So go have fun
I really couldn't care less
And you can give 'em my best, but just know
- Therefore I Am, Billie Eilish

Ellie woke up in the next morning to the dreadful sound of plastic scratching on concrete.

It was still mostly dark inside the room, probably because of the thick curtains. However, a quick look on her phone showed that it was only 8am, quite early in the morning. But how was anybody supposed to sleep with that noise going on outside?

Curious as to what was causing the disturbance, Ellie sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. The room had cooled down over night and after tentatively sticking a foot out from under the duvet, she decided to keep the blanket on. Pulling it tighter around her shoulders, Ellie took the cover to the window with her and peaked through the curtains.

From her room, which was facing away from the mountains and towards village, she had perfect sight of the area by the front door. With excitement, Ellie noticed that it had snowed during the night; the driveway and the parts of the road she could see were covered in at least a few inches of snow.

Right below her window was a figure in thick winter clothes who was shoveling at the snow with a plastic snow shovel. Each time the person would push the shovel over the driveway and carve a little snow-free line, there was a loud scratching sound. Looking closer, Ellie recognized Quinn who was wearing head-to-toe ski clothing.

Ellie slowly went over to her closet where she had put her clothes the previous evening and pulled out some items for today. Usually, she never got dressed before breakfast as she liked to relax in the mornings and take her time but she felt weird walking around in this unfamiliar house in her pajamas.

Reluctantly, she peeled out of the duvet and got undressed, shivering from head to toe in the morning cold that had set in the room. Her outfit for the day was basically just jeans over leggings to keep her legs warm, a T-Shirt and a thick sweater. Ellie did not like winter clothing all that much. She thought it made her look at least two sizes bigger than she actually was because of how thick it was. The colder it got, the more clothes she had to layer and the larger she looked.

After putting on wooly socks with little pineapples printed on them, Ellie finally went down to the living room, only to find the house abandoned. There was no sign of hers or Quinn's parents and she awkwardly wandered around the house in hopes of finding someone to talk to.

Her stomach rumbled, a loud signal for how hungry she was. But it would be very inappropriate and rude to just take things from a stranger's fridge, would it not? Ellie felt a little weird in this unknown house and did not want to overstep any boundaries. 

Just when she decided to go back up to her room and wait until Quinn was back inside so she could ask her for help, the front door opened and the girl in question waltzed into the house, snow falling from her boots. After her, Pasta entered the hallway, his tiny body wrapped in a ridiculously small, red dog-sweater.

"Oh good, you're up," Quinn noticed, beaming at Ellie as she stripped of her jacket, "I haven't had breakfast yet. Are you hungry?"

Ellie nodded, awkwardly waiting for Quinn to first rid herself of the thick ski trousers and shoes and then help Pasta out of his tiny jacket. Underneath her skiing clothes, Quinn was still wearing her pajamas.

"What would you like for breakfast?" Quinn asked, opening different cabinets and placing multiple cabinets on the countertop, "Usually I just eat some toast but if you'd like something else that's totally fine."

"Do you have cereal?" Ellie came two steps closer, examining the contents of the currently opened cupboard.

"Sure, what kind would you like?" Quinn opened the door of a cabinet and pointed to the different boxes inside, "chocolate flakes, honey nut Cheerios, normal cornflakes... I think there must be some fruit loops somewhere, too..."

"Normal cornflakes are fine," said Ellie, reaching for the box and bowl when Quinn pulled it out from the cabinet. The blonde-haired girl also retrieved a bag of milk from the fridge (those weird Canadians) and a pitcher from the cupboard, giving both items to Ellie as well.

"Alright, I'm just going to make myself some tea and then I'll join you... would you like a cup as well?"

"What kind of tea do you have?"

"I was going to brew some green tea but we have other sorts."

Ellie thought for a minute before shaking her head.

"Thank you but I don't really like tea in the morning."

"Then maybe some coffee or hot chocolate?" offered Quinn. Ellie shook her head again.

