Chapter Text
Prologue: The Neverending Vacation Getaway [START!]
The bus bounced gently as it traveled along the road up the mountainside. Staring out the window was nice. The thick forest of trees coated in frosty white snow was like something straight out of a Christmas card. That paired with the rock music playing through my headphones paired up to make a long bus ride feel like no time.
I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly lucky at all, but I was still able to win that lottery in the end. I glance down at the ticket still in my hand--one of sixteen that had been randomly sent out to TYCP students for an all-expenses-paid vacation to a resort in the mountains. I still can’t believe I was one of those sixteen. Normally, it’s the people around me that get lucky breaks like that.
That’s what comes with the territory of my talent, though. Nichole Clover, Ultimate Lucky Charm --has a bit of a ring to it, right? Well, the last name might be a bit on the nose, but I just say it’s good for branding! Can’t forget a talent like that this way, after all. Not that I could ever forget my own talent regardless. Luck is basically my thing, but instead of the standard lucky student talent, I just so happen to affect the luck of everyone but myself. Well, technically it still affects my own luck, but just in how others are affected.
And as the Ultimate Lucky Charm, I made sure to be wearing my luckiest outfit for this vacation! That’s why I had my favorite yellow jacket with a purple stripe along the chest, as well as a yellow shirt with my lucky number--four--on it in black font. Yellow is my luckiest color, after all. And then I pair it with my luckiest blue jeans and yellow sneakers. My own personal lucky charm rests around my neck--a cute little cat with its left ear missing which was totally not my fault. And then I keep my thick, curly brown hair tied back with my lucky hair tie! And the ponytail look is also good for luck.
Lucky luck luckity luck luck. It’s starting to sound like less of a word the more I think about it. But I kind of always have to be thinking about it. That's what my rules are for-- Nichole Clover’s Rules to Lucky Living . As long as I follow all of them at all times, then everything will be alright! Totally foolproof. That’s why I’m doing Rule #204: Listen to music during long car rides . If I don’t, there might be an accident or something will break down or there’ll need to be emergency stops every fifteen minutes. Total bummer! But if I listen to music the whole time, everything will go smoothly!
That’s just the kind of life I have to live, but hey, I’m living it to its fullest! Just as long as I make sure to live it following all of my rules.
The bus makes a turn on the road and the Christmas card-y scenery turns into something out of a celebrity magazine. A huge building sat before us, surrounded by a large metal fence and a gate. The large main building looked like it was the place we’d be staying at and there were several other buildings nearby. It kind of looked like a giant mommy mansion with baby mansions!
I pull down my headphones to hear the excited murmuring of everyone else on the bus. The bus pulled through the gate and the resort loomed over us now. I felt way underdressed seeing a place as fancy as this one. Do mountain resorts have dress codes? Maybe I should have worn my luckiest ball gown instead...wait, I don’t own one of those. Okay, maybe I should have bought a lucky ball gown first. I’m sure they sell those somewhere.
The bus parks itself at the entrance of the building and the doors open. Being at the front, I didn’t want to get stuck wading through a group of teenagers so I hopped to my feet and hurried off the bus.
Snow crunches under my feet as I hop to the ground. I make sure my right foot touches first-- Rule #05: Start off on the right foot. Literally. It helps make sure things go right in new places. Everyone had put their stuff into the back of the bus, and being the first one out, I made my way right over and throw open the back door.
Everything spills out around me, crashing to the group in a huge heap in the snow. I blink, staring blankly at the mostly empty back. Only a handful of bags remained in place now--all mine. “...whoops.” I think I got my left and right feet mixed up again. Now I’ve started the vacation off left.
“Hey, what’d you do?!” an angry voice demands from behind me.
I turn around with a big, sheepish grin. “Sorry, sorry, my bad! I totally--woah, pretty.”
The girl standing behind me was a bit taller than me with one hand resting on her hip. Despite the cold weather, she looked like she was dressed for a beach party or something. She had on a pink crop top with a short jean jacket over it and a pair of yellow shorts. She wasn’t wearing socks, showing off most of her legs down to the pink heels she had on. Her hair was an auburn brown and straight, letting it flow down her back with her bags making sure not to cover her face. A very pretty face, I might add, with pink blush and bright red lipstick and purple eyeliner all to compliment her pink eyes. A pair of pink shades were sitting on top of her head, ready to wear at a moment's notice despite the weather. She also had a very curvy body, basically the total opposite of my more chubby figure. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve seen her face before in magazines--I think she’s a model or something.
The girl rolls her eyes and frowns. “Ugh, whatever. If you got any of my clothes wet, you’re paying for it.” She snatches up some pink bags from the ground, letting me see the red nails she had on both hands.
“Oh, lemme help with that!” I say quickly. It was my fault this happened, anyway, so I might as well. I help the girl gather her things up--she must have practiced carrying all those bags because she managed to pull it off when there had to be at least ten of them. By the time I was done helping her, the others had gathered around, all despondent as they started grabbing their things out of the snow. I made sure to help all of them, too.
By the time the last of the students was walking off, I was the only one who hadn’t gotten their luggage. But! At least everyone else got their stuff relatively undamaged. “Okay, everything is fine, Nichole. One bad luck incident doesn’t mean nothin’! From now on, think good things and make good luck! Like...puppies. Rainbows. Hot guys. Warm cookies. Cute girls.” I rub my temples, eyes closed tight as I fill my head with positive things. “...done! Now, time for an awesome vacation!” I grab my bags from the back and head for the entrance. The bus takes off once I made it to the doors with the large gate closing behind it. This time, I’m 120% sure I step into the building with my right foot.
