Golden Girl by Mari Mancusi

was pretty much the anti–Mountain Academy guy. Which was admittedly part of the appeal.
    â€œSo what do you do?” I asked curiously. “I mean, aren’t you a little young to have a job?”
    He grinned and waved a hand. “A simple technicality,” he declared. Then he shrugged. “Actually I just help out my uncle at his gas station,” he explained. “Pumping gas, changing oil, patching tires—whatever he needs. It’s not the most glamorous of jobs, but he pays me under the table. Gives me cash to enter snowboarding competitions from time to time.”
    â€œThat’s cool,” I said. “It must be nice to earn your own money.” I’d asked my father last year if I could help him out at the snowboard repair hut, but he’d turned me down flat. Snowboarding was my job, he reminded me, and a full-time one, at that. If I ever needed cash, he’d added, I should just ask him. Which sounded like a sweet deal, until you realized all the strings attached to other people’s money.
    â€œWhat about you?” Logan asked. “How long have you gone to Mountain Academy?”
    â€œSince third grade,” I admitted, not really wanting to talk about it.
    â€œYou must be good then.”
    â€œI’m okay I guess.”
    He stared at me hard, as if trying to place me, and I squirmed under his gaze. The last thing I wanted—I suddenly realized—was for him to recognize me. To realize I was the girl from that terrible accident last year. After all, his mother worked at the school. Of course she would have heard about it.
    So when Roland struck up a new song—some grunge tune from the nineties that my mom used to drive my dad crazy with—I leaped from my seat and started singing along with Scarlet, channeling all those nights Mom and I had jammed to her karaoke machine last summer. I didn’t normally like singing in front of people—especially strangers—but desperate times and all that.
    â€œYeah!” Scarlet cried in delight at my unexpected move. “Sing it, sister!”
    Soon Lulu joined in, and together we belted out the chorus at the top of our lungs, Logan watching us with obvious amusement from his spot on the log. I knew I was probably blushing hard-core but forced myself to continue singing until the very last verse. Hopefully by then he’d give up on trying to place me.
    When the song ended, Scarlet and Lulu shrieked in unison, grabbing me and hugging me with unbridled enthusiasm. Laughing, I hugged them back, my heart still racing in my chest as adrenaline coursed through me.
    â€œThat was so awesome,” Lulu declared. “Where did you learn to sing like that?”
    â€œRight?” Scarlet agreed, swiping a lock of red hair from her face. “Seriously, Lex, are you, like, in a band or something?”
    â€œâ€Šâ€™Cause if not, you totally should be!” added Lulu, her eyes shining admiringly.
    I chuckled. “Not exactly,” I said, trying to imagine fitting band practice into my already crazy schedule. Sadly, the whole Olympic training thing left little room for extracurriculars.
    â€œDo you live here?” Lulu asked. “Do you go to Littleton Junior High? I’ve never seen you before.”
    â€œLexi goes to Mountain Academy,” Logan informed the girls before I could reply. And while he made it sound like a good thing, an important thing even, I caught the girls exchanging knowing looks.
    â€œOh. That’s cool,” Lulu replied, with a little too much forced enthusiasm.
    â€œYeah, you must be super good,” added Scarlet encouragingly.
    Now I knew I was blushing. It was funny. Before this moment, I’d always felt so proud, telling people where I went to school. As if it made me special somehow. But here it was actually kind of embarrassing.
    â€œI had a friend who once dated a guy who went there. He was, like, always practicing. I’m