Confidence glistened in Dean's eyes as he pulled himself out of the start gate. Everyone was already in front of him. He could see Nate in first, Marisol in second, Brodi in third, Moby in fourth, Seeiah in fifth. He curved to the right and saw all the pros doing big flips and spins. The last person to hit the jump, he did a misty 720 mute. He didn't expect to spin so fast and prepared for his landing. Right as he went of the mist he saw moby tumbling onto the curve. Dean made a perfect landing on the slope with no pain. He cut the right curve as he passed the fallen Moby. He rode the ice pipe high and speeded down, which caused him to catch up with Seeiah. On the second ice curve he rode high again, passing Seeiah. He rode the last ice curve low. Dean prewinded by bending back. Over the huge jump he did a double frontflip slob. Nate had a shaky landing and slowed down a bit so that Marisol and him were tied. Dean took the middle path beteween the jumps. Brodi landed just to the left of Dean and got hid in the head with Brodi's ring. Dean checked it, it wasn't bleeding. "Stay zen buddy!" dean yelled.

"Sorry newb!" Brodi answered cheerfully as he he sped up. Dean hit the next big jump with alot of distance. He caught right up with Brodi. as they took the right curve, they were about two feet apart. Dean saw Brodi wind up for a punch. Dean covered his head. But, Brodi just gave him a pat on the back. They shared a laugh.

About a quater mile through everyone was still in the same position, and Brodi and Dean were still neck and neck. Brodi and Dean were approching the cross jumps and Dean took the left path alone. As he went down the hill, he saw oppurtunity. He would take the edge of the curve as a jump and land in the powdery middle section. He took it as planned but landed a little hard. As the powder ended he saw all the other competitors flying over him. He looked ahead again and saw the fans in the grandstand cheering for him. He thought that he would give them a little style. He threw it up right toward the grandstand and it seemed that he would go right under it. He tweaked a spaghetti as the crowd cheered louder. Dean grinned.

When he landed he couldn't feel his arm. He looked at it. He just hit his left arm off the grandstand. He had the feeling back but, it hurt. A medical helicopter floated above him as he skiied across the ice before a jump. Dean waved them off with his right arm. After the two big jumps, he was heading right toward a blue glass shortcut sign. He had never broke through glass before so he covered his face. The front of his board broke it so he had nothing to worry about. Dean hit the jump low so he wouldn't hurt himself on the rocks. As he emerged he saw himself in second place. He was going pretty fast and didnt want to ruin it with that sharp right turn. He rolled up the hill toward a billboard. The only way to keep his momentum without going completely off track was to go through the space inbetween the poles holding up the billboard. He aimed himself straight toward the space. But, suddenly he hit the left pole and tumbled down the steep hill. He saw everybody pass him. He could also see thier lips moving but his ears were ringing so loud that he couldn't hear what they were saying. He got back up still aching but scooted his momentum up. Then, he looked at the curve ahead. He had to decide to lose, or hurt. He launched off the curve and found himself hanging in the air. Dean landed on the hillside so he ended up not hurting himself. He looked behind him, he was in first again.

Dean coasted down the ice jump. Perfect landing. Next jump, perfect. He was approaching the last two curves. As he went down the first, Nate caught right up with him. Second curve, Nate and Dean were two feet apart. Going up the final jump, Nate hit him in the nose hard. Dean tripped over the jump and landed face up on the snow so he could see Nate and Brodi flying high. Dean got up as quickly as he could with the energy that he had. He beat Seeiah by an inch for third. Dean fell down in exaust. Marisol scooted in and threw a piece of paper on Dean's face. He didn't bother to read it and shoved it in his pocket. Moby slided in and said, "Thats pretty good for a first time, mate. Name's Moby but you 'prolly knew that, right? Need a hand?" He pulled Dean up by his left arm. Dean clenched his teeth and whined. "Oy, what happened?" said Moby.

"Ah, I just hit it against the grandstand."

"I see. Make sure you get some heat on that thing. I'll catch you for the slopestyle tomorrow. Stay fresh." Moby limped off holding his board. An official pulled Dean on to the winner's circle.

Dean entered his hotel room and turned on his lights. The hotel was really nice but Dean was too tired to get exited. He layed down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"... Brodi coming in second place like expected. What wasn't expected is newcomer Dean Slater coming in third. But, it was not surprising as he knew what shortcuts to take and knew how to recover from pretty bad hits, unlike some people we know." Then, the video of Moby falling from the first jump came on and they repeated it many times. Dean noticed Marisol on the video and remembered the piece of paper. He pulled it out of his pocket and read it. It said: Marisol 895-413-2724.

"Hey!" Dean said exitedly. He turned off the TV and picked up the phone from the side table and dialed the number.

"Uh... Hello, this is Marisol's phone," said someone on the other line.

"Marisol?" Dean said confused.

"No this is Nate. Nate Logan. Marisol's sleeping. Who is this?"

"This is Dean Slater. It's nice to talk to you."

"Why do you have Marisol's cell number?"

"Uhh... I think it's a wrong number. Sorry."

"Okay, good luck tomorrow... I guess." Nate hung up.

Dean hung up the phone and said to himself, "God, my life is fucked up." Dean fell asleep on the couch.

The phone rang, waking Dean up. "Hello?" Dean answered.

"Mr. Slater, you ordered a wake up call for 9 PM?"

"No, I don't think I did."

"Oh, my apologies."

Dean hung up. He noticed his arm hurting. Then, he remembered that Moby told him to use heat. He got his swimming trunks on and headed for the hot tub.

Dean got to the courtyard. He saw Marisol laying in the hot tub. Dean said, "Hey that number you gave me today, it was your cell phone wasn't it?"

Marisol answered, "Yeah, I lost my phone, I'm so sorry."

"Oh, so you don't have anything going on with Nate?"

Marisol ignored him and said, "Would you like some wine?"

"Uh... I don't drink."

"Well, now you do." Marisol shoved some wine down his throaght. Dean puckered.

"So, you still didn't answer, do you have anything going with Nate?"

"Nate who?" she said cutely.

"Nate Log..."

suddenly a voice screamed, "Cannonball!"

Psymon splashed into the hot tub. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Psymon lauged out.

Marisol answered, "No, we were just going to go to bed. Right, Dean?"

"Yeah, heh, sure," Dean said. Marisol grabbed Dean's hand and they climbed out.

Suddenly, Zoe yelled from a coutyard balcony, "Hey Psymon! Do you know where Marisol is?"

Psymon answered, "Yeah she's right down here!"

Zoe then said, "Oh. Marisol, Nate just called me and said he needs you to pick him up."

Marisol rolled her eyes and said, "You're kidding. Oh well, I'll check you after the competition tomorrow. Bye, hun!"