Altitude

Ch 1: Collision

I was flying. The wind was cutting my face like razor blades, but I was concentrating too hard to readjust my scarf. My long, strawberry blonde braids peeking out from my helmet flew behind me. I saw the bottom of the hill rapidly approaching and I prepared to stop. With my fourteen years experience of skiing, I knew that I had mastered the screeching side-stop, just at the last moment. I mentally thanked my parents for starting me young on the hill. I was three, maybe four when I put on my first pair of skis. I narrowed my eyes, pretending like I was in the Olympic slalom, trying to beat my time. Lucy Adams, the leading woman on the England ski team is coming in. She has a chance of winning this year, and taking home the gold for her country.  I bent my knees, narrowed my eyes, turned my skis and- CRASH!

"Jesus!" I heard a deep voice scream. "Hey, watch where you're going!" I yelled back as a pulled myself up from the not-so-fluffy snow, mad to say the least. Not only had this guy wrecked my imaginary chance of winning gold but I would most definitely have a snowball-sized bruise on my bum. I used my poles to pull myself up and looked around to find a tall, maybe twenty year old guy laying sprawled out in the snow, a couple feet from me. I scoot over to him and reach out my mitten to help him up.

"Hey, I didn't mean to yell at you. I guess I shouldn't have been going so fast", I smiled, even though my butt was killing me. My parents would be so proud to see me, using such good manners to this stranger who just crashed into me.

He accepted my hand and started to pull himself up. I guess I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard and before I knew it, I was right back where I started, face down in the snow. 

"Oh god! I'm so sorry, this just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?" He laughed. I couldn't help but laugh too. From the little space I could see of his face, I could see a cheeky smile peeking out. I carefully picked myself up, trying not to make a third embarrassing fall. The stranger I took out was getting up too, brushing the snow off his black jacket and pants.

"I really am sorry about that. I don't know if you can tell, but I don't ski all do often." 

I looked back at him, readjusting his goggles, and I couldn't help but think that he sounded awfully familiar.

"Listen, don't even worry about it. I was going too fast, you were going too slow", I say playfully, trying to catch his eye.

"Hey, take it easy on me! Skiing's not exactly my claim to fame." He winked, finally standing upright and with the right skis on the right feet.

"Oh really? So what is your claim to fame?", I ask as we start our way to the last part of the hill.

"Erm, it's boring really. I mean for an interesting person like yourself it would be."

I roll my eyes, trying not to smile. This was the first person other than my brother that I had talked to all vacation. Aside from the awkward dinner conversations with my dad and step-mom, I was pretty alone.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name", I shout to the boy as he starts to ski away. He turns around and looks me square in the eyes, well as much as you can in reflective ski goggles.

"Erm...you can call me... ah, Edward. Yeah, Edward."

I raise an eyebrow, one my my signature looks my friends would say. "Like Twilight?", I ask, trying to hold back a smirk.

"Oh, shut up!", he calls over his shoulder laughing.

"I'm Lucy, by the way!", I holler back. 

"Lovely to meet you, Lucy!", he yells. I laugh and start to use my poles to drag myself to the ski lift line. I knew it was stupid, but I let my mind wander about the way his brown curls peeked out from under his helmet. 

"Ma'am! You're up!", I hear the lift operator say. I feel the familiar chair sweep my feet put from under me and then the comforting feeling of soaring up into the clouds. Even though I knew I should be thinking about the next run I would be going down, I couldn't stop thinking about the British boy whom I had nearly killed just a few moments ago.