I immediately froze and looked up at Ingrid, who was mid-punching Brooke's now lightly blood-crusted and semi-bruised face. Ouch and ew.

But that's not to say that Ingrid looked too different; if not, she was even worse. She had split open her left eyebrow, and a river of blood was flowing from her perfect (and probably 100% plastic) nose. Her bleach blonde hair was matted and uneven, her used-to-be unblemished skin was now tinged violet with bruises, and long, crimson red scratch marks had raked down her arm and face.

Looks like Brooke finally made Ingrid's insides match her outside.

Figuratively and literally.

But, unfortunately for all of us, Ingrid's pain and suffering didn't stop her Medusa-like personality from showing.

"Tell me what in the living heck you're doing here!" she angrily shouted, shoving Brooke back to the concrete floor and stomping over to me. "Are you trying to stop the fight or something? Are you afraid that Tweety Bird's gonna lose like she already did?"

I felt half-tempted to say 'I always knew you were a liar-- but we need a completely new word for what you just did!', but when Brooke shook her head as if she could read my mind, I just said the second snarky remark that was floating around in my head.

"We were afraid she'd be turned into stone from your hideousness!" I snapped back, but I quickly processed what my big mouth had just done.

If your reading this, Zane, I owe you ten bucks.

"We?" Ingrid asked. She pretended to be surprised until an evil, blood curdling cackle escaped Ingrid's throat. "The entire Society of Losers gathered in one place? Ha! That's a better present than something I get, even on my birthday!"

I cautiously took a step back and slowly put my hands in front of me for protection.

"Wait, what?" I asked, blatantly confused. "What are you trying to say?"

A smug grin crossed Ingrid's face.

"Everyone!" she yelled, gesturing to me. "Meet Regular!"

Emerging from seemingly endless spots around the field, at least a dozen people I recognized from school popped out of hiding.

They began to create a wall in front of me in order to keep me from running away.

I awkwardly raised my hand and wiggled my fingers,  weirdly waving to the minion army. "Uhm... H-hi...?" I stuttered.

Ingrid rolled her eyes at my unintentional snarkiness and pointed at me.

"Get her."

As everyone in her army charged after me, I bolted into a completely random direction, and the huge flurry of snowflakes made me (and hopefully them, too) blind with a thick wall of white.

It began to seem like I was running for hours on end, making my breathing sharper and my body numb to the stinging cold. At that point, I was running on adrenaline and completely oblivious to the fact that another step and my body could break down.

But honestly, it would be worth it if I could get away.

"Oh, shoot!" I gasped as a pair of arms ironically swooped me up and pulled me backward. I began to thrash and scream to get away, but I was calmly shushed by a gentle voice.

"Shh, Winter it's just me," it said.

"Who's 'me?' Some weirdo minion of Ingrid's?" I asked, still struggling.

"Yeah, totally," they said, sarcasm laced in their voice. Their arms wrapped around me tighter as they held out a dirty red handkerchief, which quickly made me recognize the person as Zane.

You see, his dad gave a red handkerchief to Zane before he had to go serve in the military. Mr. Knight ended up being gone for four years, and when he was finally on his way back someone sabotaged the plane he was on and it had killed everyone on board. You can see exactly why the family was devastated-- all of the false hope and the fact that their father survived for so long; it only made his death seem even more tragic than it ever should've been. Not that their beloved father's death wouldn't have been tragic in the first place, anyway.

Anyway, now that the handkerchief is Zane's only reminder of his dad, he never goes anywhere without it, making me certain that it wasn't a 'weirdo minion of Ingrid's.'

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled back to Zane. He quickly let me go and brushed me off in random places.

"C'mon, keep on running or else they could catch up to us!" I said, grabbing Zane's wrist and starting to run, until I realized that he wasn't even going anywhere.

"Eh, those kids are about as athletic as bricks, we'll be fine," he said.

"Wait, shoot," I muttered, putting a fist on my hip and face palming. I just realized we were missing three other people.

"Huh?" Zane asked, confused as to why I was concerned.

"We'll be safe, but what about the rest of the gang?" I asked.

As he processed it, Zane let out a stressed out sigh and kicked up a bit of the snow. It was obvious that he hadn't thought of getting the other guys before. Typical Zane.

"Ok, umm... you stay here, and I'll go ahead and get them," he finally decided. Before I could object, he jogged off and I was left alone again, with thoughts and never-ending snow.

***

I plopped down on a nearby park bench (that was buried in ice and frost) and buried myself deeper into my jacket;
ultimately in a failed attempt for a sliver of warmth.

I began to wonder if my parents were cold like I was. Maybe they were sitting on a frozen park bench too, sharing a cup of hot cocoa and hugging each other for heat. Maybe they weren't on a park bench, or not even cold at all-- maybe they were on a picnic or, if they were in the other side of the world, star gazing on a blanket and chatting about me. That's what I hoped they were doing, at least.

Ugh, don't get your hopes up, Winter, my conscience contradicted me. It doesn't mean you'll find them any time soon.

I quickly pushed my thoughts to the back of my head and refused to let them keep me down. I'd rather spend possibly last minutes of my life happy, thank you very much.

My mind began to drift back to my parents again, but instead of any more happy thoughts I began to wonder if they even missed me. Were they better off without me? Could they have replaced me with another kid? Or, worst yet, could they have forgotten all about their daughter?

***

"Winter, thank goodness!" someone said, quickly snapping me out of my thoughts. They suddenly wrapped me in a tight hug, and a few wet tears were falling near my neck.

I know it sounds pretty selfish, but I was internally thankful that they had come crying to me before any of my waterworks came. Like Brooke, I'd want to die with dignity-- and my dignity came from an entire lifetime without anyone seeing me cry. Not even when I was a baby!

"Hey, uh-- what's up?" I said, quickly returning the hug. "Is everything ok?"

The person shook their head and gently backed away from the hug. I half-expected it to be Brooke or her sister, Lacey-- but once they moved back, the face I'd least expect to see was revealed.

A/N : Anyone wanna take a guess? Comment, and if you guess right YOU GET A DEDICATION!!!!!

Hint : You haven't met them yet, but guess at who they'll play in the story. Like, a minion or a sibling and stuff like that.

Speaking of, this chapter's dedication goes to CaoimheJCarey for staying sassy and being totally awesome! She's also a really good author too, so do her and me a favor by following her and voting for her books!

Go ahead and hit the star on your screen (not literally! It never did anything to you ): ) and comment, follow, etc.

XOXO,

Your homie,

DA FRANKSTER!