Serisode 3 - A rewrite which I've named "The Alliance"

A few years ago, I failed an English exam for the first time ever due to an essay I wrote then. I'm rewriting it to show to my old teacher who will hopefully deem it good enough for a passing grade this one time! I am not a romanticist and never will be, I just wrote it then since I thought it would have been an easy A (How wrong was I?)

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Running over small pebbles and hail, the tires eased; their breaks doing what little they could on an ice ridden road; to a stop. Noses red, their mitten clad hands rubbing together, a stream of boys came tumbling out of the bus door, their breath frosting over as they ran out; shouting and darting their shimmering eyes here and there to survey their haven.

One particular such boy ran through the snow, following their guardians as they walked past a clump of enormous trees. Kicking the snow as he walked - pausing only to wipe his nose with his sleeve - letting out a sudden gasp as he felt a small object make impact and slide its way into the hem of his shirt, finding its way between a hastily patched collar and sliding into his torso. Shrieking with delight; hastily chipping off a piece of bark from the surrounding trees, quick to respond onto his assailant.

Surely the trees would have been laid bare and defenceless to the elements had the instructor not stepped in to negotiate a ceasefire; the older boys smiling as they remembered their own time when they used to partake in the merriment in a similar fashion. Now they hmph'd and looked down at the younger ones contemptuously. It was only when they thought no-one else was looking that they tore off pieces for themselves, tossing them at a bystander, smiling as they enjoyed their little mischief before regaining their composure, struggling to hide their smiles as they observed the ensuing panic.

A clearing with a large house seemed to be the destination of the twenty-some party. As they made their way again a small chip of bark - aimed towards the same first boy narrowly flew by; making contact with the uncovered neck of the guardian. Turning around - nostrils flaring and spoiling her otherwise slender face - onto the victim of her wrath, who although had avoided the hit, couldn't avoid a severe scolding in front of another group; comprising solely of bright eyed girls and a guardian of their own; as they walked in, taking off their mufflers; huddling close to a fireplace.

His protests ignored, the boy sat down in a corner, away from the crowd - burying his head between his legs and drowning out the words in the backgrounds ".... The sister orphanages have gotten together again on the annual four week winter trip...", focusing only on the injustice done to him - ignorant to the cheering surrounding him, ignorant to the figure creeping up to him; a hand finding its way to the hem of his shirt and everyone turning as his screams were heard.

The culprit fell over laughing as the boy struggled and ran around in a futile attempt to somehow get the snow out of his back, yelping as the cold wet snow spread across his patchy clothes. Finally getting into an acceptable state to be able to sit up and talk, his fury quickly morphed into bewilderment as the culprit - red nose poking out of a tiny chirpy face already swathed in layers - thrust a mug of hot cocoa into his hands and cheerfully asked him "Hi! I'm Mia. Are you alright?"

His brooding all but forgotten; he found himself thrust into a conversation he hesitantly entered, observing her hands flailing about as she emphasized upon what she was saying, her voice slightly stuttering as if she herself couldn’t keep up with how fast she would’ve liked to speak. But the boy … The boy sat there – transfixed – glued fast to the floor as he stammered back a few sentences, looking at her bright twinkling eyes, tilting his head to get a better look at her petit form.

A new alliance formed, the girl caught a view of his shirt – still dripping from her assault – and cried out loud “You should get close to the fire! Don’t get sick on the first day!” as she ushered him closer to the fireplace, ignoring his mouth opening and closing as he attempted to refute her cradling his back to help it dry up – the boy’s face red and confused as to the scenario …

After that, Mia had a constant shadow with her, wherever she went, he scampered towards her, always finding her greeting him with a smile; taking him by his hand and running off carefree, sometimes heading towards the toboggans; sometimes enjoying a shared mug of cocoa if the guardian would take pity on their runny noses, red cheeks and give in to their gleaming eyes long enough to spare enough for a mug – although exclamations from Mia would make it out to be much lesser than one mug, telling him about the secret stash where the guardians hid all the cocoa from them - from the trip supplies.

