TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1: New Rules

  CHAPTER 2: The Boy in the Blue Helmet

  CHAPTER 3: Making Changes

  CHAPTER 4: Free No More

  CHAPTER 5: Getting Air

  CHAPTER 6: The Number One Rule

  CHAPTER 7: Standing Strong

  CHAPTER 8: Showdown

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Glossary

  More About Snowboard Cross

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  Other Books by Jake Maddox

  Internet Sites

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  NEW RULES

  The door of the school bus had barely closed behind him, and Brian was on his way to the chalet.

  It was the way Brian ended almost every school day, jumping off the bus and heading at full speed to the slopes.

  Brian’s mother was the assistant manager of Snowstream Ski Resort. That meant Brian had easy access to the resort’s many cool features.

  Each day, he would head directly to the chalet. He would open his locker and pull out his snowboard gear. He would rush to put it on, and would get to the slopes as quickly as he could.

  On the slopes, he would meet his friends. Almost all of them were kids whose parents worked at the resort. Most of them were about Brian’s age, and they all were snowboarders.

  Some days were spent at the halfpipe, working on a front side 720 or another special trick. Other days were spent grinding the rails down the slopes.

  No matter what they were doing, Brian and his friends were happy.

  Brian often snowboarded until dark. Then he would head home for a late dinner and homework before bed.

  The next morning, the whole thing would start over.

  It was a great life.

  Brian swung by his mother’s office to say hello before he headed for the chairlift. He bolted toward the office on the top floor of the chalet.

  “Hey, Mom,” Brian said as he came through the door.

  “Hi, Brian,” his mom responded. She seemed a little busy.

  “I’m going to the halfpipe today, okay?” Brian said.

  “Okay,” she said, barely looking up from her papers. “Have fun.”

  His mom had been busy a lot since the resort manager retired three months ago.

  They hadn’t replaced him yet, and it meant that Brian’s mom had a lot of extra work to do.

  Brian grabbed his board on the deck of the chalet and bounced down the steps toward the snow. He stepped into his board and latched the right boot in place. Pushing along the snow with his left foot, he glided down toward the chairlift.

  His best friend, Hannah, was there waiting for him. “Hey, Bri,” she said. Hannah seemed a little distracted.

  The lifts weren’t busy, so Brian and Hannah got on a chair quickly. Once they were up in the air, Brian started asking questions.

  “You okay?” he said. “You seem a little down.”

  “Well, didn’t you hear the news? Didn’t your mom tell you?” Hannah asked.

  “Tell me what?” Brian asked.

  “I ran into my dad on my way here,” Hannah said. Hannah’s father ran the restaurant in the chalet. “I guess the resort hired a new manager,” Hannah added.

  “Oh, good!” Brian said. “My mom’s been waiting for that. Maybe now she won’t have to work so much.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Hannah said. “My dad said the new manager’s not a very nice person. She’s making a bunch of new rules right away.”

  “Like what?” Brian said.

  “Like, we may not be able to snowboard for free anymore,” she said.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE BOY IN THE BLUE HELMET

  Brian sat quietly on the chair for a few moments.

  It was a crisp, calm day. The growing chill he was feeling was not from the weather.

  “What do you mean?” he finally asked.

  Hannah glanced across the slopes. Below them, skiers were swooshing down the mountain through the soft, fluffy snow that had fallen only hours earlier.

  “Being able to use the resort for free is a benefit that our parents have, and we have, because of their jobs,” Hannah said.

  “I know that, but why would they take it away?” Brian said.

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said. “All I know is what my dad told me. The new manager said she wanted to make some changes to the benefits that the families of the employees get.”

  Silence again fell over the chairlift. Hannah and Brian could see the end of the chairlift now.

  They both wondered if they were soon going to see the end of their time on the slopes, too.

  Then Brian said what both of them were thinking.

  “But if we lose the free snowboarding,” he said, “what are we going to do all winter? What else are we going to do up here on this mountain?”

  Hannah just shook her head.

  Both of them slipped off the chairlift and pushed over to the top of the nearby halfpipe.

  At the edge of the pipe, they paused and looked at each other.

  They both shook their heads and started down the run.

  As soon as they swooped down one side of the halfpipe, their minds were free again.

  Brian led the way as they played a game they called Chase.

  They had played many times before.

  One of them would go out front and do a trick on each side of the pipe.

  The other would follow behind, watching and trying to match everything the leader did.

  Chase was a game they had been playing for two winters, ever since both of their parents had been hired at Snowstream.

  Hannah and Brian loved the game so much that they didn’t even have to talk about playing it anymore.

  If they were at the halfpipe, they were playing Chase.

  On the first run, Brian didn’t try anything too hard, but their first time down was usually pretty tame.

  Hannah didn’t have much trouble matching Brian, trick for trick. She rarely did anyway.

