Freestyle with Avery by Annie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

that kind of thing, stick figures being my best artwork. But still, he hadn’t even asked me! Since when did he let kids make ATS snowboards? And why did he think I’d
want
a KZ original anyway? Suddenly I got a funny feeling in my stomach.
    “My dad gave me one of those ATS boards, actually,” I said carefully to Kazie. “It’s a
pretty
good ride.” It was better than a pretty good ride. It was downright awesome. But that was the board … NOT Kazie’s so-called “design.” “So I guess we’ll be racing on the same board then,” I went on, quickly, trying to stay cool. “Hope we don’t get them confused, right?” I knew I should be polite, but I felt like my mouth was just running out of control. It always did that when I was starting to get angry.
    Kazie slid across a frozen puddle. “No way, man,” she laughed, “I’m goofy-footed . My bindings are on the opposite side as yours.” Maybe that’s why they called herCrazie Kazie. Goofy-footed Kazie was a right-foot-forward girl. “Plus your bindings are closer together than mine. So don’t worry—we’ll never get mixed up.”
    “ Shred Betty !” someone called from a car passing by. “Nice moves today!”
    Geesh, how many names does this girl have
? I wondered.
    Kazie gave the car a double thumbs-up and kept fake boarding down the sidewalk.
    “I guess everyone knows you in Telluride.” I hoped I didn’t sound jealous.
    “That’s nothing. Coaches come to the mountain all the time to watch me. It can be annoying … like I always have to be trying my best, you know?”
    “You’re lucky!” I said. “I’d love it if coaches came to watch me board. But I only see my dad for a little bit in the winter so …”
    “You’re the one who’s lucky. Jake’s a sick boarder. I bet it’s way awesome to have him as a dad.” Kazie’s voice was quieter than usual. She stopped sliding around and looked at me.
    “It is,” I replied. “My dad—”
    But she quickly interrupted. “
My
dad was an awesome skier though.” She went back to practicing.
    “Yeah?”
    “Totally. He could have gone to the Olympics. Would have, I mean.”
    “Wow,” I murmured. Hanging out with Kazie was sort of stressful compared to the BSG. I never knew the right thing, or the cool thing, to say, but here I was feeling … well … bad for her. “Do you miss him?” I asked.
    “Sometimes,” Kazie said quietly. Then she jumped on a snow bank and got loud again. “But whatever. I’ve got plenty of people in my life … believe me.”
    Plenty of people? Did she not miss her dad anymore because now she had MY DAD? I suddenly had a thought. If Andie and Dad got married, then Kazie would be my sister … or stepsister. Whoa.
Wait till I tell the BSG about this one
. I had a sudden image of a Farkle/Marty war in the bathroom.
    “Kazie! There you are!” called a girl as tall as Kazie with long red hair. She popped out from a video store in front of us with another shorter, blonde friend.
    “Crazieeeee!” the blonde one hollered.
    “Hey girls! What’s crack-a-lackin’?” Kazie said.
    “How was your dinner with the new girl?” asked the red-headed one.
    “Yeah! What’s the Snurfman’s daughter like?” asked the other.
    Helloooo! Was I invisible? Time to take matters into my own hands. “Hey guys! I’m Avery.” They stared at me blankly. “The Snurfman’s daughter …” I clarified.
    “Oh, yeah. Avery, these are my friends, Siobhan and Tessa,” Kazie said.
    “You’re the Snurfman’s daughter?” asked Tessa, the girl with red hair.
    “Yup.”
    Siobhan looked me up and down. “How old are you?”
    “Twelve. How old are you?”
    “Thirteen,” they said at the same time.
    “Well, do you race?” Siobhan asked. By looking at Siobhan I could tell that she did. Her style was like something out of a snowboarding magazine. Her streaked blonde hair was super short and all spiky.
Like Farkle
, I thought.
    “Yeah, I race. I’m gonna be in the Snurfer,”