Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

2. A Very Snowy December

Alice

Mom, Annabeth and me were having breakfast in the dining room. I looked out the window and noticed that it was snowing outside. "Looks like fun out there", I mumbled to myself. "Can I go out, Mom?"

"Sure, Alice", Mom replied. "Just stay safe and don't let the frostbite get you!"

"I won't, Mom", but I love frostbites. They were so fun to play with. I can understand them by anyway. They talk to me but I couldn't see them.

Annabeth looked troubled, as if she was expecting something she didn't want. "How about you, Annabeth? Do you want to go out with your sister, too?" Mom asked her sweetly.

Her hair turned brown. "I don't want to. I'm forbidden to, remember?" she reminded Mom and then faced me. "Hey, don't you think you're too old to play in the snow?"

She is so annoying. She tried to mean and firm like she already is. I felt like splashing her a bucket of cold water. "Annabeth Candum, I am not too old to play", I replied, raising a brow. "No one is. You just don't wanna go out because you're afraid of doing so. You'll melt all the snow to fire then everyone else out there would know your little fire secret".

"Am not!" she stammered. "Just be lucky you have the power of the frost because if you didn't, you'd be set on fires already. Be lucky".

"I am lucky", I smirked at her for the last time.

"Just get out of here!"

"Alright, alright! I'm going! Sheesh!" I ran out the door. 

Through the streets, I met five of my friends, Georgia, Marianne, Donna, Paul and Mike. "Finally!" Paul gave up a grief sigh, with everyone on their thick warm clothes to keep them away from freezing. "It thought you never showed up, Alice". 

"Good morning, guys", I greet them as I walked over with a happy smile on my face. "A very snowy winter to you all". 

I wasn't cold. Well, I was practically cold but it felt real good inside. I still had to wear the snow jackets, the scarf, the winter boots and everything to fit in with the others. I had to no matter how much discomfort I'll feel in such clothes. I had to control my powers. My curse. 

"Now, that you're here", Georgia started and I sensed she was going to say something all of us loved to do. "Who wants to build a snowman?"

"I want to make one, you know, that looks like Olaf", Mike suggested. "What? He's adorably frozen, okay?"

"No one really hesitated, Mikey", Paul comforted. "Come on. Challenge time. Try to build Olaf". 

All of my friends love Frozen. We used to make plays. I was Elsa. And I enjoyed. I had Elsa's powers, I had my character correct. But Annabeth always goes against the things I love. She's too uptight, she's too mature. But she's only thirteen! All of my friends are thirteen but we still play in the snow. 

Speaking of Elsa, my character was really right. First, I had her powers, and second, I style my hair like hers and it's exactly the same. Surprisingly. 

So there. We built Olaf but it didn't turn out right. When my friends weren't looking, I fixed up the ugly-looking snowman into Olaf but I didn't turn it to life. But building another Olaf wasn't the only thing we did the entire day. 

We made snow angels on the ground and found a hill around the park and sled down. The entire day was awesome when suddenly my mom called. "Kids, do you want some hot choco?"

By that question, everyone entered the house with cold feet. We sat on the kitchen chairs and drank. Mine wasn't hot. It was served to me hot but when I drank it, it became ice-cold but still chocolate. 

"Annabeth, would you mind lighting up the chimney, dear?" Mom called sweetly to Annabeth who was reading another book in her room. 

Annabeth got up. "Sure, Mom", she replied heading down to the living room. "That would be my absolute pleasure". 

"Hey, Alice", Donna called me keeping her voice a little low. "Why doesn't your sister ever play with us?"

"She's so mature, Donna. I mean, look at her. She hasn't touched a doll her entire life!" I replied but in my mind, I wanted to reply, She hasn't touched any toy because she'll just burn it out... 

"But she doesn't even come out of your house. Doesn't she want to enjoy the outdoors?"

"Yeah", Paul agreed. "How come?"

"To be honest, I don't really know", I lied. "She never walks out of the house. She always stays inside. Always reading books and all sorts like what a bookworm does. Shutting the doors shut and all that". 

"Doesn't she enjoy other things? Like physical stuff?"

"Nope, not a bit. But she does run often. Fast. Real fast". 

"You should make her run around the field for some exercise", Marianne suggested, taking a long sip of her hot choco. "Too bad she never goes out". 

They made me realize something. Something I never thought of before. Why doesn't Annabeth go out? I mean, the snow's just going to melt in her heat. It's not going to kill her anyways. 

"Hey", Annabeth interrupted as we stop talking about her. "Stop talking about me, okay? If I want to shut people out, then let me be. What do you have to stop me from doing so, huh? If this is the real me, then leave me alone!" She slammed the door in her room and started to murmur around, the way she always does when she's mad. 

"Awkward..." Mike said, his eyes twitching a little. 

"Great", I said to myself. "She overheard or something. Hope she doesn't kill me about this".