SATURDAY, MARCH 29
Today was finally the day of our “Dorks Rule!” listening party at Swanky Hill Ski Resort!
Even though I felt bad about Brandon possibly missing out, I was looking forward to actually seeing the place I’d heard so much about from the kids at school. MacKenzie and all of the CCP girls were planning to have their sweet sixteen birthday parties there.
As a special surprise and a reward for all of my hard work, Trevor Chase booked a VIP suite for an overnight stay for my family and me!
He’d also arranged for us to be picked up and transported by a limo service! YES! We were actually riding to Swanky Hill in a limo like REAL celebrities! SQUEEEE!!!
After arriving, we are going to have a special breakfast prepared by a private chef right in our suite!
Then we were going to spend the ENTIRE day hanging out on the slopes, relaxing in the spa, and lounging around the pool. It’s going to be FABULICIOUS!
And later that evening, at 7:00 p.m., I’d be meeting up with my band members in the convention center for our listening party.
Due to the popularity of the TV show, we were expecting twenty busloads of fans from neighboring schools, in addition to those arriving by car.
The first one thousand people would be able to buy a copy of our “Dorks Rule!” CD ten days early.
I couldn’t contain my excitement when the iron gates opened and we traveled on a private drive up this huge snow-covered mountain.
Then, tucked inside a grove of evergreen trees, was the entrance to Swanky Hill.
“OMG! Just look at this place! SWEET!!” I gushed. . . .
MY FAMILY AND ME, ARRIVING BY LIMO AT SWANKY HILL SKI RESORT!!
Swanky Hill isn’t an ordinary, run-of-the-mill family ski resort. It is known for its luxurious facilities, five-star restaurants, to-die-for spa treatments, first-class country club, convention center, and even celebrity sightings.
And today, in addition to our special event, it was hosting the Extreme Ski Championship!
It’s a competition where crazy young people ski down slopes, dodging trees and boulders, and doing double flips off of cliffs. How COOL is THAT? !!
So the resort was crowded with spectators, tourists, and skiers.
While we were checking in, the resort clerk asked if we wanted to use their designer ski apparel and equipment because it was all FREE with our VIP reservations.
OMG! It was like being at a large ski boutique in the mall or something. The stuff was beyond GORGEOUS! It was SWANKY!!
But my dad told her no thanks! He said that we were all set because he and my mom had pretty much MADE everything we needed.
Okay! That’s when I started to get a little REALLY worried.
Mainly because “normal” people don’t “make” ski apparel and equipment. Especially if they’re VIP celeb guests at Swanky Hill for a listening party.
OMG! When I first saw our ski gear, I could barely stand to look at it. It was just THAT ugly! But mostly I couldn’t look because the bright yellow fluorescent color was almost blinding.
But the weirdest thing was that all the gear looked vaguely familiar. Suddenly I remembered where I’d seen all of it before.
Last summer I went with Dad to the annual City Hall Rummage Sale, where the various departments sell off excess and unwanted uniforms, equipment, supplies, and other items.
Dad thought he’d hit the jackpot when he stumbled upon some fluorescent yellow glow-in-the-dark winter sanitation suits that the city garbage workers hated and were trying to get rid of.
And when he saw the large sign above them that said FREE! PLEASE TAKE AS MANY AS YOU CAN CARRY!! he went crazy and grabbed one for every member of our family.
He also snagged some used wool hats, sanitation goggles, and hazmat boots and gloves that were only $1.00 each.
Dad had started this fiasco, but it was quite obvious that Mom had finished it—as one massive craft project.
She had decorated our sanitation snowsuits by adding red velvet hearts to the pockets, elbows, and knees, and plastic-jeweled heart trim down the legs and arms. Our hats and hazmat ski boots, gloves, and goggles were trimmed with red hearts as well.
OMG! We looked totally RIDONKULOUS!
I pleaded with Dad to let me change into the snazzy designer stuff from the resort so I’d fit in with all of the other skiers.
