Author's Note: Hey, what's up with the lack of reviews? I want to know
what you guys think of my fic. Oh yeah, I'm not going to constantly put up
a disclaimer every chapter. The single one on the first chapter should
suffice.
Chapter 2: Reunion
JP didn't know what woke him up. Either the loud announcement from the flight attendant telling everyone to prepare for landing or the steadily decreasing altitude from the flight, either way, JP woke up slightly rested and sore. Taking the last few moments of the flight, JP fully woke himself and stretched within his seat.
"Hey, it's time to go," JP said as he shoved Tony awake in the seat next to him.
Tony yawned and stretched, "this flight wasn't so long, was it?"
"Not if you snored through it all," JP laughed.
"Shut up," Tony snapped back.
The airplane finally landed, and the other customers started to rush to take up all of their luggage to leave the airplane as soon as possible. JP stood up to start, but Tony pushed him down.
"Leave this to me," he said as he opened the compartment door, and then he knocked out everything that was inside, landing all over the floor. The two quickly scrambled to pick up their luggage. Sure enough, they got everything and were the first to leave the plane.
"That was pretty fast," JP exclaimed.
"Everyone else is too stupid to realize that," Tony said seeing that no one else has left the plane after them.
The two walked into the airport with their heavy luggage. As soon as they stretched and got some snacks to eat, the two headed outside.
"Well, I have to go now," Tony said pointing towards the parking lot. "Good luck with your snowboarding!"
"Yeah, you too!" JP said as he started to wave good-bye to Tony.
"Hey, we should snowboard together one time!" Tony called over his shoulder. But before JP could respond, he had disappeared off into the parking lot.
"What are the odds of me ever seeing him again?" JP muttered to himself. "Much less go snowboarding with him."
Feeling both sad and glad of getting rid of him, JP found the limo waiting for him and started to load all of his luggage into the car.
"Do you need a hand?" the limo driver asked.
"No thanks," JP responded automatically.
"So, you're going to be boarding for SSX, right?" the limo asked, obviously making small talk. "You must be really good. I've always wanted to try it out, but I don't know what to do. Any advice?"
"Grab a snowboard, get on a mountain, and just go," JP said. He turned to look at the driver in the eye. "You'll be surprised at how much that works."
"Thanks," the drive said with a smile.
JP finished loading his luggage and he stepped into the limo. He found it much more comfortable than the taxi, and surprisingly more spacious than the airplane. The driver closed the door behind him, and then headed over to the driver's seat. Before long, the two were headed towards JP's next test, the third SSX season.
----------
"Whoa!" JP exclaimed as the limo arrived at the bottom on the mountain. The mountain was enormous! JP had to strain his head back so far to get a chance to see the top, and he couldn't even see that!
"Pretty impressive, huh?" the driver asked as he started to unload JP's luggage.
"Yeah, it is," JP said, still in awe.
"Well, you better be off," the limo explained as he practically had to push JP out of the vehicle. "Good luck!"
JP shook his head back into reality as the limo drove away. He picked up his luggage and started to walk aimlessly, looking for someone to give him directions to where he's supposed to be going. His shoes make loud crunches in the snow as he walked. JP noticed a few footprints and luggage prints in the snow, and he decided to follow them.
"Hey JP!" he heard someone call. He turned his head to see a tall woman with blonde hair waving at him with a ton of luggage surrounding her. JP waved back and headed on over to her.
"Long time no see!" she exclaimed. As he got closer, he recognized the woman as Elise, the "Amazon bombshell" of the SSX circuit. She was also a veteran at this. Elise was a tall, strong blonde who definitely had the great looks of a model. She wasn't one of those dumb blondes. At first sight, you would think she was a nice, carefree, energetic individual who was easy-going, easy to impress, and easy to get in bed with. But she is far from that. She possessed dire determination and fierceness on the slopes, and brought sarcasm to just about every point. She had graduated as the top female from her college, and surprisingly, never had a serious boyfriend. She and JP had never gotten along very well, but the two weren't pure enemies either.
"Hey Elise," JP said. "Still looking great as always!"
"Thanks!" Elise exclaimed. "You don't look bad yourself! I love your new haircut!"
JP felt his face go red, but he shook it off. "I'm glad you grew out your hair," he said.
"I didn't like it all that short. It was great not getting hair in my face every so often, but I personally didn't like it," she explained.
JP just nodded.
"Are we supposed to go over to that lodge over there?" Elise pointed to a brown building over in the distance. JP had not noticed it earlier.
"I have no idea," he explained. "But odds are that we're supposed to go there."
"Great!" she said as the two of them started to walk on over to the lodge, snow crunching under their feet as they dragged their entire luggage.
"So, what do you think of the mountain?" JP asked, trying to start up a conversation as they walked. 'Maybe, I could get her to go on a date with me,' a voice in the back of JP's mind thought.
"It's HUGE!" Elise exclaimed. "I haven't seen much of it yet, but I know it's going to be a crazily hard time to win anything on there!"
"Yeah," JP said.
"I hope the introductory session is short so we could all test out some of the tracks up there," Elise thought out loud.
"Yeah, that would be awesome," JP responded. Everyone always hated the introductory sessions because they were boring and took way too long. There were way too many rules for the SSX circuit, and the majority of them are simply common sense ones that didn't need to be explained.
"Ah, here we are!" Elise shouted as they finally arrived to the lodge. The plain brown wooden lodge seemed enormous, being able to hold many people in it at once. It also gave the impression that it was cozy.
JP opened the door for Elise and said, "Ladies first."
Elise just smiled softly and then walked in, dragging a whole bunch of luggage with her. JP followed her in and heard a man say, "Just leave your luggage over there along that wall with the rest of them. You can pick it up after the introductory session."
Elise turned the corner, with JP trailing, and dropped everything off alongside the wall. JP did so as well. He noticed that thousands of other suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags were already resting on the wall beside his.
"Please step this way," the man said as he pointed to a door in which JP heard many voices exploding from.
JP hesitated at first. He wasn't too sure he was ready to see everyone there.
"Come on!" Elise encouraged, "Don't be shy!"
"You're right," JP said as the two of them walked through the door.
At first, the loud noise of the many people in the room overwhelmed the two. As JP started to look around and recognize any of the faces, Elise screamed in pain and anger.
"Ouch!" she yelled. She looked down to see a busted paper airplane lying on the floor. Shaking with anger, she looked up and saw Psymon, a crazy boarder, laughing hysterically. "You wasted no time didn't you!?!?" Elise started to scream as she started to advance on Psymon. Psymon caught on and started to flee, with Elise tagging behind along with a few other boarders trying to restrain Elise.
"He's not worth it!" Eddie, Elise's friend said.
"You don't want to start off with a negative start," Brodi, the peaceful Buddhist boarder said, hoping to persuade Elise.
"It doesn't matter!" Elise cried. "No one gets anyway with something like that!"
JP just shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea how two people could be fighting already. He continued to look around. He saw that there was one long table in the center, with roughly about twenty chairs surrounding it. Sitting in those chairs were the many boarders on the SSX circuit. He recognized Zoe, the punk boarder, and Moby, the athletic, British boarder, talking amongst themselves. The two were his worst enemies last season. He also noticed Mac, the hip-hop DJ, and Kaori, the cute little Japanese girl, obviously flirting. Next to them, he saw a little kid talking to a huge muscular guy. These guys obviously seemed to be new boarders on the circuit. Talking with them, JP noticed someone familiar.
"Hey JP!!" Tony, the blue-tipped-haired boy from the airplane yelled as the two saw each other. He was as surprised to see JP there as much as JP was to see Tony there.
"I didn't know you got on the SSX circuit," JP said.
"I didn't know you were on it either," Tony said back.
"Someone you know?" Zoe asked quietly
"Yeah," JP replied.
Zoe stood up from her chair and walked on over to the door. "Nice hair, babe," she said as she passed by JP. JP almost blushed some more, but he knew that he couldn't embarrass himself in front of everyone. Looking at the glass like a mirror, Zoe fixed her red and black hair.
"I'm going to check on the Elise-Psymon situation," she announced before she left.
JP decided to sit down next to Tony, even though he was no longer in a talking mood. He put his head down on the table, about to take a short nap, but he was rudely interrupted as someone slammed opened the door.
"Oh my! That was a long walk!!" Seeiah, the funky female boarder shouted as she walked in through the door.
"I'm already sore, and the circuit didn't even start," Marisol said as she followed behind. Marisol was Seeiah's best friend. She is also Venezuelan and speaks perfect Spanish.
