Chapter Text
“Have I told you about the amazing lookout area partway down the trail? It’s going to be a great photo opportunity for my portfolio!” Janis excitedly said as she pulled her phone from the puffer jacket she was wearing.
“Only every day since this senior trip was announced. Though personally I feel you don’t even need to leave the ski lift to take an amazing photo.” Damian said, doing his best to strike a dramatic pose despite being strapped in to the chair of the ski lift they were riding. “You have an amazing model right here.”
“Alright, amazing photograph number one can be taken while up here.” Janis held her phone up and snapped a quick selfie of them both. “But I really am excited to get some incredible nature shots!”
Janis frowned as she notice that in the background of the camera she could see Regina and Cady in the next lift cart behind them. Poor Cady was absolutely shivering to death. Moving from the Kenyan savannah to North Shore High had already been a big adjustment, with the air conditioned air constantly making her cold. A senior trip to the snow was something that Janis genuinely wasn’t sure Cady would make it through, despite Cady’s insistence she would be fine.
Regina took off one of the jackets she was wearing, wrapping it around Cady.
Janis scoffed. Regina had everyone fooled with her little ‘I’ve changed, I’m nicer now’ act she had going on. Even Damian was buying into it. But not Janis. She knew how Regina worked. The more one trusted Regina, the more it would hurt when she inevitably tore them down. Cady, Damian, Gretchen, and Karen were all setting themselves up for heartbreak, but not Janis. She would be the one there to pick up the pieces when Regina proved she was still as mean as she’d always been.
Janis put her phone away as Damian began rummaging through the knapsack she was carrying, fishing out a bag of carrots that he began to snack on.
“Cady wants those to make her first real snowman,” Janis reminded him.
“We can grab more at the bottom of the mountain.” Damian shrugged as he finished a carrot.
“It's an all-day hike. We’re coming all the way up here, walking the trail all the way down to buy more carrots, and then coming right back up to do it all again?” Janis raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think so.”
Damian’s eyes widened like he’d seen a ghost before he went back to smiling, putting the mostly-full bag of carrots back into the bag as he did.
“What was that face?” Janis asked.
“What was what face?” he replied, his eyes darting back and forth.
Janis mimicked his spooked expression.
“I did not look like that!” Damian denied.
“Yes, you did!” Janis said. “Why are you acting so strange all of a sudden? Is something wrong?”
“On the contrary,” he said. “Everything is about to be very, very right.”
She raised an eyebrow. “If you say so, weirdo.”
They reached the top of the ski lift, getting off and walking to a seating area nearby to wait for the others. Soon they were joined by Regina and Cady.
“Where did Gretchen and Karen go?” Regina asked, putting on that caring front that she liked to fool everyone with. “They were right behind us when we were getting on, I hope nothing bad happened.”
“Don’t worry, Regina,” Cady said, falling for the whole act. “I think I heard Karen whisper something about wanting to see whether her breasts could predict snowfall, similar to how they can predict rain.”
“There’s a thirty percent chance it’s already snowing.” Damian chuckled, pressing one hand to his chest and holding up the other to catch a few stray snowflakes.
“Hey!” Regina snapped. “Karen’s psychic abilities are important to her. Don’t make fun of her.”
“Alright,” Damian relented. “We all know they’re not real though, right?”
“Obviously.” Regina said. “But she would be devastated if she knew we thought that, so shut it.”
Janis had to give it to Regina, she was an amazing actor. She was able to make it sound like she really did care. But she didn’t care. And Janis wanted no part in any conversation where she’d have to humour Regina’s lies. Instead, she distracted herself by rummaging through her knapsack.
In there she had her nice camera safely tucked away in its case — phones were great and all, but Janis really wanted to get some high quality photos and a traditional camera offered that, along with better adjustment of focus and shutter speed.
There were also stereotypical snowman supplies she was carrying on behalf of Cady. Carrots for the nose. Little pieces of coal for the eyes, mouth, and buttons. A scarf and a top hat. And even a little pipe — lighter included to actually light it up — for its mouth. All they needed to do was to find some suitable sized sticks for the arms.
“Do you want to build your snowman here at the top?” Janis asked. “Or wait until we reach the lookout?”
“I wa—“ Cady started talking enthusiastically before falling quiet, her brows furrowing. “The lookout.”
“What were you going to say?” Janis asked. First Damian was acting strange, and now Cady. Something was definitely up.
“No, nothing.” Cady denied.
“Cady, we’re all friends here,” Regina said. “I want you to feel comfortable enough to tell us everything. We won’t tell anyone about whatever it is behind your back.”
Where did Regina even get her fake nice girl persona? Because to Janis it was starting to sound like it was stolen from a low budget anti-bullying PSA.
“I was just going to say that I’m really excited to build my first proper snowman.” Cady admitted. “That I want to build it now, and I can’t wait.”
“You don’t have to wait,” Regina said. “Who knows how long G and K will be, we can get started on your snowman here and now.”
“That sounds great…” Cady said. “But no. It has to be later.”
“Why?” Regina asked, and for once Janis and Regina were on the same wavelength because Janis was equally as confused. Now seemed as good a time as ever.
“Kawkaw!” Damian suddenly started badly imitating the sound of a bird as he stood. Cady jumped up, throwing her own bag with everyone's snacks, lunches, and water bottles at Regina. Then Cady and Damian began running towards the ski lift.
