Winter Games #12

by Melissa J Morgan

  “I’m sure he’ll get in touch when he can,” she said, “and in the meantime, we can pick up your mood ring from Tiffany’s after lunch. That might put the smile back on your face, huh?”

  Brynn nodded, but she knew her smile was gone, maybe for the rest of the day. If she’d had her mood ring on right now, there was no doubt what color it would be: a deep, depressing black.

  chapter NINE

  Tori knew the girls were miserable, and it wasn’t even one o’clock in the afternoon yet. If she’d known that a blizzard was going to hit Tahoe on Saturday, she would have planned a trip to the tropics instead. But as it was, they were stuck trying to ski in a howling storm, and Tori’s vision of palm trees and warm beaches were fading in the face of subzero temps and blinding snow.

  They’d woken up to a beautiful blanket of fresh powder and had rented their equipment and hit the slopes for ski lessons, but soon the innocent-looking snowflakes had turned into pelting bullets of ice. Since the mountain was still open, except the top of the peak because of wind conditions, the girls were still making an effort. But this was so not the glamorous West Coast skiing Tori’d envisioned for her friends.

  She watched with a sinking heart as Nat fell (again) and slid halfway down the mountain on her backside. Heidi, their ski instructor, rushed to help while Tori retrieved Nat’s scattered poles and one of her skis from the side of the run.

  “Maybe I’m not cut out for this,” Nat mumbled to Tori through chattering teeth.

  “It just takes practice,” Tori said.

  Alyssa, Jenna, and Grace half skied, half wobbled over then, looking just as frozen as Tori felt.

  “You guys okay?” Tori said.

  “What?” Alyssa cried over the howling wind as she clung to her poles like she was hanging on for dear life. “I can barely hear you. You’ve got your scarf wrapped so tightly around your face that all I can see is your nose.”

  “As for me, I think my eyelashes just froze together,” Jenna said, waving a gloved hand in front of her face in mock panic.

  Tori had to hand it to Jenna for trying to joke in the midst of everything. And Tori wanted to laugh at that, really she did. But since she couldn’t feel her lips or her cheeks, laughing was out of the question. Her toes, her fingers, her legs, her arms—she was pretty sure that every single part of her body was absolutely, completely numb.

  “Hey,” Grace said, “what does it feel like when you have frostbite?”

  Alyssa examined a frozen strand of her hair that had turned completely white with ice crystals where it wasn’t covered by her hat. “I don’t think you can feel frostbite, because you lose all feeling in the parts of your body that are affected.”

  Tori sighed. They’d only been in their lesson for a little over an hour, but everyone—herself included—was having an awful time. “Do you guys want to take a break?”

  “No, this is f-f-f-f-f-un,” Grace stammered, shivering so badly that her skis clacked together.

  “Yeah, I want to keep trying,” Nat said, grunting as she struggled to snap her boots into her skis again. “These things are definitely not made for comfort. I feel like I’ve got a pair of two-by-fours for feet.” She tried a smile, but it fell flat. But then she must have seen the concern in Tori’s eyes, because she suddenly shifted into her typical Nat cheeriness. “I’ll get the hang of it soon, I’m sure. Let’s go!”

  Nat motioned for the other girls to take the lead, and Tori made it down to the bottom first. Jenna, Alyssa, and Grace came down slowly, fighting the wind and swirling snow, but they made it after a few minutes. Nat was a different story entirely.

  “Hey,” Jenna said, pointing to where Nat was sliding down the hill in a cloud of powder behind Heidi, “does creating an avalanche count as skiing?”

  “Wait a sec,” Tori said, panic rising inside her, “doesn’t she look like she’s going to—”

  “Heidi, look out!” Alyssa shouted, but it was too late. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Nat smacked into Heidi, and their skis popped off and went flying while they tumbled to a stop at the foot of the hill.

  “Oh, man.” Jenna let out a whistle. “Let’s go see if there are survivors. I’d make a joke, but I think my sense of humor just froze.”

  “Are you guys all right?” Tori asked, skiing over as Heidi slowly got to her feet.

