Hannah
“There you are!” Andre shouted when we rejoined the group about fifteen minutes later. “And you brought your friends.”
His gaze wandered over Missy and Bella with the kind of appreciation you would hope no one over twenty-one would show for a teenager. Eww.
I tried not to notice Julian off to one side, staring at some kind of furry creature tucking back into a den rather than looking at me. For a second, I really resented my friends. If they hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t be forced to prove my loyalty.
“Hi,” Missy and Bella chorused. Then Missy took the lead. “We thought maybe your trip could use a few less”—she peered around at the kids who were with us—“losers. Where are we headed?”
Before he could answer, he had Bella on his right and Missy on his left, effectively distracted. This left me time to put my plan into action. Predictably, Julian stayed far away from me. I had been prepared to sacrifice him to a bear, after all. Too bad I couldn’t quit there.
“Hey girls,” I called to the Ponytail Matchers. They looked stunned to be summoned by the second—make that third—most popular girl at school. Much as I hated the bronze medal in that category, it would be good enough until the end of high school. I hoped.
They slowed down so I could catch up, and I skied in between them. Julian hadn’t noticed, which was good, since I imagined those dark eyes of his would spot a trick even before I set things up.
“I heard a rumor that Julian Berwick has a Christmas present for one of you.”
“Really?” The platinum-blond tail asked, letting an eager note slip into her voice.
The ash-blond one shot her friend a warning look. “You heard wrong. He’s definitely not our type.”
I’d banked on this response. It was comical really, because Julian himself had pegged it perfectly when he said that friends perpetuate myths. I hadn’t taken him seriously at the time, but I’d known what he was saying. By planting the idea that he was a geek in these girls’ heads, I made it the truth.
“I thought he was really rich?” piped up the first girl as she stole a glance at Julian off to one side of the group and in his own world.
She had a point. Normally the wealthiest among us were left alone. But Julian made a point to flaunt his weirdness. Why should his parents’ millions protect him from what the rest of us had to deal with every day?
“So maybe you want that gift after all. That’s cool.” I smiled sweetly and shrugged.
“No!” they said at the same time.
Group mind was a powerful thing.
“He doesn’t even know us,” the ash-blonde protested, glaring at her friend. “We’ve
never
talked to him.”
The other girl blushed.
“Whatever. I just know if I was in your shoes, I’d want a heads-up that the Nerd King was crushing on me.
It seems like it could definitely”—I bit my lip—“affect your reputation.”
Digging my poles into the snow, I shoved off hard and nearly rammed into a tree. I must have yelped or something, because all of a sudden my “partner” was a few feet away from me.
“You okay?” He didn’t move any closer.
“Fine.” I lifted my chin.
Just as a blob of snow fell off a tree branch and dropped squarely on my face. Laughter erupted from nearby as I wiped a glove over my goggles to clear it off. “The snow is getting heavier,” Julian observed.
“No kidding, Master of the Obvious.”
“Is that a step down from King of the Nerds?” he muttered before picking up his pace and skiing away. I had an answer ready, but my friends were already at my side. Had they noticed me talking to Julian again?
“Nice one, Hannah.” Bella swiped a hand over my helmet to get rid of more snow. “But white is not your color.”
“So did you talk to the twins? Start the plan?” Missy asked.
“Are they twins?” I felt the burn in my thighs as we shoved through the snow. Better to think about that than the burn of guilt that nagged the back of my mind. I hated messing with Julian.
“Who cares? If they aren’t, they might as well be.” Missy patted her coat pocket with one hand. “God, I could go for a cigarette.”
She hardly smoked, but she’d been obsessed lately with blowing rings like some actress in an old-time movie. Or so she said. I was pretty sure she smoked when she was nervous.
Which was very interesting.
“Things are set with them.” I picked one ski up high to avoid a fallen tree trunk. “How are things with Andre?”
Her eyes cut to mine.
“Great.” Her tone seemed off. But I’d known her a long time. “You should ask Bella about that, though.
She’s
the one that Andre can’t take his eyes off.”
