Winterlust (COMPLETE)

*blink blink* 17 year old Violet Morrison stretches across her double bed like a cat before she rolls over underneath the mountain of blankets to face her bedroom window. Another couple of blinks as she wills her eyes to focus on the yellow curtains. It’s daylight. Definitely daylight. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon waft into her room, enveloping her in the most wonderful and warm hug. Mom’s making pancakes! Sweet! A slow smile creeps across her face as she begins to rustle through all the pillows and blankets to find her phone. Violet and her bestie, Cassie, have big plans today. Finally she finds her phone and sees that Cassie has already texted her. Let’s goooooo’! A giggle escapes her as she fires off a quick “Mom made pancakes! Come in for breakfast before we split!” Cassandra Williams has been Violet’s best friend since the first day of school. She showed up in a beautiful flowery dress and ribbons in her pigtails, looking like a doll. She sat down next to Violet and told her, “You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen!” They were pretty much inseparable after that. “Violet, is that you awake?” Mom calls. “Yep! Be right there, mom!” Violet calls back. “Be sure to look out the window!” With a big sigh, she heaves the covers off and swings her legs to the side of the bed. She slips each foot into a slipper and stands, padding her way along the floor to the window. As she pulls the curtain away, she can see it. Snow! Violet leans against the window frame and stares out at the big fat flakes as they fall to the ground. Since it’s the first snowfall of the season, there is only a small layer of white everywhere. Bang! The sound of the front door slamming breaks her reverie. “Mrs. Morrison! I heard you made pancakes!” Cassie chirps. As she makes her way to the bathroom down the hall, Violet can hear her mom and Cassie chatting and laughing animatedly about heaven knows what. After brushing her teeth and quickly throwing her wavy mocha coloured hair up into a messy bun, she makes her way into the kitchen. “Hi honey, I was just going to come and check on you! I thought maybe you’d fallen back asleep.” Evelyn says with a side wink to Cassie. Violet looks at Cassandra Williams seated at the Formica table. She looks effortlessly adorable in her black leggings and off shoulder pink fluffy sweater. Her long strawberry blond hair is in two loose side braids under a pink baseball hat. Her deep green eyes are focused on her cellphone, brows furrowed as she clicks out a text at lightning speed. “Coffee, Cass?”, Violet asks her as she walks over to the pot on the counter. “Please” Cassie replies, never taking her eyes off her phone. Violet pours two cups of coffee from the pot and leans over to her mother at the stove, planting a kiss on her seemingly porcelain cheek. Evelyn Morrison is a beautiful woman with long mocha coloured hair just like Violet’s. There’s some grey, but it seems to be concentrated into a thick streak down the front right side of her face. Her eyes are the most striking deep blue, with impossibly long eyelashes. “Morning, Vee. Pancakes are ready.” Evelyn says, flashing her a smile as she turns to take some plates to the table. Violet places the coffee cups on the table and plops into her chair next to Cassie. Evelyn takes the seat across from them and begins to serve the pancakes. “Drive safely today, Cassie”, Evelyn says as she hands Cassandra a heaping plate. “I will, Mrs. Morrison”, she replies sombrely. Cassie’s parents do pretty well for themselves as hotshot lawyers in the city. It often keeps them working late, so she spends quite a bit of time at the Morrison house. Evelyn doesn’t mind, she finds Cassie’s upbeat energy endearing. Her parents got her a car for her 16th birthday. After two years without an accident, they upgraded her to an SUV for her 18th birthday. “OH MY GOD!” Cassie shouts, startling Violet and Evelyn. “Jake Andrews just asked to take me to the Christmas gala next weekend!” “No he did not!”, Violet squeals, leaning over to look at Cassie’s phone. “Ugh, he’s so dreamy!” They all dig into their pancakes, laughing and talking about the upcoming gala, and Jake Andrews. When they’re finished, Cassie shoos Violet off to get dressed so they can leave for the mall in the city. “I’ll help clean up!” Once she’s back in her room, Violet rummages through her closet and settles on a red plaid button down shirt overtop a black fitted t-shirt and pairs it with black leggings. Peering into the mirror, her big chocolate brown eyes are looking back at her. I guess these eyes are just like my dad’s, she shrugs. Violet doesn’t remember her father, as she and her mother left him when she was four years old. Evelyn doesn’t like to talk about it except to say that he was abusive. For as long as Violet can remember, her mother has been single. After applying a minimal amount of lavender eyeshadow, she traces black liquid eyeliner along her eyes and finishes with two layers of mascara. “Vee, let’s go!”, Cassie shouts. Grabbing her subtle pink lip gloss off of her dresser, she makes a mental note to put it on in the car. Cassie immediately breaks into more chatter about Jake as they start to make their way down the long driveway through the trees. Violet thinks Jake is alright, but his two goons Tucker Merritt and Davis Bradley are jerks. They pick on kids smaller than them, and they’re always leering at Violet and Cassie. In second grade, Tucker used to pull Cassie’s pigtails. She stopped wearing them after a while. Everyone knows not to mess with Violet, though. She’s a rising track star and is friends with the popular girls. Evelyn owns a gym that’s exclusive to women where she runs several boot camps and self defence classes, and Violet teaches three classes a week after school for a little pocket money. She’s been saving for today’s shopping trip. The whole school is getting ready for the upcoming Christmas gala. All the girls will wear fancy dresses, and the boys will don suits for the occasion. Evelyn isn’t well off by any means, but she makes a pretty good living running her gym. Violet never wanted for anything growing up, and Evelyn has always doted on her. Violet saved up herself to buy her dress, and her mother paid for her ticket to the gala.