Author notes: Welcome back. I'm not going to continue to put a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter when we all know this is fanfiction and that there are certain truths which come with that. One being that I don't own all the good stuff in the story. Ah, yes, another day in the eyes of Elise Riggs. Prepare yourself, all you Elise-haters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise shivered as she stood waiting for the car that was supposed to pick up her and her stuff. Elise was unsure what she and the other contestants would be doing for this recall, other than that it would not be at Aspen Hill, and it involved her and the other finalists getting picked up from the Aspen Hill parking lot to be taken elsewhere. And it was supposed to take all day. Elise looked at her watch. Considering it was only 9:00 in the morning that was quite a lot of day to go.
Elise glanced at the other contestants who stood waiting in the Aspen Hill parking lot. There was one other girl out of the three other contestants, and she looked like a tomboy, wearing her hair cut short and a sports jacket with her baggy snow pants. The other boarders all dressed in baggy pants and jackets. Elise wrinkled up her nose at them. She found the look to be very uninteresting on the mountain, since it was on almost everyone.
As some of the other contestants started looking over at her with looks of indifference, she turned back to waiting for the car. I hope they at least choose some more interesting varieties of people for their league than just this, she thought with a sigh.
She squinted at the distance, where the road ran parallel to the parking lot before turning in. A large black SUV limousine was pulling up. The other boarders began shifting from foot to foot in anticipation, while Elise heard someone behind her give an exasperated sigh and say "Finally!"
It was forty minutes later, as she sat alone by the window of the SUV while the other finalists exchanged such stimulating conversation as "Sick!" and "Oh, now that's what I'm talking about!" that Elise caught the first glimpse of what she guessed was their destination. Peaking over the trees, there was just the tip of a white covered mountain, and a ski lift to get someone to the top. As the rounded the corner, a snaking trail down the mountain could be seen, amidst large stands that currently held very few people in comparison with what it was capable of. But the few blurred and colored dots that Elise could see from this distance was enough. Elise felt her curiosity piqued, and was suddenly anxious to make it up there and find out what was going on.
The SUV pulled into the parking lot, where press trucks were parked. Reading the channel names off the sides, Elise could see they were mostly local channels, but there were a few larger stations. As the SUV pulled up to the brand new cabin theme lodge, Elise felt a small adrenaline rush flowing through her veins.
Before Elise could reach the handle the door was flung open by an adolescent boy who was smiling moronically. "Hello! You all head on inside! They're going to fill in the contestants about what's going on today!" Pulling off one of her shows of bravado that her roommate Monique has always said she should be famous for, Elise smiled attractively to the boy, and headed towards the door of the lodge as if she had been doing this all her life.
Once inside, Elise was ushered by another maniacally grinning boy to a room in the back of the lodge that would clearly be for employees only once the course was fully in business. Other boarders were already sitting in chairs, while in the front of the room sat a plump man in an unzipped heavy overcoat, and a tall man in another of the uniform jackets and sunglasses.
After the other contestants had been seated, the plump man and tall man held a short whispered conversation before the plump man stood up, waiting for the conversations that had been taking place to fade. "Welcome! My name is Mr. Roberts! This is Garibaldi, my new mountain course! Completely revamped, it will be the first stop on the SSX Tricky Venue once fully operational! And luckily, you all get a chance to race on it today, even before the league does!"
Here, the two men switched positions, and the tall man cleared his throat before beginning. He had pale, sandy brown hair, and was wearing a casual button-up shirt. "Thank you for coming out here today. My name is Mr. Harrison. You were invited because our judges saw you had something, a talent worth working for. You ninety-six applicants were chosen out of hundreds. Unfortunately, most of you will not be invited to become part of the league. Only one of you will be asked to participate in the SSX Tricky League, and compete worldwide with contestants from other leagues and countries. However, even if you are not chosen in today's contest, we'll hang onto your entries in case we find use for you later!"
One out of ninety-six? What kind of lousy chances were those? Elise inwardly groaned as she began to abandon any prospects of making it into snowboarding…
"You may have seen the stands when your cars were pulling in. That's all the press. They'll be filming runs down the mountain, possibly doing interviews, and taping anything else they might find of interest. Please be courteous to them- they are our guest here just like you."
"Now that that's taken care of, we can start explaining how things are gonna go down here!" Mr. Harrison rubbed his hands together in boyish delight as the lights dimmed and a large screen behind him was turned on. He stepped out of the way and picked up a remote button on a wire that ran into the wall somewhere behind the table he was sitting behind. "Alright. There will be thirty heats today, not including the final race. Today is all about speed, ladies and gentlemen." He stopped to face the screen and pushed his button. A large roster of the participants lit up on the screen. He pushed the button again, and these names were filed into a chart that held them in groups of six. Harrison turned to face the competitors again.
