CHAPTER 4
Suddenly, Brian and Hannah didn’t feel much like boarding.
They glided back to the chalet and unstrapped their snowboards. Then they stomped up the back steps to the chalet’s deck, took off their boots, and went inside.
They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the fire in the chalet, talking about this new boy and what the new rules might mean.
“We need some kind of a plan,” Brian said.
“How can we make a plan if we don’t know what’s going to happen yet?” Hannah said. “We should be patient and see what he’s up to, then make our plan.” Brian agreed.
Gradually, all of their other friends started to show up in the chalet. Ray, B.J., and Will had each already had some kind of run-in with Zach. They were all looking for information about what might be happening. And they wanted to share their stories with friends.
“He asked me if I could grind the rails on the snowboard runs,” Ray said. “I said yes and then showed him. When I got to the bottom of the hill, he was laughing at me.”
The others had similar stories.
No one was sure what to make of it. But they all figured they’d find out soon enough.
* * *
That night at home, Brian tried to talk to his mom about Zach.
She was sympathetic, but said there wasn’t much that could be done just yet.
“I’m sure he’s just trying to look cool in his new home,” she said. “He’ll tone it down once he gets to know all of you.”
Brian wasn’t so sure.
“He keeps talking about changes,” Brian said. “And Hannah told me that her dad said we might lose our right to free snowboarding. Is that true?”
“I don’t know yet, Brian,” his mom said. She sighed. “But I’m sure that some things will change. Things always change when there is a new manager. It’s nothing to worry about.”
But Brian was still worried.
* * *
After school the next day, he and Hannah met at the resort again.
They walked into the locker room and got ready to snowboard.
On their way out to the slopes, however, they saw Zach inside the chalet.
He was putting up a sign on the bulletin board. In bold letters, it read:
TEEN SNOWBOARD CROSS
TEAM SIGN-UP
There was an empty space below it for people to put their names.
Hannah and Brian were confused, because Snowstream didn’t have a snowboard cross course on it.
But they were both excited, too. They had always wanted to try snowboard cross.The idea of racing against other people down a twisting, turning snowboard run sounded pretty cool.
Hannah saw it as a chance to be nice to Zach. “Hey, Zach. So you’re starting a snowboard cross team? Here at Snowstream?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he said. He didn’t seem interested in her questions. “I was captain of the team at Blair Mountain. We were winners. Even though I’m stuck at this resort now, I still want to win.”
Hannah and Brian tried to ignore the nasty part of Zach’s comments.
“Sounds like fun,” Brian said.
“It’s awesome,” Zach said. “My mom said we’re going to take one of the ski runs and turn it into a snowboard cross course. We’ll be able to start practicing in a few weeks. And I’m the captain.”