Give Me a Break (From the Files of Madison Finn, 18) (7 page)

Madison looked back to smile at Hugh again, but he was gone.

They moved up past a few rows of people, and the star came into view.

“Oh, my God!” Aimee squealed. “It’s Foster Lane! He’s here! I can’t believe this. Madison, this is the greatest day of my entire life. I—can’t—breathe.”

Madison laughed. She liked Foster Lane’s looks. He was cute. He wasn’t a very good actor, though. But Aimee didn’t agree. She worshipped every little thing he did, from TV shows to music videos to some commercial for Bubblewad Gum.

Aimee’s eyes widened till they looked like pie plates, and she batted her eyelashes the way she often did to get a boy’s attention. Madison hung back a bit.

Foster, dressed in a cool blue ski suit and enormous ski goggles, waved to the crowd. He was getting ready to head over to the ski lift with his snowboard. Surrounding him was a group of friends (or were those bodyguards?); in a flash, he came and went, and once the crowd dispersed, the usual ebb and flow of activity resumed on the Big Mountain slopes.

Aimee stood there until Foster’s ski lift began its ascent.

“I guess that was lucky,” Madison said, “Seeing him here.”

“Luck had nothing whatsoever to do with it,” Aimee said. “These things just happen. I knew he’d be here. I knew it!”

Madison smiled at her BFF again. Sometimes Aimee could act so serious, and sometimes she acted downright silly. But that was what Madison liked best about Aimee. She was never afraid just to say what she was thinking. She was bold enough to run and try to shake the hand of her favorite TV star—even if she hadn’t
this
time.

“It’s too bad we got here late,” Madison said, watching Foster and his entourage dangle in the lift high above the slopes. Cameras flashed up into the sky.

“Missed him? Not a chance!” Aimee cried. “I predict that I will meet Foster Lane and get his autograph before this week is through,” she said.

“But you don’t know if he’ll be here for a week,” Madison said.

“Then I’ll get it sooner than that,” Aimee said, sounding ultraconfident. “I will! Don’t you believe me?”

Madison didn’t know what to think or say. When Aimee set her mind to something, she was often successful. Maybe it was a combination of always speaking her mind and batting her eyelashes. Madison wasn’t sure.

About a hundred yards away, they spotted Carlos again. He stood before a group of skiers dressed in a rainbow of ski gear. Madison and Aimee moved toward him. Their pickup and drop-off spot was toward the side.

Madison’s ski boots were a perfect fit. She felt like a real pro wearing them. But the rest of the equipment was a bit of a mystery. She looked at the bindings on her skis and wondered how she would ever lock them on to her boots and actually ski down Big Mountain. And what were the poles for? Every time she tried to poke one of them into the snow, she nearly tripped.

Aimee had trouble getting her gear on, too. But soon they were both suited up and trudging over to Carlo’s area, skis and poles in hand.

“Hello, again,” a voice said to Madison.

Madison turned to see the boy she’d just met a few moments before, Hugh. This time she stared at his face and took it all in. He had a row of freckles across his nose and cheeks. His eyes were deep green. His hair was sandy colored—at least the bangs that she saw poking out from under his bright blue hat.

Mmmm. He was cute.

“Hello to you,” Madison said, feeling a warm blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Yeah, hello,” Aimee said, leaning in. “Are you here for the ski lessons, too?”

Madison looked down at her feet, which seemed twice their normal size in the bulky ski boots. There was no running away from this. She looked back up at Hugh and did something she’d only done a few times before. She batted her eyelashes.

Hugh looked away with a grin.

Was he blushing, too, or was it the cold air that was making him turn pink?

Aimee didn’t have a chance to say anything more. Carlos clapped his hands and started the first lesson.

There were a total of eleven kids, including Madison and Aimee. The group would meet for three days, at which point, Carlos promised, every beginning skier would be able to walk in skis and to start, stop, and get on the ski lift unassisted.

“That’s it?” Aimee said, sounding disappointed.

Madison nudged her friend. “That’s more than what we know now, right?” she said. “Why do you have to say something about everything? Shhh!”

