On a Slippery Slope (13 page)

“I don'
t understand,
” I say honestly.

“Well, I figured that the truth would come out eventually, but until then, I'd just keep my mouth shut. I mean, you weren't hurting anyone, so who cares, right? But then today I'm about to go downstairs to pick up some notices for Mrs. Jackman, when suddenly I see you doing this weird dancing thing on the stairs. At first I thought, you must be practising some new routine for your show.”

“A dance routine?”

“Well, you do different stuff on there all the time, why not
stair-dancing
?”

“Because that
would
be weird.”

“Whatever. Anyway, then I spied the banana peel
and then
I saw you making a run for it. That's when I clued in. This lie has gotten so big that you are willing to risk your life to keep it going. Hannah! You could have died!”

“I wasn't brave enough.” I shrug. “I chickened out.”

“Hannah, you are the bravest person I've ever met.”

“You're wrong, Gabby. I'
m a
wimp.”

“A wimp could have never taken the amount of torture I threw at you. I knew your stomach would twist into knots every time I'd bring up skiing.” She laughs. “You must have noticed I brought it up a lot.”

“Ohhhh … you're good!” I say, suddenly realizing that Gabby is way smarter than I ever gave her credit for. “But why did you defend me when Chloe and Ivy were calling me out?”

“Because those girls are the meanest of the mean, and I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.”

“Okay, so if you think I'm so brave, I guess it's time to prove it. Right after school, I'm telling Andy — everything.”

Gabby shakes her head. “No way. Andy can't know. No one can. Don't worry, I have a plan.”

Sometimes There's No Going Back

“O
kay
, so the most important thing to remember is to have fun,” Gabby says, snapping her boots into her skis, “and just do what I do.”

Following orders, I do the same —
snap, snap
.
Easy-peasy
!

“So, we're going to start over there on the bunny hill,” she says, pointing to a slightly sloped area with a
tow-rope
hauling some kids to the top.

“I don't know what I would do without you Gabby,” I say,
clomp, clomp, clomping
in her tracks as she slowly skis over to the
tow-rope
.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

I grab the rope and yell, “I hope so!”

Oh my gosh. I
'
m doing this! I have the rope in my hands, and it
'
s pulling me up the hill! Oh my gosh, this is so much fun! I can
'
t believe how easy this is! I
'
ll be fine as long as nobody … oh no! A kid just fell in front of me. What should I do? I
'
m going to hit him. I
'
m totally going to hit him. What should I do? Should I let go?

“Do I let go?” I scream.

Just in the nick of time, the kid gets out of my way, but, oh no! I hit the same bump he must have, and start to lose my balance. I grip the rope tighter, but it's no use. I'm falling. This is awful. The rope is hauling me up the hill sideways. I can'
t let go.

“Let go of the rope!” Gabby cries.

Ouch! I just went over another bump.

“Hannah, let go!” she cries again.

Just as I let go, I hear someone yell, “Coming through!”

“Hannah, scooch out of the way!” Gabby yells.

As ordered, I shimmy myself over, out of the path of a line of children who appear to be taking lessons from a very cute teenage ski instructor.

Cute Ski Instructor, who is following behind them on the
tow-rope
, suddenly looks down at me. “Hey you!” he says, like he knows me. “Wow! Nice gear!”

He looks familiar, but I can't figure out why.

“Hey,” Gabby says tapping me with her pole. “Use these to help yourself up.” Using her poles, she demonstrates by expertly pushing herself up from the sitting position. After four attempts, I finally manage to do it, too.

“I'll be a pro in no time.” I laugh.

“Okay, Hannah. Let's try this again. Grab the rope and keep yourself balanced over your skis this time. It will help you over the bumps.”

I do as I
'm told and miraculously make it to the top without falling. Over the next hour, Gabby teaches me how to snowplow, how to turn, and, most importantly, how to stop. After practising a bunch more times how to get up after falling (due to the fact that I fell a bunch more times) I finally make it down the hill without a hitch.

“You're ready!” Gabby says, beaming with pride.

“No, I'm not!” I cry.

“Hannah, you have to get on that mountain before the camera crew comes out. We only have one more hour before the shoot!”

“I can't. I have to pee!” I protest.

“You had a pee an hour ago.”

“Well, I have to go again!”

“No, you don't. You're just scared.”

“Yeah, like I don't realize that!”

“Hannah, you'll be fine. I've taught you the basics and now you need to take it to the next level, literally!”

“Okay.” I let out a nervous sigh. “I'll follow you.”

After a short wait in line, it's our turn for the chairlift. I'm standing here on the platform, waiting for this thing to come up from behind and scoop me up, and then haul my petrified butt high into the air.

“Don't be scared, Hannah,” Gabby reassures me. Obviously, she must sense that I am completely terrified. “Just bend your knees a bit.”

Suddenly, the chair lift hits the back of my legs and instinctively, I sit down. Gabby pulls down the bar in front of us and we're on our way.
Wow! That wasn
'
t so bad!
I reach for my seat belt … but there isn't one.

“Stop!” I scream. “Stop the lift!” Suddenly, the chairlift stops with a lurch.

“Hannah! What are you doing?” Gabby whispers angrily.