I stepped into a large lobby that was beautiful. My footsteps echoed on the tiled floor around the large room. A chandelier was hung above us to illuminate the space. The lobby had a few couches to sit at and some decorative plants. Directly before me is a grand staircase that led to a second floor, a red carpet covering most of the steps. To the left of the staircase is an oak check-in desk with a wall of room keys behind it. I walk over to it and set my bags down. There was a sign-in book that everyone had scribbled their names down on. I take the pen and do the same.
I look around for a moment but I don’t see any staff at all. Not even other guests. The others probably got helped already because they got inside before me, but you’d think there’d be someone behind the desk. Good thing there was a big shiny bell sitting on the desk. I give it a good smack to let it ring. Brrring~ “Hellooooo?” I look around again. No answer. I’m sure they won’t mind if I ring the bell again...
Brrring~ Brrring~ Brrring~ Brrring~ Brrring~ Brrring~ Brrring~
I was about to hit it again when a paw quickly swiped the bell away. My hand smacks the desk instead. “Ouch!” I jerk my hand back and pout. I hit it too hard...
...wait, a paw did that? Just before I could wrap my mind fully around what I saw, two stuffed animals hop up onto the desk before me--a cat and a dog. They were the same height and shape, round and squishy. The cat had pointy ears and was blue and white, colors separated right down the middle, with a blue tie and a red suit jacket. The dog had round, floppy ears and his colors were inversed--half red and white with a red bowtie and blue suit jacket. They couldn’t be much taller than a couple of feet.
“You rang?” the cat asks in a tired, gruff voice. He sounded annoyed.
“And rang and rang and rang and rang!” the dog adds in a much more excited voice.
“...uh...yes?” Am I actually seeing this right now? A couple of toy mascots...are talking to me?
The cat sighs. “You’re the last of the students, aren’t you?” He looks down at the sign-in book. “Nichole Clover?”
“Uh--y-yeah, that’s right! And...you are..?”
“We’re the workers here, dutifully at your beck and call!” the dog says with his tail wagging. “My name’s Monodog and this is my bestest buddy, Monocat!”
“We’re coworkers,” the cat corrects.
I rub my chin as I look the two of them over for a few seconds. I snap my fingers with a grin. “I got it! You guys are like that old cartoon I used to watch! But I think you’re supposed to be joined at the waist.”
Monocat’s ears lower. “Please don’t give him any ideas.”
“Wait, it’s possible for me to be even CLOSER to Monocat?!” the dog barks out excitedly.
“Anyway! What is it that you needed, Miss Clover?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, that!” I kind of forgot I was trying to get some help from the staff while ringing the bell. “I wanted to know where my room is so I can drop my stuff off there.”
The cat and dog hop off the desk again and, with one standing on the other’s shoulders, are able to reach up and snag one of the room keys from the rack behind the desk. Soon they’re standing in front of me again, the cat holding the key out to me. “Your room will be at the end of the hall on the second floor. The others already got the rest.”
“Yeah, that’s cool!” I take the key and stuff it in my pocket. “This place is super fancy. Are there any more cool mascot staff guys?”
“It’s just us!” Monodog says. “This is a vacation just for your sixteen, so to make sure no one else bugged you, you have the whole resort to yourselves! If any of you have any needs at all, you can just give us a ring any time and we’ll come running! We can do just about anything you want!”
“WIthin reason,” Monocat corrects. “Just ring one of the bells around the building or use your room phone.”
“It’s really just the two of you?” I ask curiously. “Is that gonna be okay for sixteen of us..?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be more than enough!” Monodog assures. “We’ll handle anything you all need, so just relax and have fun!”
Huh...cool! This almost feels like an amusement park or something with them around. Maybe I can take one of them home with me when the vacation is over.
“If that’s all, you can find your room by going up the stairs and down the left hall,” Monocat says, pointing to the staircase. “Please make yourself comfortable and give us a ring if you need anything at all. One ring.”
“Yep, gotcha, thanks a ton!” I scoop up my bags again and hurry along to the staircase. I definitely want to do the princess thing on my way back down where I look gorgeous and everyone is watching me as I move down the stairs and wave. I bet the others wanna do it, too! We can totally take turns being princesses!
The second-floor hall is fully carpeted, the same velvet red as the staircase rug. I head down the left hall like instructed, passing by a cluster of other rooms. Mine was at the very end on the left, room 216. My key lets me in with ease.
The bedroom is easily as big as my living room back home. The bed is huge, set up to fit at least three people in it. The room has a flatscreen TV that took up most of the retail space on the wall the bed was facing. There’s also a couch and a couple of chairs, all looking incredibly comfortable. A nightstand by the bed has a lamp and a digital clock. There’s a desk next to the TV that’s polished to a sheen. The room also came with a walk-in closet and a bathroom fully equipped with a shower, tub, sink, and toilet as well as those cute travel shampoos!
I dump my bags at the door and immediately leap onto the bed. Pillows bounce and the blanket flourishes around me. I scoop up as many of the pillows as possible and bury my face into them. “Ooooh, so sooooft..! It feels like riding a cloud!”
...now I don’t wanna move at all. I just wanna sink deeper and deeper into the warm, soft bed and hibernate until spring.
