Snow Festival
Calypso High
Series Two, Episode Three


      Ah, Christmas break.
      Mari DeSka stretched luxuriously in her bed until her hands smacked into a giant teddy bear on one side and the wall on the other. The sun streamed into her room-- another gorgeous day.
      It rarely dipped below 60 degrees during the day in Layla:), although it could get chilly at night. Likely there was a coating of frost on the lawn this morning. Or had been-- Mari noticed it was already 9 AM, late for her to still be in bed.
      It had been a long night at Inda Nett's yearly Hannukkah party, though. She'd been surprised upon arrival to find Inda playing the proud papa, showing off the baby girl that Doreen Flagg had birthed last spring.
      "I named her Marina," he'd said. "Kind of after you."
      "Me?" Mari had choked.
      "You're the most stable person in town. I thought it would be good luck."
      "You're nuts," Mari had told him, and as she remembered it this morning, she felt kind of bad for saying it that way. But, she'd been in shock. Who really needed a kid named after her? Especially for a reason like that!
      She decided to send him a nice email, anyway. It had been a great party, and Marina was an adorable, precocious child. Mari hoped she could have one like that someday.
      "Mari!" Rapid-fire knocking interrupted Mari's thoughts.
      Seconds later, the door burst open to admit Daniela, Pandora, and the kitten, Natasha. Natas immediately started hissing at Mari's computer.
      "Nati, knock it off," Dani scolded. "Isn't she cute?" The cat attacked the mouse.
      "It's Snow Festival Day!" Pandy yelled as she catapulted herself into the middle of Mari's bed-- coincidentally, right where Mari's stomach was.
      "Oof! Get off of me."
      "Snow Festival," Pandy insisted. Mari dumped her onto the floor.
      "If you cry, we're not going," Mari threatened.
      Pandy bit back tears.
      "That's mean," Dani frowned.
      "She's too big for that stuff," Mari glared. "And apparently, I need a new lock on my door. What if I'd been naked?"
      "Eeew!" both sisters cried.
      "Thanks. Now get out of here and let me get dressed."
      "Be fast," Dani urged as she ushered Pandy and the cat out the door. "Applications for Snow Princess end at eleven."
      "Heaven forbid we miss that." Mari propped a chair under her doorknob. She was pretty sure that only worked in the movies, but it would at least slow her sisters down a bit.
      The Snow Festival was a Layla:)n tradition since at least the mid-60s, when someone had bought a snow machine and frosted over a downtown parking lot. For the perennially snow-starved denizens of Layla:), it was a real treat.
      Today, it had grown into a government-sanctioned festival, with ten snow-makers covering an entire park downtown. There were all kinds of contests-- Snow Princess pageant included-- and free skating, cross-country skiing, and a "Snow Ball" in the pavilion after dark. Local businesses got into it and sold souvenirs-- snow globes, of course-- and food-- everything from sno-cones to hot cocoa to (Mari's favorite) fried dough.
      With the promise of hot, greasy food in her mind, Mari threw on jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pale blue cashmere cardigan. Snow Festival Day was the one day a year she went preppy. And she still ended up looking subversive because of that crazy pink streak in her hair.
      Yay for subversive!
      She ran a brush through her hair, not quite defeating her bed-head, then went downstairs to the kitchen. Dani and Pandy were making toast and bouncing around.
      Mari grabbed a slice of toast from Dani's plate as she walked around and into the hall. "I thought you guys didn't want to miss anything." She slipped on her clogs and walked out into the gorgeous, sunny Layla:)n morning.
      "Hey! We didn't think you'd be that fast!" Dani shouted as the two girls scrambled out of the house, toast in hand.
      Mari had plenty of time to chew and swallow her toast as she let her car warm up. She'd finally gotten rid of the smiley-face decals and painted the whole thing something called "Aztec Green Pearl." She'd let her sisters help to pick it out, and since Pandy had been studying Aztecs in social studies...
      Finally, they were on their way. The roads were packed with kids (and the occasional parent) heading for downtown. Two blocks away from the festival, traffic froze.
      "I smell snow," Dani said, climbing up on her seat to see into the distance.
      "I smell exhaust fumes. Now sit. Stay," Mari commanded.
      "I am not a dog," Dani protested, but she did sit down.
      Mari drove forward a few car lengths as traffic moved again. "I think this is parking traffic."
      "Should have taken the bus," Pandy said.
      "The bus is stuck behind us," Mari said. Traffic moved again, and Mari was directed into a lot about a block from the festival grounds. "Cute traffic cop," she murmured.
      "He's old," Dani disagreed.
      "Maybe to you. I'm 17. If he's 23, that's not old to me."
      "Just illegal."
      "Shut up."
      "And anyway, he looks forty."