Bella flipped her long hair over one shoulder and acknowledged the compliment with a wink. “Only because you don’t mind. I’d never go after a friend’s crush, but if you’re really okay with it…”
“I wouldn’t have said it, Bella Baby, if it wasn’t true.”
I tried not to roll my eyes through the “bestie” love-fest and wondered what Missy was up to. If I were Bella, I’d be watching my back. I’d seen Missy invite a new girl to sit at our table in the sweetest voice possible while secretly snapping pics of her for an Instagram snark-fest afterward.
The nicer Missy seemed, the more you had to worry.
My cellphone chimed a few minutes later, distracting me. Even a text from my mom seemed better than listening to Bella plot how to get Andre alone. I’d warned her about him.I paused to pull my phone out of my coat pocket and checked it. Cell coverage was iffy in the mountains, so I was surprised I’d gotten a message at all.
Andre clueless. We’re lost
.
I didn’t recognize the number the message came from, but I didn’t need to. Julian was no fan of Andre’s. Looking up from the screen, my eyes found Julian’s through the group that ski-trudged through difficult terrain.
I hadn’t really paid attention to our surroundings. But who could look at the trail with so much drama going on?
How would u know?
I texted back.
His message pinged through in seconds.
Nerd Kings tell time by sun, direction by shadow of trees.
I tried not to crack a smile in case he watched me.
And we’re going wrong direction?
I pulled off my thick, old-school gloves and typed.
2 overcast 2 tell. But we passed rock pile twice.
I glanced up to see what he meant. There was a mound of stones that looked like they’d been used as a base for campfires. I couldn’t remember seeing it before. But what if Julian was right?
Tell Andre.
Because it was our chaperone’s job to deal with stuff like this, not mine. I had enough on my mind trying to figure out how to keep pace with Missy and Bella, how to get them off my back, and what to recommend as a Christmas gift for Mom’s boyfriend.
Dude doesn’t listen.
Up ahead, I saw Julian pocket his phone and keep skiing while I worried about this latest update. Would Andre even know how to get us down the mountain or back to the base?
Worse, the Ponytail Matchers were cornering Julian to talk to him. Probably to tell him off in dramatic sophomore style. Damn it. Couldn’t they have waited to tell him off until he got us un-lost?
“What do you think, Hannah?”
Bella’s face appeared in front of mine, her pink lip gloss shiny even after all this time in the snow and wind. The off-brand of gloss I used lately had worn away on the bus.
“About what?” I hadn’t been paying any attention to them. I squinted through the snow to see what was going on with Julian.
“Missy thinks I should pretend to have an embarrassing girl problem as an excuse to talk to Andre alone,” Bella continued, unaware of everything but her personal soap opera. “Is that lame or brilliant? I can’t decide.”
My eyes went to Missy’s. She winked at me, but other than that, her expression didn’t change. Why was she messing with Bella unless…she really was into Andre?
Realization dawned and I looked away from Missy’s smug face. She should’ve been straight with Bella instead of playing games.
“What do you mean by ‘girl problem’?” I stalled.
“
Feminine
problems,” Missy chimed in then shot me an annoyed look before turning toward Bella. “I told you, you have to say ‘feminine problems’ and that will have him scrambling to keep you quiet and help you out. Your period is like your get-out-of-jail-free pass when you’re in trouble or need an excuse. And if you want to get a guy alone, just whisper something about it, and he’ll be shoving you into a corner so no one overhears.” Missy raised an eyebrow at me, her expression daring me to tell Bella that she was being played.
“That’s true,” I admitted reluctantly, feeling annoyed at
Missy’s approving grin. “They’re afraid it’s contagious.” I wasn’t proud of the fact that I’d waved the, er, red flag a few times when I’d been late for class. “But I don’t know if you need to play that card with Andre, Bells.”
“So you don’t think I should do it?” Bella asked, a real moment of worry clouding her gray eyes.
I thought you gave up the mean girl tactics at camp last
summer.
Missy glared at me.
“You should be careful of him, that’s all I’m saying,” I urged Bella, hoping that Andre wasn’t a total perv just because he happened to flirt with my mom. “But if you really want to flirt with him, we’ll have your back, okay? Missy and I can lead the ski group while you work that Bella Magic on him.”