Aimee pretended to zip up her lips. And she did stop talking. But she couldn’t keep still. Off the slopes, Aimee was always in the kind of constant motion that went with being a dancer. On skis, that motion turned into a sequence of jumps and starts that made it seem as though she were having some kind of nervous fit.

Madison tried to focus on the instructor. At first she listened to all of the words he said, but then she started to dissect his face, his outfit, and his whole look. Would he make a good male model? Was he cuter than Foster Lane? Was he cuter than Hart Jones?

Maybe.

Carlos had applied a glob of white sunblock to his nose, but it didn’t look goofy at all. On Carlos, a glob of sunblock looked positively cool.

“Maddie,” Aimee said after a few minutes. “What’s up with that guy back there in the black parka?”

“Um…” Madison said, catching her breath. “Who?”

Aimee snorted. “That guy we just saw!”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Madison said.

“Maddie, you are such a bad liar,” Aimee said with a grin.

Madison let out a little laugh. “He’s cute, right?” she said.

Carlos had obviously heard the chatter. He stopped speaking and turned toward Madison and Aimee.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he said in his stilted accent. “In order to ski, you need to pay attention.”

Madison gulped. All eyes had turned toward them. Even Hugh was staring.

Aimee and Madison quickly promised to be quiet. Carlos continued with the lesson. As he spoke, Madison scanned the crowd. Everyone seemed to be listening intently. The group consisted mostly of teens, Madison noticed. She and Aimee were on the younger end of the spectrum. At least everyone was a beginner, so Madison hoped she wouldn’t stick out much.

“This is the rule,” Carlos said. He looked right at Madison. “You must be serious about your skiing if you want to be safe.”

Carlos pointed to a very big chart concerning skier etiquette. The code of rules and behavior was printed in bold black letters.

1. Always stay in control. Make sure you are able to stop or avoid other people or objects.

2. People ahead of you have the right of way. You must avoid them.

3. Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.

4. Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride, and unload safely.

5. Respect Big Mountain. Do not litter or use bad language.

Madison glanced over at Hugh to see if he was looking in her direction, but he wasn’t. He was sliding his left boot in and out of his left ski binding.

“Maddie!” Aimee whispered. “How old do you think Carlos is?”

“Older than Ben Buckley,” Madison teased. “Like, as old as your dad, probably.”

Aimee gave Madison a playful shove. “He is
not
!
”

“Aim, I’m twelve. You’re thirteen. Remember?”

“Sometimes I wish I were eighteen,” Aimee said with a sigh. “It seems like forever until we’re old enough to really do anything fun. Doesn’t it?”

“Eighteen? What are you talking about?” Madison said. Of course, Madison knew what Aimee meant. Lately her BFF had mentioned wanting to attend a few ninth-grade parties. Aimee sometimes wanted to go places that her older brothers went, even though her parents would never allow it.

“I’ve decided I’m going to have a double crush, on Carlos and Foster Lane, on this ski trip,” Aimee declared. “And you can crush on the black-parka guy. How does that sound?”

“Shhh!” Madison said, as if Hugh could have heard. “It sounds crazy, Aim. What about Ben?” she asked.

“I can like more than one person at once, can’t I?” Aimee said, readjusting her hat and gloves. “Of course, I still like Ben—when we’re at school. But here, things are different. This is vacation. You’re allowed to have separate vacation crushes.”

Carlos shot the girls another glare and they stopped talking for good. It was time to start paying attention if they wanted to learn anything about skiing.

Aimee thought they’d take off down the mountain right away, but an hour into the lesson, the only thing Carlos had shown them how to do was walk in their skis. Madison was proud of the fact that she’d fallen only six times and only when’d she tried to lift instead of slide. Of course, lucky Aimee hadn’t fallen at all. That impressed Carlos. He came over and complimented Aimee on her balance at least three times. Madison was counting. She wondered why she couldn’t be the teacher’s pet for once.

By the time Carlos got around to demonstrating the “wedge” stance, Madison maneuvered to stand near Hugh. But Hugh didn’t seem to notice. He continued to struggle with boots that kept coming out of their bindings. Eventually, Hugh’s ski boots let out a loud
snap.
Madison wanted to see what was happening and talk to him, but just as she got closer, Carlos whisked him away to get the broken ski fixed.