JP's heart almost stopped as he caught sight of Marisol, the girl who had changed JP's feelings. Marisol noticed his look and smiled softly at him but turned away, finding interest in talking to Moby.
"Seeiah! What happened to your hair? You grew it out?" Mac asked loudly. Everyone's eyes shifted over to Seeiah's head. Sure enough, she had grown out her hair way past shoulder length. In the last season, she had shaved her head bald as a sort of fashion statement.
"You look so pretty!" Kaori said as she ran on over to Seeiah to talk to her. Marisol joined too as they started to talk about "girl stuff".
The door opened again, and a young blonde girl with braids walked in. JP couldn't recognize her, so he assumed she was a new boarder. Obviously intimidated by the many people in the room and the fact that everyone knew every else, she chose to sat by herself in an empty seat closest to Mac. Mac gave a small wave, but she ignored him. Just then, a blonde stalker- looking guy came just about out of nowhere to talk to her, but she just waved him off.
JP hadn't noticed this guy sitting wherever he was before, but he knew that he would be trouble. JP also felt sad for this new girl and wanted to go over to talk to her, but he chose not to. His train of thought was again interrupted. This time, it was by the sounds of many loud footsteps. He looked up and saw all of the people who left to see Elise chase Psymon coming back. Everyone turned their heads toward Zoe for an explanation.
"Elise gave up," she said. "Psymon went beyond and started throwing snowballs at everyone so she gave up and will get back at him later."
Sure enough, Elise, Eddie, and Brodi returned with a few remains of snowballs on their faces and clothes.
"Oh, look who bothered to show up," Elise shot out at the sight of Marisol, her severe enemy.
Marisol just gave Elise a dirty look and ignored her.
"At least you're no longer wearing slutty clothes," Elise commented.
"I see you're still your bitchy self," Marisol snapped back. But Elise was sort of right. Marisol had changed her look, throwing away her super tight clothes for some more snowboarding ones. She was wearing a nicely fit tank top, and sort of baggy long snowboard pants.
"Better a bitch than a slut like you who is..." Elise started.
"Just leave her alone!!!" the new girl had snapped at Elise, glaring with an angry look. Everyone turned their heads to her in silence and awe.
"Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you. But if you just so happen to respond to 'slut'," Elise started.
"I'm not taking this from you!!!" the new girl yelled as she stood up to attempt to punch the Canadian model in her face. Seeing that a fight will break out, Mac quickly jumped up to restrain this new girl, while Eddie and Brodi did their best to restrain Elise. JP noticed Mac was losing his grip, and stood up to help him but Tony got there before him. As soon as the two calmed down, everyone started walking back to their seats. As JP sat down, he noticed Tony whispering something in the new girl's ear, and she just smiled. 'Wonder what that is all about?' JP thought.
"Don't tell me I missed a cat fight!" Psymon yelled as he walked into the room, interrupting JP's thoughts. JP just about had it with all these interruptions.
"People take your seats," someone called from the door. JP looked and saw the guy who had directed Elise and him to this room walking in. The guy walked up to the front of the room, completely oblivious to what has just happened in this very room not too long ago. Everyone reluctantly sat in their seats, minds still blazing at the shift of the tension in the room.
"Are we all here?" the guy asked as he started counting heads.
Eddie looked around, his huge afro moving crazily with him. "I think we're missing some people."
"We're only missing Luther," Zoe noticed.
"Yeah, we are missing some people," Eddie joked about Luther's big weight problem. Some people laughed.
"He isn't going to be here," JP said. Everyone looked at him silently.
"Why? Did someone rob you completely of your fortunes? And you had to kill him for food?" Eddie attempted at a joke. Few people laughed.
"How is that funny?" Tony asked.
"Seriously," Kaori said.
"He uhh... dropped out," JP said, not wanting to tell them the truth.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Elise said sarcastically.
"More food for us!!" Zoe yelled. Everyone laughed. "Unless Nate over there eats like crazy," she said as she pointed to the new, muscular boarder.
"You better not!" Psymon threatened.
"Anyways, since we are all here, let's begin. My name is DJ Atomika," the guy stated. "I am your new manager."
Two hands shot in the air. "Yes?" DJ Atomika asked.
"What happened to Rahzel?" Seeiah asked. Rahzel was the circuit's manager the other two seasons. The boarders loved playing jokes on him, and he was always very forgiving.
"I'm not sure," DJ Atomika answered with concern. "From what I've heard, he quit because he couldn't take another season." He looked at Psymon. "And your question?"
"What can we call you? 'DJ Atomika' is..." Psymon counted on his fingers, "six syllables!"
"Well, I personally don't care what you call me," DJ Atomika said, "as long as it is within reason."
The boarders now took this as a break, and started conversing with one another about which name to call him.
"How about atom?"
"Adam? That's stupid!"
"I didn't say that..."
"Mika!"
"That's a girl's name!"
"Like he's not a girl?"
"That's mean!!!"
"He's right there! Shut up!"
"Don't you mean she's right there?"
"Not really..."
"Billy!" Psymon shouted over everyone. Everyone simply started at him. "What?" Psymon asked like there was noting strange with his response. "He looks like a 'Billy.'"
"How about we call him 'DJ'?" Marisol asked kindly.
"No! Now everyone would get him and me mixed up!" Mac yelled.
"Like you're good enough to deserve to be called 'DJ"!" Moby said.
Everyone quieted down and just stared at Mac's expression on his face. If there's only one thing that could make Mac severely mad, it's making fun of his DJ abilities.
"OK..." DJ Atomika started, "let's continue on with the introductory session." Everyone groaned.
"First let us each introduce ourselves," he suggested, "just in case we forgot anyone, or if you see someone new."
So everyone introduced himself or herself. JP recognized everyone, except for the new people. He knew Tony already. He also knew that the muscular guy was named Nate. He found out that the annoying-looking kid was named Griff, and that he was only twelve years old. He found out that the new girl was named Allegra, and the stalker-looking guy was named Viggo.
"Now let me remind you of all of the rules," DJ Atomika started reading off the many rules of the SSX circuit.
JP spaced out after that. There's nothing worse than listening to the same old rules every single year. Even if this year everything was changed around. He could pick up everything as he went by. That's what everyone else was thinking as JP noticed them all lose interest and gaining it in something very boring. Zoe was off having staring contests with those across from her, and many others joined in. Others just placed their head down and relaxed. Even the new boarders were bored.
"And finally, physical and verbal fighting is now tolerated," DJ Atomika stated.
Everyone had somehow heard that last rule, and they all awoke with huge enthusiasm. The last season, Rahzel didn't tolerate this. He even threatened to rip up some contracts if certain people kept fighting with one another.
"Are you serious?" Mac asked.
"Finally, we can put people where they belong!" Moby yelled, glaring at Mac.
"That will teach you for messing with me," Elise spoke as she glared at Psymon and Allegra.
"Yes, I am serious. I thought that if you were stupid enough to make someone mad at you, you deserve a beating," DJ Atomika said. "Only if it is within reason, and not fatal or critical. You can't just attack someone for no good reason."
Everyone started talking like crazy at once.
"Quiet everyone for a second," DJ Atomika said, calming everyone down. "We'll start the circuit tomorrow. For the rest of the day, you can move to the rec room and chat among yourselves and get to know one another better. I have to go check out the cabins you will be staying in. When I return, we'll pick roommates and get all of your stuff into your cabins before we call it a day."
"Don't we have any time for just one run?" Elise asked in her sexiest voice.
"No, I'm sorry. It's really late out," he said as he pointed to his watch.
"Oh my gosh!" Seeiah yelled. "It's almost nine o'clock at night!"
"What!?!?!?" everyone yelled at once.
"That introductory session took THAT long!?" Marisol asked.
"I'm hungry!" Kaori yelled. Soon, everyone was feeling hungry.
"I'll order you some pizza in the rec room. Everyone go and I'll see you later!" DJ Atomika said as he practically pushed all sixteen boarders into the rec room.
Psymon, who was leading the pack, suddenly stopped to stretch and yawn, which caused everyone behind him to crash into him. All of the boarders fell into the room. The room itself was very similar to the other rooms, with wallpaper that looked and feeling like it was made of logs. There were a few comfortable-looking couches scattered all over the place.
"Hey look! A TV!" Griff cried as half of the pack rolled away and get the best seats in front of the TV. JP shook his head as he pulled himself up to his feet.
"Macky!!" Kaori yelled. "Look at that!" She was pointing to a foosball table.
"Let's see if you van beat me Kaori!" Mac challenged as the two of them ran towards the foosball table.
