"We're supposed to get snow!"

"That's exciting to you?"

"Isn't it exciting to you?"

"You live in Nebraska, Brian. It's always snowing."

The two boys stood in the bustling hallway of Infidelity High before the first bell of the day had rung. Infidelity, although unfortunately named, was a small, cosy, remote town with a population of less than 1,000, and the boring flat land made for few visitors. The community was tightly-knit and caring, the cost of living was low, and the cheap infrastructure could make the town considered a slum. As with everything, there were pros and cons to the environment.

"Well, I'm not used to the snow. I lived in Florida." Brian said proudly, arms crossed over his puffed chest and his lower lip outwards in a slight, prideful pout. Brian was quite loud and full of character; his mouth never seemed to stop moving, be he talking or eating or both at the same time. He was new to the High, and the only student brave enough to tolerate him without the use of violence was Kali. Kali was not necessarily an introvert, although he was disliked by most other students for his disagreeable personality. He held no self-esteem and needed validation, and once received, would argue profusely with the sender until the complement was taken back. With Brian's active loud mouth, and Kali's quiet exterior and poor mental health, the two made for a dysfunctional albeit annoying pair.

"You'll grow to hate it. Why on earth did you move out here, anyways?"

"Job opportunity for my dad."

He scoffed, "How much does your totally-real-dad make now?"

"500,000 a year," he boasted.

"Right. And what does he do again?"

"It's classified."

"Uh-huh. And his name?"

"Also... Classified."

"Right. You're fatherless."

"Are you racially profiling me right now?"

"I'm not calling you fatherless because you're black. I'm calling you fatherless because you lack a father."

Everything that the two said was lightened with an air of sarcasm and a humorous tone. Kali's tone was sour with sarcasm and a strong sense of annoyance that Brian's careless brain could not sense. To his light-hearted tone, Brian could not take a hint and instead responded with an equally entitled voice. Brian was shallow and simply liked to pick fun; Kali, on the other hand, was harshly blunt and disguised his mean honesty as humour. Brian could laugh and say, "That outfit looks terrible," and he would really mean, "You look great, and I am bad at being funny." Kali could say, "Your outfit looks terrible," and although said person wearing the outfit may think he is being sarcastic, his words would always simply mean, "Your outfit looks terrible."

"You will just have to meet him sometime," Brian said.

"Oh, I'd love to meet Casper." And Brian only rolled his eyes in response. They walked down the hall, brushing past peers who seemed to be much more stable than they were, both physically and mentally. "When'd you say that snow is supposed to start?"

"This morning. We're under a winter storm advisory."

"Aren't we always this time of year?"

"I don't know," Brian shrugged, "I'm not the one who's lived here forever and always. Do you even travel?"

"I do, actually."

"Oh yeah? Where?"

"Occassionally I make a long adventuring travel to your mother's house."

"Hey- not cool- you know my mom is working on that."

"On what? Sleeping with minors?"

In an exasperated whispering voice, "Yes!"

"Is she also working on her alcohol addiction?"

Defeatedly, "No..."

"Maybe next year."

They both stopped at a classroom door labelled with a familiar teacher's name. It was Brian's first hour class, and they both said bye as he entered and as Kali continued walking. The hallway was wide and long, lined with rows of familiar classroom doors and shrouded with talkative, active students. Kali was overwhelmed with the sea of unusual smells, loud noises, and dizzying movement. He easily fell victim to sensory overload in the moving crowds of the High, and in turn, his heart would start to race, his breathing shallow, and his eyes wide, vision slightly blurred with movement. It was the familiar, weighted ache of fear and anxiety, and he could suddenly see every single little speck; suddenly hear every single tiny whisper.

Deep breaths, Kali. Focus on your hands in your pockets, on your feet on the tiles. One foot after the other.

On the other side of the school was dark-haired, tan-skinned Neko. Unlike Kali, she held nothing but high esteem. Her confidence and entitlement matched Brian's in significance, however, was more socially acceptable due to her high standards. Despite this similiarity, unlike Brian, she was the proud owner of a massively oversized ego. The world revolved around her. Everyone loved her, although this mostly was because she was fairly attractive and sociable; her self-entitlement only pushed others just out of reach. And so, she was active, loud-mouthed, self-absorbed and impossible to stand- and she was also lonely. She thought, if I am louder, braver, more confident, then I will be loved. Well, you hear on TV that nobody likes people who are constantly looking for validation. You also hear that nobody likes people who are over-the-top selfish, but she ignored that part.

