Queen of the Slopes
Prologue
Some people settle for the typical things,
Living all their lives waiting in the wings
It ain't a question of "if", just a matter of time
Before I move to the front of the line
And once you're watching every move that I make
You gotta believe that I got what it takes
~Tevin Campbell, "Stand Out"
***
She was Queen of the Slopes.
A single snowboarder looked down the hill—one of the most challenging and crooked courses on the mountain. Placing her goggles over her eyes as she finished surveying the area, the blue-suited girl flipped sideways on her board and started down the hill.
With an incredible ease she skimmed the surface of the snow, leaving only a small, thin trail in her wake. Gaining speed with every crisp turn, the plummeting drop came ever-closer. It wasn't part of the course; today, she was making her own course. Skipping through all of the closely-knit trees, just to prove she could, the snow boarder readied herself for the drop.
She burst out of the forest area and instantly went over the cliff.
It seemed to her as though the world had paused in thin air; she grabbed the edge of her board and spun one, two, three, four times. A 1440 degree. Righting herself, she instantly slammed into the white-covered earth, and was struck by reality and a spray of powdered snow. Sliding down the rest of the way with smooth ability, the girl was followed by a wave of powdered snow that marked her trail. She went off of a few other small jumps before coming to the bottom of the hill, where her brother was holding a video recorder.
Taking off her ski-goggles to reveal two blue eyes, she asked, "Did you get that, Sokka?"
The boy named Sokka grinned. "Two words: Heck Yea."
Rolling her eyes as she smiled, the girl sat down to unlatch her feet from the board. Turning around, she looked back up at the sheer cliff and grinned again. She had pulled it off. Better—she did it with style.
"Come on Katara, lets go home." Her brother said, and taking off her snowboard, she slung it under her right arm as they walked back to the old blue truck.
She was Queen of the Slopes, and nothing was going to stop her.