James
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December of 2016 was a great time for me.
I had two best friends, Harlee and Evan, whom I spent the majority of my time with.
I wasn't being bullied at school anymore or made fun of thanks to Harlee.
And having real friends in my life had helped me outgrow my imaginary ones.
Life was good.
Well, except for the fact there was one issue I was starting to have that raised questions and concerns for me regarding my friendship with Harlee.
But since I wasn't sure if the issue was what I feared it might be, I tried not to dwell on it too much.
It was the middle of December, and Winnington was adorned with snow.
One Saturday, late in the afternoon, Evan, Harlee, and I had wanted to go to the Winnington playground to play in it.
The playground was too far away for us to go alone, though, so we had to have chaperones.
But my mom, Mrs. Ramirez, and Mrs. Smith were all going Christmas shopping together that afternoon, so none of them could take us.
And my dad was out of town on business, while Evan and Harlee's dads were both at work.
Unluckily for us, that only left two possible babysitters: my wicked sister or Evan's.
Well, it turned out our luck was worse than I'd thought.
We got stuck with both of them.
Lizzie and Karissa had become very good friends since Harlee, and I had befriended Evan.
They'd met one day when Karissa had to come to walk Evan home from my house and had been almost as inseparable as Harlee and me ever since.
In my experience, finding a true friend made me a better person and brought out the best in me.
For Karissa and Lizzie?
Befriending one another seemed to turn them both more evil, abrasive, and annoying.
The walk to Winnington park that day was absolutely miserable.
Lizzie and Karissa complained the entire way there about how unfair it was they had to escort us around for the evening.
When we finally arrived at the park, Harlee, Evan, and I tried to simply build a snowman and ignore them.
But before we got the chance, Karissa had to put a damper on that too.
When Evan stated how he wanted to build a "snowman," Karissa went off on a tangent about how inherently sexist it was to immediately label the snowman as a man.
The tangent eventually turned into a lecture about all of the other ways she found winter to be sexist as a result of a male-dominated culture.
She'd literally been going on for over fifteen minutes about the topic.
"Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty the snowMAN. They're all male," Karissa said to us,
"And they're all just symptoms of the misogynistic problem, kids."
Lizzie nodded in agreement as she had been doing the entire time.
Sometimes she'd add her two cents to back Karissa up, but mostly she'd just stood there nodding her head.
"That is why if you ask any sexist, they will tell you winter is their favorite season, hands down," Karissa concluded.
Evan, Harlee, and I just stared at her blankly.
"Uhhhh," Evan deadpanned.
I leaned over toward Harlee. "What the heck is she talking about?" I whispered.
Harlee shrugged then shook her head.
"No idea," she whispered back, "Not one clue. Honestly, I just wonder if either of them even knows how to spell misogynistic."
I snickered. "Unlikely. I'd be surprised if they can even spell sexist."
Harlee giggled at that. "Same."
Karissa overheard us and folded her arms.
"We can hear you two," she said, scowling, "You know, Harlee, I've only known you a few months, but from what I've observed, you have a very 'take no prisoners' attitude, is that correct?"
Harlee nodded. "Heck, yeah."
"Well then, I would think someone like you would want to be on the right side of history concerning women's equality in the world."
Harlee's eyebrows quirked in amusement at the remark.
"Karissa," she said,
"It's a pile of snow. I'm not saying sexism isn't a problem in the world, but you kind of take your stance against it to the extreme."
Karissa threw her hands up in the air like she'd heard enough.
"Alright, you know what?" she said, "I can't stand to hear another word of this blatant ignorance today. So, Lizzie, let's just get out of here, okay?"
"Sounds good to me," my sister complied.
They both stood from their seats on the park bench and started walking away.
"Wait, where are you two going? You're supposed to be watching us," Evan reminded them.
"Okay, look, you three have your phones on you, right?" Lizzie asked, stopping momentarily.
"Well, yeah, but-" he started.
"So, if anyone tries to kidnap or kill you, just send us a text." Lizzie shrugged.
