Snowflakes - Tal Lingenua (best novels for teenagers .txt) 📗

Gabriele Koch stuck out her tongue, it was braving the frigid cold in an attempt to catch snowflakes. Flakes landed delicately upon the tip and she opened her eyes. She turned to her baby brother, Maxi, who was busy make snow angels in the thick mounds of snow.

“Do these look identical to you?” She asked without closing her mouth. Her older sister, Vanessa, had told her that if she ate two identical snowflakes it would grant her a wish.

Maxi climbed to his feet and waddled over to her. He pinched her tongue with a gloved hand and examined it. “I can’t tell.” He let go and Gabriele swallowed.

“I guess we’ll find out if my wish comes true.” She smiled.

A snowball whacked Gabriele in the back of the head and she turned to see Vanessa bouncing a snowball up and down in her hand. An evil smile formed on her face and she slung it at Gabriele.

She dropped to the snow and the snowball flew over her and laced their little brother in the forehead. The shock, more than anything, knocked him off balance and Maxi fell onto his butt.

Maxi looked at Vanessa, who just burst out laughing. He grabbed a clump of snow and smashed it between his hand in effort to make a snowball. He threw it at Vanessa but it didn’t go very far and she laughed even harder.

Gabriele collected a pile of snow, “This is how you make a snowball, Maxi.” Her little brother peered on in interest as she packed the snow into a ball. She displayed the finished product to him.

Maxi clapped.

“You wanna see a real

snowball?” Vanessa stomped through the high collection of snow and held out her hands to Maxi. The snowball was larger and rounder than Gabriele’s. “Which one do you think is better?”

Maxi hesitated for a moment. Gabriele gave him a warm smile, because as much as she hated to admit it, Vanessa’s snowball was better. Maxi’s finger hovered over Gabriele’s then it went to Vanessa’s.

He looked unsure and moved back to the center.

“Don’t worry Maxi.” Vanessa said, “You won’t hurt Gabriele’s feelings if you pick mine.”

“And you won’t hurt Vanessa’s

if you pick mine.” Gabriele gave her a sideways glance.

“Okay.” Maxi said and took Vanessa’s snowball. “I like this the bestest.”

“Good choice.” Vanessa beamed.

Gabriele looked at Maxi, “That was a good choice. Now we have two snowballs while the Snowball Queen has none.”

Vanessa’s face dropped before she was simultaneously pelted with two snowballs.


After shedding layers of wet clothes onto the entranceway floor, the Koch children made their way into the Kitchen and climbed into the stools around the kitchen islands. Their mother laid out piping hot cups of cocoa.

“Vanessa, I need you to watch Maxi and Gabriele while I go shopping for someone’s birthday present.” Mother said.

“Of course, Mother.” Vanessa said and took a sip of her cocoa.

“Watch me?” Gabriele said, “I’m only two years younger than her. Plus, I turn 11 in a week, so it’s practically only one.”

“When you get to be zero years younger than Vanessa I’ll let you watch Maxi. Now, what type of cake do you want for your birthday?”

Gabriele looked up at her mother and considered ignoring her out of spite. “Chocolate.”

Mother smiled, grabbed her keys off the table and exited the kitchen.

“After we’re done with our cocoa, you can clean the dishes, Gabriele.” Vanessa said.

“You don’t tell me what to do.” Gabriele downed the remainder of her coca and slapped it down on the counter. “I’m gonna play the piano.”

Gabriele marched out of the kitchen and Vanessa tailed her, “You can’t play it until you clean the dishes.”

Gabriele rolled her eyes. Vanessa was really full of herself. “You don’t have any real authority you know.” Gabriele lifted the fallboard of the grand piano and sat on the bench.

Vanessa slammed the fallboard. “Maybe I don’t. But mother does

, and unless you do the dishes right now, she’s going to hear about this.”

Gabriele sucked her teeth, “Fine.” She stomped into the kitchen. There were a lot more dishes than just the cocoa cups. She grumbled and turned on the warm water. Vanessa thought she was so special just because she was the oldest.

She got to do everything first. She just had to show her up every chance she got. Couldn’t she have just let her teach Maxi how to build a snowball? But when it came to responsibilities though, Gabriele and Vanessa were both given a fair share (except in the case of baby-sitting.)

After she finished washing and drying the dishes, she was finally able to play the piano. She decided to make a video like the one Five For Fight made for 100 years

. She would need an assortment of wigs and clothes to give off the impression that she was aging.

The only wigs she could find were black halloween wigs, which was a sharp contrast to her light brown hair. She could use scrunchies and stuff instead. She grabbed some of her mother’s makeup, she wouldn’t mind.

She got Maxi and a gave him a video camera. “Just point it at the grand piano and hold it still. We’re going to do this twice. Once for sound and once for the video.”

