A Disaster in Paradise

Chapter 3

Sophia

Jay and I haven't talked since last night. What if he hates me?

"Sophia! Are you even listening?" I'm snapped out of my thoughts.

"Yes. Just repeat it, please." I laugh.

Olivia sighs, "Do you want to go with Isabella and I today? What is up with you?"

"Um.." I jumble on my words,"Sure. Let me get ready." I try to smile.

"Okay. I thought we could get brunch, take a hike, go check out the arena and look at the brackets. Maybe shop if we're up for it." Olivia babbles on.

I open my suitcase and look around for an outfit."Sure, yeah that sounds nice." I put on my red Nike shorts, a black tank top, and a white Nike hat.

"You ready? We don't have all day!" Olivia exclaims, dragging me out of the room and into the glass elevator.

"Where is Isabella meeting us?" I ask, checking my phone. Still no word from Jay.

"She's meeting us at the arena at nine fifteen." Olivia checks her phone to confirm. "She's been out since eight touring the island. We need to go to the beach tomorrow."

"Figures. Isabella is always doing something." I laugh, getting out of the elevator and making our way through the crowded lobby. "Is everyone competing at the Academic Olympics staying here?"

Olivia laughs. "Eh, some are staying here, some at the Disney Resort, and some are staying at this luxurious resort, the Marbella, I believe. I here it is mostly just a gambling hotel, more for the adults." She shrugs.

We finish walking the three blocks to the arena, taking in the hot, sticky sun and all of the red flowers."Hi,where are the brackets and schedules?" Olivia gestures towards the older gentleman.

He takes off his shades, and he narrows his dark blue eyes at us. "Are you competing? Or are you one of those insane tourists?" He rolls his eyes.

"We are competing here and just want to know who we are competing against, so if we need some pass to see the brackets then can you get us one." I smile impatiently, tapping my foot against the hardwood floors. Olivia glares at me.

"Names." He looks at Olivia and completely ignore me.

Before I can get out a word, Olivia speaks. "Olivia Barley and Sophia Keller. Tempe High School."

His face lightens and he turns around. " Here is your passes with photo ID's. You can get anywhere in the arena with these. If you have any trouble feel free to call me." He slips our passes into lanyards and writes his work number on the back in sharpie.

"Thank you. We really appreciate it." We both smile and walk off. "Where are the brackets you think?"

I look around the arena, the bright white walls and glass roof popping out at me. "I don't know Olivia, maybe the sign that says "Brackets" on it." I giggle.

We walk into the room and up to the large wooden desk with two older women sitting at it."Hi. We are competitors and were just wondering if we can get our schedule and brackets for the next few weeks." I smile at the women.

"Name?" One of the ladies questioned, her ginger hair falls back as she looks at me.

"Sophia Keller." I tighten my pony tail, waiting for her.

Her red lips curl into a small smile. "One moment. I'm printing them out."

She hands me the few sheets of paper and I nod. "Thank you." I turn around and see Olivia is sitting with Isabella, exchanging papers. "Nice of you to join us Isabella." I laugh.

"What events do you have?" Olivia smiles encouragingly.

I open my papers. "I don't start for another week and a half. My first one is Calculus 2 on the twentieth.I have a total of sixteen competitions in thirteen days." I hand Isabella my papers.

"Great." She shows Olivia and her eyes widen. "You have to compete in all of your events with Katherine Hathley." Isabella hands Olivia my paper.

"Who is that?" I ask, confused. "I still can't believe you have only twelve competitions in eight days Liv."

"Katherine Hathley? I can't believe you don't know who she is. She is sixteen from the U.K. She always finds a way to win. She cheats.  A few months ago in Toronto she had her parents pay off the refs. In my opinion she isn't even smart. She cheats. Lucky for us, you don't know who the refs are. They're anonymous until they walk out of the door. She is the only person you need to worry about." Olivia informs me, my small brain trying to suck all the information in.

"Well then. Isabella what events you have?" I shift the conversation away from me, feeling uneasy.

"Me? A bunch of Science stuff. I have ten events in nine days. That's more than one project a day." She exclaims, as we make our way out of the enormous arena. "What do you guys want to eat? I'm starving." Isabella motions to her stomach and rubs it.

"Let me see what is nearby." I unlock my iPhone and go to maps. "There is an Outback a few blocks from here. We could go there? I think we should go on this nice trail I found on Google while researching the island. We gotta get a pic for the gram."

"I could eat a granola bar and go for a trail run. How far?" Isabella begins to rummage through her bag to retrieve her granola bar.

"There is a charter bus here that can take us four blocks from there." I turn off my phone and start walking to the charter bus.

"Works for me." Olivia and Isabella follows me into the grey bus, only five of us on it.

I take a seat and Isabella and Liv take the row behind me. I open my phone as the bus begins to move and check my messages.  I only have a few of them that consisted of my brother and parents, but nothing from Jay. I open our conversation and look at the some of the last messages he sent me.

Get some sleep.We have a big flight tomorrow.

I wanted to cry. Did I really just ruin our friendship? Does he hate me?