Chapter Twenty Three

       “We’re going skiing,” Kara declared, getting up from her chair.

       “No way,” I said.

       “What about skiing?” Nick popped up. Whenever the word ‘skiing’ came up in a conversation, Nick reacted the same way Kara did at the mention of the word ‘shopping’- he started paying attention. Like most of the spoiled teens I knew, Nick spent his entire winter on the slopes. He loved it. I, on the other hand, was different story. I hated snow. I hated the cold. And I HATED skiing.

       “We’re going,” Kara said.

       “Where, and when?” John said, now also becoming a part of this conversation.

       “Now, and either in Aspen or New Hampshire,” Kara elaborated.

       “I hate going Aspen!” Phillip complained.

       “I hate skiing in general, so we’re not going!” I said.

       “Yes, you are, babe. So, Phillip, no Aspen?” Kara said, texting someone.

       “Nope,” he said.

       “New Hampshire it is. Whose house?” she asked, continuing to patter away on her phone.

       “Mine!” Nick yelled.

       “No way, dude! Mine,” Phillip said.

       “Personally, I think we should go to mine,” John said.

       “Well, personally, I think you should shut the fuck up,” Nick snapped back.

       “Okay, guys! Let’s just settle this! We can go to my house,” Kara said.

       “Or… we could all just go to Elle’s house!” Nick smirked.

       “Well, considering I’m not even going on this little trip, it’d be pretty hard to break in and all,” I said. Yes, I had a ski house. I also, unfortunately, was born into a skiing obsessed family. When I was two, I straight up refused to go out to play in the snow. When I was three, I wouldn’t go down the bunny hill. Hell, even now I wouldn’t go down the bunny hill! I hated skiing. Though, I had to admit, our ski house was pretty sick, and it had Wi-Fi, so why I was I really complaining?

       “Oh, you’re going. I just texted my parents, and they said that since they’d be up there anyways, we’re more than welcome to stay at my house,” Kara went on. 

       “Yeah, we’re going to pass on that,” Phillip said.

       “Fine. Let’s settle this the civil way- whose house is closest to the actual mountain?” she asked. I sunk down in my chair, hoping they would forget the location of my house.

       “I believe Elle’s is,” Nick said smugly.

       “Mine? No. Besides, I’m not going,” I turned down.

       “Elle’s house it is!” John said as I glared at him. 

       “Okay, so we’re all in agreement? Elle’s house?” Kara asked.

       “No! I’m not in agreement!” I objected.

       “Too bad. Oh, I already texted your mom telling her that we’re spending the weekend there, and that we should be back by Tuesday,” she said.

       “TUESDAY? No way am I spending four days in freaking Antarctica!” I said. I wasn’t even concerned about it going on my attendance record for school, because all we had to do was call and say we’re skiing, and they wouldn’t mark it; I just didn’t want to go!

       “But you’d be spending those four days with me,” Nick pointed out.

       “I’m not going,” I reiterated.

       “Elle, you’re going even if we have to strap you to the roof of the car,” Kara said, making a face at whatever had popped up on her bedazzled phone.

       And that was the end of the discussion. I was forced to go back to my house, grab some clothes (Not winter wear, because that was all kept at the house), and throw them in a duffle bag. I put my laptop, textbooks, chargers, and phone into a backpack, and went downstairs to wait for Kara to come pick me up. I heard a honk. Then another honk. Then a third honk. Man, Kara was impatient.

       “I’m leaving!” I yelled.

       “Oh Elle, darling, hope you have two have a wonderful time!” my mom said, hugging me.

       “Us two?” I questioned.

       “Yes, they didn’t tell you? I asked Kara if Cameron could come along, so he wouldn’t feel left out, and she said it’d be no problem. When you get to there, he can either use Jordan’s skis, or buy a new pair.”

       “CAMERON’S COMING WITH!” I said, outraged.

       “Yes, dear,” she said calmly, seeing no problem with it.

       “Sorry for the delay,” the devil said, entering the front room we were in. “Shall we?” That damn British accent of his.

       “Hmph.” And with that, I stormed out of the house. Skiing, snow, and Cameron- my three least favorite things.

       “Hey girly!” Kara greeted, as I slammed the door shut after putting my stuff in the back.

