maddeningly arrogant friend? "You’re not her substitute. Don't think that, okay? I know you're Mystral and totally not Flor.” The next words were said under his breath and I’m sure he didn’t mean for me to her them. “Good thing, too."

    At that moment, I needed to decide whether or not to take his words as an insult. Even with my choice to stop the absurd crush I had on him, he was still one of my favorite people in the world; I wanted to depend on him. "Okay. I believe you."

*

    Just as I entered my dark dorm after Hunter dropped me off, the room was flooded with light. A figure sat up in bed and faced me, a picture straight off a horror movie. I heard a loud, girlish shriek, soon realizing that it was mine.

    "Where were you, Mystral? I woke up a while ago and got super scared when I saw you weren't here."

    I groaned. "Floretta Diane Lewis! Why do you always scare me like that? I almost peed in my pants!"

    She waved her hand in dismissal. "I wasn't that creepy. And don't you dare change the subject! Where were you?"

    Trying to act nonchalantly, I went to my bed and got underneath the thin covers. After I was properly concealed, I mumbled, "I was with Hunter eating fast food and ice skating."

    Flor's sigh was deep. "You know he's just trying to get over me by using you, don't you?"

    Stubbornly, I shook my head, ignoring the hurt I felt at her words. "No, that's not it." My voice shook a little, though, disclosing my doubt. “There are tons of girls he could use for that. He’s just learning to be a better friend.”

    I closed my eyes and began falling asleep; it had been a long day and I was too exhausted to have any kind of conversation.

    The last thing I heard before falling asleep was, "I tried to warn you, sweetie. If you get hurt, it's on your head."