"All of the boarders here today have just been randomly filed into the first sixteen heats. The top three placers from each heat will move on to the next heat. The finalists from there will be randomly filed again into the next eight heats. The top three placers will be moved on, and so on, you all get the idea."
The button was pushed again and the screen turned off, as the lights returned to their normal glaring intensity. Mr. Harrison turned back to the boarders. A wide smile lit up his face. "Let the games begin!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise sighed, stretching her neck from side to side as she swung her arms, trying to loosen up. The heat before her had just started, which meant that she'd be asked to step up in the next two minutes or so. She wanted to try and get as comfortable and relaxed as possible. She went to try stretching over, trying to touch her toes. Suddenly she heard a sharp wolf whistle and she paused, before slowly straightening up and turning around to see an obnoxious looking group of boarders. On in particular seemed to be checking her out, smiling as if he had just seen a new toy he was about to buy.
"Hey there." The smooth voice made Elise want to gag. Against her will, and eyebrow arched itself, and the guy smiled with reassurance. "My name's Rufe Donahue. But you can call me 'Ruff'. That's the way girls describe me when I'm doing what I do best."
Slightly amused, Elise looked the guy over before responding "And what would that be? Trying to talk yourself up?" She turned away, hoping to end the conversation, but it was not to be. Rufe merely grinned and continued.
"You should have warning signs for that frostbite. So, I told you my name. What can I call you?"
"You can call me uninterested," Elise retorted before she turned away in time to watch the racers in the heat before her take off. It wasn't that Rufe wasn't gorgeous. She could see even through the sporty long sleeve shirt he was wearing that he was built to high heaven. And his face wasn't anything to complain about either, between his green eyes and tan skin. But the way his smile reminded her of a lounge lizard was definitely a strong turn-off.
The little light above the starting point turned blue. Elise stepped up to her cage and was extremely pleased to see that Rufe was forced to back off from the area to make way for the other contestants in the heat and officials who were shooing him away.
Rid of the distraction, Elise happily began concentrating on the competition.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise groaned as she saw Rufe coming over out of the corner of her eye. She held on the bars on either side of her stall, watching a large screen TV that was just off the course, as the heat from before her was racing down. A boy in large green goggles and a light windbreaker hit down the light-framed girl who was speeding along in front of him. That was one of the rules of this league: There were very few rules.
Rufe pushed himself into the stall next to Elise and smiled at her. The only word that popped into Elise's mind to describe him was 'smarmy.'
"That was a nice finish you pulled in your last heat. First place." Elise ignored him, and made a great show of stretching, hoping to offer him no encouragement. However, he was not to be dissuaded. "Of course, it was the first round of elimination, so I'm sure it wasn't that difficult. I breezed through my heat." Elise straightened up to glare at him before she faced forward, stretching her neck and arm muscles.
"I just hope you won't be mad at me after I beat you in this heat, eh, Glace?"
Elise's head whipped around so she was glaring at him full frontal. Calling me "Icy", is he? He doesn't know the half of it! "Look, 'Ruff', by the time this heat is over, I won't be the only icy thing around here! I'm sure you'll be pretty cold too, between me shoving your face in the snow and beating you!"
Just then an official off sides called out "Ready!" Elise faced front again, crouching low and rocking in rhythm with the changing lights. Goddamit, she'd show him icy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise kept low to the ground during the next jump, opting to keep hold of her narrow lead over the rest of the boarders rather than show off with unnecessary tricks. After all, a nice trick wasn't going to get her to place. It was almost the end of the track, she remembered coming around this bend the last time she was in the competing heat. All she had to do was keep up speed during the last stretch and she'd be home free.
As she rounded the bend and managed a small forward flip over the last jump in the course, she felt a small amount of glee. That would show up that imbecile Rufe-
Suddenly, she heard the whisper of another board on the snow and felt a strong push sending her head over heels down the hill. Jumping to get back up, she darted across the finish line, seconds ahead of another racer who wold have taken third and knocked her out of the competition. Breathing heavily from the shock, her cheek stinging from the harsh hard-packed snow she had connected with, she looked to see the other two boarders who had come in ahead of her.
One was a mid-sized girl with a long brunette French braid, and the other was- of course, Rufe. She angrily stomped over to where Rufe was currently smiling graciously to a small crowd of female snowboarders who were all too happy to coo obnoxiously over him.
