In that moment, Lightning knew she should have listened to her intuition. It was too late, though. Just as she was preparing for the worst, she heard footsteps quickly approaching from around the corner. Someone was coming! She just hoped they would notice her.

The man must have not heard them because he wasn’t prepared. All of a sudden, he was forced to let go of her, and someone pulled him away from her. She could hear him struggling, fighting with someone, and then after a few seconds, it went quiet. She looked around the corner and saw the last person she would have expected…Snowfall.

“Are you alright?” Snowfall asked, coming over to check on her.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Lightning replied slowly. “Where did you come from?”

“I live nearby,” he said. “Let me take you home.”

“No, I don’t need you,” she insisted.

“What? I won’t let that happen to you again,” he said. “Why don’t you want anyone to help you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “It’s just something about me. I’ll be fine.” She turned around to keep walking, she still had to find her way home as well.

Snowfall stared after her. “No thank you?!”

~.~.~.~.~.~

It was about 5:30 by the time she found her way home. It was just shortly after where she was attacked that she missed the turn, and was able to find her way from there. When she got inside the house, her dad ran up and hugged her tightly.

“Woah, what’s up?” she laughed, pulling away after a second.

“There you are,” he said, a look of relief on his face. “I tried calling you, and you never picked up your phone. Are you okay? What happened? Why are you home so late?”

Lightning paused. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I just forgot to call you back.”

“You knew I called?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I was a little busy, okay?” she said. If she told him the truth about what happened, he would never let her go outside the house again. “I made some new friends and we were doing something important. Now, I’m going to my room.”

“Not yet you aren’t,” he stopped her. “Hey, I was really worried about you. You really must let me know if you’re going to be out so late, and make sure you’re doing things with people you trust.”

“Okay, fine,” she said. “I know that already.”

“Lightning,” he walked closer to her. “I can’t lose you. That’s why I’m so protective, you see. If I lost you, I wouldn’t have anything left. You are so important to me. I love you.”

“Love you too!” she quickly said, before hurrying up to her room. “Bye!”

Her dad sighed, sitting back on the couch. She doesn’t understand. One day she will.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Lightning got out her phone right away, excited to call her new friends and make plans. She had gotten their numbers just before leaving school that afternoon. First, she video called Frosty. It seemed like she was the one who made most of the plans.

Frosty was quick to answer. “Hey, Dusty!” she was in her bedroom, and Minty was in the background doing something. However, she got up and came over right away to join them.

“So, we’ve got the entire weekend ahead of us,” Lightning said. “What are we gonna be doing?”

“Extreme ironing!” Minty exclaimed. “Or like you said, Dusty, extreme ice cream eating!”

Lightning sighed. “I wasn’t serious!”

“Oh my gosh Minty, just leave the planning to us,” Frosty told her. “You haven’t been zip lining with us yet. I think we should start with that. We could go to the adventure park downtown. They have zip lining, climbing, skate boarding, all kinds of things.”

“Yeah, I remember that place,” Lightning replied. She used to love going there all the time with Indigo. Well, that didn’t matter anymore. “So, tomorrow? What time?”

“How about 10:30?” Frosty suggested.

“Sounds good,” Lightning said.

“I don’t know, I’m gonna be up late tonight,” Minty spoke up. “The Crystals’ new song drops at midnight and I need to stay up for that-”

“Wait,” Lightning cut her off. “Did you say…The Crystals?”

“Yeah!” Minty said. “They also go to Crystal Prep.”

“Yeah, okay, I know that they go to Crystal Prep!” Lightning said. “Can you just tell me about that song?”

“Well, they are releasing her own music,” Minty explained. “Their new song comes out at midnight tonight. And I’m staying up for it!”

“Well, I’m not,” Lightning said bitterly. “Don’t really get along with them.”

“Not many people do,” Frosty said. “They’re popular and only associate with other popular girls. I don’t like them much, but that snippet of the song was a bop.”

“Okay, we’re gonna stop talking about them or I’m out,” Lightning told them.