Neko sat in her first hour class, feet on the desk, leaning back in her chair. She typed away on her phone with an air of, do not disturb. Still, she was disturbed. She was disturbed when poor Kali walked in late, fresh from his panic attack in the men's restroom. The bell had rang several minutes ago, and yet he dared to knock on the door, momentarily interrupting the silence that had been in the working classroom. Neko glared at him with sharp, slanted eyes as the teacher opened the door for him, and as he walked over to the seat in front of her and sat down. If it wasn't obvious, this class had assigned seats.

"What're you late for?" She asked, her voice kept low so as not to interrupt the quiet.

"What's it to you?"

"Curious if you have some cooler, more rebellious side I don't know about."

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime."

"Uh, what are we supposed to be doing?" Kali asked hesitantly.

"Dude, don't talk to me."

"You talked to me first?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yuh, but that doesn't mean I want you to talk to me. Just respond to what I say then shut it."

Kali grumbled, "You're a bit demanding."

"And you're a bit pathetic. C'mon, why were you late? You're no Smokin' In The Boy's Room. Get caught by some bullies?"

"This isn't the 80's. Bullies don't give you swirlies in the bathroom anymore. They hide behind their screens now."

She nodded with a false sense of authority and thoughtfulness, "You're right. We should bring the good ol' days back."

"Why?" he asked, feeling a simmer of anger begin to develop in his gut, "Why do you enjoy making others miserable? Compensating for what? Your sad life? Your terrible personality? Your ugly face?"

She turned to eye him slowly, eyes sharp with a newfound anger, gently setting her phone face-down on the laminated plastic tabletop, "Say that again."

He sensed he was in danger, and promptly backed away as far as his chair would let him, "No. I didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you coward! Say it again!" She abruptly stood up, raising her voice, the chair screeching along the floor as it bounced backwards. She neared him forcefully, hands stepping on the table as she circled it to get closer, an expression of rage on her pale acne-caked face as the teacher stood up to intervene. Everyone watched in silent anticipation of the quickly escalating scene.

It had been no more than an hour into the school day when the intercom buzzed over the entirety of the school, and the principal's voice spoke through low-quality speakers, "Due to forseeable poor weather, school will be closing early today. We will be dismissing students after lunch at 12:45 PM. Have a great day, Infidelity."

Neko sat back down in her seat heavily and with a sharp heave, crossing her legs on the desk again and glaring intimidatingly at Kali. With the announcement, the classroom was suddenly buzzing with excitement and talk, and although the teacher closely eyed Neko, she inevitably decided not to intervene as the conflict seemed to be put on halt. This would be the first mistake of the fateful day.

Kali was well aware of Neko's angry boring into him, and his skin felt hot with embarrassment at the attention. He argued with himself silently, as if he could have somehow handled the situation with more finesse, thrown out a few indirect compliments, and charmed his way out of conflict with the notoriously angry Neko. Still, her well-known history of violence and entitlement did not change how low Kali had managed to make himself feel. He convinced himself wholeheartedly that he was the problem. Luckily, after he managed to survive first hour, he would see no more of Neko. They shared only one class together. His second hour class, however, was nearly just as much of a struggle. He shared second hour with Brian, and struggled to learn through his constant talking. Still, Brian's presence would always be better than Neko's. Brian was annoying; Neko was dangerous.

Kali sat down in his usual spot at the back of the classroom in second hour; Brian, despite the teacher's pleads for him to sit in his assigned spot, followed and sat beside Kali, just as he always did.

"I heard we're getting out of school early today," Brian began.

"Wow, really? Its almost as if they announced it to the whole school." Kali was always quick to respond with sarcasm. It usually ran right over Brian's head.

"Well, yeah, that's how I heard it. I am excited."

Kali threw him a quizzical look, "How are you excited? Doesn't your household suck?"

"Well, yes and no. I mostly am excited to sleep in."

"They said we're getting out of school early today. That doesn't mean we will be out tomorrow."

"You said its always snowing here. I just assumed."

Kali shrugged, "Well, we usually are out for days at a time."

"And now it says it will be an ice storm."

"Ice storm? Those tend to be more severe."

"Really? What's the difference?"

"Well, in an ice storm, things get icy. In a snow storm, things get snowy."

"Thank you, captain obvious. You know, you are a real pleasure to be around."

"Right. That one's original."

"You know, maybe if you opened up your heart, started meditating, became a glass-half-full kind of guy..."