       “Hi. Why the hell didn’t you tell me he was coming?” I demanded.

       “Didn’t want to scare you even more?” she offered as an answer.

       “Ugh! I hate him!”

       “Sorry, babe,” she apologized.

       “Oh, hey, Elle!” Nick said, behind me. Phillip and he looked to be playing some game on Phillip’s phone. I looked into the mirror, and in the last row I could see John sitting there with about as much expression on his face as a brick.

       “Hey, John,” I said.

       “Elle,” he said.

       “Hello, everyone!” Cameron said, coming into the car, and joining John in the back.

       “Hey, Cam!” Kara said. “Okay, let’s get this party started!” She put on the radio, and turned it way up. You Make Me Feel…, by Cobra Starship was playing. Loud, but a great song. I took out my headphones, and shoved them in my ears in hope to sleep. I pressed shuffle, and closed my eyes.

       “Wake up, babe!” Kara’s voice sang, as she pushed me. Thankfully, I slept through the entire ride. If I could sleep through Kara blasting music, and most likely singing along, I could sleep through anything.

       “Mhmm. We here?” I asked.

       “I don’t know, does this look like your house?” she asked. I studied the snow covered home before us before replying.

       “Yup,” I got out of the car, looking up at the monstrous house that stood in front of us. The boys got out of the back, and took everyone’s bags from the back, as Kara and I went up to the front door. I put my key into the door, and it opened, as the alarm blared. Quickly, I punched in the code, and it thankfully stopped. I turned the heat up to eighty-five degrees, and led Kara into the kitchen, while turning on all the lights as we went.

       “I love this house!” she said, as I fished around the cabinets for something edible.

       “I don’t,” I said, finding a bag of popcorn, and placing it in the microwave.

       “Elle! Kara! Where are you guys?” Phillip yelled from the doorway.

       “In the kitchen!” I shouted back. I heard the door slam behind them, and a loud thud. “You better not have just dropped my backpack!”

       “No! I have that!” Nick replied, joining us in the kitchen, “Oooh! Popcorn!” he inhaled the air.

       “Elle, how well can you ski?” Phillip asked, entering the room with John and Cameron following.

       “I can’t. Why?” I said bluntly.

       “Because we wanted to go night skiing.”

       “Psh. Have fun. I’ll be chilling at the lodge,” I said in retort to the dumbest idea ever.

       “Okay,” he said. Night skiing was seriously the stupidest thing in the world. These idiots go, in the dark, skiing, until, like, one in the morning. I thought they were insane, but they all seemed to love it.

       “Oh, I should probably show you guys where you’ll be sleeping,” I said, taking the bag of hot popcorn out of the microwave. I opened the top, and let the fuming air out. Nick, being the bright one that he was, grabbed a hand full from the bag, before it him that it was really hot.

       “OUCH!” he said, shoving the popcorn into his mouth.

       “Moron,” I laughed.

       “Sor-ry, I didn’t know it’d be that hot,” he laughed.

       “Of course not,” I said, walking down the hallway as it lit up by movement. “Phillip and Nick, you’re in there-” I pointed to a guest room.

       “Okay,” Phillip said, taking his bag (All the ski gear was at the front of the house, or in the trunk of the car) and entering the perfectly made up room.

       “See ya in a few!” Nick said, going after Phillip.

       “And that’s your room,” I said to John and Cam, pointing to the room parallel to Nick and Phillip’s.

       “Thank you,” John said, making his way in.

       “Thanks so very much, Ms. Paterson,” Cam said.

       “Screw you,” I said, sauntering down the hall with my arm linked in Kara’s.

       “What about me?” she pouted.

       “Well, you can either sleep in my room, or Jordan’s room.”

       “JORDAN’S ROOM!” she shrieked, running into his room. Oh boy. I went into my room, headed straight for my desk, and plugged in my computer. Then I went into the living room, turned on the fireplace (It was one of those fake ones), and was about to walk downstairs, when two arms found their way to my waist, and gripped tightly.

       “Elle, turns out my fam is also here this weekend, I thought they were Aspen, but, apparently, there was more snow here or whatever, so they’re at the house, and are pretty much forcing the two of us to go to dinner with them tomorrow night,” Nick said into my ear.

       “Oh… kay,” I said, the news sinking in.