"Does anyone else want to play?" Kaori asked. Even though everyone knew she was just asking that to be nice since she would rather play against Mac alone, quite a few people wanted to.
"I'll play!" Tony shouted as he ran.
"Me too!" Allegra yelled, chasing after Tony.
"Me three!" Eddie yelled as he pulled himself away from the TV, which was now playing a hilarious comedy on snowboarding.
"Anyone else?" Kaori asked, knowing that they can't play fairly with an odd number of people.
"Hey JP! Come on!" Tony yelled.
"I'm coming," JP said after realizing that the show was too corny for his liking.
"I'll play too!" Elise said.
Zoe walked over to the table, "Hey, I'll play. I don't want to watch that boring show."
So the eight decided to split into teams of four, with each person controlling only one row of people. Kaori, Mac, Eddie, and Elise formed one team while Zoe, Allegra, Tony, and JP formed the other team.
"Hey it's like a couple against couple game," Zoe commented.
"What!?" the other seven looked strangely at her.
"What!?" the others watching TV shouted.
"Never mind. Just a bad joke," Zoe said.
The foosball game went on for a long time, not only because everyone was skilled at whatever position they were playing, but there were way too many distractions and comments that they had to redo a round whenever someone got lucky enough to score. The game ended abruptly when the table broke, leaving the score tied at 3-3.
"Aw man," Mac yelled, "We were just about to beat you guys!"
"Sure you were," Zoe said as she playfully shoved Mac away.
"Hey, don't go injuring my star player!" Eddie joked.
"Who's going to fix this?" Kaori asked. Everyone backed away and obtained interest somewhere else, leaving the broken foosball table behind.
"Hey, the pizza is here!" Tony noticed. Sure enough, DJ Atomika must have stealthily delivered the pizza. Everyone started running towards the table once they all noticed the ten large pizza boxes sitting on the table.
JP took several slices of pizza and a cup of Pepsi and sat on a single- seated couch, eating away. He noticed everyone else eating and doing off to do his or her own things. Allegra sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall as she took out her guitar, which she must have snuck out to obtain from the luggage room. She immediately started to play a rockish tune, creating a new atmosphere in the rec room. Tony walked up and sat next to Allegra, eating some pepperoni pizza as he watched her play.
"Hey JP," JP turned his head to see Marisol approach him.
"Hey," JP muttered as Marisol began to sit on the armrest to JP's personal little couch.
"I just want you to know that I may have been too harsh on you last season," Marisol explained. "Right now, I'm completely over you, but you are a nice guy and I was wondering if we could remain friends."
JP thought for a little bit. Last season, Marisol had a bone to pick with JP and she demonstrated that every chance the two got close together in a race. Now, two years ago, Marisol did seem like she wasn't mad at him any longer. "Sure," JP said with a smile on his face.
"Great!" Marisol shouted with excitement. "So, what's up?"
As the two began talking like old friends, Mac had walked over to Allegra and Tony and offered his hand for a handshake.
"Hey, my name is Mac. You two are new here. Are you any good?" he asked as the two shook his hand one at a time. Allegra took this time to stop playing her guitar and start eating. Mac's eyes widened as he saw Allegra finish an entire good-sized slice of pizza in two bites.
"I'd like to believe so," Tony said. "And you?"
"I'm pretty good at freestyling, but I suck at races," Mac said. He noticed both Tony's and Allegra's eyebrows lifted as he said that. "But don't get me wrong. I'm still a threat in races."
"I'm sure you are," Allegra said as she moved on to another slice.
"I heard that are going to be tons more of freestyling events this season," Mac said excitedly. "I shouldn't have much to worry about."
"Yeah, that's true," Tony said.
"Hey, what can you play?" Mac asked Allegra once he noticed her guitar. She went off on a long list.
"Any hip hop?" Mac interrupted.
Allegra just shook her head.
"Oh, I see..." Mac said.
"Hey, can you two get me some more pizza while I tune up my guitar? Thanks!" she said before either could respond.
Both Mac and Tony walked on over to the tables.
"How much should we get her?" Tony asked.
"Just bring a whole box," Mac said as he shoved a full pizza box into Tony's hand.
"Okay..." Tony said.
"Hey," Mac said as he nudged Tony with his elbow. "Are you going to go for it?" his eyes made mention towards Allegra's direction.
"What?" Tony asked, shocked.
"You know," Mac said with a grin as he walked away.
Tony just shook her head and brought the pizza over to Allegra. The two talked and ate some more. It seemed that everyone was talking, and eating, and having a good time. JP and Marisol laughed at the one time Elise tripped at a start or a final race, which resulted he in getting last place. After they finished laughing, there was an awkward silence from the both of them...
"Aaaah! You moron!!!" several people screamed at the top of their lungs as a few snowballs started flying around the room. Psymon had evidently found an escape outside, and he had collected snowballs to throw at a few select targets, namely Elise, Eddie, and Brodi.
Marisol looked up in Seeiah's direction. "I got to go. Seeiah is calling me. I'll see you around!" she said as she walked on over to Seeiah, who seemed surprised to see Marisol.
JP just shook his head, realizing what happened. He began to walk over to the table to get some more food but Zoe had jumped on top of him, literally sitting on his lap.
"How you've been?" she said, smiling.
"Good," JP said, extremely suspicious of her. She didn't appear to be drunk because she couldn't be since the only beverage in the room is Pepsi. Zoe was JP's major enemy last season; certainly she couldn't be up to any good.
"You look real good this year," Zoe said, her eyes scanning the room.
"Thanks. You look great yourself," JP replied, not knowing what he was doing.
"Haha. I never expected you to say that," she laughed.
"Do I look like the type that doesn't give compliments?" JP asked.
"No..." Zoe began, but was distracted because Allegra had started to perform a slow song on her guitar.
Zoe jumped off of JP, turned around, and took his hand, pulling him off of the chair, as she said, "Come on! Let's dance!"
Zoe and JP danced off to the side of the room as Allegra played with Tony watching with awe. Some of the other boarders have sat down, still eating as they watched the rest of the boarders dodge and throw snowballs all over the place. The snowball fight got more and more intense when people started to realize that Psymon wasn't the only one with access to snow.
Once Allegra had finished her song, she stood up yelling, "I can't play like this!", mentioning towards the indoor snowball fight. She packed away her guitar and walked off to put it away. Tony just shrugged at Zoe and JP who were both disappointed at the end of the song, and thus bringing and end to their dancing. The two shrugged and walked away, Zoe to talk to Moby, and JP to watch TV.
Tony walked over to JP's single-couch and just relaxed there alone for a while. Allegra came back, noticing Tony's choice of spot change. She decided to sit down right on top of him.
"Hey," he said as she blocked his line of sight.
"Fine, you want to see this chaos?" she said as she shifted her body onto Tony's lap, throwing an arm around his neck. The two just sat there for a while.
Mac was walking around, drinking Pepsi and talking to others when he noticed Tony and Allegra sitting in that chair together like that. When Allegra wasn't looking, Mac flashed Tony a thumbs-up sign, as Tony just shook his head with a small smile on his face.
"Got you!!!" someone cried at the top of her lungs. Everyone's eyes moved over to Kaori, who was jumping excitedly in place motioning towards a huge pile of snowball remains on Psymon's face.
"Oh, you're really going to get it now!" Psymon threatened as he flung another snowball in Kaori's direction. She screamed and ducked, and the snowball hit Allegra directly in the face.
"Oh thanks a lot!" she yelled as she jumped of Tony to go get a napkin.
"No problem!" Psymon laughed as ten snowballs were flung into his direction.
"What's going on in here!?" called a voice from the entrance.
Everyone in the room quieted down. DJ Atomika walked in with an angry expression on his face. To the boarder's surprise, all remains of the snowball fight had melted away, thanks to the heating system, leaving some people with wet looks.
"Oh, nothing. We were just talking and then the Pepsi spilled by itself all over this gorgeous carpet," Elise explained calmly as she bent down to rub the carpet with a small smile on her face. Everyone knew DJ Atomika was referring to the loud cacophony of shouts and screams that occurred earlier, and none of the boarders wanted to start the circuit off by getting yelled at.
"Oh I see," DJ Atomika muttered as a smile started to spread. "Well, I have just checked out the cabins in which you all will be staying in. We have seven cabins available for you all, two of them being extra large."
The room filled with gasps of excitement. They all wanted the extra large cabins.
"Now it's time to pick out roommates and cabins. I have already thought this out clearly so do not change the plan. The six girls will pair up in two's, and each will take one of the smaller cabins."