"But I wouldn't worry too much about the kidnapping scenario occurring. I doubt ANYONE would want to have to put up with you three invalids," Karissa sneered.
At that, they both started walking away again.
"You can't just walk off, Lizzie," I argued at my sister's retreating back.
A dismissive wave was all she gave in reply.
"Karissa, you're gonna get in so much trouble when Mom finds out you just left me alone in the park," Evan said to his sister.
"On the contrary little bro," Karissa said, turning to face us while still strolling backward.
"I think Mom will be happy to discover she only has one child again.
So, head over to the woods area behind the park.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to finally reunite with your family of forest trolls."
Lizzie let out a wicked laugh at the insult.
Karissa turned around, and Lizzie gave her a high-five, then threw her arm around her shoulders.
"I've told you to quit calling me a troll!" Evan stomped his foot furiously.
"Jerks," I muttered as the two continued cackling and walking off.
"Who cares?" Harlee spoke up. "They're both so immature; we should be the ones watching them. Besides, I was so over listening to them moan, complain, and lecture us about stupid stuff that doesn't even make any sense.
Your sister is about ten different types of crazy, Evan."
"Who are you telling? Just try living with her, you'll find it's a number way higher than ten," he remarked.
"So, come on," Harlee directed, "Let's just build our snow' person." She made air-quotes with her hands. "And forget about them."
Evan nodded, and the three of us went back to creating our snowman.
It took us about twenty minutes to finally get him looking how we wanted, but we were all proud of the result once we did.
Button eyes and mouth, a carrot nose, and a plaid scarf wrapped around his shoulders, he was the perfect snowman.
"We should take a picture of Frosty," Harlee said, naming him as she put the black beanie she'd brought along for the final touch.
"Yeah, good idea," Evan agreed then pulled his phone from his pocket.
"Wait, my mom called," he said. "Should I tell her how Karissa and Lizzie ditched us?"
"Don't bother." Harlee shook her head. "Then they might force them to come back over here. Let's just let the grinches go ruin Christmas and the holiday season for someone else."
"Yeah, maybe they can go protest at a holiday parade that features Santa Claus or retitle the word snowman in the dictionary," I joined in.
At that, Harlee giggled then grinned at me.
Immediately, I felt my face turn hot.
Despite the freezing air surrounding us, I worried my palms would start sweating as well.
And there it was.
The issue.
I didn't understand what was going on with me.
From the moment I met Harlee, she intrigued me, and from the moment I befriended her, she became important in my life.
But lately, I'd been having feelings about her that felt stronger than those of friendship.
Since she was both my first and best friend, at first, I assumed that was why.
But is a best friend someone that is always the last thing you think of before you fall asleep?
And the first one you think of when you wake up?
Does a best friend's smile make you feel like time is slowing down?
Look, James, she's your first friend, I reminded myself mentally.
That is why she is so important to you.
"James?" Harlee called out to me, pulling me from thoughts.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
I realized I'd been staring at her and lowered my eyes.
"We asked if you're ready to take the picture," Evan told me.
"Oh, yeah. Let's do it," I said quickly, hoping I hadn't weirded Harlee out with my gawking.
Evan held his phone up and nodded.
Okay, the voice in my head spoke again,
If you don't have a crush, James, then stop always staring at her like some kind of freak.
Harlee and I stood on either side of Evan while he opened his camera app.
Just as he was about to snap the photo, though, a frisbee flew right through Frosty and landed at our feet.
The action caused Frosty's head to fall off and splatter onto the ground.
Evan, Harlee, and I simultaneously gasped.
Then a familiar menacing laugh rang out a few feet behind our ruined snowman.
"Nice shot, man," the voice said, "Mike, we really ought to make this a sport."
Our eyes all looked into the direction where the voices were coming from.
Jasper Collins and Mike Douglas were standing there high-fiving and laughing at what they'd just done to our creation.
"Of course," I muttered in agitation, "Jasper."
"What the heck was that?!" Harlee demanded, storming over toward them.
"Oh, hey, Harlee," Jasper greeted, "It's a new game we made up where we throw frisbees at snowmen people have created. We're thinking of turning it into an official sport."