       “So, you’re cool with that?”

       “Yeah, I love Danni,” I shrugged.

       “Cool. Let’s go ski!”

       “We just got here.”

       “I know, and it’s only five, so we can get in a good eight hours of skiing.” And that is how these psychopaths’ minds work. Eight hours of skiing, at night, in the dark, was ‘fun’ for them. Then they slept for six hours, and did it all over again. It was crazy.

       “Well, you can have fun skiing, I’ll be at the lodge, chilling,” I said.

       “Fine. But, tomorrow, you are going skiing,” I shook my head at his words.

       “No.”

       “Elle Paterson, I will get you on that mountain if it’s the last thing I do.”

       “Nope.”

       “You’re so stubborn, babe!”

       “I know.”

       “Good. WE’RE GOING SKIING NOW!” he screamed. John and Phillip ran into the room, with huge smiles painted across their faces.

       “KARA!” I yelled.

       “COMING!” her voice echoed down the hallway. She and Cameron came down the hall talking lightly.

       “Okay, everyone, get dressed, grab your gear, and let’s go hit some powder!” Nick said. They all rushed over to the front where they had dumped their bags, and started pulling out their gear like the maniacs they were.

       “I don’t ski,” Cameron said to me.

       “Join the club,” I said blankly.

       “Cam, it’s not that hard, do you know how to surf?” John asked.

       “I do, actually, what does that have to do with skiing?”

       “If you can surf you can snowboard,” he said.

       “Yes! I don’t have to babysit!” I said, fist pumping the air.

       “I don’t have a snowboard,” Cam went on.

       “You can borrow one of ours,” Phillip said. In the world of ski obsessed rich kids, they made a very important decision at a young age: skiing or snowboarding. They all knew how to do both, but if you were a skier, you didn’t snowboard, and vise versa. It was an unspoken law.

       “Okay?” Cameron said unsurely, slowly jogging over to his bag, to get out winter apparel. I went back to the back of the house in search of something comfy and warm to chill in all night. Last year Jordan dragged me out, at midnight, so he could go skiing with some chick he met. I was stuck in the lodge for literally three hours, until he finally returned. I was bored out of my mind.

       I pulled out my favorite pair of skinny jeans I had here, they had horseshoes on the butt pockets, and were really comfy, and shuffled through my closet for a shirt. I found a light brownish, long sleeved, plaid one, and put it on, over my black tank top. I put on a puffy, black jacket, and my favorite pair of black boots and matching gloves. I unplugged my laptop, and threw it back into my backpack. Slinging my beloved backpack over my shoulder, I exited my room, ready to face anything.

       “You know, Elle, you look great in the color black!” Nick said. I looked him over. He was decked out in probably over one thousand dollars worth of ski clothing. Now, normal people waited until they got to the ski lodge to put on their ski boots, jackets, and snow pants, but these idiots went wearing all that shit, so they could start skiing the minute they got there.

       “So do you,” I said. He looked like a ninja. All in black, with his goggles, and hat.

       “I know,” he smirked.

       “But I look the best in pink!” Kara said. Oh boy. This girl was crazy. She had on from hat to ski boots the color pink. It was scary to take in.

       “Right, Kara. Let’s go,” I said, setting the alarm to the house, and leaving with five marshmallows following closely behind. Kara threw me her keys, and off we were.

       Once we got to the mountain, and I parked the car close to the lodge, Phillip and Nick ran out, grabbed their skis from the trunk, made sure they had their passes, sat down on benches, and put on their skis. I loved Phillip’s skis; they were blue, orange, yellow, white, and purple. They were kind of like graffiti, but not- if that makes any sense.. Nick’s skis, on the other hand, I hated. They were so boring. Black, white, and red. BORING! My skis, which I didn’t use, were actually really epic. They had this cool black design that ran all over them, with what looked like airbrushed colors all over, and I just really liked them (Not to actually use, but they were pretty to look at).

       “Bye guys!” I yelled, as the made their way over to the ski lift on skis. Nick waved back with one of his poles. “Where are you three going?” I asked John, Kara, and the devil in blue.

       “We’re going to a snowboarding lesson. Cameron needs to learn, and the two of us are probably a little rusty!” Kara giggled, pulling down her pink goggles.

