cold souls; trixya au

fifteen;;

"And the flu, how is it going?", she asked as soon as we left the reception.

"I'm better," I lied.

We walked to a hotel near mine.

"The pub is over there on the left, but I want to show you something before we go there, okay?"

I agreed. We passed the entrance and then stopped in front of the elevator. On the way, she greeted some people, who kept looking at me curiously, but luckily the elevator doors soon opened and we entered.

She then pressed the button on the top floor and whistled a song that I didn't know. We got out of the elevator and she motioned for me to follow her. She took a key and opened a door at the end of the corridor, with a view of the entire Andes.

"Wow!" I said, looking around. "The landscape during the day must be stunning here!"

"Guests can come here during the day, it's an observatory. But only until seven at night. After that time it's only for those who have the key."

She smiled, showing a bunch of keys, and I wondered where all the others would be, if there were more secret places around...

"Trix, in addition to showing you the view, I brought you here so we could talk a little before going to the pub. It must be very crowded and noisy there because of the music."

"Are you going to tell me if there are bears up there?"

She shook her head and said that it was only after I explained why I was so disgusted that I was spending the holidays there and what had made me take the cable car without even knowing where it was going.

Normally, I wouldn't open up to a stranger. But after the day before, a certain bond had formed between us. I was totally grateful that she rescued me, and she seemed to be feeling responsible for me. I ended up opening up and telling the whole story...

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding too much, but can I ask you a few questions?"

"Yep"

"What did your boyfriend do?"

Instead of answering, I turned around again to admire the view and kept thinking...

"We better change the subject, I don't want you to be sad again," she said, when she saw that I was silent.

"I'm not sad," I said, running my fingers over the glass wall. "He was not my boyfriend. It was just a boy I liked. But the messages he sent me, the way he talked about me, about my body... I think that was what hurt me the most. No one had ever pointed out that my curves were a problem. Not directly. It made me realize what a complete asshole he was. My life is more than that."

"Trix, your body...", she looked me up and down. "It's perfect. Absolutely every part of it. Never let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Questions. You said it in the plural. "

"What?"

"You said you've had a few questions to ask. What were the others? "

"It makes no difference now."

"I won't go down with you if you don't ask."

"You ..." she paused, as if wondering if she would continue or not. "Are you straight?"

Silence.

"Sorry, I don't want to pressure you. I shouldn't have asked you, at least not like tha-"

"Pan", I interrupted. "I am pansexual. Assumed. What about you?"

"Bi", she smiled. I smiled back. "Look, kukla, it's a very melancholic mood. What do you think about going down and meeting new people? "

I agreed. After coming down from the terrace, we went straight to the pub, which was really full. Most people were older, but Katya took me to a table where some people her age were. I was certainly the youngest there.

I soon realized that it was a group of Americans. As soon as they saw Katya, they began to speak loudly, thrilled that she had arrived and asking why it'd taken so long. I realized that she was very dear there. She introduced me quickly to everyone, who already knew what happened in the snow.

Gradually I understood that this was a group of friends who spent all their holidays there. The parents like skiing so every year they meet again.

The rest of the night went by quickly, as the conversation was very lively. They even asked my age and were very shocked to discover that I'm 16.

When it was just before ten at night, Katya said she was going to take me back to my hotel, so everyone asked if I was going to join them for skiing in the next morning. Totally embarrassed, I explained that I was not good at skiing, and because of that Ginger Minj said: "She thinks the school is for children", remembering what I'd said to her on the track.

"Everyone here goes to the ski school," one of the girls, Naomi, added. And then she turned to Katya saying, "If she doesn't want to practice there, why don't you give her a private lesson? It's even better, because individually you can learn faster. "

She, who had been quiet all night, just shrugged her shoulders, saying, "If she wants, I'll be happy to teach."

Everyone insisted that I should do this, so I ended up promising that I'd try to take a class with her, just as an experiment.