You guys! _ It's been horrible! The power in my house has been off for, like.. almost a week! A WEEK! I've been living at my friend Anna's house to update and write, but I'm back home now. It's kind of nice, because I can play SSX Tricky (And Urbz. :D) on Gamecube without anyone being upset, because the power's back, but the cable isn't. So no one really cares if I play videogames, because we can't watch TV! :D Anyway, no reviews still? Please keep reviewing guys! It really helps, you have no idea! I STRIVE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY.
Edit: I LOVE YOU, Akaichou95! :D Thank-you so much!
Also, want to see the Sea to Sky hotel, the one SSX is staying at in Garibaldi? It's real, you know! It's about 15-30 minutes away, and there's a YouTube advertisement for it too! Just Youtube "Sky to Sky Hotel - (604)898-4874
ALSO, there are photos from the Sea to Sky official website of the suites in the hotel. It should give you an accurate idea of what the members are in for when they stay at Garibaldi in my story. Check it out, it'll really make a difference with how you view the story, I think! Just go to their site and click 'rooms,' and there are the pictures!
It might take away from the imagination department, but I love making a story seem as close to being real as possible, and I believe that this is a way to do it! (:
Chapter 3: Sea to Sky
Kaori's eyes widened and she held her phone to her chest, gasping. She shook her head, making her come back to reality. Kaori put her phone in her Panda's pouch for good and clasped her hand over the car door handle, pushing it open slightly. She hung a leg out the door, but as she was about to let go though, Psymon had grabbed the outside car door of the taxi cab, swinging it all the way open with brute force. Kaori tried to scramble to reach for the door for support, but only led to her falling out of the taxi cab, her gloved hands catching her on the pavement of the road leading to the Sea to Sky hotel. She was facedown to the road now, with her hands and knees on the ground, and her feet still caught on the side of the bottom of the taxi. Her panda bear had fallen off her lap and onto the ice near the road, some of her contents spilling out. She looked up at Psymon, who was trying to pretend to be an innocent bystander.
"PSYMOHN STAHKU!" Kaori shouted, getting herself to her feet and fetching her belongings that fell and slipped away from her, lugging her panda over her shoulder. She heard the taxi driver drive away with unsureness by the sound of the motor, perhaps waiting for Psymon or Kaori to say thank-you or wave him off. Kaori looked up at Psymon and placed her hands on her hips, opening her mouth to say something before quickly shutting it, waving her hand. It wasn't worth dealing with Psymon right now, Kaori wanted to go to her hotel room and nap before Brodi came. Or maybe primp herself up more and change out of her snowboarding clothes. But either way, Kaori was the only one who needed to know that. Either way, she just wanted to go to her room.
"What's the matter, Kaoriii?" Psymon laughed, following after her to the hotel.
"Leave me alone, Psymohn," Kaori said, hobbling her way to the entrance. One of the bellhops opened the door for Kaori, holding it for both her and Psymon. Kaori briskly walked up to the front desk and smiled at the lady behind it.
"Is dere a rezhavashun for Kaori Nishidake?" Kaori asked, struggling a little with the hard words.
"Hold on," the lady politely smiled, clicking and typing a few things on the computer. She nodded slightly, reaching out for a hotel key and handing it to Kaori. Kaori smiled and bowed her head slightly, sticking the key in one of her pants pockets. "Room 517, fifth floor. It'll be to your right when you get off the elevator, Miss…" The lady trailed off, either forgetting Kaori's name or unsure how to pronounce it. "Nishidake," Kaori finished, bowing her head slightly again. The lady smiled back, resuming to clacking and typing a few things on her computer.
Kaori turned around and made an effort not to make eye contact with Psymon, heading straight to the elevator. She observed her surroundings, making her way over to push the button that would send her to her room up on the fifth floor. She glanced back at Psymon, trying not to let him see in case he took advantage and shouted something rude or made a dumb face at her. Kaori didn't mind, well… She's gotten used to Psymon being a bully or a clown around her, but she hated when he did it in public, in front of strangers. But to Kaori's surprise, Psymon was talking to the same lady at the desk too, and she could see her handing him his hotel key. Kaori sighed, digging for her phone in Panda-chan. She heard the elevator bing! to signal her that the doors had opened. Kaori looked up and saw that no one was in the elevators, automatically stepped in, and pressed the button with the '5' next to it. She resumed rummaging out her cell phone, flipping it open. She pouted to herself at no new messages.
"Oh, KAORIII!" Kaori heard Psymon psychotically laugh, running to where she was in the elevators.
"Ah! Achi kaere!" Kaori reached for the button on the elevator that closed the doors, pushing it over and over and trying to make them close before Psymon got to the elevator. Her thick gloves kept making her press the open and close buttons at the same time, making the doors do a sort of spastic dance that attracted attention from the hotel. Kaori finally just held the one 'close' button with the tip of her gloved finger, shutting her eyes for Psymon's impact either against the door or against her.
