Chapter Six ~ "Acrophobia and Paragliding"
•Kade Westin•
Truth to be told, I'd never been a huge fan of parties, no matter how many parties the guys would drag me to, saying it was good for 'our high school rep'. And this party was no different from any of those stereotypical high school parties; horny teenagers groping each other, loud music, the reek of alcohol and vomit, and crowded bars.
A section of the beach had been partitioned off for the party, with large lights providing light to the crowd, and speakers everywhere. Nearly three hundred teenagers were cramming into the space and some had already moved onto the serene waters of the beach, skinny dipping with their partners.
I was the designated driver of the night, mostly because I was the most responsible of them all, and because it took alot to get me even slightly tipsy.
I made my way towards the bar, where I ordered a beer. A girl not-so slyly winked at me as the bartender passed me a cold beer. Thank god for the invention of refridgerators.
"Thanks," I said, I sat on one of the torn chairs of the bar.
A small finger tapped my shoulder. I whirled around to see none other than a very drunk Quinn. Her eyes were unfocused and she was heavily leaning against the counter in order to stand up straight.
"Heyyy," she slurred, a half-empty beer in her hand.
"You're very drunk," I said, flatly.
"No shit, Sherlock," She said, sarcastically.
It made me wonder how she was this sarcastic and rude even when she wasn't in control of herself.
"Drunk but still a bitch," I noted.
"Sober, but still an ass," Quinn countered, without missing a beat.
"Touché." I smirked.
"Tell me something." She said, putting her hand on my arm in a seductive manner.
"Anything for you, Princess."
"Why do you hate me so much?" She asked, softly.
"Hate is a pretty strong word," I said, quite taken back by her question.
"Weak, hate is the word I want to use." She stated, rather childishly.
"What even gives you the idea I hate you?"
"Because you're a complete jerk to me, while you're so nice to the others. Since we landed in Crestville, you and I haven't had one civil conversation." She pouted slightly, losing balance.
"Are you saying you're jealous of the others because I'm nice to them?"
"What? No!" She pouted, childishly, and took a large swig of her bottle.
I tried to snatch the bottle from her, but she quickly swatted my hand away and looked me straight in the eyes. I held her gaze.
"Stop changing my words, Mr. Evil!" Quinn accused.
"Mr. Evil? How creative." I mused, chuckling lightly.
"Shut up and answer the goddamn question. Why do you hate me so much?" Quinn snapped.
This time I gave her an honest answer, but only because I knew she was too drunk to remember anything in the morning. "Because I know what kind of girl you are. A little girl spoiled by Daddy's riches, with the best clothes, the best cars, and the cutting edge of any technology. Your class of girls thinks that you own the world just because your parents have loads of money and girls like you are the rudest, the bitchiest, most spoilt people on the Earth."
"And how would you know that, Mr. Evil?"
"I just know."
"You do?" She repeatedly, softly, before passing out into my lap.
Looks like someone had too much to drink, but at least she wouldn't remember our conversation.
•••
Being the amazing person I was, emphasis on amazing, I had not hesitated to dump cold buckets of water of the heads of every individual at six in the morning, despite their varied states of hangover severeness. Somehow, I'd even managed to medicate all of them with painkillers, and usher them all into my car, with the help of Ian, who'd drunk very little alcohol compared to the other. Unfortunately, I now had four (and a half, if Ian counted) extremely cranky and hungover teenagers in my car. The car ride to Cadise was probably one of the most frustrating car rides of my life, and it went mostly like this:
Kyle: My head hurts.
Derek: Shut up and let me sleep, jackass.
Kyle: Okay . . .
Two mins later,
Kyle: I'm hungry
Quinn: I'm Quinn
Kyle: What creativity!
Quinn: Shut up. Are we there yet, Driver? It's soo cold in the car. Someone close the windows.
Me: You should have thought of that before you smashed my car window in, Princess.
Kyra: Can every body just shut the fuck up? Some of us actually want to sleep!
But by some miracle, one hour and 7 rehearsals of the same above given script later, we reached the place where Kyle's friend had told us to go.
I neatly parked and got out to fill out the forms and pay the money for the two day stay that we had decided on, for the rest of the cranky teenagers who had just gotten out of the car, and were stretching themselves in the weirdest ways possible.
In a half an hour, with everyone fully awake, and hangover-less, we reached the island of Cadise.
•••
Our tour guide was a 22 year old college student, named Tommy, who was working as a guide in his hometown, it payed for his college tuition.
As our boat docked in the small harbor, he explained to us how the Cadise and Malaga islands were named. "A very rich businessman of the time had gone exploring with his daughter and her best friend. However, the same day a storm occurred and the girls were killed. Later, when the businessman made his way back to civilization, he got credit for discovering them and he named the islands after the two girls, Cadise and Malaga."
"What kind of parent names their kid Malaga?" Quinn asked snottily, as she pulled out her hot pink camera from her designer handbag.
