Snow Angels [open]

It was a full year since she'd gotten this necklace.

Funny how time flew, didn't it? All those memories felt like they were from another lifetime, but a year still felt too long. That couldn't be right, could it? She fingered at the necklace. It was a six-pointed silver snowflake pendant, silver and encrusted in diamonds. The thing hadn't left her neck since she got it. Evelyn gave a small smile, remembering. It was like a part of her now. She felt naked without it.

A full year since she'd turned sixteen. Seventeen felt like a whole new frontier. When she was younger, sixteen had always sounded so old, so mature, so... well, not what it turned out to be. And now that was gone. Had it really been a year already? She didn't feel seventeen. Evelyn sighed and let her head fall against the ground. Fluffy white snow drifted down from an overcast sky, melting on her face and blanketing the ground around her. Maybe if she lied here long enough, it'd bury her. That'd be nice.

Not caring about secrecy, she popped open a small silver flask, took a quick whisk, and let it fall to her side. It wasn't like anyone would notice anyways. Not unless they stepped right on top of her.

The ground was hard and cold, but she couldn't find it in her to stand back up.

Someone was standing right over her.

That wasn't right, but when did things ever go right? It barely phased her when he stopped and waved down at her. Evelyn squinted up at him as his face came back into focus. Him. Of course it was him, again. She didn't know anyone else at this school with that color hair, or that kind of accent. The boy from the Formal... James? Joey? Jon. Jonathan. That was his name. It was a nice name. How did he notice her again?

Coincidence?

Normally the embarrassment probably would've killed her, but something about the cold and the alcohol in her system dulled her usual anxiety. She had a million questions, but none of them passed her lips. "I-It's okay," she muttered back, her voice thick with grogginess. Her face felt numb. "Cold."

Maria and Pepper walked to the courtyard both wearing their pink scarves and school jackets. Pepper honestly didn't know why she let Maria drag her along, probably up to her usual no good. Maria titled her towards Jonathan, Pepper gave a silent nod.

"What are you doing down there?" Maria said a bit teasingly standing over Jonathan. "Talking to that ghost girl like at the formal?" She raised a brow.

She couldn't help but be surprised, and a little touched, by the gesture. Her first instinct was to mutter out some polite refusal and thrust the beanie back on his head, but her limbs felt like they were made out of lead, and her lips were numb from the cold. It was easier to just lay there and accept it. Besides, it was fucking cold down here, and any warmth she could get was appreciated. Maybe that was her sign to get up and escape inside, or at least move around to get her blood flowing, but there just wasn't any motivation. She felt frozen to the ground, and she was tired of trying to slip away unnoticed every time someone managed to get her cornered like this. "Th—... Thanks..." she murmured, blinking as she watched him get down on the ground beside her. She hadn't expected some other idiot to sit on the ice on a day like this. Not any other idiot besides her. What was she supposed to think about this? It hurt too much to think, so she just gave him a sheepish smile.

A shadow stretched over them both, and Evelyn's smile evaporated. This was turning into a repeat of the Formal all over again. She didn't like this girl. There was something about the way she carried herself, a feminine flair that demanded attention and implied superiority, that stirred a chafing resentment in the pit of her stomach. Evelyn curled one of her hands into a loose fist and propped herself up on one elbow, glaring up at her. A rush of thoughts and emotions flooded through her, and something that felt like defiance started to build up in her chest.

She'd always shied away from confrontations like this, but something... apathy, the day, the cold, the alcohol, the repeat of what had happened in the Formal, years and years of being ignored and shunted to the sideline, or maybe a bit of all of that, all bubbled up at once in one small burst of months and years of bitterness. Evelyn barely heard Jon.

"I'm right here," she snapped. It wasn't a shout, but she almost startled herself with her own volume. There was a wave of gratification, and she continued, louder. "I'm n-not a ghost."

Maria smiled. "I love the cold!" She exclaimed. The tall student leaned backward and plopped down in the snow. She heard a voice but looking, she could barely see anything in the gleaming white snow. Even if the girl was noticable, Maria wouldn't care. With her pink gloves, she scooped up a clump of snow and made a perfect snowball. "Wake up sleepyhead!" She yelled towards Pepper, throwing it at the girl's back.

Pepper got lost in thought, staring off into the distance. She jumped when something hit her and turned around to see Maria talking to her. "Sorry!" She smiled and walked over to the two.

Ignored, again. Evelyn felt that simmering resentment flare into a fireball inside her gut. There was no way she hadn't heard her that time, and there was no way she hadn't noticed her by now. Was it on purpose? Was this some stupid joke Maria was playing to pretend she didn't exist, or what? What had she ever done to her? Evelyn wasn't exactly a model student, but she always kept her head low and never tried to start trouble with anybody... But Maria wouldn't even give her a glance, or a nod, or the slightest hint of acknowledgement. It was like she wasn't even there in her eyes. Fuck, Evelyn would've even taken a sneer or some kind of insult, just as long as she said something.

Instead Maria kept on, blabbering about the cold before turning to hurl a snowball at some poor girl's back. Evelyn let out a sharp huff of irritation and turned her head away, defeated. If she smashed a snowball into Maria's face, would she look at her then, or would she point the finger at someone else?

I'm not a fucking ghost. She was a human being with a name and she'd been talking to him first.

Evelyn was relieved at the suggestion, and couldn't help but smile at the small reassuring comment. Hopefully this time, at least, he wouldn't let himself get dragged to a private corner somewhere and leave her all alone.

It wasn't even that she wanted to talk to him. Right now, it was just that if she got left there on the courtyard floor by the two of them, she really would feel like a ghost.

Then he slipped. It happened almost too fast to register, but before she could move, think, or speak, he was sprawled out on top of her with his lips...

