Mr. Rennie's Class

             Jean & I                                                       

                            By: Anastasia Allison

It’s my aunties stories that make me extremely jealous.

Throughoutmy aunties life she has had amazing adventures. From surfing inCalifornia to skiing through neon orange nets, through thick pine treesand onto a highway.

However my favourite storey is when my auntie Solana was my age and her best friend Jean was with her.

“Tell me a storey auntie. A good one.”

It didn’t take long for my auntie think of one.

“Okay.... here it goes.......”

“Come on! It’ll be fun! Please?”

Jean Brodie was urging me to go sledding with her.

Jean’s big brown eyes looked at me with eagerness and excitement.

“Please?”

I sighed a tired sigh. All I truly wanted was to spend Sunday lazing around reading comics and drinking hot cocoa.

“Fine, I’ll ask Roy.  Jean jumped up and down clapping her mittens together. The pom-pom on her hat went back and forth.

“Roy?” I asked. I hoped I sounded bad so I couldn’t go sledding.

“Yeah Sol what’s th’ matter?” Roy’s squinted eyes looked at me curiously.

“Nothing, I was wondering if I could go sledding with Jean, Is that okay?” I hoped he would say no.

“Please, Please say no!” I thought hoping my guts out.

“Sure! Ya want me t’ take you?”  He suggested.

“No thanks Jean’s dad is taking us.” I said with a faint bit of disappointment.

“Okay then! You two have fun now!” He said cheerfully.

“I will.” I replied this time trying to sound excited.

I ran to the door and invited Jean in.

Next I ran to my room and put a sweater on and then my snow pants.

I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed my mittens and coat.

Jean started tapping her feet furiously.  

“Are you done yet?” Jean complained.

“No not yet.” I patiently reassured her.

Jean rolled her eyes.

Finally I was finished and we dashed out side. I started getting butterflies in my stomach and thought,

“Maybe this won’t be so bad.”

I smiled at Jean, and she smiled at me. Suddenly I paused, I had forgotten my sled!

Jean seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

“Don’t worry Sol I have two sleds!”

I smiled it was so great to have somebody helpful around.

“Thanks.” I thanked Jean happily.

We hopped into Mr. Brodie's truck. Mr. Brodie { A.K.A  Steve} turned to us looking really disappointed.

“Sorry guys I can’t take you to the sled hill.

“Aw!” Jean wined.

“I have to drop of this order of skis.”

His thumb pointed to the back on the truck where four long boxes were set horizontally in the box of the truck.

I looked at the boxes, they seemed to glare at me.

I felt awful now we couldn’t slide down hills and have hot apple juice at the hut!

“What are we going to do then? It would have been sooo much fun!” I thought.

Steve put his key in the ignition. The truck rattled, spat, and finally started.

“However I can take you two to Snow Patch ski hill. Perhaps you could rent some skis.”

“Sure dad.” Jean murmured as she stared at her lap.

Finally after ten long minutes we got to Snow Patch.

Steve slipped out of his truck and started chatting to a man with a hand truck.

“Come on we got to find something to do.”

“Yeah.” I replied

Then Jean’s eyes lit up.

“Oh no.” I thought. I caught myself telling Jean, “Oh no. No. No. No!”

“ You don’t even know yet!” Jean frowned at me.

Maybe but I new that smirk anywhere.

“We still have the sleds sooooo, we’ll go down the Black Diamond.

I shook my head nervously. The Black Diamond was the most steep run at Snow Patch.

Not to mention the longest. But Jean was daring and always had a way to per swayed people.

Jean went to her dad and lied saying that we were going to ski down Elf run.

Blue run was for our age group. It was easy and peaceful. Something that Jean would hate.

Ilooked around the sun shone on the snow causing it to sparkle. Therewas a man sitting on a bench right beside the Cafe`. He was busyclipping on his skis.

The air was full of laughter and screaming with thrill.

Jean ran back to me.

“Come on!” Jean panted furiously.

We ran to the chair lift. The line was short. I wished the line was really long.

I shut my eyes tight and hoped that when I opened them the line was incredibly long.

I opened one eye, and then another. The line was much shorter.

Atanned man stood in the booth. He had curly dark brown hair. Hesignaled that it was our turn. My stomach was flipping. We got on thechair lift and we were slowly pushed up the hill. I held onto my sledtightly.

Jean was kicking her legs and looking over the edge. I could

easily tell that jean was excited.

Asfor I....well I was extremely worried. I tried to relax, I looked atthe snow covered pine trees. They looked gorgeous  in the sunlight.they sparkled and shimmered. The dazzling trees reminded me of adecoration Roy made. I remembered how he came dashing through the doorwith his beautiful fake tree. He made it look so realistic.

Anyway as I was enjoying all this when in the corner of my eye I spotted an object.

Immediatelymy eyes shot at it my brain went through a dozen questions wonderingwhat it might be. It was a sign. A big fat strict sign. It said:

“Absolutely no sleds! Sleds are strictly prohibited!”

