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Grian was giggling the whole car ride home, and it annoyed Joel to no end.
They were on the way home from Joel’s school Christmas play, and the boys’ mother had taken a video of the performance on her new digital camera. This would have been embarrassing enough for Joel already, but the fact that she let Grian get ahold of the camera made it a billion times worse. Now he had to sit through his brother rewatching the footage and making fun of every moment Joel was on stage — which wasn’t a lot, since he was only in the ensemble.
“Oh my god, you look so silly when you dance!” Grian tugged on Joel’s shirt sleeve.
Joel groaned and covered his face with his hands. “I hate you.”
Grian gasped. “Mom, he said the word hate!”
The boy’s mother sighed from the front seat. “Joel, don’t say that to your brother, and Grian, stop antagonizing him. You’re going to have to do that same play next year.” She reminded them.
Grian didn’t seem to have considered this, and wrinkled his nose in disgust. Joel smirked at him.
“I thought it was really cool, Joel.” Jimmy spoke up. But Joel did not take any comfort in this, because Jimmy was only six, and he thought everything his older brothers did was cool.
“I’m just glad it’s over.” Joel said.
“Oh, it’s never over.” Grian said, rewinding the video again.
“Why did you have to record it, mom?” Joel complained, leaning against her seat.
“I’m sorry.” His mom laughed lightly. “You just look so cute in that costume, I had to!”
Joel frowned, not appreciating being called cute. He fiddled with the bowtie on his elf costume. He had originally hated the costume, until he found out that Lizzie had gotten the role of head elf, so their costumes were matching, and that made it tolerable.
Jimmy leaned over Grian’s shoulder to watch the video. “You don’t do much, though.” He said. “You mostly just stare at that pink haired girl.”
“That’s because he’s in love with her, Timmy.” Grian said scandalously.
Joel whipped around, blushing. “Nuh-uh! That’s not true!”
Jimmy giggled. “Do you want to kiss her?”
Joel turned his head defiantly. “No, I don’t.” He said, but it was too late, his younger brothers were already making kissy noises at him.
Joel turned to the window, clamping his hands over his ears so he didn’t have to listen to their teasing. They were finally pulling onto their street, the familiar front yards of the neighborhood all covered in a blanket of shimmering snow. Now that school was out, —Joel’s mom said it was crazy they had school on such a heavy snow day— people were outside playing in the fresh wonderland.
“Hey, there's Gem.” Joel pointed out as they passed a particular house. Grian and Jimmy peered over his shoulder to get a look at their redheaded friend pulling on her gloves as she stepped out of her house.
“Can we go play with her?” Jimmy asked as they pulled into their own driveway.
“You’ve gotta get on some proper clothes first. I don’t want you freezing.” Mom said.
“Aw, but I want to go play now!” Jimmy complained as the boys got out of the car, following their mom inside.
Mom rolled her eyes fondly as she unlocked the front door. “I think you’ll survive. Plus, grandma knitted you all those cute sweaters and scarves!”
All three of the boys groaned simultaneously. Mom retrieved their clothes and brought them over, attempting to get Grian and Jimmy to put them on. Joel looked out the window, spotting Gem again. She was on the sidewalk talking to their other friends, Impulse and Skizz. Joel noticed that Impulse was still wearing his reindeer costume from the play, and got an idea.
“Mom, my costume is already really warm. Can I go out now?”
Joel’s mother looked him over skeptically. “I guess you can. But don’t come crying back to me when you’re freezing your little elf ears off.”
Joel grinned and ran to the front door, making sure to stick his tongue out as his brothers along the way. It seemed this silly Christmas play did have some advantages.
Joel jumped down the front steps of his house, boots crunching in the snow. He scooped up a handful of the white powder as he approached his friends, forming it into a ball. Gem spotted him as he snuck up behind Skizz and Impulse, but she did not say anything.
He took aim and hurled the snowball right into the back of Skizz’s head. Skizz shouted in surprise and whipped around, spotting Joel, who was already cracking up laughing.
“Hey, you jerk-face!” Skizz shouted playfully. He charged at Joel, and Joel tried to dodge out of the way, but his friend was too quick and hoisted him up off his feet. The world flipped upside down. “I’m gonna dunk your stupid elf face into the snow for that.”