Mike laughed again, nodding.
"It isn't funny. That snowman took us like twenty minutes to make," Harlee said, still fuming.
"Hey, you've still got a snowman," Jasper said. "He's just headless."
"Frosty, the headless snowman," Mike sang, teasingly, "was a very jolly soul."
Jasper guffawed at that then high-fived him again.
The teasing and joking infuriated Harlee even more.
"It's not funny, you guys!" She stomped her foot.ย
"I thought we had a deal."
"What deal?" asked Jasper.
"The deal that you aren't gonna mess with James anymore in exchange for me not showing that video of the prank I pulled on you to everyone at Fairington."
Jasper's sinister smirk grew wider at her statements.
"We're not at Fairington anymore, Harlee," he said.
"Besides, I still haven't even seen the video you're talking about, so I've kind of gotten the idea that it never really did exist."
Harlee fell silent for a moment.
The truth was he was partially right.
The video didn't exist anymore.
That autumn, Harlee and I had deleted it to make space on her video camera so we could record our visit to the Winnington pumpkin patch.
She told me we should move it to her laptop instead of deleting it, but I naively thought we'd really taught Jasper a lesson since he hadn't messed with me in so long.
So I just told Harlee to erase the video entirely.
Needless to say, I was now beginning to seriously regret that decision.
"So, are you gonna show me the video, Harlee?' Jasper asked, folding his arms.
Harlee still didn't say anything.
Evan and I knew how dangerous it would be if we spoke up and remained quiet as well.
"Yeah," Jasper said tauntingly, "That's what I thought."
Mike walked over and picked up the frisbee, giving Evan and me a death glare as he did.
Then, he and Jasper sauntered off, jeering and laughing about what they'd done.
I sighed.
So I had been wrong to think the days of Jasper terrorizing me were over.
But at least, now I had two best friends to stand by me through it from now on.
I walked over to Harlee, who was still standing there, seeming defeated.
I couldn't tell if she was disappointed about not being able to one-up Jasper, embarrassed, or both.
"Hey, don't feel bad," I said to her,
"We can just put him back together, okay, Harlee?"
Harlee's eyes met mine, and she nodded. "Yeah."
"You could," someone behind all of us said, "But I wouldn't if I were you."
The three of us turned around to see Seth Abraham, a classmate of ours walking up to us.
Seemingly, he'd witnessed everything that had just happened.
"Why not?" Evan asked him in a worried tone.
"Cause they've been doing this to people all day," Seth informed us,
"Destroying their snow creations. You see those kids over there?"
He pointed to a group of five kids about a yard away, sitting in the snow, three of them drawing in it with sticks.
He didn't wait for us to reply before going on,
"Those are my friends.
The six of us made an entire snow family, and Mike and Jasper destroyed all of it...even the snow baby.
"Are you serious?" Harlee asked, the anger in her tone returning.
"Yup. So, now we're just drawing in the snow waiting for our parents to come and pick us up," he said,
"Well, some of us are drawing. Some of us are too scared to even do that."
Harlee shook her head angrily then said to Evan and me, "Alright, come on, you guys."
"Where are we going?" asked Evan, still sounding scared.
"To get some freaking allies," she said simply then began marching toward the other kids.
I could tell Evan was hesitant, and truthfully I was too, but we all followed after her, regardless.
"So, Mike and Jasper destroyed all of you guys' snow creations, huh?" she asked Seth's friends upon us reaching them.
Tara Redwood, another classmate I recognized, nodded her head.
"Jasper said if we build anything else in his park, then he'll bury us all in snow," a strawberry blonde boy said.
"Okay, this is not HIS park. It's Winnington's," Harlee said, "I'm sorry they did that to you guys. They did the same thing to us.
Do you guys want to help us teach them a lesson?"
Tara lowered her eyes.
The blonde boy clamped his mouth shut.
And the other three kids, who had been drawing all stopped after hearing Harlee's proposition.
"Um, I think we'll be fine," Tara said quietly, "I wasn't really having much fun in the snow anyways."
"Same," two others quickly agreed.
