Chapter Seventeen
147 days until graduation
“I’m glad it got there, even if it’s a few days late.”
I pick the phone up off my bed, taking it off speaker. “Me too, Mom. Thank you.”
“I miss you, James.” She sounds like she’s on the verge of tears, and it pulls at my heart.
While I was never the closest with my mom, there is still a type of adoration I carry whenever I talk to her, and it’s odd not being with her during this time of year.
And yet, she still doesn’t know that I hate being called James.
“I miss you too, Mom,” I say.
“Are you ready to come home yet?” she asks.
I know she hopes that one of these days I will want to live with her in Italy, but I can’t. I sigh, sitting on the edge of my bed. “We’ve talked about this, Mom.”
Mom’s lifestyle is not for me; it’s too chaotic and unstructured. Italy is her permanent getaway from adulthood and motherhood. I can’t ruin that for her simply because I’m incapable of being as carefree as her.
“I know.” Her voice mirrors mine. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I’m about to say more, but I’m interrupted by knocking on my bedroom door. “I have to go, Mom. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Talk to you later, James,” she replies, her voice cracking.
“Bye,” I tell her, hanging up the phone and standing from my bed.
I open my door to find Logan and Winnifred standing in the hall. I notice they”re both wearing snow pants and winter coats.
“Want to come sledding with us?” Winnifred asks with a smile.
“Um, I don’t have any snow gear,” I tell them.It doesn’t snow often in London, and when it does, it’s not mass amounts like it is here in Connecticut.
“I have extra snow pants downstairs,” Logan resolves.
I have little time to think about it before Winnifred is bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Come on! We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
I was never planning on declining their offer, and Winnifred’s excitement only makes me more keen on the plan.
“Okay, let’s go.” I smile in return, stepping into the hallway, shutting my door behind me.
Once we arrive at the sledding hill, covered entirely with snow gear, I see almost our entire graduating class is here.
“Wow,” I say while getting out of the car, heading toward the trunk to help Logan get the sleds out. “Is this a tradition or something?”
“Every year, all the seniors go sledding the Friday night before the ski-trip.” He motions toward the giant hill. “There are concessions with pizza and hot chocolate, and they play a movie on a giant screen in the parking lot starting at midnight.”
He hands me two sleds, and I hear one of the girls yell from the other side of the parking lot. “Hurry up, guys!” That was Eloise.
Logan laughs, throwing the other two sleds over his shoulder. “The princesses await.”
I look toward the black, rubber track that allows us to climb up the snow-covered hill where Eloise, Winnifred, and Genevieve are already making their way up. Logan and I have to make that same trek, but while carrying all the sleds.
All I’m thinking is they really are princesses, but Logan has never seemed to mind.
“Girls!” Logan calls toward them once we reach the top of the hill. “You’re all going down Death Mountain first!” He points to the corresponding sign.
Death Mountain is probably the steepest sledding hill I’ve ever seen, complete with a ramp made from snow a quarter of the way down.
“Already planning on it.” Eloise smiles as we approach.
“Of course, you were.” Logan laughs, rolling his eyes as Eloise grabs a sled and separates from the rest of the group.
We place the sleds on the ground, and get the girls situated in them. “Ready?” Logan asks Winnifred and Genevieve.
They’re both already laughing as we bring them to the edge of the drop-off. This isn’t Death Mountain, but it’s still a pretty intimidating slope.
Neither of them even flinch as they teeter on the edge, and Logan gives them one last shove to send them flying.They squeal in elation as they make their way down the hill.
“They like that more than I’d expect them to.” I grin as I watch them reach the bottom. I find myself more and more shocked by the pair the longer I spend time with them.
“If there is anything to know about those two girls together, it’s that when they’re together, they are unstoppable,” Logan responds, grabbing two more sleds, handing one of them to me. “Come on, let’s go.”
I see the three girls make their way back up the track as Logan and I ready ourselves for the drop. I’m assuming Eloise went down Death Mountain without a thought and met them at the bottom.
“You ready?” Logan asks, and when I pause for a second, looking down at the slope, he adds, “No guts, no glory.”
With that, we push off, sliding down the hillside much faster than the girls did. I can’t lie, it feels fucking fantastic.
It’s ironic, how alive I feel when I allow my heart to skip a few beats.
Adrenaline. The body’s natural drug.
We send the girls down the hill once again, Eloise in one, and Genevieve and Winnifred in another.