Not quite sure what she planned on doing, she tapped him angrily on the shoulder. He turned around, a wide smile on his face. Upon seeing her he only grinned wider. "Ah, Glace! I'm so happy you managed to get third! It would have been dull without you to keep me occupied." Elise dimly noted that the crowd of females Rufe had turned away from were not too happy over his response to this attractive and glaring blonde.
"Don't give me that! What the fuck was that right there? You had second made!"
"Ah, see, there's the problem," he responded patronizingly. "I had second. But I wanted first."
Elise gaped at him for a moment, unable to cover her disgust before she recovered. "And the fact that it doesn't matter which place you get so long as you get the top three means…"
"Absolutely nothing. You see, Glace-"
"Stop calling me that! My name is Elise, alright!"
Rufe stopped for a moment, as if taking in this new information. "It, is, is it? Ah, well, I like Glace better anyway. Suits you so well. Because as I was saying, Glace, the only thing that matters to me, is what I want." He smiled at her. "Don't worry. You can have second. Who knows, maybe they'll come up with something for the second place winner on the league after all. Maybe as gear model?" Laughing at his own joke, Rufe strode away, his board tucked under his arm.
Elise glared at him until she felt a presence by her side. Looking down at her side, she saw the brunette second place winner sighing as she watched Rufe go. "Don't pay any attention to him. He's full of himself." She moved away, studying a scratch on her board.
Elise smiled to the girl. "Easy for you to say. He doesn't talk to you."
"He wouldn't. You see, he's already slept with me." The girl looked up and grinned at the shocked expression on Elise's face. "I don't know what I was thinking. Probably nothing, as I was drunk at the time."
Elise smiled at the remark, as the two began to move out of the trail end, where press had begun jostling them for good pictures of the final stretch.
"Wouldn't you just love to show that pompous pig up?" Elise replied whimsically.
"Sure. In fact, we'll be racing with him in the next heat. Why don't we both try and knock the dumbass down?" the girl suggested with a laugh.
"Sounds good to me." The girl turned to face Elise, so Elise did likewise. "My name's Elise."
"Jenna. Hey, it would be nice to have someone watching my back for me out there besides. How bout we look out for one another in addition to our mission of vengeance?"
Elise shook on it. "Sounds fair. I hope this doesn't mean I can't knock you down if it's between you and me though. I don't think I'm that good a sport."
"Of course not. I'm not looking for lifelong friendship or anything here." The girl smiled at Elise. "I hope you make it far enough to see Rufe get his block knocked off. I have to go polish my board now, but I'll see you at the top." With a wave, Jenna headed off towards the repair station and Elise smiled grimly.
"This is going to be very, very interesting."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise crouched low, breathing in deep and watching the flashing lights, slowly counting off the rhythm in her head. 3…2…1! She launched herself off strongly, pulling ahead off the rest of the pack- except Rufe.
Smiling smugly and zooming over the hard-packed snow, he was taking off, and pulling ahead around the curve to the jump. Elise jostled a shorter boarder who was trying to zoom past her, while at the same time trying to pick up more speed.
She hurtled over the jump, pulling off an Experimental with one… two… three spins, managing to pull off more distance, landing ahead of Rufe. She tore down the icy chute, focusing on keeping low and fast
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once the competitors had had a chance to string themselves out, it clearly became a race between Jenna, Elise and Rufe. Jenna hung ever present in second place, while Elise and Rufe seemed to alternate between zooming advances that took them to first place, and drastic mistakes that left them fighting to again reach a competitive standpoint among the others.
It was the last stretch, and Elise was experiencing one of her mistakes that left her not only fighting to beat Rufe, but more realistically, fighting for even third place. She was leaning forward, and exchanging shoves between the contender for third. Ahead, Jenna was doing the same with Rufe, and they were beginning to get harder as each tried to push the other away in time for the next jump.
Realizing she would have a problem landing if she jumped so close to the solidly built boarder next to her, Elise veered away, leaving space, but also forfeiting some territory. As they went over the next jump, Elise forfeited again the opportunity to do one last trick in order to gain speed; it worked, leaving the boarder in the air doing a ridiculously complicated trick while Elise sped away into third.
Ahead, Rufe had come down almost on top of Jenna, and she had fallen face down in the snow, while Rufe was regaining his awkward balance. Sensing an opportunity, Elise made both hands into a single fist, and whacked him solidly in the back as she passed, sending him into the snow facedown as well. Elise passed the finish line in first, followed by the solidly built rider. She turned around with a flourish to watch the end of the race. She sighed as Rufe gave a little jump to get his board in motion and crossed, just as the more injured Jenna managed to get to her feet.
Turning away, she bent to examine her board but felt a nudge in her shoulder that threatened to topple her. Looking up, she saw Rufe, glowering over her and breathing like an angry bull.
