"Frankie!" Gerard screams my name. My face is still buried in the snow and I'm in no hurry to get up. The crunching of snow gets louder and Gerard kneels down next to me. I lift my face up and stare at him. He's doing everything he can to not laugh at him but I see the edges of his lips curving into a smile. "You okay, baby?" he asks in a low voice. A part of my heart melts and I start blushing. The others aren't around so they don't hear him.

"You're laughing at me," I sigh, finally sitting up.

Gerard extends his hand and helps me up. "I mean, you completely wiped out but it was good." I laugh, shaking off the extra snow and trying to maintain balance. I start teetering to the side and flail my arms out. "You're good, you're good," he says as I fall backward. "No!" I grab his arms but I trip over the skis and I go down, bringing Gerard with me.

He lands on top of me and the two of us burst out laughing. "Need some help?" Amelia asks, skiing over to us. Gerard lifts himself up and Cody gets him back on his feet. Amelia hoists me back up and I sturdy myself.

"Thanks," I say.

"Yeah," she glances at Gerard with her eyes and looks back at me with a smirk. "Look at you two," she whispers under her breath.

I start blushing. "No, stop," I say lowly. I mean, yeah but she can't know. At least, not until Gerard is okay with other people knowing. She raises her eyebrows and I do my best to smile innocently.

"Hiding something?" she teases. I don't say anything, just looking at her. "You tell me later?" I nod my head subtly. I mean, later is indefinite so I'm not wrong. I will tell her eventually, just not right now.

"How do you guys make it look so easy," Lynn hollers over at us, dragging herself across the snow. Jenna is trying to pull her back up to her feet but Lynn continues crawling with her skis on. "No, I can't stand, this is how things are now!" she cries out dramatically. "But for real, how do you just do it so gracefully?"

"Just don't fall," Jenna says. Lynn glares up at her and Jenna giggles.

"I've done it my whole life," Amelia says. "I used to compete too before school got too busy."

"Amelia, we literally saw you do flips off the ramps just now," Lynn says, "like I can't even stand up but you just fly right out of the snow."

"Dude, imagine your kids," Gerard says to Cody and Amelia. They glance at him with soft smiles. "Like she's a track runner and a ski champion. Cody does hockey, basketball, and boxing."

"Oh my god, you're going to give birth to the next Avengers," I say.

"Ugh, and their kids will have blue eyes," Lynn whines. "And Cody is really good at art." Cody stifles a laugh and shakes his head. "Dude, you're in the third level art class, yeah, you're good," Lynn argues with him.

"And you sing," I point out. "Your kids are going to take over the world."

"Only if they get Amelia's grace," Jenna says. "If Cody gives them his clumsiness, the world isn't threatened." Cody smacks her shoulder and she starts giggling again.

"It's like three o'clock," Gerard says. "We missed lunch again."

"Eh, we had a late breakfast. It's fine," Amelia says. "Want to go down a few more times before we have to leave?"

"I'm going to have to call it quits," Cody says. "My legs are killing me."

"Same," I say. "I have accumulated so many bruises that my bruises have bruises."

Gerard looks at me and smiles. "You've been getting better," he says.

I glance at him and smile. "You just saw me splat on my face." Gerard purses his lip to the side and laughs.

"If you guys are heading back, then I'll join you," Lynn says.

"Are we all going back?" Jenna asks.

Gerard and Amelia look at each other. "We can stay out if you want, I'm good," Amelia says.

"I don't mind going a few more times," Gerard says. "We can meet back in like an hour at the latest before we have to go. When are we leaving?"

Amelia leans side to side thinking. "We usually leave right before dinner or something because that's the least amount of traffic around here. But we packed up this morning so we'll meet back around 5 and then leave shortly after."

"Awesomeness," Cody says. "So we'll see you back in an hour?"

"Yeah, about then," Jenna says.

"Alright sounds," I say. I glance at Gerard and he smiles at me. I can't help but smile back at him.

"We'll you in a bit," Amelia says.