Karen and Gretchen were just getting off one of the carts… and not only were they both wearing skis, they also each carried an additional pair of skis, which they dropped down on the ground beside them. Janis could already feel a headache coming on — they had stressed so many times to Karen that even though they were taking a ski lift up the mountain, it was a hiking trail they were planning to follow on the way down — so don’t bring skis!
Gretchen should have known better. She should have talked Karen out of it. She at least shouldn’t have brought skis of her own with her, let alone additional. Now between the six of them they would have to find a way to carry all 8 skis down without strapping them to their feet — the hiking trail was strictly walking only.
“Great work, Gretch!” Damian shouted as he and Cady’s sprint came to an end and they began putting the spare pairs of skis on.
As Gretchen helped Cady put on the skis, Cady said, “You too, Karen,”
“Thanks!” Karen beamed. “Since we were going on a ski lift I knew I had to wear skis. And you even texted me to bring the skis, but then Janis texted me not to, and then you texted me to bring them again, and then Regina texted me not to, and then Damian and Gretchen told me to definitely bring them and I was so confused, but I’m glad I did it right.”
What was going on? Janis jumped to her feet, shooting a look at Regina. Regina glanced back as she stood as well, putting on the bag Cady had thrown at her as her brows pinched in confusion.
“What are you all doing?” Janis asked as she and Regina made their way over. “You know the trail is no skis. It’s a hike.”
“Yes, it is no skis.” Damian smirked. “And since you two don’t have any skis and the ski lift only takes people up and not down, you’re going to have to hike it — together.”
“What?!” Janis exclaimed.
“We all just thought you two could use some quality time together.” Cady explained as she stood up, wobbling in place and clearly very unsteady on the skis. “So you could maybe stop hating each other as much?”
“I don’t hate her.” Regina said matter of factually. “She just hates me.”
There was the manipulative Regina George Janis was used to. Avoiding taking accountability for her actions and making Janis out to be the big bad. Classic.
“You’ll have lots of time to work out who does or does not hate who while you’re alone together.” Gretchen said.
“Alone together?” Karen chuckled. “What? That’s confusing, you can’t be alone while you’re together.”
“This is bullshit.” Regina grumbled. “I don’t want to hike all the way down with only Janis.”
“The feeling’s mutual, trust me.” Janis agreed.
“See?” Cady grinned. “You two are already starting to relate to each other! Our plan is working…” The skis Cady was attached to started moving slightly, which rapidly escalated to her beginning to roll down the mountain. “Oh no! How do I get these to stop again?”
“Oh shit!” Damian exclaimed as Cady started panicking while rapidly building up speed, now zooming down the slope. “That’s our cue to leave… see you two at the bottom.”
As Damian, Gretchen, and Karen began skiing after Cady, yelling at her what she should be doing to slow herself down and stop, Janis let out a frustrated huff. She pulled out her phone, intending to send Damian a very pissed off text, only to be met with no reception. Great.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Regina gestured to the trail. “Let me know if you want to stop to have a sit down or take a photo or anything.”
“You don’t have to pretend you’re all nice and virtuous with me.” Janis snapped. “We both know the second I stop to take a photo or rest, you’d ditch me.”
Regina rolled her eyes. “No, I’m obviously not going to do that. Even with your blind hatred of me, you can surely acknowledge it would be dangerous for both of us, Janis.”
“I would definitely be safer without you around.” Janis objected. “Then there would be no one to stab me in the back when I’m not looking.”
“I’m sure you’d be way safer alone on the trail when you slip and break your leg or are mauled by a wild animal.” Regina said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “Now come on. The sooner we start, the sooner it will be over.”
“Fine.” Janis relented.
The two began walking the trail in silence, the air between them heavy. There was a certain tension, as if both were waiting for the other to say something. But each girl remained quiet. The only sound outside of those produced by the environment was when Janis would grab out her camera, adjust the settings, and then snap a few pictures. True to her word, Regina would patiently wait for Janis to be done, and then they would continue walking the trail together. It was more together alone than the desired alone together that their friends wanted.
They were about an hour’s walk from the mountain’s peak when Janis decided a snap of the mountaintop may look great from the angle they were at. She was adjusting the camera’s zoom when she noticed a wall of snow was tumbling and crashing down the side of the mountain above them, taking down trees and swallowing rocks in its path. An unstoppable mass of snow that only seemed to be growing in size and speed.
“Shit!” Janis exclaimed, the camera falling from her hands, caught by the camera strap she was wearing around her neck.
“What—” Regina began to say as Janis grabbed her hand and began running as fast as she could.
“Avalanche!” Janis explained, her breath coming out in pants as she tried to push herself to run faster.
“Shit!” Regina echoed.
As Janis glanced over her shoulder, she could see the mass of snow was rapidly approaching them, their running doing more or less nothing to delay the inevitable.
The wall of snow had already looked huge when it was far away, but seeing it speed towards them, it was massive and all consuming. It was almost hypnotising, almost beautiful, the way it was moving.
“We can’t outrun it or move far enough to the side.” Regina exclaimed. “We need to get behind a rock or a tree!”
“And get trapped underneath them when the avalanche pushes them over onto us?” Janis yelled.
“Well what do you suggest, genius?” Regina snapped.
But it was right behind them. There wasn’t time for Janis to think of anything resembling a plan, let alone respond and execute it. The last thing she was going to do was argue with Regina George. Great. Not exactly the way Janis saw herself kicking the bucket.
With a cry, Janis felt the unstoppable wall of snow slam into her for just a moment before everything went black.