"I'm leaving, Mum." Grace yelled on the top of her lungs, racing downstairs and taking two steps at a time. Which clearly was a mistake since Grace had been acting quite clumsy the past few months.

Just as she was about to step on the last one, she stumbled and fell forward. Thankfully, Jordyn came right on time to grip her shoulders.

"Careful, Gracie. I told you not to run on the stairs." She gave Grace a little glare. "Where is your scarf? You'll catch a cold."

Grace pressed her lips together and nodded. "It's on the couch. I need to leave now, Mum. They all would leave without me."

Stepping away from eleven-year-old Grace, Jordyn shook her head before tying her shower–drenched hair in a loose bun.

"Luc won't leave without you."

"But then we both would be the last ones to reach the park!" Grace ran over towards the couch, looking around for her grey woolen scarf. "I hate being the last one."

Jordyn muttered something but Grace was too busy picking up the cushions, looking around for her scarf. When she failed to find it, she shrugged and went towards the door.

"See you later, Mum." And before Jordyn could've stopped her, Grace opened the front door and went outside.

A small shudder escaped her lips as she stepped outside under the morning sky. It was freezing out here, but not much since the sun was out.

Rubbing her gloved hands against each other, Grace pulled her jacket closer against herself and skipped towards the fence, before opening it up. Almost immediately, she saw Lucius.

"They left." Lucius looked over at her as she came beside him. He was wearing a blue jacket with a soft, black scarf wrapped around his neck.

"What?" Grace's eyes widened at that. "Why didn't you go with them?"

"I couldn't have left you behind." He grinned before rubbing his nose which was turning a bit red in the cold.

Grace frowned sadly and started walking beside Lucius. "I came out quick, didn't I?"

Lucius nodded slowly. "A little late."

"I wasn't late!" She frowned even more at Lucius, who seemed to not like it.

"I mean, of course. You weren't late, Gracie." He replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

It was a typical snowy morning in Hayward. And since it was the school holidays, Grace and her friends always went to play in the snow at Sundays. However, apart from Lucius, no one ever seemed to wait for her before going over to the nearby park.

Especially, Meg.

The girl who seemed hell bent on making Lucius her best friend. At least, that's what Grace thought. And she did not like her even a single bit.

"They could've waited a minute longer." Grace muttered to herself. "Just a minute. I would've been out in just a minute."

Lucius chuckled lightly, both of their snow boots making crunching noises as they walked along the white fallen snow across the street.

"Meg was impatient to leave."

"Without me." Grace grumbled, looking down at her boots. A cold breeze blew across Grace's face, making another small shudder escape her lips.

"Where's your scarf?" Lucius asked, glancing behind them.

"I don't know." Grace stopped when they reached the entrance of the park, and stood on her toes as she peeked at the kids running across the grassy ground filled with fresh snow.

Before she could've gone inside, Lucius stepped in front of her, blocking her view since he was few inches taller than her.

"Take this." He pulled off the scarf from around his neck and stepped towards Grace, gently wrapping it around hers.

Grace involuntarily inhaled the familiar cinnamon scent and sudden warmth filled her out of nowhere.

"Come on. We need to go!" She hissed at Lucius excitedly as he wrapped the long scarf one more time around her neck—just so that she wouldn't fall down.

"All right–" Even before he could've finished the sentence, Grace gripped his hand and ran where the other kids were, dragging Lucius behind her.

"Gracie, you're here!" It was Bella who ran towards her with a wide grin. "We were just about to have a snow fight."

Grace let go off Lucius's hand and nodded. "That's great." However, before she could've added more onto it, someone hit a big snowball right at Grace's back.

"Oof!" Grace stumbled forward but fortunately, Bella gripped her shoulders.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Gracie!" Grace didn't have to turn around to see whose voice it was.

Of course it was Meg.

"I didn't even see you guys coming here." Meg laughed before coming over towards Grace and Lucius. Grace straightened up and looked at her.

"That wasn't nice, Meg." It was Lucius who said that.

