ICE (The Benders Series) Read online

  Kenna shook her head again as if to disagree, but a sudden and unexpected feeling of confidence stopped her. “I think I will,” she announced as she marched away from her friend. She grabbed a beer from the cooler and strode with haste toward the two Colewells who were now tossing around a football.

  She didn’t know if it was her natural curiosity or her sense of adventure that made her approach the handsome boy. Even after seeing a questioning look come across his face as she came, the new girl walked on, unwavering in her decision to confront him.

  “Hi, I’m Kenna,” she said proudly holding out her hand for a shake.

  He didn’t answer but looked down at her hand with a countenance of disgust. “That’s nice,” he said as he turned away from her to throw the football back to a waiting Bryce. He didn’t bother to shake hands or even make eye contact with the girl.

  “Beer?” she offered holding out the beverage.

  He once again looked down with arrogance and repulsion. “No, I don’t drink. It’s against the law,” he sneered.

  “Oh,” Kenna acknowledged dropping the drink into her jacket pocket. “That’s very mature of you, I suppose. So you like sports, huh?” she asked seeing that he was doing his best to avoid continuing the conversation.

  “Yeah,” he replied coldly without offering a return question.

  Kenna felt herself getting a little embarrassed, but for some reason was also entirely at ease. So at ease, that she jumped out in front of the Colewell to catch Bryce’s pass back to him. Both brothers stood stunned for a moment at the move, but Bryce quickly called, “Nice interception!”

  Jon didn’t say anything but rolled his eyes in obvious irritation.

  Kenna didn’t understand his attitude and found herself growing even bolder. “So why were you staring at me?” she blurted without giving the accusation much thought.

  He became immediately defensive. “I wasn’t. Why would anyone stare at you?”

  Angered by the insult, Kenna suddenly jabbed the football back at the Colewell, who took a minor hit in the gut. “Whatever. Don’t do it again,” Kenna warned as she stormed back to an eagerly waiting Britney.

  “So?” she asked upon her friend’s return. “What did he say?!”

  Kenna felt the embarrassment begin to sink in. “Not much. Doesn’t seem too interested in anything except that football,” she replied honestly. “Oh well. He’s not that cute anyway,” Kenna went on to say though that statement was as far from the truth as she currently was to a warm and cozy Florida.

  “Yea,” Britney comforted. “Not a big deal.”

  Before the sympathetic brunette could go on, the pair found their conversation abruptly interrupted. Standing next to them were a few girls and at the center of the bunch a pretty but heavily make-up clad blond who appeared quite displeased.

  “Chelsea,” said the center girl with a scoff. “I like your headband,” she said sarcastically.

  At first, Kenna didn’t understand the rudeness, but soon realized that both she and Chelsea were wearing a black, flowery designed winter headband. And Chelsea obviously took it to be a threat. Kenna, on the other hand, found it to be quite funny. She’d dealt with people like Chelsea before.

  “Yea, we match. How cool?!” she joked with a forced laugh. Kenna could smell Chelsea’s haughtiness a mile away.

  The popular girl approached her now, and the two were standing face to face. Chelsea had her arms folded while Kenna shrugged with a smirk plastered across her face. Then, and to Kenna’s surprise, Chelsea snatched the headband right from on top of her head.

  Trying to blow it off, Kenna said, “Yea, it’s nice, huh?”

  Chelsea smiled a wicked white smile. “Yea, but I think you should get a new one.”

  “And why should she do that? It’s just a headband,” Britney interjected finding the conversation heading south at a rapid rate.

  Chelsea nodded. “It is just a headband.” And before anyone could act, she rolled the black head dressing into a ball and threw it as hard as she could toward the river. The black band managed to avoid the trees and slid right onto the middle of the black ice. “It’s just a headband out on the ice, where it will stay.”

  “I’ll just get you a new one,” Britney commented quickly as she pulled Kenna’s arm to leave the fueled discussion.

  Kenna fought her tugs and immediately announced, “I’ll go get it.”

