Avalanche

by Brianna Cerkiewicz

  Mr. Lee stands and gives instructions. We’re to get off the bus a row at a time. I’m one of the first out. Alexandria and Cole are near the back. This gives me time to get my gear. I want to be ready when they get off.

  Maybe Cole wasn’t serious about skiing together. That will be embarrassing.

  CHAPTER 6

  On Edge

  You look great,” Cole says. “Love your outfit. It’s really cute.”

  If she only knew. Thank goodness I didn’t go with the plaid.

  Alexandria looks half awake. She grunts something. It sounds like hello.

  “Let’s go,” Cole says. “We’re wasting time.”

  We’re in line for the chairlift. It’s really happening. Don’t look too excited, I tell myself. Seeing the groomed snow brings me down a little. Powder is much better.

  As the chair scoops us up, Cole nudges me. “Watch this guy,” she says.

  It’s a skier below us. A patch of moguls are in his path. He’s going too fast and crashes. Cole laughs. “What a bomber,” she says.

  This makes me feel a little nervous. That could happen to me. Then I’ll blow my chance with Cole.

  We get off the lift. “Lead the way,” Cole says to me.

  It’s too late to turn back now. “Sure.”

  Normally I’d do a warm-up run. But that won’t impress her. I push off hard and head downhill. For the first jump, I pop the takeoff, then move into a tail grab. It’s a classic pose. Skis cross to one side behind you. One hand grabs the opposite ski. What an easy move. But it doesn’t look it.

  The next jump shoots me high into the air. My arms spin, taking me in a full circle. I skip the third jump and head for the rails. Rails are steel bars fixed into the ground. They can be tricky. Falling on one is the worst. It happened to me only once. But the bruise lasted forever.

  Falling is not an option. So the flat bar is where I start. With good speed going in, I jump up and slide sideways. The next bar is round. I spin off and land backward. Can Cole do that?

  I spin some circles, called 360s. And now for the last rail. This one is shaped like a rainbow. Speed is everything. Too little? You won’t make it over the top. Too much and you shoot off and land flat. I keep my balance and ride it to the end.

  Looking back, I spot Cole and Alexandria. It’s too far to see their faces. There’s no telling if they’re impressed.

  Alexandria goes next. She does grabs on the jumps but no spins. And she skips the rails.

  “You’re good,” she calls to me.

  “Yeah, well. I’ve been doing it for a while. Since I was two years old.”

  Now it’s Cole’s turn. She copies all my moves. That’s until she gets to the second rail. Skiing backward for a snowboarder is different. I’m curious.

  She’s got good speed coming in. At the end of the rail, she turns and twists her body. She does a 180 off. Her opposite foot is in front. Nice.

  After a couple of spins, she heads for the rainbow. Huh? She’s coming back. Why the change of mind? Now she’s headed right toward me. Is she going to stop? At the last second she slashes. Her board kicks up a spray of snow.

  “Hey,” she says.

  “Hey,” I say back.

  “What do you think?”

  That you missed the last rail. But I’d never say it to her face. “That was fun.”

  “What else can you do?” she asks.

  Like what I did wasn’t enough?

  CHAPTER 7

  Downhill from Here

  Cole goes back to the rainbow rail. When she gets it, I’ll do some fancier tricks. There’s no need to show off. For now, I pretend not to watch. Why do I even care? Maybe because that’s what real friends do.

  Some of the kids from our school are nearby. One is the guy from the bus. He’s the one who I wished smiled at me. There’s no sign of any girlfriend.

  Just as he looks over, Cole calls out.

  “Woo!”

  She’s on the rail! Come on, make it. But she slides off. On the next try, she bails. Ouch! Right on her face. When she stands up, I see blood. It’s coming from her nose.

  I ball up some snow. “Here. Catch.”

  She presses the ball to her nose. It starts to look like a cherry snow cone. “Gross,” she says, staring at it.

  There’s this look on her face. It’s like the wheels in her brain are turning. At the same time, a skier passes by. No way! She wouldn’t really do it.