  Hannah was as good a snowboarder as Brian was.

  There were a few tricks he could do better and a few she could do better.

  When they got to the bottom of the run, they came together and gave each other a high five.

  “Sweet run,” Hannah said. “Next time, I lead.”

  They looked up the halfpipe and talked about the tricks they had tried and how they had done.

  Suddenly, however, there was a new figure at the top of the halfpipe.

  It was hard to see who it was from the bottom of the run, but the person didn’t look familiar to Hannah and Brian.

  He wore a full, dark-blue snowboarding suit, with a helmet to match.

  Hannah and Brian watched the new boy’s run.

  He zoomed back and forth on the halfpipe at top speed.

  At each turn, he performed a different trick, making each one look more effortless than the one before it.

  It was a beautiful run.

  At the bottom of the run, the boy zoomed up to Hannah and Brian.

  He leaned back on his board to come to a stop.

  Snow flew all over their boots in the process.

  “Nice run!” Hannah said politely.

  “Hmph,” the boy snorted back. “That’s not much of a halfpipe.”

  CHAPTER 3

  MAKING CHANGES

  Brian and Hannah glanced at each other, shocked.

  They weren’t sure they heard the boy right, and they weren’t sure what to say to him.

  “I’m sorry, is there something wrong?” Brian said, still trying to be polite.

  “Yeah, I’d say so,” the boy said. “Your halfpipe is weak.”

  Hannah looked the boy up and down.

  He was tall, and looked a little older than them.

  His snowboarding suit was perfectly matched and looked nearly brand new and expensive.

  The pants and the jacket both had the same logo: Blair Mountain Ski Resort.

  This wasn’t regular clothing you could buy at the resort, either. It looked like some kind of team outfit.

  Both Hannah and Brian recognized it.

  Blair Mountain was one of the best and most expensive resorts in the Rocky Mountains.

  Neither Hannah nor Brian had ever been there.

  But they both had talked about how cool it would be to go and snowboard there someday.

  The ski runs were supposed to be twice as long as the ones at Snowstream.

  The boy’s board was top of the line, too. Hannah and Brian didn’t have the gear that this new boy had.

  They both wore red Snowstream jackets, but they were the normal kind you could find at a store. Nothing special.

  Their snowboard pants didn’t match their coats, and they had been bought from a discount store on the Internet.

  Their boards were average brands, too.

  None of that had ever mattered to Brian and Hannah until this boy showed up.

  Both of them felt a little jealous of the boy, but they weren’t ready to accept the insult to their home.

  “Weak?” Hannah said. “It may not be Blair Mountain, but we like it here.”

  “Well, we need to make some changes,” the boy said.

  Now Brian was getting angry. “We? We need to make some changes?”

  “That’s what I said,” the boy said. “We need to make some changes around here.”

  The boy reached down a nd unstrapped his snowboard from his back leg.

  He began to push down toward the chairlift again.

  Brian and Hannah looked at each other in amazement.

  Neither one of them was sure what to do next.

  Brian headed after the boy. “Excuse me,” he yelled.

  The boy kept walking to the chairlift.

  “Excuse me!” Brian shouted.

  This time, the boy stopped.

  “Just who the heck do you think you are, hotshot?” Brian asked. He could feel that his face was red with anger.

  The boy spun back with a sly smile on his face.

  “I’m Zach,” he said. “My mom is the new manager here. And like I said, we need to make a few changes.”

  CHAPTER 4

  FREE NO MORE

  Suddenly, Brian and Hannah didn’t feel much like boarding.

  They glided back to the chalet and unstrapped their snowboards. Then they stomped up the back steps to the chalet’s deck, took off their boots, and went inside.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the fire in the chalet, talking about this new boy and what the new rules might mean.

  “We need some kind of a plan,” Brian said.

  “How can we make a plan if we don’t know what’s going to happen yet?” Hannah said. “We should be patient and see what he’s up to, then make our plan.” Brian agreed.

  Gradually, all of their other friends started to show up in the chalet. Ray, B.J., and Will had each already had some kind of run-in with Zach. They were all looking for information about what might be happening. And they wanted to share their stories with friends.

  “He asked me if I could grind the rails on the snowboard runs,” Ray said. “I said yes and then showed him. When I got to the bottom of the hill, he was laughing at me.”

  The others had similar stories.

  No one was sure what to make of it. But they all figured they’d find out soon enough.

  * * *

  That night at home, Brian tried to talk to his mom about Zach.

  She was sympathetic, but said there wasn’t much that could be done just yet.

  “I’m sure he’s just trying to look cool in his new home,” she said. “He’ll tone it down once he gets to know all of you.”

  Brian wasn’t so sure.

  “He keeps talking about changes,” Brian said. “And Hannah told me that her dad said we might lose our right to free snowboarding. Is that true?”