The boy – who really couldn’t care less about the cocoa - laughed along to her exclamations, joyously noting her every move, watching her mimic their guardians feasting on a huge imaginary banquet, laughing away with falsetto voices before fending away hungry youngsters with their fictional canes, seeming more of an army drill sergeant than the sympathetic Ms. Humphrey who would give children cocoa and biscuits out of her own rations when she was awash with her (oft occurring) waves of sympathy towards them.

The days turned into weeks and as the fourth, final week approached, the traditional bonfire was to be held two days before their departure. The caretakers of the cabin ventured out into the woods, returning with great armfuls of dry wood – a miracle if Ms. Humphrey was to be believed, with the amount of snow around – while the children scooped armloads of snow and took them away, somehow managing to get to a small patch of brown ground freed up for the fireplace.

As the fire blazed and what was perhaps the highlight of the evening to most the children was brought out as a bag of Marshmallows was magically produced (accompanied by both squeals exclamations from Mia “I told you! I told you they had a secret stash!”) from the depths by Ms. Humphrey.

Retrieving their share, the two settled down, attempting to toast their marshmallows over the fire like the older kids, each roaring as the other let theirs stay in the fire for too long, watching it melt through their sticks as they brought it back; Mia yelping as she accidentally let the burning liquid drip onto her hand through a hole in her mittens.

In the end, with both of them unsuccessful in their venture and tearing through their ration of the condiment quickly with the now seemingly unlimited supply of cocoa as the guardians attempted to finish off what was left of their supplies before moving out of their winter home, he at decided to have one more duel with the fire…

Abruptly pulling the marshmallow away as the smoky brown tinge started to come onto it; he brought it close – gingerly blowing on it and touching it lightly to see whether it had cooled down sufficiently. Feeling her eyes on him, shining with anticipation he suddenly turned and in once quick flourish of his hands he found his way to her mouth and quickly put in the toasted marshmallow; ignoring her yelp and shutting her mouth quickly as she chewed – her eyes wide in shock, a smile stretching across her face as she suddenly leaned in; kissed his cheek and ran off laughing, leaving him sitting in a corner, unnoticed by the crowd – only a few paces away…

Crushing the remnants of snow underneath its tires, the bus rolled out; one of its window panes frosting over as he looked towards the other bus with his nose pinned to the window, trying to get one last glimpse before next year …

Running over small pebbles and hail, the tires eased; their breaks doing what little they could on an ice ridden road; to a stop. Noses red, their mitten clad hands rubbing together, a stream of boys came tumbling out of the bus door, their breath frosting over as they ran out; shouting and darting their shimmering eyes here and there to survey their haven. A careful onlooker might have seen one such boy looking through a window pane delightfully to see that theirs was the only bus yet arrived.

Now a little taller, a little stockier, his face a little more ridden with acne, he strolled out behind his guardian walking with a spring in his step and a beaming smile on his face – stopping only to stock himself up on ammunition from the trees, after all, one must always be prepared for war.

Their wood flinging cut short, the children arrived at a familiar cabin, dropping their things off only to be told off by their guardian at their unkemptness, hurriedly rushed into picking them up and placing them in an orderly manner with cries of “Honestly! What would Ms. Humphrey say! Her little girls are so neat and look at you rowdy lot!”

The bags neatly stacked in a corner, he curled up in a corner outside the cabin as he heard the sound of high pitched voices laughing and chattering coming closer. True to their reputation, the girls proceeded to neatly stack their own baggage in organised piles next to the boys’ – Mia laughing away with her friends whilst preoccupied in finding a particular familiar figure amongst the crowd, ignorant of to her surroundings; ignorant to a figure creeping up behind her … Ignorant to a hand finding its way to her scarf and slipping in a bit of what could only be described as sweet sweet revenge as she shrieked, now being the victim rolling around trying to get the snow out of her clothes as he sat beside her flailing figure; laughing at it contorting around on the floor.

Finally getting up, a familiar face looked up to him; beaming happily as it dragged him kicking and screaming to the fireplace; demanding that he help her dry up before she catches the flu. His dignity all but lost, he rubbed her back as his peers laughed at the sight of him being bossed around.