I jerk my head up suddenly. “Wait! I wanna go see that cute girl again!” I scramble out of bed quickly, not bothering to pick up the pillows I knock onto the floor. I didn’t even get that girl’s name! It’s totally on the tip of my tongue but it would be way cooler to have her say it to me. Oh, maybe we can have a romantic winter vacation together in the mountains!
“Agh, no, swoon later!” I smack both of my cheeks. “Name first, then flirt! She’ll think you’re a total creep-o if you flirt first and name later. Man, what do cute girls even like?” I start opening my bags and going through them to see if I had brought any nicer outfits to put on. Unfortunately, I’ve never really cared about what I wear, and now that I suddenly do, everything is ugly! Why is that even a thing that can happen?!
By the time I’ve emptied out all of my bags and more-or-less thrown my things all over the room, I’m still wearing what I was wearing but now my room is a mess. “Maaaan...now I gotta clean all of this up...” Ooooor...I can do it later . After all, the most important thing is going out and meeting everyone else! It’s not like they’re gonna be visiting my room any time soon...unless that cute girl wants to. But she probably won’t so the mess can wait!
With my attitude turned right around, I make my way back out of my bedroom. The fanciness of the resort still fills me with a lot of awe and as I take in the hallway again, I realize that I was no longer the only person around.
It’s that cute girl again! And she’s still as cute as before! But now she’s talking to someone else. A really hot guy that I also have some vague recognition of. Is he in magazines, too? Or maybe TV..?
The guy has a really pretty face with a shining yellow eye, although I can’t see his right eye because the bangs of his blonde hair seem to be purposefully swept over to cover it. A cocky expression seemed to rest naturally on his face. Below the money maker is a leather jacket and white t-shirt that has a fake blood splatter design over his heart with jagged lines along the shirt making it look like broken glass--and both are over a muscular figure. His right hand was wrapped up in some kind of red cloth. He was also wearing some blue jeans that were frayed at the ankles, showing off his brown sneakers better.
Crap, does the pretty girl have a hot boyfriend? Of course, she’d have a hot boyfriend! My dreams of romance have been crushed before they even started! Maybe I should get a hot boyfriend then. That’s just as good, after all!
The guy’s eye catches my own and I realize that I’m going to be locked into the endless conflict known as...small talk!
“Hey there,” the guy says with a toothy grin.
I let out a laugh despite nothing funny being told. I realize that was weird and that I should be trying to act natural instead. “I mean...uh, hi! No, hey. Yo....’sup.” Nailed it.
The guy snorts and the girl finally looks in my direction, too. “You’re the girl that helped us with our luggage, right?” the hot guy asks.
“She’s the girl that spilled all of our luggage into the snow,” the cute girl corrects.
“Haha, yeah, that’s me...both of them,” I admit. I walk forward so I wasn’t talking to them from across the hall. “My name’s Nichole! Nichole Clover! I’m the Ultimate Lucky Charm!”
The guy blinks and cocks his head. “Lucky charm..? That’s a new one.”
“Yeah, I was one of those kids that got chosen by that luck lottery thing. Except I’m not very lucky myself--instead, I give luck to other people!”
“Spilling all of our stuff out of the bus isn’t very lucky of you,” the cute girl points out.
“Yeeeeeah, my luck can be good and bad. It kinda just depends. But I’ve got a bunch of tricks to make sure it’s mostly good! That bus thing was a fluke, I swear it’ll be the worst part of the vacation.”
“Well, if you swear it, then can you guess the wi-fi password? I’m getting, like, no reception out here and those weird toys just started arguing when I asked them.” The girl fishes her phone out of her back pocket and holds it up with a frown. “You’d think a place this nice would have a signal or something.”
“Aw, don’t be so hard on Nichole,” the boy says with a lax smile. “It’s not like she did anything on purpose. And she did help everyone get inside faster by sorting it all out herself.”
“Yeah, I guess.” The girl starts at her phone for a bit longer before letting out a huff and stuffing it back into her pocket. “They better have a spa or a hot spring around here if they don’t have any wi-fi.”
“Oh, we can go find out together!” I say, smoothly finding a way into hanging out with hot people all day. “This place is huge, it’s gotta have all kinds of stuff to do.”
“I couldn’t find much about the place online,” the boy admits. “I think the place is still pretty new, honestly. That’s probably why they don’t have any wi-fi.”
The girl scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I’m totally going to leave a crappy review on this place if they don’t get it fixed.”
I was really hoping they’d have told me their names by now but it seems like we’re just drifting farther and farther away from that subject. I’m so certain they’re famous or something. They have the kind of faces cameras just love, but it’s just not clicking in my head. I’m not great with all the celebrity stuff so their names have totally slipped my mind. But is it weird to ask famous people what their name is? That’s basically like insulting them. Like, ‘Hey, I know you’re famous, but you’re not famous enough for me to know your names’ is how it sounds. But if I keep pretending to know who they are, eventually it’s just going to snowball into a big thing and then I definitely can’t ask them who they are.
“Hey, Nichole, you coming?” the boy asks me. The two of them had already started walking down the hall without me. “We’re gonna go check out the rest of the resort!”
“Ah, yeah, sure thing!” Ugh, they’re already leaving! If I don’t ask now then I’ll never get the chance to ask! I hurry along to catch up to the two of them. “So like, just for conversation's sake because it’s not like I don’t totally know already but uh...what’re your names?”