  “I don’t know yet, Brian,” his mom said. She sighed. “But I’m sure that some things will change. Things always change when there is a new manager. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  But Brian was still worried.

  * * *

  After school the next day, he and Hannah met at the resort again.

  They walked into the locker room and got ready to snowboard.

  On their way out to the slopes, however, they saw Zach inside the chalet.

  He was putting up a sign on the bulletin board. In bold letters, it read:

  TEEN SNOWBOARD CROSS

  TEAM SIGN-UP

  There was an empty space below it for people to put their names.

  Hannah and Brian were confused, because Snowstream didn’t have a snowboard cross course on it.

  But they were both excited, too. They had always wanted to try snowboard cross.The idea of racing against other people down a twisting, turning snowboard run sounded pretty cool.

  Hannah saw it as a chance to be nice to Zach. “Hey, Zach. So you’re starting a snowboard cross team? Here at Snowstream?” she asked him.

  “Yeah,” he said. He didn’t seem interested in her questions. “I was captain of the team at Blair Mountain. We were winners. Even though I’m stuck at this resort now, I still want to win.”

  Hannah and Brian tried to ignore the nasty part of Zach’s comments.

  “Sounds like fun,” Brian said.

  “It’s awesome,” Zach said. “My mom said we’re going to take one of the ski runs and turn it into a snowboard cross course. We’ll be able to start practicing in a few weeks. And I’m the captain.”

  CHAPTER 5

  GETTING AIR

  Hannah and Brian started to feel a little differently about Zach after they found out about the snowboard cross team.

  They weren’t sure they liked the idea of Zach being the captain. But they thought being on the team would be fun.

  They were the first two people to put their names on the sign-up sheet.

  Ray, B.J., and Will all signed up, too.

  For the next couple of weeks, the mood at Snowstream was better.

  Every day after school, and all day on weekends, the kids snowboarded on the slopes and the halfpipe.

  Their worries about changes to the rules about free skiing were gone.

  After all, if Snowstream was starting a teen snowboard cross team, they would have to allow those kids to use the resort.

  Brian and Hannah didn’t see much of Zach.

  When they did, he was over on the run that was being turned into a snowboard cross course.

  The area had been closed to the public. It looked like Zach was helping the workers test the course.

  Finally, one day they arrived at the slopes to find the snowboard cross course open. They couldn’t wait to give it a try.

  They rushed to get their snowboard suits and boots on, and quickly headed toward the chairlifts.

  “Have you heard anything about it?” Hannah asked as they rode up the side of the mountain.

  “Not much,” Brian said. “My mom said it was going to be really hard. That’s all I know.”

  “Sounds fun to me!” Hannah said.

  Brian couldn’t remember a time when he saw her so excited.

  When they got to the drop-off point for the chairlift, Hannah cruised over toward the top of the course.

  Brian struggled to keep up. “Wait up!” he yelled.

  “Not a chance,” Hannah shot back. “I’m not letting you take the course first!”

  “Well,” Brian responded, “it is a race course. Maybe you and I should have a little race!”

  Hannah wasn’t going to miss a chance to race against her best friend.

  Both of them saw the beginnings of a great new game.

  It could be every bit as fun as Chase was at the halfpipe.

  Hannah waited for Brian at the top of the run.

  There was no official way to start them, so they just counted to three.

  “One, two, three!” they yelled, and off they went.

  The early part of the course was full of sharp, high-banked turns that they both handled easily.

  Hannah took a better path, and moved a little bit ahead of Brian.

  Coming around the third turn, they ran into a series of moguls.

  Brian kept his balance, bent his knees, and bounced over the small mounds quickly.

  Hannah wasn’t prepared for them and stumbled over the first few. She didn’t fall, but losing her balance allowed Brian to pull ahead.

  Over the next few straightaways and turns, Brian kept his small advantage.

  He cruised over some angled bumps, or spines, making small jumps off each one.

  Finally, he and Hannah navigated the last turn and headed down the steep, straight slope toward the finish line.

  Only one jump remained. Brian took it hard, getting as much air as he could.

  He loved to feel the rush of sailing high into the sky. Hannah did, too, but she knew that getting too much air would only slow her down.

  She stayed low, sailing off the jump only a few feet but further down the mountain.

  When they both landed, they were in nearly the same place.

  When they crossed the finish line, it was too close to call.

  They both skidded to a stop. “That was awesome!” Hannah yelled.

  “Glad you liked it,” came a voice. It was Zach. He was looking directly at Hannah. “Because it’s going to be your last run.”

  CHAPTER 6

  THE NUMBER ONE RULE

  Hannah and Brian couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

  Just minutes before, they had been so excited as they zoomed down the mountain.

  Now, they were confused and upset.

  “What?” Brian said, struggling to figure out what to say. “What do you mean? Why is it our last run?”

 

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