"Yeah, me neither," the blonde boy said.
"Come on, you guys," Harlee tried again, "The only reason they pick on people is 'cause they think no one will stand up to them."
Silence ensued.
"They're right," Seth said after a second.
"Well, don't you want to prove them wrong?" Harlee asked them.
"Not really." Seth shrugged. "Just not particularly in the mood to die today," he said.
A defeated Harlee shook her head at them.
I felt bad because I couldn't get myself to speak up and take her side for the same reason no one else would.
We were all just too terrified of Jasper.
I made my way over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder, hoping to help her feel better.
"Sorry, Harlee," I told her, "Not everyone can be as brave as you are."
"It's fine. I don't know about you guys, though, but I'm making another snowman because I don't take orders from Mike and Jasper," she declared.
Seth and his friends' eyes widened at her boldness, but none of them said anything else.
We all remained quiet as Harlee started building a new snowman.
After a few seconds, I glanced around the park to see if I could spot Mike and Jasper anywhere.
When I didn't see them, I felt maybe it was safe to help Harlee.
I started gathering up snow and rolling it into a ball for the base.
Evan hesitated a moment then said,
"I'm going to go get his hat and nose and stuff," and hurried over to where our first Frosty lay in pieces.
Fifteen minutes later, we had a brand new snowman.
The sun would be setting soon, and the park would close, but it seemed we might actually get to photograph this one before it did because Mike and Jasper hadn't returned.
"I like this one better than the last one actually," Harlee remarked, admiring our new creation.
"Me too. He turned out even better," I agreed.
"Okay, let's take a picture real fast before Mike and Jasper see it and destroy it," Evan said, hastily pulling his phone from his pocket.
"Hey!" an angry male voice shouted from across the park right then.
"I thought I said you aren't allowed to build in my park!"
Evan and I froze.
None of us even had to look over to find out whose voice it was.
All of us already knew.
We hadn't moved quickly enough.
Jasper and Mike were back.
"Oh my God," Seth said worriedly as the two began marching toward all of us.
Tara covered her face in angst, and the blonde boy went paler than our new Frosty.
Harlee, of course, was unmoved.
She folded her arms, challenging Mike and Jasper as they reached us.
"I thought I told you I don't want you building in my park," Jasper repeated, staring daggers at Seth.
"We-we didn't build it, Jasper," Seth stammered, "It was all them." He pointed toward me, Evan, and Harlee.
Each and every one of his friends quickly nodded their heads in confirmation.
"Some allies," I muttered under my breath.
Jasper turned his scowl on the three of us.
"Harlee, James, Evan, do we need to make you aware of the rules for my park?" he said.
"Yeah, do we?" Mike chimed in.
Harlee stepped closer to Jasper and returned his scowl with one icier than the frigid evening air.
"This isn't your park. And I thought I told you I'm not afraid of you, Jasper. At all," she said, repeating the words she'd told him at Fairington last June.
I heard a few of Seth's friends quietly gasp at her statements.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the blonde kid was still conscious, given how pale he'd been looking earlier.
Poor guy's face was still devoid of color.
I returned my gaze to Jasper and Harlee.
"Okay," Jasper replied after a few seconds, "Let's see if you change your mind after this."
He nodded at Mike as a command.
Right away, Mike kicked the base of our new Frosty, causing the head to fall off just like the last one's did.
Once the head was gone, he kicked the remainder of the snowman down until there was nothing left but a pile of snow and Frosty's scattered buttons, scarf, hat, and carrot nose.
Harlee became livid.
Killing our first snowman had infuriated her enough, but killing the next proved to be too much for her.
"What is wrong with you?!" she yelled furiously at Jasper,
"Why can't you just stop it?! Why do you always have to pick on people?!"
Her voice broke during the last sentence, and I knew that Jasper had really gotten to her this time.
I wanted to kick Jasper as hard as Mike had kicked Frosty 2.0 for upsetting my best friend.
But I didn't have the courage to do something like that.
So I just remained still, trying to figure out how to comfort her once they finally walked away.
Upon hearing her voice break though, Jasper's expression turned a tad bit
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