The two of them share a look with one another. The girl rolls her eyes and the guy laughs to himself. Then he looks my way. “You don’t keep up with all that celebrity stuff, do you?”
“Not really,” I admit. “I mean, I’ve definitely seen you both before but I can’t really remember where.”
“No problem. Name’s Bradley Donatello . You’ve probably seen me in the theaters--I’m the Ultimate Action Star.”
“That’s it!” I shout out. “You were in that blockbuster! The uh...The...” I snap my fingers a few times. “Hold on, it’s coming to me.”
“ Backstreet Battle ?” Bradley suggests.
“Yeah! I saw it a couple of months ago! Dude, it was so awesome! You do all of your own stunts, right?”
Bradley grins and folds his arms behind his head. “Yeah, sure do. If anyone’s going to do it, why not me? Memorizing your lines is one thing, but making sure you do it while driving a car down the road at high speeds is something else entirely!”
“And looking good doing it,” the girl adds with a smile. Oh, she’s definitely flirting with him. They’ve gotta be some kind of celebrity power couple!
Except Bradley’s just grinning like it was nothing. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it pays off, right?” Oh geez, he’s totally oblivious, isn’t he? Maybe they’re not actually dating after all.
...which means I totally have a chance!
“Are you an actress, too?” I ask the girl. “You’ve got the looks! I can definitely see you on the big screen!”
She lets out a sigh. “You really don’t recognize me, huh? Fine. I’m Ashley McAurther . I’m a model--the Ultimate Model, actually. You’ve probably seen me on fashion magazines or online. That ring any bells?”
“...ooooh yeah, I’ve seen your face when I’m checking out at the grocery store! You’re on basically all the magazine racks. Hey, did you know that if you flip through enough of them, you might find a coupon inside before you checkout? I haven’t done it before but people in line with me do sometimes!”
“Flattering...” Ashley grumbles with a grimace.
By now, the three of us had made our way back down the stairs and into the lobby. There are two sets of large double doors on either side of us--the ones on the right side of the room are currently wide open.
“You think the others might’ve already gone exploring ahead of us?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t be too surprised. Everyone seemed really excited on the bus,” Bradley says. “Guess it’s for the best, we’ll have to get to know one another either way.”
“Fine, but if they’re annoying, I’m out,” Ashley says.
“Don’t be like that. I bet everyone will be great!” I was hoping to turn around the model’s attitude but she didn’t seem convinced.
“Oh, there you all are!” a familiar voice calls out from the front desk. We turn our attention to see Monodog and Monocat standing on top of it again. The dog waves us all over. “We were just about to summon you three! We’ve got something to give you!”
“Oh, presents!” Now I was excited. I didn’t know we’d be getting presents on top of a vacation!
Monocat presents us with three identical tablets. “You’ll want these. They’re electronic IDs that’ll help us keep track of you all. It comes with a map of the resort and an announcement page. It’ll also give you the rules you’re expected to follow.”
“But we’re still working on that one!” Monodog says. “Because, because...uh, why are we still working on them?”
Monocat lets out a sigh. “Because we want to make sure that they’re all in order first. We don’t want to miss any rules we’ll need.”
“Oh, right! Duh!”
“Ugh, rules? Lame.” Ashley takes one of the tablets despite her clear disinterest. “At least I can find a spa with this.”
“Rules are super important!” I exclaim as I snatch up my own tablet. “I have a whole list of them I follow to make sure every day is as lucky as possible. Nichole Clover’s Rules to Lucky Living --I’m gonna brand that someday, so don’t take it.”
“Wow, your own personal rulebook, huh?” Bradley asks while taking the last tablet. “And it works?”
“Yeah! Like 90% of the time, at least. Luck’s weird and I don’t really get all the sciency stuff behind it but you just kinda get used to it and feel it out, y’know? So long as I follow all of the rules, stuff stays lucky instead of unlucky! Like Rule #105: Always say thank you when receiving a gift. ” I turn to the two mascots and give a slight bow. “Thanks for the tablet!”
“How does that help with luck?” Ashley asks. “Just seems like something you made up.”
“Because if I don’t say thank you, then the presents always end up getting broken or lost. When I was five, I didn’t thank Santa Claus for my new bike and when my older sister tried to ride it, she crashed into a tree.”
“That sounds...kinda serious,” Bradley says. “Crashing into stuff is gonna hurt if you don’t do it right. Was she alright?”
“Oh, yeah, she was wearing her helmet and stuff. It totally ruined the bike, though, so now I make sure to always say thank you!”
Ashley nudges Bradley with her elbow. “Hey, are we sure we should be letting her follow us around? I don’t need a chandelier dropping on my head or something.”
Bradley waves a hand casually. “I’m sure it’s fine. You’ve got this under control, right, Nichole?”
I give the two of them a salute. “Totally! I promise to be at my luckiest for the whole vacation!”
Ashley crosses her arms and sighs. “Fine, whatever. But if I chip a nail, it’s your fault.”
“That’s fair! Now c’mon, I wanna see what we’ve got around here!”
I take the lead heading through the open doors with Bradley and Ashley coming in behind me. It was another hall, this one having an assortment of facilities that the resort had to offer. I guess all of the bedrooms are only on the second floor.
