Ski Trip Trouble (10 page)

“Where are you guys?” you ask her.

“We're waiting for you, outside—what's the holdup?”

“I'm back in the line to get my stuff, and it looks like it's going to be a while,” you admit.

“Well, I guess we'll go to the chairlift. Call me when you're ready to ski and we'll look for you,” Heather says, and hangs up.

What a bummer. After what feels like forever, you finally get to the front of the line. “Size, shoe size, too,” the girl behind the counter says, and this time you tell her. “Yeah, actually, we're out of that
size. Here, try these,” she says, pushing a pair of ski boots across the counter to you.

“These are two sizes too small,” you tell her. “Sorry, that's all we've got left,” she says, and turns to help the next person. You go to try on the boots and your feet are so squished, there's no way you can wear them. And without ski boots, there are no skis—and no skiing! There goes your chance to ski with the cute boys—or to ski at all!—
argh!

END

If you want to rewind your trip to the ski rental shop, go back to Chapter 49.

You tell the girl your size. If Jim and his friend notice, they don't say anything, and you secretly breathe a sigh of relief! The girl behind the counter hands you your stuff just as Jim says, “So, seriously, can I meet you guys and ski with you?” You turn to look at him. He's got a bit of a bad-boy look, with short blond hair and a devilish smirk.

“Yeah, sure,” you tell him, and look over at Heat her to see what she'll say.

“Fine with me”—she grins—“I just hope you can keep up.”

“That's a challenge I can't pass up,” Jim's friend says. “Forget snowboarding, I'm coming, too.”

You and Heather exchange a quick smile. So far this ski trip is turning out pretty great! “We have to go change, but we'll meet you guys out at the chairlift,” Heather tells them as you walk off. When you're out of earshot, you both start giggling. Then, as you head down the hallway to your room, you run into some of Heather's friends.

“Hey, Jenny!” Heather gives one girl a big hug.

“So cool to run into you—we just met some guys from your school!”

“Oh yeah, who?” the other girl asks. “One guy named Jim, and a friend of his,” you offer.

“Uh-oh,” Jenny says. “Did the other guy have red hair, freckles?”

“Yes,” Heather says quickly, “why, bad news?” Jenny leans in. “They kinda have a reputation at school for being players.”

“Oh no—we told them we'd meet them!” you say. “Well, there is that ski lesson… we could go and do that instead,” Heather points out. “We could just tell the guys we forgot that we'd signed up for it. ”

“Better hurry,” Jenny says, walking away with her friends. “That class starts in five minutes!”

Heather looks over at you. “What should we do?”

“They didn't
seem
like jerks,” you say, “but maybe we should trust your friend?”

You want to meet the boys and decide for yourself.

You'd rather just take the ski lesson.

Mrs. Bulow explains that there's a small clasp at the top of the Murphy bed that holds it closed. “Here, you just undo this,” she says, opening the clasp, “and the bed comes right down.” She pulls the handle and a bed folds out.

“Thank you so much,” Heather says. “Please remember, girls, that I'm here to help you out with any problems, okay?” Mrs. Bulow says. You're glad she's the head chaperone on the trip because she's always so nice. “Now you better hurry or you'll be late for Bryce Karr's first lesson of the day,” she adds with a smile.

“Who's Bryce Karr?” Carrie asks. “You don't know who Bryce Karr is?” Mrs. Bulow looks surprised. “He's a former Olympic champ, and now he teaches lessons here. I thought for sure all you girls would be signed up by now…,” she says.

“Why? Do you think we need a ski lesson that badly?” you ask her with a laugh.

“No, because Mr. Karr is so…well, let's just say he's very, very handsome. ” Mrs. Bulow blushes.
Could it be that your teacher has a crush?

“Let's go!” Heather says, grabbing her coat.

Carrie quickly looks over her ski schedule. “Class starts in fifteen minutes!”

“'Bye, Mrs. Bulow,” you turn and say as you race down the hall. But as you round the corner, you run right into…Mitch!

