Picture Perfect #5 (5 page)

“I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow.” Ms. Hardwick sighed. “But you're having a good time, right? Everything is under control there?”

“Yes. Everything is awesome,” Gracie said happily.

“Good. Call me again tomorrow. Good night, sweetie!”

“Good night, Mom.” Gracie hung up and went back downstairs to the bathroom line. Mari was just coming out, and Jimmy was going in.

“He can't take too long, right? He's only little,” Gracie said.

“Well, he likes to play in the bathtub,” Mari replied. “Sorry. It will be quicker in the morning since we all showered tonight.”

“I guess I should've waxed my skis faster,” Gracie said. She sat on the stairs and waited while Jimmy laughed and played in the bathroom. By the time he got out, she was yawning. She showered as fast as she could, which wasn't hard because the hot water ran out about twenty seconds after she stepped into the shower. With a yelp, Gracie rinsed off and got out. She pulled on her pajamas and headed upstairs.

Everyone was in bed, so the room was dark. Gracie picked her way through the duffel bags next to the beds, trying to get to the purple bunk bed. She had left her suitcase open on the floor so she could put her dirty clothes into the special inside pocket she always used as a hamper. But she couldn't find the suitcase. Feeling around in the dark, she finally realized that someone had closed it and shoved it under the bed.

With a sigh, Gracie lugged it back out and pulled
open the top. She couldn't find the inside pocket in the dark, so she had to root around for a while.

“What are you doing?” Jon asked from the darkness. “You're making so much noise!”

“Sorry,” Gracie answered. “Someone closed my suitcase and now I can't find what I need.”

“Here.” Mari got up and climbed over Gracie, heading for the wall switch to turn on the light.

“Thanks,” Gracie said, blinking as her eyes adjusted. She tried to ignore the groans of protest from the boys. Now that she could see, it only took a few seconds to stuff her used clothes into the side pocket. She stood and got ready to climb to the top bunk. “Okay, you can turn it off now.”

“You didn't close your suitcase,” Mari said.

“I know. I don't want it closed—that's what messed me up to begin with,” Gracie explained.

Mari's eyebrows drew together. “Well, you can't just leave it open all the time.”

“Why not? That's what I always do,” Gracie said. “That way I can get to everything I need.”

“But . . .” Mari seemed confused. “If you leave your suitcase open, it has to be out in the middle of the floor. If it's closed, we can put it under the bed with my duffel bag.”

“I don't want it under the bed, though,” Gracie said, getting a little frustrated. “I don't want to have to drag it out every time I need something.”

“There's not enough room in here to have your suitcase in the middle of the floor,” Robert mumbled sleepily. “There are five people who need to walk around. We can't climb over a bag every time we have to move.”

“Oh.” Gracie hadn't thought about that.

“We all keep our bags under the beds and pull them out when we need them,” Mari said, reaching over to close Gracie's suitcase. “Here, I'll help you.”

Together they pushed the suitcase back under the bed. Then Gracie climbed up to the top bunk, and Mari turned the light back out.

The stars out the window were just as beautiful as she'd expected. Gracie relaxed into the pillow and smiled. This vacation was so different from any other vacation she'd ever had. It would be great.

As long as she could get to sleep over the snoring of four other people.

“Wake up, Gracie!” Mari said the next morning, poking Gracie's mattress from the bottom bunk. “It's time to hit the slopes.”

“I'll beat you there,” Jimmy yelled, already running for the stairs.

“You're not beating anyone, you have short little legs!” Robert cried. “I'll be the first one there!”

Gracie leaned over the edge of her bunk to look down at Mari. “Aren't we going in the minivan together?”

“Yup,” Mari said. “They just can't wait to start racing.”

“I can't wait, either,” Gracie said, climbing down the ladder from her bed. “I even dreamed about skiing last night.”

Mari yawned. “I don't know. I could sleep a little more.”

