“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Erin stopped in her tracks and turned to face me, placing a hand on each of my padded shoulders. “Johnny and I won’t let you look stupid. Everyone remembers their first day out here, trust me.”
“Sure.”
We continued to the bunny hill as I tried to pep myself up, but I remembered the conversation Giles and I had back at the bonfire. How he couldn’t really remembernotsnowboarding. I wondered how many locals were just like him.
Minutes ago, I loved my new outfit. Now having arrived and seeing everyone dressed in neutrals, I realized just how loud it was.
‘Look at me,’ it practically screamed. My snowsuit—and my hot pink snowboard rental—was sure to attract the attention of every wandering expert’s eye today.
Great.
“Here we are,” Erin said.
Johnny was already there waiting for us.
“Well, don’t you look festive?” He admired my suit as I did a twirl.
“Thanks. I realize that maybe standing out isn’t such a good thing on the bunny hill.”
“Nonsense,” he replied. “You look great, and pretty soon, you’ll be riding great too. Now set the board down.”
I did as he told me and turned to face him before he immediately shoved me backward. It was a light shove, and I easily caught myself, but my face registered my shock.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Gotta determine your dominant foot,” he said like it was obvious. “Looks like you’re goofy. Giles is goofy too.”
“Goofy?”
“It means your left leg is dominant, so you’ll be going down the hill right foot forward.”
“If you say so.”
“Now, strap in your right foot.”
Johnny walked me through strapping my boot into my binding, and showed me how to scoot my back foot along so that I glided over the snow.
“Alright.” He clapped his mitten-clad hands. “Now that you’re mobile, let’s hit the lift.”
He gestured toward a chairlift maybe one-hundred feet long that ascended a short, almost flat, hill.
“Why even build that? I can probably walk up there faster.”
Erin laughed. “It’s to get you used to the lift for when you migrate to the bigger hills. You’d be surprised how hard it is to master getting on and off.”
A few people were already on the bunny hill. Thankfully, it wasn’t too crowded. I observed as two people stood at the bottom of the lift. They let the moving chair hit the back of their knees before sitting down and getting carried up.
How hard could it be?
“You ready, Mattie?” Johnny looked at me expectantly.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I murmured before gracelessly gliding behind him. A few times, my boot got caught underneath my board, and I almost face-planted into the fresh snow.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Erin assured me.
At the lift, I sat down easily and was scooped up by the chair. Erin went with me since it was only a two-person seat.
“That wasn’t so bad.” I mentally patted myself on the back as we chugged to the top.
