Page 5 of All I Feel

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

Ace answered, “I think Phoenix is trying to tell you both that after we leave here and go there, we’ll be the ones doing the cool stuff in the terrain park while you, Lark, and the rest of the girls just ride down the trails.”

“I have no desire to break my neck,” Lark informed him. “I don’t even want to be out in the cold.”

I hated that what the boys were insinuating was the truth.

From the time we were all very young, our parents had always taken us to Parks Ridge Ski Resort, our local mountain where professionals like our fathers had trained all their lives. Among the four families, there were eleven kids. My brother Archer was the oldest of them, and I was the youngest. All the children grew up riding, and every winter, our parents planned multiple day trips to the mountain to ride.

Before nearly every snowboarding day together, wecame out to First Tracks Diner and had breakfast with one another. That’s why we were here now.

Like Lark, I wasn’t a huge fan of being out in the cold, but I enjoyed the time our families spent together whenever something like this was planned. And just as the boys had pointed out, the girls and I generally stuck to simply riding down the trails.

But now I had to prove myself.

Feeling determined, I said, “I’ll do it.”

The boys looked stunned by my declaration. “Do what?”

“I’ll ride in the terrain park today, and I’ll go off a jump.”

My brother burst into a fit of laughter. “There’s no way you’re going to do that.”

“Why can’t she?” Lark asked him.

“Do you realize how long we’ve been working on jumps?” Kingston countered.

Shrugging, I said, “That doesn’t mean I can’t try to be successful now. If you’re scared I might do better than you, just say so.”

I was surprised when Ace said, “I think you could do a simple jump. Your dad is Xander Stone, one of the best halfpipe riders the sport has ever seen. It doesn’t matter that you’re his daughter. You might not be able to do any real tricks right away, but you could still go off one of the smaller jumps to start.”

That was nice of him to say. “Thanks, Ace. At least someone has some faith in me.”

“I do, too,” Lark said.

“I know. You and the rest of the girls are usually the only ones I can count on.” Eager to get to the mountain, I focused on my waffle again. “I can’t wait until we get there.”

For the next few minutes, I put all my effort intofinishing my breakfast. I wasn’t going to be the reason we were delayed leaving and getting to Parks Ridge.

After eating three of the four sections of my waffle, I pushed the plate back and said, “I’m finished. Does anyone want this last part of my waffle?”

I’d barely asked the question when my brother said, “Ew, Tessa. It’s covered in so much syrup.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Ace said, deciding to reach for a piece of it with his fork. I watched as he tried a bite, and his eyes nearly fell out of his head. “Wow. That’s… That’s definitely sweet.”

“Oh, whatever. None of you know what you’re talking about.”

Ten minutes later, everyone had finished breakfast. After our parents paid, we left and piled into our vehicles to head over to the ski resort.

When we arrived, I had to admit that it was strange to head in the opposite direction from where I normally used to go to ride the trails with the girls. It was even weirder to be following the boys to the terrain park.

Over the years, there’d been a handful of times when the girls and I had watched the boys in the terrain park, so I had an idea of what to expect. But not once in all that time had I ever studied what the boys did from a technical standpoint. I was going to need someone to give me some pointers before I made any attempts.

We’d made it to the top of the terrain park, where my dad noticed I’d tagged along. “Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing here?”

“Phoenix doesn’t think I can do this, so when we were at breakfast, I told the boys I was going to go off a jump today.”

He smiled at me, but I could hear how surprised he waswhen he said, “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for one of my girls to try this, Tessa? I’m so excited. And I’m proud of you for being willing to try.”