First Time Skiing

The grey room had wooden lockers in the right back corner, 7 feet tall, and a coppery-brown color. Directly in the center of the floor, two wooden benches were backed up against a short, long strip of shoe lockers. The counters were on the left and back walls, with aisles of skis, snowboards, and boots behind them.

I paced across the floor, awaiting the arrival of my boots, colored grey with blue dots on either side of the heel. My lime green winter coat was large, and puffed out around my small frame, and I tried to smooth it down so I wouldn’t look as fat. My hat had a pom-pom on top, with pink and purple stripes coming down the sides. My grey-blue snow-pants were sagging a bit, so I pulled them up and tucked my black under armour shirt and green, purple, and white striped sweater into them. My bright red ski mask was currently pushed under my chin, though when I was skiing it would be brought up over my nose for warmth.

“Here you go, sweetie,” my dad said as he handed me my boots. They were much heavier than I anticipated, so my arms jerked down with the weight and I had to readjust my arm to compensate for the extra weight. “I’ll help you put them on as soon as they give me your skis, and remember, no poles today!”

Earlier, my brother, Franklin, had gotten his boots AND skis and was waiting for me to be ready so that we could all go out in the cold, and attempt the bunny hill. Our relationship was bumpy, and we had a bad habit of fighting. We both had lessons, with separate teachers to lessen the chance of a fistfight down the hill.

“Hi! We will be your ski instructors today. I’m Jessica, and this is Mike.” a short, blonde girl exclaimed, introducing them to my brother and I.

“Hi, my name is Franklin,” my brother squeaked.

“And I’m Anna…” I whispered, suddenly nervous and shy. I was young, but not so naive as most, because I knew strangers were potentially dangerous and deadly, whereas some would warm right up to them and possibly get kidnapped or have something terrible happen to them.

My dad gave me a warm smile and nodded, telling me I could trust her.

“Well, I’m going to go do some trails until you all finish your lessons, OK?” my dad smiled, and hugged us both. He skated himself over to the big, black chairlift.

“Alright, Mike. Why don’t you bring Franklin over and I’ll follow with Anna,” Jessica the Instructor stated, and ordered me to grasp her pole, as I had none to pull myself towards the course. I felt kind of useless, because she had to pull me and I couldn’t.

We arrived at the top, and my teacher told me about skiing down without braking, “french fries!” and skiing down with brakes, “almost pizza!” and stopping completely, “full pizza! But don’t cross your skis!”

Even though she was annoyingly perky, the tips given to me were helpful as I took my first run down the hill. I only fell twice, but neither hurt, just an accidental turn up the hill, going a bit too fast for my liking, (about one mile an hour) but otherwise, I did an “almost pizza” the whole way down.

“Great run! This is called the Magic Carpet Ride. You have to be careful when you’re getting on so that your skis are all the way on, or else they will get stuck on the side and you will be pulled. This time, since it’s your first, I’ll put my skis around yours and guide you on.” Jessica told me slowly and carefully. She was moving too slowly for me, and I was getting irritated at the tone she was using with me. I knew I was young, but if my parents don’t treat me like this, should anyone else?

I felt her blue, waxed skis go around my rented ones, and she guided me so that I was directly facing the entrance to the belt, slowly inching forward. My skis touched the entrance, and it dragged the rest of me and Jessica onto the lift.

Finally reaching the top, I nearly fell because you have to take a 90 degree angle right turn, but Jessica was there to steady me.

“Alright. This time, I’m going to ski backwards, and you forwards, and we’re going to play… Red Light Green Light!” Jessica exclaimed, trying to excite me.

We began down the hill, and I observed that Franklin was about halfway up the Magic Carpet Ride, coming up for his third run already. I inwardly groaned in frustration, and being distracted by this, I didn’t hear her telling me to stop, so I bumped her. No one fell, but I vowed to pay more attention and not make any more mistakes.

I hear a laugh as my brother whizzes past, and I glare and concentrate my anger onto getting down the mountain without falling, to prove to my brother that I could do just as well as him, even though he was bigger and older than me.

Finally reaching the bottom of the hill, I skied right over to the “Magic Carpet” and got on, Jessica right behind me. This’ll just prove to Mom, Dad, and Franklin that I can be the best at something if I want to… I thought as I gazed enviously at my brother as he came speeding down the hill.

Quite obviously, my older brother and my relationship is competitive, and rather mean at time. We would push to be first, and demand ridiculous things from our parents which we never got, we would get to go to our rooms.

“Err…. Jessica?” I mumbled, embarrassed. “could I maybe try to go down the hill myself this time?” Just to show Franklin how amazing I could be… I thought. I got to the edge of the “steep” track, and pushed myself forward, and I was gone. The wind was on my face as I twisted and turned down the hill, “squashing the grapes” with my toes to turn, as Carol, the nice skis lady, had instructed.

I was doing it, feeling confident and steady about my ability to remain standing on my skis. I raced down the hill, and at just about the bottom, I shifted my skis into a “full pizza” to stop. Ha Franklin, I thought, because all I had seen him do to stop was fall.

After many more runs and even a few races, my dad arrived back down to take us home, due to the fact that it was almost nine thirty at night, and we had yet to have dinner. I had had a good time, and stuck up for myself by daring to go down the hill by myself, and even won a few races. I was satisfied, but angry that Franklin had gotten the easier teacher, and gotten to go down first. I decided that no matter what Franklin did, I was going to do as well or better than him.

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