He insisted that we wear our homemade ski outfits, since Mom had poured so much love into decorating them. But we DID get to use the resort’s helmets, boots, and skis.
When we went on the ski lifts, everyone just stopped and STARED at us in AWE!
And not because our suits were SUPERugly. Which they were.
People were gawking because our snowsuits were such a freakishly BRIGHT YELLOW that they mistakenly thought we were the SUNRISE! Even though it was almost noon.
OMG! I thought I was going to DIE of EMBARRASSMENT dangling a thousand feet in the air. . . .
PEOPLE STARING AT US ON THE SKI LIFT AND MISTAKING US FOR THE SUNRISE!!
And Brianna didn’t have a CLUE!
She was actually smiling, waving, and blowing kisses to everyone like she was a contestant on Toddlers & Tiaras or somebody.
But I guess things could have been a lot worse! Thank goodness Dad didn’t purchase those buy-one-get-one-free bright orange jumpsuits that came complete with serial numbers, flip-flops, handcuffs, and leg shackles from the county jail.
Instead of sanitation workers, we’d look like a family of thuggish PRISON ESCAPEES!
Anyway, since Brianna and I had never skied before, Mom suggested that we both start at the bunny hill, which is for beginners.
I was really excited about finally learning how to ski. And Brianna was really excited about meeting the BUNNY (don’t ask)! But it was a total bummer being in a class with three- to six-year-olds.
Brianna must have been embarrassed too, because she pretended like she didn’t know me and kept calling me “Hey, you!” . . .
ME, ACCIDENTALLY RUNNING INTO ANOTHER LITTLE KID
But I couldn’t help it! Whenever my skis would go crooked, I’d lose control.
Anyway, after about an hour, I was starting to get the hang of things. And finally I could make it down the bunny hill without falling.
Or knocking over any little kids. Woo-hoo!
That’s when I noticed this really sweet ski outfit with a coordinating shearling headband.
It wasn’t the typical stuff you’d find at a store. It was a designer, goose down, high-performance suit you’d see on the cover of a pro ski magazine.
As I was trying to get a closer look, the person slowly turned around and stared at me with her icy-cold blue eyes!
OMG! It was MACKENZIE !
I was so shocked to see HER there, I almost threw up my breakfast right on her designer ski boots.
Had she actually come to Swanky Hill to attend our listening party?!! Especially after she’d . . .
1. thrown that big hissy fit about me missing a dance practice last week
2. threatened to report me to Trevor Chase
AND
3. spread all of those malicious lies about me on camera!!
MacKenzie glared at me with this condescending smirk and eyeballed me from head to toe.
“OMG, Nikki! So that was YOUR family in those hideously tacky ski outfits! You guys look like city garbage workers. Trash pickup at this resort is on Monday, not today.” MacKenzie cackled like a witch.
How dare that girl insult my family right to my FACE like that?!!!
Okay! So maybe MacKenzie was right.
We WERE dressed like city garbage workers.
But STILL!
Our personal wardrobe choices were none of her ding-dang business.
Sorry, but I was SO sick of her STANK attitude!
Right then I wanted to SCREAM . . . at the top of my lungs . . . for the . . . abominable snow creature . . . to come rushing down from the mountaintop and . . . snatch MacKenzie by her . . . lovely hair and . . . drag her off . . . to be his . . . um, PERSONAL POOPER-SCOOPER . . . for the rest of her PATHETIC little life!
But no such luck !
“Very funny, MacKenzie! But we’re NOT garbage workers. And just in case you’ve forgotten, Chloe, Zoey, Violet, Marcus, Theo, and I have a televised listening party later this evening,” I said, gritting my teeth.
Suddenly she stared at me with a quizzical look on her face and smirked. “Oh, really? Well, I hope you don’t mind me asking a personal question, but . . .”
I just knew she was going to make a big deal about Brandon possibly NOT being here to support me and the band at such an important event.
It wasn’t that he didn’t CARE!
I had insisted that he NOT come.
His scholarship was way more important than him being the drummer in our band.
She glared at me and then asked a very probing question that was none of her business. . . .