"Ah..."

Evelyn was still laying there on the ground after he'd crawled off of her, staring up at the sky as a bright red flush crept across her cheeks. She felt frozen to the cement. Her brain wouldn't work, and her lips wouldn't work either, and all her frantic apologies and quiet reassurances got lost somewhere in the cold fog filling up her head. After what felt like an eternity of laying there, her body started to recover, with a needle-sharp anxiety racing up her spine. She could feel her heart flutter in her chest and all the words twist in her mouth. "Ah, um, n-n-no...! I-I mean, y-yes I-'m fine. Y-you're fine. You're fine!" Evelyn sat up, feeling a little dizzy, as her hand unconsciously searched the ground for the flask. When she brushed up against it, she quickly snatched it up and stuffed it as surreptitiously as she could in her coat, which wasn't very surreptitious at all. Evelyn glanced from the ground, to the flowers, to the sky, to the ground again, to Maria, and finally Jon. Her gaze didn't, couldn't, last long on him at all, so her gaze fell right back into her lap. By then, it was easier to just clench her eyes shut. "Um, i-it's alright. Right. Heh..." Her voice felt suddenly hoarse, and she started to fiddle with her fingers and fidget in place. "I-it's, um... s-s-suh-... s-sul-ssslippery. The i-ice. Um..."

Oh God, kill her now.

She had the worst luck in the world.

Taking in a deep breath, she climbed uneasily to her feet, wobbling a bit in place. Right. Of course. Evelyn remembered why she'd been laying down on the ground now. Her face burning, she grabbed at a nearby bench to steady herself. Steady. Easy. Things were fine. Things were definitely fine. Things were definitely not fucking fine. Oh, God...

Pepper suddenly saw a girl appear when Jonathan fell on her, but shrugged it off. Now was her perfect chance. She bent down, quietly making a snowball and chucked it at Maria. It was a perfect hit, though the snow was a bit too fluffy to really do anything.

Maria was about to laugh at the two in front of her when something hit her back. She turned around, eyes staring into the quiet girl's soul. "Don't get too cocky now." She said deviously, but with a smile. The charming girl made a few snowballs, and threw one back at Pepper.

Pepper was scared of what Maria would do, being an athletic/good at everything person. She ducked just in time, a snowball flying past her head. Pepper bent down and made a crappy pile of snowballs. "This means war!" She giggled.

"Seriously? You already want to go in? Have a little fun!" Maria exclaimed throwing a snowball at Jonathan.

Her head was spinning. Evelyn stared up at him, fumbling for some kind of response. Something. He said something. What did he say again? It all just sounded like background noise to her. She was searching for something to say, opening and closing her mouth again as the words all closed up in her throat, when the snowball blasted him straight in the face.

Evelyn flinched, then blinked, stared, and broke out into an uneasy smile. He barely even seemed to notice. When the words wouldn't pass her lips, she just furiously began to nod her approval, crawling onto her knees. "Um... Um..." Oh, Lord, she was dizzy. "Y-yeah. That sounds nice. Um..." Without thinking, she reached up, lightly brushing the powdery snow off his cheek. Her hand jerked back like she'd just electrocuted herself, and then she scrabbled to her feet, hugging the hand to her chest. Fuck. Fuck. She barely even noticed that she'd stepped back a few paces to create some distance between them. Agh... This wasn't what she'd signed up for. Why did her power fail at the worst of times? Evelyn turned her gaze to the ground, shuffling her feet on the icy concrete. It felt like there was more to say, but she had no idea what, even if she could manage to stutter it out.

Maria gave a sigh. ”Guess there’s no waking up loverboy.” She said teasing to Pepper. Just cause he was showing his weird way of affection to Evelyn didn’t mean she would give up. Guess I’ll have to save him from this horrible romance later. She stood up with her pile of snowballs in her arms, ready to battle. Maria wasn’t one to have fun like this, thinking a game of throwing snow was childish but some fun competition with a friend could be nice once in awhile.

Pepper could tell Maria wasn’t happy about Jonathan but shrugged it off. At Least she isn’t causing trouble. ”You’re on.” She said as Maria stood up. Not giving the older girl any time to plan her attack, Pepper threw a chunk of snow at Maria.

Soon enough, the two were in a minnie battle, scrambling for snowballs, making shield walls of snow and laughing. Both forgot about school, guys, fights, and enjoyed the winter wonderland.

Maria stopped mid throw, looking towards Jonathan. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tag along." She smiled. Then looked back to Pepper. "Want to come?" She somewhat wanted Jonathan to herself, if Evelyn would go away, but she was the one who invited Pepper, so it would look totally rude not to invite her. Besides, Pepper was no threat.

"Sure." She smiled, the cold started to nip at her fingers. She stood up and shook the snow off her scarf, waiting for the others. Wonder what Maria's planning. She knew her older classmate didn't appreciate Evelyn being around Jonathan so much, but she hadn't given any clues unto what would go down.

Loverboy...? Maria had to be kidding, right? They'd just been talking, and then... well, that whole... accident was a... well, an accident. It's not like he'd done that on purpose. Her face was burning up again. She shifted uncomfortably in her coat and picked at her collar, her breath frosting in the chilly winter air. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Especially with Maria and her friend tagging along... Evelyn pulled her hands to herself and turned her gaze down to the ground. Maybe, finally, her power would kick in when the three of them were talking, and then she could just fade out of the picture again.

'Ghost girl.'

The insult still stung. Steeling herself, Evelyn sucked in her breath and looked back up. No. I'm not a ghost.

"Ww..." She swallowed. "W-we should g-go, then..." she finally managed to mutter. "It's cold..."