Give Me a Break (From the Files of Madison Finn, 18) (9 page)

Everyone was up. Stephanie was already dressed. Aimee was still in her floral pajamas with lace around the edges. Madison stood there in ripped sweatpants (again) and a tie-dyed T-shirt.

“Morning,” Madison grumbled.

Phin scooted right over to say his good morning. He’d spent the night in the doggy bed that Dad had moved out by the living room sofa. Normally, Phin wouldn’t sleep anywhere but right next to Madison, but for some reason he liked the Treetops doggy bed. Stephanie said it was because the bed had a down-filled pillow cover and a heating coil inside.

“What’s up?” Aimee called out in a perky voice.

“Hey,” Madison said. She was confused. Aimee was acting as if nothing had happened the night before. “How long have you been up?” Madison asked.

“An hour,” Aimee said. “Stephanie and I were just hanging out.”

“Aimee told me that you two had a big talk yesterday,” Stephanie said.

Madison frowned.
A big talk?
What was that supposed to mean? Had Aimee told Stephanie about their fight?

“Aimee told me you had made a pact to get on the ski lift together this week,” Stephanie said. “I think that is very ambitious—and exciting. Best friends trying new things together.”

“Uh-huh,” Madison said, blinking and acting as if any of it were something she’d heard before. “Well, that’s us. Ambitious and exciting.”

“We should hurry up and get dressed, Maddie, so we can hit the slopes for our lesson,” Aimee said. “After all, Carlos and the black-parka guy are waiting!”

“His name is Hugh,” Madison said.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and chuckled. “My goodness. You girls are really boy crazy.”

“You said you were once boy crazy, too!” Aimee cried.

Aimee and Stephanie laughed again, as if they were sharing a private joke.

Madison wanted in. After all, Stephanie was
her
stepmother. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Before you woke up I was just telling Aimee about this guy I liked when I was about thirteen in Texas,” Stephanie said. “I was mad for him and his cute dimples, even though he was fifteen. Crushes can be powerful motivators. I followed him everywhere. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Oh,” Madison said. She clutched at her chest. It ached.

Why was Stephanie sharing that story with Aimee before she shared it with Madison? Did jealousy really feel like—heartburn? Or was Madison just feeling leftover grumpiness from the previous night’s fight with Aimee? And why did Aimee seem happy—not grumpy at all?

“Maddie?” Stephanie asked. “What is that on your face?”

Madison reached up to feel her face. She was afraid Stephanie was talking about Madison’s facial expression, and that it might have revealed her innermost thoughts.

“What’s on my face?” Madison repeated.

“Yeah,” Aimee added. “What
is
that?”

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Madison asked, panicked. She went to look in the mirror on the living-room wall.

On Madison’s left cheek was a deep red mark. Upon closer inspection, Madison realized it was the imprint of a bunny. She must have fallen asleep on top of her lucky necklace. Madison rubbed her cheek as hard as she could. By the time she stopped rubbing, the bunny outline was no longer visible. She hoped the redness would fade by the time the ski lesson began.

Some lucky charm.

“Maybe I should take this off,” Madison said, fingering the charm.

“Why?” Aimee started to say. “It’s cute, and I think—”

“I know what you think,” Madison said, cutting Aimee off. She unhinged the necklace and placed it into its little box. “Don’t obsess. Don’t get all neurotic. I won’t wear it. Okay, Aim?”

“Maddie, I was only…” Aimee’s voice trailed off. “Do whatever you want. I’m not wearing mine, either. It’s really no big deal.”

Madison took a deep breath. Was she overreacting? Her gut told her that she should wear the charm. After all, it was a special gift from Dad. It was meant to help Madison become a genuine snow bunny.

But she didn’t wear it. She put it on top of the dresser.

Aimee took forever to get dressed for their second day on the slopes, picking through her suitcase, wondering aloud what Carlos’s favorite color and style were. She put her hair up and then took it down again three times before deciding upon the right do.

While she waited for Aimee to get ready, an impatient Madison opened her laptop to send an e-mail to Bigwheels. She had promised to write to her keypal once the vacation officially started. This was as good a time as any.

Madison clicked on
NEW MESSAGE
and started to type.