Being handed a cup of cocoa each, they sat and started talking about the past year - her hands as animated as ever, describing her words with more passion than she could manage with her mouth. He noted that her stuttering had reduced considerably, although the same could not be said for how quickly she spoke…

He was not the only one who had grown – tilting his head to the side as he had once before, he observed her, again ignoring the announcement in the background, looking only at her movements and pausing to respond or refute a particular matter when she stopped chattering long enough for him to do so.

An old alliance once again reunited, they moved towards Ms. Humphrey, pleading for a mug of cocoa as always until she took pity on their souls and poured out one for the both of them; smiling away at their antics.

Astonished at her lack of comment about the quantity of cocoa he opened his mouth to enquire, only to find her pushing his jaw shut and putting a finger on his lips, whispering “Shh… This year, we’ll find it … We will find the secret stash!” She held his hand and running towards the nearby trees. Screaming at every little enclave caused by the snow, the two of them ran around, scavenging through the ragtag camp to find what was practically the “Legendary Hidden Stash” if Mia’s words were to be believed, becoming suspiciously silent and sitting next to each other any time either one of the guardians passed by – trying to muffle their giggling furiously before running off in search of their treasure.

They spent many weeks in search of it, finally finding the day of the bonfire to be upon them. Huddling around the crackling flames once again, they laughed at their younger peers who were making futile efforts to toast their marshmallows and showed off their own lovely ones, coated with a perfect brown singe from the toasting, eating away happily while reminiscing the year before that one.

He found himself edging away from everyone slowly to keep up with her small movements as she slid across the patch to the snowy area away from everyone. “Remember what happened here last year? When I ran off?”. Blushing profusely and not replying, he turned away – after all, how could he forget?

She leaned in towards him quickly, pecking him on the lips and letting it linger for a second before getting up and screaming as she ran off “You fell for it again!”

Crushing the remnants of snow underneath its tires, the bus rolled out; one of its window panes frosting over as he looked towards the other bus with his nose pinned to the window, trying to get one last glimpse before next year …

Running over small pebbles and hail, the tires eased; their breaks doing what little they could on an ice ridden road; to a stop. Noses red, their mitten clad hands rubbing together, a stream of boys came tumbling out of the bus door, their breath frosting over as they ran out; shouting and darting their shimmering eyes here and there to survey their haven.

He got off; rubbing his chin slowly to ease away the pain of the cold nipping into his cuts, his taller and older appearance being somewhat foiled by the cuts on his cheek showing a boy, yet inexperienced with a razor.

Walking past the boys, all a heads length shorter than him at least, he pretended to ignore the boys throwing little pieces of bark at them, a smile betraying his otherwise contemptuous look as he watched them from the corner of his eye. Chipping a small piece of bark off of a beautiful great Pine, he flung it across at a child; giggling as it hit and another little one was blamed for it.

Arriving at the cabin, he found his way to a familiar face – hugging her as he greeted her after what seemed a long and tedious year. Quickly entering into conversation over a mug of cocoa like old times, they laughed and talked about their efforts to find the “Legendary Treasure Stash” as Mia called it then, an old alliance – never broken – once again together.

Laughing and talking they whittled the days away, sometimes sneaking off to secluded corners together; others they’d entertain a crowd of children with fanciful stories of the Stash they claimed was defended by Ogres and Mountain Trolls, until it was time for the bonfire once again…

As per norm, she slowly eased him away from everyone, slowly taking him to a secluded spot, slowly leaning close to him … But this time … Everything changed … She said three words, those three words which changed it all for them, leaning in, with her eyes bright, she whispered them into his ear as his eyes widened in realization of what they really meant.

Crushing the remnants of snow underneath its tires, the bus rolled out; but this time: the window pane did not frost over, he did not look through to get a glimpse … For all he could hear was her voice, again and again in his head, one last time, repeating those three words which had ruined it all, yet he couldn’t hate her for them, he could try to feel happy as fate taunted him, saying those three words over and over again….

“I’m getting adopted!”