Grace frowned and started walking away from them, mainly towards a spot where a lot of snow was scraped over. She felt footsteps following her.

"Grace, don't let her get to you." It was Bella.

Grace kneeled down and scooped up a large amount of soft snow in her gloved hands before molding it in a large ball.

"Of course not, Bells." She spoke up. "I'm gonna teach her how bad it is to pick fights with me."

"It wasn't technically a fight."

Grace let out a humorless chuckle. She straightened up and looked over at Meg at some distance who was talking to Lucius quite excitedly.

"She thinks she can steal my best friend?" Grace spoke up.

Bella followed her gaze and raised her brows. "I don't think–"

She didn't get to finish. Not before Grace raised her hand with the large snowball and aimed it right at Meg's face, before throwing it.

And let me tell you, Grace was brilliant when it came to throwing things at people's faces.

There was a loud oomph as the large snowball hit right at Meg's face. She stumbled back and fell down on the ground. Lucius, who should've helped her, stepped back and looked over at Grace, trying his best not to laugh.

But he couldn't have controlled it when a bubble of laughter escaped his lips. Grace grinned at that, quite proud of herself. While every other kid looked over at Meg.

And that's pretty much when the snow fight begin.

•••••

Grace sneezed. Then sneezed again.

"Your mom's gonna be angry." Lucius spoke up from beside her, lying down on the snowy ground. Grace, however, was sitting up, pressing her palms over her face as another sneeze came.

"How come you didn't catch the cold?" She asked, nudging his leg with her knee. "You even gave me your scar–"

Another sneeze followed.

"Bless you, Gracie." Lucius murmured.

Rubbing her face, Grace found herself glaring at Meg. Only few kids were left in the park besides Grace and Lucius. Meg was unfortunately one of them, although she wasn't near them.

"It's all her fault. She threw so much snow at me." Grace grumbled.

Lucius sat up and dusted the snowflakes off his jacket.

"She thinks she can be your best friend." Grace continued grumbling, hating the cold feeling on the tip of her nose.

"Really?" Lucius asked before looking over at Meg.

Grace frowned and shoved him with her elbow. "How can you do this to me?"

Lucius immediately looked over at her, in surprise. "What?"

"I am your only best friend." Grace murmured, furrowing her brows sadly. She was quite aware of her hair frizzing up with static under the cold atmosphere.

Lucius's eyes widened a little before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Of course, Gracie. Why would you think that way?"

Grace fell quite at that. Before speaking up again.

"Well, she once told me in the girl's restroom how we both never act around like best friends." Grace spoke up, sniffing. She rubbed the tip of her nose, feeling the numbness against her fingers. "She said that..."

Grace trailed off, frowning at Meg's words that replayed in her head. She felt Lucius watching her closely, waiting.

"...that we are too close to be friends." She murmured.

Lucius was silent at that. But then he broke out laughing. A small smile formed on Grace's lips at that.

"She said that?" He asked, his brown eyes looking like honey under the cold sunlight.

Grace nodded before grinning. And then another sneeze escaped her lips.

"What else did she say?" Lucius asked, his eyes glinting with humor.

Grace thought about that for a few seconds. "She told me that she knows you're my first kiss."

A choked laugh escaped his lips. "What?" Gracie grinned secretly at the tinge of pink spreading across his cheeks. She loved making him feel uncomfortable. "I wasn't your first kiss."

"I know that." She raised her brows at him. "She doesn't."

Lucius looked back at Meg before another laugh escaped his lips. "She's crazy."

Grace nodded with a satisfactory grin.

"You'll forever be my best friend, right?" She asked, looking up at him, and there was clear hope in her voice.

Lucius blinked before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Gosh, your nose is freezing!" Grace hissed, pushing him away.

Lucius laughed and fell back against the snow. "Forever, Rose."

_______________________________________________________________________

Next update = tomorrow ♥

Make sure to click the ★ below ↓ if you liked this chapter.

Crystal 🌿