The first door on our right opened into a small bar. There were a few tables and seats around, but the biggest section was taken up by the bar counter with stools lining it. Behind the counter is a large wall of shelving stuffed to the brim with drinks of all kinds--all of them appeared to be alcoholic, but they were sectioned off by a glass door with a lock on it to stop us from actually getting our hands on it. Under the shelf, though, were different glasses, an ice box, and fridges filled with non-alcoholic drinks like water, soda, and energy drinks. There were also some nozzles for a soda fountain that can be used for further flavors. TVs hung from the wall, playing ads for the resort on loop.
“Looks like the resort has a bar,” Bradley says as he looks at the map on his tablet. “It’s apparently meant for VIP guests.”
“Well, nothing gets more VIP than us,” Ashley says, nudging Bradley again with her shoulder and a sly grin. It doesn’t seem to matter how hard she comes onto him, though. He’s definitely not getting the memo.
“Yeah, we are all TYCP students!” Bradley agrees with a grin.
Ashley deflates with a soft frown. “That’s not what I...oh, nevermind. I could use a drink honestly.”
“We’re underage, though,” I point out.
“Please, learn to live a little,” Ashley retorts. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Haven’t you ever been to a party before?”
“I went to a classmate’s birthday party once when I was seven. He had to invite everyone in our class, though.”
“C’mon, getting a little tipsy is basically required for people our age,” Bradley reassures. “We can do one shot just to celebrate!”
The model smiles and nods. “That’s more like it. Let’s just call those weird toys and see if they can get us something good.”
“No can do,” a voice says from behind us. The three of us turn around to see Monocat has appeared. He was wiping down a clean shot glass with a rag. “We’d lose our serving license if we let a bunch of teenagers go wild on the booze. So you can’t have any of it, okay? It’s not allowed.” He waddles away soon after saying that.
Ashley’s expression drops again. “Ugh, what a buzzkill...”
“Well, I guess that makes sense,” Bradley admits. He seemed bummed out, too, though.
I’m a bit happy I don’t have to drink any beer. I have no idea what being drunk might do to my luck and I just promised them all I’d be at my luckiest! Now isn’t the time for experimenting with it! Even so, it seems like the two of them had been excited by the idea and now they’re in a bad mood. I bet I can fix it!
“I bet they have Shirley Temples!” I say. “I’ll get us some and we can just pretend it's alcohol! I’ll be right back.” I head off to the counter before either of them could actually respond.
Someone else is currently sitting at the bar. He’s a chubby guy who looked like he came from an old-timey movie. He’s wearing a full suit that came in gray--the dress pants and the suit jacket with long tails, as well as the top hat sitting on his head that seemed to have an old fountain pen tucked into it, and a pair of black dress shoes. A bowtie is tied nearly over his neck to go with the white dress shirt under his jacket. His hair is also gray and kept tidy under his hat. He had really dark bags under his eyes and he was bouncing his knee, making his whole body go up and down. I could probably blame the energy drink he’d gotten from the drink fridge on that.
“Should you be drinking that?” I ask while I scour the drink fridges for a few bottles.
The man perks up at my voice and a lopsided grin finds itself on his face. “Oh, yeah, yeah, sure can, it’s all good, great even!” His voice was as bouncy as his body. It kept shifting up and down in tone and octave. It’s kinda messing with my brain a little.
“...uh huh.” I remain unconvinced but I guess if he says it’s okay, it probably is. I flash him a grin of my own. “Well, I’m Nichole Clover! I’m the Ultimate Lucky Charm! What about you?”
The man plucks his pen off his hat and twirls it around in his fingers. “Why, little miss, you don’t know? No, of course, you don’t know, how could you know? How could you know what you don’t know? I’m Walter Clampett, Ultimate Traditional Animator!”
Okay, so, I definitely wasn’t following for most of that but at least he made sense for the important bits! “Well, it’s nice to meet you! But uh...what’s the difference between traditional animation and the stuff we see now?”
“The difference is pen and paper, my dear. I don’t handle that new-fangled technology everyone else likes--my passion comes out in ink onto the page!”
“Oh! Like those old black and white cartoons, right?”
“Precisely! The rubber hose style is certainly one I enjoy greatly, at least, but there are a lot of styles that come from the era of traditionally animated cartoons.”
“You’ll have to show me some time then! But--oh, right, drinks!” I got distracted talking to Walter! I quickly go back to scanning the fridges until I manage to find what I was hunting for: three bottles of pink Shirley Temples--perfect! I scoop them up into my arms and nudge the fridge shut with my elbow.
“Move it,” a voice says from above me.
“Huh?” I look up to see that another boy had come over and was...very close.
“I said move, peasant,” he repeats. This time, he shoves me forward. I yelp and tumble back onto my ass, dropping my soda. At least none of it broke.
“Ooow...” I wince and rub my sore tailbone. “Was that really necessary?” I collect the bottles I dropped while the boy took the spot I had been standing in. I get back to my feet to look him over better.
The guy was on the heavyset side but wasn’t much taller than me. His bright green eyes glared my way with contempt--maybe because I was in his way? His left eye had a monocle over it, though, and his face was framed by neatly combed brown hair swept to the right. His clothing was certainly fancy, with a green coat over a black button-up and a white caveat tied around his neck. His brown dress pants were kept up with a black belt and he had brown dress shoes to go with them. He had an air of superiority to him for sure.
“You were in my way,” he responds. He looks away from me to gaze into the fridge I had just been at. “What are those drinks you grabbed?”
“What? Uh...just some Shirley Temples. I--I’m sorry, but, who are you exactly?”