      "Double shut up. And get out of my car." For the car was parked, and Mari was putting up the convertible top.
***
      An hour later, Mari was wandering the festival grounds alone, a fried dough in one hand and a lemonade slushie in the other.
      Dani was busy practicing for the Ice Princess-- excuse me, Snow Princess competition. Pandy had found friends and taken off with them to ride the most stomach-churning rides.
      Mari was content to wander aimlessly. She'd gotten quite good at that kind of thing over the years. About every five feet she ran into someone she knew, but rather ruthlessly managed to simply wave and move on, never becoming involved in a conversation.
      As she passed the ice rink, she noticed Dream Driad and Uly Chuck, whom Mari'd recently dubbed UPChuck, doing a circuit. Uly wasn't much of a skater, and Dream wasn't noticing all that much. She was just kind of dragging him along behind her.
      Mari turned away before she could burst out laughing. No need to draw attention to herself.
      No, she was getting plenty of attention as it was.
      All morning, Mari had had the vague feeling of being watched. "Maybe I'm just paranoid," she muttered to herself. "But if I don't feel better in about two minutes, I'm going home."
      Cueball bounded up to her. "Hey, have you seen Tianne around here?" he asked.
      Mari breathed a sigh of relief. Cueball had probably been watching her as he tried to catch up to her in the crowd. That was it.
      "Nope, haven't seen her," Mari shrugged.
      "We've got a lunch date, but she goes disappearing to 'test' me," Cueball said, rolling his eyes impatiently.
      "Test?" Mari said, raising an eyebrow.
      "To see how much I love her or something."
      "And?"
      "Right now, I'd like to strangle her!"
      Mari blinked. Cueball was usually very even-tempered. "Trouble in paradise, huh?"
      "I think I'll break up with her again," he nodded.
      Mari smiled. She'd given up counting Cueball and Tianne's breakups ages ago. Their couple status changed hourly.
      "Well, if you need a date for the Snow Ball," she offered, only half serious. "Hey, there's Tianne." Mari pointed at the blonde head bobbing through the crowd at a nearby pizza vendor's stall. "I'll see you later!" she laughed as Cueball took off.
      Mari lifted her cup to take another drink of slushie, and was stunned to find it was empty. Her fried dough had similarly disappeared while she wasn't paying attention.
      "Hi Mari! I bought you a slushie!"
      Mari jumped. "Oh. Justinian. Hi." The bizarre Junior boy had taken a liking to Mari in the past few months that bordered on obsession. He was everywhere. And that, Mari concluded, was the reason she felt she was always being watched.
      "Thanks," she said, "but I really don't have time for another slushie now. I need to... sign up for the snowball wars," she ad libbed. She hadn't actually though about the snowball wars before, but it was as good an excuse as any to escape Justinian. He was a nice-enough guy, and certainly devoted to her, but ultimately, he was just... creepy.
      "Sign up for the red team," Justinian pleaded. "I'm on the red team. We need your help."
      "If there are still spots open," Mari said. She abruptly headed off, in the general direction of the war fields. Luckily, Justinian had been satisfied and was running off to do whatever it was Justinian did when he was not bugging Mari.
      "Mari!" Suki Kyoko had spotted her now, and was beckoning. "Come join the yellow team!"
      "Okay," Mari grinned. If Justinian asked, and he likely wouldn't dare, she'd just say her first loyalty was to her girlfriends. "Hey, is that Davis guy here?"
      "Oh, no, he got early graduation. He's starting at Harvard in January." Suki made a face. "We keep losing the cute ones."
      "I know," Mari sighed. "But... I didn't think Ivy League schools took new students mid-year."
      "Who knows? Anyway, he said to tell you goodbye and he'll miss dancing with you."
      "Well, dammit."
      "Yep. Let's head out to the field and start building a fortress. My friend Brian has a great plan all sketched out-- very structurally sound."
      Mari smiled. It would be great working with the geeks. Sturdy fortress, accurate snowball pitching. Brains just had to beat brawn!
***
      Mari was feeling even more confident than usual after her team had been handed the big gold cup (full of nice, hot popovers to warm them up after the war, an odd Layla:)n tradition), and the geeks had placed her and Suki on a sumptuous litter and borne them around the fairgrounds, hailing them as the "Geek Queens".
      The festival closed down at 4:00, allowing everyone a chance to go home, rest, eat dinner, and change into their dress clothes for the Snow Ball. Mari cheerfully collected her sisters, drove them home, and headed upstairs to dig through her closet for a nice dress. She hadn't planned on attending the Snow Ball, but she had had such a good time so far today, she just couldn't resist.
      Way in the very back of the closet, Mari found a glittery ball gown.