"What the fuck was that?!" He almost screamed, bearing on top of her.
Elise smiled patronizingly, and pushed gently but firmly back on his shoulder, forcing him to take a step back. "Oh, 'Ruff'. I'm so glad you managed to get third. It would have been so dull without you to keep me occupied!" With that she stepped around him and headed over to where Jenna was being helped over to first aid by some of the ever present on staff medics. She hobbled slowly, trying to keep one shoulder still, so Elise had no trouble catching up by a light jog.
"Hey, you alright there?"
Jenna smiled, her cheek on the left side of her face painfully red, with a slight cut across her cheekbone. "Of course I'm ok!" She leaned closer, adding in a small whisper, "I mean have you seen the guy helping me? He's a total cutie!" straightening back up, she smiled. "I get to stick around after they patch me up, so I'll be there to cheer you on. If you let Rufe win, I'll never forgive you!"
Elise headed into the lodge to find some food. There was only one heat left until the final race. But they were leaving that until later, because, after all, it was the final race to determine the newest member of their league. If that wasn't worth some suspense, what was?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise shivered a little. The sun was turning orangey purple behind her, leaving the white snow odd yellow colors. The wind had picked up a bit, and as she stood in the stretching area before the final race, she realized her shivers were due to more than just the cold. She was the most nervous she had ever been before in her life.
She pointedly ignored Rufe, who was stretching on the other side of the circle, and glaring just as pointedly back at her. Elise had thought for awhile while she was eating that maybe it was a mistake to have pushed Rufe, as he seemed to be holding a strong grudge. But she had then banished that thought, thinking that he deserved it, regardless of whether he was offended or not.
The blue light signaled Elise to step up to her cage, and she breathed in deep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red. Yellow. Green.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elise nearly cried out in frustration. She had jumped over the large overhang as the path twisted around, scaring herself witless, but determined to gain the extra advantage over the other boarders. Rufe was a threat of the past now. One of the other boarders from the other half of the competitors was proving practically invincible. He seemed stronger, faster, and altogether better than anyone else in the race. He continued to hold a steady lead, regardless of every little way Elise tried to gain an advantage on the foreign track.
It was approaching the end, and Elise had yet to be within an over-takeable distance from the boarder. Rufe was somewhere behind her, proving a constant nuisance and nothing more. She couldn't think of anything to do! And there weren't any prizes for simply placing this time…
Feeling helpless, she tried to crouch lower, gain more speed, but it wasn't doing much to help her. She suddenly perked up as she noticed the boarder stumble a little as he jumped of the next ramp. Maybe he's getting tired… Elise thought hopefully. Trying to ignore her own straining muscles, she maintained her breathtaking pace, concentrating carefully on all she did so as not to make a mistake.
The boarder continued to make small mistakes, stumbling here, coming down poorly there. Elise continued to pick up the slack, and did small tricks on the jumps so as not to waste time in the air. But then her heart sank as she came up to what she recognized as the final jump before the trail curved to the final jump and stretch.
And suddenly, the boarder ahead of her slipped up grandly, taking out one of the large punching bag like yellow arrow directors. This was her chance, she almost held her breath, as she paid no attention to the boarder's attempts to regain his composure.
And then she felt her arm jerk, and she slipped a little. There, beside her and getting ready to slam her again was Rufe, ready to swoop in now that the chance was right. She gritted her teeth and watched as he went to hit her. She blocked him, and sped ahead a little to take the jump. As they landed, she swerved away from him, trying to keep him out of arm's reach. So long as he couldn't mess her up, she'd be fine. Dimly she noted the anonymous boarder at the corner of her vision.
Rufe apparently didn't, because he centered once again on her, this time appearing to be ready to throw all his weight behind a solid hit. Elise tensed, ready to retaliate. As he suddenly swerved in to hit her, she swerved in the same direction just as suddenly. Rufe found himself facing no opposition, and stumbled, falling to the side as Elise sped on. But the swerve had cost her speed, and the other boarder took the jump low and swooped into first place. Elise finished numbly, noting Rufe angrily crossing the line and storming away, as the other three boarders finished dejectedly.
Elise sighed, and quietly walked away as press swarmed the boarder. A few approached Elise as well, to ask her how she felt after coming so close, but she gave them icy glares, forgetting about good sportsmanship, and headed away to where the black SUV would take her back to Aspen Hill so she could continue living in obscurity.
So much for dreams of fame and conquest, Elise sighed bitterly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, do I get an A for completely expected plot twists? I think we all knew she wasn't going to beat him this time around, didn't we? Oh yes we did…