Snow

The snow fell gently on the school's rooftops, but the small gathering of students was unbothered by the cold. They sat in a circle, eating their lunches with smiles on their faces and listened to their one friend in particular serenade them all. Normally they would happily chat about the going ons of their lives, what was happening in class, and what music they were currently into. But as the winter had come in on them, they had been faced with having to find a new place to congregate, rather than the roof of the music department, which they were able to access thanks to a chain link fence on the western side.

It was only thanks to their discovery of, and eventual convincing of their acceptance of Jake's music that they were able to continue with their usual plans.

Alicia had been the first to see it. Jake had always been a harsh and cold person, curt and blunt, and hardly concerned with the feelings of the people around him. At least on the outside. The group knew better than that, of course - in truth, Jake had a heart that burned brighter than any of theirs. He chose silence intentionally, so that he would not be spread too thin amongst the people around him in his life. He was a harsh person, sure, but he always spoke the truth, and if you ever wanted advice or assistance, he was the man to turn to. But he was more than that as well. In a way, they all were.

Even in the dead of winter, Jake was dressed in torn blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt, occasionally wearing a heavy black leather jacket. His bright blue eyes were sharp and piercing, and they sent chills through a person's spine even in the heat of the summer. Temperatures didn't bother him. Especially with his guitar in hand.

For years, no one had seen him playing it, however. Most had assumed he was a heavy metal guitarist, but you could never get a word out of him one way or the other on the subject. It wasn't until Alicia had come across him a month prior that anyone in the group had the slightest idea that, in truth, he was an acoustic player with an interest in soft love songs. No one would have ever guessed that.

They couldn't help but smile as they listened to him play and sing in the center of them all. The flames licked at his fingertips as he did so, and its warmth spread to them all, the snow melting and fading away before it could ever touch them. They regularly left a large dry circle in the center of the rooftop. Not that anyone but them would ever know.