Chapter Text
“Wanna hang out before dinner, guys?” Sebastian asked Tasha and her friends once they had finally arrived back at the hotel.
The trip today was rather tiring. Tasha was ready to say no, but her friend, Sophie, was faster. Looks like she won’t be resting, after all.
“Sure. Why not?” Sophie answered quickly. She was trying to sound composed, but Tasha knew very well how Sophie felt about Sebastian. She’s had a crush on him ever since the first time he walked past her.
He was a popular seventeen-year-old boy from their class. His hair was regularly messy, and his choice of clothing was nothing special. Natasha could never understand what Sophie saw in him. But to be fair, she never really liked boys that way, regardless.
Sebastian grinned, gave them a thumbs up, and ran off to his boy group. Tasha replied with a forced smile. It is not like she hated him, but right now she’d rather rest and listen to some music.
・・・
In a few minutes, they arrived at their room. Tasha shared her room with three other girls, Sophie, Mary, and Eloise. Mary and Eloise were best friends. Because there were no free rooms for two people, they had to be in the same room as Sophie and Natasha for the whole school trip.
Thankfully, Mary and Eloise were both likable people that Tasha didn’t mind sharing her space with.
Sophie opened the door and the girls walked in. The scent of a stuffy room welcomed them. All sorts of smells reached Tasha's nose as she breathed in—unfinished chips from yesterday, dirty clothes, and much more. Eloise didn't hesitate for even a second and quickly ran to the window, in hopes of expelling whatever it was that formed in this room during the time they were gone. Maybe in the future, they should leave a window or two open before they head out for a day trip.
“I now understand why people say it stinks in here when they come in…” Sophie exhaled in disgust as she sat down on her bed.
Tasha made her way through the mess on the floor so that she could reach her backpack. She almost stepped on someone's clothes a few times; however, she made it to her bed in the end. She took a few moments to enjoy the nice feeling of her exhausted legs finally being able to rest, and reached for her backpack that was lying on the floor. As she scavenged through it, she let out a soft scoff. Sophie looked at her with a questioning look as she tilted her head to look at what Tasha was holding in her hand.
She pulled out a box of Gummy Clusters.
“Care for a treat, ladies?” Tasha asked as she waved the plastic bag of candy above her head. All three girls immediately ran to her.
“Hell yeah!” Sophie yelled and immediately formed a bowl with her hands just like Mary and Eloise did. Tasha poured some candy into each girl's hand, eventually grabbing some for herself as well.
“I love Nerds!” Eloise said with her mouth full as she chewed down on one.
Tasha laughed.
“Sure you do!”
The whole group started laughing at this small inside joke as they enjoyed their reward.
“Hey, didn’t Sebastian want us to visit the boys' room before dinner?” Mary asked as she finished her last piece of candy.
“You’re right!” Sophie exclaimed at the reminder and quickly stood up. “What time is it?”
She asked as she turned around to look at Tasha, who was still sitting on her bed, clearly unamused. Natasha rolled up her sleeve to look at the small hand watch she's had since she was at least eight. It was almost five o'clock.
“Relax. There’s still at least two hours until dinner starts.” Tasha said in a calm voice as she started putting the bag of candy back into her backpack.
“Let’s go now; the whole class is probably already there,” Mary stated, grabbed her water bottle, and made her way to the door. Eloise followed swiftly behind her as they both left the room, leaving only Tasha and Sophie in their room alone.
Sophie was still looking at Tasha. She looked on edge –as if Tasha were to stall any longer, the whole world would explode. Tasha rolled her eyes but finally stood up, gesturing that she was ready to leave as well. A bright smile formed on Sophie's face, and they both left through the door.
・・・
In the end, hanging out with almost the entire class wasn’t such a bad idea. Sure, Tasha would still rather relax than socialize at the moment, although she considered herself to be lucky for having such a nice class. It wasn’t like this in middle school.
Natasha sat on the windowsill. She found herself enjoying this moment. After all, she was already seventeen; if she wanted her life to get interesting, it was now that she had to start doing something for it.
Time was passing by fast. At the moment, she was just listening to people sing and gossip. One of her classmates was even playing a guitar. She looked around the room and noticed Sophie, who was talking to Sebastian. They were both laughing. A small, subtle smile carved into Tasha's face. She decided to check the clock. Someone should. She raised her hand and looked at the time. The smaller clock hand was making its way to the number six, while the bigger one was somewhere around the number four.
“5:20,” she murmured to herself and lifted her head back up. The moment she did so, a person got a bit too close; they probably forgot Tasha was sitting there and bumped into her. She hadn't even put her hand back down yet. She couldn't even react. It all happened so fast.
Tasha found herself losing balance and falling backwards. She expected the window to immediately stop her fall; however, Tasha had forgotten about one very important detail —the window behind her was open.
The whole world spun around her as her body suddenly fell through the window frame and started falling. Falling. She was falling! On what floor was she again? Third? Maybe fourth? Everything was suddenly moving so slowly. It was as if she were falling in slow motion. But she knew she wasn't. She was falling to her death. Fear. All sorts of emotions and thoughts filled her mind, but then, everything went silent, and she was swallowed in darkness.
Did she pass out? No, she was dead, wasn’t she?