  Whomp! Her aim is perfect. The ball hits him square in the back. He flashes his middle finger. Cole just laughs.

  “Was that Mr. Lee?” Alexandria asks. “We’d better go.”

  “Why?” I say. “There’s a lot more to do.”

  Cole is walking away. “The best snow is over here.”

  “Over where?” I ask. There is nothing but trees around.

  “There’s a lift. Come on.”

  It’s happening again. I’m following Cole to who knows where. But she’s right. We do come to a chairlift. A map is posted. It shows a few runs. They line the edge of the ski area. Most have moguls. Snowboarders I know don’t like moguls. It makes me wonder what she’s up to.

  “Come on, Dray!” Cole says. She and Alexandria are in line for the lift.

  “Coming!”

  “So,” Cole says once we’re seated. “What do you think of Mr. Lee?”

  “He’s okay.” I’m careful not to say too much. Saying the wrong thing could cost me. So I change the subject. “Are there any guys you like?”

  Alexandria shrugs. Cole is silent.

  Wrong again. I’ll never figure this out. “Which run are we going to take?”

  “I’ll show you,” Cole says. “Let’s get to the top first.”

  I’m quiet the rest of the ride. The sun feels good on my face. It’s a perfect day for skiing.

  CHAPTER 8

  Powder Fever

  Cole leads us to the boundary line. A sign is posted on the fence. A word is printed in big red letters. DANGER!

  “Let’s go in here,” she says.

  “But the sign,” Alexandria says. “This is an avalanche zone.”

  “They just don’t want to get sued,” Cole says.

  Alexandria looks at me. “What do you think?”

  She’s asking the wrong person. Skiing out-of-bounds would always be my first choice. That’s where the best snow is. But you also have to use your head.

  None of us knows this mountain. It’s hard to tell how loose the snow is. There’s something else that worries me a little. It’s gotten windy.

  We don’t have the right gear for an avalanche. You at least need a beacon and a shovel. Worst of all, nobody knows where we are. It’s probably not a good idea.

  To Cole this is a test. She doesn’t think I’ll do it. But she also doesn’t know me. Right now my mind is on the powder. “Sure,” I say. “Let’s go.”

  Cole looks around. Then she climbs over the fence. We follow.

  Seeing a track makes me feel better. Other people have skied here. Not today, though. There’s a layer of fresh snow.

  We follow the track to a bowl-shaped slope. The surface is smooth. We’re getting the first tracks of the day. This is perfect. Cole motions at me to go.

  As I drop in, snow comes up to my knees. I bounce up and do zigzags. It’s a fun, safe move. This gives me a feel for the weight of the snow. Now my skis are pushing through the powder. Wide turns make it feel like surfing. Then the skis take over. They move beneath me. I’m going double the speed. It’s like floating. There is no better feeling.

  About halfway down, I stop to look back. My tracks are smoothly linked S-shapes.

  Cole is coming down the hill. Her tracks look like Cs. She’s moving slowly. Her rhythm seems off. Has she snowboarded in powder before?

  Alexandria is still near the top of the mountain. It seems like she’s got too much speed. Then, going into a turn, her arms start swinging. I’m not a snowboarder, but I know good form. This is not it. If her weight doesn’t shi
ft, she’ll fall. I can’t bear to watch.

  Cole stops beside me. It’s the first time she hasn’t looked mad or bored.

  “Is Alexandria coming?” I ask.

  “Yeah, here she comes now.”

  “How long has she been doing this?”

  “About a year,” Cole says. “I’ve been doing it since I was six.”

  “Really?”

  Alexandria finally joins us. “I’m exhausted,” she says.

  My eyes scan the hill below. There should be a chairlift somewhere around here. If not, we’ll have to hike. But not one lift is in sight. The one we took to get here is behind a ridge. We’ll just have to head in that direction.

  “This whole day has been great,” Cole says. “No school. No Mr. Lee. Can you hear me, Lee?” she yells.

  “Shhh,” Alexandria says. “ You’ll set off an avalanche.”

  “That’s a myth,” Cole says. “Noise doesn’t cause them.”

