CHAPTER 5

SECRET LESSONS

On Saturday morning, Will had breakfast at the lodge with his parents and sister. He made sure to get a seat facing the cafeteria line. The last thing he wanted to see was a pair of snowboarders named Jasper and Eli. But if he saw them first, maybe he could avoid them.

He couldn’t handle another day trying to explain why he’d catch up, or why he couldn’t take another run on the Knight’s Trail, or, worse yet, try the Emperor’s Lightning.

“Everything okay, Will?” Mom asked.

“Fine. Why?” Will asked. He realized he’d been fiddling with his paper napkin. Shreds of it sat in a messy pile next to his plate. Will shoveled some of his cheese omelet into his mouth to cover his anxiety.

“Oh, no reason,” Mom said, grinning. “You just keep looking at the door, and then at the line, and then out the window, and then at the door.”

“Mom’s right,” Eve said. She sipped her coffee. Eve had recently started drinking coffee with Mom and Dad every morning. The habit made Will roll his eyes.

“You look like the bad guy in a spy movie or something,” Eve said. “Like someone whose worried there’s a price on his head.”

“Whatever,” Will said.

“He’s looking for his new friends,” Dad said. He patted Will’s leg. “Probably hoping to get out on his board with them before his mom and dad drag him out there.”

“Oh, Will,” Eve said. “That reminds me. I met a girl in town yesterday, and she’s a snowboarding instructor here. She told me that if we’re staying at the resort, lessons are included. So I signed up for one this morning.”

“So?” Will said.

“So you could take one too,” Eve said.

Will sat back in his chair and set a sideways glare on his sister. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “You want me—your little brother who you wouldn’t be caught dead with at the mall back home—to come with you to a snowboarding lesson with some girl you met in town.”

Eve sighed. “Oh, whatever,” she said. “I refused to go to the mall with you one time, like, two years ago. Anyway, after your wipeout yesterday, I thought you could use the help for the race tomorrow.”

“Wipeout?” Mom said with concern.

“It was nothing,” Will said.

“That’s not what Melody said,” Eve said.

“Who’s Melody?” Dad asked.

He and Mom watched their children like the audience at a play. Mom thoughtfully chewed her blueberry muffin.

“She’s the snowboarding instructor,” Eve said.

“What would she know about it?” Will said.

“She saw it happen, dorkus,” Eve said.

Will’s mind flashed back to his crash and the girl who had seen him lying there among the trees—the girl who looked like a superhero.

“How did she know I was your brother?” Will asked as his heart fell into his stomach.

“We were chatting this morning,” Eve said with a shrug, “and we put two and two together. She wanted me to make sure you weren’t hurt.”

“Will, honey,” his mom said, leaning forward and putting a hand on his arm, “are you hurt?”

“I’m fine!” Will said. He pulled his arm away and scowled at his omelet. “Forget it. I’m not taking a lesson.”

Even if he’d wanted to take a lesson—and he definitely didn’t, especially not with the super girl as his teacher—he couldn’t. What if Jasper and Eli saw? They’d know for sure he was lying about being as good as them.

“Well, I am,” Eve said. She pushed back her chair and stood up. “And it starts soon.”

“Have fun, sweetie,” Dad said.

“See you on the slopes!” Mom said.

Dad sighed. “We ready to go?” he asked.

Will pushed away his now-cold cheese omelet.

“I am,” Mom said.

“I’m not feeling great,” Will said. Embarrassment and anxiety made him queasy. “I think I’ll just sit here for a while longer. You two go ahead. I’ll catch up later.”

Dad and Mom exchanged a glance.

“Okay,” Mom said. “Do you want a room key? You can go lie down.”

“No,” Will said. “I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“Come on,” Dad said, taking Mom’s arm. “He just wants to be on his own when his friends show up. So he looks cool.”

“He always looks cool!” Mom said.

“Please,” Will said, “go away.”

“Fine, fine,” Dad said. Will’s parents left.

He watched them go. Suddenly he had a plan. His queasiness faded as he waited a few moments. Then he hurried to grab his gear at the lock-ups outside.

From the bottom of the nearest green run, he could see the class gathering at the top of the tow rope. He spotted his sister’s green and pink helmet.

