Nope, but you're on the right track! Besides, Leafmist's running another Ski Lodge, I don't know how she'd manage TWO at the same time!

Activities Director 

P.S. Merry Christmas!! 

Day Zero, Part Two - The Ride and Arrival

“Hey, guys, is it just me or is the person standing near that empty bus holding a sign that says, ‘Chatterboxers welcome’ from High Hopes Academy?” asked Booksy Owly.

“Well, yeah, she could be, I guess.” Sydney shrugged.

“Definitely!” Sweet Tea agreed, walking up to the woman with the sign. Sweet Tea jabbed at a patch on the woman’s polo shirt. “Look, you guys! It says High Hopes Academy! Guess where she’s from?!”

“Disney World?” guessed Poetic Panda hopefully.

“Um...no, I don’t think so, Panda,” Starseeker said regretfully.

“Darn,” Poetic Panda sighed. “I would’ve liked to go there again.”

“Hello,” the woman finally jutted in, “my name is Carla. I’m from High Hopes Academy. Are you all from the Cricket Chatterbox?”

“Chirp, chirp, cricket,” agreed Cho.

“Great!” Carla exclaimed ever so cheerfully. “This is your bus, then! Climb aboard!”

All the CBers shoved their luggage in the back of the bus and clambered on it.

“Wocl,” Wingnut exclaimed.

“Awsm!” Sir Galahad agreed.

“This is so cool, Carla!” Will T. commented.

What the CBers and their CAPTCHAs and AEs was true: the bus really was cool! It was like limo-meets-revamped-school-bus style, with everything you could want in a limousine: a mini fridge, cushy leather seats, tinted windows, soft music, and a sunglass-bearing chauffeur. However, the vehicle was really a revamped school bus, so the outside was large. Very large. As in, the size of your school bus large. Or the size of two cars, if you don’t know the size of a school bus. But the thing was, this vehicle was a school bus - as I said, it was a revamped school bus.

Anyway, Carla began a little welcoming speech after everyone had seated themselves, their AEs, and their CAPTCHAs.

“So, this is the High Hopes Bus. I--” Carla winked-- “hope you all like it!” She laughed at her own joke. “Everything in the mini fridge is up for grabs - go ahead! Also, if you don’t like the radio station we’re tuned in to at any point, just ask your chauffeur, Alfred, to change it, and he certainly will. In addition…” as Carla continued to blab on about soda on the leather seats, the High Hopes Bus approached the property.

The lodge was stunning. Floor-to-ceiling windows adorned the front of the building, along with intricate wood patterns.

“This place is amazing,” remarked Aquina.

“You could say that again,” agreed Sydney.

“This place is amazing,” repeated Cloudfire. Leafmist rolled her eyes.

“Well, CBers, it looks like we’ve arrived!” Carla announced, all too cheerfully. “I’ve got your room arrangements all worked out!

“In the Red Room, we have Leafmist, Sweet Tea, Cloudfire, Biscuit, Misty, Will T., and Rufus.

“In the Blue Room we have Sydney C., Joan B., Sir Galahad, Puck, Cho Chang, Elvina, and Legolas.

“And finally, in the Green Room, we have Poetic Panda, Starseeker, Aquina W., Wingnut, and Shadow Dragon.

“You may notice that the Green Room only has five CBers while the Blue and Red Rooms have seven. My apologies on that. When taking your requests into consideration, there was no way to make the rooms more even. This was as good as it was going to get. Now, Red Room folks, just head up these stairs. It’s the first door on your left. Blue Room folks, head up the stairs and your room is the first on the right. Finally, Green Room folks, head up the stairs and your room is the second on the right,” Carla finished, climbing back into the bus. “What?” she asked, looking at some of the curious CBers. “Albert and I are just going to drive this into the parking lot. Go on up to your rooms,” Carla said, shooing them off.

“Fine, fine, fine,” Puck said reluctantly.

“Mmff,” Misty agreed.

“Let’s go, you guys,” Will said, ushering the AE and CAPTCHA up to their rooms.

The main room in the lodge was just as stunning as the exterior. Inside were dozens of sets of antlers, a few cushy armchairs and couches, floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the mountains and people enjoying them, a hot chocolate stand, and a grand chandelier and staircase. Underneath the staircase was a cozy couch with furry pillows, and when Booksy Owly saw it she knew she’d be reading many good novels there.

In the Red Room, there were five beds and a bunk bed.

“I call top bunk!” Yelled Cloudfire

“Only if I get bottom bunk!!” Sweet Tea yelled back, hurling her bags onto the bottom bunk.

Will T. sighed. “I’ve always liked bunk beds,” he said.

“Me too,” Rufus agreed.

“Well, there’s one thing we can agree on,” Will sighed again.

“Yup,” Rufus said. “So...Cloudfire, you want the top bunk, eh?” he asked, climbing up the ladder.

“Of course I do!” Cloudfire scoffed.

“Well,” Rufus began, now fully on the bed, Cloudfire’s bags in hand, “I guess you’ll just have to fight me for it!”
“NO FAIR!” Cloudfire roared. “You have the advantage, what with all my bags and the height of the bunk bed! You can’t have both!”
“Please come down this instant!” Will T. agreed. “That’s no way to treat a fellow AE!”

