CHAPTER 1
The door of the school bus had barely closed behind him, and Brian was on his way to the chalet.
It was the way Brian ended almost every school day, jumping off the bus and heading at full speed to the slopes.
Brian’s mother was the assistant manager of Snowstream Ski Resort. That meant Brian had easy access to the resort’s many cool features.
Each day, he would head directly to the chalet. He would open his locker and pull out his snowboard gear. He would rush to put it on, and would get to the slopes as quickly as he could.
On the slopes, he would meet his friends. Almost all of them were kids whose parents worked at the resort. Most of them were about Brian’s age, and they all were snowboarders.
Some days were spent at the halfpipe, working on a front side 720 or another special trick. Other days were spent grinding the rails down the slopes.
No matter what they were doing, Brian and his friends were happy.
Brian often snowboarded until dark. Then he would head home for a late dinner and homework before bed.
The next morning, the whole thing would start over.
It was a great life.
Brian swung by his mother’s office to say hello before he headed for the chairlift. He bolted toward the office on the top floor of the chalet.
“Hey, Mom,” Brian said as he came through the door.
“Hi, Brian,” his mom responded. She seemed a little busy.
“I’m going to the halfpipe today, okay?” Brian said.
“Okay,” she said, barely looking up from her papers. “Have fun.”
His mom had been busy a lot since the resort manager retired three months ago.
They hadn’t replaced him yet, and it meant that Brian’s mom had a lot of extra work to do.
Brian grabbed his board on the deck of the chalet and bounced down the steps toward the snow. He stepped into his board and latched the right boot in place. Pushing along the snow with his left foot, he glided down toward the chairlift.
His best friend, Hannah, was there waiting for him. “Hey, Bri,” she said. Hannah seemed a little distracted.
The lifts weren’t busy, so Brian and Hannah got on a chair quickly. Once they were up in the air, Brian started asking questions.
“You okay?” he said. “You seem a little down.”
“Well, didn’t you hear the news? Didn’t your mom tell you?” Hannah asked.
“Tell me what?” Brian asked.
“I ran into my dad on my way here,” Hannah said. Hannah’s father ran the restaurant in the chalet. “I guess the resort hired a new manager,” Hannah added.
“Oh, good!” Brian said. “My mom’s been waiting for that. Maybe now she won’t have to work so much.”
“I don’t know about that,” Hannah said. “My dad said the new manager’s not a very nice person. She’s making a bunch of new rules right away.”
“Like what?” Brian said.
“Like, we may not be able to snowboard for free anymore,” she said.