"I'm not a glass-half-full kind of guy."

"Well, not with that attitude."

"Brian, I literally almost got beaten up by Neko this morning. I cannot be glass-half-full."

"Woah! You did what? How did that happen?" Then, after a second thought, "Well, I guess just existing would do the trick."

"She seemed ticked off the moment I stepped into class."

"She was probably ticked off even before then."

"Yeah, right."

Wind whistled and snow began to fall quickly, a blur of white outside of the classroom windows. The teacher walked around the classroom, speaking with students and helping them with their work. The windows rattled gently against the force of the elements, and Brain glanced at them past Kali with heavy unease.

Kali rolled his eyes, "Scared of the wind?"

"Scared of your face," he said, still very clearly looking at the quickly accumulating, tall white landscape outside. Snow blew in swirls and drifted across the road and atop buildings; but it slowed and sleet began to replace it. A subtle change in only a few degrees of temperature over the course of the class period turned the snow into droplets of rain that existed below freezing, and upon touching the ground, immediately turned to ice. The light layer of fluttery snow was upheaved with the wind and escaped into the atmosphere, leaving cold, bare road and grass and buildings to be layered with ice as the snow danced around them. The snow drifted up in breathing piles against buildings, wind tugging and pulling at them. It was oddly magical in a sense; something invisible moving and living and producing delicate forms of white powder, trailed upwards in the air and then resting on the quickly forming ice, then lifting and fluttering once again like a kaleidoscope of pale butterflies or moths. Brian was terrified of the accumulating weather; Kali was intrigued, turning backwards in his chair to stare at the laden scene.

The weather seemed prominent as the school slowly began to cool to a nearly unbearable temperature, and the students huddled and shivered under their layered clothes. It took only another two hours for lunch to roll around, which Kali unfortunately shared with Brian, and then the school bell rang and students were rightfully dismissed. With Brian, lunch was constant chatter and socialisation; Kali was worn out and ready to go home to be alone.

But his troubles were not over yet.

He gathered his things, slinging his backpack over his shoulders, but then was rudely interrupted by a hand on his shoulder, and, turning begrudgingly, Kali suddenly found himself face-to-face with the woman he had dared to stand up to just hours prior: Neko. And she was fuming.

"What do you want?" He asked. He did gather a tingling sensation of fear; however, he wanted to go home, and his patience was thin. Brian huddled beside him, reeking of fear.

"Nobody talks to me the way you do and gets away with it."

"Oh? Talk to you like you deserve?"

"Like I deserve?" She thought, "Well, yeah. But I want your respect."

"Earn it."

"If you insist!" Her words were menacingly cheerful.

She pulled him by the ear towards her, to which he said, "Ow, ow, ow," and then dragged him by his wrist across the large cafeteria and into a hallway; it didn't take long to reach a woman's restroom, to which he, being smaller and weaker than her, was promptly tossed to the monochrome speckled floor like trash. Brian had trailed behind them with a hesitance yet urge to help, and only now did he dare to brave the waters, charging Neko and leaping upon her back, his arms around her shoulders. She shook him off with a sharp elbow to the gut with ease, and he clattered to the floor in the fetal position on his side, groaning and struggling for air. Neko then tuned in, focusing on her prey. Kali could almost see her dark eyes ignite with orange, flickering fire, and her pupils thin like a cat's with tunnel vision. She used a strong grip on his shoulders to stand him up and push him ahead of her into one of the stalls despite his protests. He could not dig his heels into hard concrete. Against his shaking will, Kali was forced into a stall, Neko's hands hard on his back, and suddenly his face was submerged and his body bent over the toilet. Automatically, it flushed. When he was able to breathe again, Neko held his face up by his dark, wet hair, water running from his face to his shirt. Then, with a satisfied smile, she tossed him down, let him loose, and left.

He crawled out of the stall, sitting on the floor with cold wet soaking through his shirt and skin. Brian ran over, now, recovered from his own affliction, rubbing Kali's back as he coughed profusely.

"We'll get her back," Brian assured him with no real confidence. "I'm certain of it," he said uncertainly.

"Let's just go," he said, sniffling, feeling extremely low and utterly defeated. He had failed to stand up, to protect Brian, and to make things right. He deserved this. Brian cautiously helped him up and walked with him out of the restroom. The hallway was alarmingly empty; how much time had passed? 10, 15 minutes? Brian checked his phone. It was 1:23 already. School had been dismissed nearly an hour ago!

"The busses will be gone by now," Brian said with panic drenching his voice.

