On a Slippery Slope (12 page)

Gwendolyn nods, expressionless.

Still reeling over the discovery — that in a few short weeks I'll be headed off to Mount Sunshine with my ski club and an entire film crew to boot — I stumble off the set and find a spot at the edge of the room, where I lean against the wall, and take a chug from my water bottle. From here, I can see Chloe whisper something in Gwendolyn's ear, then they both look over at me suspiciously. Ivy and Chloe exchange an evil grin. Gwendolyn, fusses with her
already
perfect
hair, presses down her
already perfect
skirt, and carefully steps off the set in her
perfect
four-inch
heels. As I watch her stalk toward me, I try to come up with responses to what will surely be another comment about my “unruly hair” or my “unnecessary dramatics on set” or worse. I don't even want to consider — worse.

“Hannah,” Gwendolyn says, running her fingers and thumb down a strand of my hair. “You know I just want what's best for this station, don't you?”

“Yes,” I answer, dubiously.

“I'm sure you know that I have been against this show of yours from the start.”

I take my hair back from between her fingers and repeat my answer, “Yes.”

“But the ratings are good, and you
seem
to be making a go of it … at least for the moment. You see, Hannah, shows like these are almost certainly destined to fail. Sure, they start off great in the beginning, but over time they fizzle and people lose interest.”

“Okay, thanks for the
heads-up
,” I say, turning to walk away.

“Phillip doesn't agree with me, though,” she says, pulling me back by my sleeve. “For the sake of the station, I hope you prove me wrong, Hannah.”

“I hope I do, too,” I say, turning in a second attempt to escape.

“Be careful, though,” Gwendolyn reaches out to grab my sleeve again, pinching me with her sharp nails in the process. “One false move, one tiny mistake, one teensy lie, and you'll lose people's trust and your audience — all those fans — forever! One minute they love you, the next, you're public enemy number one! A villain … history!” she hisses.

“Like I said, thanks for the
heads-up
, Gwendolyn.”

“It's been my absolute pleasure, dear,” she says, glancing over at the Queens of Mean, who haven't taken their eyes off us for a millisecond, “and my duty as your superior.”

I frown. “Okay. Well, thanks again.”

“Don't be sensitive, Hannah. I'm not saying this to be unkind. I'm simply pointing out the importance of keeping a strong line of trust between yourself and your audience. You do understand what I mean, don't you?”

“
Um
… yeah.” I gulp.

“Oh, and by the way, I'm really looking forward to watching you teach our great state how to ski and snowboard. I've been told you are an
expert
.” Her eyes light up on the word
expert
, and not in a good way.

Be Careful What You Wish For

“W
e
got you!” Andy exclaims as we walk through the door to her apartment.

“Pardon?”

“Hannah, the look on your face when A.J. told you about Mount Sunshine was priceless!”

“Oh yeah, that.” I chuckle, trying to disguise my complete horror over what just happened.

“I have to admit, when I found out that you went to Gwendolyn about the ski trip, I was a little hurt. I couldn't understand why you didn't come to me first. I mean, you know how much I want to get your show out of the studio.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Andy. I didn't mean to …”

“Hannah, stop. I understand. Gwendolyn is not my biggest fan, or yours either, for that matter.” She giggles. “It was very brave of you to go to her. As usual, you were putting my feelings above your own. You were worried for me, especially when I said last week, ‘If she says no to me one more time then I'm quitting.' I was only joking. I'm used to her telling me no.”

I nod. “Yeah, she says no a lot.”

“
ABSOLUTELY NOT
!” we bark together, mimicking Gwendolyn. It's so funny that neither one of us can help but laugh.

But, this is no laughing matter. Seriously! What am I going to do? I am in a huge pile of trouble, like,
EPICALLY HUGE
— especially since my web of lies has now spread over the entire world! Well, at least all of Maine! I can't get Gwendolyn's words out of my head. It's like a bad song that just keeps playing on repeat —
one teensy lie and you
'
ll lose people
'
s trust and your audience —
forever!

What if I finally come clean? What if I explain that this was all just a big mistake and that I never really said I could ski? Gwendolyn would love that, I'm sure. She would go right to Phillip, cancel the show, cancel the funding, the trip would be ruined, and just like she warned, I would be
public enemy number one
, for sure!