“Oh, yes, it can be,” Rufus retorted, pulling out his pie blaster, “with this!” And with that, Rufus hurtled pies at the other CBers, AEs, and CAPTCHAs, and slight “organized” chaos ensued.

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Meanwhile, in the Blue Room, Elvina sat on her bed next to Legolas, unpacking their things; while Joan reminded her AE and CAPTCHA of all the rules of a hotel; and while Sydney and Cho Chang were getting organized on the bunk bed.

“I’ll take top bunk,” Sydney volunteered.

“I dunno,” Cho reminded her, “the top bunk has no railing...it doesn’t really look safe to me. Wanna share the bottom bunk?”

“Nah, it’s okay,” Sydney persisted. “But if this turns into anything like those other ski lodges, with death and everything, can I change my answer?”

“Certainly,” Cho agreed. “I hope you would do the same for me.”

“Legolas!” Elvina exclaimed. “That’s my toothbrush, not yours!”

“Ismn!” Legolas argued.

“Fine, fine, fine, I’ll just go ask the lobby for another toothbrush,” Elvina resolved. “But for the record, that one’s mine.”

“Ismn!!” Legolas yelled, one last time, before Elvina headed back to the lobby.

“So, what you’re saying is, I have to use the darn railing when I go down the stairs?” Puck asked Joan, disappointed.

“I thought it was implied, but by the look on your face, it apparently was not. Yes, Puck, the railings are there for a reason, and we don’t want any CBers getting bowled over, so please use the railing from now on!” Joan chastised.

“Fine,” Puck huffed. “I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything.”

Joan sighed. I guess “a try” is better than nothing, she thought.

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Meanwhile, in the Green Room, Aquina was setting up Wingnut’s bed for him(er?).

“Tshd,” Wingnut said.

“Tea is heard? This is hard? Oh! This is hard,” Aquina translated.

“Yfcs,” Wingnut replied.

“Yeah if can see? Wait, no. Yeah if cats? Nope. Um…”

Wingnut rolled his(er?) eyes.

“OH! Yes of course! That’s what you’ve been trying to tell me,” Aquina realized.

Shadow Dragon was sitting on the top bunk, unpacking her luggage, when she was approached by Starseeker.

“Hey, Shadow Dragon,” Starseeker said.

“Yeah?” Shadow Dragon asked, looking up from her luggage.

“I was wondering...do you think I’m a dragon?” Starseeker asked.

“Um...yeah. I mean, after hearing how much you love Wings of Fire, I’d say you’re practically one of them!” Shadow Dragon joked.

“Well, yes,” Starseeker agreed.

“Dfnt,” Starfire Scales chimed in.

“Definite? Oh, definitely!” Starseeker translated. Starfire Scales rolled her eyes. “What?!” Starseeker asked huffily. Starfire Scales giggled quietly. “Anyway,” Starseeker continued, glaring at Starfire Scales, “I guess you could say I’m really a dragon, Shadow Dragon, but I’m not. What’s it like to have wings like yours?”

“Well,” Shadow Dragon began, thinking hard, “it’s certainly...interesting. When I was first learning to use my wings, I was really, really clumsy.”

“Like Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony when she first got her wings?” Starseeker asked.

“Well, yeah, I guess so. Sounds like it,” Shadow Dragon agreed. “But anyway, that was a really awkward time in my life. I was a real klutz back then. So..yeah. Does that answer your question?”

“Mm-hmm,” Starseeker answered, sitting down on the bottom bunk. Beginning to unpack her things, she listened to Poetic Panda’s conversation with Aquina.

“Whoa! Is that a trident?” asked Poetic Panda.

“Yup,” Aquina replied, picking up the trident from the top of the pile of her things on the suitcase. She began to wield it like a lightsaber. As Aquina began twirling it in her hand, Poetic Panda’s jaw dropped.

“That’s so cool! I wish I had one of those,” Poetic Panda admitted. Aquina nodded understandingly.

“A lot of people do. But unfortunately, you have to come from Atlantis to have one of these,” Aquina explained.

“Darn!” Poetic Panda huffed. “It’s still cool, though.”

Aquina smiled and went back to unpacking her things.

But Poetic Panda had found something...a pillow mint!
“Hey guys, I found a pillow mint!” she exclaimed happily.

“Really?” Aquina asked, searching around her bed. “I don’t think I got one.”

“Hm. Maybe you just missed it or the maids ate it or something,” Poetic Panda mused.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Aquina replied.

Poetic Panda began to unwrap the mint and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm! This is so swee--” Suddenly, Poetic Panda dropped to the floor, using the international symbol for “I can’t breathe”, choking and gasping.

Aquina whipped out her phone and dialed the Atlantis Hospital, but before they could answer it was too late.

Poetic Panda was dead. Her limp body crumpled on the ground. Some of the CBers began to cry.

“So it’s official,” Shadow Dragon confirmed, a nervous look on her face, “There is a murderer among us.”

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R.I.P. Poetic Panda. I killed myself first because I didn’t want anyone to feel bad. Still, I can’t believe I just killed myself.

Activities Director