  “No,” her friend warned as Chelsea and a few other girls jeered. “It’s only December. No one’s even been out on the ice yet.”

  The new girl turned to her friend. “I got this,” she stated as she walked confidently towards the frozen water’s edge.

  Almost everyone at the little party had turned their attention toward the scene. It wasn’t often that anyone would stand up to Chelsea, especially a new kid. In a matter of a few short moments, most of the attendants were gathered at the edge of the ice to see if Kenna would truly follow through with her brave statement.

  In all honestly, Kenna was quite uncomfortable as she took a stand near the river’s edge. She’d never been on ice before, let alone unsecure and mysterious ice.

  She breathed deeply. Britney noticed the anxiousness on her face and offered a short, “Just forget about it. Let’s leave.”

  Kenna shook her head and took a slow step out onto the ice. She could feel just a tiny movement and hear just a minuscule cracking underneath the step, but it wasn’t enough to turn her away from the mission. She strode slowly, just sliding her feet against the black river until she came to the prize.

  For a moment, time seemed to freeze. As she bent down to retrieve the gift, she felt a sudden jerking underneath her that knocked her to her knees. Not a second later, silence and an unmatchable tension filled the air around her. Breaking that silence came a loud and abrupt cracking from beneath the icy surface.

  All eyes had turned their attention to the river where that cracking built into almost an explosion of noise. In one epic burst, the ice beneath her shattered while more ice split into bergs of frozen water.

  In an instant, she was gone.

  Kenna was immobile as she felt her body drop into the freezing river. Before she could think or react, the current swept her whole body underneath the murky water. At the second of submersion, Kenna felt all of her muscles clench into rigid, tight knots. She heard nothing but her heart pounding in her ears, and every fiber of her being ached to gasp for air.

  Despite the instinct, she managed to hold her breath as she was swept further and further away from where she’d broken through. She could see the small contrast of light that indicated her escape slipping slowly away from her. The opening was almost invisible to her now as the muddy water began to sting her opened eyes.

  Just as she began to lose the will to fight toward the hole, she felt her jacket catch on a log. Kenna fought again, trying to escape the log and to find a way to swim back towards where she’d fallen under. But as the seconds passed, she began to feel her arms and legs go numb, and her heart rate slow.

  I don’t want to die, she thought to herself. She prayed as the bubbles of air began to escape her. Her eyes slowly began to close when a tugging reopened them.

  Someone was in the water with her! She couldn’t tell if it was an angel or actually a person as the rescuer ripped off her jacket and pulled her over their muscular body. With that, her fight was back, and adrenaline fired her insides as she attempted to help the individual swim back to the opening. She held her breath once more as the unidentified hero heaved her towards the hole. Whoever they were, they had no problem fighting the strength of the river current.

  Suddenly, Kenna felt her body being lifted over the ice as another person grabbed her wrist and tugged her upward through the hole. From there, she was dragged off the river and towards the fire that a few others had managed to build into a considerable flame.

  Her glazing eyes reawakened with life as her lungs jolted into a bout of intense and sputtery coughing.

&n
bsp; She could finally start to hear again. Britney was yelling inches from her ear as she began to pull off her friend’s sopping clothes.

  “Keep coughing!” she instructed. “Just keep coughing!”

  After her once-white sweater had been pulled off, another girl wrapped a blanket around her as Britney continued to holler. “Keep coughing. You’ll be alright. We called 9-1-1. An ambulance is on its way!”

  “No,” Kenna managed to gasp through her uncontrollable coughs. Her eyes were watering, and tears began to drop down her frozen face as she attempted to speak. “I’m fine.”

  She felt a bit of warmth returning to her arms as she found her muscles able to secure the blanket around her half-naked self.

  “The car is ready,” another said as Kenna continued to sputter in retaliation.

  “I got this.” Before she could try to stand, Jason lifted her from the ground and carried her to Britney’s vehicle that had been warming for the girl.

  Kenna had stopped coughing now, and she could feel some of the muscles in her legs begin to soften.