A few of the girls appeared shocked that they don't get a chance at the larger cabins.
"For the guys, there will have to be two groups of three. Each group will get an extra large cabin, while the remaining guys will pair up and take the remaining smaller cabins. So hurry up and decide your roommates so you guys can settle in and get to bed early for tomorrow's big race."
The room erupted in extraordinary loud shouts as the boarders started trying to find partners.
"Hey JP!" Tony yelled from one side of the room. "Want to be roommates?!"
"Sure!" JP yelled back from the other side of the room. "Get someone else so we could get a big cabin!"
"Who!?" Tony asked loudly. But JP's answer was smuggled by more screams and shouts from the other boarders.
Seeiah and Marisol have always been close friends, so the two naturally decided to become roommates. Knowing that she might already have a bed reputation with both Allegra and Zoe, Elise decided to room with Kaori. This left Zoe and Allegra to be stuck with each other, but the two probably would have been roommates anyways. Tony and JP were fortunate enough to persuade Nate into joining their group of three to get a large cabin. Because of their small size, Mac and Griff had persuaded Eddie into becoming a group of three. This pairing left Psymon and Viggo to be roommates together as well as Brodi and Moby.
"Now that we got you all paired up, these are the cabins you'll be staying at for the remainder of this SSX season," DJ Atomika said as he gave each group a cabin number, a map, and a key. "Please take all your luggage to your assigned cabin, and I'll see you all tomorrow!"
JP, Tony, and Nate walked outside into the dark, snowy night, dragging their heavy belongs with them.
"Hey Nate, could you carry my stuff for me?" Tony asked realizing that he had packed way too many things that he could carry.
"What do I look like?" Nate asked jokingly.
"A nice guy who will put his muscles to use carrying his friend's stuff?" Tony asked, hoping sweet talking would work.
"Fine," Nate obliged as Tony practically threw his stuff at him.
"What number cabin are we?" JP asked Tony, who now had the map to scout out the area.
"Number seven," Tony replied.
"Is that the cabin that is the farthest away?" Nate asked, a worried look on his face.
"I'm pretty sure," JP joked, trying to bring humor to this dreadful walk.
"I'm not going to be able to carry all this stuff all that way!" Nate complained, still dragging both Tony's and his own luggage.
"Don't doubt yourself," Tony persuaded.
"Too late!" Nate yelled as he jokingly pretended to drop all of Tony's stuff.
"Hey, don't make me come back there!" Tony shot back, obviously a joke.
"Should I take that as a threat coming from such a little guy like you?" Nate teased.
"Let's focus more on finding this cabin, shall we?" JP said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.
The three continued to walk around in silence, searching for cabin number 7. They passed on a few other cabins in the dark, but neither of them was cabin number 7. They looked and saw that Zoe and Allegra had found their cabin, and were enjoying a warn fireplace.
"Are we there yet?" Nate asked annoyed, trying not to look at the warm cabin.
"That's something I would like to know," Tony yawned.
"Is that it?" JP asked pointing to a barely visible outline of a cabin.
"I'll check," Tony said as he ran off towards the outline while JP and Nate continued to drag their belongings in that direction.
"It better be it," JP muttered. "I can't carry this stuff any further."
"At least you're only carrying your own stuff," Nate pointed out as he mentioned towards Tony's belongings.
"That's what you get for being a nice guy," JP sighed.
"It's the cabin!!!" Tony yelled, interrupting JP's and Nate's conversation.
"Finally!" Nate yelled as he started to quicken his pace.
"Hey Jape! Toss me the key!" Tony commanded.
"Nice nickname," Nate murmured as JP threw the key to Tony.
"Shut up!" JP yelled at Nate.
The two boarders finally dragged everything into the cabin that Tony opened. They noticed that he started a fire in a conveniently placed fireplace near the center of the living room. All three boarders decided to explore the log cabin. The cabin contained only four rooms. The living room contained a few comfy chairs, the fireplace, and a table. There was also a small kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, freezer, stove, microwave, sink, and a cupboard filled with eating utensils and bowls. There was also a single large bedroom with three individual beds and a few drawers for the boarders to store stuff in. There was also a small bathroom, which contained all of the necessities a bathroom should have.
"I call this bed!" Tony yelled as he jumped on the middle bed. Nate and JP took the remaining beds that were closer to him. Then the three took their luggage and brought them in to the bedroom so they could unpack them.
Tony and Nate finished unpacking first and they lied down on their beds, leaving JP to finish unpacking on his own.
"So, what's up with the new nickname?" JP asked, making conversation.
"I'm too lazy to say your whole name," Tony responded.
"But it's only two letters!" Nate exclaimed as he laughed.
"Still, if I can shorten it, I will," Tony said with a grin.
"OK then," JP said, learning to simply accept his new nickname.
"So, what do you think of this circuit?" Nate asked Tony, trying to make some more conversation.
"It sounds like fun, although very challenging," Tony said. "I have no idea what the tracks are so I don't know for sure what to expect."
"There's a lot more boarders than I expected there to be," Nate said, looking up at the ceiling of the cabin.
"Yeah, sixteen people is crazy. It's going to be a struggle to get a medal at any event," Tony said with a very disappointed tone.
"Don't worry about it," JP said, still rummaging through a duffel bag. "There's not going to be only one attempt at each event. There's probably going to be more medals and such. That's how it was in the past two seasons. Some people got multiple medals from the same event."
"That's nice to know," Tony muttered.
"So Tony, what do you think of the boarders?" Nate asked out loud.
"Who in particular?" Tony asked back.
"The girls?" he asked teasingly as he turned his head over to Tony.
"You really want to know what I think?" Tony asked with a bored expression.
"I already know you have your eyes set on Allegra," Nate pointed out as he laughed.
"What?!?" Tony yelled as he threw a pillow at Nate. JP just laughed and shook his head.
"Don't play dumb Tony. We all know," JP remarked.
"Then don't bring it up!!" Tony yelled back.
"Fine, so what do you think of the other five girls?" Nate asked, throwing the pillow back at Tony.
"You really want to know?" Tony asked, hating to be put on the spotlight.
"Sure," Nate and JP said together, trying to hide their smiles.
"OK, first there is Zoe. She's pretty hot, with her red hair and all. She looks like the type of girl you can always have a fun time with," Tony explained, looking at the ceiling to avoid Nate's and JP's stares.
"Yeah, but she's seems hard to get," Nate commented, remembering Zoe at the rec room.
"And she has a thing for Moby," JP added, destroying any thoughts Tony or Nate might have had.
"Then there's Kaori. She's cute and seems pretty nice. But she speaks Japanese, right?" Tony continued.
"Yeah, but she's been working on her English," JP responded thoughtfully.
"How old is she? She seems so young," Nate asked out of curiosity.
"Nineteen, but she and Mac always flirt so she's probably already taken," JP commented.
"Then there's Seeiah. She seems nice, and her hair looks great," Tony started.
"She was bald last circuit," JP responded quickly.
"Yeah I heard. It doesn't matter because beauty comes from the heart, not the skin," Tony said quietly.
"So philosophical..." Nate laughed loudly.
"But she seems like a loud person. Then there's Elise, who I wouldn't want to be with," Tony continued on.
"Why? She's pretty hot," Nate said, now looking up at the ceiling again.
"She seems conceited, and fake," Tony commented without a care for what Nate thinks.
"You don't even know her," Nate shot back.
"Still..." Tony started.
"She's sort of stuck-up," JP commented, trying to end the debate before it gets worse.
"Anyways, then last is Marisol. She's pretty, but she has a thick accent. But she seems nice," Tony explained.
"She has a thing for JP," Nate muttered. JP just became quiet.
"What's wrong? Don't like love?" Tony joked at JP.
"No..." JP said as he debated in his mind whether or not to tell them the truth between him and JP.
"So, what's up then?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, you were so informative about the others, but now you're quiet," Nate noticed and pointed out loud.
"Well.. uh.. Marisol and I went out, but broke up," JP said quietly.
"Don't be ashamed of that," Tony said, acting philosophical again.
"Oh well. I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," Nate announced to everyone.
"Yeah, I'm tired too. Are you done unpacking Jape?" Tony asked.
"Why?" JP asked back.
"So we can shut off the lights and stuff," Tony commented.
"Yeah, I'm done," JP responded as he finished zipping up a duffel bag and jumped onto his bed.
"OK then," Tony said as he jumped off the bed to turn off the fireplace and the lights.
"Good night everyone," Tony said, but he couldn't be heard over Nate's snores.
