When the Bad Boy Isn't Bad

Chapter 28: Snowflakes

The weeks before the play flew by. Blaze came in to help with the props most days, sometimes working with CJ and I, sometimes working alone. The props were supposed to be pretty generic, just flat colors on most things, but out of the corner of my eye I watched as Blaze added all the little details to his, a shadow here, a highlight there.

The props were going to be really mismatched, but it wouldn't matter in the end. 

And then it was time for the play. CJ and I went together, and quickly found the rest of our friends sitting in a group. Everyone had come for a last get-together before Christmas break, when most of our friends were leaving on vacations. We walked over to them, and CJ squirmed her way into the middle, sitting on Brianna's lap, while I chose a seat on one edge of the group. 

We laughed and talked until the lights dimmed and a spotlight fell on the stage, illuminating the curtain as it opened.

The play was good; the actors knew their lines for the most part, and none of the props had collapsed yet.

Halfway through the play, I felt someone sit in the seat next to me. I paid them no attention, until they spoke.

"There's the tree we painted," he said in a hushed voice.

I whipped my head around to find Blaze. "What are you doing here?" I hissed.

Blaze smiled, a silent laugh trying to escape. "I told you we'd see it when we watched the play, didn't I? I mean, it is the best in the forest," He said.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Go away, some of us actually want to watch the play without your commentary."

He shrugged. "It's a free country," he said, leaning back in his seat.

I ignored him and turned back to the stage, trying to watch the play, but there was the tree we had painted, glaring out at me with all its leaves.

And then, one by one, Blaze's altered props started appearing, making it impossible for me to distract myself from the fact that he was sitting next to me.

I closed my eyes and just listened to the people's voices as they spoke, reciting the words from the play as if they were their own.

And then it was over, and there was clapping and cheering, and the seat next to me was empty.

Christmas break passed too quickly, moving from the present to memories in the blink of an eye.

School time came with a ferocious blizzard that froze our town over, turning my entire world white and my entire neighborhood into a mess of flying snowballs and snow forts and snowmen and anything the kids could possibly make out of snow.

"When's summer again?" Charlotte asked me as we sat in math, shivering despite the warmer air of the classroom.

"Summer, what's that?" I joked, throwing a paper snowflake at her. We had been bored, so we started cutting them out by the millions. As if we even needed more snow. 

Classes passed slowly, everyone dying to go home and take a nap, unused to the long hours at school after Christmas break.

Fletcher wasn't in history, so I sat in the back next to Blaze as we debated whether we should mess with Mz. Archer so soon after break or not. We decided we could be nice for once and were good in class, only leaving a couple hundred paper snowflakes inside her umbrella to rain down on her when she opened it later. Like I said, we were being nice.

Art was fun, except the teacher had us cut out more of those paper snowflakes, only this time they were the 3D kind, and we had to twist paper all around to make them. 

I hoped we wouldn't have to do something freezing in chemistry.

Instead, Ms. Ryan showed us how to make those little hand warmer packets and taught us how they worked, and then we all had to make a few with our lab partner that we could keep and use later.

"Why do we have to put so much stuff into these?" Blaze grumbled. "My hands are going to get frostbite before I even finish one."

I laughed. "It's only, like, five things. No, not that much!" I yelped, pushing his hand aside. "Do you want our hands to be blackened and charred or what?"

A while later, Blaze asked, "Do you think you could toast bread with these, if you got them hot enough?"

I stared at him. "Why would you toast bread with these?"

"Psych, you spilled everything," he shook his head mockingly. "Please, try to pay attention to what you're doing."

I scowled at him. "Blaze, see what you did, we don't even have one of these things done. Everyone else has at least their four. And class is almost over."

Blaze looked around and saw that what I had said was true. "Crap, okay, we need to hurry."

We worked quickly. I mixed everything and Blaze poured it into the little fabric bags we had been given. 

The bell rang just as we finished.

As soon as he finished closing the last bag, Blaze threw his hands in the air. "Oh yeah, new world record here! The fastest hand warmers were ever made! No autographs, please."

I laughed. "Yeah, I can see all your fans lining up. How do you deal with all the fame?"

He sighed dramatically. "It's an art, you know?"