“My chair!” I yell loudly to the guy controlling the lift.

“What's the problem?” He yells back.

I look over at Gabby and can't help but gasp. Her belt is missing, too! “Our chair doesn't have any seat belts,” I holler. “They're missing!”

I hear a collective moan coming from the lineup. I'm sure they're all just as frustrated as I am over the lack of concern for safety at this resort. I mean, management should be ordering regular maintenance checks to catch this sort of thing!

“Pardon?” The guy yells back.

“Stop it, Hannah!” Gabby whispers angrily again. “They're aren't any …”

“No, Gabby!” I interrupt her. “Let me handle this.”

“Bring us back!” I demand. “Our seat is defective. We'll take the next one!” Everyone in the lineup seems annoyed. I can't say I blame them. People pay good money to ski here, and this kind of oversight is unacceptable!

“What's wrong with your chair?” The guy says as he walks toward where we are dangling.

“
OUR … SEAT BELTS … ARE … MISSING
!” I yell down to him.

From my chair, I can see Cute Instructor Guy in the lineup with all of the kids. I still can't figure out where I know him from, and why is he shaking his head and laughing? This is no laughing matter!

“You need to bring us back!” I yell down to him.

Cute Instructor Guy
's kids are all busting a gut and a couple of them are pointing. I doubt they'd think it was so funny if they were stuck up here in this faulty chair!

“I can't!” Controller Guy yells up to me.

“You have to!” I yell back. “

“Hannah! I am
begging you
! Stop yelling!” Gabby barks.
“Chairlifts do not have seat belts and they don
'
t go in reverse!
”

“They don't?” I say, my face burning with embarrassment.

“
Loser!
” I hear one of the kids in the lineup yell.

“Okay, so are we good now?” Controller Guy yells up to us.

I nervously giggle. “Yup, we're great! Sorry about that.”

The chairlift starts up again and I settle down for a long, silent trip up the mountain.

“I embarrassed you,” I say as we reach the top.

“Don't worry about it,” Gabby says, scooting a little forward in the chair. “Okay, so when I say ‘go,' just push yourself off the chair and then ski in my direction.”

“What? Push myself off! I'll fall, Gabby! I think I'll just ride this thing back down the hill, okay?”

“No!”

“But …”

Gabby lifts the bar and yells, “Go!”

I do exactly as told and somehow manage not to fall down. Wow, I'm pretty proud of myself. I was fully expecting another embarrassing scene.

“I made it!” I cry triumphantly.

“Good for you.” Gabby frowns.

“You're mad, aren't you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then what's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Something's wrong.”

“Nothing's wrong.”

“Gabby, you're not talking. That means something is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong!”

“Gabby!”

“Okay, something's wrong.” Gabby points over at Cute Ski Instructor Guy, who has just made it to the top with all of his students. He's talking to a girl — it's Ivy!

“Oh no!” I gasp. Finally I get it. I know who he is. He's the cute high school sales guy from Boardz! “It's Nathan!”

“I know!” Gabby cries. “He's Ivy's cousin!”

“He saw me on the bunny hill!”

“And he probably saw you on the chairlift, too!”

“He did. He was laughing at me!” I panic.

“Oh no, Hannah!” Gabby points to the building beside the lift.

I look over and see Gwendolyn, Andy, and the camera crew coming out the door.

They
'
re early!

“Gabby,” I scream. “I didn't practise! And Nathan is talking to Ivy! And Andy is coming over here! What am I going to do!”

“Hannah! Breathe!” Gabby demands.

My knees! Oh no! I'm going to faint. Please not now!

Gabby grips my shoulders, looks into my eyes, and takes a deep breath in through her nose. “Breathe, Hannah,” she demands. “Now, breathe out … and again, in through the nose, and out through the mouth.”

“
Hey, guys!
” A.J. yells,
duck-walking
over on his snowboard. “Wow, Hannah! Awesome gear!”

Gabby is still doing her deep breathing, motioning with her hand for me to keep following along.

“Um, yeah. Thanks!” I take a deep breath in through my nose. “The station bought it. Gabby helped. She's got great taste.” I breathe out.

A.J. looks at us strangely. “So what's with the …”

“Part of the creative process, A.J.” Gabby says, sucking in another breath. “Hannah does it before filming. It calms the nerves.”

“Hannah Smart gets nervous?” A.J. says, laughing. “Never would have guessed it.”

“Very funny,” I say, breathing in again.

“So you haven't started filming yet?” A.J. says, taking a deep breath in through his nose. “I ran into Andy this morning …” he blows out, “… and she asked if I wanted to help.”

“She did?”

Gabby winks at me and nods. I guess this is all part of the plan, which I still don't know anything about other than the fact that I have to “trust her.” And, just so you know, this is becoming harder and harder to do with each passing second.

“Well good morning, everyone!” Andy says as she and the film crew arrive beside us. “We'll get started in just a minute.” She takes a sip of coffee from her insulated mug and motions for me to follow her a little distance from the crowd.

“Hannah, last night after everyone went to bed, Gabby paid me a visit.”

“She did?”
Why would Gabby do that? She told me not to talk to Andy.

“Gabby brought up a really good point, and I agree — your audience will relate to you more if you don't appear to be such an expert.”