Joel wriggled in his grip, Impulse catching his hat as it fell off his head. “Don’t call me an elf! And put me down!” He laughed.
Skizz dropped him back onto the ground, thankfully not following through with his threat of dunking. Gem placed his hat back onto his head. “Well, you’re short enough to be one.” She said
“You’re shorter than me, Gem.”
“Yeah, barely. And I’m younger than you.”
Gem was seven, a year younger than Joel. Which, at this point in their lives, felt like a very big difference. Skizz and Impulse were both his age, eight, and in the same grade as Joel, and the two boys were practically inseparable — two peas in a pod, as the grown-ups liked to say — which was why they were so devastated when they ended up in different classes that year. Impulse was in Mx. Cleo’s class with Joel, which is why he was in the play with him, and Skizz was in Mr. Etho’s class.
“If Joel is an elf now, does that make me a reindeer?” Impulse asked, looking down at his costume.
“Yes.” Gem said instantly. “Now you can only eat reindeer food, carrots and marshmallows.” Impulse looked momentarily horrified at that prospect.
“Where are Jiggles and G-man?” Skizz asked Joel, referring to his younger brothers.
“Getting all bundled up by our mom.” Joel answered. “I managed to dodge it because of my costume.”
As if on cue, Joel’s front door opened and Jimmy and Grian stepped out, swaddled in fabric. Grian didn’t look horrible, the red and white patterned sweater was not too dissimilar to what he normally wore, though the green scarf and earmuffs looked a bit silly. Jimmy had gotten the shorter end of the stick, as his hand-knit sweater appeared to be a bit too big, and it looked very funny. They all giggled a little as Joel’s mother fussed over her sons for a second more before they pushed her away.
They both ran over to the group, “Hey guys!” Grian said.
“Mm– mmm!” Jimmy’s voice was unintelligible past the scarf wrapped tightly around his face. Impulse gently reached over and pulled it down for him. “What are we playing?” He asked now that he could speak properly.
“Oh, we’re just playing… surprise attack!” Skizz said, reaching over and dropping a handful of snow down the back of Joel’s shirt. Joel let out a very manly squeal as the cold ice slid down his back.
“Oh, you’re gonna be so sorry for that.” Joel whirled on Skizz.
“Ohuhuhu—! Come at me, dude.” Skizz said, turning to run down the sidewalk.
“Snowball fight!” Gem declared. “I’m on Joel’s team.”
“I’m on your team too.” Grian added, coming to stand by Gem and Joel.
“That means I get Jimmy and Dipple-Dop.” Skizz said, beckoning his friends to follow him. Impulse scooped up Jimmy and ran after his teammate. Joel, Gem, and Grian all scooped up snow off the ground, forming it into snowballs, and pursued them.
Joel’s team obviously had the advantage, being the ones chasing. But, unfortunately for them, the other team had the advantage of Impulse being an annoying little smart person.
Impulse let them all chase him under the nearest tree, and once they were all under it, he jumped up and grabbed one of the branches. The tree branch shook violently as all the snow layered on it slid off and dropped directly onto Joel and Grian, only Gem managing to dodge out of the way.
Joel was nearly knocked over with the impact of the snow. It draped itself over him in a blanket, and he scrambled to get away and wipe the flakes from his face. As soon as he escaped, Jimmy and Skizz took advantage of the situation and hurled several snowballs at them.
“Retreat, retreat!” Grian shouted to his team, and they all fled in the other direction. Impulse smiled smugly as his own team cheered victoriously, continuing to launch their assault.
“Build a wall to block them!” Gem suggested, jumping behind a snow drift and piling more onto it to build it higher. Joel and Grian followed her lead, packing the snow into a wall high enough to crouch and hide behind.
“Hey, They made a castle in, like, two seconds!” Skizz said, pausing his attack.
“I want to make one of those!” Jimmy said excitedly.
Impulse nodded. “I bet we can make one even cooler than theirs.”
Back behind their wall, Gem scoffed. “Yeah, right. Challenge accepted.”