The boy looks my way again for a moment then rolls his eyes. “Of course, you wouldn’t know. I’m the Ultimate Critic, Antonio Romano.”
“Oh, well!” I hop back to my feet and grin. “I’m Nichole Clover! Ultimate Lucky Charm!”
“Hmph.” Antonio seemed unimpressed. “So you’re one of those...lottery winners?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess so!”
“So you don’t have any actual skills. You got your position by chance.”
“...well, yeah. But I have skills, too! I’m really good at the guitar! And I have a great memory.”
“Well, let this be my piece of advice to you, Clover. I don’t have time for peasants with no taste and nothing to offer me. So try to stay out of my way from now on.”
I blink, silent, as Antonio returns to going through the fridge to pick out a drink. I decide to slink past him for now and go to the other side of the counter. I nudge Walter with my elbow. “That guy’s kinda crabby, huh?”
“That’s one way to put it,” the animator agrees. He sips at his drink some more and starts tapping his foot. “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you’ll fall flat on your face, and when everyone else woke up right, you’ll be upset their faces don’t hurt, too!”
“...right.” I think I get what he’s saying? But he’s a bit hard to follow with how hard his voice is to listen to. “Well...good talk!” I pat his shoulder and head back to Bradley and Ashley with my spoils.
“Took you long enough,” Ashley says with her hand on her hip.
“Sorry, I was meeting new faces!” I explain. “You guys know Walter and Antonio?”
Ashley’s expression crinkles. “Antonio..? Romano?”
“Yeah, that one!”
Bradley’s expression falls, too. “That guy’s here..? He’s the reason my last movie got a bunch of hate online. He made some review on it and called it ‘Hollywood shlock’ and a bunch of his followers started blowing up my socials.”
“Ugh, tell me about it! He tried to say some of my photos were ‘shopped and got a bunch of losers in their basements to start harassing me!” Ashley exclaims. “Can’t believe we’re stuck here with that asshole.”
“Oh...so you do know him.” And it sounds like they don’t get along, either.
“Most Ultimates know him,” Bradley explains. “He’s a huge critic for just about everything--food, entertainment, fashion, you name it. His articles and videos have a lot of sway online and his...more passionate fans really trust his opinion.”
“That’s a cute word for terminally online freaks,” Ashley grumbles.
Crap, the mood’s getting ruined again. Gotta fix it! “Shirley Temples!” I hand Bradley and Ashley a bottle each. “It’s not alcohol, but it’s easy to pretend! And they have those twist tops, so no bottle opener needed!”
Ashley takes the bottle and looks at the ingredients on the back. “I can’t have this much sugar, you know.”
“Oh, c’mon, we’re on vacation,” Bradley says with a sly grin. He cracks open the top with his hand. “Live a little.”
Ashley rolls her eyes but opens her bottle as well. I grin and do the same. Another successful mission!
We linger in the bar a bit, sipping at our drinks and talking. We also made sure to keep some distance from Antonio, who seemed to be testing the various drinks available. After a little bit, though, we decided to go explore some more with our half-finished drinks.
Back in the hallway, I notice that the door on the other side looked different. It was covered in fabrics of various colors and they felt like silk against my hand. I try the door but it’s locked tight.
“Weird decorations,” I comment. “Can’t get in though.”
Bradley looks at his tablet. “...the map just calls this room a ‘Lab’. I didn’t think resorts had stuff like that, though.”
“Ugh, this isn’t going to be a trick to get us to do school work, is it?” Ashley groans.
“Oh, oh, you can’t go in there yet!” Monodog pipes up, having appears next to us suddenly. He hops in front of me, making me back away from the door. “It’s not ready! It’s a surprise!”
“What’s not ready?” I ask. “What’s in there?”
“I said it’s a surprise! I’m not supposed to tell you about the Talent Research Labs until they’re ready!”
“Talent Research Labs?” Ashley asks. “I’ve never heard of those.”
Monodog puts his paws to his mouth. “Oh! How did you know what’s back there?!”
“You just told--” I pause. Maybe I shouldn’t tell him he spilled the secret. It might upset him. “...uh, I bet it was just a lucky guess! Y'know, cause I’m around.”
“Well, they were still supposed to be a surprise, but I guess if you already know...” Monodog glances around to make sure no one else was listening--Monocat, if I had to guess. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you! To celebrate the opening of the resort, we decided to use some of our extra rooms as spaces made just for all of you! And we call them...Talent Research Labs! They’re spaces made specifically to curate your individual talents to the best of your abilities. Everything and anything you could want can be found in each of them!”
“Woah, that’s actually pretty cool!” Bradley says. “So, who does this one belong to?”
“Secret!” Monodog barks out again. “And no guessing, either, please! The research labs took us longer to set up than we thought they would, so they aren’t all ready. We’ll let you know when they are so you’ll have to just be patient.”
“Guess we just have to wait it out,” I say with a shrug. I look back at the other two and grin. “Hey, when we find mine, though, we should make it into a hangout room! It’ll be fun!”
“What would you even put in a lab for a talent like Lucky Charm?” Bradley ponders aloud. “...rabbit’s feet and horseshoes?”
“No way, it’s gonna be cooler than that, I just know it!” Even though I honestly have no idea what a lab like that would look like, either. Kind of hope it’s not rabbit’s feet, though...