"Water will do," she said and sat down on the same chair she had already used the previous evening. Quinn nodded and gathered a glass and a bottle of water that she brought to the table before she went back to get her plate of toast and a jar of jam.

The tall girl sat down opposite of Ellie and prepared the first toast, biting into it at once while Ellie poured the cereal and milk into her bowl and began eating as well. The atmosphere was a little weird, kind of like the mornings after a sleep-over with your friend - except that Ellie and Quinn were not friends but complete strangers.

After a few minutes of silence, Ellie decided to initiate a conversation.

"So, do you still go to school?" She asked, dropping her spoon into the bowl.

"No, I finished High School in summer," Quinn replied, finishing her first piece of toast and grabbing the second, "what about you?"

"Me too," Ellie smiled at Quinn, "so, what do you do now?"

"Not much, really," the latter shrugged, "I work at the restaurant of a friend's parents a few times a week but I don't really know what I wanna do in the long run yet."

"And your parents are okay with that?" The other girl asked perplexed, "Mine would have never allowed that."

"Are they strict?" Quinn asked just as the kettle began to whistle, "Keep talking, I'm listening."

While Quinn went to take care of the boiling water, Ellie told her about her college experience so far and that her parents had not been very pleased with her drop-out.

"Oh, that sucks," Quinn expressed her sympathy, "luckily, my parents don't really care that much about what I do for a living - they understand I'm still young and need time to figure out what I want to do, I mean, High School doesn't really prepare you for that."

"No, it really doesn't," Ellie snorted even though she felt a sharp pang of jealousy at the other girl's words. Sure, she appreciated her parents' support and knew that they were only worried about her future financial situation but she could not help but feel a little envious of Quinn. Her parents seemed great, not pressuring their daughter into anything and letting her take some time to figure out what she wanted. Why could not Ellie's parents be more like them?

Silence settled in again as Quinn came back to the table with a steaming mug full of green tea. They both finished their breakfast and Ellie helped her host with cleaning up afterwards.

"Oh, by the way," Quinn said as they were putting their dirty dishes into the dishwater, "a few friends of mine are going to come over in an hour or so, I hope that's not a problem."

"No, not at all," Ellie shook her head, "I mean, it's your house, after all."

The other laughed at the joke, running a hand through her straight blonde hair and pulling it into a low ponytail.

"I'm going to go get dressed now and brush my teeth," Quinn explained, "see ya."

Ellie nodded and watched as Quinn picked up Pasta - who had been lying on a rug in the living room - and went upstairs. The other waited for a few moment, not wanting to run after Quinn and seem weird before she went up to her room as well. Not knowing what else to do she decided to make her bed and open the windows for a few minutes before deciding it was way too cold to let any fresh air in.

Ellie was a little excited to meet Quinn's friends, to be quite honest. Maybe those three months in this winter village would not be too bad if she got to spend them with a few people her age. Quinn seemed quite nice as far as Ellie could tell and perhaps her friends were just as likable.

Being bored and not really knowing what else to do, Ellie opened her Social Media pages to check out what had been going on online. Generally speaking, she did not check her personal page that often. She had a second page for writing tips and poetry that she most often used but every once in a while she would go back to her private site to see what her acquaintances were doing.

The first picture on her feed was from her ex. Oh how awesome!

Ellie looked at the picture of the two girls looking back at her, her ex pressing her lips to her new girlfriend's cheek. Her ex had been Ellie's first and last relationship so far. It had ended about a year ago when her then-girlfriend had met her current partner but Ellie still got sad over it sometimes. They had ended on good terms and were still somewhat friends - which was why Ellie even kept following her on social media in the first place - yet she still felt a little jealous. It was not necessarily that she missed her ex in particular and more of missing being in a relationship at all.

Ellie sighed and closed the app. Maybe she would find someone once she'd start college again.