A/N: More action coming up in the next chapter. Please read and review!!! This story really does take a lot of time to write, and I would appreciate it if you would tell me how I should change it.
Chapter 2: Reunion
JP didn't know what woke him up. Either the loud announcement from the flight attendant telling everyone to prepare for landing or the steadily decreasing altitude from the flight, either way, JP woke up slightly rested and sore. Taking the last few moments of the flight, JP fully woke himself and stretched within his seat.
"Hey, it's time to go," JP said as he shoved Tony awake in the seat next to him.
Tony yawned and stretched, "this flight wasn't so long, was it?"
"Not if you snored through it all," JP laughed.
"Shut up," Tony snapped back.
The airplane finally landed, and the other customers started to rush to take up all of their luggage to leave the airplane as soon as possible. JP stood up to start, but Tony pushed him down.
"Leave this to me," he said as he opened the compartment door, and then he knocked out everything that was inside, landing all over the floor. The two quickly scrambled to pick up their luggage. Sure enough, they got everything and were the first to leave the plane.
"That was pretty fast," JP exclaimed.
"Everyone else is too stupid to realize that," Tony said seeing that no one else has left the plane after them.
The two walked into the airport with their heavy luggage. As soon as they stretched and got some snacks to eat, the two headed outside.
"Well, I have to go now," Tony said pointing towards the parking lot. "Good luck with your snowboarding!"
"Yeah, you too!" JP said as he started to wave good-bye to Tony.
"Hey, we should snowboard together one time!" Tony called over his shoulder. But before JP could respond, he had disappeared off into the parking lot.
"What are the odds of me ever seeing him again?" JP muttered to himself. "Much less go snowboarding with him."
Feeling both sad and glad of getting rid of him, JP found the limo waiting for him and started to load all of his luggage into the car.
"Do you need a hand?" the limo driver asked.
"No thanks," JP responded automatically.
"So, you're going to be boarding for SSX, right?" the limo asked, obviously making small talk. "You must be really good. I've always wanted to try it out, but I don't know what to do. Any advice?"
"Grab a snowboard, get on a mountain, and just go," JP said. He turned to look at the driver in the eye. "You'll be surprised at how much that works."
"Thanks," the drive said with a smile.
JP finished loading his luggage and he stepped into the limo. He found it much more comfortable than the taxi, and surprisingly more spacious than the airplane. The driver closed the door behind him, and then headed over to the driver's seat. Before long, the two were headed towards JP's next test, the third SSX season.
----------
"Whoa!" JP exclaimed as the limo arrived at the bottom on the mountain. The mountain was enormous! JP had to strain his head back so far to get a chance to see the top, and he couldn't even see that!
"Pretty impressive, huh?" the driver asked as he started to unload JP's luggage.
"Yeah, it is," JP said, still in awe.
"Well, you better be off," the limo explained as he practically had to push JP out of the vehicle. "Good luck!"
JP shook his head back into reality as the limo drove away. He picked up his luggage and started to walk aimlessly, looking for someone to give him directions to where he's supposed to be going. His shoes make loud crunches in the snow as he walked. JP noticed a few footprints and luggage prints in the snow, and he decided to follow them.
"Hey JP!" he heard someone call. He turned his head to see a tall woman with blonde hair waving at him with a ton of luggage surrounding her. JP waved back and headed on over to her.
"Long time no see!" she exclaimed. As he got closer, he recognized the woman as Elise, the "Amazon bombshell" of the SSX circuit. She was also a veteran at this. Elise was a tall, strong blonde who definitely had the great looks of a model. She wasn't one of those dumb blondes. At first sight, you would think she was a nice, carefree, energetic individual who was easy-going, easy to impress, and easy to get in bed with. But she is far from that. She possessed dire determination and fierceness on the slopes, and brought sarcasm to just about every point. She had graduated as the top female from her college, and surprisingly, never had a serious boyfriend. She and JP had never gotten along very well, but the two weren't pure enemies either.
"Hey Elise," JP said. "Still looking great as always!"
"Thanks!" Elise exclaimed. "You don't look bad yourself! I love your new haircut!"
JP felt his face go red, but he shook it off. "I'm glad you grew out your hair," he said.
"I didn't like it all that short. It was great not getting hair in my face every so often, but I personally didn't like it," she explained.
JP just nodded.
"Are we supposed to go over to that lodge over there?" Elise pointed to a brown building over in the distance. JP had not noticed it earlier.
"I have no idea," he explained. "But odds are that we're supposed to go there."
"Great!" she said as the two of them started to walk on over to the lodge, snow crunching under their feet as they dragged their entire luggage.
"So, what do you think of the mountain?" JP asked, trying to start up a conversation as they walked. 'Maybe, I could get her to go on a date with me,' a voice in the back of JP's mind thought.
"It's HUGE!" Elise exclaimed. "I haven't seen much of it yet, but I know it's going to be a crazily hard time to win anything on there!"
"Yeah," JP said.
"I hope the introductory session is short so we could all test out some of the tracks up there," Elise thought out loud.
"Yeah, that would be awesome," JP responded. Everyone always hated the introductory sessions because they were boring and took way too long. There were way too many rules for the SSX circuit, and the majority of them are simply common sense ones that didn't need to be explained.
"Ah, here we are!" Elise shouted as they finally arrived to the lodge. The plain brown wooden lodge seemed enormous, being able to hold many people in it at once. It also gave the impression that it was cozy.
JP opened the door for Elise and said, "Ladies first."
Elise just smiled softly and then walked in, dragging a whole bunch of luggage with her. JP followed her in and heard a man say, "Just leave your luggage over there along that wall with the rest of them. You can pick it up after the introductory session."
Elise turned the corner, with JP trailing, and dropped everything off alongside the wall. JP did so as well. He noticed that thousands of other suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags were already resting on the wall beside his.
"Please step this way," the man said as he pointed to a door in which JP heard many voices exploding from.
JP hesitated at first. He wasn't too sure he was ready to see everyone there.
"Come on!" Elise encouraged, "Don't be shy!"
"You're right," JP said as the two of them walked through the door.
At first, the loud noise of the many people in the room overwhelmed the two. As JP started to look around and recognize any of the faces, Elise screamed in pain and anger.
"Ouch!" she yelled. She looked down to see a busted paper airplane lying on the floor. Shaking with anger, she looked up and saw Psymon, a crazy boarder, laughing hysterically. "You wasted no time didn't you!?!?" Elise started to scream as she started to advance on Psymon. Psymon caught on and started to flee, with Elise tagging behind along with a few other boarders trying to restrain Elise.
"He's not worth it!" Eddie, Elise's friend said.
"You don't want to start off with a negative start," Brodi, the peaceful Buddhist boarder said, hoping to persuade Elise.
"It doesn't matter!" Elise cried. "No one gets anyway with something like that!"
JP just shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea how two people could be fighting already. He continued to look around. He saw that there was one long table in the center, with roughly about twenty chairs surrounding it. Sitting in those chairs were the many boarders on the SSX circuit. He recognized Zoe, the punk boarder, and Moby, the athletic, British boarder, talking amongst themselves. The two were his worst enemies last season. He also noticed Mac, the hip-hop DJ, and Kaori, the cute little Japanese girl, obviously flirting. Next to them, he saw a little kid talking to a huge muscular guy. These guys obviously seemed to be new boarders on the circuit. Talking with them, JP noticed someone familiar.
"Hey JP!!" Tony, the blue-tipped-haired boy from the airplane yelled as the two saw each other. He was as surprised to see JP there as much as JP was to see Tony there.
"I didn't know you got on the SSX circuit," JP said.
"I didn't know you were on it either," Tony said back.
"Someone you know?" Zoe asked quietly
"Yeah," JP replied.
Zoe stood up from her chair and walked on over to the door. "Nice hair, babe," she said as she passed by JP. JP almost blushed some more, but he knew that he couldn't embarrass himself in front of everyone. Looking at the glass like a mirror, Zoe fixed her red and black hair.
"I'm going to check on the Elise-Psymon situation," she announced before she left.
JP decided to sit down next to Tony, even though he was no longer in a talking mood. He put his head down on the table, about to take a short nap, but he was rudely interrupted as someone slammed opened the door.
"Oh my! That was a long walk!!" Seeiah, the funky female boarder shouted as she walked in through the door.
"I'm already sore, and the circuit didn't even start," Marisol said as she followed behind. Marisol was Seeiah's best friend. She is also Venezuelan and speaks perfect Spanish.
JP's heart almost stopped as he caught sight of Marisol, the girl who had changed JP's feelings. Marisol noticed his look and smiled softly at him but turned away, finding interest in talking to Moby.