Most of my and Logan’s time here has been spent pushing them down, and then helping them back up the mountain after Eloise and Genevieve spiked their hot chocolates.
Logan and I have probably gone down half as many times as they have.
We watch the girls go down, laughing and screaming, until they hit the halfway point.
“Does it look like they’re going to…” Logan trails off, watching them more closely.
Suddenly, Eloise’s sled veers to the right, slamming directly into Genevieve and Winnifred”s.
“Holy shit!” Logan yells in shock, already running down the hill. I follow, and when we reach the girls, I’m shocked we made it down almost the entire slope without falling.
“Winnie!” He yells, watching her flop out of the sled and onto the snowbank.
I say nothing as we slow to a stop in front of the girls. None of them appear to be in distress, but from far away, their collision looked much worse.
“Are you okay?” I ask Genevieve as she sits up. She’s on the ground at my feet, her brown hair tousled over her face, freckles a little less noticeable because of her red cheeks.
I pick her hat up out of the snow, handing it to her after brushing a majority of the snow off it. “Here.”
She rips it from my hand, a little harshly if I must say so myself. “I don’t need your help,” she says, pushing herself up.
Her tone isn’t audacious, and she doesn’t seem as hot-headed as she usually acts around me. Genevieve Alderidge is a shark—one who wants to be independent—and she feels the only way for her to do that is by ripping the heads off anyone who attempts to help her.
“Are you okay?” Logan asks Genevieve and Eloise. Winnifred is standing next to him, looking as disheveled as the other two.
Logan is holding Winnifred and Genevie’s sled, which is now in two pieces. Mutilated and completely unusable.
“I can’t believe we wiped out on the bunny slope,” Eloise groans as she stands. “We look like pussies.”
“Don’t even start,” Genevieve says. “The only reason we wiped out was because you kept trying to get closer to us.”
“Hey!” Winnifred interjects, as if she’s splitting up an impending fight. “We’re fine, it was an accident.”
“I’m sorry,” Eloise says, seeming sincere.
“It’s fine, just try not to kill me next time you want to do something thrill seeking and stupid,” Genevieve replies.
“Gen,” Eloise sighs. “I promise not to kill you. Not anytime soon at least.”
“I’m glad.” She shoves Eloise’s shoulder. “I have more potential than the average person, remember that.”
I laugh at that, not because I didn’t know it was true, but because she felt the need to announce it.As if her potential was the only thing that would make somebody want to keep her alive. I almost want to assure her the reasons extend further than that, but I decide against it.
“What are you laughing about?” She snaps at me.
“Nothing you should be concerned about,” I respond, picking up her sled.
Genevieve wrenches it out of my grasp almost immediately, like she had with the hat. “I got it.”
I find it funny that she only feels the need to carry her own sled once I try to do it for her. Logan has been carrying her sled back up the hill all night, and she had no issue with it.
This is the seesaw we’ve been on since the moment we officially met. Genevieve is either up, or she’s down. There is no in-between.She’s either able to be civil with me, or she’s entirely in tune with her hatred for me and she teeters back and forth between the two without realizing it.
We make it back up the hill with only a few minutes left until the movie plays in the parking lot, so we decide to go down one final time before midnight.
“Okay, E is going on Death Mountain, and Winnie is scared to go, so I told her I would go with her,” Logan tells me with a wince. I know I’m not going to like what he has to say next. “So, can you go with Gen?”
I groan. “Don’t do this to me, man.”
He looks slightly sympathetic. “We only have three sleds now, there’s no other way.”
I sigh, knowing he does really want to go with Winnifred. “Fine, but you’re going to be the one to tell her.”
“Winnie’s already got that covered.”
“Great.” I smirk, the sarcasm dripping from my voice.
“Jameson, if you”re riding in a sled with me then you better get over here,” Genevieve yells, her tone full of contempt.
“See you on the other side, soldier,” Logan jokes as he makes his way toward Winnifred’s sled.
Eloise is already long gone, and when I look over toward Death Mountain, she’s already halfway down.
I approach Genevieve, careful not to strike a nerve as I drag our sled toward the hill’s edge.
“Listen to me.” Genevieve points a finger toward me, “Keep your hands to yourself.”
I almost laugh. “You really think that, out of all the times I could choose to make a move, it would be as we are flying down a hill of ice?”
“Ew.” Genevieve’s face sours. “I didn’t mean like that. I literally meant don’t touch me.”