“Hey, Maddie, look at me! Look at meeeeeee!” Aimee said, demonstrating her skill with the wedge.

Madison turned to look at Aimee without sliding and lost her balance.

Thunk.

“Are you okay?” Aimee said as she gracefully glided over.

Madison groaned. Her butt ached from the fall. Would her entire side be bruised now? How embarrassing!

As the first group lesson ended, Aimee was just getting into it, but Madison was ready to get off Big Mountain—in a big way. The temperature was dropping as the sun sank in the sky, and Madison’s fingertips were cold, even under her brand-new gloves. She didn’t feel like falling anymore. Her backside couldn’t take it. Her ego couldn’t, either.

Carlos helped Madison and Aimee to remove their skis and boots and return them, with the poles, to a storage area near the place where they’d taken the lesson. For the next few lessons, they would keep their equipment there rather than dragging it back to the rental area or to where they were staying.

As the ski group dispersed—and Hugh did not reappear, much to Madison’s disappointment—they headed back to the main lodge to meet up with Stephanie and Dad.

“So? How was the lesson?” Dad bellowed when he saw Madison and Aimee walking toward him. “Ready for the black-diamond slopes yet?”

Madison knew that the black-diamond trail was the hardest one in the entire complex.

“We can do that, right, Maddie?’ Aimee chirped. She made whooshing noises and motioned as though she were headed down a super-size slope.

Madison groaned. “I’m still working on just
standing
in the skis, Dad.”

“You’ll get there,” Stephanie said, always supportive.

“Did you have fun today?” Madison asked her dad.

“I’m a little rusty,” Dad said, cracking his knuckles dramatically.

Stephanie threw her arm around him. “You are a terrific skier, Jeff,” she said. “You just need a whole mountain to yourself.”

Aimee and Madison laughed. “What happened?” they asked.

“Oh,” Dad sighed. “I knocked over part of a barrier on the side.”

“And nearly collided with a family of four!” Stephanie added. “Luckily, there were no major injuries.”

“There were no injuries at all!” Dad clucked. He winked at Madison. “I’m saving my big tricks for tomorrow.”

As they headed toward Treetops on the shuttle bus, Dad produced a small blue box in each hand. He gave one to Madison and one to Aimee.

Aimee squealed. “A present? Are you kidding?”

“Daddy! Thank you,” Madison said. She opened her box. Inside was a silver bunny charm on a chain. Aimee had gotten the same thing.

“They’re lucky charms for our two special ski bunnies,” explained Stephanie. “Maybe they will bring you extra luck over the vacation.”

Madison knew Aimee wasn’t as keen on luck or lucky charms as she was, but Aimee seemed happy to get a cool new necklace. Aimee threw her arms around Stephanie and then Dad, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Thanks,” Aimee gushed.

Madison held the charm necklace tightly in her hand. It shimmered. It felt warm. It was lucky. She knew it.

Despite a day of pratfalls in the snow, Madison Finn remained determined to have a lucky week.

A silver rabbit would make it all possible.

Lucky Charm


Rude Awakening:
You’re no bunny until some bunny loves you. LOL.


I love my new ski bunny necklace.


I just hope it works.


Been thinking about all the bad omens we had coming up to the mountain. And who has snow fall in the middle of the living room? Maybe this lucky charm can arm me against bad luck once and for all. I will still cross my fingers and keep an eye out for black cats, too, of course. Aimee says I’m crazy. She makes fun of all my superstitions. When she put her new necklace in a drawer, I asked her how she could do that, and she said, “Because it doesn’t really match my shirt.” Can you imagine?! She just doesn’t get it.


We’re about to go out for our first big dinner here at the resort. I hope they don’t serve goose liver or snails. I remember going to a party for the film editing crew Mom works with at Budge Films when they served this fancy mystery food. I ate octopus without realizing it!


I’d better go. It’s getting late. Aimee’s wearing the nicest sweater set and those embroidered pants that look so good on her. As usual, I’m outfit-less. Grrrr. Will the power of the bunny charm help me?