"Cadise's best friend, Malaga was actually the daughter of a Red Indian chief, so her name was traditional for the Red Indians." Tommy the tour guide said, indifferently.
"Oh," was her uninterested reply, as she started taking pictures of the island.
The island was huge and covered in lush green forest. The majority of it was sloping upward, but towards the middle, there was a small mountain, with a large river snaking down through the middle. A large group of cabins lay in the right side of the mountain.
Pointing to them, Tommy said,"That's were you'll will be staying tonight. Lucky for you'll, you guys are pretty much the only ones on the islands today."
Stuffing our bags into one of the cars as provided by the touring service, we quickly drove to the large cabins and threw our bags inside, before making our way to the first place, Suicide Falls.
Suicide Falls, was one of the most massive waterfalls I'd ever seen. It was over 300 feet tall, and water rushed down over the edge to a beautiful blue lagoon at the bottom.
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation and all, but why's this place called Suicide Falls?" Derek asked, curiously peering over the ledge.
"Remember that business man that owned the islands? Well, after finding out his daughter died, he tried to kill himself by jumping off the top but he never succeeded. Since, then all the suicide attempts here at the waterfall have failed." Tommy said, matter of factly.
"How many attempts?" Kyle asked, curiously.
"Only fourteen."
"Only?" Ian scoffed under his breath.
"Well, why would anyone even come all the way here, to this beautiful waterfall just to commit suicide?" Quinn asked, in that annoying super high pitched voice of hers that really got to my nerves.
She and Kyra were busy taking picture of the waterfall and selfies in front of it, with their iPhones, doing that stupid duckface or pouty-thing. I clenched my fists at her indifference to everything.
"Not everyone's life is as easy as yours, you know Princess," I said, plainly. "Some people have to actually work hard to get something in their lives."
"Well, my life isn't so easy right now. I'm working very hard not to punch you in the face." Quinn stared, glaring at me.
"Oh no," I said, sarcastically. "The poor princess has so much hard work."
"You might as well jump off now,"I sneered.
"Maybe I will." She said, biting down on her lower lip.
Quinn walked over to the edge of the railing and looked down to the bottom. For an unknown reason, she flinched and immediately backed away.
"Scared?" I challenged, smirking.
"Yeah right," Quinn scoffed, but I could detect a slight waver in her voice.
•••
Before lunch, we stopped at two more places. The first was the Boiling Mud Pots of Cadise. They were a rare geographical feature, which Tommy explained were like geysers made of mud. Instead of water coming, mud spurted out.
However, we barely stayed there for much time, as Kyra and Quinn had quickly run back to the car, saying they couldn't get mud on their precious clothes.
Our next stop was the Blue Lagoons of Alvina. The Lagoons was actually one lagoon of pure blue water. However, it became boiling hot in the summer and could hence only be used in the winter months.
For lunch, Tommy drove us to the main town area of Cadise. He left us alone for a while, but not before going recommending us a good restaurant and some shops.
The six of us agreed to go to Rachel's, a local burger joint. The burgers and milkshakes there were heavenly and it was probably the best lunch I'd ever had. Much to my surprise, though, Quinn and Kyra stuffed their faces, unlike most materialistic girls who picked at their lettuce and complained about their weight 24/7.
After lunch, we spent about as hour in downtown Cadise, where everyone did some shopping. Early on, the girls split up from us saying they needed to go shopping for 'cute tees' and 'pretty dresses'.
Derek, Ian, Kyle and I headed to the souvenir shop. Ian got some key chains for his friends back home, while Kyle and I shopped for a cute magnet for his mom. Aunt Alice had a whole refrigerator stuck with magnets, one from every place she'd ever visited. So, another souvenir would definitely please her.
After regrouping, we headed to the top of the mountain for paragliding. Out of the six, I was the only expert paraglider, so the others would have to go tandem paragliding. This meant, they'd be strapped to another person, who actually knew how to paraglide.
On the long, winding road up to the mountain, we passed the green forests we'd seen from below. Along the way, Tommy pointed out various flora and fauna unique to the islands.
Upon reaching the top of the mountain, Tommy gave us a quick idea of the schedule.
"The paraglider assigned to you, or in Kade's case, himself, will take you around the island for about half an hour, before we will all land at the bottom of the mountain. From there, you guys can head up on to your cabin."
Quickly, we put on our harnesses and waited patiently to one by one go off the island. First, Kyra went with Tommy, much to the dismay of Kyle. Ian, paired with a tour person went next, followed by Derek, with his tour guy, and Kyle, with his.
Finally, it was just me and Quinn left.
"Ladies first," I said gesturing to the edge where the last tour guy was waiting to take Quinn paragliding.
Shakily, she said,"N-no, you can go first."
I narrowed my eyes at her. I noticed how she stayed a large distance away from the edge and suddenly it clicked.
