Burns and Bullies

    I squish my face to the car’s window, watching the white stuff fall from the sky. I've never seen this before, my sister says it’s snow. But she’s an annoying know-it-all and I don’t really care what she thinks.

    “Did you know snow is actually translucent, not white? And each winter in the U.S., at least 1 SEPTILLION ICE CRYSTALS FALL FROM THE SKY!” Kallie cries happily, proud to be smarter than me, “and THE MOST SNOW TO FALL IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD IN THE UNITED STATES IS 75.8 INCHES.!” I roll my eyes.

     “And what makes you think I care?” Kallie glares at me, we’re twins, but it’s always been a contest between us.

     “Girls, stop fighting!” My dad exclaims as he jerks the wheel around in the snowstorm, Hawaii doesn’t have snowstorms, like, ever. Minnesota does a lot. The car swerves and I grab the armrest in the bright red minivan. Two kids come whipping around the corner of the hill next to us whooping loudly as they get flung off their sled in the middle of a jump. Two more sleds full of kids come whirring next to them, slamming into the abandoned sled and two kids on the first one. One of the kids stands up from the middle of the heap of sleds and children, she’s probably the youngest, and has brown pigtails, she cackles evilly.

      “LET’S DO IT AGAIN!” She shrieks then takes off up the hill with everyone else scrambling to follow.

       “Well. That looks…” my mom starts, Kallie and I answer at the same time.

        “Unnecessarily dangerous!” Kallie states.

        “Awsome!” I cry happily. Kallie flips her blond ponytail at me, I grin and poke her in the side. We look alike, but I do my best not to look like her, for example, I have a few blue streaks through my hair, she has glasses, I don’t, and purposely wear the opposite of whatever color Kallie wears each day.

       “Why would you ever want to engage in an unfortunate choice of sports such as that dangerous thing they were all participating in on the hill?” Kallie demands, I snort.

       “Because it’s fun, unlike you, Ms. party pooper.” Kallie gives me the stink eye, so I stick my tongue out at her. 

        “Girls, we’re here.” The car pulls up to a large tan house with towering windows overlooking a ginormous hill. Kallie nods seriously.

        “Did you insure the house properly?” My mom nods. “And you already had an appraiser come and examine the house for flaws, and you looked over the agreement for any falsities or inaccuracies.” My mom sighs, jokes on her, she’s the one who pushed Kallie to become like, well, like Kallie.

       “Nerd.” I mumble under my breath, my dad playfully whacks me on the shoulder.

       “Be nice to your sister.” He tells me, I grab my suitcase and lug it away from the car and to the steps of the stairs.

       “As soon as she starts being nice to me!” I shout back, I can hear him chuckling from here. My mom is talking seriously to Kallie, nodding her head towards me, that’s not good. Kallie crawls out of the car, bundled up in an unhealthy amount of clothes, she waddles toward me, looking disappointed.

       “Mom says I have to go sledding with you.” She sighs then trudges away, I grin. A kid comes pedaling up on a bicycle, he has on a T-shirt and snow pants with boots. He pulls his bike over to our driveway.

      “Hi! Are you guys the new guys?” He asks, I nod.

      “I’m Lahna, that's my sister Kallie.” I point toward Kallie, who is coming over, she looks the boy up and down.

      “It can take 30 minutes to get frostbite, and snow burn is a high risk factor too in this weather.” Kallie says, pushing her glasses up. The boy snorts.

     “Well, I’m Liam, nice meeting you guys, I gotta go.” He turns and bikes away, but I hear him whisper “geek.” under his breath. Kallie looks discouraged, and walks away.

      The next day the two of us end up near a large tree that Kallie identifies as a white oak. Kallie has on three coats, snow pants, a hat, gloves,a scarf, and a pair of sunglasses. I have a winter coat, gloves, leggings and my brand new pair of red boots.

       “You know, cold weather can really damage your eyes, and your hair can get split ends from the cold.” She points to my pony tail, hers is tucked under her hat.

      “At least I don’t look like a walking talking inflatable.” I retort. She glares at me.

     “Maybe I’m the smartest, and mom and dad's favorite because I’m cautious, oh yeah, and smarter than you.” She comments meanly.

     “Sure, whatever makes you happy.” I heard a kid on the news say that and decided to try it, I like it. Kallie is super annoying, I wish I was an only child. “I mean, your IQ is probably like half of mine.” I try not to let that get to me, she’s just trying to annoy me and I know it. We continue walking down the path. Kallie and I pass a group of kids who are all in baggy sweaters carrying snowboards.

     “You know, if any of you fall hard enough, there is a high percentage of a chance you will do permanent damage to your brains since they are still in the developing stage.” Kallie scolds them, referring to the lack of helmets, the kids start laughing, and I feel my face heat up.

     “Kallie! Stop!” I whisper angrily. 

     “Ohh, is that so? Guys look, da fat little snowman thinks we might get a booboo.” The snowboarder in front tells his friends. Kellie looks angry, she looks at me, but I don’t know what to do.

      “Do you agree with the fat little snowman?” One of the  snowboarders asks me, still laughing, I open my mouth, but I don’t know what to say. Everyone’s looking at me, waiting for my answer. This place is new, and I don’t want to start out as hated by everyone, although Kallie’s my sister, but I shouldn’t have to give everything up to help her. I close my mouth and mutely shake my head slightly, Kallie’s eyes fill with fury, and the snowboarders snort as they walk by.

     “Hey, you board?” The boy in front asks me, I shake my head. 

     “Come by sometime, we’ll teach you, since you’re cool.” The girl next to him offers. I nod and they walk away. Kallie stares at me angrily, then stomps away down the street, she doesn’t talk to me at all on the walk home.

    Kallieis still silent the next day as we walk, we stop by the frozen pond about a mile from our house.

     Kallie shakes her head vigorously, and steps back from the ice.

    “Come’on Kallie. It’s really fun.” She shakes her head. “Come’on I won’t let you fall.” She shakes her head.

     “Yeah you will, you don’t care if I get hurt, I don’t trust you Lahna, you always let me fall.” I’m hurt by that one, and I know she can see that, but she doesn’t take it back.     

   “Hey look it’s the nerd and the nerds sister!” A kid yells,I recognize him as one of the snowboarders from yesterday, his friends are new though, and start laughing like he just told the funniest joke ever. I don’t know why, but some part of me was angry about that, only I get to insult Kallie. I look over at Kallie, her face is turning bright red.

     “Hey, she could be worse,” I look the kid disdainfully up and down, “she could be like you.” 

      “Oooooooo!” The kids friends simultaneously go.

The kid glares at me.

      “Leave her alone, just because you're jealous she’s so much smarter than you doesn’t mean you have to pick on her.”

      “Huh, like she’s smarter than me.” The kid replies angrily.

      “Oh, so now you're insulting yourself.” 

      “No, I mean, I, no, she’s not as smart as me, and I’m cooler.” He finally exclaims. I smirk.

      “No, she’s smart, you, however, have an IQ around, anh…” I pretend to measure something with my hands. “around room temperature.” I’ve now walked out onto the ice, and am standing about five feet away from the kid.

      “C’mon guys, let’s leave these two dummies, they’re obviously not cool.” He says, trying to look cool. I roll my eyes as the kid and his friends march away, trying to maintain their dignity. I turn back to Kallie, who has a look I don’t know across her face, I offer her my hand, she smiles tentatively at me and takes it, then cautiously steps onto the ice.