"Seeiah! What happened to your hair? You grew it out?" Mac asked loudly. Everyone's eyes shifted over to Seeiah's head. Sure enough, she had grown out her hair way past shoulder length. In the last season, she had shaved her head bald as a sort of fashion statement.
"You look so pretty!" Kaori said as she ran on over to Seeiah to talk to her. Marisol joined too as they started to talk about "girl stuff".
The door opened again, and a young blonde girl with braids walked in. JP couldn't recognize her, so he assumed she was a new boarder. Obviously intimidated by the many people in the room and the fact that everyone knew every else, she chose to sat by herself in an empty seat closest to Mac. Mac gave a small wave, but she ignored him. Just then, a blonde stalker- looking guy came just about out of nowhere to talk to her, but she just waved him off.
JP hadn't noticed this guy sitting wherever he was before, but he knew that he would be trouble. JP also felt sad for this new girl and wanted to go over to talk to her, but he chose not to. His train of thought was again interrupted. This time, it was by the sounds of many loud footsteps. He looked up and saw all of the people who left to see Elise chase Psymon coming back. Everyone turned their heads toward Zoe for an explanation.
"Elise gave up," she said. "Psymon went beyond and started throwing snowballs at everyone so she gave up and will get back at him later."
Sure enough, Elise, Eddie, and Brodi returned with a few remains of snowballs on their faces and clothes.
"Oh, look who bothered to show up," Elise shot out at the sight of Marisol, her severe enemy.
Marisol just gave Elise a dirty look and ignored her.
"At least you're no longer wearing slutty clothes," Elise commented.
"I see you're still your bitchy self," Marisol snapped back. But Elise was sort of right. Marisol had changed her look, throwing away her super tight clothes for some more snowboarding ones. She was wearing a nicely fit tank top, and sort of baggy long snowboard pants.
"Better a bitch than a slut like you who is..." Elise started.
"Just leave her alone!!!" the new girl had snapped at Elise, glaring with an angry look. Everyone turned their heads to her in silence and awe.
"Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you. But if you just so happen to respond to 'slut'," Elise started.
"I'm not taking this from you!!!" the new girl yelled as she stood up to attempt to punch the Canadian model in her face. Seeing that a fight will break out, Mac quickly jumped up to restrain this new girl, while Eddie and Brodi did their best to restrain Elise. JP noticed Mac was losing his grip, and stood up to help him but Tony got there before him. As soon as the two calmed down, everyone started walking back to their seats. As JP sat down, he noticed Tony whispering something in the new girl's ear, and she just smiled. 'Wonder what that is all about?' JP thought.
"Don't tell me I missed a cat fight!" Psymon yelled as he walked into the room, interrupting JP's thoughts. JP just about had it with all these interruptions.
"People take your seats," someone called from the door. JP looked and saw the guy who had directed Elise and him to this room walking in. The guy walked up to the front of the room, completely oblivious to what has just happened in this very room not too long ago. Everyone reluctantly sat in their seats, minds still blazing at the shift of the tension in the room.
"Are we all here?" the guy asked as he started counting heads.
Eddie looked around, his huge afro moving crazily with him. "I think we're missing some people."
"We're only missing Luther," Zoe noticed.
"Yeah, we are missing some people," Eddie joked about Luther's big weight problem. Some people laughed.
"He isn't going to be here," JP said. Everyone looked at him silently.
"Why? Did someone rob you completely of your fortunes? And you had to kill him for food?" Eddie attempted at a joke. Few people laughed.
"How is that funny?" Tony asked.
"Seriously," Kaori said.
"He uhh... dropped out," JP said, not wanting to tell them the truth.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Elise said sarcastically.
"More food for us!!" Zoe yelled. Everyone laughed. "Unless Nate over there eats like crazy," she said as she pointed to the new, muscular boarder.
"You better not!" Psymon threatened.
"Anyways, since we are all here, let's begin. My name is DJ Atomika," the guy stated. "I am your new manager."
Two hands shot in the air. "Yes?" DJ Atomika asked.
"What happened to Rahzel?" Seeiah asked. Rahzel was the circuit's manager the other two seasons. The boarders loved playing jokes on him, and he was always very forgiving.
"I'm not sure," DJ Atomika answered with concern. "From what I've heard, he quit because he couldn't take another season." He looked at Psymon. "And your question?"
"What can we call you? 'DJ Atomika' is..." Psymon counted on his fingers, "six syllables!"
"Well, I personally don't care what you call me," DJ Atomika said, "as long as it is within reason."
The boarders now took this as a break, and started conversing with one another about which name to call him.
"How about atom?"
"Adam? That's stupid!"
"I didn't say that..."
"Mika!"
"That's a girl's name!"
"Like he's not a girl?"
"That's mean!!!"
"He's right there! Shut up!"
"Don't you mean she's right there?"
"Not really..."
"Billy!" Psymon shouted over everyone. Everyone simply started at him. "What?" Psymon asked like there was noting strange with his response. "He looks like a 'Billy.'"
"How about we call him 'DJ'?" Marisol asked kindly.
"No! Now everyone would get him and me mixed up!" Mac yelled.
"Like you're good enough to deserve to be called 'DJ"!" Moby said.
Everyone quieted down and just stared at Mac's expression on his face. If there's only one thing that could make Mac severely mad, it's making fun of his DJ abilities.
"OK..." DJ Atomika started, "let's continue on with the introductory session." Everyone groaned.
"First let us each introduce ourselves," he suggested, "just in case we forgot anyone, or if you see someone new."
So everyone introduced himself or herself. JP recognized everyone, except for the new people. He knew Tony already. He also knew that the muscular guy was named Nate. He found out that the annoying-looking kid was named Griff, and that he was only twelve years old. He found out that the new girl was named Allegra, and the stalker-looking guy was named Viggo.
"Now let me remind you of all of the rules," DJ Atomika started reading off the many rules of the SSX circuit.
JP spaced out after that. There's nothing worse than listening to the same old rules every single year. Even if this year everything was changed around. He could pick up everything as he went by. That's what everyone else was thinking as JP noticed them all lose interest and gaining it in something very boring. Zoe was off having staring contests with those across from her, and many others joined in. Others just placed their head down and relaxed. Even the new boarders were bored.
"And finally, physical and verbal fighting is now tolerated," DJ Atomika stated.
Everyone had somehow heard that last rule, and they all awoke with huge enthusiasm. The last season, Rahzel didn't tolerate this. He even threatened to rip up some contracts if certain people kept fighting with one another.
"Are you serious?" Mac asked.
"Finally, we can put people where they belong!" Moby yelled, glaring at Mac.
"That will teach you for messing with me," Elise spoke as she glared at Psymon and Allegra.
"Yes, I am serious. I thought that if you were stupid enough to make someone mad at you, you deserve a beating," DJ Atomika said. "Only if it is within reason, and not fatal or critical. You can't just attack someone for no good reason."
Everyone started talking like crazy at once.
"Quiet everyone for a second," DJ Atomika said, calming everyone down. "We'll start the circuit tomorrow. For the rest of the day, you can move to the rec room and chat among yourselves and get to know one another better. I have to go check out the cabins you will be staying in. When I return, we'll pick roommates and get all of your stuff into your cabins before we call it a day."
"Don't we have any time for just one run?" Elise asked in her sexiest voice.
"No, I'm sorry. It's really late out," he said as he pointed to his watch.
"Oh my gosh!" Seeiah yelled. "It's almost nine o'clock at night!"
"What!?!?!?" everyone yelled at once.
"That introductory session took THAT long!?" Marisol asked.
"I'm hungry!" Kaori yelled. Soon, everyone was feeling hungry.
"I'll order you some pizza in the rec room. Everyone go and I'll see you later!" DJ Atomika said as he practically pushed all sixteen boarders into the rec room.
Psymon, who was leading the pack, suddenly stopped to stretch and yawn, which caused everyone behind him to crash into him. All of the boarders fell into the room. The room itself was very similar to the other rooms, with wallpaper that looked and feeling like it was made of logs. There were a few comfortable-looking couches scattered all over the place.
"Hey look! A TV!" Griff cried as half of the pack rolled away and get the best seats in front of the TV. JP shook his head as he pulled himself up to his feet.
"Macky!!" Kaori yelled. "Look at that!" She was pointing to a foosball table.
"Let's see if you van beat me Kaori!" Mac challenged as the two of them ran towards the foosball table.
"Does anyone else want to play?" Kaori asked. Even though everyone knew she was just asking that to be nice since she would rather play against Mac alone, quite a few people wanted to.