Surprisingly, the hour until the arrival of Quinn's friends did go by rather quickly and before Ellie knew it, the doorbell rang. She heard Quinn leave her room and ran downstairs and slowly followed her. Was it okay to just go after her? Did her friends know that there was another girl in the house? What if they did not like her?

"Hi guys, come in, come in!"

When Ellie got off the last step of the stairs and entered the part of the living room that was visible from the hallway, three people had squeezed in through the front door, a guy and two girls. They all turned to look at Ellie when they heard her footsteps and Quinn motioned at her to come closer. The tall girl had indeed gotten dressed and was now wearing long underwear and a fleece top.

"Guys, this is Ellie," she presented her guest to the others, "she and her parents are staying with us for a while."

"Hi there," the guy, who had light blonde hair, slipped off his boots and came closer to introduce himself, still wearing ski trousers, "I'm Collin, Collin King. But you can call me 'your majesty'."

"Shut up, Collin," one of the girls came after her friend and whacked him on the back of the head. She was a little taller than Ellie and had to stand on her tiptoes to reach Collin's head because he was quite the giant - and also a little lanky, his arms were dangling at his sides.

"I'm Lillian, by the way," the girl smiled at Ellie, revealing two slightly big front teeth. Her face was covered in freckles and her long, red hair was braided into two braids.

"Nice to meet you," Ellie smiled at the both of them and then looked at the third visitor, a very slim girl with asian features.

"I'm Fiona," the girl said, getting a little closer to properly greet Ellie, "nice to meet you, too."

Ellie nodded and smiled. Quinn's friends seemed nice and she was looking forward to getting to know them better.

"Did Dash text any you?" Quinn had closed the door and joined the group of teenagers, looking at her friends. So another friend was coming as well!

"Yeah, he said he was going to be here in a little while," replied Lillian, " it shouldn't take him too long to arrive, judging how fast he usually skis."

"Dash lives in Lone Pine," Quinn said to Ellie who was indeed curious about why Dash had to arrive by ski, "and when we meet during the winter, we usually just take the lift and then ski down to the village since taking the bus takes way longer."

"That's also how we got to school in winter," Collin said, sticking out his chest, "and how I get to University."

"There's a university in Lone Pine?" Ellie asked, not expecting such a small town to have any kind of further education other than High School. Collin seemed a little disappointed that Ellie was not interested in his skiing abilities at all but quickly overcame his disappointment and nodded.

"It's quite small but it does the job," he said, "my major is in forestry and Lillians' is in Pharmaceutical Sciences."

"Oh, that's interesting!" Ellie turned to Fiona, "What about you? Do you go there as well?"

"No," Fiona shook her head, "I'm currently helping out my parents in their restaurant. Maybe I'll move to Vancouver next year to study Medicine but I want to wait until I'm nineteen."

"Why?" Ellie asked, "What happens when you turn nineteen?"

"Nineteen is the age of majority here in British Columbia," Collin replied for Fiona, "so you can't legally sign anything or do things on your own until then."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Ellie shrugged, "where I'm from, you're considered an adult at age eighteen. But since I turned nineteen in November, I'm an adult here, too."

"Ha, I'm older than you!" Collin triumphed, pumping his fist in the air, "I was born in September!"

"You're only saying that to feel better about yourself, grandpa," Quinn mocked Collin and laughed when he looked at her with a playfully shocked expression.

"And you're only saying that because you can't stand being the baby of the group!" Lillian joined in, "But you do have a point, Collin already has lines on his forehead."

That was too much slander for both Collin and Quinn to take and they attacked Lillian together, wrestling the smaller girl to the ground and filling the room with laughter and giggles.

Just then, the doorbell rang, all five teenagers stilling in their movement.

"Could one of you open it, please?" asked Quinn who in the meantime had been pressed to the floor by Collin's butt, "I'm a little preoccupied here."
"I'll go," Ellie, who was closest to the door, left the room to go let the new arrival in. When she opened the door, she was met with the sight of a young man completely wrapped in thick winter clothes, his face hidden beneath big mirrored goggles and a scarf that he had pulled over his nose to keep the cold out. A gloves hand reached up to lift the goggles, revealing confused-looking brown eyes.