       “Have a blast! I’m in the lodge, doing homework if you need me,” I said, walking away to the cozy, warmth of the ski lodge.

       “Elle! Haven’t seen you here in while, Jordan with you?” one of the instructors, Matt, asked as I walked in.

       “Nope,” I said, “dragged here by friends.”

       “Fun- for them, not you. Well, anyways, tell Jordan I said hi, and that he should get his butt over here, and ski with me some time!”

       “Will do,” I saluted him, and went over to my usual spot by the fireplace, with the falling white flakes as the background.

       I plopped down on the circular brown couch, as I let the warm air from the fire hit my cold face. I took off my jacket and gloves, and started to set up. Laptop in front of me, phone by my side, and textbook open. I didn’t put in my earphones like normal, because then I might actually get work done, and I liked seeing the different things go on in the lodge; it was interesting. I started to write my paper on the Evolution of Telecommunication, when someone sat down beside me. Sorry E of T, you’re gonna have to wait. I was so talking to this person whether they liked it or not!

       “Hey,” a husky voice said.

       “Hi!” I said, “I’m Elle!”

       “Carter,” the guy who had sat beside me said, smiling. He had messed up, blonde hair, and a tan. This guy was definitely a snowboarder; not a skier. With some people, you can just tell.

       “Just come in?”

       “Yeah, the slopes were rad!”

       “Yeah? My friends just headed out.”

       “Chill. I totally nailed a three sixty when I was out there just now!” he bragged.

       “Cool,” I recognized.

       “Yeah it totally was! You snowboard?”

       “Not really.”

       “You ski?”

       “No.”

       “Good. How about skate?”

       “Like ice skate?” I asked skeptically.

       “Yeah.”

       “I do, actually.” As much as skiing and snowboarding may have bothered me, for some reason, I enjoyed ice-skating.

       “Chill. Wanna go?”

       “What?”

       “Ice skate,” he replied easily.

       “Now?”

       “Yeah, why not? You look bored, and I’m sure you don’t want to stay here writing about the Evil-ution of Tele-whatever,” he said, glancing down at my screen.

       “You’re right,” I said, slamming my screen down.

       “Imma go take this shit off, you stay here, and I’ll be right back!” he winked.

       “Right...” I said, watching him go off. He seemed nice enough.

       “Elle!” someone called. Before I process the voice, hands covered my eyes, “Guess who!”

       “Jesse?” I randomly guessed, thinking about the people I normally saw here.

       “Nope.”

       “Okay, I give up, who is it?” 

       “JAKE!” he said, uncovering my eyes.

       “Oh hey!” I said, smiling at the boy I knew well.

       “Is Jordan here?” he questioned in regards to his best friend.

       “Does it look like he’s here?” I rolled my eyes.

       “Guess not. I saw Nick and my brother on the chairlift going down, how late are you guys staying?”

       “I don’t know,” I shrugged.

       “Cool. Wait, where’s my brother staying?”

       “At my house, with everyone else.”

       “Oh. We should throw a party.” Of course that was the first thing he says...

       “How do you know my parents aren’t there?”

       “Because if they were, they would’ve dragged Jordan along too.”

       “Okay, one for Jake,” I laughed at how well he knew my family.

       “I’m not as dumb as I look, Elle.”

       “I know…”

       “You gonna ski this weekend?”

       “Absolutely not.”

       “Nick already tried to get you to go?”

       “Yup. Wait, where are you staying?”

       “At Nick’s house, because I came up with Evan, and my mom said I wasn’t ‘mature’ enough to be trusted in our house alone,” he scoffed, clearly not a fan of the assessment.

       “You? Immature? No!” I laughed.

       “I know, completely crazy!”

       “Hey, you ready to g-” that Carter guy said.

       “Yup!” I said, gathering my things up, and getting up from the couch. “Oh, this is my friend, Jake.”

       “Hey, bro,” Carter said.

       “Hi,” Jake said.

       “Jake do you want to come with us?” I asked.

       “Where?”

       “Ice skating.”

       “Miss the chance to see Elle Paterson fall her butt? I’m totally coming!” he said.

       “Okay then… let’s go hit some ice!” I said, handing Jake my backpack. No way was I carrying that thing again; it weighed, like, fifty pounds!