Ilooked over at Jean who was busy dangling her legs of the edge, andgazing of into the forest. I nudged Jean with my shoulder hoping that Iwould not have to speak.

I couldn’t poke Jean because the chairlift was a tight fit.

“She turned her head toward me, and started speaking.

“Yeah?Sol just look at this amazing landscape! Isn’t this fun?!I can’t waitto go sledding! Anyway what is it you wanted to say?”

Istarted feeling terrible. It was a beautiful sunny day and a coldbreeze would nip your cheeks. It was Jeans absolute favourite weather.I didn’t want to ruin Jean’s day.

However I didn’t want to get in trouble. But Jeans happiness was more important to me.

So I simply shrugged and said:

“Oh I forget.”

She eyed me carefully and then said,

“Oh, ok.”

Wesoon approached the other booth at the end. We jumped of the chairliftwith ease. The women in the booth didn’t seem to notice that we hadsleds instead of skis. Jean ran to a map. She put her finger on a redline. The red line meant that was where the chairlift was. Fine printit said: Chairlift #3.

Jean then dragged her finger along the red line and then onto a black line. I froze.

That black line was called the Black Diamond. I was terrified of the Black Diamond.

It was extremely long and had a couple of drops.

“Uh....Jean....maybe....we...should......go..on.....the......blue line...?”

“Nah that would be boring. Besides the Black Diamond is the best.”

“Oh. Okay.” I wished I could argue but I had a feeling that if I did I would get in trouble.

I was sooo over whelmed because I really really didn’t want to get in trouble with Jean or the ski hill monitors.

“Ok!” I herd Jean shout.

“We better get goin’ if we want to get first dibs down the hill.”

“Uh right I said and we trudged towards the Black Diamond ski run.”

                    *                      *                  *                    *

Jean sat on her sled the tip of it hanging of the edge. Mine was still propped up in the snow.

“Maybe we should just go get hot chocolate.” I tried to talk Jean out of it.

“Are you kidding?! This is the adventure of a lifetime!” Jean was rearing to go. I wasn’t.

“Are you going to get on your sled or not?” Jean asked with a frown.

I set my sled beside hers. I hoped on and stuck my legs in front to stop myself from slipping.

“READY, SET, GO!” Jean screamed with excitement.

Andwith that we took of. Bits of snow got in my face. Snow piled up in myboots and stun my legs. We flew off what seemed to be an edge. Welanded with a loud thud.

“HA HA! YEAH!” Jean was having the time of her life.

“Oh, no!” That was what I was thinking throughout the run.

I glance forward to see what possibly would happen next. A peaceful skier was skiing down the hill.

I guess the skier in front of us heard us because he casually turned his head but to see two girls speeding down the hill.

“TURN! TURN!” Jean screamed with terror.

But the sled couldn’t steer so I was headed right for the man.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-hoof!”

Theskier fell on me and I could feel my ribs pressed against the sled. Iscreamed in great pain. Jean looked my way and stared in horror. Theskier was dead quiet probably because he was in shock.

My chin was half way off the sled and bits of snow stung my chin.

With blurry eyes I could faintly see a neon red coat going left to right, right to left.

I shut my eyes so much it felt like someone was pushing on them.

I was ready for the pain. But this time I didn’t feel any extra weight put on me.

My eyes though shot open when I herd a blood curdling scream and then dead silence.

Imanaged to turn my head around while still going down hill. Jean waspassed out while a lethargic woman sat on her back backwards.

Suddenly I herd a SNAP!

“Oh, No!” Cried the man on top of me. His only ski left had snapped right in half from from being sat on.  

Iwas extremely worried for Jean. She was in big danger! I wondered whatI could possibly do.  When I looked again Jean was gone. Not just Jeanher sled, and the women! I started to panic.  I couldn’t think straightand I screamed at the man. Startled he too panicked and fell off thesled. I then sat up on my sled and threw my feet outside of my sled. Icame to a sudden stop.

Igrabbed my sled and stood up. My left leg swollen and my eye black withblurry vision I trudged up the hill. I looked around and then before myvery eyes a red blur passed.

It was the woman who had fell on top Jean. That meant that Jean was near by.

I found her laying in the woods part under a pine. A deep gash was set on her right cheek.

“Jean!”I ran to her shook her hoping she would be unconscious and not in acoma. The way she had landed it looked like she could have possibly hither head on the pine tree.

Ipicked her up and looked at the spot once more. Her plastic sled hadbroke in half. That’s why she had that gash! I had wedged the sled inthe snow so it wouldn’t slide away. I sat on the sled first and thenheaved unconscious Jean in front of me. I put my feet in front of thesled so we wouldn’t go flying down the hill.

I kept thinking how stupid it was of me not to tell Jean sleds were forbidden.

At a safe speed we slid down the hill.

                                        *                   *               *              *

Jean woke woke up, confused, groggily asking “where am I?”

“You’reat the bottom of the hill and we’re at the cafe’. I brought her to thebathroom and washed her hands with warm water so they wouldn’t freeze.Then I washed her gash.