Joel shivered as he brushed more of the snow off himself. He was suddenly wishing that maybe he took his mothers advice and changed out of his costume, or at least grabbed himself some gloves. Though, Grian still seemed to be cold as he was, even beneath all his cozy wrappings.
“Gem keep building.” Joel ordered. “Grian, help me make snowballs. They’ll be distracted making their thing and we can rain down on ‘em.”
Grian and Gem both nodded and started working, cold fingers fumbling to move quickly. Joel and Grian both made more snowballs than they could carry, and had to leave a few behind. “Gem, protect the base, we’ll be back.” Joel said as they left.
“I’ll try my best!” Gem grinned, though she had already gotten distracted building some, admittedly good looking, castle towers on the walls.
“You make it feel so dramatic, like we’re off to die at war.” Grian laughed at Joel while they crept towards the enemy team. “You sound like Martyn.”
Joel groaned. “No, don’t say that. I’m way cooler than Martyn.”
Skizz, Impulse, and Jimmy had made embarrassingly little progress on their own base, and were sufficiently distracted just trying to keep their walls from falling over. Grian and Joel approached easily without getting spotted.
They rocketed the snowballs at their friends in quick succession, giving them no time to react with anything but surprise. Joel threw one bigger ball at Jimmy so hard he toppled over. Jimmy sat up, covered in snow, eyes wide and shiny like he was about to cry.
“Uh oh.” Grian winced.
“Oh, uh– sorry Jim, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” Joel said, rushing over to his brother. “Please don’t cry. Mom will be so upset with me.”
But it was too late, Jimmy looked up at Joel, his face all pinched up like it always was before he cried. Then, suddenly, Joel heard Gem shout from behind him, “Ack! Get out of here!” and Jimmy’s face switched to a devilish grin within a second.
Joel turned around and saw Skizz and Impulse, who had slipped away while Joel and Grian were distracted with their brother, and were laying siege to their base where Gem was. He gasped, this was all part of their plan.
He watched in horror as Skizz raised his foot to stomp on the walls, but then he paused.
“Ugh! Gem, why did you have to make this look so good!?” Skizz shouted angrily.
“Uh, cause I’m awesome.” Gem said, grabbing one of the snowballs and throwing it at Skizz.
“Well, now I feel bad destroying it…” Impulse said nervously.
Joel felt Jimmy slip out from beneath him, but he didn’t have the time to grab him before his younger brother was charging into the fray. Jimmy must not have felt the same guilt that Skizz and Impulse did, because he launched himself straight into the snowy walls, giggling joyously as they collapsed beneath his weight.
Gem gasped, and Impulse put a hand over his mouth. Skizz seemed more amused, “Okay, I don’t feel bad anymore.” he said as he joined Jimmy in plowing over the rest of Joel's team base.
Joel and Grian ran back over, though it was far too late for anything to be done now. Jimmy sat up in the ruins of his destruction, smiling brightly. “We win!” He said.
“You don’t win!” Joel said defiantly.
“It was so beautiful!” Grian exclaimed. “How could you destroy it?”
“I don’t think you can’t be upset Grian, I’m pretty sure Jimmy learns it from you.” Impulse joked, and Grian sighed, because he knew it was true.
“Don’t worry, that was nowhere near my best work.” Gem said. “I’ll make something even better. Like a snowman!”
“Wait, but who won?” Jimmy interjected.
“We did.” Skizz and Joel said at the same time. Joel glared at Skizz, picking another snowball up and holding it threateningly over his head.
Skizz shrank back. “Okay, okay, we’ll call it a tie. No more fighting, I’m freezing.”
“You’re freezing?” Joel said incredulously. “Dude, you’ve literally got a jacket. I’m still in my costume!”
“I’m still cold!” Skizz insisted. “Dude, come here. We can huddle for warmth.”
“What? No—” Joel didn’t get to finish as Skizz dragged him into a bone-crushing hug. Joel pushed against his grip. “Skizz, let me go.”
“Never!” Skizz said.
“You’re like penguins! They huddle for warmth like that.” Grian said, eyes lighting up at the opportunity to talk about animals. “Did you know that they do that because—”
“Well, I’m not a penguin.” Joel cut his brother off before he could start ranting.