With that door locked, we move farther down the hall. Between that door and the next was some glass windows that looked out into the front of the resort. Light snow had begun falling by now and the wall kept us from seeing too far out. I always liked staring out at falling snow with some rock playing. I wonder if Ashley would like that...
The next door on the same wall as the last was another research lab. The door is decorated with streamers and glitters to coat nearly every surface of it. It looks really fun! On the other side of the hall was another door we could actually enter--according to the map, it’s an indoor theater.
Walking in doesn’t lead to much surprise on that. We enter a small concession area where your standard movie theater snacks are sold--popcorn, soda, candy, slushies; the good stuff. Doorways with curtains sit on either side of the room, although both lead to the same room. Giving the viewing room a peek, it seems like a standard movie theater. Lots of plush seats sitting in front of a massive screen. Up above there is a hole in the wall for the projector to work through and the door leading up is in the back of the viewing room.
“Looks like a regular movie theater to me,” I comment. “I wonder what movies they have to watch..?”
“I’m sure they have at least one of mine,” Bradley says with a grin. He puts his right hand to his chest and closes his eyes. “After all, I am the hero here!”
“You’re certainly my hero,” Ashley comments. She’s still so smooth! How am I supposed to compete with a hero?!
“If you want to watch a movie, you can put in a request,” Monocat says from behind the snack counter. Had he been there the entire time? “We have a decently sized library for genres of all kinds, so whatever you want to watch, just ask me or Monodog.”
“We should totally have a movie night then!” I exclaim.
“I want to see that Francesa Grande movie that came out a couple of years ago then,” Ashley comments. “It was her last role but I haven’t seen it yet.”
“I think the whole point of this vacation is so we don’t think about that stuff...” Bradley says with a soft frown.
“What? I just want to see it, I like her movies.”
“We can add it to the list!” I chirp, hoping to stop the conversation from continuing down that route. “We’ll get movie recommendations from everyone and maybe tomorrow we can binge them together! Fun, right?”
Ashley frowns and crosses her arms. “A personal movie theater with fifteen other people in it? That ruins the point.”
“Fifteen friends in it,” I correct. “We’ll be watching movies with friends! That’s way more fun!”
“Well, if you want to get some movie recs, you can go ask those guys over there,” Bradley says with a nod of his head. There were a few people in the room--two were at the snack bar looking at the candy and one was munching on popcorn.
“Great idea! Wait here!” I hurry over to the others. I didn’t wanna bug the two still picking out candy yet, so I go to the guy eating popcorn first.
Another heavyset guy, he’s a bit shorter than me with shaggy black hair and a beard along his chin. Small glasses that seemed more for appearance than practicality sat on his nose just in front of his bright yellow eyes. A small tan scarf was wrapped nearly around his neck and came with a thick sweater that had a wavy design made from dark and light grays. He also had on some brown sweatpants and a pair of flip-flops that were a bit too big for him.
“Hey, how’s the popcorn?” I ask him, mostly because it smelled really good and I was really wanting some now.
“Mm...too much butter but not enough salt.” The boy pops another piece into his mouth. He was using chopsticks to eat them. “But that’s why I carry these around. No finger grease that way.”
“Ah, that’s really smart!” I’m not great with chopsticks despite the fact that I eat a lot of Chinese takeout. Maybe he can teach me sometime. “You sound like a popcorn expert. Is that your talent?”
The boy snorts and shakes his head. “Not just popcorn but everything. I’m the Ultimate Foodie. Name’s Sho Yashima.”
“Foodie..? Oh, that’s that thing where people eat at weird places that serve, like, deconstructed pizza and stuff.”
“...uh, not really. It just means that I really like eating and trying new foods and I blog about it to tell people how it goes. I’ve got a refined palette, so I know what I’m talking about when it comes to that kind of thing.” He plucks another piece of popcorn out of the tub he had and eats it. “It’s an art, you know. Being able to pick apart the different aspects of each meal, the ingredients and flavors and textures, and then explaining that to other people so they understand.”
He definitely makes it sound a lot harder than I thought it would be. I’m not really sure what a ‘refined palette’ is, but I do know that my little brother refuses to eat anything that has even been placed next to a tomato...so I guess not everyone can be cut out for a job like that. “...so you’ve never had a deconstructed pizza before?”
Sho stared at me for a moment before sticking his chopsticks into the tub of popcorn. “It’s not as bad as you make it out to be, you know.”
“A- ha! I was right!” I grin wide, smug in my rigthness. I honestly have no idea what deconstructing food is, though. Do you just eat all the ingredients separately and make the pizza flavor in your mouth? I’ll have to ask later because I’ll be less right if I admit I don’t know what it is.
“Okay, so how about you?” Sho asks. “What do you do?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah! I don’t really do anything--well, I guess that’s not totally true but it’s not like I purposefully do it, either--anyway! I’m the Ultimate Lucky Charm. And my name’s Nichole Clover!”
“Oh, you’re one of those lucky talents!” Sho smiles, so I know that it’s not an insult like when Antonio pointed it out. “I guess it makes sense. At least one of you would have ended up winning the vacation lottery then.”
“Well, I don’t really win stuff like that very often. I help other people win stuff like that! That’s how it works!”
“Aaaah, I see. So we should all be thanking you for the vacation then, huh?” Sho’s grin widens and he crosses his arms over his chest. Now he’s just teasing me. He’s kinda cute when he smiles, though.