"Um... hi," Ellie said.

"Hey," the guest pulled down the scarf as well, showing a face with dark skin that looked a little grim, "is Quinn home?"

"I'm here!"

Quinn came running from the living room and flung herself at the arrival, hugging him tightly. As soon as he caught sight of Quinn, the new guy's face lit up like a Christmas tree, his slightly intimidating features looking rather adorable, actually. When the two eventually let go of one another, the guy pressed a kiss to Quinn's lips. They appeared to be a couple, Ellie noticed maybe a little too slowly. Of course a girl as attractive as Quinn could not be single.

"Ellie, this is Dash," the girl said and smiled at the boy who was a few inches taller than her.

"Her boyfriend," Dash added and smiled at Ellie, "and you are?"

"I'm Ellie," Ellie introduced herself, "I live here at the moment."

"Our dads are old friends," Quinn explained, "and her family is staying here for a little while."

"Oh, that's neat," Dash said, "will you be joining us today?"

"Oh yeah, right!" Quinn looked at Dash, "Where are your skis?"

"I left them down in front of the garage."

Ellie stood next to the couple, feeling a little out of place. First of all, she felt like she was the third wheel in this situation and also, she did not know what they were talking about. Was the group thinking about going somewhere? Surely, she could come with them! They could show her the village or maybe visit Lone Pine and go shopping in the small town. Maybe there was even a cinema or something similar behind the mountains.

"Oh, that's great! I'll go get the others so we can get dressed and meet down at the garage!"

Quinn ran off back into the living room while Dash turned around and began walking around the house towards the back. Ellie noticed he was wearing ski boots so he probably just wanted to avoid ruining the floor. A few moments later, Quinn and her other three friends came back and began getting dressed, all putting on ski trousers and jackets.

"Ellie, why don't you come along and go skiing with us?" Collin asked, looking up from where he had sat down on the floor to sort out his socks, "It's going to be really fun."

"Yeah, come on and get dressed!" Lillian beamed at Ellie encouragingly but Ellie did not really feel like returning the smile, all excitement slowly leaving her heart. So that was what they had planned.

"I don't know how to ski..." she said, sounding more frustrated than she had wanted to.

"Oh... and snowboard?" Collin held one of his boots up in the air but Ellie shook her head.

"Neither..."

"Well, that's really unfortunate," Collin got up from the floor, gathering his boots, helmet and gloves in his arms, "maybe we'll find something else we can do together."

"Yeah, that would be amazing," Lillian agreed while Ellie just nodded numbly. She watched as Quinn and her friends went down the stairs that led to the basement where they would probably leave through the garage and join Dash. Ellie could hear the sounds of them laughing together and the clanking of metal, maybe some other skiing equipment. After a few minutes, the garage door was audibly closed.

The girl left behind sighed and went back to the living room where she looked out of the window and caught a glimpse of the five teenagers leaving the property. All were carrying either skis or snowboards. She watched them walking down the main road to the little lift at the very end, right at the foot of the mountain. When they disappeared into the small house, Ellie turned away from the window.

She was not even that angry at Quinn for not telling her the true plans, it was more disappointment that filled her heart. She felt as though she was being left out and purposefully left behind. Ellie had tried calling some friends back at home but to no avail - they were all either working or busy with studying. For some of them, the new semester at college had already started and they did not have the time to chat with Ellie in the middle of the morning. She felt lonely and isolated in this town she did not even know.

More out of spite than genuine interest, Ellie found herself getting dressed to go out as well.

If Quinn could leave her alone at home despite hinting at possibly hanging out together, it was only justified that Ellie left as well. Granted, she did feel a little guilty about leaving Pasta all alone. The dog was currently relaxing on the rug again and it really was not her responsibility to take care of him, was it?