“Joel, if you can be an elf, and I can be a reindeer, then I think we can be penguins for a little bit.” Impulse said teasingly, joining in on the hug. Grian and Jimmy joined in as well, firmly locking Joel in the center.
“Gemmy! Come join the penguin huddle.” Skizz called out to Gem.
“In a minute, I’m building a snowman!” Gem called back. While they had been talking, she had started rolling one of the snowballs up into a larger ball to use for a snowman body.
“Hang on, lemme help you.” Grian said, breaking away from the group. Joel ducked and squeezed out of the hole he left, escaping his friend's grasp. The huddle finally broke apart, as they all accepted that they were moving on to a new activity.
“So, do we all have to help? Or can we make our own thing?” Joel asked.
“I want to do a competition.” Gem said.
“Oh, that’s such a good idea.” Grian gasped. “Sorry, Gem, I’ve changed my mind, I want to be the judge.”
Gem rolled her eyes. “It’s okay, I’ll manage without you.”
“Ough, there goes your boyfriend, Gemstone.” Skizz teased.
Gem’s head whipped up. “My what.”
“Uh, your boyfriend, Gem.” Joel smirked. “Aren’t you guys in love?” He glanced between Gem and Grian. He did not believe a word he was saying, of course, but he was still feeling bitter about Grian making fun of him earlier, and just wanted to get a rise out of his brother.
“Ew–!” Gem and Grian both said at the same time. Grian gagged like he might vomit, which satisfied Joel. Skizz and Impulse burst out laughing.
“That’s gross!” Grian said, “I would never date Gem.”
“Agreed.” Gem crossed her arms and pouted. “I like Pearl, anyway.”
Joel looked over at Gem. “Seriously? Isn’t she that girl who says she’s a witch?” He hadn’t even known Gem and Pearl had ever talked to each other, he only ever saw Pearl hanging around Martyn and Ren.
“Yeah, but she’s a really pretty witch.” Gem smiled.
“Can we please just play the game?” Jimmy begged impatiently.
“Okay, you have five minutes. Go!” Grian said, clapping his hands to start them off.
“Five minutes!?” They all said. Grian nodded, and Joel began to scramble to get started, making the biggest ball of snow he could manage.
“By the way, you’re allowed to make more than just snowmen. I want to guess what you’ve made.” Grian added onto the rules.
Joel decided to try and make a snow dog, named Jeremy, of course. Working with snow was much harder than anticipated, but he was determined to make it work, though he was stressed out by the time limit Grian had set. He built up the stumpy legs, and the body, though he wasn’t quite sure how to do the head.
Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one struggling. Gem seemed to be having a grand time, but Skizz still couldn’t get his creation to stay standing, and Jimmy was struggling to lift up the snowballs he made.
Skizz came over to Jimmy. “Jiggles, I think we need to work together.” He said as he helped the younger boy lift.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Jimmy agreed.
“I’m finished!” Gem said happily.
“You’re done!?” Impulse exclaimed. “I’m not even half-way!”
“What does a dog even look like?” Joel muttered to himself as he tried to make the snout.
It felt like a lot less than five minutes when Grian called stop time. “Time's up!” He shouted, and they all let out similar noises of distress. “Now I will come around and judge.”
Grian started with Joel, probably just to annoy him. He came over and inspected Joel’s snow sculpture intensely. “Hmm, is it a cat?” He asked.
“No, it’s obviously a dog. Look at the ears!” Joel said, crossing his arms in annoyance.
“Close enough.” Grian shrugged. “It’s actually not that bad…”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“...But it’s missing a tail?”
Joel nervously fiddled with his collar. “Uh, yeah, I ran out of time.”
Grian stood up straight. “I’ve made my decision,” he said. “I give it a 7/10.”
“A seven!?” Joel scoffed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you be the judge.”
Grian shrugged. “Sorry, no takesie-backsies.”
Grian walked away from Joel’s sculpture, and approached Impulse, who appeared to have built nothing at all. “Impulse, where is your build?” Grian asked.
“Well, I was having a little trouble with the building part…” Impulse admitted. “So I took my own route, and made an art piece!” He gestured to the ground, where he had drawn an image in the snow with a stick.