“Hey, slow down!” he says, laughing and catching you by your shoulders. “What's up?” He grins, and you feel your heart start to race.

“Um, uh, we're…well…” Your brain feels all scrambled. Why does he always have this effect on you?

“If you're not doing anything, besides racing in the hallways, do you want to come snowboarding with my friend and me?” He motions to the dark-haired guy standing next to him. You look over at your friends for a second—should you take the lesson with them or hang out with Mitch?

You decide to take the ski lesson.

You'd rather change plans and snowboard with Mitch.

“Here you go,” you tell Jim's friend, Henry, as you push him in front of you. “Why don't you ride up with your friend and I'll go with Heather.”

“We'll meet you guys up there,” Heather says cheerfully.

As soon as the guys are on the chairlift, you turn to Heather and whisper. “Let's head over to the ski lesson and ditch these guys—I'm getting a bad vibe from them.”

“Me too!” Heather exclaims. “When you weren't looking, that Henry guy tried to kiss me!”

“Ewwww, creep!” you say as you two step out of the line and head over to the ski lesson.

“I forgot my gloves, I'm going to run to the lodge first, then I'll meet you there,” you tell her. You hope Jim and Henry won't be too upset when they find out you totally stood them up!

Go to Chapter 23.

“Honestly?” you say, turning to face Heather. “I ran into Dan in the hallway and he asked me to go skiing with him.”

“What do you mean, like a date or something?” Heather looks crushed.

“He said he still likes me and wants to hang out with me,” you admit, grabbing your gloves and hat.

“But…he likes me!” Heather says. “And I like him, too. How could you do this to me?”

You just look at her for a second. She has been kind of mean to you this entire trip, but maybe you're just lashing out at her—maybe you don't really even like Dan that much.

“He told me he was just using you to get close to me,” you tell her.

“What!?” Heather screams. “You've got to be kidding me!” She picks up her duffel bag and throws it against the wall, clothes flying everywhere. Then she sits on the bed and starts crying. “Why would he do this to me?” she says, and Carrie sits beside her.

“Look, just because Dan is a jerk, that doesn't mean you guys have to fight over him,” Carrie points out. “Maybe neither one of you should date this guy. I mean, listen to the stuff he's saying—using one friend to get to another? That's just plain creepy.”

You have to admit that Carrie is right. You sit on the other bed to think for a second. It's flattering that Dan is so into you, but do you really want to do this?

If you decide to meet Dan, go to Chapter 63.

If you'd rather blow him off and patch up your friendship, go to Chapter 64.

“Race…okay, why not?” you tell Mitch as you two line up at the top of the slope.

“On three,” he says, and counts off, “one, two…” He pushes off.

“Hey, no fair!” You race after him. He's ahead of you, but you can tell he's boarding too fast and tight. You loosen up your S-curves and make a big loop around him, taking the lead. When you reach the bottom, you pretty much tie.

“I would have won—if you hadn't cheated,” you say, catching your breath.

“Cheating? Me?” Mitch smiles at you. “Don't know what you're talking about, but if you want a rematch, it can be arranged!”

You catch the chairlift up together again, chatting and laughing the whole way. You'd forgotten how much you like Mitch. “You know,” you tell him as you head over to the slope again, “I really miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” he admits, catching your eye before you both head down the steep slope again.

When you reach the bottom, Mitch slides over to you and grabs your arm. “Come on, they're about to close this place down,” he says, pointing to where the sun is setting behind the mountain. “Let's go one more time.”

You're starting to feel really tired and cold. And you'd like to just hang out with Mitch inside and catch up—something that's pretty hard to do when you're snowboarding. “I don't know…,” you say. “My feet are freezing.”

“Don't get all girlie on me now!” Mitch taunts you. “Night snowboarding—it's the best! Just a little bit longer….”

You agree to board down one more time.

You'd rather try to get Mitch to come inside.