The three of us split off like yesterday. We go to return our skis and then start hiking back to the lodge. Amelia's wearing a bright pink snowsuit and Jenna is white and cyan. Gerard is black and green. As we walk up the steps of the house, we see the three of them zooming down the slope. Jenna is ahead of them all, speeding down way in front of Gerard and Amelia. Gerard is going down in Z motions, snow spraying out every time he turns. Amelia is being all fancy. We watch her go up a ramp and flip in the air, landing perfectly and continuing to down the snow.

"Damn, I have no idea how she does that," Cody said.

"I cannot find balance just by standing but they're just whizzing by," Lynn says.

"You and I literally just crashed on the bunny hill," I say. Lynn starts laughing shaking her head. "Part of me wishes I could athlete but I also don't like moving."

"See, I just wish I could ski like her," Cody says.

"Cody, you can figure skate really well," Lynn points out.

"Well, yeah, but that's from hockey." Amelia does a backflip on the last ramp and lands at the bottom, slowing to a stop. "That's so hot," he mutters.

"Actually, it's cold," Lynn says. Cody groans out and sighs. Lynn and I laugh and then we head inside as the others go back up the ski lift.

We head in and make ourselves Ramen again. Somehow, we're not sick of it. The three of us sit at the table, scrolling on our phones while eating. Whenever we find something funny, we'd show the others. Cody shows a video of a bird angrily stomping around and Lynn nearly chokes on her food from giggling.

"What should we watch?" Lynn says, grabbing the remote. She curls up in the middle couch and gestures for Cody and me to join her. I mean, the couch is big enough for all of us to contently fit. It's equivalent of a king's size bed.

"A movie or more YouTube?" I ask.

"Let's watch Shrek again!" Cody says. I roll my eyes and shake my head while laughing. "You can't beat its soundtrack."

"Yeah, for you next vocals project, you and Lynn do a duet of All Star," I say.

"Oh! They have the new Jumanji movie," Lynn says, hovering over it. "Have you guys seen it?"

"Nope," I say.

"Oh my god, it's so funny. Like, as a sequel could go for this movie, this was so good."

"The Rock is in it, I'll watch it," I say with a smirk.

"The girl actress is really cute too," Lynn says.

"Man, I loved the first one, that's my childhood right there," Cody says. "Heh, that scene where the plant just eats the car and the cop was so done with everything."

"He was my favorite," Lynn says, clicking the movie. The intro begins with the sound of the drums and we get quiet as it starts.

The movie is done very well, they have small references to the original and it's really good. Nick Jonas was in there, which I wasn't expecting. But it was a good surprise, especially with him in a bomber jacket. When it's over, part of me wants to watch it again.

Cody rolls off the couch and his phone falls out of his jeans. "Whoop," he mutters, picking it up. "What the..."

"You good, man?" I ask.

He stands up, looking at his phone confused. "Hold on." He starts tapping the screen and puts it to his ear. I look at Lynn but she doesn't know either, giving a shrug. He turns around and I hear a very faint ringing but it stops. Cody lowers his phone, looking at the screen.

"What's up?" Lynn asks.

"Um, Amelia's mom called me four times. 46 minutes ago. But she's not answering."

"That's...odd," I say.

"I mean, she has my number because like I've known her forever but she never really calls me. And it's..." Cody looks at his phone and scrunches up his face. "It's after 6:00."

"Oh, shit, I forgot how long it's been," Lynn says.

"How long's the movie?" I ask.

"Well, probably like 2 hours but we also ate lunch and were on our phones," Cody says. He glances at the front door. "Where is everyone?" I stand up from the couch and walk around and go by Cody. "No, like where are the others and her brother and his friends and like her parents?"

"It's Sunday," I say, looking at Lynn with wide eyes. "Weren't we supposed to leave before dinner time?" Lynn doesn't say anything, biting her lip.

"Call the others," Cody says, turning his phone back on. "Because they said they'd come in after a few more runs, an hour at the most."

Lynn and I take out our phones and Cody goes back to his. I take it they're calling their significant others and I was already planning on calling Gerard. Hopefully, we get one of them.

Cody shakes his head. "Amelia's is off." Gerard's phone starts ringing. Please, pick up. It keeps ringing and ringing, eventually getting to his voicemail. I lower my phone and look at it. "No answer?"

"It rang," I say, "but no one picked up."

"Jenna's isn't answering," Lynn says. "I think she declined the call because it rang twice and then just stopped." What's going on?

