b l i z z a r d ║viii
♦ ♦ ♦
"Were you babysitting your little sister or something?" Macy joked aloud, though I thought she should have kept that one to herself. She lifted up the slippers and examined them closely.
"No way." Abigail and her big brain protested, "Those shoes are way too big for any kid."
Tyler had his hands over his eyes and he breathed rapidly. I looked at the shoes and it wasn't until I'd gotten up and held them for myself that I realized his name carved into the soles.
"These are yours." I squeaked, in barely a whisper. The room was so quiet, though, that everyone heard me.
Quinn seemed angered by the whole situation and her action of choice was sitting silently on the floor, which was unusual for her. She finally cleared her throat in a graceful way--if someone even could--and managed a few words.
"They've got the name of a dance academy my older sister Mia went to." She said, stopping to look at Tyler, "Are you gay?"
Tyler stared at her, not saying I word. I could see his eyes piercing through his hands at her until he took them off altogether.
"No." He snapped, slicing through the silence.
"Then why the hell do you have ballet slippers?"
I felt like punching Quinn right in her heavily made-up face. Just because someone did something usually done by the other gender didn't mean they were gay.
I stood between Quinn and Tyler, holding up my hands. "It's not a big deal. Let’s just continue playing."
Everyone agreed and sat down, except for Macy who took a hearty sniff of Tyler's gym bag. She turned up her nose in disgust like we'd imagined and sat down with us again.
Macy turned to me quickly. "Astrid, Truth or Dare?"
I weighed my options. I knew Macy, and looking at my situation with Oliver here...both would resort in something not food. I simply bit my tongue and chose what I thought was best.
"Truth?" I replied, still questioning my choice. Macy gave me a look at read "Are you sure?", I nodded unconsciously.
Macy thought for a split second and then a sly smile spread across her face.
"Out of everyone in this room, who would you want to be locked in a closet with?"
Now the look she was giving me read "Are you sure Truth was a good choice?" and by my sad gulping, I knew it wasn't. My answer was obvious and maybe not just to me.
"Nobody." I lied. Macy twisted her face up.
"Oh sure." She mocked sarcastically.
Quinn let out a fake dramatic yawn. "Can we please get on with this, I'm about to fall asleep."
Now I felt like running over and hugging Quinn, but instead I looked over at Tyler.
"Tyler." I said, getting his attention," Truth or Dare?"
He was still a little out of it from earlier, but mumbled his answer anyway. "Dare."
"I dare you to kiss Macy." I said, watching Macy gasp. I was going to get her back for almost making me confess about Oliver. She would get to have her own little confession.
Tyler shot Quinn an awkward look, as if trying to get her approval. Quinn was far too busy giving me a quite impressed look, obviously for making it more exciting.
“Just do it already.” Abigail said, pumping a fist in the air.
“Do it, do it, do it.” Quinn began chanting, soon joined by Abigail and then, after a bit, me.
“Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it!” We all chanted in unison, until Tyler held his hands up.
“Okay, fine. Just stop, you guys are giving me a headache.” He gave in, leaning across the circle.
A thick red line danced across Macy’s cheeks and just above her nose. She sat with her hands gripping the edge of her shirt, twitching a little. Tyler was barely an inch from her when she closed her eyes quickly, bracing herself for the kiss.
Tyler gave her lips a quick innocent peck before retracting back to his seat like a Jack-In-The-box. Macy’s eyes remained closed a few seconds after and her face still blushed while Tyler asked Oliver Truth or Dare.
I was still looking at Macy when Oliver answered, so I hadn’t heard him. I was relieved when Macy finally seemed to shake off the kiss and go back to her usually self. She slouched a little and whipped the sweat off of her forehead.
“You’re new at our school; see any girls you think are cute yet?” Tyler said loudly, making me look over at him. So Oliver had chosen Truth, I never really thought of him as safe. I guess we all sink to my level at some point.
“Uh, not really.” He mumbled, looking down at his camera. A tiny pushed back voice crawled out and forced me to speak.
“What about Quinn?”
It was obvious why that voice had been shoved back there, it was no good.
Quinn huffed and got up, walking to her bed drama queen style. “We still have to write those winter poems. I think we should finish them before Mr. Wades gets back, I doubt we’re going to be skiing anytime soon.”