Grian peered down at the rough drawing, eyebrow raised skeptically. “Um, what is it meant to be?”
“I thought you were meant to guess?” Impulse said. “Can’t you tell what it is?”
“Uh…” Grian squinted. “A car with laser headlights?”
Impulse giggled at the guess. “No, silly! It’s Santa's sleigh being pulled by his reindeer.”
Joel came over and looked at the picture, which did in fact look like a car with laser headlights. “That is not Santa Claus’s sleigh.”
“Is too!” Impulse insisted.
“I give it a 4/10 for creativity.” Grian declared.
Impulse sighed. “I guess I’ll take it.”
Grian then came to Skizz and Jimmy, standing side by side. He put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter as he looked at their creation.
“What on earth is that?” Joel said as he came up behind Grian. The sculpture —if you could even call it that— was one big circle with a long thin pillar of snow out the top, with another smaller sphere on top, with two eyeholes poked into it. The dirtier part of Joel’s mind noted that it looked vaguely phallic.
“Isn’t it great?” Skizz said.
“Which– which one of you made this?” Grian asked through his suppressed laughter.
“We did it together.” Jimmy told him.
Joel gawked. “You had two people, and this was the best you could come up with?”
“Hey!” Skizz snapped.
Jimmy slumped. “I told you we shouldn’t have done a giraffe, Skizz.”
Grian’s laughter finally burst out of him at that. “That’s meant to be a giraffe!?” He shouted.
“Duh! What else could it be?” Skizz defended.
The commotion drew over Gem and Impulse, who had a similar reaction. “Oh jeez, it is that bad.” Impulse said, cringing.
“Skizz, do you know what a giraffe looks like!?” Joel asked, outraged.
“Yeah, it looks exactly like that.” Skizz pointed at his build.
“I don’t think he knows what a giraffe looks like.” Gem shook her head. “I think we might need to send him back to preschool.”
Skizz scoffed defiantly, meanwhile Jimmy giggled just a little. “Jimmy, don't laugh!” Skizz said, looking betrayed.
“It is a little funny, though.” Jimmy said.
“So what’s the scoring, G?” Impulse asked.
“2/10.” Grian said, still recovering from his laughing fit. “One point for Jimmy and one for Skizz, because I love them, but their build is not earning them anything.”
“That is just cruel, dude.” Skizz shook his head disapprovingly.
“Alright, let’s just move on to Gem’s build. I’ve seen enough of this one.” Joel said.
“Oh, okay!” Gem hurried over to her creation. “Come see, come see.”
They all came over to inspect. “Hm, let’s see what we’ve got here.” Grian said, crouching down. Not that he needed to, it was very obvious what Gem had made.
“This is unfair, Gem’s actually good at this.” Skizz complained.
“It’s a reindeer, right?” Grian said, poking at the sticks Gem had used for antlers.
“Yup.” Gem nodded. “And look, I picked one of the berries of that holly bush over there, and gave him a red nose. So now it’s Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!"
“Yes, I see, very nice.” Grian stood up, stroking his non-exsistent beard like an old man deep in thought. “I give it a 9/10.”
“I win! Let’s freakin’ go!” Gem whooped.
Joel was more surprised. “A nine? What will it take to get a ten from you?”
“I dunno, it’d have to be something really great.” Grian said.
Gem turned around. “Is what I made not really great?”
“It’s great, but it’s not really-totally-super-duper-extra great.”
“Here, I’ll show you something worthy of a ten.” Skizz said, confidently leaning over and scooping up a handful of snow, forming it into something.
“Oh boy, I’m a little scared.” Impulse chuckled.
“Here!” Skizz whirled around displaying his masterpiece. It was a simple square, with two stubby legs and no arms. Two eyes had been crudely poked into what was presumably the face.
Joel scoffed, unimpressed. “It’s better than the giraffe, I guess.”
But behind him, Grian let out a sharp gasp. “Now that is a 10/10.”
They all turned to stare at him, Skizz cheered. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
“Seriously? That’s what it takes to get a ten?” Impulse asked.
Gem rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “I should have known it would be something like that.”