  “Oh, I’m fine.” Heidi said, but Tori noticed her smile was drooping for the first time since the lesson started. “It’s one of the hazards of my job. Why do you think I wear ski pants with an extra layer of padding in them?”

  Nat, on the other hand, wasn’t even trying to smile anymore. In fact, she looked like she might start crying any minute. “Now I know I’m destined to be a metropolitan girl forever,” she grumbled. “Ice-skating in Central Park I could handle, but this . . . is ridiculous.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she gasped. “Oh, Tori, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean that. I’m just a total grump in serious need of a heating pad, that’s all. I’m having a great time . . . really.”

  “Not a prob,” Tori said, masking the quivering in her voice with fake cheeriness. She was glad her eyes had been watering all day from the bitter wind, because now no one would notice the real tears pricking her eyes. “This isn’t my idea of fun, either,” she went on, deciding it was best to act like she was laughing the whole thing off. “Not only am I in danger of losing my fingers, which would make me miss out on manicures for the rest of my life, but for all I know, my toes might already be turning black inside my boots. I vote we call it quits for the day and go thaw out.”

  “Are you sure?” Grace asked. “We really don’t mind staying . . .”

  “Yep,” Tori said. “It’s way too frigid out here.” She wracked her brain to come up with a Plan B, desperate to find a way to keep her friends entertained and their minds off the reunion. Then it came to her. “I say we go back to the condo, get changed, and then go out for an early dinner. There’s a great place called the Overlook that has karaoke, and they have the best hot chocolate in town.”

  “Anywhere indoors sounds good to me,” Alyssa said.

  The girls made plans to reschedule the rest of their lesson with Heidi for Sunday morning, and then slowly dragged themselves to the condo to regroup. Tori put on a happy face, but she knew in her heart that no matter how hard she tried, this trip wasn’t going to be as much fun as the reunion—not even close.

  “Come on, you guys! I want to get out there sometime this millennium!” Sarah called over her shoulder as she finished lacing up her ice skates. Skyscrapers surrounded the rink and the rest of Central Park. The late Saturday afternoon sunshine was glinting off their windows, tinting the whole city with an orange glow. It was a beautiful day for a camp reunion.

  The Camp Lakeview alma mater was blaring from the speakers around the skating rink, and the ice was filling with groups of campers. There was David, hanging onto the wall of the rink with Adam, Blake, Simon, and Devon. He was already waving Sarah over, and she felt like she couldn’t hit the ice fast enough. They’d been e-mailing each other, but the last time they’d actually seen each other had been right before Sarah got invited on the ski trip. And now she couldn’t wait to spend some time with him (and kick his butt in the Ice Capades, too, of course).

  “They’re such slowpokes,” Abby mumbled to Sarah, nodding to the rest of the girls who were pulling on their skates with about as much enthusiasm as a bunch of snails. Andie and Mia had made sure that all the girls were wearing sweatshirts in their Color War colors for the skating games. Half of them were decked out in red and the other half in blue. As soon as Sarah pulled on her sweatshirt, a familiar rush pumped through her veins.

  She loved a good competition, and tonight she and Abby were ready to take on the other bunks in whatever types of games Dr. Steve had planned. But she and Abby seemed like the only ones out of the 4As and 4Cs who had one ounce of enthusiasm. Chelsea was already griping about her feet hurting, and Brynn hadn’t even touched her skates yet. Inste
ad, she was scouring every inch of the rink with her eyes, looking for Jordan.

  “No sign of him yet?” Sarah asked her quietly, and all Brynn could do was shake her head as her eyes became glassy.

  “I don’t even feel like skating anymore,” she said. “You guys go ahead without me.”

  Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. There was no way she was going to let Brynn back out of the reunion plans that easily, especially when just this morning Brynn had been taking Manhattan (and Tiffany’s) by storm. “Cheer up, girly,” Sarah tried, pulling Brynn to her feet. “I know you miss Jordan, but you can’t mope all night.”

  Brynn sighed, but reluctantly followed Sarah, Alex, and Abby onto the ice to meet the guys.

  “Wow,” Alex whispered as they skated over to them, “They look pretty funny on ice skates, don’t they?”