“Are we done sledding?” Jean asked this question looking really disappointed.

I hugged her with relief.

“Oh, Jean! Your OK!” I was sooo happy.

“What are you talking about?” Jean raised her brow.

“You passed out.” I tried to explain to Jean but she didn’t seem to understand.

‘What do you mean? I feel fine!” Jean argued with me for about five minutes.

Finely I convinced Jean what had happened.

We bought some hot chocolate and two bagels with cream cheese.

I didn’t know exactly what had happened to Jean. I didn’t know if she was just unconscious or what.

“What if she died? What would I have done?” I thought about this over and over again.

Jean bit into her bagel, I however didn’t even touch mine. I stared down at it. The cream

cheesewas smoothly spread onto the crispy bagel. I raised my head, and myhead happened to be pointing toward a clock. I casually looked at thetime. My eyes grew with   worry. The clock read, 5:00pm.

“Uh, oh.” I accidentally blurted out.

“What now?” Jean put down her hot chocolate.

“We got to go.” I replied with panic.

“Why?” Jean was starting to get pushy.

“It’s late and your dad and my uncle are going to freak if we don’t leave now.”  I was tired of explaining everything.

“Lets go now.” Jean started putting on her coat.

We got up from our chairs and started to the door.

We passed a couple of tables until I noticed a strange man.

He had a long filthy beard. He had a mangled Australian hat.

The man was thin and bony.

His eyes were piercing. His eyes were practically black which made them so intense.

He had a large mug of scolding black coffee sitting right in front of him.

He slowly turned his head toward us.

Jeanstopped in her tracks to once more look at a map. Once more she draggedher fingers to where we were then to were we should be heading to thelodge. I looked around the cafe’ getting a tad impatient.

The grubby man behind us was staring menacingly.

He bobbed his head up and asked,

“You the ones who own that sled?” He gestured towards the window. You could see our sled leaned up against a pine tree outside.

“Uh...” I didn’t know what to say. I did not  want to get into anymore trouble.

“Uh.....sure yeah, I guess.” I stumbled over my words. I turned towards jean hoping she would help me out with conversation.

Unfortunately she was still distracted.

“Hmmm.” The man scratched under his thick beard.

He leaned forward and said,

“Aren’t sleds forbidden young lady?” I was surprised he hadn’t yet touched his coffee.

“Um I don’t know.” I lied. I had to lie! What else would I have said?!

“Well you haven't seen the signs?” The mans brow lifted curiously.

“Um, no” I was starting to get nervous.

Onceagain I looked behind me to see if Jean was done with her map. Sheobviously wasn’t finished. Finally the man took a sip of his coffee. Heset it back down and looked at me once more.

“Huh! Never seen any of those signs! Huh!” He leaned back in his chair.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

“Haven’t I seen you and your friend earlier?” He then took one last sip of his coffee and left the room.

“Well we're off!” Jean shouted with delight.

                                                *              *              *            *

Wesoon reached the lodge. The time was exactly half past six.  Mr. Brodiewas chatting with a man. The man passed Mr. Brodie a cheque and thenthey shook hands. Mr. Brodie turned to us and gave us a warm smile.

“Well girls how was your ski day?” He asked cheerfully.

We looked at each other and paused for a moment. When we found the right words we replied.

“It was....something dad.” Jean said.

“Ha! Ha! Well that’s good!” Mr. Brodie’s belly jiggled with laughter.

We started towards the truck when a tall man stood in front of us.

“Are you the two girls who were sledding down the Black Diamond ski run?”

The man asked. He leaned down and looked directly into Jeans eyes.

“Excuse me but what are you talking about? These girls  were skiing all day!”

Mr. Brodie argued.

“Iam the manager of this ski resort, and I was told by a ski monitor thatthese girls were sledding down the Black Diamond run!” The manexplained. He then crossed his arms and looked angrily at us while Mr.Brodie was busy figuring out what was going on.

“Yourtelling me that these girls were sledding instead of skiing?!” Mr.Brodie cried out. His arms were in the air. And after what the managersaid next his arms were on his head. I was frightened and worried, andthe look that was on Jean’s face I could tell she felt the same way.

“YesI got a call from a ski monitor and he said he was skiing along whenall of a sudden he found himself on top of a young girl on a sled! Helost a ski and the other one snapped from the pressure of the sled.”After that it was a whole bunch of colorful words.

Thenthe manager looked at us and told us we were banned and how we couldn’tcome back until we were adults. To be precise, we were banned until wewere adults.

Not only were we banned but me and Jean couldn’t see each other for a month.

Wecouldn’t make any contact at all. And at school the monitors made surewe stayed away from each other. Not that our parents were mad at eachother but that Mr. Brodie and Roy agreed that we were too much troublewhen we were together.

And finally I worked with Roy to pay off for the sled and the monitor’s skis.

All in all it was a stupid and disappointing month.

BUT  HEY A MONTH ENDS AND SO DOES THIS STORY.

                           THE END.