The three of us stand around, looking at each other. What do we do? We have school tomorrow so we do need to get home. It's a three-hour drive back. If we were to leave right this minute, we'd get home at 9:00 but that's not going to happen since we can't get a hold of anyone.

"Should we wait here?" Lynn asks.

"We've been waiting here. It's been a while," Cody says. "Where are her parents?" he mutters to himself.

"So if we shouldn't wait here, then should we go out and try finding them?" I ask.

"But what if they come back and they're looking for us but we're not here?" Lynn asks.

"I mean...they can call us," I say. I look at the two of them. "Something's wrong. I don't know what but this shouldn't be happening. We need to-"

The front door slowly starts creaking open and we all freeze. Jenna comes in and looks at us with a deadpan expression and swollen eyes. "Jenna," Lynn says, taking a step toward her. Jenna doesn't react or move. She stands in the threshold with the door still open. The night air is bitter and sharp as it starts flooding into the lodge. "What's going on?" She's still wearing all her ski gear, she just doesn't have the equipment with her. She's not covered in snow either. She looks like she didn't go skiing at all. Her scarf and hat, which usually turn white with snow, are completely clean. Just the bottom part of her boots. I look at Cody and he's staring at her. Lynn goes over to her and pulls her inside, closing the door behind her. She doesn't look at any of us. What happened? What's wrong?

Cody looks at her softly. "Jen, where-"

"No..." she whispers, shaking her head. "Don't. Please-" she takes a heavy breath, shaking as she exhales. The three of us fall silent while looking at her. She slowly rips off her gloves and throws them to the ground. She yanks off her scarf and hat, tossing it to the side as well.

"Jenna," I look at her softly. She doesn't look at me, her eyes fixated on the wall.

She starts unzipping her jacket, sliding it off to the ground but her hands get caught on the inside at the cuffs. Huffing, she whips her jacket but it doesn't come off. "AH! Get me out of this!" she wails. She starts hyperventilating as her hands at still stuck and she drops herself to the ground. I rush over to her, kneeling down as she starts screaming.

"Jenna, it's okay, it's okay," I say in a soothing voice. I force myself to remain calm for her sake but I'm freaking out. I've never seen her act this way. She's...having a tantrum. What happened?

Lynn kneels behind her and helps me take her hands out of her jacket sleeves. Once free, Jenna frantically starts unzipping her snow pants, prying it off her. "Get me out of this!" she keeps whining, sliding the straps off her shoulders and yanking on it. Her face is extremely pale and flustered, jaw trembling.

"Get her up," I say to Lynn. Lynn wraps her arms around Jenna's torso and starts hoisting her up. I slide her snow pants off along with her boots still attached.

"My socks!" she cries out, holding onto Lynn's arms as she's pulled up. Lynn stands her back on her feet, which are now bare.

"What's going?" Lynn asks, still holding onto her. Jenna shakes her head frantically, her hair flying about. Lynn looks up at me. "She's shivering." I stare at Jenna, chewing on my bottom lip. I don't think she's shivering, she's just shaking.

"Jen, where's Amelia and Gerard?" Cody asks. He goes in front of her and I stand up, tossing her snow clothes to the side. "Hey!" He puts his hands on her shoulders. "Where are they? What happened?" His voice is shaking. Jenna stops screaming, still hyperventilating. "Jen, you're freaking us out," he says. "What's going on?" She looks at him and glances at me and starts frantically shaking her head. "Please, where were you guys? Where are they? Where is everyone?"

"They don't know about Gerard," she whines out, trying to catch her breath. "I didn't see them, I just...I went down and I was there and they weren't. I didn't see how-" She starts crying, going limp and dropping her weight.

"Jenna," Lynn groans, the both of them collapsing to the floor. I feel so sick seeing her like this. I start covering my mouth, trying to calm myself down by breathing slowly but I can't stop the nervousness. I don't know what happened but the worst starts coming to mind.

"What's going on!" Cody screams at her. Jenna starts covering her ears, turning her head away.

"Cody, don't," I say sharply, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back a few steps. He looks at me terrified but I stare him down. "Don't yell."

"I'm sorry, Frankie," she finally whispers. I freeze up and look at her. She never calls me that.

