What About Now

Chapter 28 - Snowball Fight

Taylor's P.O.V.
"Bubbles! Bubbles!" Small voices screamed, followed by the sound of running footsteps. My eyes were barely even open, when I suddenly felt someone jump on me. Wait. There were two someone's.

"Bubbles, you need to come see!" I heard Teddy squeal excitedly as he shook me by the arm, "You need to come see it!"

"What is it, Teddy?" I asked sleepily, rubbing my eyes with my free hand and propping myself up on my elbows. My vision cleared from all the sleep in my eyes, and I could see that both Mia and Teddy were jumping up and down on my bed, with large grins on their faces.

"It's snowing!" Both the children exclaimed, "Get up Bubbles! You have to come see!"

"Oh wow, is it really?" I asked, sudden excitement taking over me and ridding me of my sleepy state. I always got excited by snow, and I knew that no matter how old I was, I would always act like a small child when it snowed. Throwing back the covers, I let Mia and Teddy pull me to the large window opposite my bed, and threw open the curtains. A winter wonderland met my eyes, and I let out an excited gasp. Sure enough, every field that I could see was covered with a white blanket of snow. I hadn't realised how large the grounds of this place were - seeing as it was dark when we arrived yesterday, I could only make out a couple of hills surrounding the house. But in fact, there were valleys, hills, fields and further hills all around this place. Each one was covered with what looked to be at least a foot of snow! The frosted sun in the bleak sky, caused the snowy blanket to glisten with light, and it truly looked as if we were in Lapland!

"Oh my god!" I breathed, touching the cold window pane with my fingers, "I can't believe it!"

"Come on, Bubbles!" Mia insisted, pulling me towards the door, "We have to go!" I couldn't resist her invitation, and I laughed as she pulled me after her and out into the hallway.

As we ran along the corridor and towards the staircase, I heard more hurried footsteps from the other side of the house. Seconds later, Ben and Hannah emerged from around a corner, both with giant smiles on their faces.

"Taylor! Have you seen it?" Hannah cried, rushing to join us, "It's snowing!"

"I know! It looks amazing!" I grinned, taking Hannah's hand in mine, "You wanna come out with us?"

"Yeah!" She said hurriedly, clearly as desperate to go out in the snow as Mia and Teddy were.

"Where's your Uncle Tommy?" I asked, as we made our way down into the living room.

"We woke him up a few minutes ago," Ben explained, grabbing his wellies, "He said he was coming in a second!"

"Well that won't do! Kaya! Thomas! Bella! Dyl! Get your butts down here now! It's snowing!" I shouted at the top of my voice, before rummaging about for my boots. Literally seconds later, I could hear muffled footsteps from above, when the four of them all appeared at the landing above.

"What's with all the excitement?" Kaya yawned, wiping her eyes, "I was asleep!"

"It's snowing!" The kids and I all shouted in reply, for about the hundredth time this morning.

"What?" They all cried, before leaping down the stairs and into the living room. As the others rushed for their shoes, I ran to the door and unlocked it eagerly. An icy blast of wind gusted through the crack as I began to open it, swinging it wide open. Numerous gasps and cheers erupted around me, as the four kids all ran out and into the snow. They were shortly followed by Dylan and Kaya, who started picking up snowballs and hurling them at each other.

"Think fast, Taylor!" Dylan shouted, but I was too slow. A snowball hit me square in the face, causing my vision to go black for a split second.

"Dylan!" I screamed, furiously wiping away at the snow on my face. My face was soaked and frozen cold, not to mention that some of the snow had gone down my pyjama top! When I had regained my sight, I looked up to glare at Dylan, who was crouched in the snow, howling with laughter.

"I'm gonna get you for that!" I declared, picking up a handful of snow and launching it at him. The snowball made contact with his face, and sent him flying down into the snow.

"Taylor!" He yelled, covering his face with his hands as he lay on his back in the snow, "You sly little fox! This is not over!"

"I think it is!" I laughed, "And I won!" But my victory didn't last long. Another snowball made contact with my back, and whipping around, I saw Thomas pointing at me and laughing.

"This means war!" I exclaimed, scooping up snowball after snowball, and aiming them at Thomas. This quickly turned into a massive snowball fight, with us girls against the two boys. Soon, both Mia and Hannah had joined our team, and Ben and Teddy had joined Thomas' and Dylan's team. Snowballs were fired like bullets from a machine gun; constantly hitting people in the chest, legs, or even the face. However not all of them were successful.

Balling yet another snowball in my now frozen hands, I chucked it at Thomas, although completely misjudging how far away he was. The snowball hit the ground at Thomas' feet, and he looked up at me with a large smirk.

"Is that what you call a proper throw?" He said sarcastically, walking slowly towards me as the others continued with the fight, "Cause if you do, then it's bloody pathetic!"

"Then maybe I'd better keep trying!" I shouted in reply, my voice getting lost in a midst of wind and laughter.

"Ooh, challenge accepted!" Thomas grinned, but I ignored him, crouching down to prepare more ammunition. Although, I was too focused in making more snowballs that I hadn't seen him start running right at me. Just as I stood upright to get ready and throw a snowball at him, he grabbed me round the waist and picked me up.

"Thomas!" I shrieked in shock as he held me over his shoulder, "Put me down!"

"Oh I don't think so!" I heard him laugh. Angrily, I furiously hit at his back with my fists, but that only made him laugh more.

"Hey Dylan!" Thomas shouted at his teammate, "I've got a target for you!"

"Nooo!" I yelled, but I was too late. Snowball after snowball hit me in the head, and no matter how loud I screamed, they kept coming.

"Aw, is Taylor having fun?" Dylan said next to my ear, as Thomas stopped next to him.

"No!" I groaned, shaking the snow from my hair, "Please let me down? The blood is rushing to my head!"

"Hm, you do look pretty red in the face," Dylan said thoughtfully, stroking what I assumed to be his imaginary beard, "Okay, Captain Sangster, you can put her down now!"

"Thank you!" I said indignantly, waiting for Thomas to put me back down safe on the ground. He bent down, and placed me on the ground gently, careful not to hurt me. I suddenly went a little light headed, as the blood rushed back down my body, and Thomas had to catch me to prevent me from falling to the ground.

"Whoa! You okay?" He asked gently, his gentleman-self returning.

"Yeah," I said distantly, as the feeling came back to my head. But as the feeling came back, so did the realisation that Dylan and Thomas had basically attacked me.

"I really hate you!" I pretended to act angry, lightly hitting Thomas on the chest. He just smirked again, but still didn't let go of me.

"We best go back inside now," He said, looking me over with his soft eyes, "You're completely soaked!" I looked down at my pyjamas, which were now clinging to my body and dripping wet. My hair was soaked also; hanging lifelessly down to my ribs.

"Mm, I wonder why?" I asked sarcastically, shooting Dylan a death stare. He just grinned, and blew me a kiss. Very funny, Dyl.

"Yeah, but I'm not kidding! You'll catch a cold if you're not careful!" Thomas genuinely did sound concerned as he let go of my waist and took my hand in his, "Come on, let's get back inside. Time for some breakfast, I reckon!"

"Oh okay," I sighed, reluctantly letting Thomas guide me into the house. As Dylan called everyone else back, a sudden sneeze escaped me.

"Oh my God, Dylan, if you've given me a bloody cold for Christmas then I'm gonna kill you!" I growled, kicking off my boots. If there was one thing I didn't want, it was having the flu again, and especially seeing as it was Christmas!