Millennium Girl

Skiing, Carolyn thought happily. Flying, no wings involved. I sure hope I make it into the intensive class next year. Then I can be on the team! I hope Leah makes it, too. We can carpool and all. As long as mom doesn’t mind driving both of us, which has never been a problem any other time. Oops-- I almost missed the last turn again! Carolyn swerved just in time to miss going onto the Advanced ski course, which she’d done once before - resulting in a fractured wrist. One more turn to go--

Carolyn stopped at the bottom of the hill, sending a spray of snow flying out in front of her. “Well?” she asked her ski instructor hopefully. “How was I? Did I beat my record?”

“You bet!” Gabby, her instructor, told her, wiping snow off her face and blinking to clear her eyelashes. “Your new time is seven minutes and sixteen seconds. Down the intensive ski slope, too! I think you’ll make it into the intensive skiing class! I’m so proud of you!”

 “This is so cool!” Carolyn said. “Do you really think I’ll make it?”

“Sure!” Gabby said enthusiastically, her braces sparkling in the sunlight. “Gary, the intensive level ski instructor, was watching you on your third run today, and he said the ski team could really use a skier like you!”

“No kidding!” Carolyn said. “Wow, the team! Hey, can I try to beat seven sixteen before break?”

“Sure. You can go up in the lift with-- Leah,” Gabby said, with a sideways glance at the skiers whisking down the hill. Leah was among them. “Since I know you two are peas in a pod,” Gabby added with a grin.

“Thanks.” Carolyn skied off to join her best friend in the line for the chairlift. “Hey, Leah, wait for me!” she called.

“Moo!” Leah replied without turning. It was an inside joke between she and Carolyn. It started about a year ago. Carolyn would start acting bossy and Leah would call her Bossy the cow. The joke was always joined with a playful punch on the shoulder. Then the two of them would start mooing and laughing. By now, “moo” was just a greeting.

“How did you know it was me?” Carolyn asked, stopping beside her friend.

“I just knew,” Leah answered. “Telepathy.”

“Yeah right.” Carolyn tucked a long string of loose mahogany hair into her hood.

“I saw Jake Waters looking at you today. It was your third run, I think. The one when you did that little jump thing and didn’t fall down,” Leah told her, sounding jealous. “I wouldn’t say he looked woozy over you, but he fell over on his way down the hill because he was looking at you.”

“No way! Jake Waters? Are we talking about the same Jake Waters, here? Blond hair, blue eyes, five foot five and a half, freckles, a hundred and twenty pounds as of January fourteenth at two thirty-five PM? The Jake Waters that-”

“The very same,” Leah interrupted. “Oh, and you forgot the fact that his eyebrows have that hot little curve at the top.”

 “I was getting to that! You’re joking, you have to be! He did not look at me.” Carolyn said. Her cheeks turned crimson, clashing with her hazel eyes. She hoped people would attribute it to the cold. Jake Waters? Jake Waters? Does he actually know I exist? Carolyn’s hazel eyes shimmered with excitement. Finally, I’m getting somewhere!!!!!

“No joke. He tripped over this little kid in a red ski coat. Poor kid went crying to his mom. Jake didn’t even know he crashed. I swear by the spots on a cow,” Leah said seriously. Her bright brown eyes were overflowing with jealousy.

Carolyn and Leah boarded the ski lift. “Bliss,” Carolyn sighed, plopping down and closing her eyes. The jerk as the ski lift started to move didn’t even bother her, although it was normally her pet peeve.

“And-” Leah began. Carolyn cut her off.

“Oh, shush! I want to savor this moment-- store it in my memory for future reference--”

“You’re the only person I know who can use non-babble words after finding out her crush knows she exists,” Leah commented.

“I said shush!”

“Okay, okay, jeez!” Leah muttered. Carolyn thought about dating Jake. Oh, Jakie-poo--We could go to the arcade and get pizza and get shakes at McD’s and he’d kiss me. Maybe on the stroke of midnight. How romantic would that be? Heck, maybe he’ll kiss me on my birthday/New Years. Like, as the millennium changes. Which, of course, is my one BIGGEST wish. Ooooohhhhhh. I love him! Jakie-poo! Hmm-- I wonder if he’s counted my freckles like I counted his. Wait. I don’t have any freckles. Now, Leah, she’s a different story. Freckles galore!