Snow School

I Go Through Mental Torture In A Nice Place

SARIKA
Traveling has always been something a bit familiar to me. They airports, planes, cars, buses - after a while it feels like routine. And when you finally reach the destination, it feels like a break. Then you have to do it all over again. The only thing is, I don't feel like I'm going to reach my destination this time. Not with these people.

When I saw the poster at school - VAIL, COLORADO! WINTER TRIP! CHOSEN BY LOTTERY! I was excited. My school, Claverage Ridge Middle School (CRMS) has never put much effort in taking students anywhere. But somehow this opportunity had popped up, and I was not going to miss it. I got some of my friends to sign up, but the problem was that this entire trip was chosen by lottery. And the list of people going slightly disgusted me.

"Give me back my phone!" Zayden exclaimed, running toward Rich. Those two had been doing this the entire time. Rich started running, looking back at Zayden. Then he crashed into a stressed out looking lady, who seemed to already have enough to deal with. Mr. Tross rushed over, profusely apologizing. Then he started yelling in his own quiet way to Zayden and Rich. "Guys, we have to be more mature about this. If this keeps happening..." I tuned him out. Ever since we had left school this Friday to come to the airport, stuff like this kept happening. Zayden would annoy Rich, causing random accidents. Lukas, Mery, and Bryce would start bickering so loudly that strangers would start to stare. "Lukas, you're an idiot! Why do I even talk to you?" "Because I'm the only person who'll talk to you. You're sad and alone." "I have friends! Byrce, back me up!" "No." was what made a random middle aged lady stop and ask me if they were a couple. I don't blame her - they do act like an old, slightly crazy, married couple, even if they aren't dating. Beau would make random comments about random people, loudly, earning us a bunch of angry glares. All the while, Mr. Tross had desperately been trying, and failing, to keep us - them - under control, while Mr. Herberst had been completely detached from everything. All through Austin airport, one traumatizing event after the other kept happening (don't ask about security). Then, on the plane, Mery decided to make my life hell by talking to me and Ashley the entire. freaking. time. I'm not even friends with them - in fact, Mery's mean to me most of the time. But now I know her entire life story over the course of the three hour plane flight to Denver. Curse Mr. Tross, and whoever else thinks that a girls should be with other girls so they don't feel sad. Trust me, I won't.

I glance at Arjan, trying to send a mental message that I'm going more psychotic than I thought was possible. No such luck - he's whispering to Ashley, who is his best friend from forever, and Flynn, who is nothing like the one in Tangled, and slightly a jerk. Wondering what they're whispering about, I subtly move closer, trying to listen. But Tanner sees me, and then smirks at me, while I attempt to put all the hate I can behind my eyes and glare at him.

Finally, we start moving toward baggage claim through Denver's insanely complicated international airport. At first, I become nonstalgic. Every previous winter since we'd moved to Austin, we'd come to Colorado to ski. I had honestly been in this airport so many times that I could have navigated it in my sleep. I also knew by heart the rest of the steps that we normally did - drive, stop for lunch at Silverthorne, drive to Vail, crash the night in whatever accommodations, then ski the next morning with my brother, Mom and Dad. But then my thought started drifting off. I started to think about how much I hate most of the people on this trip, excluding Arjan (because we're friends) and Ashley (because I'm not hating on my friends best friend) But Tanner, especially Tanner, is who I thought of most.

He's short, maybe the same height as me. He's got brown hair, brown eyes, and brown eyelashes. He looks likes his voice should be higher pitched, but it's not. His skin is a shade of white, and there a little glint in his eyes that makes you start questioning stuff.

I hate Tanner. He hates me. Simple as that. Don't worry, I have reasons.

1. His first full interaction with me was saying "Go make a sandwich for me", which establishes his place as sexist and idiotic.

2. Every single time I'm with Arjan, he will say something to make me feel sad, mad, embarrassed, and like I've done something wrong. Worse, even though Arjan is one of my closest friends, he will say nothing about it.

There's a lot more, but those two stick out in my mind. Along with all the times he called me words I don't think I've said in my life. At least I did something about it. Instead of letting this go unanswered, I punched him in the nose. It was during sparring, at my Kung Fu class, but it still started bleeding. Later, I pretended to apologize for my "mistake". I didn't get in trouble, so in my book, I got some form of revenge.

I grab my bags, then slump over to a chair where everyone else is sitting. I clear my thoughts about Tanner. He doesn't deserve thinking about, and I'm not letting this trip get ruined for me because of him. Mr. Tross starts talking again. "So, it's about a two hour drive to Vail. Mr Herbest has gone to rent us a couple cars, and we'll be loading into them when he gets them; he pauses, letting Lukas, Bryce, Zayden and Rich a chance to stop groaning. "We'll be splitting up into two groups of five, for the car ride, so you might want to pick your groups now." Almost instantly after this is said, almost everyone gets up. I lazily stay down, deciding I don't care where I sit. Arjan has been basically ignoring me, and considering he's my only friend on this trip, sitting arrangements don't really matter.

I gaze at my phone, bored. I'm about to pull out a book from my backpack when Mr. Tross gestures for us to start walking. I check the time - it's around four pm, so we'll probably reach by sometime around six. A sudden worry crosses over my mind. Have either of the teachers ever actually driven on mountain roads? Mr. Herberst is from southern California. Would he have ever actually gone on snow with a car? "Get into your groups", Mr Herbest says, and everyone quickly separates. I realize that I don't know which side to go to, then automatically step to the left. "Great. This group, get into the black car. That group, get into the blue car" He motions, pointing at us and then pointing at the different cars behind us. 

   We quickly made our way to the black car, and I immediately got into the third row of the SUV, hoping this will make social interaction unnecessary. My hopes are dashed when I realized one of the seats in the back row is pushed down, for luggage space. There's five in my group, Three will sit in the middle row. One will have to sit right next to me. Suddenly, I hear Lukas talking, "You're sitting there. You're the smallest - none of us will fit." I hear a resigned sigh, as if it's used to losing unnecessary battles. Slowly, Tanner's face and glint greets me, basically crawling into my space, then easing himself next to me, which is a tiny middle seat. We're sitting so close to me that he's almost touching me.

This is going to be a great car ride. Mr. Herberst should expect blood.