      "Huh?" she muttered, dragging out the spangled confection. "What are you..." Then she remembered-- she had borrowed that dress from her cousin back in seventh grade when she tried out for Cinderella in the school musical. Hadn't got the part, of course, but that was mostly because she was reading opposite Jens Herrkauf! and she couldn't breathe, never mind read. Thank goodness she was over that kind of silliness now. Boys. Who needed 'em?
      Well, she would miss Davis...
      Mari rolled her eyes. No, she would not miss Davis. She'd barely gotten to know him. Who needed some Ivy League dork anyway?
      She slipped into the gown, which fit much better now than it had in seventh grade (since she now filled out certain places above and below her bellybutton), and threw her hair up into a messy topknot. The pink of the dress matched her hair streak exactly. But even with that fortuitous natural accessory, it still needed something. Something... really flashy. To upstage Daniela, if possible.
      Aha!
      Mari pounded down the stairs to the living room, where her mother was untangling strings of lights for the Christmas tree they'd be putting up that night. "White lights," she said. "With a battery pack."
      "Try that blue box over there," Darci DeSka pointed. "I thought you weren't going to the ball."
      "Yeah, so did I." Mari dug around for the lights. "Okay, I'll be home late I guess. Unless the ball really sucks."
      "Marianna."
      "Stinks. Fine." Mari looked in the mirror above the fireplace and wrapped the lights around her hair. "Yeahhh... perfecto!" The tiny white lights shone softly in her hair, casting a glow on her already-perfect rosy skin, and reflecting off of the thousands of sequins on her gown. "I... rock," she proclaimed softly.
      "Time to go!" Dani screamed as she thundered down the stairs.
      "NO FAIR!" Pandy yelled as she stomped angrily behind.
      "Be quiet!" Darci hissed at them. "Do you have to be so loud?"
      "I want to go to the ball," Pandy whined, indeed quieter now, but not by much.
      "When you're in high school, you can go too," Mari said, pushing Dani out the door so they might make a quick exit.
      "Not fair," Pandy insisted, trying to follow them out the door. Mari slammed it-- gently, of course-- in her face.
      "Phew," Dani said. She carefully arranged her skirts in the car. "I thought we'd never get out of there."
      "What? That took all of three seconds," Mari said. She was decidedly less delicate with her skirts, although she didn't put the convertible top down in hopes of preserving her hairdo at least as long as it took for people to actually see her. If it fell out while she was dancing, that was another thing. But she wouldn't have anyone saying she came to a ball looking like something the cat threw up.
      In moments they were at the snow park again, stepping carefully along the plowed paths through the newly-freshened drifts. They were rather early, since Dani had to get backstage for the Snow Princess opening number.
      "Okay, meet me out here at ten. No later!" Mari shouted after her sister as Dani took off for the backstage area.
      "Yeah..." Mari thought she heard Dani call back. Or maybe it was a figment of her imagination.
      Mari thought she'd head into the pavilion, maybe stake out a spot by the punch bowl, but the doors were still closed and a guard posted to keep out early ball-goers. She looked around at the few people milling around, like her the relatives or friends of pageant contestants, but there wasn't anyone that she knew. Sigh. She decided to walk around the nearly-abandoned midway area. Unlike many people, she did not fear carneys and barkers and that sort. Heck, she'd gotten betrothed as an infant in a gypsy camp. That kinda inoculated a person against weirdos.
      A tall, slim figure dressed entirely in black slipped out from between a popcorn stand and a ticket kiosk to stand in Mari's path.
      "Go away," she said when she saw who it was.
      "I wish you'd reconsider," Mackenzie Trench said, bowing deeply.
      Mari lashed out and punched him in the nose as he came back up. "Naw, I don't think so."
      "Couldn't you at least be civil?"
      "Dear heavens, no. How ridiculous." Mari turned and walked back toward the pavilion.
      "Someday, my dear..." Mac said through the drips of blood. "Someday..." He slipped back into the midway alley.
***
      Back at the pavilion, Mari rubbed her knuckles. Damn hard-headed men. Literally, in this case. She couldn't count how many times she'd told him to bugger off in the past months.
      "I can't marry someone I barely know, and right out of high school, too," she always said.
      "We can wait a few years. You can go to college if you want, and we'll get to know each other," he always countered.
      "No thanks," she would say, "I've seen enough already. My parents like you, and that's reason enough to run screaming in the opposite direction."
      And after so many identical conversations, he still had no answer for that.
      "Mari!" Justinian squealed as he ran up to her.
      Oh, bloody hell. There was another one that didn't get it. And she just didn't feel right punching him. So instead... "Hi, Justinian."
      "Will you dance with me?"
