Author's note: I don't know how high up I will be after this chapter, but at 59k words it puts me at the third longest rugrats fan fiction on here! Yay! Thanks for all the support and continue to review and feel free to message me.

Chapter 3: Damn these Slopes

[K]

"I'm going to fall," Phil sighed. Kimi turned to see him looking up, worried, at the slope ahead of them. It was one of those fake ones with a rope like floor.

"Don't worry, Phil," she comforted, laying a hand on his shoulder and directing him to the left. "There's a baby one over there."

Phil looked. "Still too high," he shook his head. "If I fell head first, it could still kill me!"

"How long have you been afraid of heights?" Chuckie asked.

"No idea," Phil replied. "I didn't know I was until just now!"

"Hey, Tommy," Dil said, nudging his brother. Kimi and Phil turned, expecting Dil to say something either stupid or random. "Do you think people can be born without eyelids?" Yeah, they were right.

Kimi laughed. "Why?" she asked. "Seriously, Dil, why do you ask these things?"

"Well," he scratched his head. "I was watching Family guy last night…"

"As all great stories begin," Phil interrupted.

"Anyway," Dil continued. "It was the episode with the toads and stuff." They nodded. "When Peter dresses up as Lando, he says 'your kids will be born without eyelids'. It got me thinking, how would you sleep?"

"I have no idea," Tommy said.

"Seriously," Phil said anxiously, getting away from the pointless conversation. "How long is the advisor going to be? I'm anxious enough already."

"You weren't this bad before your filling," Kimi reminded him. Kimi had come with Phil when he had to get a filling a month ago and he was fine; Kimi had been in tears when she had to have a needle in her gum.

"Yeah, but you know where you stand with a filling," Phil explained. "I'm not going to die in a filling." Phil sat down on the floor. "I doubt it, Dil," Phil answered the earlier question. "Look it up, you have a phone."

"Oh yeah," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"That should keep him entertained for a while," Chuckie remarked.

Kimi couldn't describe how excited she was for these next couple of weeks. Christmas was awesome; she had always loved Christmas. Now, though, she was going to spend it in the snow. Snow was her favourite weather, by far. Nothing could beat a hot chocolate by a fire at Christmas; it was so romantic. She had only been in the mountains, properly, once. It hadn't been anything great, she just felt jealous constantly over Tommy (something that she had kept to herself her whole life). She had always wanted to learn how to ski properly, as well.

"I can't really be that excited," Chuckie moaned.

"Is this going to be about the chess, again," Kimi complained.

"Yeah," Chuckie told her. "It's Tuesday the sixth, Kimi, and my tournament is on the 19th. Do the math; thirteen days until I embarrass myself!"

"You're playing chess, dude," Dil interjected, looking up from his phone. "It's embarrassing as it is."

"Thanks for that," Chuckie said.

"Don't mention it."

"Just ease up, Chuck," Tommy told him. "There's no worry, you'll be fine. You can just think, even if you do badly there is a trip afterward."

"What?" he argued. "A trip up to mountains, you know how terrified I am of…"

"Everything," Kimi finished for him.

There was a pause for a moment as the group simultaneously imagined the various events where Chuckie had proved his cowardice. "Err," Tommy said. "Phil, where's your sister?"

"Oh, err," Phil frowned. "You know what, I'm not sure. She said she would be here at five and it's ten past. The lessons don't start until half past so no need to worry." He paused. "Why do you ask?"

Kimi had something that all girls her age did: female intuition or the act of figuring out who everyone liked. Somehow, Phil had been born with this too and Kimi knew the dreaded pause when Phil had figured something out. "No reason," Tommy shrugged. "I just expected everyone to be here."

"Fair enough," Phil said, letting that be the end of it.

Yeah, it was obvious that Tommy had the 'hots' for Lil. Actually, for a while, Kimi had thought that Lil had felt the same about Tommy for a while. Something must have happened, because things seemed really tense last night.

[C]

The next thirty minutes passed slowly for Chuckie until a slim, happy-go-lucky personality appeared out of the changing room/entrance building: their teacher. "Hey guys," he said. Chuckie had hit the nail right on the head with this one. "Is this," he checked a piece of paper in his hand, "the Finster party, or whatever?"

"Yes, it is," Chuckie said.