  “I’m fine. I’m fine,” she repeated as the jock placed her in the passenger seat of the car. He shut the door quickly to prevent any more cold air from getting in as Britney took a seat on the driver’s side.

  “They’ll be here shortly. You need to get checked out,” Britney argued with concern. “Oh my Gosh, you could have died.”

  “I’m sorry,” the new girl blurted upon the statement. Her coughing vanishing as she continued to warm.

  “Don’t be sorry. You are alive. I’m just so freaking worked up right now,” Britney said, out of breath from the ordeal. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m fine. Please call off the ambulance. My dad will freak.”

  Britney sighed at the request, but agreed to it. She pulled out her cell phone and called another classmate whose dad was an ENT.

  “They turned around,” she said after hanging up. “We lied. Told them it was a prank. They’re not happy, but they’ll get over it.”

  Silence was about them for a few minutes as both tried to regain some of their composure. Both had tears dripping down their faces in relief and fading adrenaline. Kenna was the first to speak, though her throat ached at the passing of her words. “What happened?” She asked an unmoving and breathless Britney.

  In some sort of trance, her friend was staring forward at the steering wheel. She dropped her eyebrows in confusion at her friend’s question.

  Noticing that Britney remained horror-stricken, Kenna clarified, “How did I get out of the water? I thought I was done…” It was difficult for her to admit, but for a few moments, Kenna truly thought that her time in this world was over and that she’d met her cold, cruel fate.

  “Jon,” Britney finally replied though still staring at the wheel. She blinked her eyes hard and came out of her daze. “Jon,” she repeated to Kenna, who was now silent again.

  They breathed for another moment, but their exhales began to steady until they were almost inaudible.

  “What do you mean?” she questioned again. Kenna couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of the arrogant Colewell risking his life for hers. Just moments before the incident he had insensitively dismissed her advances or any conversation with her at all!

  Britney swallowed and looked over at her friend who remained pale and blue in the lips. “Are you sure you are okay? You look purple,” she pointed out as she turned the rearview mirror to its side so Kenna could see her reflection.

  She was purple! Kenna was slightly disturbed at her wet and ghostlike appearance. Her mascara was running down her face as if an ink pen had exploded beneath her eyes. And her once blush-stroked cheeks were now whiter than a fresh Minnesota snow with the only color being that of protruding purple veins. She looked like a zombie grape, an icy zombie grape.

  “I’ll be fine,” she repeated reluctantly as she touched her bluish lips. “Jon?” Kenna asked upon turning her eyes away from the mirror and to her concerned classmate.

  Britney nodded. “There was a moment of panic,” she explained. “The people that saw you go under all screamed. Jon and Bryce and everyone else came running.” She paused for a moment as tears began to well in her eyes. “I thought you were a goner,” she choked and pushed back the tears. “But before anyone could even call 9-1-1 or anything, Jon ran out and dove in after you. Then a few of us made a human chain out to the hole and Bryce pulled you out and dragged you off the ice. Jon was able to pull himself out.”

  Kenna sat in silence again, trying to process the story.

  “I hope Jon is okay,” Britney added with a little sniffle.

  Kenna nodded, still unable to understand why the conceited boy would have jumped in after her.

  “Anyway, do you want to come to my house and get cleaned up or just go home?” she asked wiping her nose on her sleeve and placing her foot on the brake pedal. “We should call your dad.”

  “No,” Kenna came to her senses quickly at the mention of her father. “I don’t need to freak him out. I’ll just get cleaned up at your place. He doesn’t need to know about all this.”

  “He’ll probably find out anyway. We should call,” Britney argued.

  The new girl looked at her friend with a stern glare which was enhanced by her already zombie-like appearance. As a result, Britney reluctantly agreed and together they made their way back into town.

  “Now I warn you,” she began as she neared her big blue house. “My house is a little different than most.”

  “What do you mean?” Kenna inquired, seeing fretfulness come across her friend’s face.

  “I mean, I have four older sisters and two younger brothers. And my four sisters are all married with like ten kids between the four of them. And it’s the weekend so everyone is over,” she clarified as she parked a ways from the house.