      "The dance hasn't started yet. There's, like, half an hour of pageant junk to sit through. By the way, my sister is the short one with the blue dress, if you want to cheer for her." Mari hoped against hope that Justinian would decide to love Dani instead, although the chances weren't too good. Apparently, he'd known Miss Dani back in elementary school, before he skipped fourth grade, right out of Dani's class. Something about that time had turned him against her. Mari couldn't imagine what.
      "I know," Justinian assured her. "I watched the preliminaries."
      "Really? I didn't know anyone watched that stuff."
      "Her color guard routine to the hits of ABBA was fascinating. Especially the Dancing Queen finale with the rifle and the fireworks."
      "Fireworks? Oh, am I ever glad I didn't know about that till afterward." Mari sighed. It was very, very illegal for Dani to be in possession of fireworks at her age, never mind set them off.
      "She got some professional company to do the pyro for her," Justinian clarified.
      "That's... interesting." Mari's attention was wandering. To Bolivia. "I... um... need the ladies room. I'll see you later." She escaped into the opening doors of the pavilion.
      Once inside, she found a seat in a dark, quiet corner and proceeded to hide from everyone and watch the pageant finals. There were five finalists: Dani, two college girls, Mari's best friend from elementary school Amanda, who she hardly ever talked to anymore (something to fix soon, she thought), and Dani's little friend Coli, the freshman.
      The two older girls were wearing the traditional icy blue gown of satin, which went reasonably well with their pasty complexions and very blonde hair. Coli wore the same color and fabric, but it went much less well with her red hair and freckles.
      But Amanda and Dani, two of the boldest people Mari knew, wore darker blues in non-traditional fabrics. Amanda's was a deep midnight velvet, which Mari knew her mother had designed for her. Large crystals hung randomly off the skirt, matching the pendant and earrings Amanda wore. Her long dark hair was pulled back with diamond-studded combs. She sparkled.
      And if Amanda sparkled, Dani glowed. Her gown was gauze, layers upon layers of silk gauze in sapphire and white. She looked like a faerie. Mari was darn sure there were little white Christmas lights or something underneath the skirt to make it glow. Maybe even actual faeries, knowing Dani, holding their little faerie lanterns and flying around under there.
      Okay, maybe not.
      Mari hoped Amanda would win, not because she wanted to see Dani foiled (although that was part of it), but because her friend really deserved it. She'd taken years of voice lessons, she had natural grace and poise, and most of all, she never pretended anything. She was a loud, straightforward person, and everyone knew it. Not like Dani, who was nice to strangers so she could draw them into her web. She controlled everyone. Amanda, however, always spoke her mind, not caring to whom. Yeah... and that was probably going to lose her the crown. Oh well, at least she had her integrity.
      Mari sighed as she watched Amanda come in second, and the sparkly tiara placed on Dani's head. Fake tears, fake smile, blah blah blah. Mari was considering wandering up to the stage when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
      "Hey, Mari," Suki said.
      "Hey yourself. How did you find me in this corner?" Mari asked, standing up and shaking out her skirts.
      "Your lights." Suki pointed to the Christmas lights on Mari's hair, still on and shining like a freaking beacon in the shadowy recesses of the pavilion.
      "Aw, man!" Mari smacked herself in the forehead. "I'm not used to this stuff."
      "Looks good," Suki shrugged. "And your dress matches your hair!"
      "Not too many people can do that with a pink dress," Mari agreed.
      "Didn't Dani's blue dress match her hair?"
      "Hm, I guess so. But she hid the streak tonight-- apparently it's not a cool thing for a Snow Princess to have streaky hair." Mari rolled her eyes. "So, you're here with Brian?"
      "Yeah," Suki nodded, pointing over to the punch bowl where a group of boys were trying to spike the punch without getting caught. "I told him, geeks don't spike punch, jocks do. Know what he said?"
      "What?"
      "Geeks are computer jocks."
      Mari snorted. "That is classic. I swear. Classic. Hey, I'm heading over to congratulate Amanda on not losing too badly to my sister."
      "Okay, I'll catch ya later," Suki said, then took off to berate Brian some more.
***
      Mari spent the rest of the night dancing in a large group with a bunch of her girl friends, and fending off advances from Justinian. Mac had not shown his face again, which was exactly the way she liked it. She got the feeling he wouldn't be coming back for a long, long time. If he ever came back. But then, he didn't seem like the sort to give up easily.
      "What are you thinking so hard about, dork?" Amanda said, coming up and punching Mari in the arm.
      "Nothing, punk," Mari grinned back. She was having the time of her life. Why stop to think about the future now? "Hey, let's go request something weird, like... um..."
      "Janet Jackson?" Amanda suggested.
      "You just like singing that song she does!"
      "Yeah, so?"
      Mari linked arms with her friend as they walked over to the DJ booth. That was a good philosophy, she thought. Yeah, so? Yeah, so, indeed...
***