A few delayed seconds later, Kaori looked up to see Psymon at the opening of the two doors, grinning purposefully extra frightening for Kaori. Kaori looked up and stared at Psymon who towered over her, just standing there, as the two doors shut. The last Kaori saw was Psymon's crazy face, giving her bad chills up her spine from the creepyness of Psymon.
"Kami-sama!" Kaori took her gloves off, holding them with one hand. She placed her other, now bare, hand on the top of her forehead, calming herself as the elevator rose higher and higher and higher. She wiped the little sweat that had gathered on her brows and then looked up just in time to see the elevator switch from the fourth floor to the fifth. It stopped, smoothly, and Kaori got off on her floor, making a right, heading from her room.
As Kaori walked down the hallway, she glanced at herself in the passing mirrors. The hallway had a mirror every other section between the hotel room doors, lining the entire section. She had noticed in her reflection that her low pigtails were still even, but her cheeks were pretty red from the cold and from Psymon making her frazzled in the elevator. She touched her warm cheek lightly with her fingers before looking at the hotel key in her hand. Room 517 was now a few steps away. She looked up, held out her key, and slipped it into the door that read the code. With the flashing of a green light signaling Kaori could open the door, she pushed it open, walking in. Observing more of her surroundings and judging by the hotel paintings that hung up on various sides of the wall, Kaori knew she had stayed in this very room before when snowboarding at Garibaldi. The lighting was warm and slightly dim, the covers were a bit gaudy, the flat screen TV that hung up on the wall in front of her bed, the colorful flowers… Everything was as it always was when she stayed at Sea to Sky. Kaori walked over to her bed and set her panda bear backpack down, seeing that her luggage was already brought up and set neatly in a corner, waiting just for her. After one last look at her phone, Kaori decided to sit down on her bed and text Brodi.
To: Brodi
From: Kaori
Brodi! I'm in my room! It's 517! :3
Kaori pressed 'Send,' set her phone on the nightstand next to her bed, and then took out both of her neatly tied pigtails. Slipping the hair ties both on one of her wrist, she gingerly shook her head and let her hair loosen up and fall down. Everybody said that Kaori looked so different with her hair let down, that she looked older, but more shy. Her pigtails gave her already sort of cute and bubbly image a boost, but without them, Kaori's round face and all around innocent features seem to show through. Older, and not necessarily more innocent looking, but just more… Shy.
As Kaori glanced at her watch which read that it was almost six, she hauled herself off of the bed and bent down to her pink suitcase, covered in panda key chains and cartoon characters. She unzipped it and pulled out her pajamas, which consisted of white cotton shorts with cake on them, and a matching, loose-fitting tank top. She laid and folded them neatly at the head of her bed. Kaori went back over to her suitcase and took out a pair of cream colored legwarmers, a pair of stressed and faded denim shorts, and a cream colored bubbly and flowy shirt with pale pink cherry blossoms covering a corner of it. She began to undress herself, taking all of her snowboarding clothes and setting them at the foot of the bed. Picking up the shirt, she began to slip it on when her phone buzzed on the nightstand. Kaori finished putting her shirt on before walking over to her phone and picking it up, reading her new text message.
To: Kaori
From: Brodi
I'll be there soon!
Kaori squealed quietly in delight, hurriedly texting back.
To: Brodi
From: Kaori
Okay! ^_^
Kaori was going to wait a few minutes as to not seem like she was waiting for Brodi to text her, and after staring at her phone for a few seconds, Kaori shrugged and hit 'Send' anyway. The faster she sent that replied text message, the faster she could get ready. Kaori went back to where her suitcase was, slipping on her denim shorts and legwarmers, taking her snowboarding clothes and tucking them in a section of her suitcase she used for her dirty clothes. She'd wash them later, maybe after Brodi left.
Digging around in the front pockets of her suitcase, she found her iPod she always brought with her everywhere.
Well, not everywhere. She tried not to bring it whenever she was going to be around people, because she had a bad habit of turning her music up so loud that she couldn't even hear her own voice, much less, others. She already didn't understand a decent chunk of what the other snowboarders were saying, so she's made herself been keeping it in her suitcase whenever they snowboarded together. It was a bummer when Kaori was bored and her and the others didn't snowboard until an hour or however long it may be, but Kaori allowed herself to bring her phone. It also made her socialize with the other members of SSX more. She was already friends with Mac, Brodi, and even Eddie. But lately she has been pushing herself, in a good way, to talk to Elise and occasionally Moby when Kaori felt up to it. Elise turned out to be extremely nice, and understanding of Kaori. Kaori enjoyed talking to her, and Elise was almost like a mother figure to Kaori. If she was struggling with something, sure, Mac, Brodi, or Eddie would help, but Elise helped Kaori out in a girl-to-girl kind of way. Kaori really enjoyed her company, and the nervousness that Kaori had with getting to know new people was going away whenever she talked to Elise. She considered her a friend now, and Kaori hoped they could get closer in the future. Moby was a little harder to talk to though, especially since she was Japanese and he was British. It was hard to understand one another even more, but they were both polite and respected each other. The fact that Kaori stepped up her game to start making more of an effort to talk to him made Moby take a liking to her, and they would lightly joke around sometimes, wave at each other, whatever was convenient for the both of them.