Quinn had not bothered to tell her anything about the dog except for the bits she had said the previous evening so Ellie just refilled his water bowl and gave him a few treats she found on the countertop before she left.

As she closed the door behind her, Ellie was tempted to turn around again and call her mission quits. It was freezing outside, she could even see her breath leaving her mouth in little clouds. Ellie was already wearing her warmest winter jacket but neither the coat nor the leggings under her jeans could keep the cold from seeping through her clothes.

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and looked around, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. The house was standing on a hill, next to another two buildings. One of them seemed to be a small shop of some kind but from the content in the windows, it was not possible to make out what it sold. The big wooden sign over the glass door was covered with snow, only the first part of it showing. 'Frozen' it read. How fitting, Ellie thought to herself, making her way down the hill the house was partially standing on and carefully following the set of snow-covered stairs that led from the front yard to the main road.

On the opposite side of the road, there seemed to be a vet or doctors office, judging by the huge, red cross depicted on the window. Ellie began wandering down the street with her back turned towards the mountains, looking left and right curiously.

The village consisted of mostly residential houses, only a few shops and stores could be found here and there. A sign to her left informed Ellie that there was a café up the hill, just a few yards from Quinn's house. It read 'Cups and Cakes' followed by an arrow and '20 yards' but Ellie decided not to go there.

A little further down the street, there was a restaurant to her right with some type of asian signs in the window - maybe the place where Fiona and Quinn worked. She went over to the entrance to read the menu which was displayed in a glass cabinet next to it. From what she could tell, the restaurant sold mainly Canadian and Chinese food as well as Sushi. If you wanted your restaurant to do well in a town as small as Frostfields, you probably had to sell the most popular Asian food, even if it was not true to your own heritage.

The restaurant looked comfortable inside, with lots of reds and golds but Ellie could not see much because the lights were not on. Perhaps they would go here for dinner occasionally during their stay. Ellie turned around and only now noticed the huge building on the other side of the road. Hidden behind two large pines, there was a supermarket. It was actually quite big, especially for such a small village, but of course the people here had to get their groceries somewhere, did they not?

Just as Ellie was about to cross the road, a bus emerged from the street that led to the village. Ellie froze in her tracks, obviously not wanting to get under the wheels and watched as the bus stopped at the bus stop next to supermarket. For a second, Ellie thought about entering the bus and seeing where it would take her but the absence of both money in her pocket and courage made her stay. The bus stayed at the stop for some minutes before the driver turned and then left the village again.

Just as Ellie was about to turn around and wander off, she noticed an elderly man leaving the supermarket. He was wearing beige and brown clothes from head to toe, some of which looked older than the man himself. He was carrying two full plastic bags but just as he was about to leave the parking lot of the supermarket, one of the bags ripped at the bottom and groceries spilled over the old man's feet.

When Ellie saw that he struggled to bow down and pick up the items, she quickly made her way over to the small parking lot and assisted the old man.

"Oh, that's very kind of you, my dear," the man said as Ellie stood up straight again, her arms full of food items, "here, you can put them in the other bag, there's still some space in there."

Ellie nodded and dropped the majority of the items into the other bag. However, not all the items fit.
"I'll go get another bag from the store," Ellie offered and gave the left over things to their rightful owner. As quickly as possible, she made her way over to the entrance and stepped inside the supermarket. Warmth welcomed her, causing her cheeks to heat up. Behind the register, an elderly woman was reading a book but she looked up immediately when she saw Ellie approach.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"I was wondering if I could get a bag," Ellie said, "the man that just left needs another one, one of his bags ripped open at the bottom."

"Oh, of course," said the woman cheerily and reached under her counter to grab two white plastic bags, "there you go."

"Thank you!" Ellie smiled at the woman and left the store quickly. She ran back to the old man and helped him put everything in the new bags. They also took some of the things out of the one remaining bag that had not ripped earlier since it was hopelessly overpacked.