He spotted the superhero girl in her fitted orange and gold uniform. There were only five or six students. They all seemed between his age and Eve’s.

Quickly, Will strapped in one boot and pushed himself to the bottom of the tow ropes. It was still early, and the line was short. Before long, he was gripping the rope tightly and being pulled up the side of the slope.

The class started down the slope. He watched from the top as Melody led her students in a slow descent.

Will strapped in his second foot and hopped to the edge. He followed the same line the class had, keeping an eye on Melody and straining to hear her as he went.

He kept his back edge in the snow and glided across the hill. Before he reached the tree line, he twisted his body, pushing the back of his board behind him and pushing down with his left heel.

The board swiveled easily at this speed. Will cut back the other way, toward the opposite edge of the hill. “This is too easy,” he said to himself, feeling pleased. Compared with yesterday’s disaster, this felt great.

Below, the class had stopped. They huddled together at the top of the bunny slope—the widest part at the very bottom of the green trail—where a group of young kids were taking a ski lesson without poles.

“I want to try some stops now,” Melody said to the class.

Will stopped on the other side of the top of the bunny slope. He tried to act naturally as he listened in on the lesson.

“Everyone,” Melody went on, “I want you to stay along this side of the slope. Watch out for the little ones. As you reach the bottom, cut hard and come to a stop. Be sure not to let your front edge catch. That will put you on your face. If you sit back to stop, that’s fine. Land on your rear.”

She pulled on her goggles. “Follow me and do what I do,” she said.

She pushed off. Along the right side of the hill, Melody built up a lot of speed. She made a dozen little turns back and forth to control her speed, but she never strayed from the right side of the hill.

The tail end of her board swished back and forth as she leaned backward and quickly shifted her right foot. Each swish was like a very quick turn. It was a good way to maintain speed without going too fast and losing control.

At the bottom, she cut her right foot hard, making a much sharper turn and lifting the toe edge of her board. She stopped, reached down, popped out her right boot, and turned around.

“Come on, guys!” she called up the slope. “Show me what you can do!”

Eve went first. She had a harder time flicking her back foot side to side, so she ended up going a little too fast. But at the bottom, she managed to bring her right foot around and lift her downward edge. The board stopped, and she sat back, dropping her rear to the snow.

Will watched the rest of the class do the same thing. One person went way too fast and zipped right past Melody at the bottom. He finally managed to stop by grabbing hold of the trail map sign.

When the class was all done and lined up for the chairlift to the next part of the lesson, Will went down.

Staying left, he tried to avoid being spotted by Eve and the others in the class. His back foot obeyed him at first, letting him cut in a quick line as he zipped down. The tree line on his left was a blur as he picked up speed.

Too much speed.

Soon his back foot stopped doing what he wanted. He struggled to slow down and ended up too far to the right.

“Sorry!” he called out as he zipped too close to a group of older skiers.

He felt himself making the same mistakes his sister made. Before he’d quite reached the bottom, he pushed his back foot hard to the right, trying to lift the front edge of his board as he swiveled.

But his speed got the better of him. His board cut fast to the left and into a tight circle. Next thing he knew, Will fell forward and got a face full of snow.

He pushed himself up and got onto his knees. His goggles were fogged up and packed with icy snow, so he pulled them off as he spit bits of grit from his mouth.

“You okay?” a familiar voice asked.

“I’m fine,” Will said. He looked up. “Oh, it’s you.”

Eve smiled down at him. “You could have just joined the lesson,” she said, “instead of trying to sneak around.”

“Did everyone see?” Will asked.

Eve took a moment to answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Will said.

“Sorry,” Eve said. “I’m sure Melody wouldn’t mind if you joined now.”

Will shook his head. “I think I’ll just go back to the lodge for a little while,” he said.

“I need to get back to the group,” Eve said.

Will nodded.

Eve pushed off to rejoin the class. Will watched as she lined up for the lift with Melody at the back of the group. Both girls looked over at him for a moment just as Jasper and Eli had yesterday.

I wonder if saying you don’t want a lesson, Will thought, and then sneaking around to take a lesson anyway counts as lying.

Then he thought, I’m the laughing stock of Sorenson Resort. At least if I just sit in the lodge and drink cocoa, it can’t get any worse.