~Peter and Michelle - Book II~

Chapter 23

"Hurry up losers!" Michelle yelled as she sped down the slope, passing the pair of struggling Peter and Ned. "That's unfair!" Ned called down to her. "SO IS LIFE!" She screamed back, the distance between the three becoming larger and larger. Michelle made it down to the bottom of the intermediate slope in record time, and had to wait almost five minutes for the two boys to catch up with her. "You didn't tell us you were that good at skiing!" Peter said, staring at her with a tone of amazement lining his voice. She smiled, flattered by the compliment, "Mum, Jake and I used to go skiing every winter. I've always had a natural talent for it. I have to say, being out here in the fresh air is so much better than being cooped up in my room."

"How's your back holding up?" Ned asked. Michelle shrugged, "It's pretty good. It doesn't really hurt at all anymore. It seems to have healed pretty quickly. The bruise was really small this morning, too." They both nodded, and they decided to go back up and try the intermediate slope again. "Maybe you could watch over us and give us some tips this time?" Peter asked in hopeful boyishness way. Michelle chuckled, "Yeah, sure." He came closer to her and reached his hand out, taking hers in his. Even though they were wearing thick gloves, Michelle revelled in the feeling.

They made their way back over to the ski-lift, and they had to go up in two separate ski-lifts. "You guys go ahead of me. It'll give you a head start to get ready and stuff." They both nodded before hopping into the ski-lift that was moving beside them. Michelle hopped onto the one behind them with a freshman from their group. Michelle didn't say anything to her, but the silence between them wasn't awkward, as it gave both of them the opportunity to stare out at the beautiful landscape.

When they got off the ski-lift Michelle could see Ned and Peter running over to the top of the intermediate slope, and she couldn't help but let out a laugh. Wow, the way they are running with their skis on has got to be the funniest thing I've seen so far. Michelle took her time walking over; both to give the two more time to get ready but also because her neck was slightly painful when she ran. By the time she made it over they had just taken off down the slope. Michelle got herself ready, watching them absentmindedly as they skied slowly down the slope. They're definitely better than they were on the first day, judging from the GoPro footage. At least they're not falling down as much.

Michelle took off, skiing down swiftly, loving the feel of the brisk air kissing her cheeks, and easily caught up with them, slowing down so that she could help them out. She looked at how both of them were postured, before grabbing their attention. "You guys need to stop leaning back, it'll throw you off balance. You need to lean forward slightly so that your shins push on the front of your boots, and press evenly into the snow." Both of them nodded, and started to correct themselves, but somehow they ended up changing the way they were angled, ran into each other, causing them both to fall over and start rolling down the slope.

"HAHAHAHHAA OH MY GOD!" Michelle was nearly wetting herself because she was laughing so hard. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "Grab onto the rock!" She called down. Peter reached out and placed his hand on the rock and the other around Ned's ankle, gripping tightly and pulling them both up with ease. Michelle pulled up beside them, still laughing. "You're lucky you've got super grip and reflexes, Peter, otherwise you both would have rolled down the whole slope! Oh my god, that was hilarious." I stand corrected, that was the funniest thing I've seen today.

They both looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Eventually the three got all of the laughs out and prepped themselves to get ready to go again. "Okay, remember to lean forward, otherwise you'd easily be able to fall down. And this time, try to avoid colliding with each other, I don't know whether my bladder can handle seeing something that funny again." They both laughed and nodded, steading themselves and then leaning forward. They both took off slowly, but Michelle could see that they already had more control than they had before they corrected their posture.

The rest of their day skiing consisted of Michelle giving them tips, multiple collisions, each which took a while to recover from the laughter, and by the end they were both pretty good at skiing. "Let's do one more, but on the easy slope, that way we can relax a lot more," Peter suggested. "Okay, most people have left by now, so the slope shouldn't be crowed," Michelle said. When they got back up to the top, Michelle's guess proved to be correct, as they could only see one mother and daughter skiing near the bottom of the slope. "Let's go!" Ned shouted, taking off before the other too, racing down the slope with his newfound skills.

Michelle took off after him, Peter following close behind. They skied down, repeatedly overtaking eachother and hollering like lunatics. "How does my behind look Michelle? Because that's all you'll be seeing!" Ned shouted back at her. Oh it's on. "Bold words from someone who is wearing their pants on backwards!" Michelle called back, Peter laughing behind her. Ned looked back at her, clearly flustered and embarrassed, before trying to look down at his pants. Because he was distracted and not balancing himself properly, this ended with him falling over quite spectacularly. Peter and Michelle raced past him, both giggling.

They were nearly at the bottom, when all of a sudden Michelle heard Peter shout with a sense of urgency, "MJ LOOK OUT!" Michelle looked up just in time to see a rock, flying straight towards her. She gasped, pulling her arms over her head to shield herself, before she felt a tug at her jumper and she flew backwards. Next thing she knew she was being held by Peter as he was stopped on the slope. Peter had used his webshooters to pull her backwards so that the rock wouldn't hit her. The rock landed right where she would have skied into. "Are you okay?" Peter asked, still holding onto her frantically. She nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. You okay?" She felt him nod against her.

What was that? Why was that rock flying through the air. It definitely would have hit me. Peter let go of her waist and skied down carefully to where the rock was. He picked it up gently, inspecting it. His eyes widened, and he gestured for her to come over. She skied down to him, Ned coming up behind her as well. "What was that?" He asked. "I dunno," Peter said, before turning the ice-covered rock over to them, "But it definitely wasn't an accident." They both looked down, and there, clear as day against the ice, was the melted outline of a handprint.

A/N – Hey guys, hope you enjoyed today's chapter.

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