Time moved slower than a snail, but at last it was ten o’clock.

My mom had found my long underwear, so I was all dressed and ready to go.

“Freddy,” said my mom, “why don’t you take off your coat until your friends come? You must be sweating like crazy.”

“That’s okay, Mom. They’ll be here any minute, and I don’t want to waste any time getting out the door.”

Suzie walked into the room. “Is Kimberly here yet?”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “She came two hours ago, but I forgot to tell you.”

“You think you’re so funny,” said Suzie. “Don’t you?”

Just then the doorbell rang.

Suzie reached for the door, but I jumped in front of her and grabbed the handle to open it.

Robbie and his sister, Kimberly, had picked up Josh on their way over.

“Hi, guys!” I said.

Kimberly stepped inside, and I joined my friends outside.

“You guys ready to go?” I asked.

“You bet!” said Robbie.

“I’ve been ready since six o’clock,” said Josh.

I laughed. “I got up at five this morning!”

“This is going to be the best day ever,” said Josh. “I’ve never had a snow day before. So far, it’s pretty sweet … no school and tons of snow to play in!”

“Let’s get going,” said Robbie. “We don’t want to waste a minute.”

We grabbed our sleds, walked down the driveway, and turned right down the street.

When we came to Mrs. Golden’s house, her dog, Baxter, was rolling around in the snow in the front yard. He ran over to me as we walked by.

“Hey, Baxter. What do you think, boy? It looks like you like the snow as much as we do.”

Baxter barked, and we all laughed.

“See you later, boy. Have fun making your doggy snow angels,” I said as I gave him one last pat on the head.

“So how far is it to Potter’s Farm?” Josh asked.

“Not too far,” I said.

“It’s only about a ten-minute walk,” said Robbie.

All of a sudden, I felt a snowball hit the back of my jacket.

“Hey!” I said, turning around. “Where did that come from?”

Josh laughed and took off running down the street. “Betcha can’t catch me,” he said.

I grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it into a ball as I ran after him. When I got close enough, I threw it with all my might, and it hit him square on the back of the head.

“Wow! Nice arm,” Josh said. “I didn’t know you could throw like that. You must play baseball.”

Robbie threw two snowballs, one right after the other, and caught us both by surprise.

“That was pretty sneaky, Robbie,” I said. “You just popped out of nowhere.”

We continued chasing each other and throwing snowballs all the way to Potter’s Farm.

By the time we reached the farm, we were all out of breath. I threw my sled on the ground. “Hang on a second, guys,” I said. “I’ve got to catch my breath.”

“Me, too,” said Robbie.

“I thought you guys said it was a ten-minute walk,” said Josh. “That didn’t seem like ten minutes.”

“That’s because we ran the whole way,” I said.

“Let’s hit the sledding hill,” said Josh. “I’ve been waiting to go sledding all morning.”

“Nah, let’s make a snow fort first,” I said.

“How do you do that?” asked Josh.

“You have to pack the snow into bricks, like this,” said Robbie, making a rectangular block of snow, “and then you stack the bricks like an igloo.”

“That’s pretty cool,” said Josh. “Where should we do it?”

“How about over by that tree?” said Robbie.

“That’s a great place!” I said.

We ran over to the tree, put our sleds down, and started making blocks of snow. We stacked them one on top of another.

Josh looked around. “I see a lot of kids here, but I don’t see Max.”

“Really?” I said, pretending that I hadn’t noticed until he said something. Secretly, I was hoping that Max wouldn’t come, and I wouldn’t have to race him.

Just then Jessie walked up. “Hi, guys,” she said.

“Hey, Jessie,” I said. “Want to help?”

“Sure, Freddy!”

“Jessie, have you seen Max?” asked Josh.

“No, I don’t think he’s here,” said Jessie. “I actually hope that big bully doesn’t come.”

“I hope he does,” said Josh.

“You do?” said Jessie. “Why?”

“Because Freddy is going to beat the pants off of him.”

“Freddy? Really? What are you talking about?” Jessie asked.

“Freddy and Max are going to race down Cherry Hill,” said Josh.

“You are, Freddy?” said Jessie. “But aren’t you afraid of Cherry Hill?”

“Was afraid,” said Josh, smiling, “but not anymore. Freddy has changed his thinking.”

“Wow, Freddy! That’s great!” said Jessie.

“Yeah, great!” I mumbled. My heart was starting to beat faster just thinking about it.

“Now I do hope Max shows up,” said Jessie.

All of a sudden, I heard a familiar voice behind me. “Well, then, it’s your lucky day, because here I am,” said Max, grinning.

He grabbed me by my jacket and spun me around. “Ready to race, wimp, or you too scared?”

“Oh, no, he’s ready,” said Josh.

“I want to hear it from him,” said Max.

I gulped. “Ready.”

“Then let’s race!”