I take a slow breath and lower myself in front of her. "What?"

She weakly inhales, shuddering. "That's what he kept saying."

"Wait, who?" Lynn asks, glancing between me and Jenna.

"Gerard," I whisper. Jenna nods her head, scrunching up her chin and whimpering. "What happened, Jenna?"

She closes her eyes, tears trickling down her face. "I like going fast, I always go fast. I beat them down the hill and it was fine. I always do but...they didn't come down." I grit my teeth together. Lynn looks at me scared. Cody slowly sits down with us. "I couldn't see them skiing down and I was looking around but there weren't there. They were gone."

I don't want to know anymore but I ask again anyways. "What happened, Jenna?"

Jenna looks up at me with watery eyes. "They crashed."

"Where?" Cody asks. "Are they okay?"

"I didn't see, but they crashed. I don't remember, I wasn't with them," Jenna continues. "I went too fast and I didn't see them. My back was to them." She starts choking, turning her head away. Lynn straightens her out, trying to get her to ease up. Jenna takes a few breaths, trying to calm down but she's struggling. "Other people start...they started clustering around off the side near the bottom. They were almost down the slope. They were almost done."

"Are they okay?" Lynn asks. Jenna freezes, staring off to the side. Lynn bites her cheeks. "Are they okay?"

Jenna slowly shakes her head. My head starts spinning and I exhale. "I got to them," she whispers, "I got to them and...oh my god." She eyes widen and drift off to the side, she tenses up. "Red. I just saw red. Gerard couldn't open his eyes, his face was...it was all red and dripping." My stomach lurches and I lean back against the wall. I fall harder than I anticipated and my spine hits the wall and it hits a nerve, shooting up and down. My jaw falls open but I can't speak. Red...why...why is this happening? Oh god. I can't breathe. This is wrong. No, this is wrong. "He couldn't move," Jenna says. "He just kept saying I'm sorry, Frankie. Before he stopped breathing and started choking and convulsing. He started coughing up red."

"No," I whisper, my face starts burning up and a hot flash strikes me. My arms go numb and I feel so lightheaded. I know I'm sitting on the floor and leaning on the wall but I feel like I'm falling. Falling down and I can't stop it. This isn't real. This isn't happening. "He's okay, Jenna. No, he's got to be okay. Tell me he's okay!" I try raising my voice but it comes off quieter and quieter. I can't breathe. I can't. She looks at me with sad eyes. "No, please. Tell me he's okay. I can't-he needs-I..." I look away and close my eyes. The tears burn down my cheeks. "No...no, no."

"They don't know if...he's..." she breaks off.

"He has to be, he has to be," Cody whispers. "Jenna, that's not funny. This has got to be some prank. Like...you guys are joking. And...Amelia, she's in on it too, right?"

Jenna closes her eyes and winces. "What happened to Amelia?" Lynn asked concerned.

There's a pause and the room is silent for a moment. "Amelia's gone," Jenna whispers.

I stop moving. No, that's not right. She's not gone. You can't be gone. That doesn't happen. She's my friend, she's a kid. She can't just be gone. I look at Jenna and she opens her eyes. Staring at the ground, her eyes are burning red. The whites of her eyes are gone and her face is ghostly. Amelia's gone. The words hit me and everything inside drops, leaving me hollow. She can't mean that. She can't say that. She can't be gone.

"She's...gone...as in she's..." Lynn murmurs. Her jaw is trembling. Jenna doesn't move, she's staring off. Lynn lets go of Jenna and falls back. "No..."

"You're lying," Cody says, clenching his jaw.

"She wasn't moving. Gerard was rambling and choking and twitching and convulsing," Jenna whispers, "but she wasn't moving all. Her jacket was, it was all torn up and red and...she didn't move. I tried calling her name but...the paramedics said she, that she...on impact."

"You're lying!" Cody screams. He jumps up to his, gripping his hair in his fists. He starts pacing back and forth in small circles. "No! Oh my god, no...Please, god...Tell me your lying!"

"Why would I lie!" she screams back, slamming her fists on the floor. "Wh-t do I gain fr-m ly-g! W-y would I lie!" Her voice is raw and faded, breaking in and out in raspy breaths. "She's my b-st fr-nd and she's g-ne!"