A High School Trip! What could go wrong? It's suspected to be an eventful time with a handful of teens in Three Lakes with exactly one chaperone! Pining among the pines. Hot encounters in hot springs. Betrayal among friends and siblings. Someone is going to need a hot cocoa and a hug.
PART I - BUS STATION BLUES
"Figures we'd be the only ones here this early," Caleb Cosgrove scoffs, mostly to himself but his younger sister can hear the complaint.
"Leave it to all the public school students to dawdle. They have no respect for others' time!"
Colleen Cosgrove argues his point, "You can't just generalize all the public school students like that! Besides the Calhouns are coming and they go our school!"
Caleb's inconvenienced frown doesn't lift, "The Calhouns bribed their way into the Academy, so they already have no dignity. Haven't you ever heard that saying 'if you are early you are on time and if you are on time you are late?' well we are the only ones on time!"
"Am I joke to you?" a deadpan voice with a slight accent sounds off from in front of them, belonging to a gloomy-looking public school girl. She's technically early as well.
"What? No! We didn't mean..." Colleen starts but the girl has already turned and left them. Colleen makes a disheartened sigh. She didn't want to start this trip off on the wrong foot.
It's supposed to be a joint-school trip between the prestigious Kashmire Prepatory Academy and the public high school. Being children of the minister of Education, Colleen thinks it's their job to set an example and CALEB isn't doing too hot right now.
Alice Calhoun loiters in the lobby of the station and spies Ryder Greystone near the entrance and perks up a tiny bit. She's waiting for her elder brother to get done using the bathroom and he demanded she watch his luggage.
"Hey Ryder," Alice greets with a manipulative lilt. She's been trying to flirt with him forever, but he never picks up any of her hints.
He smiles cordially and approaches to greet her.
"Hi Alice, where's Alex?"
Alexander is her brother. Ryder also happens to be one of Alex's best friends.
"Oh, he had the shatz. I think the oatmeal we ate didn't agree with him," Alice flicks her gaze to the restroom door and Ryder busts out laughing.
"Poor guy."
Alex exits then and dons a suspicious glance at them both, "What were you two talking about?"
"None of your business, but I'm sitting by Ryder on the bus and there's nothing you can do about it!"
That's news to Ryder but he's too polite to tell her off.
Alex makes a rude gesture but concedes silently as she looks scary and he doesn't want to deal with her this early.
Over in the connecting building, Lai Kapitha is getting a coffee because mornings are not for her. She only signed up on this trip for extra credit, and also to get out of the house. It doesn't hurt that an old friend is going who she wants to catch up with.
She's kind of zoned out, because she suddenly realizes her classmate, April, has been chattering on and on about ice skating or something ice-related that awaits them in Three Lakes.
"When will you have time to play that?" Lai asks curiously, referring to the guitar strapped to April's back.
"I need to practice! I don't know when, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to bring it along," April explains. She hardly gets time in her own home since she has farm chores and an after-school job.
Sounds good to Lai as long as it's not when she is trying to sleep, that is, if they room together. Room assignments will be doled out once they start their trip.
"I think I look forward most to the hot springs," Lai explains as they make their way back to the waiting area. The bus should be coming soon.
She can imagine the contrasting feeling of warm water with cold air but has never yet experienced it. The last time that she visited Three Lakes she wasn't old enough to sit in the springs.
Colleen notices the frown turn upside-down on Caleb's face and smirks, "I thought you were over public school students today?"
"Lai doesn't count and you know that," Caleb smiles before getting up from his spot. She suspects the only reason Caleb is tolerating this trip is because of Lai, whom was his best friend for years before they split off to go to different high schools.
"Hey, Lai!" Caleb flags her down before she sits again.
"Hey stranger!" she smiles warmly and takes a sip of her coffee, waiting to see what he wants. It's really good to see him again, it must have been summer the last time they'd hung out. They were both incredibly diligent on doing schoolwork, as well as making time for extracurriculars to pad up their scholarship applications.
"Do you want to sit with me on the bus?" Caleb offers.
"What about your sister? Won't she feel left out?" Lai says with a look of sympathy behind him to see Colleen's melancholy expression.
"Nah she gets enough of me at home," he assures her.
"Didn't think you would be coming on this trip, Princess," Alex directs his comment to Colleen and then he develops a mean, teasing sort of grin, "After all, this isn't a place you can be a total shut-in."
Alice just looks at her new manicure and doesn't notice her brother's slight bullying. She can only think of sitting next to Ryder and how she is going to flirt with him.
"Don't start with me, Alexander, I just want to have a nice trip," Colleen replies.
"If I step out of line are you going to go tattle on me to your daddy? Your bother? Or are you gonna clock me like you did to Angelo in the fourth grade?" he sneers.
Colleen frowns, if Alex wants to fuck around, he can find out.
Ryder is looking for some material to read on the way to Three Lakes. It will give him an excuse not to have to listen to Alice's pointless chatter since he's stuck sitting next to her. He's listened to so much over the past years, it's all the same topics re-hashed.
It's fifteen minutes past the bus arrival time and a lone young man can be seen sprinting across the road toward Blackwheel bus station! His breath hits the air as vapor as he curses under his breath.
Angelo Sanchez has overslept!
Luckily he sees a gaggle of bleary-eyed teenagers shuffling toward a bus and recognizes a few of them. He can thankfully slow down and catch his breath.
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