Snow School

Interesting

TANNER

     Introductions are in order. Hi, I'm Tanner. I don't really know what I'm doing right now. I think I'm just going to go with it. 

  All of us get out of the car and file into the front lobby. Wow, this place is fancy. How did the school pay for this? Whatever. Mr. Herberst is explaining rooms "Girls, you'll be in room 1113. Tanner, Arjan, Zayden, Rich, room 1114.  Beau, Bryce, and Luke, yours is 1115. Mr. Tross and I will be in room 1116. All of our rooms are on the third floor. There's two copies of the key cards for each room. One copy will stay with us, and one person from each room will have the other copy. Get your luggage in the elevator, we'll talk more upstairs."

   I lug my suitcase and ski bag to the elevator along with everyone else. I wonder out loud, "Where's the ski locker?" Mr. Tross replies, "Actually, since most of you are just going to be in lessons, you won't need a locker. You'll keep your stuff with the rental place." I groan. I'm not in lessons, so this is going to make life annoying. I've been skiing for years, and I'm good at it. I think mostly everyone else is going to be in lessons- except for Beau (who's carrying a snowboard) and Sarika, who also looks pissed at this information.  I feel some amount of happiness; she'll also have to carry her skis down every day. She'll be annoyed. 

   We reach the third floor and file into the corridor. Our rooms are right by the elevator - that's convenient.  As we step out, the lecture begins again. "So, right now, elect someone to take the key card. Whoever takes the key card is completely responsible for it, which means losing it will not go well. If you ever lose it, you'll have to come to us whenever you want to be let in." I gulp. I don't want to be in charge of this - but I don't want Zayden or Rich taking it and losing it (because I know they will). I turn to Arjan. "You should take it." "Ok," he replies. "But if I lose it, don't be mad." He makes a teasing face. Then he takes the key card from Mr. Herberst before I can say anything. I notice that Merry seems to have just grabbed the key card, and Beau is decides to take his card before Lukas and Bryce. Arjan goes to the door - room 1114, unlocks it, and pushes the door open. Mr. Tross calls out, "Put your luggage in your room, then come back out." I drag my luggage into my room, seeing that there's two bedrooms, each with two single beds. I pick one, then put my luggage near it. Arjan follows me, leaving Zayden and Rich to the other room. "How much stuff do you have?" I ask, as he struggles to drag in a second, huge suitcase. "Too much, because of my mom. She kept making me take more stuff." Arjan says. He walks out, leaving me to my thoughts of my mom. She was worried about sending me here without her. I need to call her soon, otherwise she'll start freaking out. I leave the room and follow Arjan outside. I see most of us have already came out. 

   Mr. Tross starts talking. "Lets go over some of the rules." "Again?" I mutter under my breath. I swear I hear someone else say the same thing.  "Lights out are by 9:30 pm. You have to be awake by 7:00 am on most days, because of lessons.  You have to be inside this building by 6:00 pm, every night. Breaking curfew isn't an option, so don't even think about it. It will result in a call to your parents and keeping you in our sights for the rest of the trip, which means no skiing." He looks and Beau, then adds "or snowboarding. You will be allowed to be in each others rooms until 9. After 9, you have to stay in your room."

   Mr. Herberst takes over. "Skiing or snowboarding will either be done with the instructors of your lessons, or with a group. If you want to see the ski village, then you'll either have to go with us or be in a group of at least 5. We'll explain more tomorrow. Go back to your rooms now, freshen up, then come down the elevator to the lobby." He waves us away, and everyone starts walking to their room. I notice Sarika is next to me, and I decide to use this opportunity. "Why do you look sad? Feeling bad for the crazy dog in the book for nerds?" I smirk, hiding that I couldn't think of anything better. "You were reading that book, Tanner. Are you a nerd now? I already admitted I am. Why read if you weren't interested?" She stops and blocks my way to the door. She's way too close, I think.  I shove her out of the way. "To see how crazy you really are." Oh my freaking god, I need better comebacks. These suck. "Wow, so now you're interested in me? How crazy I really am?" She steps back closer, deliberately trying to make me uncomfortable. I stare at her brown eyes for one, two, three seconds, before going past her and into my room. "Bye, Sarika!" I say, before shutting the door. 

   "What was that?" I mutter, mad at myself for maybe losing this fight. I walk into my room, head down, then flop on my new bed. Failure is unacceptable. I have to do better tomorrow. As I lie down, face flat on the bed, I hear Arjan say one word. "Interesting."