"It's fine. Call someone to give us a ride."

"Why can't you?" Kali held up his soaking wet phone for Brian to see. And then a defeated, "Oh, I see," from Brian. The dark boy unlocked his phone, opened his contacts and clicked his mother's name. Then, he thought for a moment and said, "She will be drinking by now..."

"Anyone else you can call?"

"Not really... You?"

"Yeah, but all of the contacts are on my phone."

"You don't have your parent's phone numbers memorised?"

"My mom's is, actually." Kali read it aloud for Brian to type. He entered the very last digit, and then the phone's screen went black.

"Uh..."

"Brian, did your phone just die?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"What a day. What a time!" Kali growled with annoyance.

"Who else would have a phone? Surely teachers are still here..."

"It's a snow day. No teachers are still here!"

They both turned to each other and locked eyes. It had been only moments since Neko had walked away from them. It would be impossible for her to have already been picked up by then.

Kali spoke first, "But Neko is."

"Oh, no. No, no, no."

"What else do you suggest?"

"Let's go to the parent check out area and see if anybody is still here. Maybe visit the office and see if any teachers are still here."

"But we do that, and chances are that Neko will have left already by the time we get done."

"I don't see the problem."

"The problem? I don't want to be left in the school overnight during an ice storm!"

"Okay, fair... Fine. Let's find Neko. But if you get soaked again, don't say I didn't warn you." Thus the hunt began; they wandered the halls, peering into restrooms and calling Neko's name. The school was fairly small, and they bumped into her fairly quickly beside the entrance to the parent check out area. They called to get her attention and then walked up to her.

The first thing she said was, "Dorks," with a devilish grin on her face.

"Can we please use your phone?" Brian asked. Kali was too embarrassed to speak.

"For what?"

"Gotta call someone to pick us up."

"What about your phones?"

"Mine is dead, and his is soaked."

"Sorry, but no." She shrugged.

Kali spoke up, his anger and resentment overpowering the shame, "You brat! You know we won't be able to get home without it!"

"That isn't my problem. Maybe you shouldn't have stayed this late."

"You made us stay!"

"Maybe you forgot why." Brian struggled to hold Kali back, and then eventually he slipped from his arms, and Kali lunged at Neko, bowling her over and onto her hindquarters, where a sharp crack echoed. They all froze.

Brian suggested, "That was your bone breaking, right, and you didn't happen to keep your phone in your back pocket...?"

Her face turned to panic and then to a mix of anger, and she kicked Kali off of her and stood up, pulling the phone from her pocket. It was harshly cracked down the middle on both sides; no chance of turning back on.

"I'm sorry," Kali said, mumbling and flustered and apologetic, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He was still on the floor, though Neko stood up with the familiar look of gut-wrenching fear on her face as she stared wide-eyed and shocked at the broken device. It reflected a distorted version of herself, lines running through her cracked face.

"Well," Brian said, "At least your parents are still coming, right, Neko?"

She hesitated, "I, uh... Hadn't called them yet."

The boys in unison, "You what?"

She spat, "Well, I was about to, until you two showed up and ruined everything!"

"Oh, no," Brian fretted. "This is bad."

"No dip!"

Neko sighed begrudgingly, "Well, I guess we have to wait it out in here."

"On opposite ends of the school," Kali assured.

"Definitely."

With a last passive-aggressive glance, Neko walked towards the higher, older end of the school, and then Kali and Brian trekked to the newer, storm-proof section. The walls were thick, the windows scarce, and the heating system on. It was warm, but the cold tile floor was hardly comfortable, and every classroom was locked. The boys obviously held no keys to open them. Thus, they began to search for what could be used as bedding. Their backpacks, for one, full of supplies made for stiff albeit not uncomfortable pillows. They felt safest in the enclosed stairwell, and so that is where they ended up leaving their things. Brian suggested searching the lost and found, but after Kali's preemptive warning about bed bugs and lice, they decided to search the nurse's office instead. She always had extra clothes available for students, and they were primarily use for women who bled through their shorts, but occasionally a mess at lunch or dress code violation would lead a boy to needing new clothes, too. They wandered to the nurse's office. Due to having no doors, most of the cabinets were locked instead. However, the extra clothes held there were in a tub, not a cabinet. A clear plastic tote at the back of the concrete wall was filled with extra shirts and sweatpants, all freshly cleaned. The boys stole most of them to make their bedding by the stairs. It was a short walk from the nurse's office to the staircase.