“Nope.” Gracie tugged at Mari's blanket until she
rolled off the bottom bunk, laughing. “It's already snowing. It's perfect weather. Let's go!”

They both ran downstairs, eager to eat and get out to the slopes. But Robert and Jimmy were so busy fighting over the Froot Loops that they spilled them all over the floor. After that was cleaned up, they realized that Jon was missing. After a twenty-minute search, they found him at a cabin down the road, making friends with a cute girl staying there. Then Mari wanted to change because her snow bib felt too tight. By the time they all got into the minivan, an hour had passed—and Gracie wasn't even surprised. The O'Hagans obviously never managed to get anywhere quickly, but that was part of what made them so much fun.

Just like the day before, none of them seemed to think it was a problem. They chattered and teased one another all the way to the slopes. Gracie giggled along with them. It didn't matter that they were later than they'd wanted to be—all that mattered was how awesome it was to actually be here, having fun with Mari and her family. By the time they piled out of the minivan to buy their lift tickets, Gracie's face felt stuck in a permanent smile.

“I'm first!” Jon said at the bottom of the ski lift.

“Me too!” Robert said, pushing in front of Mari to get to the front.

“I'm with you!” Mr. O'Hagan cried, squirming through the rest of them to stand with the twins.

“I guess they don't want you guys alone on the lift, huh?” Gracie asked Mari. “My parents are like that—one of them always goes with me.”

Mari shook her head. “No, my dad just likes to be the first one to the bottom. He's competitive.”

“But getting to the top first doesn't mean he'll make it down first,” Ms. O'Hagan put in. “I'll still beat him. I always do!”

Mr. O'Hagan stuck out his tongue at her, and they all laughed.

On the lift up, Mari and her mother talked about the different slopes and all the family's fastest times. Gracie started to feel a little nervous—she went skiing every year, but it was always just for fun. She never truly raced anybody. She had been assuming that the O'Hagans were kidding when they talked about beating one another down, but now she wasn't so sure.

The slope they chose was a Black Diamond rating. Gracie hadn't skied this mountain before, so she took her time at the top, watching as people went ahead of her to see how they took the first turn. But the O'Hagans
didn't wait—they all took off the instant they reached the slope, whooping and trash talking as they went.

Gracie blinked in surprise as Mari raced away without even a backward glance to make sure Gracie was with her. She'd figured that they would ski down together, but Mari clearly had other plans.

I guess I'm going to lose, just like last night,
Gracie thought. It was funny that Mari said her father was competitive, when in fact Mari and her brothers and her mom competed every bit as much. She just hoped that the prize this time wasn't being first in the bathroom again. That cold shower hadn't been fun at all.

On the way down, Gracie noticed another girl her age skiing nearby, wearing a bright purple helmet and gloves. She kept pace with Gracie, and every so often she got close enough that Gracie could see the smile on her face and her long blond ponytail flying. Once their eyes met, and Gracie smiled back. She loved skiing, and this was a beautiful day for it.

At the bottom, Mari and her dad were waiting.

“What took you so long?” Mari asked.

Gracie shrugged. “I was learning the slope for next time. And I like to look around when I ski—it's so pretty up here.”

“But we were racing,” Mari said.

“I wasn't,” Gracie replied.

“Well, you can make it up on the next one,” Mari told her.

Mr. O'Hagan chuckled. “I don't think there's any way you'll catch up to the boys now, let alone your mother, Mari.”

Mari made a face, and Gracie felt bad. “I'm sorry, Mar. You didn't have to wait for me. Maybe I should just stay out of this race.”

“You can't stay out of the race, Grace,” Mari joked. “If I didn't wait for you, how would we have any time skiing together? I mean, that was the whole point of our awesome weekend—to be together.”

“True,” Gracie said. “But you didn't wait for me.”

“I thought you'd be right with me,” Mari replied.