“Fine,” Minty said, not daring to ask what Lightning had against The Crystals. “I can’t wait for tomorrow! Ooh, I just thought of one! Ironing while zip lining! It seems totally impossible but we can pull it off!”

Lightning and Frosty sighed in frustration.

Minty shrugged. “What?”

~.~.~.~.~.~

The adventure park was already busy that Saturday morning. The 3 girls stood near the climbing wall, Frosty holding a camera.

“So, who’s going to be doing the intro?” Frosty asked.

“Oh! I’ll do it!” Lightning grabbed the camera and started recording. “Hi, what’s up, I’m Dusty!”

“I’m Frosty,” Frosty said.

“And I am Minty!” Minty joined in. “Welcome to our new channel.”

“And today, we are going to be doing everything at the adventure park!” Lightning announced. “It looks pretty extreme, but nothing we can’t take on. Come on, let’s do it together.”

The girls joined their voices. “To the extreme!” Frosty and Minty laughed. Lightning had already taken off to get started.

~.~.~.~.~.~

The first vlog was off to a great start! Minty still needed some practice, and she did tend to be a little clumsy. But Frosty was always there to help her.

After they had finished, they were sitting at a nearby picnic table rewatching their videos on the camera. One video in particular, they had watched at least 10 times. Minty had attempted the climbing wall, but didn’t make it very far before losing her grip and falling. Luckily, she was wearing a helmet.

Lightning clicked the ‘replay’ button again, laughing. “Minty, you’re so clumsy.”

“I know but practice makes perfection,” Minty said. They were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. Frosty and Minty looked at Lightning, who was already rejecting the call.

“He won’t stop calling me,” she said in an annoyed tone, putting her phone away. “I told him I would be busy all day. I don’t know what he wants.”

“Maybe you should find out,” Frosty said. “What if something bad happened to him?”

“Nah, he’s fine,” Lightning replied. “He always does this.”

“It’s your dad, right?” Frosty asked.

“Yeah,” Lightning answered. “I don’t get it. He wants me to join in different things and keep busy, but then he gets all offended when I get home late. Like, make up your mind.” She laughed slightly.

Minty looked back to the park. “I’m gonna go practice some more!” she said, running back over. Lightning was about to play another video, but Frosty stopped her.

“Lightning Dust,” she said, taking the camera out of her reach.

“Woah, why are you calling me that all of a sudden?” Lightning asked.

“Well, I have something to tell you,” Frosty’s tone turned more serious. “I…I lost both my parents a few years ago.”

“Oh…that’s too bad,” Lightning said, glancing around. She wasn’t quite sure how else to reply, or why Frosty was bringing this up now.

“It is, yeah,” Frosty took a deep breath. “I’m staying with extended family now, and they’re really supportive, but it’s nothing like the love of having your parents with you. If I were you, I’d be more grateful to have a dad who cares enough to keep calling you.”

“Oh…okay,” Lightning said.

“Just think about it,” Frosty told her as she got up. “I could go skate boarding again, that was so fun! You wanna come or not?”

Lightning looked down at her phone, seeing 4 missed calls from her dad. “I think I’m done for the day.”

Frosty smiled. “Sounds good to me. See you later, Dusty!”

~.~.~.~.~.~

Lightning stepped into the music shop, looking around at the various instruments and posters. There wasn’t anyone else in the shop, except for her dad, who was setting up a shelf. It wasn’t very big, and she didn’t remember it very well honestly. She picked up a guitar by the door and strummed it lightly. She had never thought about learning music, as much as her dad had tried to offer her lessons over the years.

“Lightning, there you are,” her dad walked over to her. “You said you were busy with your new friends.”

“Yeah, well, I had a change in plans,” she explained.

“You haven’t come to the shop in a while, have you?” he asked.

“I think it’s been a few years, actually,” Lightning said. It looked quite different from the last time she had stopped in. “So, what do you do here all day?”

“Well, a lot of things need to be set up,” her dad replied. “Customers ask questions, and we have some teachers who give music lessons as well. I do sometimes. Speaking of, can you take this and put it with the others?” He pointed to the guitar by the door, and then to the shelf where the other guitars were.

