Murder in Winter

Time flies when you're having fun

I got to my feet, snuggling into my fluffy coat as I grabbed my bags and waited for the others. P.E is going to be so cold!
We got outside and walked along the frozen paths. The snow was still falling; it wasn't snowing as much but it was enough to make me shiver. We showed Lia along past the science block as we explained that this was our shared lesson with 10B-Ivy's class. For some reason, when I said the name 'Ivy', she sort of...flinched. I ignored it.
By the time we got to the P.E department the snow had stopped. Ivy and her form walked in and she and Danny walked over to join us. "Danny, Ivy, this is Lia," I explained. "She's the new student." Ivy's eyes widened as Danny said hi before she shook her hand. However, as she did so, it became apparent that there was tension between them. But why was opaque.
Miss Jalent (one of the games teachers) came out of the office and asked for silence. "Silence please everyone! Thank you. Alright so your usual teachers were unable to get to school due to the snow and I'm not sure what they were planning on doing. I was thinking that perhaps you would like to have a snowball fight." Everyone cheered, and so it was decided. "In that case, stay in your coats etcetera and  just leave your bags in the changing rooms." We all did that quickly; then we went back outside.
"Well, I guess it's free for all!" Announced Miss Jalent as we all scattered across the field, the bottom our shoes imprinted in the whiteness. I dropped down and scooped a large handful of the soft, delicate ice. Then I heard a footstep behind me, and spun round and chucked it at whoever it was: Lia. It hit her on the head, shattering upon impact as the snowball in her hand fell.
"Sorry 'bout that!" I called as I sprinted away, collecting more snow on the way. Next I chose to attempt to get Danny, and so I began to build loads of ammunition. As I moved to grab a big clump of snow, I noticed a flash of gold and black fluff duck behind a bush out of the corner of my eye, which-of course-was Summer; her golden hair and black coat. I tightly packed the clump of snow into a ball and waited.
"Psst! Hey! Summer!" I whispered. "Team?" Slowly, her figure slipped out from behind the tree, nodded once and came over.
"Who we getting?" she whispered back. "Danny?" I nodded, picking up two large snowballs. She followed, before asking what the plan was.
"Should one of us lure him here? Or should we just go for it?"
"Just go for it, if anyone gets in the way, aim for them too. Okay, three, two, one-"
"Surprise!" Danny rapidly emerged from round the side of the building, waving two large snowballs in our faces, which he launched towards us. I snatched at a branch of the reasonably new tree and pulled it in front of my face. Luckily it was in the path of the weapon, and it smashed into the branch, not me, however Summer was not so lucky. The snow splattered over her shoulder, and she squealed. "Danny! You pest! I demand revenge!" Danny was laughing-not paying much attention-so I threw a snowball into the leaves of the tree above him, causing snow to rain down on him, hitting his face, which was tilted back.
"Hey!" he cried, shaking the snowflakes out of his hair. Then Summer grabbed another snowball and soon it shot towards him. We kept firing ammunition back and forth for a while before Danny suggested we all teamed up and got everyone else. Summer and I agreed, for the layer of snow around us was growing thin from the snowball production.
Tiptoeing back onto the field, I quickly scanned the area for either Ivy or Lia. After not seeing them the first time, I rechecked. Again and again. "I don't see Lia!" I cried. I knew I was panicking: thoughts of last year were flooding back. What if something happens? I thought. Or worse-happened?
"Chill, maybe they just went to the toilets." I stared at Danny: that really wasn't helping. I seriously couldn't shake the feeling that something was up. But I didn't know what, and that scared me. Summer looked just as concerned for a second, before hiding it under a mask of seriousness.
"She's probably just behind a tree, or bush. Maybe she's inside, or behind a building." I smiled at her. Perhaps I was overthinking things. There's many other possibilities after all. "Look, there she is!" she pointed her finger towards the field, which I followed to the anniversary garden. The anniversary garden is this area that the school had done to celebrate fifty years of being a school. It's full of massive wooden flower pots and there are benches and a sun dial. There, Lia was emerging from behind the bushes.
I was so relieved: I had been so worried. Running over, I noticed something odd: she didn't have any snowballs. She must have heard me coming as her head snapped up towards me; she was wiping her hands on her skirt. Odd dark stains were painted onto it.
"Hiya!" I called over, relieved. "What are those stains?" I didn't mean to sound so rude; I was just curious.
"N-nothing," she stammered, before shivering. She must just be cold. "Maybe it's just mud?"
"O-okay?"
Then Miss yelled at everyone to gather around her, so we ran back towards the building. I still didn't see Ivy, but I assumed she was fine. Oh yeah-of course-she has support meetings during half of first period on Mondays.
Returning to the changing rooms, I grabbed my bag and headed to our one lesson of RE, in the Geography block, desperate to make myself believe Lia wasn't hiding something, but failing miserably...