There is no way I can back out. Maybe I can sneak in some secret lessons really early in the morning before everyone gets up. I mean, it can't be that hard. I heard that even
three-year
-olds can ski. I've got eleven more years of life experience than a
three-year
-old toddler. Piece of cake!

“Oh, Hannah,” Andy yells from the kitchen. “I have another surprise for you.”

“Great!” I really, really, really don't want any more surprises. Surprises are not fun!

“Phillip is thrilled about taking the show to Mount Sunshine!”

“Yeah, I know. He told me today.” Ask me how guilty I felt when he kept squeezing my arm and telling me how great I am, and how great the show is, and how I'm going to
hit a home run in Mount Sunshine
. There is not a doubt in his mind.
Ratings are gonna skyrocket!

“Listen, Hannah,” Andy points to the TV “It's on! Your promo spot!”

“What? Promo spot?”

“Listen!”

Be Awesome with Hannah
is heading for the slippery slopes of Mount Sunshine! Watch the newest member of our Channel Nine News Team, our very own Hannah Smart, with her friends from the Maple Ridge Middle School Ski and Snowboard Club, who will be carving up the hill with their amazing alpine skills! We promise it's going to be great so don't miss it!

The date and time flashes across the screen.

“Oh no, Andy! Phillip can't be doing commercials! I don't even have …”

“Gear?” Andy smiles.

“I have nothing!”

“We've got it covered, Hannah.”

“What … but how … I mean how did you …”

Andy grins. “Gabby helped us.”

“She did?”

“So, while you were up on set sharing a cup of friendship tea with A.J., Gabby shared a little information with me. She said she didn't want to get into the details, but that you had a little problem with gear.”

“A problem?”

“Yeah.” Andy laughs. “She said you didn't have any.”

“Hmm …” I wonder why she would do that?

“Anyway, after your show, I mentioned it to Phillip, and without wasting a second, he went straight to Jenny from wardrobe and told her to order you all new gear.”

“He did?”

“Yup, you can ask Gabby. She came to wardrobe with us. You should have seen her eyes when Phillip said to Jenny, ‘Hannah is going to be a big star. We want her absolutely shining up there on the mountain. Spare no expense!'”

“He did?”
The knots in my stomach are getting tighter.

“Gabby helped us order everything. She's got expensive taste, that friend of yours, and she loves you to pieces! But who wouldn't, huh?”

“I can think of a few people,” I mutter (and a lot more, after Mount Sunshine, I'm guessing).

I plunk myself down on the couch and grab the remote to change the channel. I just want to stop thinking about Gabby and how wonderful she thinks I am ('cause I'm not, but you know that) and I really don't want to see any more promos on my upcoming Mount Sunshine adventure.

“Hannah,” Andy says taking the remote from my hand. “What's wrong? You seem a little down.”

“Are you missing your parents?”

“
Um
… yeah,” I lie.

“Well this will cheer you up,” she says handing me a Big Mountain Gear catalogue.

“What's this?”

“Everything that Gabby told us to order for you is circled in there.”

“Really?” I flip through the magazine to see all the
crazy-beautiful
stuff that Gabby picked for me and my heart is gripped with guilt.

“Hannah, we couldn't have done it without her. She said she knew exactly what you'd want since the two of you have been talking about nothing but skiing since you moved here. She said she knew more about you than you even realized. She actually had the catalogue in her backpack with everything already circled. Can you believe that?”

I
'
ve never seen this magazine before. When did she pick out all of this stuff?

“You should have seen how sweet she was, Hannah. Every piece of equipment was either ‘to die for!' or ‘incredible!' or ‘amazing!' She was like … ‘Oh, Hannah is going to love this jacket! I've wanted this for so long!' and ‘This board is even nicer than my brother's!' and ‘You have to get her this awesome helmet; consumer reports say it's the absolute best one on the market; it even has Bluetooth speakers in it!' She kidded that she's going to be so jealous, but that you deserve it all because you work so hard and you're such an awesome friend, and she couldn't be happier for you.”

Hmm … somehow, my wish to
magically find gear
came true. But oh, how I wish it hadn't. My gear is everything from Gabby's ultimate wish list. I am the worst friend
EVER
.

Here Goes Nothing

T
he
Mount Sunshine ski trip is in two days. I've thought about it a lot. I've weighed the pros and the cons, and I've come to the only possible conclusion: I have to break my leg.

