So we stopped every few houses, and I'd shove my feet into a heat vent until I got the feeling back in my toes.
We finally made it to school. But it took me a minute to realize it was almost as cold in THERE as it was OUTSIDE.
Apparently what happened was that the sock smell from yesterday was so strong that it was too much for the night janitor.
So he went round and opened all the windows to let me fresh air circulate.
But when I guess he forgot to CLOSE the windows at the end of his shift. And the furnance couldn't keep up, so it shut down. That meant we had a whole day of school with NO HEAT.
At first the teachers let us wear our winter stuff in class. But I guess that was too weird, so they changed their minds and made us put our gear in the lockers.
In History we were FREEZING, but our teacher was just FINE. Mrs Willey keep an electric heater next to her desk, and she had that thing cranked up to the MAX.
Halfway through class, a girl named Becky Cosgrove tipped her desk over and started yelling, which was totally random.
As punishment, Mrs Willey made Becky sit on a chair next to her desk. And it took a minute for the REST of us to figure out what Becky's game was.
But kids in middle shcool are idiots, and within thirty seconds EVERYONE was trying to get a seat next to Mrs Willey.
For the rest of the day everybody did whatever they could to keep WARM. And some kids got pretty CREATIVE about it.
We had a school play a few weeks ago, and somebody had the bright idea of getting one of the costumes from behind the stage.
While most of us were freezing our butts off INSIDE, the snow was really piling up OUTSIDE. And by fourth period people were freaking out that we were gonna be stuck at school OVERNIGHT.
At lunch kids bought up everything in the cafeteria so they'd have something to eat if we got snowed in. That sent everyone ELSE into a panic, so kids made a run on the vending machines in the hallways.
At that point people were just trying to get their hands on anything that was EDIBLE. A rumour spread that there was food in the SCIENCE lab, so a bunch of kids ran down THERE.
And, from what I heard, they picked that place CLEAN.
I think the principal could see that she was about to have a RIOT on her hands, so she announced an early hometime.
Well, that was great news for everyone who took the BUS home, but us kids who had to WALK didn't have it so easy. I really wasn't looking forward to walking home in a snowstorm, so I came up with an IDEA. Whirly Street isn't too far from OUR neighbourhood, so I figured me and Rowly counld take THEIR bus and then WALK the rest of the way.
So, after we got out of school, we headed straight for the bus line. And we were so bundled up that nobody even NOTICED when we got on board.
I've gotta say, it was kind of WEIRD being on the bus with the Whirley Street kids, because those guys are our ENEMIES. They used to sledge on our hill every winter until they discovered the 13th hole at the golf course.
The 13th hole is LEGENDARY, and everyone knows it's the best sledging hill in our town. But the problem is that the golf course is part of the country club, so if you sledge there you're TRESPASSING.
Last year I wanted to see what the fuss over the 13th hole was all about, so I got Rowley to come with me. But Rowley was SUPER nervous about the trespassing thing, so he didn't want to go.
I had to remind Rowley that he and his family are MEMBERS of the country club, so technically he WOULDN'T be trespassing.
But I guess Rowley was worried his family might lose their membership if he got caught sledging. So, to disguise himself, he shook his face really fast and kept that up the whole time we were there.
I've gotta admit, the 13th hole was everything people SAID it was.