Destination Reached

SOPHIA

"Soph!" I heard the unmistakable sound of my curtains being thrown open, a wide triangle of light blinding me directly in the corneas. I groaned, burying my face into my pillow. My alarm had gone off several minutes ago. I was aware that I needed to be up. But wanting and needing were very different things. Particularly today.

"Soph!" A towel hit the back of my head. My sister was not to be deterred apparently. Abby always had been a morning person. It was very annoying. "Sophia Katharine Randall get your ass up!" Yeesh. She middle named me and everything. I should probably get up. But here's the issue at hand, I really really really did not want to.

Why, you ask? Well, today was a Friday. Typically, Fridays are my favorite day of the week. But this Friday just so happened to be my personal Doomsday. It marked the final day of our training week for the job at Kona Valley. Monday had been the orientation, where'd we'd met Maia and Kai. I adored Maia. She reminded me so much of Reagan, I knew they'd be best friends if they ever met, and she was seriously helped to curb the homesickness. Kai was quiet, but funny, and seemingly unshakeable. Seriously, nothing ever appeared to faze him.

Tuesday, we learned the ins and outs of the trails, studied up on flora and fauna, that sort of thing. Tuesday was my favorite day. Memorizing information was exactly my kind of speed, and we got little journals to keep notes in. Mine was already filled with sketches of the scenery, the wildlife. Everything was just so picturesque here, perfect for drawing.

Wednesday was horses. Enough said. Though, I am proud of myself for managing to stay upright on the horse without passing out. I definitely won't be selected for those excursions, which is completely fine by me, but at least I tried.

Thursday was all about water. Kayaking, tubing, a brush up on CPR, and the importance of calculating a jump before making it. Look, I've never been an adventure girl. Never claimed to be one either. I told you about our senior white water rafting trip, right? Kayaking, well, was I deathly afraid of capsizing? Yes. Were my arms unbearably sore? Also yes. But— it did get sort of calming after a while, once you got into a nice rhythm. I did get a lot more wet than I expected though. Courtesy of one Jake Sullivan Jones. Apparently he had an affinity for splashing.

Actually, by any standards, the week had been going a hell of a lot better than I expected. Maia and Kai had taken us to their family restaurant, which was run mainly by their mother, their aunt, and their grandmother, but we were introduced to I don't even know how many cousins, siblings, and uncles.

The beaches were gorgeous, and having the twins as our personal tour guides, Jake and I had been shuttled practically all over the island at this point. It was very convenient.

Unfortunately, that was all about to end today. Because Friday, Friday was zip line day. Correction, zip line and ropes course day. Listen, I had handled it when Kara, the slightly overzealous Senior Instructor, had told us that there was a plant with the namesake "Death Fern", because so many people had fallen off of cliffs because of it. I handled it when a large toad perched itself on the nose of my kayak. Okay, I screamed, but it could've been worse. I handled it when I fell into a massive mud puddle dismounting from the horses, and about a bajillion mosquitoes ate me alive. I handled the freaking horses, for god sakes. Horses! By Sophia standards, I'd basically scaled Everest.

I could not handle zip lines. I had a crippling fear of heights, and generally putting my faith in what was essentially a wire hanging thousands of feet in the air. Valid, in my opinion. Who wouldn't be afraid of plummeting to their death?

Regardless, I had to do it. It was a required part of training. One that I had been dreading since the moment Otis announced it. Hence why I was currently refusing to abandon my bed.