  Then the mountain echoes back. “Lee, Lee, Lee.”

  The three of us freeze.

  CHAPTER 9

  Blindsided

  Whumpf!

  A deep rumbling noise surrounds us. Didn’t anyone check the forecast? No. This is my fault. The signs were there. It had gotten a lot warmer since this morning. And the wind had picked up. All that new snow was a sign too. It wasn’t stable. I never should have agreed to ski here. Trying to impress Cole was not worth it.

  The only shelter around is a large rock. Quickly I pop off my skis. “Move!”

  Cole is coming. She left her snowboard behind. Alexandria is stuck. She’s fully attached to her board. Cole and I run back to help her. We get one foot free. The other binding won’t release.

  “We have to hurry!” I yell. “Can you push off and slide?”

  A huge white cloud is coming down the mountain. It’s covering everything in its path.

  “Let’s each grab an arm!” I tell Cole. “We’ll pull her.”

  We make it to the rock. “Get as close as you can. And hold hands,” I say. “We need to stay together.”

  Then the snow hits. Everything is white. We’re inside a huge cloud of powder. Someone is jerking my arm. It’s the one holding Alexandria. Then something heavy hits my back. I’m being lifted and pulled away. All the flipping makes it hard to tell up from down. Finally the bouncing slows. The snow around me is heavy.

  My mind is racing. Calm down and think! The snow will be like concrete once it settles. Before then, I need to make an air pocket.

  Someone squeezes my hand. Is it Cole? Alexandria? At one point I’d been holding on to both girls. Only a glove is in my other hand.

  It takes a few seconds to clear snow from my face. There should be enough air for 30 minutes. Hopefully we won’t be here that long.

  Now whoever is beside me needs air. I feel around for a head and clear the snow away. “Take a deep breath,” I say.

  There’s a faint, “I’m okay.” It’s Cole.

  So the glove belongs to Alexandria. I’m able to slip it into my pocket. She’ll need it when we find her. The first job is to get out of here.

  There are two options. We can dig out or wait for help. Both have their problems. If I start digging, we could lose our air. Waiting means we could die. Nobody knows to look for us here.

  We can’t risk it. I’ll have to dig us out. But which way is up? There’s a trick to this that Coach taught us. You spit and then dig in the opposite direction.

  After a few swim-like strokes, I break out. My goggles are foggy. I push them up. It’s so good to see sky.

  Next I get Cole out. She gasps when she gets to the surface. Her goggles hang around her neck.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her.

  “I think so. Where’s Alexandria?”

  My head is spinning. It’s like being back in the avalanche.

  Cole just stares at me. “She’s gone?”

  “We’ll find her. She can’t be far.”

  “Ah yeah, she can.”

  The pressure is getting to me. Cole can’t know that I’m scared.

  CHAPTER 10

  Backtracking

  The mountain looks totally different. Above us is a rocky slope. There is no snow. There are no trees. Below us is a valley of white. But there is something. Half a snowboard is sticking out of the snow.

  “Listen, Cole. We need help. Do you have a phone?”

  She looks at me like I’m from Mars. “Duh. You don’t?”

  “Just call for help,” I tell her. There isn’t time for attitude.

  Cole digs her phone out of her pocket. Nothing happens when she pushes the button.

  “The battery might be cold,” I say. “Try breathing on it.”

  After a few breaths, she tries the phone again. It still doesn’t turn on.

  “Okay,” I say. “New plan. We’ll find Alexandria ourselves. Do you know when you lost her?”

  “Pretty much right away.”

  That means one thing. Alexandria could be anywhere.

  “Let’s go back to the rock,” I say.

  “You mean the one we hid behind?” Cole looks around and then back at me. “How will we find it?”

  She’s right. Snow stretches out in every direction. I drop Alexandria’s glove to mark our spot.

  “We have to try,” I say. “It’s our only chance of finding her. We’ll go in two different directions.”

  As we head uphill, she calls out.

  “Dray!”

  “Did you find the rock?”

  “No, I found her! Hurry.” Cole is waving me over.

  “Okay. Here I am. Where is she?”

  “There! See the arm.”