Grian gently took the little sculpture from Skizz, cradling it in his hands. “Look at him, though. He’s perfect!”
Joel threw his arms up in the air. “That is so stupid!”
“Ooh–! Joel said a bad word.” Jimmy said from next to Joel.
“Stupid isn’t a real bad word, Jimmy. That’s just what mom tells you.” Joel snapped.
Grian ignored Joel, simply looking at the tiny snow sculpture with big sparkling eyes, as if it were a work of art. “What’s his name, Skizz?” He asked.
“Uh, I hadn’t gotten that far.” Skizz said.
Gem looked at the little thing, face scrunched up. “It kinda looks like Mr. Etho.” She commented, which made them all laugh.
“That almost feels like an insult.” Impulse said.
“No, no, she’s right.” Grian said. “It’s like if Mr. Etho had a twin brother.”
“No way! You guys don’t even know Mr. Etho, he’s my teacher, not yours.” Skizz said.
“That’s not Mr. Etho, that’s Mr. Eefo!” Jimmy shouted out.
It was so sudden, and so silly, that Joel cracked up with laughter. He heard everyone else doing the same, and saw Jimmy looking very delighted to have amused everyone so much.
Grian raised the sculpture above his head. “All hail Mr. Eefo!”
They all cheered, even Joel, and began chanting the name over and over. Grian began marching around, Mr. Eefo still held high, and they all trailed after him, giggling and throwing handfuls of snow up in the air like confetti.
People gave them odd looks, of course. It was a very strange sight, the kind that nobody outside of their little group would ever understand. But none of them cared. Because they were having fun, and that was all that mattered.
—
It was getting late by now, the sun dipped below the horizon and the stars began to peak out, twinkling beside the fresh snowflakes that were beginning to fall. The streetlamps began flickering on, and that was when they all knew their time was up. They had been playing for a few hours, and they were tired and cold and very hungry for dinner.
Despite all of this, none of them really wanted to stop playing together. So they devised a plan.
Joel walked into his house and the whole group followed after him. Faces and fingers all pink from the cold, it felt like a relief to finally be indoors again.
“Boys? Is that you?” Joel’s mom called out. “You’re just in time, dinner’s almost ready.”
“It’s us!” Joel confirmed.
“Yeah, and Gem. Gem is staying over tonight.” Grian said, more a statement than a request, which was a bold move.
“Oh, alright. Just make sure her parents are okay with it.” Mom said.
“Don’t worry, I already asked them.” Gem spoke up. She actually had done this, seeing as her house was only a few doors down.
Joel could hear his mom making her way to the front door where they were, and realized he needed to act fast. “Oh, and by the way, mom, I’m having Skizz over too!” He said.
“Yeah, and I’m having Impulse over as well.” Jimmy said, grinning with barely suppressed laughter.
Mom entered the hallway from the kitchen, looking confused. She saw the six of them, all standing in a nervous tight-knit group, and her expression changed to amused yet exasperated.
“Hello, ma’am!” Skizz said, anxiously waving at her.
Mom laughed a little and pitched the bridge of her nose. “You want to have three people sleep over all at once?”
“No, that’s not what we said.” Grian insisted. “I said that I just wanted to have Gem over, and Joel wants to have Skizz over, and Jimmy wants to have Impulse over.”
“I don’t know…”
“C’mon mom, it's not a school night!” Joel pleaded.
“Please, please, please–!” Jimmy whined, dragging out the last syllable and giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
Mom sighed as she finally relented. “Okay, fine. But you're going to have to wait a while for dinner then, because I’ll have to basically double the recipe.”
"That's okay, thank you!” Grian said, and the rest of the group echoed his words.
“Skizz, Impulse, do you need me to call your parents and let them know? I would hate to make you walk all the way down to the end of the neighborhood in the dark.” Joel’s mom asked the two boys.
“We can do it ourselves, if you don’t mind us using your phone.” Impulse said.
“That’s perfect. The boys can show them where the phone is.” Mom said as she walked back towards the kitchen. Joel began down the hallway to the living room, high-fiving his friends in victory. “And take off your shoes, too!” Mom called after them.
