“Shh.” He quiets us. “I heard something.”
Noelle and Scott are looking through the bare branches of the tree, keeping the majority of their bodies behind the tree and just poking their heads out.
“There,” Scott whispers and points to something.
Curiosity wants me to look, to find what he sees. But instead, I keep making snowballs like a good teammate would, creating an enormous stockpile in only a few short minutes.
“But where’s Ben? I only see Abby and Mom,” Noelle whispers.
“I don’t kn—”
Snow explodes on Scott’s back. Oh my God, it’s an ambush!
Before I can even turn to find Ben, Noelle throws three snowballs at him, each one bursting as they smack into him, the last one striking his throat.
Ben down, two to go. But we also lost Scott.
“That was good, bud,” Scott says to Ben as they begin walking to the house with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
But before they are too far, Scott looks back at us and shouts, “You girls got this!”
I want more than anything to once again feel the fatherly affection that is currently warming my heart. Wehaveto win this.
“Do you see them?” I ask her quietly.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know where they went.”
With enough snowballs made, I grab a few and stand up. Those two couldn’t have gone very far. I decide to get a new angle on our battlefield by climbing up the tree, just a few feet up, nothing too crazy. Enough to see if I can spot any bobbing heads around the trees or house.
Holding myself up with one hand, I grip a snowball in the other, listening intently.
The silence is intimidating. I can’t hear a car or a train or anything. Just the birds chirping.
Snap. A branch cracks behind us. I immediately look to Noelle, who is turning around to find the source of the sound. She spots Nancy, who is fumbling to not drop her snowball. Noelle aims, fires, and gently hits Nancy in the chest with the snowball.
Nancy shrieks, and I go to high-five Noelle. Her eyes fly open a second before snow is flying again, this time exploding off of Noelle’s arm.
What happens next is one of the coolest moments of my life, which might be a little pathetic.
Turning my head, I find Abby staring at Noelle with a murderous look in her eyes. A surge of protectiveness flows in my veins. I can still do this. I can win this for us.
Gripping tighter on the tree with my left hand, I twist my torso and wind up, throwing as straight and as fast as I can toward Abby. With her attention still on Noelle, she doesn’t see the loss barreling towards her knee. I would’ve preferred mid-body, but if it hits her, it counts, so I’ll take it.
“No, no, no!” she starts to shout, but her fate is already sealed.
The snow explodes the second it collides with her.
“Well played, guys.” Abby applauds us.
Abby sighs in defeat, then smiles at me as she and Nancy begin the walk back to the house, arm in arm.
Noelle erupts into cheers, throwing her arms in the air. “You did it!”
She turns to face me with pure joy in her eyes and smiles.
I’m distracted for only a second. My grip on the tree loosens, my foot catches on a little branch, and I slip, falling straight toward the ground.
“Ahh!” I shout as the tree beneath me disappears.