"Thank you, you're too kind," the man said and smiled at Ellie, "are you new in town?"

"Kind of," Ellie replied sheepishly, "my family and me will be staying with the Reynolds' for a few months - do you know them?"

"The Reynolds's? Of course I do!" The man nodded, "They're my neighbors. And now that you're speaking of it, I actually do remember that they told me about some visitors. Your dad is some kind of scientist, right?"

"Yes, he's a biologist," Ellie explained but then changed the topic, "would you like me to help you carry those bags?"

"That would be very kind of you," the man said, "you know, I consider myself to be quite healthy despite my age but my knees definitely aren't the best. My name is Saunders, by the way, Maurice Saunders."

"I'm Ellie."

Ellie took the heaviest bag and walked besides Mister Saunders as the two approached the end of the street. Mister Saunders walked rather fast for his old age but with a slight limp. He was also rather chatty, telling Ellie all about how he had been an awesome skier when he was younger but could not ski anymore due to his bad knees. Ellie, who had never been interested in skiing or winter sports in general before, found herself eagerly listening to the elderly man's words. He was fun to listen to, with a kind voice and cheerfully glistening eyes.

He led Ellie to the end of the road and up the same stairs she had gone down earlier. Mister Saunders led Ellie to the two houses on the right.

"Are you the owner of the little shop over there?" Ellie asked curiously and set down the bag as she waited for Mister Saunders to unlock the door to his house.

"Yes, that's my antique shop," the old man smiled at Ellie, "wait a minute, I'll show you around if you'd like."

Ellie nodded politely and waited by the door while Mister Saunders carried the bags into his house. The small part of the entrance area she could see featured a lot of dark wood and looked a little untidy but clean and inviting. Just a few moments later, he came back and led Ellie over to the small shop.

"Ah, the sign is full of snow again," Mister Saunders said and reached for a stick that was leaning against the wall right next to the wooden door. With only a few knocks against the sign, the snow came tumbling down and the full sign was revealed:

"Frozen in Time," Ellie read aloud. How fitting, she taught while looking at the snowy landscape surrounding them.

"My pride and joy," Mister Saunders nodded and unlocked the glass door. It was warm inside and a soft bell rang as the shop-owner pushed the door open. He let Ellie enter first and she curiously took in her surroundings.

The room was very small and very full with all kinds of old stuff; pieces of furniture, decorations, vases, tableware, ticking clocks and paintings in frames hanging on the walls, carpets and fabrics on a wooden carpet stand and books on a shelf. There was a cuckoo clock on the wall over the small wooden counter that stood opposite the door and two pairs of old wooden skis next to it and it smelled of wood, old paper and dust.

"It's small but it works," Mister Saunders said, "feel free to look around - you can touch everything you'd like as long as you don't leave fingerprints on it."

"Thank you!" Ellie excitedly inspected all the interesting things around her and cautiously ran her fingers over the top of an old, wooden dresser next to the entrance. She nearly stumbled over a metal umbrella stand and carefully made her way over to the counter where Mister Saunders had sat down on a small stool. There were some small clay figures on the countertop, staring back at Ellie with big black eyes.

"These are cute," Ellie smiled and gently picked up a red dog that was missing its left ear. The dog had its tongue poking out of its snout, its head tilted to the sight. It almost seemed to be winking at Ellie and wagging its tail.

"Do you like the dog?" Mister Saunders asked, brushing some dust off of the counter.

Ellie nodded.

"He's cute."

"You can keep him," Mister Saunders smiled at the girl, "he's already missing an ear and I think he deserves a loving forever home."

"Thank you," Ellie beamed at the elderly man, "that's really nice of you, thanks."

"Any friend of the Reynolds' also is a friend of mine," Mister Saunders returned the smile, "take good care of that little fella for me."

_____
I think this is probably one of the longest chapter in the book, phew!

What are we thinking about Quinn's behavior? Nice? Not so nice?