“Too late I realized this sounded like a come-on. Yeah,Hayden, he would say,I want you to show me some-wink-stretches!-nudge nudge.”

“Do you want me to call the boys?" Liz suggested from way above me."Do not not call Nick Krieger!" I shouted. "God, would he love this.""I've got Davis in my cell phone," Liz called. "Gavin,too.""Absolutely not.If you call Davis or Gavin,Nick will be attached." Chloe squealed,"Yes,please,liz. Gavin would be excellent right now! No offense,Hayden,but don't join the ski patrol anytime soon.""Ingrate!" I yelled. "I'll show you.I'm about to save the day, in just a minute here.”

“Yeah, I understood that last night at the wreck. Nothing says I love you like a dead body.”

“No. I just don't want to be a detective. They figure out what happened after the fact, when it's too late. I want to prevent it from happening.”

“And you told me the biggest lie of all. You told me you loved me,” It was my turn to wince like he’d slapped me. “I don’t remember saying that” “You would if it had been true. You would feel something”

“Yes,but only if we employ careful strategy,as in rock-paper-scissors," I said."My 720 totally beats Nick falling down, like paper covers rock. Unless the rock is a boy,in which case the boy always wins.""Hayden-"Liz began."I am getting sick of your attitude, Hayden," Chloe talked over Liz. "We've been up here all day with you.All we have left is to get you off this jump. Every time you try, you have some excuse: wind in your face, bug in your ear, panties up your butt-""I was not making that up," I broke in. "Imagine trying a trick with umcomfortable underwear." I squirmed, rocking back and forth on my board to make a point."Or you make some stupid joke!" Chloe hollered at me.Her voice echoed against the rocky slope of the mountain overhead.i stealthily looked around in my goggles to see if any boarders I knew had heard,but it was getting late,and the slopes were empty except for us.”

“I could have explained that I wanted to walk without Doofus to get some air. But it would be pretty unusual-one might even go as far as to say unheard of-for me to take a hike on a winter night when I was exhausted from boarding all day.”