“That’ll be difficult when we’re in a shoebox of a sled, but I’ll try my best, love.” I smirk as I sit in the back of the sled, spreading my legs on either side so my feet are holding it still.
She moves to sit too, and when she does, she lands directly between my thighs. “Great.” She sighs, attempting to push herself to the front of the sled as far as she can.
“Genova, you’re going to have to lean back,” I tell her remorsefully.
“No chance in hell,” she replies, leaning forward more. “Just go.”
“Are you really trying to do this the hard way?” I ask.
“I’m trying to do this the easy way, that’s why I’m telling you to go,” she spits back.
“You’re forcing my hand, love,” I tell her quietly before wrapping my arm around her waist and yanking her into me, her back against my chest.Before she can even think to react, I push us down the ledge, pulling my feet into the sled.
She screams at the drop, making my lips lift the slightest bit.
“I hate you!” She yells, jamming her shoulder into my ribcage.
My coat shields it, so I barely feel it.
We hit a big patch of ice, making us jerk roughly to the left.
“Jameson!” Her voice raises another octave as she reaches back to grab at my arm. Her nails dig into my bicep, making my grasp on her waist tighten.
“We’re fine, we’re fine,” I attempt to reassure her, but her grip does not let up.
“This is not fine.” She grits through her teeth. “Our entire bodies are touching, and my nails are in your arm. Nothing about this is fine!”
I grin at her exaggeration. “Would you rather them be in my back?” I jest as we reach the bottom.
Genevieve stands as soon as our sled is stopped, but not before turning and punching me in the arm. “You are sick!”
I hold up my hands in mock surrender. “I’m just kidding, love.”
“Even if you weren’t, it’s never happening.” Her irritation is evident. “So keep your unrequited fantasies in your pants.”
“That’s really what you think?” A laugh bubbles in my chest at the idea of her thinking I have any romantic feelings for her. “I want to fuck you about as badly as you want to fuck me. I promise you that.”
“What makes you so sure?” She smirks.
“Genova.” I grab her wrist as I stand, kicking the sled out from under me. “Don’t play with me.”
Her cheeky grin stays the same. “Or what?”
Her demeanor is questionable, and I can’t help but wonder when the next flip of the switch will be, when she will suddenly decide she can’t stand me yet again.
“Come on,” I tell her, not even bothering to answer her question.
I grab the sled as we walk toward the parking lot, where Winnifred and Logan are waiting for us by the car.
“What are we waiting for?” I ask as I throw the last sled in the truck.
“We were waiting for you guys,” Winnifred replies, motioning between her and Logan. “El got impatient, so she went to go get snacks.”
The screen suddenly goes from black to white, lighting up the parking lot full of cars, almost every trunk open.
We walk over to Genevieve’s car once we see Eloise is heading back from the concession stand, and we lay down pillows and blankets in the trunk.
It’s a tight fit, but we make it work somehow. Genevieve sits against the car door with Winnifred’s head in her lap. Eloise lays down the middle, and Logan and I are sitting up across from Genevieve.
The movie that’s playing is one I’ve never seen before. It looks to be some type of rom-com from the early two-thousands.
I learn after the movie begins that Genevieve and Logan were in charge of the movie selection, being student body president and vice president, but they elicited Winnifred’s help. She picked a rom-com, How to Lose a Guy In 10 Days.
I notice Genevieve and Winnifred watch the movie with more interest than anyone else in the car. Genevieve even grumbles at the overly cheesy parts, but we can all tell she is fully entranced with the main love interest.
Eloise is struggling to stay awake, only glancing up at the scenes the other girls react to.Logan and I have been watching on and off, paying more attention to the people in the cars surrounding us, laughing to each other as we people watch.
Once the movie is over, Winnifred, Logan, and I go back to Logan’s car to head home. It’s a little after two a.m., and we are all feeling it.
That’s probably why we ride home in dead silence, without even the radio playing. The only time we talk is when Logan and I tell Winnifred goodbye before she walks back to her house.
“I’ll see you guys on the bus, Monday.” She waves, making it to her own front yard.
Logan and I head back from the front porch, yawning as we make sure she makes it inside okay.
Monday is the first day of the Fairwood Prep Annual Ski-Trip. So, at six o’clock that morning, the entire senior class will load onto a bus and drive two hours to a hotel in New York City.
A week in a hotel, taking college tours, going to conferences, and skiing.
What could possibly go wrong?