It took a while to mastermind the perfect way to do it. This involved carefully considering a few very important points:

1. Pain factor —
   I don'
   t want it to be more unpleasant than it has to be.
   
2. Risk factor
   — I only want to break my leg, not die.
   
3. Easiness factor — According to the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid) the simpler the plan, the easier it is to pull off.
   

Unfortunately, I couldn't really find any ways to break my leg that didn't involve pain. And as far as risk goes, when you're intentionally trying to break a part of your body, you have to be prepared to take on a little risk.

I finally decided on the good
old-fashioned
banana peel! It's easy and works in the movies; why shouldn't it in real life?

I've been doing research on how painful it is, you know, to break a bone in your leg, and apparently some
leg-bone
fractures hurt more than others. They say breaking your femur is the worst; like comparable to childbirth. My mom survived childbirth, and I'm at least as tough as her. Just the same, I read that, in some cases, breaking your femur can be fatal. This does concern me a bit because as I mentioned in point two, I really don't want to die! I'll just try my best to avoid landing on my femur. It shouldn't be that terribly difficult, right?

So, I'm all set at the top of the stairs, looking down at the greasy banana peel, which I just finished smearing with margarine (I don't want to take any chances).

Probably, from the outside looking in, I seem a little crazy, right? I know it looks that way, but really, if you knew all of the facts, you'd agree that this is a perfect plan.

Fact 1: My show — when I asked Andy what would happen if I suddenly got sick or, heaven forbid, broke my leg or something, she told me that she
always has a
back-up
plan, because stuff like this happens all the time — it
'
s just part of showbiz!
She told me to stop worrying, because nothing was going to happen, but if it did, we'd just postpone it and try again next year.

Fact 2: My ski team — When I asked her if Channel Nine would still support the club, she told me that Phillip would never, ever let the students down, he's a huge supporter of kids in sport, and gives money to causes like these all the time. Plus, it would look bad on the station if they suddenly backed out.

So, I will break my leg, I won't have to go on the trip, the club will still get their funding, and someday, maybe in a few months' time, I'll explain that it was all just a misunderstanding, that I never really did say that I could ski ('cause I didn't) and snowboard ('cause I didn't, either). And really, by then, they probably won't even care because it will be time for summer vacation, and this whole ski trip will be old news. Either way, I'll go for some lessons, get lots of practice, and by this time next year, I'll be a pro. It's the perfect plan, except for the pain.

Okay, the bell has rung, the stairwell is empty, and I've just taken my first step down. I have two more to go before I hit the peel, and then eleven more steps to fall before I hit the landing. Now I'm on step two! I'm scared. Breathe … I just have to breathe. Scared or not, I have to do it. I take a third step. I'm doing this thing. My foot is on the peel and nothing is happening. It didn't work. I try again, with no success. Obviously, I'm going too slow. I try once again, a little faster this time — step one, step two, step … wait! Maybe I should get a running start. Yup, that would work much better.

I position my body as far back as I can go on the landing, giving myself a nice little “runway” to build up speed.

Okay, here goes nothing.
I suck in a deep breath of courage and start running. Suddenly, just as my feet hit the edge of the landing, my body comes to a complete stop. I can't take another step. My brain has kicked into survival mode! Thank god! What if I severed an artery, or cracked my skull, or broke my neck? This is so dangerous! I mean, I could have died! What was I thinking, risking my life like that! Like I said before in point two: I'm not ready to die!

Okay, so it's settled then. I have no other choice but to suck it up and face my responsibilities! I am Hannah Smart! I can do anything! I just have to keep telling myself that and hopefully, eventually, I'll believe it.

“Hannah, what are you doing here? You should be in class,” Ms. Grimm says, frowning as she walks past me.

“
Um
… yeah … I was just …” Suddenly, I realize that she's headed straight for the peel. As cranky and awful as she is, I can't let her kill herself. I need to stop her! Just as my foot leaves the landing, I hear, “Hannah, no! Don'
t do it!
” I land solidly on step two, right beside Ms. Grimm, grabbing her sleeve and stopping her from stepping on the banana peel. At the same time, I look back to see Gabby tearing down the stairs like a maniac. “It's not worth it!” she cries.

