The blizzard: a major blizzard has been predicted all week, but 15-year old Haley Peters is more concerned about the movie date she has planned with her crush. When Haley's mom gets snowed in at work. Haley has to cancel her date to babysit her sisters. That's when she learns what's really important.

I'm sitting in the bedroom I share with my two sisters, putting the finishing touches on a paper for my freshman English class. It's due tomorrow, and I've been putting it off all week. The weather forecaster has been predicting major snow since Monday, so I've been holding out hope for a day off. Even though I live in Vermont, nay high school closes if there is so much as a flake. As I cross the final "t," my 5-year-old sister Peggy runs in.

"Haley," she says, 'I'm hungry."

"What would you like?" I ask.

Peggy wrinkles her forehead in thought and says, "Chocolate cake."

"Chocolate cake? I don't think we have any." I stand up and take Peggy's hand. "Let's go check."

Peggy and I walk into the kitchen. We find Lauren perched on a chair, her eyes glued to the tiny TV Mom picked up at a garage sale. "What are you watching?" I ask Lauren, as I look through the cabinets for anything even remotely resembling chocolate cake.

Lauren keeps her eyes focused on the screen. "Hollywood Squares."

I groan. Lauren is a game-show fanatic. She never misses any game show that airs between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Those are the hours we're home alone after school while Mom is at work. I know Mom would never approve if she knew the extent of Lauren's game-show addiction, but it's always just easier to let her watch than to argue with her.

Lauren brushes her blonde hair away from her face as she stares at the TV. I have the same color hair, and so do Mom and Peggy. We all have the same blue eyes and the same noses. I'm the only one with freckles.

"Haley? Chocolate cake?"

"Sorry, Peg," I say, opening the fridge and quickly closing it. There isn't much there. I'm hoping Mom will stop at the supermarket on her way home from the law office where she works as a paralegal. "There's bread or some fruit."

"Yuck!" Peggy sticks out her tongue. "Will Mom bring home pizza?"

"Maybe." Just as the words are out of my mouth, the phone rings. I grab it.

"Haley, it's Mom. How's everything going at home?"

"Fine." I say. "Can you get pizza on the way home?" Mom's sometimes too tired to make dinner after work, so she just gets carryout or I make us all one of the two dishes I'm good at--macaroni-and-cheese with hot dogs or grilled cheese sandwiches.

"I'm not sure what time I'm going to be home. I have to finish this case report. I tried to call Mrs. Duncan to see if she could come by, but she isn't home."

Mrs. Duncan is the neighbor to our left who watches us when Mom gets stuck at work. She smells like cats and doesn't let us watch TV for more than a few minutes. But, at the moment, that's the least of my worries. I have plans to go out tonight.

"Mom!" I exclaim. "I am going to the movies. With Jake!"

"Ooh, Jake." Mom's voice takes on a teasing quality I don't appreciate. "I'm sorry, honey, but you'll have to cancel. Besides, it is supposed to snow pretty heavily tonight. I'm sure his parents won't even let him go."

Sigh. I'm sure Mom is just saying it might dump snow to make me feel better. I haven't been able to go out with Jake much at all lately.

Last week, after I broke plans with him for Alicia Hickman's party, he complained that I'm always babysitting my sisters or doing something with my family. I can't say that isn't true, but I don't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. I have to help Mom. Since she and my dad split, it's just the four of us.

"OK, Mom. Don't worry. I'll stay home. We'll be fine."

"You're the best!" I can hear the relief in Mom's voice. "Give Lauren and Peggy a hug from me. Now, you know the rules. Make sure the doors are locked, and don't open them for anyone! I'll call you when I'm about to leave."

I hang up and wait for the dial tone. A rock has settled into my stomach. The same rock that's always there whenever I think of Jake. I dial his number.

"Hello?" It's Jake's voice.

"Hey, Jake. It's Haley."

"Hey. What's up? Looking forward to Revenge of the Ant Women?"

"Actually, I can't make it. I have to watch my sisters tonight. My mom's stuck at work."

"So you're canceling? Again?"

"Sorry, I have to help out."

After more silence than I'm comfortable with, Jake gets out, "Sure, sure. I understand."

Before I can even think of something to say to salvage the situation, Peggy is clinging to my legs, so I hang up.

"Haley? Where's Mom?"

"Mom is working late, Peg. She'll call us when she is on her way home."

"Haley, look!" Peggy points to the kitchen window.

Guess Mom and the weather people aren't totally making this storm up. All of a sudden, it's snowing ... a lot. It looks like a big, white fluffy blanket covering our window.

"Snow? Finally!" Lauren leaps up and races toward the window. I've never seen her move so fast during Hollywood Squares. "Wow!"

Peggy and Lauren are silent for a few minutes. Then they both speak at once.

"Can we play in it?!"

"Can we build a snowman?!"