“Oh, I don't know if I'm good enough to race you,” you tell Mitch, acting coy. Guys don't like girls who are too competitive, right?

“You're pretty good—c'mon!” he urges you. “Loser buys the winner a hot chocolate later at the café.”

As much as you want to snuggle with him at the café and sip hot chocolate together, you just can't race against him. “No, you're way better than me,” you say shyly, hoping to stroke his ego.

“Okay,” Mitch says, moving into position to go down the slope again. A cute freckle-faced girl in a white baseball cap moves into place beside him. She's got on a great snowboarding outfit.

“Race you down?” she turns to Mitch and challenges. She gives him a flirty smile.

“You're on!” he says, and pushes off down the mountain without even looking back. As you watch them race down the slope, you can't help wondering if he's going to end up drinking hot
chocolate with her in the café—
argh
! That girl is racing off with your crush, and you have only yourself to blame!

END

If you want to take Mitch up on his challenge, go back to Chapter 52.

“Okay, I'd like to try,” you tell Travis. “If you don't mind showing me how.”

“No problem,” Travis says. He picks out a snowboard for you, and you all head over to the snowboarding area. “It's probably better to learn over here,” Travis explains, “than head straight to the slopes.”

“I'm going to hit the half-pipe,” Mitch says, walking off without even saying goodbye. You're thankful that Travis is so sweet.

You look around at everyone else snowboarding—it looks simple, so you're sure you'll get the hang of it. But once Travis helps you get your boots hooked into the board, you realize that you have no idea how to even move!

Travis puts his hands around your waist. “You just have to lean your body forward, bend your knees, and move the board.” He shows you how. He's leaning over you, talking so close to your ear that you can hardly pay attention. When you do move forward, you suddenly jerk straight up. “Bend
your knees!” Travis yells, but when you do, you topple backward and land on your tailbone so hard that you see stars.

“Ohhhhh, ouch!” you say, feeling tears come to your eyes. And Mitch chooses just that minute to swing by.

“Dude, come hit the half-pipe. She can practice on her own,” he tells Travis, who's busy helping you up.

“Why don't you practice what I showed you here on this small slope and I'll come back to check on you, okay?” Travis says.

“Sure,” you tell him sadly. You understand that the guys came to have fun, not teach you how to snowboard, but you're still bummed. What happened to spending time with Mitch? Travis is the only one even paying any attention to you!

After almost an hour of practicing, you're exhausted—you're covered in snow, freezing, your butt is permanently numb, and your wrist hurts from falling down so many times.

“Hey, how's it going?” Travis slides by and asks you. “Hurt your wrist?”

“A little,” you admit. “I'm not sure snowboarding is for me. It looks so easy for you and Mitch; I
just don't know if I can get it,” you say, snapping your boots out of the board.

“Don't give up—let's try again tomorrow. You just need to soak in the hot tub for a while, then you'll feel better—I promise,” Travis says.

You pick up your board and turn to head back to the lodge. “Well, thanks for trying to teach me,” you say glumly.

“Look, let me do two more runs on the half-pipe, and I'll meet you at the hot tub. After a good long soak, you'll be ready to try snowboarding again.” He winks at you, and you feel a shiver go down your spine. Are you just cold, or does this guy like you?

Just then, Mitch slides by. “You quitting already?” he says to you.

“I'm spent,” you admit, but you don't mention that you might be heading to the hot tub. And neither does Travis.

“Come on, man,” Mitch says, pulling Travis by the sleeve. “Hey, we'll see you later on, maybe tonight or something,” Mitch calls back to you.

Travis turns to go. “Really, two more runs and I'll see you there, okay?” he asks. You are feeling so sore and bruised, maybe a soak would do you good.
And you do want to hang out with Travis; you just feel funny doing something behind Mitch's back. Suddenly it hits you that getting into the hot tub with Travis means one thing: bathing suit!
Eeek!
Do you dare?

If you want to meet Travis at the hot tub, go to Chapter 66.