  Sarah tried not to giggle too loudly, but it was true. Devon and Blake were the only guys who looked steady on their skates. Adam and David were wobbling shakily, their ankles bent awkwardly inward. But Sarah really broke into laughter when David tried to give her a hug and nearly toppled over.

  “I think you might need to give me some ice-skating lessons before I let go,” David told her, still clutching the wall for balance.

  Sarah held out her hand to him. “I don’t know,” she teased. “I might have to wait to give you tips until after we beat you in the Ice Capades.”

  She whooped and cheered as Dr. Steve skated onto the ice with a bullhorn. The counselors joined him in the center of the rink while dozens of campers gathered around, hugging, laughing, and catching up.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Dr. Steve started, “welcome to the annual Lakeview Camp Reunion! It’s great to see all of your smiling faces. I’m glad so many of you could join us. Now, who’s ready to have some fun tonight?”

  Sarah and Abby burst into loud cheers with most of the other campers, but she noticed that Priya and Valerie could only muster up lousy halfhearted “woo-hoos.”

  “Glad to hear it,” he said. “We’re going to start off the night with Lakeview’s own version of the Ice Capades. Then maybe a little friendly game of broom hockey.”

  “Yes!” Sarah heard Blake call out behind her. “You’re looking at the hockey king, right here! Get ready to eat my ice!”

  Sarah rolled her eyes. Well, Blake hadn’t changed much since last summer.

  “After you all work up a healthy appetite on the ice,” Dr. Steve continued while the counselors set up an obstacle course of tires and cones behind him, “we’ll serve you some of our famous mess-hall gruel, courtesy of Pete!” Pete skated forward and took a bow to the resounding “boos” of the entire camp.

  “What, you don’t like my mystery meat loaf?” Pete asked, pretending to be hurt.

  Dr. Steve laughed. “All right, all right, we’re just teasing. We’re going to the Jekyll & Hyde Club for some monster burgers and mad-scientist elixir.”

  Everyone cheered, and David leaned over to Sarah and Abby with a wicked smile and whispered in a hilariously bad German accent, “Ah, yes, yes, you haven’t met my evil twin, Dr. Dread. By the light of the full moon, I will drink my special potion and transform myself. Mua ha ha ha.”

  Sarah giggled. She loved David’s wacky sense of humor.

  “All right!” Dr. Steve said as the Olympic fanfare echoed through the rink. “Let the games begin!”

  Sarah linked arms with Abby and Alex to skate over to the 4As and 4Cs section of the ice. “Good luck!” she called to the guys, laughing as David and Adam tried not to lose their balance on the ice. “You’ll need it.”

  Over the next few hours, Sarah and Abby tore up the ice, acing the obstacle course, but then things started to fall apart. The ice dancing contest (a warped rendition of real ice dancing, where instead of coupling up for ballroom-like dancing, each bunk choreographed their own special bunk-dance routine) was a total disaster for the girls. 4A’s rendition of “Ice, Ice, Baby” sounded more like a funeral dirge than pop, and 4C’s “Snowbound” didn’t sound any better. So the guys completely smoked them there, despite Abby and Brynn’s attempt to pull off a last-minute victory with a cool dance move they’d dubbed “The Icewalk” instead of “The Moonwalk.” Even after scoring ten goals between them in the broom hockey game, Sarah and Abby couldn’t muster up any excitement from the other girls. Sure, Priya and Valerie participated, but it was like they were moving in slow-motion. Even Alex, who was usually in her element when it came to sports, had trouble holding her own as goalie. She let five goals slip past her before throwing down her broom in frustration.

  “I am so off my game today,” she said. “I don’t know what my problem is.”

  “I know what my problem is,” Chelsea said. “Blisters. I’m taking a break.”

  “You can’t quit now,” Sarah cried as Chelsea skated toward the snack shack. “We’re not even halfway through the game.”

  But Chelsea just kept going. And Karen, after glancing apologetically at Sarah and Abby, skated after her. “Sorry, guys,” she called over her shoulder. “But I’ve already fallen so much that I’m not going to be able to sit for a week.”

  “Another one bites the dust,” Abby said, but no sooner had the words left her mouth than Brynn said, “Guys, I think I’m going to sit the rest of the game out, too.”