I look down at my sisters. "You know mom wants us to stay inside. We should wait until she gets home."

"But she won't be home for hours," Lauren whines. "The snow will melt!"

While I doubt this snow is going anywhere, I look at their eager faces and give in. We've been waiting for the snow all week, and finally it's here. "OK, put on your jackets."

My sisters cheer and run out of the kitchen to get their snow gear. We all bundle up and head out for the snow.

"Look at me, Haley! I'm a snow snake." Peggy dives onto the ground and slithers toward me.

I laugh, but I'm getting nervous. The snow is fairing really quickly. At first, it was the fluffy kind that melts when you catch it on your tongue, but now it's more like heavy fat flakes. We're only a few yards from our house, but it's getting harder to even see the front door through the falling snow.

"Haley? I'm cold." Lauren appears in front of me almost out of nowhere. If I didn't see Peggy's red hat near my feet, I would have thought she'd been swallowed by the snow. "And it is College Week on Jeopardy," Lauren adds.

"OK, let's go inside." I pull Peggy to her feet and grab Lauren's hand. We practically skate back toward the house.

"Watch the steps," I tell them. Our previously harmless front stoop now looks like a snow slide. Peggy giggles as I push her through the front door, but I don't find anything funny when it's my turn to grab Lauren's hand and boost myself over the stick steps.

Once inside, I help my sisters out of their wet clothes. Lauren sits down to watch TV, and Peggy turns to me eagerly. "Now is it time for chocolate cake?"

I shake my head. "Maybe later." To distract her, I add, "Why don't you put on your flannel PJs? It's cold out."

The phone rings just as Peggy sits down to play with her dolls; I grab it. It's Mom. "Hi, Haley. Listen, I have bad news. I can't get home tonight. It is awful out, and there's an accident on Route 110. The whole road is closed. I've tried to call Mrs. Duncan, but she still isn't home. You're going to have to be in charge."

My heart almost stops at those words. I babysit for my sisters all the time but usually only after school, if Mom is going to be more than a few hours late, Mrs. Duncan always comes over. But I can tell from Mom's voice that there isn't much choice. "Don't worry," I tell her. "I can handle things here."

"OK, Haley. Make sure Peg and Lauren are both in bed on time, and don't stay up too late yourself. Can you scrounge up something for dinner?"

I know the fridge is pretty bare, but I don't want to add to Mom's worries. So I just say, "Sure. We'll be fine."

"OK. Let me talk to Peggy and Lauren. I want to say goodnight to them."

I hand the phone to Peggy, and tell Lauren she should talk to Mom when Peg is finished. I go into the living room, flip on the light, pick up a magazine and try to read about Kirsten Dunst's beauty secrets, but I just keep thinking of Jake.

He and I became friends when we were assigned to be biology lab partners. So far, we're up to three school dances, ten movies and two dinners at his house.

I haven't been daydreaming for more than 10 minutes when I hear an angry shout from the kitchen. "Hey!" cries Lauren. "What happened to Jeopardy?"

I hurry into the kitchen. The TV is filled with gray and white fuzz. "And right before the final question!"

"The signal must have gone out." I tell Lauren. No sooner are the words out of my mouth when we're in total darkness.

Peggy cries, "Mommy!"

I scoop her off the floor and give her a hug. "It's OK. The power went out."

The house is so dark that I can hardly see anything in front of me. Light isn't even coming in from the outside, which means all the street lights are out, too. It's a real blizzard, and we're right in the middle of it.

Being as careful as I can, I put Peg down and make my way over to the cabinets. After quite a bit of rustling, I'm able to find the flashlight Mom keeps there for emergencies. This is definitely an emergency.

I flip on the flashlight and shine it at my sisters. Peggy is sitting on the floor, and Lauren is staring at the blank TV screen. They both look frightened. I offer them a comforting smile.

"I'm cold," says Lauren.

"You are?" Then I notice the chili. I go over to our space heater and gently tap it. I tap it again. Finally, I lay my whole palm across it. The space heater is still warm, but it isn't releasing any more heat. Without thinking I say, "The heater went out."

"It did?" Lauren cries out. "How will we stay warm tonight?"

Before Peggy can join in her tears, I say, "We'll make a fire in the fireplace."

"Can I help?" Peggy asks excitedly.

"I mean I will make the fire."

The fireplace is dusty inside and covered with the webs of spiders that made their homes in its corners. Thankfully, mom laid some fire logs a couple weeks ago that we hadn't gotten around to lighting. For good measure, I toss in a couple crumpled-up pages of last week's newspaper and open the flue. Now, I just have to light it.

"Lauren? Peggy?"

"Yeah?" My sisters are behind me.

"I'm going to go into the kitchen to get a matchbook," I tell them.

Lauren shoots me a scared look. "You're going to leave us here? Alone? With the monsters?"