From: MadFinn


To: Bigwheels


Subject: Life in the Snow Lane


Date: Mon 1 Mar 9:14 AM


Where are you right now?


I’m up on a mountain in the middle of Nowheresville, in the middle of a sort-of fight with Aim and did I mention that there’s a lot of snow up here?


Ur superstitious like me and that means u understand the way I think, right? So if someone gives you a lucky charm, what would u do? You don’t put it in a drawer, right? Well, my BFF DID!


When this week started I thought that Aimee was the best person on the planet to go on a trip with me. But all of a sudden it’s like she’s CHANGED. Well, not changed. She’s just not acting the way I wish she would act. She’s really, really flirty this week for some reason and I don’t know why. She keeps talking about guys that are so much older than us. It’s so weird. Do ur friends ever go for older guys? Have any of ur BFFs ever turned into Dr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde right before ur very eyes? HELP MEEEEEE!


Yours till the bunny rabbits,


Maddie


p.s.: I’m learning how to get on a ski lift this week. WML.


p.p.s.: I think I may have met a QT in our ski class. Yes, I really am trying to 4get about Hart. I’ll write more l8r about him. :>)


“Hey, what are you writing?” Aimee asked, leaning over toward Madison’s laptop.

Madison hit
SEND
so the Bigwheels message would disappear into cyberspace. She didn’t want Aimee to see it.

“Is that an e-mail to your keypal?” Aimee asked.

“Yes,” Madison said. At first, she had tried to keep Bigwheels a secret from her BFFs at school, but that hadn’t lasted long. It was too hard to keep interesting facts from friends—and Bigwheels was definitely interesting.

“Cool. Well, I think I’m ready to go now,” Aimee said. “Are you ready? You look nice today, Maddie. I think you’re getting the hang of this ski fashion thing.”

“You do?” Madison said. She smiled. A compliment about her clothes was enough to make Madison forgive and forget any moments of conflict she’d had with Aimee in the past twenty-four hours—sort of.

“Before we go, should we send Fiona an e-mail?” Madison asked.

Aimee sat down next to Madison and the laptop. “Totally!” she said. “Can I write it? We can send a copy to my e-mail address, too.”

Madison clicked
REPLY
, but then Aimee took over.

From: MadFinn


To: Wetwinz; BalletGrl


Subject: Ski Bunnies


Date: Mon 1 Mar 9:56 AM


]--8 Hello California how are you????? This is Madison and Aimee writing you @ the same exact time AGAIN. Ok, well it’s Aimee writing this time Maddie let me on her laptop can u believe it? This place is SOOOOO gorgeous and


“Hey, you two!” Dad called out. He poked his head into their room. “Maddie, can’t you put down that laptop for one vacation? Stephanie and I have been sitting out here waiting for you girls to get ready.”

“My bad, Mr. Finn,” Aimee said. “Madison said we had to go, but I wanted to send an e-mail.”

Dad rubbed his chin. “Well,” he said. “Let’s get moving now.”

“Thanks,” Madison whispered to Aimee as Dad ducked out.

Aimee grinned and took Madison’s arm. “Like you wouldn’t do that for me?” she asked matter-of-factly.

Madison didn’t know what to say to that. Would she?

The pair helped Dad and Stephanie load up the Jeep with ski equipment (and Phinnie, too). The car was super packed, and so they were super squished in the backseat again. Plus, it had snowed more during the night. The light dusting made the roads extra slippery en route to Big Mountain.

Dad and Stephanie dropped Phin off at the pet-sitter’s and then headed to the more difficult ski slopes for the day. Madison and Aimee went back to Carlos’s ski lessons. The group from the day before had reassembled. Aimee and Madison picked up their equipment, joined by a bunch of other kids who had rented materials.

Carlos started off the lesson with a demonstration of Helmet Patrol, a program designed to get kids wearing helmets on the slopes. He explained that they wouldn’t need the helmets for their lessons, but that once the skiing got more advanced, he would be recommending them.

“He looks even cuter today,” Aimee whispered.

Madison tried to ignore Aimee. She didn’t feel like talking about boys all the time—and she didn’t want to get into trouble for gabbing during the presentation.

“Maddie, did you hear me?” Aimee said.

“Shhh!” Madison said. “We should listen.”