  “But, Brynn, you can’t . . .” Sarah started, but when she saw Brynn’s trembling lip, she stopped.

  “Sorry,” Brynn whispered.

  “Now what?” Sarah muttered, looking around at the meager team they had left.

  “I’m calling an emergency meeting,” Andie said, gathering all the girls together in the snack shack. “Who’s going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Don’t ask me,” Sarah said, letting her frustration boil over. “I’ve been trying all afternoon to get everyone to stop moping, but I give up. I cancelled the trip to Tahoe for the reunion, but I’m starting to wonder why. I didn’t know I was going to be dealing with a bunch of downers all weekend.”

  “I second that,” Abby said. “I thought camp reunions were supposed to be fun. This is my first one ever and it’s like we’re all at a funeral or something.”

  Everyone stared at their feet for a minute before Brynn spoke up.

  “It’s not just the whole Jordan thing that’s got me upset,” she said quietly, biting her lip. “I miss Grace. I’ve barely talked to her at all since the whole Tahoe thing started, but now I feel awful that I haven’t. And I can’t imagine the rest of this weekend without her.”

  “Or Nat and Tori, either,” Priya piped up. “I don’t even think I’d mind if they hogged the bathroom mirrors with all their primping, if they were here.”

  “And I’ve never been to a reunion without Jenna,” Alex said. “We always team up in sports, but today I can’t even stop a goal without her here.”

  Sarah looked at the sad faces of her friends, wanting more than anything to pull them out of this slump. “Look, guys, I know we miss the rest of the girls. But we can’t let it ruin our time together, right?”

  “It’s not just that we miss them,” Valerie said. “It’s that things are so tense. We’ve barely even talked to them lately. That’s the worst part.”

  Priya nodded in agreement. “I’m upset that we didn’t all get to go to Tahoe together. But I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on the reunion, anyway. And now it’s like Tori, Nat, and the other girls don’t even want to talk to us, or hang around us anymore.”

  “I know that’s not true,” Sarah said. “Before I canceled my ticket to Tahoe, Nat, Jenna, Alyssa, Grace, and I all talked about that. We wanted to talk to you guys, but we felt bad that we were invited and you weren’t. We thought you were mad at us.”

  “We were only mad because no one talked to us about any of it,” Karen said. “This wall went up between our two groups, and that was it.”

  “We can patch things up with them,” Sarah said. “It’s never too late for that. Maybe we can figure somethin
g out at dinner tonight. But right now, we need to focus on our time together. I know Jenna would be furious if she knew we were throwing away a chance to kick the boys’ butts in this broom hockey game. And Nat would tell us that all this frowning is bad for our complexions.”

  Andie laughed at that. “Truer words have never been spoken. No one, especially the girls in Tahoe, would want you to be miserable this weekend when you should be having fun.”

  Slowly, every one of the girls nodded, and a few small smiles even surfaced. Just then, Kenny skated over. “Ladies, the guys are wondering if you’re forfeiting the game,” he said.

  “Forfeiting!” Sarah cried. “They wish!” She turned to her friends. “Who wants to get out there again and totally annihilate them?”

  “Count me in,” Abby said, grabbing her broom, and soon all the other girls, even Brynn, were heading back onto the ice.

  Sarah smiled. She knew they still hadn’t fixed the awkwardness with the girls in Tahoe, and she wasn’t sure how or when that would happen. But for right now, this was a promising start.

  chapter TEN

  Nat sighed as she looked out the huge windows of the Overlook Café at the blustering snow. Her fingers and toes had finally thawed out after this morning’s skiing disaster, but even so, her mood hadn’t improved much, and neither had anyone else’s. Jenna and Alyssa had eaten most of their dinners in silence, and Tori had been talking almost nonstop with a mega-cheeriness that was bordering on hysteria. To top it all off, the girls were listening to some very bad karaoke attempts from other snowed-in skiers who’d called it a day. Normally, operatic renditions of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” would have been funny to watch, but right now, none of the girls were smiling or laughing. The whole day had been one awkward moment after another, and now, as much as she hated to admit it, Nat was wishing that she’d stayed home in Manhattan and gone to the reunion.