Alright, guys. That was really lame. TWO comments? Hopefully the number of comments will increase with the numbers of chapters...like 3 for chapter 3? =P I really don't like begging for comments, but I also do NOT want to keep writing and posting this story if no one reads it...
Chapter Three
“Hi, I’m Hadley,” Hadley kindly acknowledged the four people who had just walked into the room. “I’ll be your instructor for today.” She watched as the boy’s eyes scanned her body up and down when she suddenly recognized him as the one and only Joe Jonas, and his two brothers, Nick and Kevin, standing beside him. She wasn’t sure who the girl was, but she assumed she would only find out soon enough.
Kevin was the first to respond. “It’s nice to meet you,” he replied, smiling and shaking Hadley’s hand. “I’m Kevin, this is my girlfriend, Kat, and my two younger brothers, Joe and Nick.”
Hadley blushed, making it painfully obvious that she already knew who they were, with the exception of Kat. They all shook her hand, trying to ignore the fact that they had been “discovered”. There was a long awkward silence, and Hadley could feel Joe staring a hole through her forehead.
“Well, we should probably get going,” Hadley quickly suggested, grabbing her board and heading towards the door. She stopped when she realized that they had no clue what they were doing. “Come on,” she called. Nick was the brave one, grabbing the snowboard he had rented and following her out the door. Kevin and Kat were next, and Joe slowly brought up the rear. Hadley told the first three to walk to the lift while she waited for Joe.
“What’s the matter, rockstar?” she joked when he finally reached the door.
He finally managed to crack a smile and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I’m tired.”
“Too much touring?” Hadley honestly questioned, leading Joe across the open area of freshly mowed snow towards the bottom of the lift.
Joe nodded and sighed. “It’s nice to finally get a break,” he admitted. Even though he had known her for less than five minutes, he was glad she broke the ice because he felt that he could trust her.
“I know what you mean,” Hadley replied.
Joe turned his head towards her. “What, are you a big celebrity, too?”
Hadley chuckled and shook her head. “Nope. School’s just not fun anymore. Not to mention things are working out so well with the family.”
Joe looked away. “Oh…I’m sorry,” he apologized, feeling sorry for this girl who seemed to have as many issues as him.
“Nah, it’s alright,” she replied as they neared the lift. “I’m still alive, aren’t I? That’s all that matters.”
Joe couldn’t help but smile. This girl was incredible; she just threw her problems away like they meant nothing, when they were most likely ten times as worse as his.
The two of them finally made their way to the lift, only to find that they were the only people on the hill.
“Do you two want to go first?” Hadley asked, nodding to Kevin and Kat. Kevin looked worried, but Kat just smiled, her blue jacket causing her bright blue eyes to pop.
“Sure,” she replied. “I’ve been skiing before, so I’ll help Kev,” Hadley saw Kat wink at him, and the two hopped onto the lift. It was a triple, meaning three people fit to each seat. Since Joe and Nick had never even ridden on a chair lift before, Hadley made the decision that the three of them would ride together, with her in the middle. She had to admit, it was a bit awkward riding in a chairlift between two of the hottest celebrities around.
They were now on their way to the top of the hill, chatting about what they would be learning in the lesson. Since the mountain was so high, the ride up took about 10 minutes, so they had plenty of time to talk.
“So you’ve never been boarding before?” Hadley asked. Nick was the first to speak up, just as it had been in all of the past conversations they had been having. It surprised Hadley, because she had heard so much about Joe being the talkative one.
“Nope, this is our first time,” Nick replied. Hadley turned towards Joe to see if he had anything to say, only to find him quickly turning away from where he had been staring at the side of her head.
“I have to tell you that it’s quite a bit harder than it looks,” Hadley admitted.
Nick laughed. “Well, we’re always up for a challenge, right Joe?”
Joe jerked his head around. “Uh, yeah, challenge. You got it.”
Hadley hid her giggling at his loss of words, leaving a silence between the three.
“So, Hadley,” Nick stated. “How did you get to working here, at this place?”
Hadley bit her lip and looked down at her pink snowboard. “Well…” she started. “My parents sort of, uh, own the place,” she admitted.
She looked up and saw Nick smiling. “That’s awesome! So did you, like, grow up here?” He asked, suddenly full of energy.
Hadley nodded. “My brother, Connor, and I used to come ski and board every day after school when we were younger,” she told them. “He went to college in August, so now it’s just me.”
“Do your parents go with you, or are they too busy running the place?” Nick asked.
Hadley was quiet. The truth was, her parents were never around. It wasn’t that they were always working…well, that was true for her father. He was always on one business trip or another. And her mother wasn’t really the motherly figure you would expect. She spent her life at their vacation home in the Florida Keys, shopping all day and partying all night. What was she supposed to do? Her husband was rich, which meant she was, too. She didn’t care about her children; she spent the first ten years with them, then let them go. The year Hadley turned ten; that was when her mother went wild. She spent all of the money she could get her hands on, buying snakeskin purses worth $10,000. Hadley and Connor were taken care of by their nanny, Rose, for the rest of their childhoods. Their parents would come home once a month, only for a few days. It was hard for the kids at first, but they finally dealt with it. Connor hid away in his room, while Hadley did the complete opposite.
She thought that becoming popular, making out with boys, and drinking away her problems would help make it all go away. The first two were easy: she had plenty of fake friends, and guys were all over her. But she began drinking at the mere age of 15. After a year, she finally gained enough courage to stop, and with help from Rose and her brother, Connor, she had now been sober for a full year. That was her deepest, darkest secret, one she hoped never to tell to anyone, and she also hoped to never start again. It was extremely difficult, but she was still trying.
Hadley finally responded. “Yeah, something like that.” She thanked the Lord that the chairlift ride was over when they finally reached the top.