Joel showed Impulse and Skizz where the house phone was, and they dialed their parents to alert them to where they were staying the night. When they came back into the living room, Gem, Grian, and Jimmy were all huddled in a tight circle, looking at something.
“Whatcha doin’?” Skizz asked, coming up behind them.
“Oh, nothin’.” Grian said.
But Joel knew it wasn’t nothing. He heard the tinny sound of music and knew that Grian was showing them the recording of his play. “Aw, Grian! You suck.” He reached into the huddle and pried the camera out of Grian’s hands.
“Hey!” Grian protested, reaching to try and take the camera back. “I was just showing Gem the best movie ever!”
“It’s pretty great.” Gem snickered.
“Ooh, a camera.” Impulse said, sounding excited. “What’s on it?”
“Our mom taped Joel and you’s performance.” Grian told Impulse, wrestling with Joel.
“You recorded it?” Skizz gasped. “Let me see! Let me see!”
Joel pushed his friends away, taking a step back and holding the camera high above his head and out of their reach. “Nobody is watching it.” he said firmly.
He turned the camera off and set it on the highest shelf he could reach — which wasn’t very high, considering his height, but it was the thought that counted.
“Ugh, I guess I’ll have to find someone else to make fun of.” Grian said. “Skizz, wait right there.” He hurried down the hall and into his room.
“Uh oh, that can’t be good.” Skizz laughed nervously.
“I wanna play board games.” Jimmy announced suddenly.
Joel nodded. “That’s a good idea, actually.”
They all rummaged around in the game cabinet Joel’s mom kept stashed away beneath the TV with all the DVDs, looking for a suitable game to play. Grian re-emerged from his room, carrying his big “101 Animals” book in his arms.
“Skizz, come here.” Grian said, cracking open his book. Skizz scooted over on the carpet to look at what he was showing him. Joel knew what Grian was doing before he made it to the correct page, and he couldn’t help but grin when he saw the image of the giraffe plastered across the page.
Skizz groaned in realization as Grian pointed at the image. “See, Skizz, this is called a giraffe. Can you say that? Gir–affe.”
“I know what a giraffe is, dude!” Skizz said, acting offended, though Joel could tell he was on the verge of laughter.
“Shh, be quiet, Skizz. Grian is trying to teach you new things!” Impulse said, putting a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.
“You all suck.” Skizz huffed.
“Yeah, and take note of how it looks.” Joel joined in. “Very much like an animal, right? Not like a weiner.” It was kind of a dirty joke to make, but everyone burst out laughing anyway.
“I’m leaving.” Skizz said, standing up and beginning to walk away.
“Wait, but what about Uno?” Impulse called after him.
Skizz paused, then sighed and turned around. “As long as I get to win.” He said, sitting back down.
“Not happening.” Gem said.
It turned out, playing Uno was not such a simple ordeal. And, as they all came to learn, it was a very fast way to wreck a few friendships. By the third round, the game devolved into a full out pillow fight — no, more like a pillow brawl — and mom had to come into the room and order them to play something more peaceful.
As an apology for the chaos, they decided to play the game “Sorry” or, as Gem said, “Sor-ee”. The game proved to be a bit more complicated than Uno, but they managed by simply making up a few rules along the way.
Before they all knew it, dinner was ready, and they put the game on hold to go eat. Mom had made potato soup, which tasted wonderfully warm after so long out in the cold, and had them all coming back for seconds. They all sat around the table and regaled Joel’s mother with their epic snowy adventures. Joel is pretty sure they lose her when they get to the part about Mr. Eefo, all of their voices overlapping as they shout and giggle, but she sat through them all nonetheless.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Impulses said as they all stacked their bowls into the sink.
“You’re very welcome,” Mom smiled. “And you don’t have to call me ma’am, you can just say Ms. Small.”
“Okay then, thank you Ms. Small.” Impulse amended.
“Do you guys want to watch a movie before bed?”
There was a chorus of yesses from the whole group at that suggestion. “I want a Christmas movie!” Grian shouted out.
“Well, I think we can make that happen.” Mom said, walking into the living room and reaching into the cabinet. “We’ve got The Grinch, and we have Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Which one do you guys want to watch?”
“The Grinch.” Joel said.