“Gotcha.” Maxi said.

Gabriele cracked her knuckles and sat on the bench. She played an instrumental introduction of the first lyrics on the piano. “I’m fiftee-een for a moment. Caught in between ten and twenty and I’m just dreaming, counting the ways to where you are...”

The recording of the first part went surprisingly well. Gabriele was pretty sure if she hit all the notes right and she thought her voice sounded rather nice.

“Good job, Maxi.” Gabriele said and ruffled the dark hair of her brother’s head. “Now, we do the video portion.” Gabriele popped the lid of the piano open so it would look more like Five For Fighting’s.

She started the video in a brown hoodie, jeans and she put her hair in a ponytail. She put on a watch, lipsticks and sat down on the bench. “Okay, Maxi, you have to circle the piano.” After three tries and 10 minutes, they nailed the first part of the video.

“Now you can just hold the camera still this time.” Gabriele positioned Maxi. She let her hair down and changed into a green tee shirt for the second part of the video.

After they recorded the second part, Vanessa walked into the living room. “Alright, Maxi. Time to get ready for bed.”

“Come on Vanessa, I’m only at 22.” Gabriele said, “We have a lot more video to shoot.”

“It’s Maxi’s bedtime though.”

“I don’t wanna go to bed!” Maxi cried.

Vanessa took the video camera from him and handed it to Gabriele. “I can do the rest of the video with you.”

Gabriele didn’t know. She wasn't that mad at Vanessa, honestly. She was just trying to do her job. “I guess...”

Vanessa picked up Maxi, “I’ll be back after I put Maxi to sleep.” She carried her fussing little brother up the stairs.

That was one thing she was glad Vanessa had to do that she didn’t. She dug through the pile of clothes and found a brown jacket and scarf. She practiced walking in high heels until Vanessa returned.

“Remember to be quite.” Vanessa said.

“I know

.” Gabriele walked to the opposite end of the room.

“Ready? Action!”

Gabriele started walking towards the camera as best as she could. “I’m 33 for a moment, I’m still the man but you see I’m a they. Kid on the wa-ay, family on my mind...”


The video, or at least the filming portions, was finished before their mother came home.

“I’m sorry I took so long.” Mother said as Vanessa and Gabriele came to help put the groceries away. “There’s a lot of snow on the ground.”

“Can I use your computer to edit a video?” Gabriele asked.

Mother got a glimpse at the clock. 9:23. “Tomorrow. It’s almost your bedtime.

“I can edit it for your.” Vanessa said.

“I want to do it.” Gabriele said, “Besides, you can’t edit a video in 45 minutes.”

“I could get it started.”

“I said I wanted to do it.” Gabriele put the cake mix into the pantry. She then went upstairs.

“Thanks for watching the kids, Vanessa.” Mother said. “That was four hours, so I’ll give you 16 dollars.”

Gabriele opened her’s and Vanessa’s bedroom and flopped onto the bottom bunk. Gabriele hated being younger than Vanessa. She got to stay up later, she got the top bunk and she got paid to baby-sit. Gabriele never got paid to do anything. She wished she was older than Vanessa. She wrapped herself in her sheets and drifted off to sleep.

Gabriele opened her bleary eyes. She sat up and smacked the metal beam of the top bunk. “Ow!” She yelled and grabbed her head. Gabriele had complained that the beds were too close together but her mother said she wouldn’t replace it until she and Vanessa got older.

“You okay?” Vanessa called from the top.

“Peachy.” Gabriele said. She pulled at the seat of her pants. Her underwear felt very tight. So did the rest of her clothes.

She grumbled and crawled to the edge of the bed. She a lot of her forearm was peeking out of her sleeves. Her clothes must’ve shrunk or something. She stepped into her slippers. A tight fit. She stood to her feet and heard Vanessa scream.

She looked up into her sister’s horrified face, “What’s the matter.”

Vanessa was breathing heavily. She frowned and squinted her eyes at Gabriele, “Gabriele? I-is that you?”

“Yeeees.” Gabriele said slowly, “Who did you think

I was?”

Vanessa climbed down from the top bunk and walked next to her. Gabriele was taller than Vanessa! Her heart started beating faster. What happened to her?

“Don’t panic. Everything’s going to be okay.” Vanessa said in a soothing voice. Gabriele couldn’t take this any longer.

“Vanessa.... what happened to me?”

“Well.... you’re a teenager.”

“Really?” Gabriele darted out of the room and into the bathroom. She got a look at herself in the mirror. She had cool sweeping bangs, a tall, womanly body. A smile crept onto her face, “It worked.”

“What worked?” Vanessa said from the doorway.

“The snowflakes.” Gabriele said, “Just like you