Free Disarranged by Sara Wolf Page B

California, or Florida. Hawaii. Cuba, and Barbados and stuff."
    I sigh and motion to my arm, pale from the winter season. "Do I look like I surf to you?"
    "You don't tan either then, huh." He nods, looking impressed. "Good. It's bad for your skin. Plus there's enough of those orange Hollywood bimbos running around."
    "Felllixxxx!" The shrill shout comes from the top of another ski hill. Felix and I look up - Kiera, in a bright red, fur-lined ski jacket and tight-fitting ski pants is waving. Felix half-smiles and waves back, then turns and shoots me a grimace.
    "Like that one."
    "She's not a real Hollywood bimbo," I correct.
    "Yeah? The whole way here she kept blabbing about her new tit job."
    "They are pretty nice," I laugh.
    "Shit knows she can afford them," He sighs. Curiosity nags in the back of my brain.
    "How do you know her, anyway?" I ask.
    Felix frowns. He waits until Kiera's skied down the hill to look at me and answer properly, in a low, hushed voice.
    "Uh, you know. School."
    "You went to Stanford?"
    He scoffs. "No, not that smart. Or that rich. Or, heck, even that ambitious. You gotta be a mix of a lot of things to go there. And being a mix isn't all that good, sometimes."
    "So, high school or middle school, then?"
    He nods, almost reluctantly. "Back in Arkansas."
    "Arkansas?" I sound incredulous. "Kiera's from there?"
    "Yup. Her dad started his firm out there, got a good case, then moved the family to California for her freshman year. It's kinda dumb to talk about now, but I had a huge crush on her in middle school. She was different, then."
    I arch a brow. "How so?"
    He shrugs. "Poorer, that's for sure. Nicer, I guess. She was still a queen bee, but she cared about people back then, you know? One time she punched a guy for making fun of this girl in a wheelchair. That's when I knew I really liked her."
    He sighs, and digs his boot toe into the snow.
    "People change though."
    I look back at the lodge, and there in the window is someone dark-haired and familiar. He's staring out at the view, or us, I can't tell. Probably not us. Probably not me. I feel my heart sink a little as I nod.
    "Yeah. They do."
    Felix gathers the rest of the beginner class and we arrange to meet on the Alligator slope tomorrow. Everyone looks nervous, but Felix assures us we're ready. The German couple wring their hands anxiously, and I feel my heart beating fast in anticipation. Morgan hasn't to come class in a while, and that thought makes me calm down to the point of almost-sadness. I miss her dearly. She was a little ray of sunshine in the middle of all this craziness.
    After practicing some turns and glides by myself until I feel like I've got a better handle on them, I head inside the lodge, walking down the long hall separating the dress-down area covered in slush and hanging skis and the warm, cozy lobby. It's quiet, and I'm the only one in it. For a second I hear something, a heavy step behind me, but when I look there's only the empty hall. I must've been hallucinating.
    But when I start walking I hear it again. I whirl around quickly to catch whoever it is, but there's no one there. Memories from yesterday by the hot tub resurface, and I pick up my pace and nearly sprint down the hall. I push through the lobby doors, and almost run into Felix.
    "Whoa there, you okay?" He asks. I look down to see my hands on his chest, and I pull back like I was burned.
    "Um, y-yeah, I'm fine. It was nothing! Sorry."
    "You got a bit of -" Felix motions to his hair.
    "Bit of what?"
    He reaches out and pulls a pine needle clump from my hair. He drops it to the ground and sighs.
    "Ah, Christ." He wipes his sweater where my hands were. "That guy's gonna kill me for this."
    "Guy?" I cock my head.
    "Tall, dark hair, chiseled everything. Kiera's fiancé or whatever."
    "Lee?"
    "Yeah, that's the name. Totally threatened me the other night. Told me not to touch you. Like I would even do something creepy like that. He seemed pretty intense about it which is