Peggy's eyes grow wide. "Monsters?"

Lauren nods. "I saw a special about snow monsters on Hard Copy."

"Lauren," I say in exasperation, not even wanting to know how she found time to watch that between all her game shows. "You don't really believe in snow monsters, do you?"

Lauren shrugs. "They had pictures and everything."

Tears stream down Peggy's cheeks. "Don't let the monsters eat me!"

"See what you started?" I say to Lauren. I kneel down to Peggy's level. "Peg, there are no monsters in Vermont. Besides, not all monsters are bad. Look at Cookie Monster."

Peggy's eyes clear. "Cookie Monster wouldn't eat me."

The house has grown colder. I have to start the fire. I rush into the kitchen to get the matches. Using the flashlight, I'm able to find them pretty quickly. I head back to the living room, undo the matchbook, strike a match and carefully light the edges of the paper in the fireplace. Bingo--warmth.

For a few minutes, my sisters and I sit in silence, watching the flames. Snow continues to drum down on the roof. I never knew snow could be so noisy.

"Haley, I'm tired," Peggy announces.

I check my watch. It's still a couple hours before even Peggy usually goes to sleep, but I'm worn out. "Bedtime!"

Neither of my sisters complains. They busy themselves getting comfortable on the sofa, while I make sure they're buried under a pile of blankets.

"Haley," says Peggy as I fluff up her pillow, "Mom will be home by the time I wake up, right?"

"Don't worry. She'll be home before we know it."

Peggy smiles and closes her eyes. I walk over to Lauren.

"What if we freeze to death?" Lauren whispers to me.

"We won't freeze. The fire will keep us warm, and we have blankets."

Lauren thinks about that for a moment. "I'm scared."

"We'll be fine," I say, for the most part believing it. "Just go to sleep. The power will probably be on when we wake up. Mom will come home, and she'll make us some breakfast."

I curl up in a chair with my own bunch of blankets and listen to the wind howl outside. I think again of Jake. I'm getting really angry with him now. Doesn't he know my sisters need me? We can go see that stupid movie anytime. But I also can't help remembering that, when we do spend time with each other, Jake really is pretty cool.

I have absolutely no idea what time it is when I finally fall asleep.

I wake up to a loud noise. I open one eye, and everything comes flooding back to me--the snowstorm, Morn stuck at work, sleeping in the living room. Then I realize the ringing I hear is the phone. I run for it. "Hello?"

"Haley, are you girls OK? The power and phones went out at the office. Did they go out at home, too?" It's Mom.

"The power went out, but we had a campout in the living room and lit a fire. Lauren and Peggy are still sleeping."

"I knew you could handle things." Mom lets out a huge sigh of relief. "The roads are finally reopened, and the plows are going through. I'm heading home."

"Can you bring us something for breakfast?" I ask.

"Anything you want!" She says.

"Mom, whatever is fine. Just come home." I hang up and breathe my own sigh of relief. As if on cue, the power comes back on.

"Haley?" Peggy calls from her pile. "Where's Mommy?"

"She just called. She'll be here soon."

Lauren wakes up, too, and notices the power on before she notices Mom isn't home yet. "Finally!" She shouts and makes a dash for the TV in the kitchen.

I stare into the smoldering fireplace while Peggy plays with her dolls.

Then comes a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" I call, assuming Mrs. Duncan has finally gotten Mom's messages and is coming over to check on us.

"Haley? It's Jake."

"Jake? What are you doing here?" I ask as I stand up to unlock the door.

Before I can reach it, the door swings open and in walks a sheepish-looking Jake followed by ... Mom!

"Mommy!" shouts Peggy, running to her. Lauren races from the kitchen.

"Girls, is everyone all right?"

"Haley took care of us," says Lauren.

"Yeah," agrees Peggy, "She didn't let the monsters eat us."

"Monsters?" Mom repeats, shooting me a quizzical look.

"We survived," I tell Mom.

"Mommy," Peggy says. "I'm hungry."

Mom gives Peggy a kiss. "I brought home some frozen waffles for breakfast and a special surprise for dessert."

Mom and the girls go to the kitchen. I stay where I am and turn to Jake. "How did you get here?"

"My dad drove me in his truck. He's coming back for me in about an hour. I just wanted to make sure you were all OK, and I thought you might need your driveway shoveled or something."

"Maybe we can do it together after we eat." I am so happy to see him. "Did you go to the movie?"

"In this weather? No way! Maybe we can go this weekend."

"Sounds good to me. Come on. Let's go get waffles before they eat them all."

We go into the kitchen and sit down at the table. Frozen waffles have never tasted so good, and the whole box is gone in less than 20 minutes. Even Peggy, usually a picky eater, has two.

"Guess what I have for dessert?" Mom says. "Chocolate cake!"

Lauren and Peg cheer. I just smile.