"I'll play!" Tony shouted as he ran.
"Me too!" Allegra yelled, chasing after Tony.
"Me three!" Eddie yelled as he pulled himself away from the TV, which was now playing a hilarious comedy on snowboarding.
"Anyone else?" Kaori asked, knowing that they can't play fairly with an odd number of people.
"Hey JP! Come on!" Tony yelled.
"I'm coming," JP said after realizing that the show was too corny for his liking.
"I'll play too!" Elise said.
Zoe walked over to the table, "Hey, I'll play. I don't want to watch that boring show."
So the eight decided to split into teams of four, with each person controlling only one row of people. Kaori, Mac, Eddie, and Elise formed one team while Zoe, Allegra, Tony, and JP formed the other team.
"Hey it's like a couple against couple game," Zoe commented.
"What!?" the other seven looked strangely at her.
"What!?" the others watching TV shouted.
"Never mind. Just a bad joke," Zoe said.
The foosball game went on for a long time, not only because everyone was skilled at whatever position they were playing, but there were way too many distractions and comments that they had to redo a round whenever someone got lucky enough to score. The game ended abruptly when the table broke, leaving the score tied at 3-3.
"Aw man," Mac yelled, "We were just about to beat you guys!"
"Sure you were," Zoe said as she playfully shoved Mac away.
"Hey, don't go injuring my star player!" Eddie joked.
"Who's going to fix this?" Kaori asked. Everyone backed away and obtained interest somewhere else, leaving the broken foosball table behind.
"Hey, the pizza is here!" Tony noticed. Sure enough, DJ Atomika must have stealthily delivered the pizza. Everyone started running towards the table once they all noticed the ten large pizza boxes sitting on the table.
JP took several slices of pizza and a cup of Pepsi and sat on a single- seated couch, eating away. He noticed everyone else eating and doing off to do his or her own things. Allegra sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall as she took out her guitar, which she must have snuck out to obtain from the luggage room. She immediately started to play a rockish tune, creating a new atmosphere in the rec room. Tony walked up and sat next to Allegra, eating some pepperoni pizza as he watched her play.
"Hey JP," JP turned his head to see Marisol approach him.
"Hey," JP muttered as Marisol began to sit on the armrest to JP's personal little couch.
"I just want you to know that I may have been too harsh on you last season," Marisol explained. "Right now, I'm completely over you, but you are a nice guy and I was wondering if we could remain friends."
JP thought for a little bit. Last season, Marisol had a bone to pick with JP and she demonstrated that every chance the two got close together in a race. Now, two years ago, Marisol did seem like she wasn't mad at him any longer. "Sure," JP said with a smile on his face.
"Great!" Marisol shouted with excitement. "So, what's up?"
As the two began talking like old friends, Mac had walked over to Allegra and Tony and offered his hand for a handshake.
"Hey, my name is Mac. You two are new here. Are you any good?" he asked as the two shook his hand one at a time. Allegra took this time to stop playing her guitar and start eating. Mac's eyes widened as he saw Allegra finish an entire good-sized slice of pizza in two bites.
"I'd like to believe so," Tony said. "And you?"
"I'm pretty good at freestyling, but I suck at races," Mac said. He noticed both Tony's and Allegra's eyebrows lifted as he said that. "But don't get me wrong. I'm still a threat in races."
"I'm sure you are," Allegra said as she moved on to another slice.
"I heard that are going to be tons more of freestyling events this season," Mac said excitedly. "I shouldn't have much to worry about."
"Yeah, that's true," Tony said.
"Hey, what can you play?" Mac asked Allegra once he noticed her guitar. She went off on a long list.
"Any hip hop?" Mac interrupted.
Allegra just shook her head.
"Oh, I see..." Mac said.
"Hey, can you two get me some more pizza while I tune up my guitar? Thanks!" she said before either could respond.
Both Mac and Tony walked on over to the tables.
"How much should we get her?" Tony asked.
"Just bring a whole box," Mac said as he shoved a full pizza box into Tony's hand.
"Okay..." Tony said.
"Hey," Mac said as he nudged Tony with his elbow. "Are you going to go for it?" his eyes made mention towards Allegra's direction.
"What?" Tony asked, shocked.
"You know," Mac said with a grin as he walked away.
Tony just shook her head and brought the pizza over to Allegra. The two talked and ate some more. It seemed that everyone was talking, and eating, and having a good time. JP and Marisol laughed at the one time Elise tripped at a start or a final race, which resulted he in getting last place. After they finished laughing, there was an awkward silence from the both of them...
"Aaaah! You moron!!!" several people screamed at the top of their lungs as a few snowballs started flying around the room. Psymon had evidently found an escape outside, and he had collected snowballs to throw at a few select targets, namely Elise, Eddie, and Brodi.
Marisol looked up in Seeiah's direction. "I got to go. Seeiah is calling me. I'll see you around!" she said as she walked on over to Seeiah, who seemed surprised to see Marisol.
JP just shook his head, realizing what happened. He began to walk over to the table to get some more food but Zoe had jumped on top of him, literally sitting on his lap.
"How you've been?" she said, smiling.
"Good," JP said, extremely suspicious of her. She didn't appear to be drunk because she couldn't be since the only beverage in the room is Pepsi. Zoe was JP's major enemy last season; certainly she couldn't be up to any good.
"You look real good this year," Zoe said, her eyes scanning the room.
"Thanks. You look great yourself," JP replied, not knowing what he was doing.
"Haha. I never expected you to say that," she laughed.
"Do I look like the type that doesn't give compliments?" JP asked.
"No..." Zoe began, but was distracted because Allegra had started to perform a slow song on her guitar.
Zoe jumped off of JP, turned around, and took his hand, pulling him off of the chair, as she said, "Come on! Let's dance!"
Zoe and JP danced off to the side of the room as Allegra played with Tony watching with awe. Some of the other boarders have sat down, still eating as they watched the rest of the boarders dodge and throw snowballs all over the place. The snowball fight got more and more intense when people started to realize that Psymon wasn't the only one with access to snow.
Once Allegra had finished her song, she stood up yelling, "I can't play like this!", mentioning towards the indoor snowball fight. She packed away her guitar and walked off to put it away. Tony just shrugged at Zoe and JP who were both disappointed at the end of the song, and thus bringing and end to their dancing. The two shrugged and walked away, Zoe to talk to Moby, and JP to watch TV.
Tony walked over to JP's single-couch and just relaxed there alone for a while. Allegra came back, noticing Tony's choice of spot change. She decided to sit down right on top of him.
"Hey," he said as she blocked his line of sight.
"Fine, you want to see this chaos?" she said as she shifted her body onto Tony's lap, throwing an arm around his neck. The two just sat there for a while.
Mac was walking around, drinking Pepsi and talking to others when he noticed Tony and Allegra sitting in that chair together like that. When Allegra wasn't looking, Mac flashed Tony a thumbs-up sign, as Tony just shook his head with a small smile on his face.
"Got you!!!" someone cried at the top of her lungs. Everyone's eyes moved over to Kaori, who was jumping excitedly in place motioning towards a huge pile of snowball remains on Psymon's face.
"Oh, you're really going to get it now!" Psymon threatened as he flung another snowball in Kaori's direction. She screamed and ducked, and the snowball hit Allegra directly in the face.
"Oh thanks a lot!" she yelled as she jumped of Tony to go get a napkin.
"No problem!" Psymon laughed as ten snowballs were flung into his direction.
"What's going on in here!?" called a voice from the entrance.
Everyone in the room quieted down. DJ Atomika walked in with an angry expression on his face. To the boarder's surprise, all remains of the snowball fight had melted away, thanks to the heating system, leaving some people with wet looks.
"Oh, nothing. We were just talking and then the Pepsi spilled by itself all over this gorgeous carpet," Elise explained calmly as she bent down to rub the carpet with a small smile on her face. Everyone knew DJ Atomika was referring to the loud cacophony of shouts and screams that occurred earlier, and none of the boarders wanted to start the circuit off by getting yelled at.
"Oh I see," DJ Atomika muttered as a smile started to spread. "Well, I have just checked out the cabins in which you all will be staying in. We have seven cabins available for you all, two of them being extra large."
The room filled with gasps of excitement. They all wanted the extra large cabins.
"Now it's time to pick out roommates and cabins. I have already thought this out clearly so do not change the plan. The six girls will pair up in two's, and each will take one of the smaller cabins."
A few of the girls appeared shocked that they don't get a chance at the larger cabins.