As for the other members, like Seeiah, Marisol, and Zoe… None of them disliked Kaori very much, Seeiah was extremely "chill" as Elise had put it to Kaori when they were talking about her, to Kaori. Marisol sometimes seem to make fun of Kaori, but in almost a friendly way, and Kaori didn't mind. Marisol didn't usually hurt Kaori's feelings, and they also joked sometimes together. It was a little nerve-wracking when they couldn't understand each other, even more so than when Kaori talked to Moby, because Marisol seemed a little impatient with her sometimes, but needless to say, they got along. As for Zoe, their only connection between Kaori and her was that they were both females and some common interest in the same music. Although Zoe's was a little heavier, and Kaori's was a little more bubblegum pop, they both discovered they liked some of the same artists or bands, and would enjoy listening to music together when everybody else was just chilling.
The only members, of course, Kaori did not get along with, were JP, Luther, and Psymon. They both sort of hang together, not as best friends, but because if they didn't, they didn't have anyone else. JP and Luther were possibly considered pretty tight, but as for Psymon, he seemed to push everyone away. He still hangout with JP and Luther when he wasn't by himself, but Kaori even felt a little sorry for him. It was hard for her to picture having little to no friends, like Psymon. She always wondered if he ever wanted to secretly reach out to the other members, maybe if he just didn't know how to, but even when Kaori paid special attention, he never did. He never seemed to remotely want to. Psymon frightened Kaori, but it didn't stop her for feeling bad for him, and even JP and Luther. They only had one or two friends in their group, if it was even like that in the first place. And although she didn't know if the other members noticed it, it's not that she considered Psymon a friend, but… Kaori noticed that they did talk, even if most of it was threats and mocking each other, or Kaori screaming from Psymon scaring her. But with what it was, they had a sort of crazy connection. They talked a lot, but it was just mostly… Not nice talk.
Kaori caught herself spacing out, blinking herself back to focus as she took a seat on her bed. She plugged her device that allowed her music on her iPod to be played on the radio system in her hotel room. She placed her iPod in the console and skimmed through the songs, going to the 'artists' section and clicking 'BoA,' letting the songs shuffle through themselves. The first song that played was 'M.E.P.,' which was actually in Korean instead of Japanese, but Kaori still loved it anyway. As only the first few seconds of the easy going pop ballad song started to play, Kaori heard pacing outside her room. They were of someone heavy, and as Kaori patted her hair down slightly, she walked over to the door and opened it, smiling.
"Room freaking 520... Finally," Psymon had said, slipping his hotel key into the door. It had flashed green and he began opening it until he looked to his right to Kaori down the hall by about fifteen feet, peaking at Psymon. Kaori thought it had been Brodi and it was too late for Kaori to sneak back into her room, since Psymon had seen her.
They had both just stared at each other, for long, drawn out moments what felt like for Kaori. They waited for the other to say something, or move, or something…
"GRRRR ARGHHH!" Psymon all of the sudden shouted at Kaori, making her recoil back into her room with a slight shriek.
"PSYMOHN! You are mean!" Kaori said loudly through her door, only to hear Psymon's cackling back at her. She could hear Psymon push open his door, the slight clicking noise that signaled her that he was in his room. Kaori shut her door and sighed, looking down at her watch again. 6:20.
"Haha, wait, Kaori!" Kaori heard through the door, her ears practically turning into satellites as she picked up that it was Brodi. She turned around and pulled open the door, looking to her left to see Brodi coming down the hallway.
"Brodi-kun!" Kaori beamed, waving at him.
"Psymon causing trouble again?" Brodi lightly laughed, taking a few last long strides until he reached Kaori. She noticed he had grabbed his own hotel key down at the desk too.
"Hai… Psymohn…" Kaori pouted, pursing her lips, making Brodi laugh more. He completely towered over her, almost a foot and a half taller than her. He rubbed the top of her head gently, smiling.
"Have you made yourself at home?" Brodi asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Mm, hai! Come in?" Kaori beamed this time at Brodi, turning on her heel back to her hotel room. She kept the door ajar slightly by hand so she didn't have to slip her key in it again, allowing her easy access back inside. Brodi followed behind her, the door closing behind him.
"Have you made yourshelf at hooome?" Psymon whispered mockingly to himself of Brodi, crossing his arms. He was inside his room, eavesdropping on Brodi and Kaori with his back resting against the door that would have led him into the hallway. He shook his head, walking over onto his hotel bed, finally crashing.