  “Yea looks like quite a party,” Kenna acknowledged seeing the number of vehicles outside the large blue abode. Outside the house sat six different vehicles of all different shapes and sizes. If Kenna hadn’t known better, she’d say there was some kind of unusual gathering inside.

  Apart from the many cars and the color, Britney’s house was unique in other ways. It was the only house on the block strewn with Christmas lights and even a little manger scene underneath one of the two trees that grew in the front yard. The house was truly bright and spirited, even dazzling with a Christmas glow.

  “Yea, we’ll just get upstairs before anyone notices us. Stay close behind me,” she instructed while Kenna slipped on a sweatshirt from the backseat of the car as they left the Buick and began their march into the blue house.

  Before they even opened the front door, Kenna could hear all sorts of commotion inside. Children’s laughter, children’s crying, a few adults shouting and reminiscing loudly over the sound of the kids. A wonderful aura of happiness seemed to surround the house.

  As Britney quietly adjusted the door, the pair slipped inside. The stairs leading to their escape were only halfway down the entry hallway, and they should have been able to disappear quite easily. However, just as they began to tiptoe into the hall, a small blond boy, who Kenna guessed must have been about four years old, came running from the room beyond their sight.

  Britney immediately put her finger to the mouth to signal to the boy to hush. Despite the stern look on the girl’s face, the boy’s mouth curled into a devilish little grin. He immediately turned and ran back screaming, “Britney’s home! Britney’s home! I found her!”

  Britney rolled her eyes and made a quick dash for the stairs with Kenna following directly behind her.

  “And what have we here?” one of the men asked, Kenna assumed a brother-in-law entered the hall and stopped the pair before they could get up the steps. He was wearing a smirk and holding a beer as he leaned on the railing. “Britney never brings friends around.” Before either of the girls could come up with an explanation, the man noticed Kenna’s appearance a let out a, “What happened to you?! Steph ge
t in here!”

  “Shit,” Britney whispered under her breath as she began to push Kenna back down the stairs. “Steph’s a nurse. She’s going to freak.”

  Kenna’s eyes went wide with fear as she thought about being poked and prodded by her friend’s family. Within a few seconds, a shorter woman carrying a one-year-old stepped into the hall. The woman immediately dropped the child and took Kenna by the hand.

  “What happened?!” she interrogated as she dragged Kenna into the kitchen and sat her down on a chair. Britney stood behind Kenna as Steph began to examine the cold blond. In complete nurse-mode, Steph inspected the girl from head to toe. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the adults made their way into the kitchen to observe the scene.

  “She went under for a few seconds,” Britney explained, doing her best to downplay the evening’s events. “She’s fine. I was just going to get her into a hot shower and into some new clothes.”

  “Hot shower?!” the woman shot back. “Sure that’s fine if you want to send her into shock! A lukewarm bath at the warmest, got it?!” she ordered as she squeezed Kenna’s fingers. “Can you feel that?” she asked. “Do you have feeling in your fingers?”

  “Yes,” Kenna answered quickly. “They are still a little tingly, but I have feeling in my fingers and my toes.”

  The nurse nodded. “Just let the poor girl into the bath, Steph,” came the voice of a sympathetic, curly haired woman. “Like she hasn’t been through enough.”

  “Fine,” Steph agreed reluctantly, “but I want you both down here afterward so that I know you are okay before we send you home. You really should be in the emergency room right now.”

  Kenna and Britney nodded as they made their way into the upstairs bathroom. “Sorry about them,” Britney apologized as she began to run the water.

  “No, they seem nice. I’m a little jealous, to be honest,” Kenna argued as she tested the water’s warmth. In all her life, Kenna had never been in such a house. The noises. The smells. The feeling of family and love and belongingness were all foreign to her. But here, in this bizarre blue house was a group of twenty people all choosing to share their time in each other’s company, all choosing family over work and money, all happy and lively and just together. “Your family seems awesome actually.”