are reminded that throwing snowballs is strictly forbidden Enjoy the snow For a heartbeat the snowballs stopped I had a quick look around Over by the forest Jackson and Mattie froze mid-scoop Their friends paused too On the opposite side of the schoolyard near the fence was another pack of kids holding their snow balls in the air I could see Koko and Lucas rolling a huge snowball up to them What were they doing Making a snowman Didn’t they realize we were in the middle of a full-scale battle We’re not throwing snowballs yelled Jackson at the school He was always hoarse like he’d been REBECCA WOOD BARRETT
cheering at a championship hockey game the night before We’re throwing iceballs I ducked my head as a battery of snowballs winged into the sky Whack whack whack Three of them nailed me in the back I had to get out of here I started to crawl on hands and knees toward Lucas and Koko They were the only ones definitely not attacking me Bam It seemed my backside was an especially popular target Then I caught one across the top of my head My toque went flying That was it I was done I spread out on the ground closed my eyes and covered my head with my arms as best I could Suddenly someone grabbed my hands I kept my eyes closed too terrified to open them or try to fight back They started dragging me across the snow I felt my pants sliding down the snow scraping my bare belly like burning hot coals I was sure that any second now they’d slide all the way down and then I would die of fatal embarrassment They stopped Rolled me over A purple toque with two big brown eyes peered down Henry are you okay It was Koko I blinked Lucas leaned over me too grinning Man you got pasted out there With his pointy nose huge 3 MY BEST FRIEND IS EXTINCT
front teeth and giant smile he kind of reminded me of a cheerful beaver He handed me my toque and I stuffed it back over my head and ears Keep your head down he warned I sat up and realized the mini ice bombs weren’t hammering us anymore That was because we were hidden behind the big snowball Koko and Lucas weren’t making a snowman They were building a snow fort What I didn’t know yet was that eventually it would become a gigantic snow fort And that someday it would protect us from things much worse than iceballs We were all wet and red-faced and the classroom windows were steaming up Our teacher Mrs Zink made us go sit on the carpet on the colored squares I avoided sitting near Jackson and Mattie and found a spot next to Koko We were too old for the carpet That was for the kindies But there we were All my thoughts were being sucked down to my butt and the only thing I could think about was how much it hurt I leaned from one cheek to the other trying to relieve the pain 5 MY BEST FRIEND IS EXTINCT
