Give Me a Break (From the Files of Madison Finn, 18) (10 page)

“Got any questions?” Carlos asked when he saw Madison’s face. “You look a little worried. No worries, okay?”

Madison smiled. “Okay,” she said softly.

Carlos clapped his hands. “Now, I need a volunteer for another demonstration,” he said.

Aimee and Madison thrust their hands into the air at the same moment.

“I’ll do it,” they each said.

But Carlos looked in the opposite direction and called on someone else in the group, a girl named Beth. Carlos walked over and arranged Beth’s body in the proper skiing position.

“Oh, that’s great,” Aimee huffed. “She didn’t even volunteer.”

“What’s the big deal?” Madison asked.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s the big deal’? You raised your hand, too.”

“Yeah, but…” Madison thought for a moment. “Forget it.”

“Why are you acting so strange?” Aimee asked.

“Me? You’re the one who’s acting a little strange lately, Aimee. You remind me of… oh, I won’t say it.”

“Who?” Aimee asked.

Madison raised her fingers to her face and pretended to zip her lips.

“Who?” Aimee asked. “Tell me.”

“You’re acting like Poison Ivy would act,” Madison said.

“What?” Aimee said. “You think I’m acting like the enemy?”

“No… of course not… oh… I don’t know,” Madison said, unsure about how to respond. She wanted to say,
Look, Aim, you
are
acting like Ivy and you can’t deny it. You can’t always hog Carlos, you know. You’re not the center of the universe, you know.

But that was the very last thing that Madison would ever have said out loud.

Carlos clapped his hands together again.

“I want you to try leaning on one ski,” Carlos said. “It is the best way to get ahold of your balance.”

Aimee tried putting all of her weight onto one ski. She got wobbly right away. Madison reached out and grabbed Aimee’s parka.

“That was close,” Aimee said, flailing with her right arm. “Wait, I’m not… wait…”

Madison wanted to let go, but her glove got stuck somehow in the crook of Aimee’s arm. She tried very hard not to cross her right ski over her left ski and lose her balance, but—

Crash.

The two friends fell on top of each other.

Everyone in the group started to laugh.

Madison and Aimee were a twisted clump of skis, poles, and snow. Carlos ran over to untangle them.

“Well, that was graceful,” Aimee said, as Carlos helped her to her feet.

“It happens to everyone,” Carlos said, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear. “This is why we must be so careful on the slopes. Yes?”

“I don’t understand why we have to do all these exercises,” Aimee said. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to ski down a hill?”

Carlos shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “You must practice before you become the safe skier.”

He helped Madison to her feet, too. “You okay?” Carlos asked.

Madison nodded, even though her face, which had been pushed into the snow, felt like a slushy drink from Freeze Palace back home. She was happy to be wearing the toasty new ski pants that Stephanie had bought for her.

Hugh came over. “Are you two okay?” he asked Madison and Aimee. “I wish I had caught that one on video.”

Aimee shrugged. “We’re fine, I guess, if embarrassing yourself completely is considered okay. I mean, look at us. We look like snowballs…”

Madison grinned. “We really are fine,” she said sweetly.

“I think we should just ski down the hill,” Aimee said, looking off into the distance. “Aren’t those your friends over there?” she asked.

Hugh glanced over to where Aimee was pointing. On a small slope off to the side, his three friends were lining up and trying out new moves on their skis.

“Yeah, those are my friends, but they’re really, really good skiers,” Hugh said. “Wick has been skiing since he was three or something.”

“How hard can it be to do what they’re doing?” Aimee asked. “I’m a dancer. I bet I could do that.”

Madison nudged Aimee and Hugh. “We’d better go line up. Carlos wants us over there.”

“Attention, everyone!” Carlos called.

The lesson was half over for the day. Carlos gathered everyone together and explained about a special Peeweeski and Teenski demonstration for parents. The instructors wanted to join together and host the presentation in a few days. Everyone in Teenski would ski with a partner.

“It’s a very, very good way to practice if you have a ski buddy. Everyone stays a lot safer. It really helps when we start using the ski lift,” Carlos said. “So, here’s what we do.”

He pointed to every other person lined up in front of him.

“Turn to the person on your right. He or she will be your lucky partner,” Carlos said.

Aimee gasped. She was standing to the right of Beth, not Madison.