“You’re no fun,” Aimee said. She rolled her eyes and stuck her poles in the snow with an annoyed little grunt.

Madison tried to ignore that, too. She scanned the crowd of participants for a black parka, but Hugh was not there.

The group spent the morning trying to climb a baby hill. They began at the bottom, each new skier clumsily trying to maneuver sideways without crashing into someone else. Carlos explained the difference between uphill and downhill skiing but Madison kept getting mixed up.

Aimee fell down for the first time in the soft, powdery snow when she tried the climb, and Madison burst out laughing.

“How can you laugh?” Aimee said, lying in the snow. “I’m stuck.”

Madison crossed ski over ski and continued her own climb. She didn’t need to rescue her friend, because two different boys in the group were already helping her. Carlos rushed over, too.

Time passed quicker than quickly on the ski slopes. After a bit of climbing and sliding back down, Madison started to feel a little woozy. The heat of the sun was going right for her nose. Sunblock! Madison had forgotten to wear any. She headed back to the equipment shed.

Ski over ski, Madison told herself as she walked slowly back. Every ounce of her being was saying,
DO NOT FALL.
That was only one of the ski mantras she’d adopted in the past twenty-four hours.

“Do not fall,” she repeated aloud.

Madison found a tube of Burn Be Gone and smeared it on her nose.

“That’s a good look for you,” someone said from behind her.

It was Hugh. He had the same smear of white on his nose.

“Hi,” Madison asked. “I didn’t see you on the slopes when the lesson started. Were you there?”

“I had to go to this breakfast thing with my dad,” Hugh explained. “I asked permission to come late to the lesson. How is it?”

“Fine,” Madison said.

“Nice nose,” Hugh said, indicating the sunblock. His voice had a lilt in it, and Madison smiled. Hugh was definitely crushworthy.

“Yeah, this is the new look,” Madison said, touching her white nose. “So, are you going back to the lesson now?”

Hugh nodded. “If I don’t fall first,” he said.

Madison smiled, and they walked on together, ski over ski.

DO NOT FALL
, Madison thought to herself.

Aimee was still holding center stage back at the lesson. Carlos had Aimee stand up in front of the other group members to demonstrate a stopping technique. She waved her arms in the air, showing off.

“That’s your friend, right?” Hugh asked. “She looks happy.”

Madison nodded. “She’s having a good time.”

“Those are my friends over there,” Hugh said, pointing across the snow. “Philip, Wick, and Roger.”

“Wick?” Madison asked. A few yards away from where they were taking the beginner’s ski lesson, a cluster of guys and girls lined up for the ski lift. They had apparently signed up for advanced ski lessons.

“Wick is short for ‘wicked good skier,’” Hugh joked. “All my friends have been skiing forever, but I never did. I skate, though. I’m on my school hockey team.”

Madison stared at Hugh’s mouth while he talked.

He played hockey, just like Hart.

“Where do you live?” Madison asked.

“We live in Reston, New York. It’s a small town north of—”

“Far Hills,” Madison interrupted. “You’re kidding, right? I live in Far Hills.”

“Whoa.”

They glided over and lined up in front of Carlos, who had moved on to a new topic.

In the distance, Madison could hear the fast
swoosh
of a thousand skis dancing down Big Mountain.

At least she thought it was the sound of skiers.

It might have been her racing pulse.

B
Y MIDDAY, MADISON AND
Aimee were feeling more in control of their skis—and their crushes. When she wasn’t attempting to balance herself on her skis, Madison was busy figuring out new ways to get closer to Hugh.

Aimee was sticking close to Carlos, of course.

“The key to skiing is to master your equipment and your speed. If you feel yourself start to lose control, fall onto your backside or your side, and don’t attempt to get up until you stop sliding,” Carlos explained.

Madison snickered. “Fall on my butt? That’s no problem for me.”

“Me, neither,” Hugh laughed.

“The easiest way to get hurt while skiing is to try a run or a move that is too hard,” Carlos went on. “Never attempt a jumping move or other trick unless you are being taught by an instructor.”

Carlos led the group over to a large billboard with a map of the entire Big Mountain area and pointed out the easy and difficult slopes.

Madison noticed a trail marked Bad Luck Gully. She gulped.

Bad luck?