“Oh, I’ve seen Rudolph, can we watch that one?” Gem asked.
“Let’s take a vote. Stand over there for The Grinch, and over there for Rudolph.” Mom pointed to either side of the living room.
Joel went to The Grinch side, and Skizz followed him. Gem, Impulse, and Grian all took the other side. Jimmy deliberated for a moment, before deciding to take the side with more people, pushing Rudolph into victory.
“Rudolph it is.” Mom declared.
“Aw, man.” Joel muttered.
Mom gently patted him on the head. “It’s okay, you can pick next time.” She reassured him. “I’m going to go get you guys some blankets. I assume you all can start the movie without breaking anything.”
Grian rushed over and opened the DVD case, opening the slot on the DVD player to insert. Joel and everyone else all piled onto the couch, pushing each other around in an attempt to all fit comfortably.
Mom came back into the room, carrying an armfull of blankets, she passed them on to the kids. Then, she went around and handed them all one little object. A small tinfoil-wrapped piece of Christmas chocolate.
Joel gasped in delight, because his mom always kept any candy stashed away in a secret spot on account of her sons being sugar fiends.
“I’ll be in the other room if you need me.” Joel’s mom said finally as she turned off all the lights so the room was only illuminated by the TV screen and the Christmas tree lights.
“Thank you!” They all told her one last time as she departed.
“Your house is the best!” Gem said, unwrapping her chocolate.
“Your mom is the best!” Skizz said.
“Yeah, we know.” Jimmy said, proudly puffing his chest out.
“Shut up, the movie is starting.” Joel hissed at them.
They all fall into a comfortable silence as they watch, cuddled up under their blankets, small, warm bodies all pressed up against each other. It is only broken when, about half way through, Jimmy let out a big yawn.
“Are you seriously already tired, Timmy?” Grian asked.
“Um… no.” Jimmy said unconvincingly, resting his face on Impulse's lap.
Joel rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’re not allowed to fall asleep yet.”
“We aren’t?” Impulse asked, leaning on Skizz’s side. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Not till the movie’s over at least.” Gem poked at Impulse like that would keep him awake.
Skizz stretched his arms out over his friend's shoulders, only further entangling them all. “We all gotta stay awake until the movie’s over. Everyone swear to it.” He demanded.
“I swear.” they all said, some less enthusiastic than others.
Joel was very, very determined to stick to his promise. No matter how comfortable he felt, or how pleasantly dark it was, no matter how the Christmas lights were twinkling like little stars, beckoning him to try and count them like sheep till he fell deep into slumber.
No. He wouldn’t. He turned his attention back to the movie, trying to ignore how all the bright colours and dialogue were beginning to blur together into something akin to a lullaby.
As the night went on, Joel was so focused on staying awake, he didn’t even notice his friends fading away before he did. Jimmy ceased his wriggling, Skizz stopped whispering to Impulse, and Impulse stopped shushing him, Gem stopped gasping and reacting to the different scenes as they played out, everything went eerily still.
So still, in fact, that when the movie ended and the credits started to roll, all Joel could hear was the distant chirping of crickets, and the gentle hum of the house's heating system.
But he had made it, and he hadn’t fallen asleep, so now he could finally let himself go and do just that.
His eyes wandered over to the Christmas tree again, the star-like lights now the only source of light in the room. His eyes felt very heavy, and he curled up tighter, leaning against Impulse, Jimmy half-stretched across his legs, the lights started to get blurry as he began to fall asleep.
“Hello? Is anyone still awake?” Grian’s voice cut through the darkness from all the way on the other side of the couch.
Joel stirred, forcing himself to open his eyes again. “...‘M still here.” He mumbled.
“Are we the only ones who stayed until the end?” Grian scoffed.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Well good job to us.” Grian said. “What do we do now?”
“Um… dunno” Joel slurred, feeling dragged down by his own body. He got one last look at the twinkling lights, bathing them all in warm colours, before they faded away and he let his eyes shut.
“Joel?” Grian asked into the silence. But it was too late, Joel was already fast asleep.
Grian sighed. “Okay, g’night.”
He waited a moment to make sure nobody replied before he said the last part. “Love you.”
In his sleep, Joel smiled.