"For the guys, there will have to be two groups of three. Each group will get an extra large cabin, while the remaining guys will pair up and take the remaining smaller cabins. So hurry up and decide your roommates so you guys can settle in and get to bed early for tomorrow's big race."
The room erupted in extraordinary loud shouts as the boarders started trying to find partners.
"Hey JP!" Tony yelled from one side of the room. "Want to be roommates?!"
"Sure!" JP yelled back from the other side of the room. "Get someone else so we could get a big cabin!"
"Who!?" Tony asked loudly. But JP's answer was smuggled by more screams and shouts from the other boarders.
Seeiah and Marisol have always been close friends, so the two naturally decided to become roommates. Knowing that she might already have a bed reputation with both Allegra and Zoe, Elise decided to room with Kaori. This left Zoe and Allegra to be stuck with each other, but the two probably would have been roommates anyways. Tony and JP were fortunate enough to persuade Nate into joining their group of three to get a large cabin. Because of their small size, Mac and Griff had persuaded Eddie into becoming a group of three. This pairing left Psymon and Viggo to be roommates together as well as Brodi and Moby.
"Now that we got you all paired up, these are the cabins you'll be staying at for the remainder of this SSX season," DJ Atomika said as he gave each group a cabin number, a map, and a key. "Please take all your luggage to your assigned cabin, and I'll see you all tomorrow!"
JP, Tony, and Nate walked outside into the dark, snowy night, dragging their heavy belongs with them.
"Hey Nate, could you carry my stuff for me?" Tony asked realizing that he had packed way too many things that he could carry.
"What do I look like?" Nate asked jokingly.
"A nice guy who will put his muscles to use carrying his friend's stuff?" Tony asked, hoping sweet talking would work.
"Fine," Nate obliged as Tony practically threw his stuff at him.
"What number cabin are we?" JP asked Tony, who now had the map to scout out the area.
"Number seven," Tony replied.
"Is that the cabin that is the farthest away?" Nate asked, a worried look on his face.
"I'm pretty sure," JP joked, trying to bring humor to this dreadful walk.
"I'm not going to be able to carry all this stuff all that way!" Nate complained, still dragging both Tony's and his own luggage.
"Don't doubt yourself," Tony persuaded.
"Too late!" Nate yelled as he jokingly pretended to drop all of Tony's stuff.
"Hey, don't make me come back there!" Tony shot back, obviously a joke.
"Should I take that as a threat coming from such a little guy like you?" Nate teased.
"Let's focus more on finding this cabin, shall we?" JP said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.
The three continued to walk around in silence, searching for cabin number 7. They passed on a few other cabins in the dark, but neither of them was cabin number 7. They looked and saw that Zoe and Allegra had found their cabin, and were enjoying a warn fireplace.
"Are we there yet?" Nate asked annoyed, trying not to look at the warm cabin.
"That's something I would like to know," Tony yawned.
"Is that it?" JP asked pointing to a barely visible outline of a cabin.
"I'll check," Tony said as he ran off towards the outline while JP and Nate continued to drag their belongings in that direction.
"It better be it," JP muttered. "I can't carry this stuff any further."
"At least you're only carrying your own stuff," Nate pointed out as he mentioned towards Tony's belongings.
"That's what you get for being a nice guy," JP sighed.
"It's the cabin!!!" Tony yelled, interrupting JP's and Nate's conversation.
"Finally!" Nate yelled as he started to quicken his pace.
"Hey Jape! Toss me the key!" Tony commanded.
"Nice nickname," Nate murmured as JP threw the key to Tony.
"Shut up!" JP yelled at Nate.
The two boarders finally dragged everything into the cabin that Tony opened. They noticed that he started a fire in a conveniently placed fireplace near the center of the living room. All three boarders decided to explore the log cabin. The cabin contained only four rooms. The living room contained a few comfy chairs, the fireplace, and a table. There was also a small kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, freezer, stove, microwave, sink, and a cupboard filled with eating utensils and bowls. There was also a single large bedroom with three individual beds and a few drawers for the boarders to store stuff in. There was also a small bathroom, which contained all of the necessities a bathroom should have.
"I call this bed!" Tony yelled as he jumped on the middle bed. Nate and JP took the remaining beds that were closer to him. Then the three took their luggage and brought them in to the bedroom so they could unpack them.
Tony and Nate finished unpacking first and they lied down on their beds, leaving JP to finish unpacking on his own.
"So, what's up with the new nickname?" JP asked, making conversation.
"I'm too lazy to say your whole name," Tony responded.
"But it's only two letters!" Nate exclaimed as he laughed.
"Still, if I can shorten it, I will," Tony said with a grin.
"OK then," JP said, learning to simply accept his new nickname.
"So, what do you think of this circuit?" Nate asked Tony, trying to make some more conversation.
"It sounds like fun, although very challenging," Tony said. "I have no idea what the tracks are so I don't know for sure what to expect."
"There's a lot more boarders than I expected there to be," Nate said, looking up at the ceiling of the cabin.
"Yeah, sixteen people is crazy. It's going to be a struggle to get a medal at any event," Tony said with a very disappointed tone.
"Don't worry about it," JP said, still rummaging through a duffel bag. "There's not going to be only one attempt at each event. There's probably going to be more medals and such. That's how it was in the past two seasons. Some people got multiple medals from the same event."
"That's nice to know," Tony muttered.
"So Tony, what do you think of the boarders?" Nate asked out loud.
"Who in particular?" Tony asked back.
"The girls?" he asked teasingly as he turned his head over to Tony.
"You really want to know what I think?" Tony asked with a bored expression.
"I already know you have your eyes set on Allegra," Nate pointed out as he laughed.
"What?!?" Tony yelled as he threw a pillow at Nate. JP just laughed and shook his head.
"Don't play dumb Tony. We all know," JP remarked.
"Then don't bring it up!!" Tony yelled back.
"Fine, so what do you think of the other five girls?" Nate asked, throwing the pillow back at Tony.
"You really want to know?" Tony asked, hating to be put on the spotlight.
"Sure," Nate and JP said together, trying to hide their smiles.
"OK, first there is Zoe. She's pretty hot, with her red hair and all. She looks like the type of girl you can always have a fun time with," Tony explained, looking at the ceiling to avoid Nate's and JP's stares.
"Yeah, but she's seems hard to get," Nate commented, remembering Zoe at the rec room.
"And she has a thing for Moby," JP added, destroying any thoughts Tony or Nate might have had.
"Then there's Kaori. She's cute and seems pretty nice. But she speaks Japanese, right?" Tony continued.
"Yeah, but she's been working on her English," JP responded thoughtfully.
"How old is she? She seems so young," Nate asked out of curiosity.
"Nineteen, but she and Mac always flirt so she's probably already taken," JP commented.
"Then there's Seeiah. She seems nice, and her hair looks great," Tony started.
"She was bald last circuit," JP responded quickly.
"Yeah I heard. It doesn't matter because beauty comes from the heart, not the skin," Tony said quietly.
"So philosophical..." Nate laughed loudly.
"But she seems like a loud person. Then there's Elise, who I wouldn't want to be with," Tony continued on.
"Why? She's pretty hot," Nate said, now looking up at the ceiling again.
"She seems conceited, and fake," Tony commented without a care for what Nate thinks.
"You don't even know her," Nate shot back.
"Still..." Tony started.
"She's sort of stuck-up," JP commented, trying to end the debate before it gets worse.
"Anyways, then last is Marisol. She's pretty, but she has a thick accent. But she seems nice," Tony explained.
"She has a thing for JP," Nate muttered. JP just became quiet.
"What's wrong? Don't like love?" Tony joked at JP.
"No..." JP said as he debated in his mind whether or not to tell them the truth between him and JP.
"So, what's up then?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, you were so informative about the others, but now you're quiet," Nate noticed and pointed out loud.
"Well.. uh.. Marisol and I went out, but broke up," JP said quietly.
"Don't be ashamed of that," Tony said, acting philosophical again.
"Oh well. I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," Nate announced to everyone.
"Yeah, I'm tired too. Are you done unpacking Jape?" Tony asked.
"Why?" JP asked back.
"So we can shut off the lights and stuff," Tony commented.
"Yeah, I'm done," JP responded as he finished zipping up a duffel bag and jumped onto his bed.
"OK then," Tony said as he jumped off the bed to turn off the fireplace and the lights.
"Good night everyone," Tony said, but he couldn't be heard over Nate's snores.
A/N: More action coming up in the next chapter. Please read and review!!! This story really does take a lot of time to write, and I would appreciate it if you would tell me how I should change it.