“Oh.” Gracie frowned, not sure if Mari was kidding or if she was really annoyed. “Sorry. I didn't realize that.”

“I'm going to go check on Jimmy on the Green Circle slope,” Mr. O'Hagan said. “You two have fun.”

“Let's get to the lift, fast,” Mari said as her dad headed off. “There's no point in racing if my dumb brothers can't see us win!”

“Okay,” Gracie said. She didn't seem to have much choice about the racing part. But maybe there would
be time on the ski lift to talk about things. Things like Alex Parker.

There was a line for the lift now. It wasn't long, but Gracie could see that Mari felt frustrated. She was bouncing up and down even when she was supposed to be standing still—she always did that when she was upset.
Maybe it's important to her to beat her brothers,
Gracie thought. It had never occurred to her that winning might matter more to Mari than it did to her. Was it a sibling thing?
I'm supposed to be living like somebody who has a bunch of siblings. I'd better get in the game,
she thought.

Gracie spotted a familiar purple helmet a few people in front of them.

“Purple Girl!” she called. “Hey, Purple Girl!”

“What are you doing?” Mari asked.

“Trying to get ahead,” Gracie answered. “Purple Girl! Look behind you!”

The girl in the purple helmet turned around, her hazel eyes scanning the line. When she spotted Gracie waving, her face lit up. “It's my slope buddy!” she called. “Are you going back up?”

“We both are,” Gracie called back.

“Want to ride with me?” the purple girl asked. She looked at the group in between them. “Do you mind? I'm on my own, and I figure you all want to
stay together on the lift.”

Nobody seemed to care, so Gracie and Mari made their way up to their new friend.

“Thanks so much! I'm trying to catch up to my family so they can watch us destroy them on the way down,” Mari said. She grinned. “I'm Mari, and I guess you know Gracie.”

“I'm Juliana,” the girl replied. “Gracie and I are old friends.”

Gracie laughed. “Right. We go back at least twenty minutes.”

Mari looked confused.

“We paced each other on the way down,” Juliana explained.

“Oh. Cool.” Mari stopped bouncing. “I guess if we can't catch up to my brothers, we can just have fun skiing together. Unless you want to race?”

“I could race,” Juliana said. They got on the lift together. “Gracie?”

“Definitely,” Gracie replied. “Now that I know the slope, I can concentrate on speed.”

“Gracie likes to plan in advance. She does everything by the book,” Mari told Juliana. “She even cleans her clarinet the right way, which I totally don't.”

“You guys play clarinet?” Juliana cried. “So do I!”

“OMG, I knew you were cool,” Gracie said. “Obviously we were meant to meet each other.”

“Obviously,” Juliana agreed. “I've been playing since third grade.”

“We started in fourth,” Mari said. “That's where we met.”

“Actually, we met in second grade, but we didn't become absolute best friends until fourth,” Gracie corrected her. “We sat next to each other in band.”

“My best friend plays the trumpet,” Juliana said. “We have to just wave to each other during band.”

Gracie and Mari laughed. “Where do you live?” Mari asked. “We're from New Jersey.”

“I'm from Louisiana,” Juliana told them. “New Orleans.”

“Seriously? That's so . . . exotic,” Gracie said. She had read a mystery once that was set in New Orleans, and when she looked it up online afterwards, all the pictures had been so pretty and interesting and different from her own town. “Do you live in a mansion in the Garden District?”

“I wish! I just live in a regular house,” Juliana said.

“Still, it's cool. You're from really far away,” Mari put in. “How did you even learn to ski? There's no snow in New Orleans.”

“My grandmother lives here in Vermont, so I come every year to see her. My dad taught me to ski when I was three.” Juliana shrugged. “But this is the first year I'm here by myself. My parents took my older brother to look at colleges since he has to apply next year. And my grandma is too old to ski. It's not as much fun alone.”

They were at the top, so all three girls got ready to get off the lift. “You can ski with us,” Gracie said.