Ms. Grimm takes a step back out of Gabby's path, but I am paralyzed. It's too late to move and Gabby is going too fast to stop and the peel is right in front of me! I wonder if this is what it feels like to be in a car accident, when you know something horrible is about to happen, but there is nothing you can do to stop it. As predicted, Gabby crashes into me — hard — sending me flying into the handrail.

“Hannah, oh my gosh!”
Gabby shrieks.
“Are you okay?” She reaches down to help me up.

“Girls!” Ms. Grimm yells loudly. “Do not play on the stairs! It is very dangerous!” We turn to look at her just as she lifts up her foot to take another step.

“Ms. Grimm!” I scream. “Don't move!”

“What?” she says, ignoring my plea.

“Stop!” I scream as loudly as I can.

She puts her foot back down. “Hannah, what has gotten into you?”

“Banana peel!” I screech, pointing in front of her.

“Why on Earth would anyone throw a banana peel on the stairs? I could have killed myself on that thing!” She bends over, picks up the peel, and continues down the steps, then tosses it into the green bin at the bottom. “Thank you for the warning.” She nods sternly. “Now get back to class!”

As soon as Ms. Grimm disappears around the corner, Gabby starts yelling. “Hannah Smart! This has gone too far!”

“What has?”

“I know, Hannah!” she screams.

“You know what?” I mutter, wishing she would stop yelling.

“I know you were trying to hurt yourself!” she growls angrily.

How could she know? I never breathed a word of my plan to a single soul.

“I know everything!” she says.

“What ‘everything'?”

Oh my gosh … she can
'
t know. That would mean … oh my gosh … she can
'
t know … but what if she does? My head is spinning. My legs are turning into jelly. Am I hyperventilating again? Oh no …

“Hannah! Slow down your breathing!” I hear Gabby yell. “You're going to …”

Everything goes black.

“Hannah. Hannah, wake up!”

Ouch. Where am I? Oh no! I
'
m still on the steps. It happened again.

Gabby shakes her head. “Hannah, you fainted.”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry,” is all I can say. I want to say so much more, but that's all that's coming out.

“It's okay,” Gabby pulls me up to a sitting position beside her on the stairs. “I was just really worried about you, that's all.”

“What did you mean by
everything
?” I ask, resisting the temptation to plug my ears so I don't have to listen to her answer.

“Everything,” she repeats again slowly.

“Everything … like what?” I'm cringing while waiting to hear what she is about to say.

“Hannah, I know you're
not
a skier, you're
not
a snowboarder, and I'd be willing to bet that you've never even set foot on a ski hill in your entire life, which is a shame seeing as you just moved from one of the most incredible ski villages in the entire country.”

“I'm sorry,” I say again, tears of guilt welling in my eyes. Gabby looks so hurt. “I don't even know what to say …”

“Tell me you're never going to try something this stupid ever again!” She says pointing at the banana peel in the compost bin.

“Yeah, that was a stupid idea.”

“Ya think?” she says, with a chuckle.

“What's so funny?” I ask, confused. “I lied to you.”

“You did.” Gabby shrugs. “But you suffered for it.”

“It's been awful!”

“Well, really you kind of deserved it, right?”

“Yeah,” I agree. “So, how long have you …”

“How long have I known?” Gabby interrupts me.

“Since the day I asked to see your gear.”

“Really? That long?”

“Well, it was pretty easy to figure it out. Usually, skiers and snowboarders, at least the ones I know, are pretty stoked about their gear, but you weren't. I mean I was practically begging you to tell me something about your stuff, but you wouldn't give me a single detail. And then when you couldn't find it, you were all like, ‘Yeah, whatever.' You weren't even mad. If it had been me, I would have run up the stairs and begged my mom to call the movers right away, but you were all, ‘Don't worry. I'll figure it out.'”

“I'm sorry.”

“Stop saying you're sorry! This wasn't a mistake, Hannah.”

“What do you mean?”

“A mistake that you keep making over and over again isn't a mistake; it's a choice. You chose to keep up with this story, and now it's snowballing out of control.”

“I know.”

“Hannah, you've pretty much lied to the world.”

“I know!” I cry. “Why do you think I was trying to …”

“Don't say it!” Gabby cries.

“What, break my …”

“Hannah! Don't even!”

“Sorry.”

“Hannah! Do you realize that the
only
time I was ever mad at you about any of this was today?”