BAM! Something cold hit me at the back of my neck. I let out a loud scream.

A snowball; someone had thrown a snowball at me. I reached behind my

head and tried to scoop as much of the snow as I could out from the back of

my jacket. I cringed as some of it touched my skin. I frowned slightly and

whipped my head around.

I saw a boy that couldn't be much older than I, laughing and pointing at me.

I glowered at him, but his laughter continued.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. It was the day of my

eighth birthday and my parents let me go out and play in the front yard all

by myself.

I was NOT going to let some stupid boy ruin it. So I turned back around and

continued to work on my snowman. BAM!

I turned around again; this time, he was rolling in the snow, laughing so

hard that his pale face was turning slightly red.

"Well, since he seems to enjoy the snow so much, I should just help him out."

I picked up a large snowball intended for my snowman's head and walked in

his direction until I stood over him.

I waited until he stopped laughing hard enough to open his eyes and see

what I intended to do. They were bluish-grey, his eyes I remember this

because of how wide they got when they saw me with the snowball.

His wide eyes quickly turned to slits. "You can't do that!" he said to me.

"Why not?" I said back.

"Because you're a girl and girls can't--"

He couldn't finish his sentence, on account of the fact that it's pretty hard to

talk with a mouthful of snow.

It was my turn to laugh and point.

And that's what I did, at least until he got up wiped the snow of off his face.

He didn't look so happy.

I took a step back knowing that if I stayed, it wouldn't end well for me. But

then he took one forward, and another, another. We both froze for a

second, seeing this as my only chance of escape, I broke into a sprint but

didn't I get very far.

I let out a high pitched shriek as he tackled me to the ground.

"Stupid boots..." I muttered.

He tried to get me flat on the ground, but I wasn't about to let him beat me,

so I fought back. We wrestled for about a minute before I finally pinned

down. I looked down at him.

The messy mop of curly black hair he had on his head was even messier. A stray curl fell across his eye and a smug smile appeared on his face.

"I let you win you know."

I shrugged. It was probably true. But I didn't care. I had still won.

"Now get off me." He said.

"No." I simply replied.

"But you have to."

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm ten and you're eight. I'm older by two whole years so you

have to do what I say."

"No." I said again.

He frowned for a second. But then smiled again. "How about this, if I get

you off of me in the next... fifteen seconds, I win, if I don't you win. Okay?"

I thought about it. He could get me off of him no doubt, but in the next fifteen seconds? I'm a girl but I'm not weak.

"Fine." I replied. "Fifteen seconds, that's it."

His smile grew even bigger. I frowned a little, slightly suspicious, but I

started counting anyway.

"One."

He didn't make a move.

"Two. Three..."

Still, nothing

"Four, five, six..."

He opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again.

"Seven, eight, nine..."

His face began to turn red.

"Ten, eleven, twelve..."

Why was he blushing?

"Thirt--"

Then suddenly, lightning quick, he shot his had up, grabbed the back of my

neck, pulled my face down, and kissed me.

I lost count.

I could feel my face heating up as I stared at him, shocked. I expected him

to push me, pinch me, maybe even punch me. But kiss? Now that was unexpected.

"Rayne...?" he started.

I just stared.

This seemed to amuse him because that smug smile of his reappeared. But

then his face got very serious.

"Rayne," he continued "When we're older, were gonna get married you and

me. Okay? We have to."

I couldn't do anything, I just nodded.

He smiled in what seemed to be satisfaction and lifted me up enough so

that he could get out from under me.

He got up, waved down at me, and walked away.

I'm not exactly sure how long I was there for, sitting out in the snow. It had

to have been at least twenty minutes before my dad called me to come

inside.

It wasn't until I had actually gotten inside that I suddenly froze. My breathing increased slightly and my eyes widened in realization of something. I am sure I had never seen that boy before, but yet...

How did he know my name?