Winter School

   

It wasn't like I was asking to be this way. Nor did I ever want to be this way. My mother always thought it was a silly little game I made to keep myself entertained. But...what she didn't know, is that I never made him up. I never needed an "imaginary friend", because he was always with me. I just couldn't prove it...

    "KASEY!!!"

    My mind slowly seeped into reality, the booming female voice snapping its jaws like a dog. I didn't need to look at the time to know that I was late... but I did look at the smiling clock on my wall, its hands reaching for the eighth hour. The sudden pit in my stomach fell in a winter storm, the dread creeping up like frost.

    "Shit...!" I muttered, jumping from my bed and yanking out the first pair of pants I could. Yanking off my pajamas I quickly replaced them with black jeans and a black shirt with angel wings decorated on the back. It wasn't in my exact taste, but I like to be able to make bad decisions, without real consequences. The worst to happen was an exasperated sigh and a death glare from my mom. I looked into my mirror, yanking a hairbrush quickly through my auburn hair. You could definitely tell I did not brush it after my shower the previous night.

    "As usual, I see you are rushing and your mother is screeching like a banshee." I glanced at the boy that now laid on my bed, a hand propping up his head as his orange eyes tracked my every move. He reminded me of a cat.....and I always seem to be the mouse.

    "And as usual, you didn't wake me up as you watched the time slip by..." I scowled at him, watching his reflection. "Did you turn my alarm off too? Or did you have mercy on my poor black soul?"

    His chuckle was answer enough. He was always such an asshole. Even when we were both kids, he liked to see me trip over my own two feet as I stumbled through life. I'm pretty sure he was at fault every time. I turned my attention back to myself after looking over his perfect, smug face that was framed delicately—no, not delicately....obnoxiously...yeah, that's better. That was framed obnoxiously with his short black hair. A perfect compliment for a jackass. And a demon.

    "You know...you could always just pay me to wake you up..." I looked at his reflection again, my hand pausing from stroking on my eyeliner.

    "Go to hell, Jackson."

    "I've tried."

    "Oh? How nice, I get to be tortured by your ugly face some more."

    He put his hand on his chest and pouted, "Oh Kas...why do you bully me? I simply came to help~.." The amusement in his eyes as he acted hurt was grinning for him. Which earned another scowl from me. Typical jackass behavior. I finished sketching on my eyeliner and added a few strokes of mascara before calling it done and moving to my personal bathroom to brush my teeth. I glanced at him as he followed me inside. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. "Remind me again why you're wearing that disgusting shirt?"

    "Because it disgusts you, clearly." I stuck the bristled stick in my mouth, quickly scrapping around my mouth with the minty paste burning its way through.

    He looked over the printed wings again before mumbling, "How rude.." His eyes met mine in the mirror, his amusement returning. He flipped his hair dramatically and ran a hand through his hair, "What? Like what you see?"

    I rolled my eyes and turned on the sink to rinse my mouth. But I did like what I saw. Not that I'd ever admit it. If I did, the mocking would make a 90 degree turn and jump onto a whole new level. And I wasn't about to give him that satisfaction.

    "The witch is comin down the hall." He said, looking towards the door just in time for my mother to burst in.

    "Kasey Mar Jinkens!!" Her cold eyes landed on me and she frowned. "What are you still doing here?? You should be at school!!"

    "Oooooo...she said your full name~...she is pissed~!!" Jackson said, moving away as he mocked me. I shot him a pointed look, which only made his smile grow.

    "It's college mom, not school..." I mumbled, feeling like a toddler again.

    "All the more reason for you to already be there!"

    "I'll just be a few minutes late.."

    "Unless you walk. Give me your keys." She held out her hand, I stared at her hand, then her.

    "You aren't serious....it's 54 degrees out there!" I glanced towards the window to see flakes floating around as if they were dancing.

    "You should have thought about that before acting irresponsible. Keys. Now." Her foot was tapping. Her patience was growing thin...I was about to walk on thin ice...literally.

    "Shit... I did not see that coming.." Jackson mumbled, watching the exchange. I glared at him before stalking past him to grab my keys. I tossed them to my mother, who caught them with satisfaction.

    "Dinner is at nine." She said before turning on her heels and walking out of my room.

    "You are such a dick...!" I shout whispered at Jackson. He shrugged and smiled.

    "Look on the bright side! You still have me." He held out his arms as if he was the best gift in the world.

    I frowned, "I thought you said the 'bright side'." He laughed and nodded slightly.

    "Well, which is better, staying with me...." he glanced toward the bed. "Or talking with the snow?" He asked, looking at the window.

    I pulled on my thick winter socks, then my leg warmers, and finally my boots. I looked at my options, decided which was preferred, and grabbed my winter coat. "The snow." He laughed and followed me, snapping his fingers to make his own winter clothing appear on him. Though he was dressed for the cold, I knew he only did it to comfort me. In a sick twisted way. I slipped on my gray gloves and wrapped a red scarf around my neck, adding a white beanie to top it off. Jackson pulled on his black gloves.

    "All set?" He asked, wiggling his fingers and scowling at the scratchy fabric.

    "Where's your beanie?"

    He glanced sidelong at me "I don't have one."

    I gave him a dramatic sigh, hiding my wicked smile as I scavenged around my room. Finding the gray fabric I walked over to him as he looked at the cloth; and before he could object, I stuck the cute kitty beanie on his head. "Perfect!!" I said laughing.

    He glanced at the mirror and frowned, ripping it off his head and tossing it back at me. "Hell to the no.."

    I laughed and tossed it onto my bed, picking up my backpack and purse. "Alright, alright, let's go."

