My Best Friend's Brother by Chrissy Fanslau Read Free Book Online Page A

think.”
    Says the guy who fell in my chest. Twice.
    I fell behind on the advanced ski trail. I kept trying to ski like I’m “advanced” because I didn’t want him taking the starter trails with fifth graders. Thankfully, by five, I had it pretty much figured out.
    By 7:20, night had fallen. We decided to give it one more run before heading back to his Jeep to go home.
    He bought the Jeep on Wednesday—the only day I didn’t see him after school. His dad sent him money for it. I wish my dad bought me a brand new car! Luke says it’s lousy-parent-guilt-money, and an early graduation present to boot.
    I guess I’m supposed to just be happy with my allowance—a whole twenty bucks a week. Dad won’t let me keep a job during the school year, and he seriously thinks twenty bucks makes up for it.
    We took the lift up to the expert trail, at the top of Grizzly Mountain. An occasional light lit the trail, and moonlight lit the mountains that encompassed us. The sky was amazingly clear, painted with bright stars and a dancing blue-green aurora. It was very picturesque.
    “Wow,” he breathed, his eyes on the sky. “I haven’t seen the northern lights since Iceland. This is really amazing.”
    “I can’t imagine why you’d go to a place called Ice land,” I teased.
    He chuckled, leaned into my ear. “Where there’s snow, I go,” he whispered. His breath made me feel funny. I was really tempted to kiss him.
    We soon stood before a comforting sign that read,
    Warning: Experts only beyond this point!
    I was no expert, but Luke obviously had some faith in me. It probably helped that I got the hang of stopping.
    I moved my fingers in and out of a fist to get the blood pumping back to my hand. It was at least ten degrees below zero. We were both bundled up, except for the snow pants. Since I didn’t have a pair, he wore polyester pants like mine. He didn’t bring his goggles, either, because unless it’s snowing or he’s planning to go super-fast, he thinks they’re cheesy.
    “So, you’re absolutely sure you’re comfortable with this trail? Because it’s dark now, this is harder than the other trails, and I’m willing to take an easier one!”
    “I’m fine!” I assured him, “I have a helmet!”
    He laughed. “Okay. But let’s start out slow. I’m kind of worried.”
    At the top, we were at about a 7,000-foot elevation and much of what the snow covered was rock.
    There were cliffs and spruce on either side of us, and at one point my faith in stopping just wasn’t there—though I was up for the challenge, mostly to impress him.
    We went easy until the halfway mark. We got there at arms’ distance. When the slope got a bit safer and the cliffs not as steep, I actually grew the courage to push him into the snow and take off.
    He got to his feet laughing and began the chase. I could barely contain my excitement. I used my poles to pick up speed, squealing so loud when he closed in on me I thought I’d cause an avalanche.
    “This is crazy!” he laughed, falling a third time as I pushed him down, barely evading him.
    I slowed for him. My lungs hurt from the frost engulfed in them.
    “You okay?” he asked as he caught up.
    “My lungs hurt.”
    “Where’s your scarf?”
    “Don’t have one.”
    “You’re lucky this isn’t the Alps! You wouldn’t make that mistake if it was!”
    I raised an eyebrow, still short of breath. “You skied in the Alps?”
    “And in Chile, too, when I was ten!” He laughed. “I was born on skis, didn’t you know?”
    “Ever ski anywhere basic ?”
    “Colorado, Canada, Montana, Vermont… I don’t know, are those basic?”
    I giggled. “Not really.”
    Before long, we were three-quarters of the way down. It was very dark, cold, and serene. I skied the bends, in the lead when I suddenly saw a dark flash. He screamed, “Watch out!”
    I froze, colliding without a chance to avoid it. I fell and struck snow-covered rocks with the ends of my skis, whirling around like