Chapter 24 : Winter

The two sisters were at the Byers' house for two weeks now, meaning it was the beginning of Christmas holidays for Jane's biggest pleasure, enjoying her new bed a bit longer in mornings. But this morning, Jane felt cold, not a bad cold, a good one. She opened her eyes and saw the light outside. She got out of her bed and jumped on her sister's bed to look outside.


- "Jane, what are you doing!? You can't sleep like a normal kid!?" mumbled Constance.


- "Snow! There is snow!"


- "Good, have fun, and let me sleep!"


Jane ignored her sister's bad mood and ran out of the room. Jonathan and Joyce were in the kitchen when Jane appeared.


- "Hey Jane, you're overexcited!" chuckled Joyce.


- "There is snow!"


Jane ran to the door and opened it.


- "Wait!"


Joyce quickly walked to her and wrapped her arms around the young girl before raising her, taking her away, and closing the door.


- "But I wanna play in the snow..." said Jane with a disappointed tone.


- "You will, don't worry, but you're not even wearing shoes!" stated Joyce with an amused tone.


- "If I put shoes, can I play in the snow after?"


- "You need to wear something warmer first. Come on, let's see what I have for you."


- "Why are you running this early?" asked Will who just got out of his room, rubbing his eyes.


- "There is snow! Come play with me!" answered Jane.


- "Uh..."


- "Come on! It's gonna be fun!"


- "Can I eat something first?"


- "Of course, be fast before I steal all the snow!"


- "I won't let you do that," smiled the boy.


Will took some pancakes in his hands and gave some to Jane before following her and his mother to find some warm clothes. Once ready, the two friends ran out of the house and jumped in the snow, bellies first, to plunge their faces into the white powder. They giggled before standing and running everywhere, throwing snowballs to each other. They arrived behind the house and went into the tool shed to see if there were things to play with.


- "I don't know where the sleds are," sighed Will of annoyance.


- "Maybe we could use this, no?"


Will turned and saw the boat that Jane was showing with her finger. It was his father's boat, but the man never came to take it back, so maybe he forgot he had one. He helped her to take it outside.


- "Oh oh, they found the boat!" stated Jonathan who was still inside.


- "It's bad?" frowned Constance.


- "No, but I don't want them to get hurt with it, it's an old boat."


- "Then, let's be sure they won't get hurt."


The two teens put warm clothes before going outside to join their little siblings.


- "What do you think you are doing?" told Constance.


- "...Sledding?" answered Jane.


- "No way, not like that."


Constance got into the tool shed before coming back with two helmets.


- "Here, to be sure you won't get hurt."


Will and Jane smiled to each other before jumping in the boat. Jonathan and Constance slid them to the top of a hill.


- "You're ready?" smirked Jonathan.


- "More than ever," answered Jane.


Constance and Jonathan smiled to each other before pushing Will and Jane who slid through the hill, screaming with all the air they had in their lungs. A tree stopped their race in the snow, projecting the two kid on the tree, making them laugh.


- "Is everything ok down there!?" asked Constance.


- "Yeah! It was so fun!" answered Will.


The two teens chuckled while Jane and Will were dragging the boat to the top of the hill. They kept sliding a moment, alternating the partnership, until the boat broke with Will and Jane inside.


- "Oh no, I broke your boat, I'm sorry..." apologized Jane.


- "Jane, relax, this is not your fault, it was an old boat anyway, and it was really fun," reassured Will.


- "But it's broken..."


- "Hey, it's ok, if we didn't use it as a sled, it would have stayed in the tool shed for nothing, at least it was useful! Don't worry, no one is going to be mad at you."


Jane nodded. She didn't know how she was doing to break everything. The two kids came back near Jonathan and Constance with the pieces of the boat.


- "Well, we'll have to find something else to do!" stated Jonathan.


- "I'm sorry..." said Jane.


- "This is not your fault; this boat had a long life!"


- "Yeah, and now we can do a snowman tournament!" smiled Constance.


- "A snowman tournament!? So cool!" told Jane with excitement.


- "Yeah, cool, so? We do two teams of two?" asked Jonathan.


- "Oh, Will, you are with me! Please! Every time Constance maked the best snowmen, but not this time!" said the young girl.


- "Ok, sure, we'll kick their ass!" answered Will.


Jane had a worried look to her sister because Will said a bad word, but she didn't say anything. The two kids ran in front of the house while the two teens were slowly following them.


- "You won't win if you lose time!" stated Jane with a joking tone.


- "Don't worry for us, we don't need as much time as you to win!" joked Jonathan.


The young girl winced at him which made them laugh. Will and Jane built their snowman like if they were playing their lives, trying to hide it from their two competitors, not wanting them to copy them.


- "My mom is preparing a soup, try to take a carrot if you can," said Will.


- "Ok!"


Jane ran to the door, kicked the ground with her feet to take off the snow, before slowly opening the door and going to the kitchen. Joyce was peeling when she saw a small brown head appearing next to her.


- "How can I help you?" smiled Joyce.


- "We're making snowmen," told Jane.


- "Oh, and you need a nose, right?"


- "Yeah, can I take a carrot?"


- "Sure, what about this one?"


- "It's perfect, thank you!"


Jane took the carrot and went back outside to place it on their snowman. After a few minutes, the two teams compared their snowmen.


- "Well, we've to admit that yours is better than ours," stated Constance.


Jane and Will smiled to each other before doing a high five.


- "Do we have a prize?" asked Jane.


- "Oh, uh, yeah, a big bowl of soup prepared by my mother," answered Jonathan.


- "Sounds good to me!"


The four decided to run to the house, where Jane fell at the door, making fall the three others on her.


- "Are you ok?" chuckled Joyce.


- "Yeah, just crushed," giggled Jane.


Constance helped her little sister to stand. Jonathan, Will, Constance, Jane, and Joyce sat around the table to eat the lunch. Jane was so happy to be here, she was having so much fun and she had her own space now, without other teens with her, only her sister, she preferred being with only her in her room. And Will, Jonathan, and Joyce were very nice with them, it was like if they were part of the family.

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