Read Online One Foot Onto the Ice by Kiki Archer - Free Book Online Page A

“Are
we ready?” she said, lifting the safety bar up over their heads.
    “I hate these last couple of seconds,” said Champagne. “It’s still
quite a drop.”
    Jenna moved both of her ski poles into her left hand and placed
her right hand on her seat under her bottom. “It’s fine. Wait until you feel
the snow under your skis and just push forwards. The chair will nudge you off
if you stay on too long.”
    “Come on, girls,” said Susan. “The first chairlift of the trip. We
can do it.”
    “Priggy!” shouted Champagne as her skis hit the snow and slid on
top of her friend’s.
    “Champs! You’re on my ski!” Priggy tried to pull hers back out and
mistimed her rise from the seat, causing it to knock her to the left as it
swung around the corner.
    “Shittttttt!” shouted Champagne, feeling the full force of her
friend’s body.
    “Crappppp!” shouted Priggy, failing to keep her balance and
tumbling straight into the snow.
    Susan and Jenna had pushed off quickly and were now sliding to an
elegant stop a safe distance away from the chairlift’s drop-off point. “Looks
like we have our first fallers!” shouted Jenna as she watched the two girls on
their knees scrabbling around in the snow for their poles. “You’ve got about
two seconds before the next chair’s here. You don’t want to get sat on like
Professor Ramsbottom. Where was he stabbed again, Priggy?”
    “The nuts!” shouted Priggy, grabbing her pole and lifting herself
back up. She quickly shuffled forwards to join them. “That was Champagne’s
fault.”
    Champagne hobbled forwards with one boot out of it binding. “Was
not! You put your ski under mine.”
    Jenna laughed. “The tally’s begun. Don’t worry. We’ll all be
falling over at some point this week.”
    Susan looked sceptical. “I’m not so sure about that. You look
pretty good to me, Jenna.”
    “And you look pretty good to me too , ” said Jenna, smiling
in return.
     
    ****
     
    Marcus was slowly plodding around the ski garden on one ski. “Is
this totally necessary?” he asked.
    Lisa was leading the group of seven beginners, stepping forwards
with her right leg and sliding forwards with her left ski. “Yes.”
    “We’re twenty minutes in and we haven’t even got both skis on.”
    Lisa smiled. “We’re developing our confidence. Trust me. I know
what I’m doing. Who’s having fun, girls?” she shouted.
    The group of youngsters all cheered, delighted to be almost
skiing around the brightly coloured ski garden that was filled with
exciting obstacles and plastic animals they all had to wave to as they passed
by. No one had even fallen over yet.
    Marcus muttered. “Why isn’t someone of your expertise up on the
slopes speeding down the black runs?”
    Lisa stood still, stopping the train of movement, and Daisy Button
bumped, once again, into the back of Professor Ramsbottom’s new, slightly
better fitting, ski pants.
    “Daisy! Please be careful!” snapped Marcus. “That’s the third time
you’ve crashed into me.”
    Daisy Button adjusted her broken glasses. “Sorry.” She looked up
at him. “But you keep stopping.”
    “Yes, because our ski guide here thinks we need to take a break
every two seconds. Really, I should be up with the intermediates, if not the
advanced.”
    Daisy shuffled backwards and spoke quietly. “I’ve hardly been
crashing into you. You crashed into me earlier. That was a crash. What I did
just then, was hardly even a nudge.”
    “What are you wittering on about?”
    Daisy pushed her glasses higher up her nose and wondered why she
was the only girl Professor Ramsbottom didn’t seem to like. “Can I borrow your
phone please, Professor?”
    Lisa interrupted the chatter. “Professor Ramsbottom, would you
like to fetch your other ski? I need someone to do a demonstration and you’ve
been very vocal about your ability so I may as well utilise your eagerness.”
    Marcus lifted his chest and nodded. “With pleasure,