"I knew it!" I exclaimed.
"You know what?" Quinn asked, alarmed by my outburst.
"You, Quinn Schoenfield, are afraid of heights." I stated, triumphantly.
"That's not true," Quinn protested, weakly.
"Don't lie to me, Quinn. You were scared even at the waterfall, and you refuse to look down the edge of the mountain here. Clearly, something is up." I rolled my eyes.
For a moment she didn't say anything.
"Well?" I asked impatiently.
"Yes." She muttered under her breath.
"What? I couldn't hear you." I joked, mildly.
"Yes!" Quinn said, loudly. "I'm afraid of heights, okay? You win. Now just leave me alone!"
She tried to stomp away, but I caught her by the wrist and whirled her towards me. She desperately tried to avoid my gaze, by looking down at her feet.
"Hey, hey, look at me, Quinn," I said, gently cupping her chin upwards to look at me. "Why are you so ashamed of your phobia? It's not uncommon, you know. In fact, a phobia of heights is one of the most common."
"Because I'm afraid that you'll make fun of me. Hell, even Kyra doesn't know about my fear. It's not something someone like me should have, okay?"
"Someone like you?" I echoed, genuinely confused and intrigued.
"Someone who is supposed fearless, who stands up for herself, who is supposedly flawless, who can take anything thrown her way. For someone . . . who acts like a bitch to keep her defence walls up, like me!" Quinn exclaimed.
Saying I was shocked at outburst would be an understatement.
"You made that choice." I stated, indifferently after a few minutes.
Quinn nodded, miserably, "I know. Now, you can just go ahead and make fun of me. You can go announce it to everyone that Quinn Schoenfield, daughter of Matthew Schoenfield, has a fear of heights!"
It was only then that I understood that she behaved like this because she thought it was the only way to live up to her father's name. Even I knew who her father was. He was extremely famous in the business world - owning seven star hotels and ski resorts and world famous amusement parks.
"Well, I'm not going to make fun of you. It's okay to be scared of something, okay? That's what makes you human, and that's makes you you." I said, for the first time actually feeling pity for her.
"Amazing pep talk, but that doesn't help me, you know. I'm not going down that mountain in a paraglider." Quinn stubbornly said, crossing her arms.
"Look Princess, I'm going to drag you anyways, considering I'm stronger than you, so you might as well go now," I drawled.
"No!"
"Yes, you're going. Throwing a temper tantrum won't help. If you want, I'll go with you."
"Really?" She asked, surprised that I was being so civil and un-jerkish.
"Yeah, considering you don't weigh anything anyways, it'll almost be like you're not even there." I smirked.
"Stop joking," She pleaded.
"Relax, I wouldn't let anything happen to you." I laughed.
"Promise?" She asked.
"Promise." I confirmed.
"Pinky promise?"
I glanced at her pinky finger, "Don't push it, Quinn. I'm not about lock pinkies with you."
Taking a deep breath, Quinn said,"Okay, I'm ready."
I strapped her to me, and got ready to run of the island, before she stopped me again.
"Pinky promise you won't let anything happen to me?" Quinn held out her pinky to me, trying once again.
"Pinky promise, Princess." I said, sighing at her childishness, but nevertheless, locking my pinky finger with hers.
Gazing at our intwined pinkies, Quinn said," I can break your pinky if you break the promise, you know."
I nodded at her and adjusted my harness.
"Now I'm going to run off the mountain, okay, Princess?" I said, prepping her.
"Just like that?" She asked, meekly.
"Just like that. You can close your eyes if you want." I offered.
"Fine." She said, shutting them.
And with that, I ran off the mountain at full speed, making sure to catch the current in my glider.
We were airborne in no time, and sight around me was astoundingly beautiful. The lush green forests we'd seen from the bottom, looked even more amazing from the top. The river looked strikingly blue from up here and you could even see the edge of Crestville.
I nudged Quinn. "Open your eyes."
"No."
"Yes. You have to. The view is amazing."
After a little more badgering, Quinn reluctantly opened her eyes, and awestruck gazed at the rest of the island. After staring open mouthed at the island for a little longer, she angled her face towards me.
"This is going to sound really weird, but thanks, Kade. Like honestly, thanks." She said, sounding sincerely grateful.
"Anytime." I said, smiling. "But this doesn't change anything. You're still a brat, and I'm still going to be rude to you."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Quinn laughed.
•••
XxThat SummerxX
Hello, all of you gorgeous Spongecakers!
So, in context of the chapter, how many of you are afraid of heights?
And how many of you have gone paragliding? I have, and trust me, it's tonnes of fun.
Anyways, this author's note is going to be short, but who cares?
Vote, follow and comment!
Until next Monday,
Xoxo,
M & S
XxThat SummerxX
Another random thought: If Cinderella's shoe fit perfectly, how did it fall off during the ball?
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