"Right, ok," he said. "I'm Jack, Jack Bradley, and, as you know, I'm going to be your skiing teacher before you go on the lovely trip to Aspen for Christmas. You're lucky devils."

"Hot," Chuckie heard Kimi whisper behind him.

"Totally," Phil replied.

Jack was about twenty four, had brown hair with blonde highlights and was wearing the uniform of the organisation. A stereotype of a skier, as Chuckie thought. He had short stubble on his face but it was a look rather than like Edward (a lack of care).

"So, sorry to remind y'all of school, but I have to take a role call," he said. "Right, Chuckie Finster…" the list went on, each with a small "here" or "hi" from everyone, until (apparently, oddly, the list wasn't in alphabetical order), he said. "Lil Deville." No one responded so he looked up. "I thought we looked short, any idea where, I assume, your sister is, Phil?"

Phil opened his mouth to reply, when a flustered looking Lil burst through the door that Jack had just come through. "You're really making a habit of this, Lil," Phil nodded.

"Shut up, Phillip," Lil replied. "The traffic was terrible; Brad and I were stuck for ages!"

"Oh, this is Lil," Jack smiled. "Come over here, then."

"Hi," she smiled at him.

After Lil had joined them, and after Chuckie noticed an exchange of looks between Tommy and Lil, Jack continued. "Anyway," he said. "Your parents have told me that you're going to Aspen for Christmas, which is awesome, and they want you prepared and to be epic skiers by the time you get there."

"You'll get chills, all through your body," Dil sang, gently.

"Shut up, Dil," Tommy nudged him.

"I watched that last night, as well," Jack smiled. "So, yeah, you have four lessons with me. Each of them is two hours long. It sounds like a small time, but trust me, with me as your teacher you'll be great in no time." He clapped his hands together. "But, before we get up on that little slope," he pointed to the one Phil had been complaining about earlier, "you have to know what you're doing, so let's just cover the basics."

Half an hour went by quickly and Chuckie couldn't help but enjoy it; Jack was a surprisingly entertaining teacher. They hadn't got up on the slope yet, but Jack had shown them the straight-inward pointing skis to change speed; Chuckie wasn't entirely sure how to explain it. "So, that's the basics of it," Jack said, "But you won't know how good you are until you try it."

Jack grabbed his skis. "Up we go," he said, gesturing to the steps.

"It feels like death row," Phil muttered.

"Not a fan of heights?" Jack asked.

"Not so of a problem with heights," Phil said, frowning. "I just really hate falling."

"Ouch," Jack replied. "Well, you have a problem. You're going to be doing it a lot for the next couple of weeks."

They trudged up together.

[L]

Well, this is awful! Lil thought as she tailed behind the gang as they headed, one by one, down the slope. Tommy Pickles, why are you so damn cute?

"Well, here goes nothing," Tommy said, and launched himself down.

"You're going to fast!" Jack shouted. "Try and slow down!" Tommy curled his skis in and slowly came to a stop at the bottom. "You're a natural, nice one."

Good at skiing as well. They hadn't spoken since Tommy lashed out at her. That wasn't fair, of course, all he had done was tell her the truth. She knew that, she knew that he was one hundred and fifty percent right in everything that he had said. She was just too proud, or too stubborn, to admit that.

"Right," he brother said, tightening his bandana tightly.

"You really need a haircut, Phillip," Kimi commented. Phil's hair was quite long, in a centre parting like it always had been. He had taken to wearing a bandana with the words "HELLS YEAH" written on it.

"So do you," Phil quipped, preparing himself to go down the slope. "You should try the bald look; I think it would suit you!"

"Come on then," Kimi tapped Phil on the back, pushing him down the slope.

"Oh my God!" Phil bellowed as he went down on the skis. He tried to slow down, but couldn't: he wasn't skilled enough.

Tommy, who was walking around the bottom listening to music, didn't notice that Phil was hurtling toward him. "Tommy!" Phil shouted. "Get out of the way!"

"Huh?" Tommy said, taking his earphone out.

Tommy face as he saw Phil coming toward him was comical, but his dive was perfect to get out of the way as Phil eventually managed to stop himself.

Phil turned around and shook his head rapidly. "Well," he said, brushing his shirt off. "I'm never going to get the hang of this."