Avalanche

Chapter 12 | Trick Attack

Ricky sat at the island in his kitchen, sipping some hot cocoa. He tried to think about his routine for the competition, but every time he did, dread filled him. Regardless of if he had a spectacular half-pipe run or not, if his team didn't pull together, it would all be for nothing. All he could picture in his mind was Dion's team standing on the 1st place podium, Dion in the front, holding up a trophy and staring directly at Ricky. It had happened before and would most likely happen again.

Ricky tried to drown away the thoughts by chugging more cocoa, but he still found himself grimacing.

"Is the cocoa that bad?"

Ricky set down the mug and looked up at his mom. She was sitting across from him at the island, also sipping some hot cocoa with a magazine in hand. She eyed him with a hint of amusement.

Ricky tried to laugh it off, but he found himself unable summon his humor. However, it appeared that his mom had plenty to spare.

"I heard about your incident on the ice rink. I really admire that you approach your problems head-first."

Ricky groaned. "Just wait till you meet Rob. See if you don't want to break something over his head too."

"I guess we'll find out on Christmas Eve."

Ricky's stomach sank. "What's going on Christmas Eve?"

"The party. Did you forget?"

No, Ricky had not forgotten his father's huge annual Christmas party, but he had hoped that his teammates wouldn't be involved.

As if reading his mind, his mom said, "you really should give your teammates more credit."

His mom really had no idea what went on within the team. "Give them credit for what? For being jerks and ruining my chance at Regionals?"

"Give them credit for putting up with you."

Ricky looked at his mom with bewilderment. Did she really just say that?

"What?"

Lydia Winterborn took another sip of cocoa, then looked at her son with continued amusement.

"I love you Rick, but you aren't the greatest teammate either."

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you hear what you just said? That your teammates are running your chance at regionals? What about them? They didn't join the team to make your dreams come true."

"If they don't want to win Regionals then they have no right to be on the team."

"That's not how that works, Rick, and you know that."

What Ricky did know was that arguing with his mother was pointless. But he did consider that she might be right.

Ricky had strong willpower and was always focused on his goals. If others got in the way, he the right to trample through them and whatever resulted was their fault. He knew it wasn't the most considerate mindset, but that's what it took to be successful, right?

"Don't hate me for this," his mom continued, "but what I think is the problem between you and Rob is that you guys are practically the same person."

Ricky wanted to get upset and fume over that idea, but he couldn't. He couldn't because he'd considered it himself and couldn't find a way to deny. Rob was basically his older brother with more anger management issues.

"I wouldn't go that far," Ricky mumbled, but they both knew that she was right.