Smiles of approval all around. Bella was already drunk on lust hormones just thinking about it, and Missy gave me a discreet hip bump, which was practically a hug when you considered the source. For the first time in a long time, she and I were on the same page…I guessed.
“Okay.” Bella nodded. “I’ll do it. Come with me, though?”
“Sure.” Missy elbowed past the tennis team lovebirds whose pace had slowed as the snow got deeper. “Excuse me, coming through—oh wait.” She stopped again. Pointed toward the Ponytails. “Looks like trouble is brewing in Geekville.”
I turned to see the sophomore girls in heated discussion with Julian. Well, the girls looked like they were angry, their arms crossed and their faces set. Julian, on the other hand, seemed torn between being uninterested and uncomfortable.
Embarrassed.
“Who even
made
that for you?” The ash-blonde flicked at his cape like it was a cobweb. “Is that the prize if you play enough nerd games on Xbox? Or did you have to write away to the address on the back of your Superman comic books for it?”
The girls giggled. The tennis-playing couple cracked smiles. Missy and Bella, of course, chimed in.
“Maybe he thinks it’s an invisibility cloak,” Bella taunted.
“It’s too bad we still see him. Isn’t it, Hannah?” Missy turned to me, opening the floor for my turn to get in a hit while he was down.
Only…I froze.
I could feel the importance of the moment, knowing I was one good put-down away from resurrecting my old friendship with Missy. With her as my BFF at Northstar, I would be safe—included—even if my father never gave me another dime. But all I could see were Julian’s eyes locked onto mine when we were on the ski lift. His text about telling time by the sun that had almost made me laugh.
His smarts about knowing we were lost.
“Umm.” I looked around. Licked dry lips. “Not to change the subject, but we are so totally lost.” I tried to look pissed. “What the hell? We keep passing the same…places.”
Scouring the trees for any repeated landmarks, I avoided looking at Julian. Was he disappointed in me? Or seeing right through me again?
“We thought so too,” the guy from the tennis team spoke up. “We’ve gone by that rock pile a mile back a few times.”
“Seriously?”
“Really?”
The quick turn in conversation meant other skiers were as worried about this as I was. Missy remained quiet, however, and Bella disappeared up ahead with Andre, as planned.
We all stared at each other through the heavy snow that seemed to fall thicker and faster than even a few minutes ago.
“My phone said there’s a big storm coming in,” one of the skateboarder dudes offered, waving his phone. “Or at least it did back when I still had coverage.”
The Ponytails were quickly distracted as everyone rushed to check their phones. Even Missy dug in her pocket and turned her attention to her screen.
That left Julian and me trying not to look at each other. We stood a few yards apart, but miles away on every other level. When I finally caught his eye, his expression was cold. Angry. He must know it was my fault the Ponytails were messing with him.
“My phone’s dead,” Missy complained. “How am I supposed to find out now?”
“I have no coverage,” whined one of the sophomore girls, their heads close together while they compared devices.
“Help!” screamed another voice from up ahead.
“Bella?” Missy’s head went up.
Julian was already in motion, his skis a blur as he booked it in the direction of Bella’s scream. Oddly, the guy in the comic book cape seemed the most mature of all of us. Missing chaperone included. I wouldn’t have shared that joke with Julian, but a part of me wished I could.
Hurrying to catch up, I realized how winded I already was. Off-trail skiing was tough, and the conditions today were far from optimal. The heavy-duty snow slowed everyone down, making each movement forward twice as difficult. And maybe it was just the worry that we were lost, but I swore I felt colder in the last five minutes than I had all day.
“Julian?” I called his name before I even knew what I’d say. I wasn’t sure why I did it.
“Stay with the others,” he shouted, turning partially over his shoulder so his voice would carry even though he didn’t look back at me.
“What happened to being partners?” Raising my voice made me feel breathless.
He grunted something that might have been, “I could ask you that, too.”
“Heeelp!” The cry came again, sounding panicked.
I moved faster, my heart racing.
“Where did the sound come from?” I turned all around, scared that I’d get separated from the others and we’d all be lost.“Are you okay?” Julian shouted, his deeper, guy voice traveling better in the thin mountain air.