i woke up the next morning at 6:34 to someone shaking me awake. i wearily open my eyes and see tommy smiling at me.

"why are you awake?" i ask, checking the time on my phone.

"because it's snowing!" tommy answers. my eyes grow wide and i turn towards the window. sure enough, there is a gentle snowfall.

"oh my god." i jump out of bed and run downstairs, not even bothering to change out of my hoodie, leggings, and fuzzy socks. i throw the door open and run outside to admire the scenery.

"i've never seen this before," i tell tommy, who comes outside a few seconds after me.

"you've never seen snow?" he asks while raising an eyebrow.

"never seen snow FALLING."

"isn't it beautiful?"

"yeah!"

"and the sun is rising, so the sky is all pink..."

i turn to look and, sure enough, the sky is painted a light pink and red, with the sun shining through the clouds.

"wow..." is all i can mutter as tommy stands next to me. "it's so pretty..."

"sure is," tommy replies.

but i can see through my periperal vision that he's not looking at the sky.

if you know what i mean.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

i go inside after i can't handle the cold weather anymore and stay in my pajamas (since it's only 6:51). i throw myself onto the couch and turn the tv on. i channel surf until tommy sits down next to me and takes the remote, turning on the office. i sit back and nod.

"you watch this show?" tommy asks.

"most people watch the office, tommy," i say with a laugh. we turn our attention back to the tv and watch the show until clay walks down the stairs, followed by karl.

"valerie!" karl shouts out to me. i whip my head around and see him approaching. he sits on my other side and holds his hands out to me. i gasp and grab his hands.

"karl! this is so pretty!" i exclaim while admiring the green nail polish i bought for george on his nails.

"you made a good purchase!"

"i love it so much, it suits you so well."

as soon as everyone comes downstairs, clay insists on making breakfast, which consisted of pancakes and waffles. i eat them quickly and go upstairs to change, trying to decide on an outfit. as soon as i pick one out, i do my makeup and brush my hair, just as i have every other day.

i go back down the stairs as i pull on my jacket to give me warmth for the snow.

"you look like karl," alex says as i walk down the stairs. karl turns his head towards me when he hears his name and smiles widely.

"wasn't even intentional," i say with a shrug.

after a while, clay and wilbur call us into the kitchen to talk about what we're going to do today.

"we were planning on doing something fun, but now that it's snowing..." wilbur trails off.

"what's wrong with the snow?" toby asks.

"nothing's wrong with it. it's just that a few places are closed now due to it."

"that's stupid," nick says, resting his chin in his hand.

"let's go snow tubing," niki suggests. everyone turns their head towards her.

"that's a great idea," george says. "i haven't done that in a long time."

"same, and i've never done it while it was actually snowing," i add in.

"so it's settled?" tommy says. "we can go tubing at the tubing area that's like an hour away. we can also eat lunch there and visit the shop if we get bored."

"sounds good, everyone?" wilbur asks. everyone nods. "great. we're leaving in fifteen."