"Leave off, would you?" Tara yawned; Lee was punching her in the shoulder to pass the time in the 20 minute ride to the top of the mountain.

"Why?" He was grinning at her – he knew that underneath the nonchalant exterior Tara was seething, and it was always funny when she snapped. I mean, she'd given him a nosebleed once, but really it was worth it just to watch. Also, she rarely hit the mark or did any real damage.

"Just Bugger off!" Her hand, or rather, fist, went from her stomach to his cheek in the blink of an eye.

"Both of you stop it!" Jay, who had been half asleep before the shouting started, had been startled by the fist swinging past his nose. He was sitting opposite Tara and Max Lee. "If you hate each other so much, don't sit together!"

"It's not like I had a bloody choice."

"Ping!" Lee flicked Tara's ear in retaliation to the fist, and she burst out crying.

"Oh, bloody... Now look what you did!"

"Well," he said, stretching out the sounds, "She punched me."

"Only 'cause you kept bloody windin' 'er up!" When Jay got worked up, he dropped all of the consonants that weren't needed.

"S'not my fault, is it?"

"'Ou else's bloody fault d'y'reckon it is then?"

"Hers. She should have just ignored me."

"She managed to for ten bloody minutes! Look, you sit 'ere, I'll sit next to 'er. No, don't 'it 'er over the 'ead! Bloody Hell, what's your problem?" He grabbed Lee by the scruff of the neck, and chucked him into the seat that he himself had just vacated, and sat back down next to Tara.

"Now, now, violence never solved anything!" called Lee in a singsong voice, a mad grin on his face. Jay made a fist at him. "Okay, okay, whatever..." He laughed. Jay just tried to ignore him. They said that there was insanity in his family, and this was one of the times when you could see it.

Through the whole exchange Tara had changed from wailing "Somebody just bloody well kill me," to sobbing with her head in her hands, to watching the two of them fearfully, wincing whenever one of them moved suddenly.

"Hey, are you-" Jay reached out to calm her by smoothing her hair, but she jerked backwards. Swiftly changing emotions unnerved her, and in her experience, no one ever did anything for anyone else, leastways not for her, unless they wanted something. Lee she understood – he was a nutcase, pure and simple, and a nosebleed would make him avoid her for a few days. But Jay... Jay she hadn't figured out yet.

"Don't!"

"What? I just..."

"Just don't." Her eyes were downcast, her arms wrapped around her body in a tight embrace. Jay was worried about her. There were rumours that she had cut herself on a school camping trip, but that had never been proven. And the two girls that had been her tent-mates weren't very talkative.

"Ha-ha! Jay loves Tara!" Lee had forgotten all about the threats that had been aimed at him, and was back to his provoking self. Tara's eye's widened.

"Bugger off, Max." Jay couldn't be bothered to deal with him. Hardly anyone had seen inside that bag that Tara carried around, what if she had a knife in there?

"He's not denying it! Tara, will you go out with Jay?"

"I said, Bugger off, Max." Did Tara's eyes just flick up to his when Lee asked that? Or was it just his imagination?

The carriage jerked into the 3rd station, Tara gathered her ski-poles and stepped out into the mist. Silently, the other two followed, but none of them collected their skis from the rack.

&&&

A/N: So what d'ye reckon then? I've tried to put in more depth to the characters in this chapter, and I'll update the next chapter as soon as I get two reviews! Sorry for the long wait, BTW, school and all, you know the drill. Also, I'm going to delete one of my stories, "Digi Raven". I did have a plot worked out and all, but now I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Do you think I should end it with a single chapter or two, or just delete it? Anywho, R&R. Purple button there at the bottom, see it?