    The air was incredibly crisp and dangerously cold. Even with a pile of clothes on that made me look fat, I could not object to the icy claws that seem to devour my body. Jackson was having the best time of his life. I watched him crouch down and grab a pile of snow, forming a ball. He looked at me grinning.

    "Don't you dare!" I yelled over the wind. Not that he was going to listen. He stood and hurled it at me, barely missing my head. "You...!!!"

    He laughed and backed away, "C'mon Kas~! I'm just trying to help you chill!"

    "You're not helping me chill, you're making me even more pissed off!!" I reached down and picked up a stick I spotted sticking up from the snow.

    He could tell what I was doing. He was not happy about it. "That's cheating!" He yelped as I threw the stick at him, watching him stumble away to dodge. His eyes went wide as he stepped on some ice and he fell into the snow that laid over the grass like a blanket. I burst into a fit of laughter.

    "You could at least ask if I'm okay!!" He shouted, slowly standing back up, cautiously moving back onto the sidewalk, avoiding the bit of ice that attacked him.

    "Fine fine!" I said between giggles. "Are  you okay?"

    "No! I am not okay!"

    I laughed, "Good."

    He scowled at me, before smiling. I walked to him slowly, being careful of where I stepped. We started on our journey again when he paused, "What's the plan for after class?"

    "Does it matter? I won't be able to talk with you, otherwise, I'll just seem crazy."

    "What if you are crazy?"

    "I'm not."

    "But if you were?"

    I stopped and looked at him, "I would want to be discarded. I do not like being a burden.."

    "I know." He sighed, walking ahead.

    "And I know you are real..." I said slowly, carefully.

    He turned and looked at me, "What makes you think I am real?"

    I started walking, glancing back at the disturbed snow he fell in, then the footsteps behind him. I looked ahead, "Because if you weren't real, there wouldn't be any impressions on the snow. And you wouldn't be able to throw snowballs, and I wouldn't be able to hit you. Or put things on top of your head—"

    "Not that you can considering how short—"

    "I am not short! I am perfectly average! You're just extremely tall!"

    He laughed and continued to follow me. "Sure, sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself..."

    I huffed at him and stormed ahead. "You're such an asshole!" I heard his amused chuckle as he whispered.

    "I know.."

    I walked into the classroom as quietly as possible, I glanced at the professor as he wrote on the whiteboard. His handwriting was a scribble as always, and barely illegible. His eyes darted between the paper he held and the expo marker that made wide strokes and quick lines to spell out the words. I quickly climbed to my usual seat in the third row from the front, the very edge of the desk. I winced when the sound of my backpack's zipper screamed throughout the room, no matter how slow I went. Jackson was snickering beside me, sitting on an invisible chair beside me. As always, I could tell he was gonna do his best to embarrass me. I glanced around the room, a few people catching my eye as they giggled and looked at me. Melissa, Chloe, and of course, their boy toy, Nathan. Though Nathan this time seemed a little more disinterested in the girls he was forced to sit between. In fact, he seemed annoyed. Jackson mumbled softly, "I would ignore him if I were you...."

    "If I listened to you, I would have to ignore everybody in this classroom..." I muttered under my breath. I looked at him, briefly before pulling out my composition notebook and a black pen. The ink quickly pooling onto the page to form the words.

    "Actually, you don't have to listen to me to ignore everybody. You're clearly anti-social without my help."

    "Shut up...Can't you see I'm busy?"

    "Busy making yourself look crazy? Yeah, I know."

    I shot him a glare, but he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze and met Nathan's stare. Or, so I thought...But he wasn't looking at me. I looked at Jackson bewildered, and whispered, "Wait...Can he see you?" Jackson simply glanced at me before returning Nathan's stare. "Jackson..."

    I looked over at Nathan again, who finally stopped staring at Jackson to look at me. I froze when he stood and started walking towards me. He slid his hands into his pockets and walked past me, without a second glance, and he opened the door and stepped into the hallway. The door slowly closed, and a loud click sending the last piece of evidence I needed to know, that I was not dreaming...

    "I'll be right back..." Jackson mumbled, standing and following Nathan. I was tempted to shout after him but thought better of it and turned my attention back to class. I'll just have to wait...

    Nathan was sitting back in his seat. Jackson was still gone. He was missing. I twirled my pen around my fingers, jotting down whatever the teacher wrote automatically. I glanced between the space beside me, and the boy sitting on the other side of the room. His two fangirls leaning on him. And from the looks of it, one was trying to get laid. Sluts. I shook my head and looked at the board, jotting down whatever I saw, and looked at the door again. It felt like an eternity passed when the door finally creaked open. I stared at Jackson. Or, who I thought was Jackson. He had the same facial features, but he wasn't pale. He didn't seem invisible either. Everyone in the class was staring at the stranger who was looking at me with pure shock and terror in his eyes. Something was wrong...Very very wrong...

    "Ka...Kasey...?" He squeaked, his footsteps were slow, disorientated. What was going on...??! "Kas..."

    I yelped and jumped up when he grabbed my wrist and.....I felt warmth. Not icy cold, but warmth in his hand. He instantly let go and glanced around at the staring faces. He looked horrified. I looked around the room, catching Nathans smirking face as Jackson again grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hall. I stumbled after him in shock.

    "Jack...? What....what happened? How can they see you? Why are you.....What's going on??"

    "Nathan...Nathan....stay away from him....." He mumbled, looking around. He looked halfway insane...

    "Jack...did Nathan do something? What did he do?" I asked, grabbing his face and making him look at me. His eyes caught mine and his body relaxed slightly. "Jackson...Tell me what happened..."

    "Nathan...He–"

    "I gave him a body," Nathan said behind me. I swirled around and stared at him. And for a second....his eyes weren't the cold gray I remembered. They were a rusty copper. And he stared right at me, a slow smile spreading across his features. "Hello, Kasey."