  Something is wrong with this picture. The sleeve is blue. Alexandria’s jacket is black. And the hand is frozen solid. It looks like a claw.

  “Cole, I don’t think—”

  Suddenly she screams and backs away. This is definitely not Alexandria. It’s a man. His eyelashes and beard sparkle with snow. His skin is gray. There’s no doubt that he’s dead.

  For a quick second, I think I might cry. But then Cole will too. Nothing can be done for this guy. Alexandria still has a chance. We have to find her.

  Cole is sitting on the ground. Her knees are pulled to her chest. She’s shaking. Is it fear? Or is it because of the cold?

  “Hey, it’s okay.” I reach down and touch her shoulder. She pulls away. “Cole! We need to find Alexandria.”

  This girl is not going to be much help. I’ll have to find Alexandria myself. If she’s buried somewhere, every second counts.

  CHAPTER 11

  She’s Alive!

  It doesn’t take long to find the rock. And Alexandria’s other glove is close by. Now I just need to find her.

  Every few feet, I stop and dig a hole. So far I’ve only found a ski pole. But it quickly becomes a useful tool. Poking into the snow is much faster than digging. Once in a while, I look back at Cole. The dead man’s arm is also in sight. It almost looks like he’s waving.

  I’m running out of spots to look. Then something catches my eye. It’s part of a snowboard. “Alexandria?” I call.

  Sounds are coming from below. Not words but still something. I drop to my knees and start digging. “Cole! Come here!”

  First an arm appears. The sleeve of the jacket is black. And there is no glove on the hand. My heart is beating fast. “This could be her! For real this time!”

  The hand waves. It is Alexandria! She’s alive! I hope she’s not panicking like Cole. It will be hard managing for all three of us.

  Part of a face appears as I dig deeper. “Alexandria!”

  “Dray.”

  “Yes! Can you breathe? Here. Let me brush this snow away.”

  A bit of snow goes into her mouth. She sputters as my hand moves across her face. Then her arms are around my neck.

  “Okay, okay,” I say with a smile. “You’ll have to let go if you want out.”

  “Right!” Her grip relaxes. “I’m so glad to see
you.”

  “Are you hurt? Is anything broken? Can you tell?” There’s a look of pain on her face.

  “My leg really hurts. My foot’s caught in the snowboard.”

  “I’m going to get you out.”

  “Where’s Cole?” she asks. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes, she’s fine. Just in shock. Cole!” I shout. “I’ve found Alexandria! Come help me.”

  After a moment, Cole appears. Her eyes are red from crying. Snow is stuck to her face. The white eyelashes and eyebrows look so funny. It’s hard not to laugh. Too bad I don’t have my phone. This would make a great picture.

  She drops down beside Alexandria and hugs her.

  “What happened to you?” Alexandria asks.

  “She’s been so worried about you,” I say.

  Cole glances at me. I give her a look. It says, “Don’t say anything about the dead guy.” She doesn’t. All I need now is for Alexandria to freak out.

  “She’s stuck,” I explain. “We have to dig her out.”

  Cole nods. She starts scooping out handfuls of snow.

  CHAPTER 12

  Okay, Not Okay

  Alexandria’s hand looks frozen. Her glove! I go grab it and come back. Cole is still digging. Most of Alexandria’s upper body is showing.

  “Good job,” I say. A look of satisfaction is on her face. That’s twice in one day she doesn’t look mad or bored. It must be a record. “Pull out her phone.”

  Cole holds it up. “Already did.” But then she turns it on. The phone is dead.

  Alexandria looks like she’s about to cry.

  “It’s okay,” I say. “We’re going to get you out.” But it’s not okay until we’re all safe. “We need to do one thing at a time. Come on, Cole. Let’s finish getting Alexandria out.”

  After some digging, we see knees. “Can you move your leg?” I ask her.

  She tries to move and gives a gasp. “It hurts too much.”

  The digging continues. Cole tries to free Alexandria’s good leg. I’m working on the one that’s hurt. It’s clear to me now. My idea of hiking back won’t work. Alexandria can’t walk.