Free Golden Girl by Mari Mancusi Page A

giggled. “Don’t let me stop you.” I nodded toward the pipe. “She’s all yours.”
    â€œActually . . . ,” Logan said, his voice hesitant again. “I was on my way to a party tonight.” He paused, then added, “You don’t want to . . . come with me . . . do you? Unless you need to practice . . .”
    â€œOh, no, no,” I said quickly. Probably too quickly. “I’m, um, done here. Definitely done.” As if I’d even started.
    â€œWell then do you want to go?”
    My pulse kicked up a notch. Did I want to go to a party? The idea was tempting to say the least. To get away from Mountain Academy and spend time with strangers who had no idea who I was—or what had happened.
    Still, it was one thing to sneak out here and take a few runs on the pipe after hours. Quite another to leave campus with a strange boy to attend a non-school-sanctioned party. If I got caught, I’d be in huge trouble. With the school itself and, even worse, my dad.
    â€œYou don’t have to,” Logan added, as if sensing my hesitation. “It’s really cool either way. But maybe,” he added with a twinkle in his eye, “it might just cheer you up.”
    I nodded slowly. “Well, in that case,” I replied, taking his hand and allowing him to pull me to my feet. “How can I refuse?”

CHAPTER TEN
    I followed Logan through the dark woods, lugging my board behind me as the snow crunched under my feet. Where was this party anyway? I’d assumed it’d be back down at the base of the mountain—maybe even in town. But we seemed to be walking straight up the mountain instead. Was the party in the woods somewhere, just off the trail? In an abandoned snowmaking shack? Weren’t they worried about ski patrol busting them? It was definitely against the rules for anyone but mountain personnel to be on the slopes after hours.
    â€œDo you have parties up here often?” I asked curiously.
    â€œSure,” he said. “Pretty much every weekend.”
    â€œAren’t you afraid of getting caught by snowmakers?”
    â€œNah. Half the people we hang with are snowmakers,” Logan replied, turning to shoot me a grin. “We’ve even got some ski patrol friends. Not to mention lift operators, janitors, waiters. Half of Green Mountain’s staff either comes to these things or has younger brothers and sisters who do.” He shrugged. “Sometimes we can even get one or two of the guys on duty to park their snowcats at the top of the park so we can get some light.”
    â€œWow,” I said, surprised and actually pretty impressed. After all, I’d lived half my life at Mountain Academy, and I had no idea that this secret after-hours staff-kid club even existed. And yet evidently we’d shared the same mountain, the same parks, the same trails for years. Me in the daylight, them after dark. It was kind of cool to think about.
    â€œOf course, it’s still technically illegal,” Logan added. “If the guys got caught, they’d lose their jobs. But the bosses are snug and warm in their beds and there’s no one out to bust us.”
    I nodded thoughtfully. It seemed like the perfect setup.
    â€œHere we are!” Logan announced as we emerged from the woods. My eyes widened in surprise as I realized we were near the top of the Apocalypse itself. The very terrain park where I’d had my big fall earlier today. My stomach knotted a little at the thought of it, but then I reminded myself that no one here would have any clue as to my little misadventure. Or would even care if they did.
    The partygoers had stuck small tiki torches along the edges of the park, casting long shadows across the trail. But the dim lighting didn’t seem to deter the half dozen or so snowboarders and skiers, hitting the features one by one, or the spectators who cheered them on from