Frostbitten

Hoodie-Hoo Day

"Hoodie-Hoo!"

I groaned. Another horrible day of the year was Hoodie-Hoo Day. Every February 20th, people will get up and shout "Hoodie-Hoo" to make winter go away. It hurt my mom more than me since I'm snow and she's winter overall. She just lied in bed, trying not to listen. She understood what it was like to have people hate your passion. She was able to find Dad, though, Jack Frost Sr. There weren't any other people alive who could possibly have some connection to winter. Mom was last in the Winter family, and before her I have no idea who the Winters married or who the Frosts married. Actually, the Winters were pretty popular and so were the Frosts. They kind of ruled the school, but people slowly started to hate winter more and more and now I'm stuck with no one wanting it. It must be harder on Mom because people actually use to like winter once when she was alive, but not anymore. Before, people actually wanted to be with Mom. People actually wanted to be with her mother and her grandmother and so on. Then people actually wanted to be with my dad and his dad and so on. I think it's kind of weird that before my parents, no other Frost or Winter ever got together. They're kind of meant to be, and yet it took many years until two actually fell in. Apparently, the two families didn't necessarily like each other that much, but I don't know if that's true.

I put on my white pants and my blue sweater that was kind of too big for me. It almost hung off my shoulders and had a v-neck that was a little too big for me. It came right below my butt but I thought it was cute, and perhaps a little gay, but oh well. I put on my blue shoes and headed to school. It was light out and warmer and I despised it. I sighed, disappointed and decided to go to the archery fields again. I dropped my bag and sat on it, not wanting to get any grass stains on my white pants.

"Happy Hoodie-Hoo Day," Cupid said, looking at his targets.

"Shut up," I replied.

"What're you doing here?"

What was I doing there? "Maybe I like annoying you."

"You're such a brat."

"Are there really other gay people in the world?"

He lowered his bow and arrow and looked at me, annoyed. "Yes. I've told you before."

"Anyone here?"

"No."

I pouted. "So I won't be falling in love anytime soon."

"Be quiet."

I stayed quiet as he shot his arrow. Once he hit the target, I asked, "So, do you like...love Boogey? He's your best friend and I know you care about him. Do you love him to an extent?"

"Yeah. I love him the way best friends love each other. Almost the way brothers love each other."

"And you love your parents the way kids love parents?"

"Yeah. That's the way things are. I love friends the way friends love each other. I love aquaintences the way aquaintences love each other. It's a scale."

"Are you neutral about people?"

He thought about it. "Yeah. Strangers. I don't know them so I can't make any judgments on how I feel."

"Hate, love, or neutral."

"Yep."

"And you hate me."

"To an extent."

I sighed. "Do you tell people you hate them or love them to an extent?"

"No. I normally don't go around and tell aquaintences I love them. I don't tell them I love them to an extent either."

"You might freak them out."

"I might." He shot his arrow and it went through one of the previous arrows in the center. "I'm pretty certain we're doing archery today in gym class."

I frowned. I hated gym class. I was pretty weak compared to a lot of other guys, and they picked on me a lot. Dodgeball was the worst. Though archery was pretty fun. I didn't have to worry about other guys and I wasn't that bad.

"Here." He held out an arrow to me.

"You sure?" I asked, standing.

He nodded and handed me the bow. When he let go, I dropped it to the ground, but I was still holding it so it didn't damage it. "What's this made of? It's freaking heavy."

"Steel."

"Why steel?"

"Because love is as strong as steel. It also has a big diamond in the center."

I looked at it and sure enough there was a big diamond in the center of the bow. No wonder he was so strong. He had to lug fifty pounds around all the time. Then his arrows were pretty heavy, too. I lifted it up, propping it up on my knee. He grabbed the bottom and held it in place like a table. "Ya good?"

"Yeah, now I am," I said. I aligned my bow and looked at the target. I pulled the wooden arrow back and let it fly. It only hit the outer ring on the target, but that was better than others.

"That was horrible."

"Uh! No it wasn't. It's better than half the other people in our gym class."

"Half the people in our gym class are stupid. You're at least somewhat smart."

"Gee. Thanks."

"It was bad for you."

"Whatever."

"Your arrow moves the second you let go."

"Yeah. It's suppose to."

He moved his hand and I dropped to the ground again. "You let it steer to the right too much."

"And what am I suppose to do about that?"

He lifted the bow up and held it up for me. "Don't move your fingers so quickly when you let go."

I grabbed another arrow and decided he just might be right, considering he is the best archer alive. I aligned it, let go, and kept my fingers in place a little longer. Actually, too long. The arrow sliced through my fingers, the end cutting them. I screeched like a girl and held my two fingers, holding them away to not get blood on my pants.

"How am I suppose to hold them there longer when it cuts me?" I asked, angrily.

"You just have to find the right time," he said, not looking at me. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue cloth. "Here."

I took it and held it against my fingers. "What is this?"

"My shining cloth."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He looked like he was about to barf.

"Do you not like blood or something?"

"No. It's disgusting."

I smirked. "Are you like, a germaphobe?"

"Shut up." He totally was.

"O-kay." The bleeding stopped and I knew he wouldn't take the rag away, so I tossed it onto my bag. "Hold it up again."

He held the bow up and I aligned my arrow up. I aimed, let go - and didn't cut my finger. I smiled big, hitting the target almost perfectly. "See? Not too hard."

