I looked out the window from my classroom. The snow was still coming down. I wonder why school's not cancelled, I thought to myself.

"Samantha!" I heard Miss Prewt shout at me. Immediately I turned my head to face her. Looking at such and ugly woman was painful for my eyes. I couldn't believe she hadn't retired yet... or been fired.

Miss Prewt's face was as wrinkly as a moldy old piece of bread. Her eyes bulged out as big as cherries. Her mouth was as sharp as a knife, all wrinkly and small.

Miss Prewt's hair was stringy and very greasy. It looked like she had just glued strands of grey spaghetti on her head. I cringed every time I saw it.

"Are you paying attention to me?" Miss Prewt snapped at me.

"Umm..." I looked at her as if she was crazy. "Yes," I lied.

Her eyes bulged out at me and she pursed her lips.

"Do not give me attitude young lady!" she yelled. When she turned around, I rolled my eyes and made faces at Miss Prewt. I could tell she knew I was doing it, but I didn't care. She deserved every face I made at her.

Then, through the intercom, we heard Mr. Tipper, the principal.

"School has been cancelled due to the snowy weather," he announced. "Please call your parents and tell them to come and pick you up."

Everyone in the classroom jumped up in cheer and yelled and laughed and there were smiles all around. Everyone except Miss Prewt. But that was obvious. I hadn't seen her smile ever.

Who cares though, I thought. It wasn't my fault she was a depressed old woman.

I packed up my things and left the classroom. I didn't forget to stick my tongue out at Miss Prewt on the way out.

I bent down and groaned while I shoveled the walk. Here I was, on one of the only snow days of the year, shoveling my walk.

Then, as I went to take another scoop off the sidewalk, a snowball hit me right in the face, coming from in front of me. I looked up. It was Kelsey, my little devil of a sister.

"Kelsey!" I shouted angrily at her. "What is your problem? Can't you see I'm trying to do a good deed here?"

All she did was giggle. Her laugh melted all of my anger away. I threw my shovel aside onto the lawn and playfully threw a snowball back at Kelsey.

"I'm going to getcha!" Her tiny voice shrieked with laughter.

We threw snowballs at each other for a while until Mom called us in for some hot chocolate. I ran inside right away but noticed Kelsey was staying behind. I shrugged my shoulders and went inside.

"Where's your sister?" Mom immediately asked me.

"I don't know," I replied. "She's doing something outside."

"Well, does she want some hot chocolate?" Mom questioned me again.

"I really don't know, Mom!" I said. "Want me to go back outside and ask her?"

"Would you?" she asked hopefully.

"Fine," I groaned, and went outside. I looked around for my sister. I spotted her in the middle of the yard, gathering up snow.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Listening to my snowball," Kelsey said, not looking up from her ball of snow.

"Don't you want hot chocolate or anything?" I shouted at her.

"I can't forget about Jimmy!" cried Kelsey. "What if he gets cold and lonely out in the snow?

"What?" I said in confusion. "Who's Jimmy? What are you talking about, Kelsey?"

"Girls!" We both turned and face our mother who was standing at the front door. "Will you two please come inside and drink your hot chocolate?"

"Can I bring Jimmy with me?" Kelsey asked Mom hopefully.

"Umm... sure! Just let's come inside here, please? You're going to freeze out here!" Mom begged us.

"Yes!" Kelsey cheered. I rolled my eyes and followed her into the house. As soon as we got inside, Kelsey put her snowball in the freezer.

"Kelsey, can you please keep your snowballs outside, where they belong?" Mom asked.

"But you said I could bring him inside with me!" Kelsey whined.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said I could bring Jimmy inside with me!"

"Yes, Jimmy can come in, but..." Mom's expression on her face changed. "Oh, so your snowball's name is Jimmy, right?"

"Oh my gosh," I rolled my eyes. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Samantha," Mom scolded me, "let your sister have her imagination, will you?"

"But she was talking to it outside!" I argued. "She's acting like a creep!" My Mom turned to Kelsey.

"You were talking to it?" she asked.

"No," Kelsey replied.

"You told me that you were doing that though," I said.

"I was listening to it talk to me," Kelsey announced, sound proud of herself.

"Your snowball--"

"His name is Jimmy!" Kelsey cut me off.

"Fine. 'Jimmy' was talking to you?"

Mmmhmm!" Kelsey nodded.

"Really," I said sarcastically.

"Seriously! Listen!" Kelsey exclaimed. As she was getting Jimmy out of the freezer, I turned to my Mom and rolled my eyes. She shrugged her shoulders and told me that,

"Kids will be kids."

"Listen," Kelsey demanded. "Jimmy, will you talk to me?"

"Sure," said Jimmy.

I was shocked. I looked to Mom. She seemed just as surprised as I was. Then I looked back at Jimmy. I examined him closer. Sure enough, he had little black eyes, a small piece of snow for a nose, and a little mouth.

"Told you so," Kelsey said.

"Well, anyways," Mom said, taking the subject off of the talking snowball in the kitchen. "Let's have some hot chocolate." She seemed to be trying to forget about it all. I watched as she went into the living room, then turned to Jimmy, who was still in my sister's hand.

"Jimmy?" I asked.

"Yes?" he replied.

"What are you here for?"

"You'll find out soon," he said, and then I watched his eyes, nose and mouth disappear. He was just a normal snowball again.

"Samantha! Kelsey! Wake up!" I heard Mom say the next morning. "School's on!"

I got up, ate breakfast, got dressed, combed my hair, brushed my teeth, packed my backpack, got in the car and Mom drove Kelsey and me to school.

When I got to school, I noticed that we had a substitute teacher instead of Miss Prewt.

"Where's Miss Prewt?" I asked one of my friends, Veronica.

"I heard that she was in the hospital," she replied.

"Are you serious?" I asked happily. But inside me, a small part was sad.

"Yup," Veronica nodded. "I even heard a rumour that she had a heart-attack and was lose to death!"

"Whoa," I said. In my head I was thinking, close to death? No one deserves to die, not even someone like Miss Prewt.

"Children!" the substitute teacher announced to us all. "I'm here to teach you because Miss Prewt is in the hospital." The whole class gasped. A few cheered.

"Death is nothing to cheer about," Mrs. Bell lectured.

"Death?" I yelped, not meaning to be so loud.

"Yes, death," Mrs. Bell said. "Your teacher had a heart-attack. Thank goodness her sister was visiting from Calgary and could call the ambulance."

The class gasped again. This time, no one cheered.