“Definitely,” Mari agreed. “Keep an eye out for twin fourteen-year-old boys, though. They're my brothers, and we have to beat them.”

“I'll try.” Juliana laughed. “It might be hard to tell they're twins with ski clothes on.”

“They'll be the ones trying to knock each other over,” Gracie told her.

“Let's go!” Mari took off, and Juliana and Gracie followed.

I guess I won't have much time to talk to Mari today after all,
Gracie thought. But it was no big deal. The Alex Parker discussion would just have to wait awhile longer. Juliana was nice, but some subjects were best-friend-only.

“That's two wins for Jon, one for me, one for Mari, and one for Gracie,” Robert said at lunch.

“It's not fair! I was stuck on the beginners' slope,” Jimmy complained. “I didn't have anyone to race with except Dad.”

“And I won every time,” Mr. O'Hagan joked.

“I won every time too,” Ms. O'Hagan said, coming back to their table with a tray of food. The lodge had a cafeteria-style lunch place, and the whole family was crammed in around one table. Mari had invited Juliana to eat with them, and the O'Hagans didn't seem to care that it made them more crowded. “For some reason, Robert isn't counting me,” she added with a wink.

“Because you're a grown-up,” Robert said. “Grown-ups don't count.”

“Really? Then Dad didn't beat me!” Jimmy cried. Everyone laughed.

“They take their skiing pretty seriously, huh?” Juliana said quietly, leaning close to Gracie.

“It's not only skiing—they turn everything into a competition,” Gracie told her. “I think it must be a sibling thing. I'm an only child, and I'm not very competitive. But since they have brothers and sisters, they have to compete. That's my theory, anyway. I'm writing a paper for school on onlies versus siblings.”

Juliana shook her head. “I have a brother, and we don't compete about anything.”

“Oh.” Gracie frowned. “Maybe I need to take more notes. I really thought I was on to something.”

“Sorry!” Juliana giggled. “For someone who's not competitive, you did a pretty good job racing with them.”

“Yeah, I'm trying to act the way they do. It's sort of a life-swap paper. Not that I'm actually swapping with anyone,” Gracie explained. “It's more like I'm swapping my only-child life for a multiple-child life.”

“Can not!” Jimmy's voice cut into their conversation.

“Can too!” Mari said back.

Mari and Jimmy both had their mouths stuffed full of french fries, and Robert was busy pushing fries into his too.

“What's going on?” Gracie asked.

“They each think they can fit the most fries in their mouth,” Jon replied. “But I'll beat them all.” He grabbed a handful of fries and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

Juliana and Gracie exchanged a smile, and they both reached for the fries at the same time.

Soon enough everyone except Mr. O'Hagan—who was taking pictures with his smartphone—had a mouth full of french fries. Gracie's cheeks were aching and she was sure she looked as ridiculous as the rest of them
with their bulging faces. Mari stuck one more into her lips, so Gracie tried to do it too.

It was the last fry she could fit.

Somehow that one little brown potato slice managed to force all the other fries farther back in her throat, and suddenly Gracie felt like she was choking. Frantically she tried to swallow. That made it worse.

I can't breathe!
she thought, her eyes widening. Without thinking, she spit the whole mouthful of food right out onto her plate.

“Oh, gross!” Robert cried, laughing with his mouth full.

Jimmy sputtered and coughed, pointing at Gracie. His face was turning red, but that didn't stop him from yelling, “Disgusting!”

Mari chewed fast, trying not to laugh until she swallowed.

“I can't believe I did that,” Gracie said, mortified. She quickly put her napkin over the spit-out fries. “I'm so embarrassed! I started to choke, and I just panicked.”

“It's okay, honey, nobody saw,” Ms. O'Hagan told her.

“I bet Dad got it on video, though,” Jon put in.

Gracie groaned and covered her face with her hands while everyone laughed. “That's it,” she cried. “No more competitions for me. I can't keep up.”