But Madison grinned. Hugh was on her right.

So, Hugh is Mr. Right, after all, Madison thought, her stomach flip-flopping as it always did. Her mind raced with thoughts of participating in the demo and getting a giant round of applause from all of the spectators. After that, Hugh would tell Madison that she was the best skier he had ever met. Then he would say how much he wished he could see her again—back home in Far Hills. He would ask Madison for her phone number or at least her e-mail address and then…

“Maddie,” Aimee elbowed Madison in the side. “Why didn’t you ask to switch partners?”

Madison looked over at Hugh. “I don’t know,” she said, even though she knew very well why she’d stuck with Mr. Right.

Aimee was red in the face. At first, Madison wasn’t sure if it was the wet and cold or if Aimee was truly upset. Then she knew. Aimee turned around on her skis and moved away.

“I guess I’ll go find my other partner, then,” Aimee said, sounding disappointed. She slid slowly over toward Carlos, who was speaking to Beth and another pair of skiers.

“Your friend looks bummed,” Hugh said. “You should ski with her.”

“I do everything with her,” Madison blurted. “I would rather ski with you.” Had she really just said that? She almost felt as if she were baring her soul—and perhaps betraying her friend, just a little. But she stuck with Hugh.

They wobbled around on their skis a bit, practicing the wedge and trying to ski short distances on one ski for balance. They talked about school, home, and pets. Hugh owned Trix, the cat that was staying with the hotel pet-sitter.

Carlos made the rounds, checking in on his beginning skiers as everyone practiced and fell down and practiced and fell down some more.

After about fifteen minutes, Madison heard Carlos yell.

“No! No!” he cried. “Stop!”

Carlos started to chase after something—or someone—Madison couldn’t tell. All of the kids in the lesson group slid after him. Madison and Hugh slid along, too.

Madison craned her neck to see what was going on.

Hugh saw right away. “It’s your friend,” he said. “She’s skiing on the other slope.”

“What?” she cried. But then she saw, too. Aimee had skipped over to the other slope. She was at the top of a fairly steep incline. A cluster of younger kids were skiing the same minislope.

Aimee didn’t turn around, even though she must have heard Carlos calling after her. Didn’t she hear the rest of the Teenski group yelling, “Stop! Stop!”?

Obviously not.

Instead of stopping, Aimee leaned into her skis like a real pro skier and started down the slope. Right after she’d begun, she picked up a lot of speed, and she narrowly missed colliding with a little boy in a yellow jacket; then she veered off to the side, and…

Madison’s eyes grew wide as she watched her friend skid into a turn and tumble down a few yards, skis flying into the air along with a flurry of powder. It looked like an outtake from
Funny Home Videos,
a cable TV show. Only no one was laughing.

Aimee didn’t seem to be moving.

The other little kids who had been skiing around the same area scooted over to see what had happened. Carlos got there at about the same time.

“Aimee!” Carlos cried as he removed his own skis and knelt down by her side. “Don’t move, okay?”

Madison and Hugh made their way over to the scene of the accident.

Aimee’s eyes were open, but she wasn’t moving.

Madison’s heart was thumping. She almost slammed into someone herself as she moved to get closer to her BFF.

“Aimee?” Madison said. “Aimee, say something.”

By then, the Big Mountain ski patrol had been informed of the accident. A man and woman, both wearing black-and-red parkas, came over with a transport toboggan. Everyone else was ordered to move out of the way.

“Where are they taking her?” Madison asked.

“They will take Aimee to the bottom of the hill and get her to a doctor,” Carlos explained.

Madison’s words caught in her throat. She choked back a sob. “Oh, my… no… this can’t be happening. Aimee!”

The ski patrollers leaned in closer to Aimee and started to get her ready for the descent.

“She’ll be okay,” Hugh said. “It didn’t look like too bad a fall.”

But Madison didn’t really hear what Hugh was saying. She didn’t hear any of the commotion around her on the hill, either.

All Madison knew was that she was staring at Aimee right now.

And her best friend wouldn’t even look at her.

This was the worst kind of luck
ever.

T
HE SKI PATROL LOADED
Aimee onto the toboggan while everyone stood whispering and pointing.

By now, a small crowd of people other than the Teenski group had gathered to watch what was going on. It reminded Madison of a highly charged episode of some TV drama. She half expected a chopper to swoop down out of the sky or some SWAT team to take position.

