Page 7 of All I Feel

“Are you okay?” Ace asked as we made our way over to the lift.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just a little embarrassed.”

He waved his hand in the air. “Ah, just shake it off. We’ve all done that before.”

“I don’t know what I did wrong other than panic.”

Ace got on the chairlift with me, and once he’d pulled down our lap bar, he explained, “From what I could tell, you were doing perfectly. Then, maybe when you started to panic, it happened. You shifted your weight too far over the nose. You need to make sure you keep your weight stacked over the center of the board. Keeping your shoulders and hips all in line should help. And when you land, make sure you bend the knees to help absorb the landing.”

“My dad said to keep my shoulders square, but the way you explained it makes a lot of sense. I’ll try that this time.”

He smiled at me. “Good. I’m glad you’re not giving up.”

“After one try? It’s going to take more than that to make me stop. Plus, I won’t let Phoenix think he was right.”

Ace laughed just as we reached the top and got off the lift.

As soon as we made it back to where we’d started, my dad said, “That was a great first try, Tessa.”

“Yeah, I think it’ll be better this time. I got the nerves out on that first one, and Ace gave me some pointers, too.”

“Do you want to go first?” Ace asked.

Ishook my head. “I’d like to watch you again.”

He didn’t wait for me to ask him again. Ace turned and took off. This time, I paid attention to what he did when he was in the air. That was the thing that had made me worried last time, so I wanted to be sure I took in his every move.

When there was an opening, I gave it another try. I felt far more confident approaching the jump, and once I launched off it, I did exactly what my dad and Ace had both told me to do. Somehow, I stayed calm in the air.

Then I landed.

I got so excited, I stood up completely and twisted my neck to see where Ace was, and I wiped out.

Just like last time, Ace rode over to me. “That was so good. But you stood up at the end.”

“I know. Rookie move. I got too excited that time.”

He jerked his head to the side. “Come on. We’ll try it again.”

We made our way down the trail and up the lift once more. When we got back, my dad was grinning from ear-to-ear. He couldn’t say enough good things about how quickly I’d figured this out.

My confidence had grown even more, and I was eager to make this happen. Like the previous two times, Ace went before me on the jump, doing a little trick in the process this time.

I finally went.

And this time, I took the jump with a bit more speed, kept my body positioned just as I was instructed to, and nailed the landing. Only after I’d gotten on my toe edge to slow myself down did I feel safe enough to celebrate.

Best of all, Ace was there to do it with me. He rode right up to me, grinning, and stopped on his heel edge. He held ahand up for a hi-five and said, “That was awesome, Tessa. You did it.”

Feeling so proud, I giggled and smacked my hand against his. “That was amazing. Before the day is over, I want to learn a basic trick so I can rub it in Phoenix’s face.”

Ace laughed. “Then we better get up there, so you can do that a few more times.”

With that, Ace and I made our way down through the remainder of the terrain park.

TWO

TESSA - SIX YEARS LATER