“Well, I dunno about that ...so let’s just say we’ll be friends and leave it there!”
“Sounds like a deal.” He holds out his hand to me and I shake it. He was right, the chopsticks helped make sure it wasn’t a greasy popcorn handshake! I should invest in some of those, too.
I had completely forgotten about the movie night idea by now. Sho went to the popcorn machine to dump out his bucket, expressing a disinterest in eating anymore of it. By now, the two people at the candy area had picked something out, so I decide to go over to them next.
It’s a couple of boys again, both of them shorter than me--by a good margin, at least, given they were about the same height. One was eating a chocolate bar right now. He was chubby with a big, brown sweater covering him up--it had a logo on it, a big brown paw with pink beans that had the words Amorette’s Pets written above and below it. He also wore some dark blue jeans with it and a pair of slippers that looked like bear paws, complete with plastic claws. He has long, brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail. That didn’t stop it from being clearly messy, with two tufts of it sticking up on his head. His eyes are a softer brown and I could see he had a sharp snaggletooth and even his ears seemed kind of pointy.
The other boy was draped in a labcoat that was clearly meant for someone much bigger than him given that the arms were far too long and it went down to his ankles. He had on much more professional attire though--a blue dress shirt with a pink tie, brown slacks, and brown loafers. There was an attempt to neat hair that clearly failed, but it looked cute on him! Maybe that was because of his round, adorable face, baby blue eyes, and the constant blush he had. Even his buck teeth came with some endearment.
“Oh, hello!” the cuter boy squeaks when I approached. “Didja want some candy?”
“Oh, maybe later! I was just wanting to introduce myself. Name’s Nichole Clover and I’m the Ultimate Lucky Charm. How about you two?”
“Oh, oh! Aiko, you go first!” the cuter boy says to the other. That got the second boy to perk up, his chocolate bar sticking out of his mouth.
“Mm!” He shoves the rest of it in and chews it up quickly. He winces as he swallows too soon but quickly replaces it with a smile my way. “Sorry, I was eating. I’m Aiko Amorette . Everyone says I’m the Ultimate Matchmaker.”
“Matchmaker? Like, romance and stuff? Oh, then you’re perfect! There’s this girl I’m trying to get to notice me but--”
Aiko holds up his hands with a sheepish grin. “Ah, I’m really sorry. I wish I could help with that but I don’t know the first thing about romance. I actually match up people with pets at my parent’s shop.” He pulls down on the bottom of his sweater to emphasize the logo on it. “People say that I always seem to pick out the perfect pet for each person. So I guess that’s what I’m good at matching!”
“Ooooh...okay, I bet if I have a cute animal, I can get her attention! Quick, tell me what I should get!”
Aiko blinks, looking a bit flustered. “Oh, uh, I mean...you really shouldn’t get an animal if it’s just to get someone’s attention. But I guess if I was going to give you anything...you’d probably do good with an energetic dog. You seem like the type to like a friend to keep around and to spend time with. Dogs like that are usually high maintenance since they need constant play though, and training would always be a good idea, too.”
“Huh...yeah, a dog sounds awesome! You’re pretty good at this stuff, Aiko!” I reach out and pat his head out of instinct. A dark flush crosses the matchmaker’s face and he sinks into his sweater a bit. Cute...
“Can I have head pats, too?” the other boy asks me. He even gave me some big puppy dog eyes.
“Mm...name first, then headpats!”
The boy claps his hands together, making the extra length of his coat’s sleeves flop around. “Sure thing! My name’s Gill Li and I’m the Ultimate Guinea Pig!”
Okay, I’ll admit, that one’s thrown me for a loop. “The Ultimate...huh?”
“Guinea Pig!” he repeats. When I kept up the confused expression, he seems to get the issue. “Oh, yeah, it just means that I help people out with experiments and stuff by being a live test subject! All in the name of science, of course!”
“That sounds kind of dangerous. What sort of stuff do you test?”
“Medicine, mostly. Sometimes they let me do other stuff, too, like new foods and toys and cosmetics. But it’s lots of medicine! That way we can make sure it’s safe for other people to use.”
Shouldn’t they make sure it’s safe for people to use before using it on any people? How do you even get into a job like this? Well, I guess I’m no expert, and it’s not like anything seems to be wrong with Gill. Maybe I’m overthinking it.
“Okay, head pat time.” I give Gill a few pats on the head. He lets out a little squeak and his blush deepens. Cute...
But now I have to know something very important. “Hey, Aiko, what kinda pet would Gill have?”
Aiko still seemed a bit flustered from before but he's at least come out of hiding from his sweater. “Oh...I guess it’s a bit on the nose, but I’d say some kind of rodent would be good for him. A guinea pig or a rat, for instance. Something that can have different toys and cages for exercising, or just small to keep around. But don’t be fooled--they’re high maintenance animals, too, and getting healthy and properly sized enclosures for them can be costly.”
“We have little rats at the lab I work at!” Gill chirps with a big grin. “They let me name them after some cartoon characters!”
I think about it for a moment, trying to decide what character he’s talking about. Then it hits me. “Oh, do you mean Pink--”
“Nichole, Ashley’s leaving!” Bradley calls out from the other side of the room. I perk up immediately and look over to see that the model was already at the door.
“Ah, sorry, I’m coming!” I call out to them. I look back to Aiko and Gill. “We can chat more later, guys. Gotta go!” I wave to them as I hurry to catch up with Bradley and Ashley.