Carlos paced in the snow.

“I have to tell my dad and stepmom what happened,” Madison said to Carlos. “I want to talk to Aimee.”

“We are now trying to get in touch with your parents,” Carlos explained. “Whenever there is a medical emergency, you find the adult who signed the permission form. She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry? It was too late for that.

Carlos led Madison over to Peter, a member of the ski patrol who’d just arrived on a snowmobile. He told Madison to put on a helmet and climb aboard. Peter would take Madison down the mountain and deliver her to her parents and Aimee. There, doctors would examine Aimee and then take her to the hospital emergency room if she had any serious injuries.

Madison waved a solemn good-bye to Hugh, tugged the silver helmet on over her ski hat, and climbed on to the snowmobile. Now it really did feel like a scene from a movie.

“Hold on!” Peter said in a gruff voice. Madison closed her eyes and imagined every action-movie hero she’d ever loved revving up a motorcycle or powering up a speedboat. She was off in the pursuit of danger… hot on the trail of a sinister spy… ready for anything…

Whooooooooa!

The snowmobile lurched a little, and Madison snapped back to reality. She wrapped her arms around Peter’s midsection and clung to him as the snowmobile slowly (not at movie-style, breakneck speed) wove past obstacles and down the mountain.

Although they were driving toward Aimee, Madison’s thoughts began to drift even more as they motored along. The air felt colder than cold; yet the sun was stronger and hotter than ever. Wind pounded her from all sides. Everything they passed was a blur of snow and color.

Peter stopped the snowmobile near an unmarked low stone building. Inside were a few of Big Mountain’s medical personnel.

By the time Madison had wandered inside, Aimee had already been placed on the examining table. Madison caught her breath when she saw her BFF lying there as still a mummy.

But then Aimee’s eyes moved. They locked onto Madison’s.

“What happened?” Aimee asked weakly. “I feel so dizzy.”

A doctor leaned over and shone a penlight into Aimee’s eyes. “Well, my dear,” the doctor said. “You have a slight concussion, and I’m afraid you may have a broken bone—or maybe just a sprain. We’ll need to shoot you over to the hospital for a few X-rays and tests.”

Aimee frowned. “Broken bone? Where? I can’t have anything broken…” her voice trailed off.

Madison approached the table and leaned into Aimee as much as she could. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” Madison whispered.

Aimee’s face scrunched up. Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Maddie, I’m scared. What’s happening?”

“You fell on the mountain,” Madison said. “You skied away from the group, and you fell.”

“I don’t remember,” Aimee said. She choked on the words. “Oh, I do remember now. I wanted to ski for real. I thought it would be easy…”

The doctor came back over to Aimee and wrapped a blood-pressure cuff around her arm.

“Blood pressure is a little low,” the doctor said. “But that’s okay. We’ll get you a place to rest so you can be calm before some of the other tests. And I might get you an IV drip, just to make sure you’re hydrated.”

Madison was shaking. It all felt so serious, being in this room with a real doctor and the big, hulking ski patroller. She wished she could think of something to make Aimee feel better.

“Maddie, don’t leave me,” Aimee called out. When she moved her arm, she yelled in pain. The doctor rushed over.

“You need to keep still,” he warned Aimee. “I am pretty sure you sprained your wrist. But we need X-rays to make sure there are no broken bones here or anywhere else. We’ll stabilize that arm as soon as possible.”

Just then, Dad and Stephanie came rushing into the room.

“Aimee!” Dad cried when he saw Aimee lying on a stretcher. “What happened?”

Everyone rushed to fill Dad in on the accident. Stephanie stood by Aimee, stroking the top of her head, trying to get her to breathe slowly and close her eyes.

They had to wait a few minutes before the ambulance came to take them all to the hospital for the tests.

“It all happened so fast, Dad. Aimee was just skiing and then—” Madison grabbed Dad’s hand and squeezed. “I’ve never seen Aimee so scared.”

“The doctor tells me she has a mild concussion from the fall. He thinks she must have conked her head on something, like a rock or maybe a piece of someone else’s ski equipment. And her wrist is probably sprained. But other than that, I think she’s all right. When we got the news we were headed onto a ski lift back up the mountain. We got off just in time and raced right over here.”