SNOW DAY
Last night, it snowed. It’s still freezing cold outside, and I was perfectly prepared to spend the entire day in the warm sanctuary of my room. But, of course, a certain someone had other plans.
This morning started out peacefully enough. When I woke up, my bedroom window was fogged up, so I wiped it clear with my sweater sleeve and admired how white and fluffy everything looked all blanketed in snow. I would’ve stayed there for longer if my stomach didn’t start growling. I figured that now was as good a time for breakfast as any, so I set off to make myself some toast.
“Good morning,” Anton says from the kitchen table, taking a sip of his coffee and not even bothering to look up from whatever book he was reading.
“G’morning,” I reply back, “I’m going to make toast. Would you like some?”
“How kind of you to offer,” he smiles, finally setting his book down, “Indeed I would.”
And that was that. I prepared his toast with the smallest square of butter, and mine with a whole heaping spread of jam, just the way I like it. We sat in silence for a bit, until…
“I do believe you’re due for this quarter's evaluation, hm?” Anton says, breaking the silence and staring at me intensely.
My stomach sinks as I take a bite of my strawberry jam-smothered toast. An evaluation? Today? But that’d ruin my ‘stay inside and be cozy all day’ plans!
“Can’t we do it some other time?” I ask, my mouth full of toast, “It’s too damn cold out.” And it is true. Call me a drama queen, but being a phoenix means I’m more sensitive to the cold than most humans, hence why I wanted to stay inside all day in the first place…
Anton sighs, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Under any other circumstances I would say we should postpone the evaluation, however, the school is pushing for me to be more… timely with my submissions,” he pauses for a second, “Okay, enough bullshitting, Hong. It’s due tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?! You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I groan, “Can’t you ask them to give me an extension or something?”
“Not happening. It would be easier for both of us to just bite the bullet and get it done now rather than dragging our feet.”
“But can’t you just make up something and pretend like we did it?” I whine, “I don’t wanna go outside!”
“That would be academic dishonesty, no? I could lose my job and you could get kicked out for doing something like that. I’m sure you don’t want that, do you now?”
“I mean, I don’t, but not only do I hate the cold, my magic sucks when it’s all snowy like this!” This is also true, my magic is more powerful in warm weather. And isn’t he being dramatic? Whatever. He takes these things too seriously.
“Enough protesting, it’s really quite irritating when you complain,” he takes a final sip of his coffee, “We’ll get this over with quickly, and everything will be fine. No need to worry about your magic being insufficient, that’s a hurdle we’ll overcome later. Evaluations are not based on how strong your magic is or how disciplined you are, they’re objective examinations that prove to my superiors that I am teaching, and you are learning.”
“I mean, I guess, but…” I sigh, slumping over the table, “The whole thing about me being a phoenix and all… You know I can’t function in the cold.”
Anton stands up.
“Don’t be ridiculous. California ‘cold’ is nothing compared to the places where I grew up,” he begins to leave, ruffling my hair a bit as he walks by me, “If anything, you can borrow my coat.”
I roll my eyes at him.
“Whatever, Mr. Iceman. I guess I’ll do the stupid evaluation. Not like I even have a choice, anyway,” I grumble, “Let me get dressed and then we can go.”
—
And so I put on my parka and mittens and meet him outside in the courtyard. All the concrete and grass is buried under virgin snow, and the trees surrounding the area are bare and icy. It’s like a winter wonderland, and if the freezing air didn’t feel like a trillion daggers stabbing my face, I’d probably be enjoying myself.
“Look at you, all bundled up,” Anton remarks, “Honestly, it’s a bit colder than I thought. Of course, in Albany, it’s probably ten degrees colder at the very least.”
“I don’t care about the weather in New York. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with,” I reply, shivering furiously.
“You might want to take off your mittens if you’re to use your magic at all,” he smiles condescendingly; it’s almost as if he’s getting some kind of amusement out of my discomfort.
“No duh, Captain Obvious,” I mutter under my breath as I take them off and put them in the pocket of my coat.
He pulls out his evaluation book and has me demonstrate my magic, but the best I can do is summon a couple of weak wisps of smoke from my fingertips. It’s a little embarrassing, considering he’s seen me start bonfires and light matches with relative ease in the past.
“Hmm,” he says, barely looking up from the notes he’s writing, “That’s really the best you can do?”
“My magic’s stronger in the summertime,” I whine in frustration, “It’s annoying when it’s weak like this, but I can’t help it. The air is too cold and damp.”
“Yes, you did tell me earlier. I’ll make note of that,” he says, closing his book and walking over to me, “This is your first winter evaluation, is it not? Otherwise I’m sure I would have caught this issue sooner.”
“Yeah, this time last year I was still on bedrest so we didn’t do any magic stuff until spring. I never really thought to bring up how the weather effects my magic, either…”
“It’s alright, it never came up,” he sighs, putting his pen in his pocket and adjusting his glasses, “I suppose this is as good as it gets. I’ll research ways to acclimate fire magic to cold weather; it’s impractical and unrealistic to be unable to use your powers half the year.”
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“It should be. …And it’s also impractical to be unable to go outside half the year,” he lightly taps my head with his book, “A little cold never hurt anyone. You’re fine. You’ve been out here a full twenty minutes and you haven’t keeled over.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at that, although he does have a point. I’m not shivering as much as I was before… Maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing? Regardless, my nose is beginning to run from the chill in the air.
“I don’t think there’s much else we can do here,” Anton’s voice takes me out of my own head, “Let’s go back.” He begins to walk towards the dorms.
“Wait!” I interrupt, “Real quick before we go back in, I wanted to show you something cool.”
He stops in his tracks, turning to face me.
“Watch this,” I bend down, scooping up a handful of snow in my hands.
His eyes widen as the snow instantly melts in my hands. He quickly takes out his book and scribbles something in his notes. I hold out my hands, feeling quite proud of myself as he stares at the water cupped in my hands.
“That’s impressive,” he says, “Although it does make sense considering your resting body temperature is slightly higher than average.”
I smile, sniffling a bit.
“I found out I could do that when I was a little kid, even before I knew how to use magic. If I took off my boots, the snow would melt under my feet, too.”
“Please don’t; I’d worry about you getting frostbite, even with your phoenix abilities,” Anton replies, slight concern in his voice, “I can’t help but recall your whole spiel about how your kind ‘can’t function in the cold’ or whatever it was. None of this makes any sense to me.”
All I can do is laugh awkwardly in response as we head back inside, I don’t really understand my own abilities that well either.
—
The rest of the day ended up being just as cozy as this morning was. Of course, I felt kind of shitty after being out in the cold, but I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought I would. I guess Anton was right after all, it was better to bite the bullet and do the evaluation now rather than wait. On the weather channel, they’re saying it’ll be even colder tomorrow and the next few days afterwards.