Lightning took it and placed it on the shelf. “So, why did you call me so many times?” she asked.

“Well, you said you would be at the park with your friends,” he said. “And I asked you for how long and you said until about 2:00. And then I called you at 2:15. I gave you time to finish whatever you were doing, and then you didn’t answer. And I get worried, because what if something happened to you?”

“Yeah, I know,” she replied. Frosty was right, he really was concerned about her.

“I mean, everything I do is for you,” he continued. “Why do you think I work here? I’m getting enough money to save up for your college. And why do you think I come home early some days? To see you and listen to how your day was at school. I can’t say you’re anything like your mom, quite the opposite. She was very gentle and calm, and you’re…”

“Not?” she laughed. “I know! And I guess I wanted to say…I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” he asked.

“For ignoring your calls and not spending time with you,” she said. “I’m going to try harder.”

“You really are growing up,” her dad smiled, but didn’t hug her. Then he looked around the shop. “Now help me move this piano.”

~.~.~.~.~.~

It had been a while since she arrived at the music shop. They had been cleaning up and organizing the instruments, and putting up new posters. Lightning had a good time, as it had been a few years since she did anything with her dad. Frosty’s words really stayed with her.

She had just finished setting up some microphones on a shelf when the door opened and the bell rang. She glanced up from the shelf and was shocked for a second when she saw who had come in. Snowfall stepped inside, and was looking around for something. Then he set his eyes on her and started walking over.

“What’s the matter?” her dad asked, seeing her uncomfortable expression.

“I gotta go to the, um…bathroom,” she lied, running off to the back of the store.

“But you just came back from…” her dad started, but she had already left. “Well, alright then,” he glanced to the front of the store, finally noticing Snowfall. “Finally, a customer. How can I help you?” He approached Snowfall with a smile.

“Just looking around,” Snowfall said.

“Alright then,” Lightning’s dad replied. “Let me know if you need anything,” he went back to resume his job of sorting out a box of music books. While he was distracted, Snowfall started towards the back shelf of the store, where he had seen Lightning disappear.

Lightning was hiding behind the shelf, hoping Snowfall would just go away, and that he wouldn’t talk to her dad too much. As he was walking by, she reached out and grabbed him, pulling him behind the shelf.

“There you are,” he said.

“Yeah, what are you doing here?” she asked in an annoyed tone, lowering her voice.

“Just looking for a tambourine, alright?” Snowfall replied.

Lightning scoffed. “Yeah, right. You idiot, how’d you know I was here?”

“I saw you at the park and followed you,” he explained.

“Oh, so you’re stalking me,” she said.

“Not exactly,” he started. “If you don’t want me to find you, then maybe don’t go out.”

“Okay, and what were you doing at the adventure park, Snowfall?” Lightning asked.

“Skateboarding,” Snowfall replied.

“Cut the crap, you followed me there too,” she said.

“Alright, maybe,” he admitted.

“No, not maybe!” Lightning raised her voice, a little too much. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Lightning, could you help me move something?” her dad called from the other side of the store.

“Ugh, it doesn’t matter now,” she whispered to Snowfall. “My dad doesn’t know that we are…well, that we know each other. Just act like you don’t know me, you got it?”

Snowfall nodded, then they looked over at her dad, who was staring at them. Lightning noticed how closely they were standing, and stepped away.

“Just helping him out with a question!” she called back, then started towards her dad. “Coming!” Just as she was walking that way, Snowfall grabbed her wrist. She instantly reacted, stomping on his foot and forcing him to let go of her. “What’s your problem?!”

“I need to talk to you,” Snowfall said.

“Not the time,” she answered, going over to her dad and helping him move a box. They put it down on the counter, then she looked at him. “Is that all?”

“Yes,” her dad said. “It’s nice to have you here. You should stop by more often.”

“Yeah, but actually I gotta go for a minute and…call someone,” Lightning said. “Wait right here.” She walked back to the shelf where Snowfall was, grabbing him and pulling him towards the back door. “Outside!”

⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐

Author's Note

Someone really needs to remind me to update this book every couple days 😂