BRING! My alarm clock goes off in a shrill voice. I groan and smash the snooze button. Then, it hit me. Today is the first day of Winter Break, and I’m gonna dive straight into the chaos of snowballs, laughter, and all that comes with being a kid on a snow day. It was snowing nonstop the whole of last week, which means the park is going to be perfect for whatever kind of trouble I want to get into. I quickly dress, and run downstairs where my mom is, making pancakes.
“Mom, can I please go to the park? I bet all my friends are there!” All my friends were talking about it yesterday. I make my cutest puppy eyes. “Pretty please with a cherry on top with whipped cream?”
“Well, honey, considering it is the first day of Winter Break,” Mom says. “Yes, you may go. BUT— .” I sigh. Here come all the rules. “—You will dress warm, be home before sundown, Check both ways before crossing the street, and— ”
I let out a dramatic sigh. “Yes, Mom.” I grab a pancake, and head out, waving goodbye.
“SAFETY FIRST!” she yells out the window, but I’m already out the door, ignoring the rest of her usual lecture.
As soon as I reach the park, I can hear the shouts and cheers of boys and girls as they chase each other around the snow-covered playground. Chomping down on my pancake, I join the giant snowball fight — boys versus girls. Kids run around in thick layers, snowballs fly— just total chaos, everywhere. I love it.
I spot Ellie, my best friend, almost immediately—she’s already in the middle of the fight, throwing a snowball at Max — the leader of the boys’ group — who’s facing the other way. He yelps with surprise when it hits him smack in the back. I jog over, gulping down the last bite of pancake.
“Hey! You didn’t start without me, did you?” I pretend to be angry, frowning.
Ellie looks up, laughs, and hands me a snowball. “The boys think they’re gonna win, but we’ve got a secret weapon!”
I raise an eyebrow. “What’s the secret weapon?”
Ellie starts to answer, then her eyes widen. “Not now, take cover!”
Without another word, we both duck behind a snowbank, and, before I know it, a dozen snowballs whizz by just where we were a moment ago. Ellie grabs a handful of snow and packs it into a perfectly round snowball. I do the same, my bare fingers tingling as they shape the cold, wet snow. Then, just like that, we’re off, running across the snow-covered ground and hurling snowballs with all our might.
The air is filled with the sounds of laughter, shouts, and the occasional thwack of snowballs hitting their targets. The crew of boys have great aim, but we’re quick and agile, dodging and weaving as we take cover behind trees. At one point, I find myself face-to-face with Lucas, one of the fastest runners. He smirks at me, thinking he’s going to get a clean shot, but I duck just in time, and his snowball sails past me, hitting a tree.
I laugh and shout, “You missed!”
Lucas gives me a fake glare and starts to shape another snowball. “I won’t this time,” he warns, but I can already tell he’s having as much fun as I am.
At one point, I find myself dodging a snowball, then throwing one right back at Tom, hitting him square in the chest. He glares at me but can’t help but laugh.
“Alright, alright. You guys win,” he says, hands in the air like he’s surrendering, before catching a snowball out of nowhere and latching it at me. Luckily, I was prepared, and dodged it. Life Lesson #1: Never trust a boy.
The snowball fight rages on for a long time. We’re all soaked, our coats heavy with melted snow, but no one seems to care. At one point, Ellie and I sneak up behind a group of boys and launch a surprise attack. The boys scream and run, but we’re too quick.
Then I hear Ellie whisper, “That’s the secret weapon.” She points across the park, where a big snow fort is being built by some younger kids. It’s impressive— snow stacked high, with a makeshift roof and everything. A small group of girls is guarding it, and it looks like they’ve been piling snowballs.
“That’s our backup,” Ellie says with a wink. “We launch from the front, and they’ll hit them from the back. They’ll never see it coming.”
“That’s pretty smart.” I grin. It is just the thing like Ellie would come up with.
We both hurry toward the fort, taking cover behind some snow. I signal to Ellie, and she nods. In perfect sync, we stand up, and we charge at the boys; hurling snowballs with everything we’ve got.
As expected, the boys start to rush toward us, but they’re too late to notice the surprise ambush from the back. The girls’ snowball attack is flawless. We hear the boys yelp in defeat as snowballs land all around them.
“Victory!” I shout, throwing my hands up.
Ellie high-fives me. “That’s how you win a snowball fight.”
We laugh together, out of breath and covered in snow.
“Not so fast.” A boy’s voice growls. I whirl around to see Jack, Mike, and Dan, armed with snowballs.
“Uh oh,” Ellie says slowly. We both take off, yelling.
Snowball fights somehow always manage to get so intense, and here we’re proving it. Sliding around on the icy grass, laughing way too hard as the snow builds up on our coats.
Soon, the sun starts to dip lower in the sky. I hear my mom’s voice echoing in my head: “Be home before sundown. Be home before sundown.”
I wave goodbye to Ellie and the others. “I’ve gotta go, or my mom will kill me,” I brush the snow off my coat.
“Same time tomorrow?” Ellie asks.
“Definitely,” I say with a grin, already starting to walk toward home.
The whole way back, my hands are frozen from making snowballs, but I don’t care. Winter Break has just begun, and I know there’s going to be a lot more fun.