I was sad to have ruined the game; the angry stares of the others didn’t help either. I guess Quinn was right though, we did need to get them done. Mr. Wades would be mad if he got back and we’d wasted the time.
Macy was the first to timidly get up, Tyler came directly after her. I watched her face go red again as they maneuvered around each other in separate directions. Macy climbed on top of our bunk and I realized I was still sat on the floor. But looking over, so was Oliver.
Abigail didn’t feel like hanging around with us, so she went over to her and Oliver’s bunk, pulling out her pink stationary.
“Do you think you could help me with mine?” Oliver asked suddenly. Everyone was already in their zones and writing. The smell of led wafted through the cabin and scratchy eraser sounds followed quickly.
I snapped back. “Oh-yeah, sure.”
“It’s kind of silly, but I’m not that great at poetry. Regular writing has always been my main skill.” He went on. I nodded every so often, though my thoughts were focused on my own poem. I wanted to write about a snow-storm, I knew that so far.
“—I guess it’s the lyrical thing I get stuck with because it’s just so weird and--”
“—I’m going to go sit by myself, I write better alone.” I flashed a weak smile and padded off to my bunk, leaving him there breathless. He nodded and escaped over with Abigail, where he began making whispery conversation with her.
I found my bag and took out a sheet of paper and a pencil. I wrote, in my slacking messy handwriting, Blizzard. I almost laughed. Hopefully some smart person somewhere said every poem begins with a mediocre title.
The snow taps hard on the window.
Tap, tap, tap.
It doesn’t bother me much though.
Tap, tap, tap.
I like how it breaks the sad—
“Psst. Astrid!’ Macy tapped my shoulder. I looked up to see her leaning over the top bunk. She held an almost full sheet of paper, but it was too far for me to decipher.
“What?”
“Do you know another word for snow?”
“Well you could always use---”I began, but the phone interrupted me. Once again, Quinn sprang for it. Nobody else moved this time though; maybe we were just afraid of the news. Were we going to be trapped here for a week?
“Hi, Mr. Wades.” Quinn said, smiling at us all. I suppose that mean good news so far.
We all waited again in silence, all crossing our fingers in our heads. Well, I had mine right out in front of me. Quinn was making conversational noises and nodding into the phone. I thought about continuing my poem for a second, but I couldn’t tear myself from watching Quinn. I knew they’d be back soon, they had to be.
“I promise.” Quinn mumbled, “Okay. Thanks. Bye.”
She hung up the phone and wheeled around on her feet to face us. “ Mr. Wades and the other teachers are at post office ten minutes from here, they’re going to stay the night there because the weather isn’t getting better.”
I groaned, hell reins on.
“But.” Quinn held up a finger, “There is some good news.”
“Yeah?” Tyler asked, though I wasn’t sure he actually cared at this point.
"There's emergency food in the bathroom cabinet." She smiled and waited for the rampage. Tyler sped to the bathroom, followed by Oliver, Abigail and the rest of us. Though, I was just interested to see if there was actually any food.
We all crowded in the tiny bathroom, Tyler at the front. I strained on my tip-toes to see, but I couldn't over Oliver. I heard the squeak of a cabinet and then some confused noises.
"What are these?" Tyler snorted.
"Those are molasses covered raisins." Quinn giggled.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not eating that." Macy turned up her nose and we all parted to let her out. She crossed her arms and sat on the bottom of our bunk. Macy had always had particular tastes with things, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't eat those either--if they weren't the only thing we had left.
"Does nobody have any food?" Tyler asked us, motioning for Quinn and the rest of us to clear out. He stayed back, switching the bathroom light off.
Everyone shook their heads and I was about to shake mine, when I remembered my lunch.
I leaped for my bag and pulled out the paper-sack I'd made myself this morning. I'd been too nervous at lunch to eat and so, I hadn't.
"All I have is a sandwich, juice, which is probably warm, and some cheese." I said, "But it's something."
"I don't mind eating the raisins, Macy can have my share." Tyler offered, giving the rest of us narrow looks. Macy blushed crimson again, giving Tyler small glances.
"She can have mine too." Quinn said, already on her way to get the raisins from the bathroom.
"Mine too." Abigail gave in, Oliver following.
"I'm not hungry anyway." I smiled, tossing the bag over to Macy.
Tyler was turning out to be a lot nicer than I'd thought.
"So," Abigail said, "Who wants to write some poems?"
♦ ♦ ♦