Later on, in gym class, we all went to the archery fields after changing. The coach decided to have a contest. We all knew Cupid would win, but he though it'd be fun to see who was second best. I felt pretty confident that I might be one of the better ones, especially after the mini-lesson that morning. the first round eliminated eleven people, since they didn't hit the targets at all. The second round eliminated two since they hit the outer circles. Eventually, it came down to Drake, Gabriel, Cupid, and myself. Drake looked really nervous since he really wanted to beat Gabriel. I didn't worry about them, but unfortunately Drake completely missed the target and Gabriel got three rings in. I got five rings, and Cupid of course hit it spot on. It was the final round, basically between Gabriel and I, and we all got ready. I focused hard, and let go near the last second, the end of the arrow grazing my skin. I smiled when the arrow hit the target dead in the center. Gabriel only got five rings in. I got my first A for that day, usually getting a C or B on other days, but the coach was really impressed.

"At least somebody beat him," Drake told me, looking at Gabriel bitterly as Mary held his arm.

"Quit worrying about him," I told him.

"It's really hard not to worry," Boogie said, looking at Lady as she sat on the sidelines, playing with the grass.

The way they looked, it made me really wish someone could look at me like that.

We went into the school and into the locker rooms. I reached into my locker and pulled out my sweater, quickly exchanging my gym shirt for it. I was about to grab my pants - but stopped. I stared in disbelief at my pure white pants. Someone urinated on them. Literally. They were yellow and I could smell it. I covered mouth to stifle a cry.

"Jack?" Drake asked.

Drake, Boogey, and Cupid and I were in a little locker nook just big enough for the four of us and room to change.

"What's - oh! That's disgusting! Who did that?"

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"What?" Boogey asked. "Who in the-"

"WHAT is that?" Cupid asked. He looked disgusted most of all. "HEY!" he shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Who's the bitch that thought it would mark its territory?" Everyone was silent. Cupid was loving...but he was also very hateful. "Huh?" He heard a short laugh. He glared at the source. Gabriel. He walked over and didn't cuss him out and didn't shove him. He flat out punched him. He punched him in the face multiple times and then pulled him over to my locker. He did what most people do with dogs that aren't potty-trained. He rubbed his face in it. "Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?" He kicked him to the ground and then dragged him and shoved him into the showers, turning it on and leaving him under the water. "Everyone hurry up and change or I'll beat the shit out of you." They did as he said and left within two minutes. I just sat next to my locker, not sure what to do, trying to hold back a few tears.

"What a jerk," Boogey said, tying his shoes.

I nodded. "Well, maybe this will make Mary break up with him," I said, making them laugh. Drake seemed very happy with that comment.

"See ya later Jack."

"Bye."

Cupid got done changing and putting on deodorant once they left. He then tossed me a pair of gray sweatpants. "You can wear those."

"Are they yours?" I asked.

"Yeah."

I changed quickly and they could barely stay up since he's big, meaning he has much bigger pants. I pulled the drawstrings as much as I could and tied them. They stayed on my hips, but the legs were really baggy. My sweater covered some of it, but since they were still baggy you could read what was on the seat of the pants, which read, "CUPID" in big block letters. "I can't wear these."

"Why?" he asked, toothbursh in his mouth, which was weird because no one else brushed their teeth at school except for the tooth fairy.

"They're too big, they say your name on the butt, and they don't go with my sweater."

He rolled his eyes. "For one thing, it does go with the sweater because you look like you're going for the relaxed look, and it looks fine. They're not that baggy and that doesn't matter. Then if people ask why you're wearing my pants you can tell them the truth or - you can tell them you got farther with me than they can ever imagine." He gave me smirk and continued brushing his teeth, as I stood with my jaw open. How rude. He was totally mocking me.

"Shut up."

He spit in the sink and gargled some water, spitting it out. "What? Don't tell me you wouldn't want to brag about getting that far with me. A lot of people would be jealous," he told me, teasingly.

"Right. Because I just want everyone to know I'm gay."

"Yeah, but if you say that, then it also implies I'm gay."

"You don't want people to know that."

"And what do you know?" he asked, almost a little offended. "I was just joking, Jack."

"Don't get all uppity."

"Well I don't want people to think about me with other people. They should not worry about me and who I want to hate, sleep with, marry, love, it doesn't matter. I just hate that."

"Well why are you offended?"

"Because you're thinking about that."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. You're aseuxal and infertile. Happy?"

"Shut up."

"You're a jerk," I told him as we exited the locker room.

"Shut up."

"You're also dramatic. Maybe you are gay..."

"I will take my pants back and either go pantsless or in piss-soaked ones. God, I still can't over how gross that is."

"What if he did that to your pants?" I asked.

"I would've stabbed him in the eyes with permanent gold arrows."

"Ow. Why?"

"Because then he would be blind and in love, but he wouldn't know who he's in love with. He'd go everyday of his life like that. Wanting love but not getting."

"You're really that germaphobic."

"Yes. It's disgusting."

I laughed.

"If you ever laugh at me again I'll slap you."

"Whatever."

The rest of the school day was uneventful other than the fact that Mary broke up with Gabriel. Later on, once I got home, I sat in bed, smiling to myself as I played with the drawstrings on the pants. I felt like a stupid school girl, gushing over a stupid pair of pants, ones I didn't plan on returning.

---------------------- Tah-dah! Another chapter :)

Thanks for all le votes and comments guys! Make my day!

Dedicated to a dedicated fan of mine (see what I did there?) and so this is for you!

Thanks :D