Author Notes: Hello, hello, one and all. So, did everyone enjoy our little trip into Eddie's head? Trip, hehe, get it, cause Eddie keeps. . . ok, ok, bad joke. I realize I had quite a few characters that are not SSX Tricky characters! Fear not, they are not a significant part of the story. Most of the characters, such as all the little people Elise knew back before she was part of the league, will (probably) never be seen again. (Although one or two characters I make may pop in every now and then as repeating background characters)
And now for the reason why it took me so long to update!
Random Excuse Generator: One of my stories was reported to the FanFiction.Net administration and taken down. As punishment I was not allowed to update at all for an unspecified period of time. And I was uninspired. Again. But I think I may have worked a way to avoid that from happening anymore. (Yeah!)
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He grinned shyly up at her through his eyelashes. She laughed charmingly, lightly touching his arm. He bent over to whisper something in her ear while her lips parted in a soft 'o'.
Elise believed theirs was one of those relationships that should be conducted in a less public place. Like say, a linen closet. Not that anyone could tell how sick the sight of the two of them made her. Her stony expression and sunglasses hid her direct line of sight. Anyone who looked at her would assume she was looking at the crowd of fans and reporters that were screaming and flashing pictures from just behind the two.
Which was exactly what Elise wanted. No sense letting the two of them have the satisfaction of seeing her react. And if she played tough today, she just might be able to see their reaction when she kicked both of them to the curb on her way to first place.
Her lips twitched into a smile at the thought of the flirt's spoiled pout and the
"Miss! Miss! Picture?"
Elise turned to her left to acknowledge the small balding photographer with the camera.
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Marisol glanced sidelong at where the Ice Queen herself was waiting before the start of the race. Catching her whipping her head back to look at the reporter in front of her, Marisol smiled in spite of herself. A little humility would do the girl good. The humility of losing the race would probably crush that stony exterior. And that would do Marisol a world of good.
Eddie leaned in to tell her something and she held up her ear, titling her head so as to get a good look at Elise without letting on her intentions. And suddenly, her smile froze on her mouth and dropped into a sort of horrified oval. What was he doing here? Oh nevermind! Of course he was here. He was an excellent snowboarder, something she couldn't deny, no matter how much she wished she could. The thought had never crossed her mind however, that she would be forced to meet him here.
She suddenly caught his focus, and after a moment's hesitation, he began to head over. Marisol forced her face back to Eddie's, letting her eyes lose sight of him while an amazingly convincing smile and accompanying laugh forced themselves form her lips. She gently touched Eddie's right hip with her fingertips, a gesture she was sure both boys would notice.
And then he was by her side, and again she felt his soft warm breath in her ear like it always used to be, and she felt her knees melt once more in rebellion against her firmest commands to stay strong.
"Bonjour, Marisol."
"Oh, JP, I thought it was you. Meet Edward Wachowski."
"The name's Eddie," Eddie added in, with a proffered hand and a wary look.
"Bonjour, Eddie. I am JP Arsenault."
"Nice to meet you," Eddie responded, fulfilling all requirements of polite greeting and immediately dropping his hand to his side once more.
"I must say, Marisol, you are looking well."
"Yes, well, you are no longer free to look, JP. Although I must say you are hardly in the shape I left you," Marisol began, looking with a scrutinizing glance. "I don't remember those bags under your eyes. Did that come from many sleepless nights?"
"I'm afraid so," JP admitted, looking almost mournful as he touched under his eyes where there was an obvious lack of any such marks. "It can be tiring to have so much company, but you know me. I love to entertain," he added suggestively with a smirk.
"Ah yes, I do remember that about you," Marisol responded. "Although I'm sure it must get expensive after a while. Not that your mommy and daddy couldn't afford your nightly… escapades, I'm sure," she finished, suddenly becoming very involved with the crowd, waving and throwing kisses, slowly moving down the fence.
"Which reminds me," JP murmured into her ear as he followed, leaving Eddie awkwardly standing on his own. "Your check should be in the mail. If I may make a suggestion, some form of contraceptive might be a wise course of action when it comes to spending it." With that, JP strode further down the fence, waving as he smiled, showing of his white pearly teeth.
Marisol was grateful. It meant he was already well away by the time the tears started welling in her eyes.
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Elise tensed her muscles, gripping the bars on the side of her slot. She felt them coiled and ready to spring. Glancing to her right, she saw Marisol, in a pair of tight white pants and a pink shirt that only covered one arm glide into her slot, putting on a pair of yellow sunglasses as she stared straight ahead.
"Don't break anything on the way down, chicken legs," Elise snapped.
"Oh get over yourself!" Marisol bit back, crouching down as she gripped the bars, with a stern face that continued to only look forward.
"On se calme," a soft voice on the other side of Elise murmured.
She turned her head to see a handsome blonde man giving her a half smile. "I'm sorry, do you not speak French? It means settle down-"
"No, I speak French," Elise assured the man, distracted by a lock of her hair that had chosen that moment to break out of the practically iron strong hold her hair gel normally held, and fall down to tickle her nose. "I just-" somehow, to say 'I was distracted by your good looks' seemed a little shallow.
"Oh, the race is starting!" The man murmured, saving Elise from answering.
Sure enough, the music Karen had warned Elise they would be playing during races had started, followed closely by the red light in front of them turning on. And then Elise rocketed past her metal bars, arm held out on her right so as to protect against any moves by Marisol to knock her over. On her left, the other four racers were out of her peripheral vision, a good sign for the beginning.
A booming noise echoed around the mountain, startling Elise momentarily.
"This is Rahzel, the voice of SSX Tricky! The race is off with the young Canadian Elise Riggs in the lead, while American Blake Peaugh boards close in second, and that is a mighty lot of Blake to be boarding!"
And then she was free falling through the sky as wind whipped the air out of her lungs. She tucked into a forward roll through the air, twisting her body around and forcing her board to follow. She landed with a solid thump and took off, passing the red glass sign proudly bearing the SSX Tricky logo to hurtle down the ice chute of the course while Rahzel dully announced the name of the trick Elise had just pulled.
She whipped through the turns, listening for someone's board besides her own, hearing their dull scratching over the surface, barely audible above Rahzel's voice which was probably a more reliable source for information anyway.
"And now Zoe Payne is coming up past Blake to take second place, though first may be a bit more of a challenge!"
A jump loomed on the horizon, and Elise took the chance to pull one of her favorite tricks, Unethical Experimental. When she landed, there was a dull thump that almost directly followed her own.
"Oh, and Marisol Delgado has come out of nowhere to take second place, threatening Riggs' control of the top spot!"
Elise risked a quick look backward and caught Marisol's determined face staring straight back at her own.
"You know, Marisol, that outfit suits you. Was it cheap?"
"Not nearly as cheap as your hair dye, I'm sure. You could at least get a believable blond color."
Elise noticed Marisol's eyes dart to just beyond Elise and whipped her head back around in time to get some air off of a large jump that was just in front of a crowd hanging over the course. Elise did her favorite trick, the La La Locke Step as light bulbs on cameras flashed. Once she landed, she checked briefly over her shoulder, and noticed Marisol in a struggle to stay upward as the large American boarder Blake attempted to shove her over. His large amount of bulk was winning, and Elise turned her attention to the turn she was entering, satisfied that Marisol would be awhile in catching back up.
A few turns later, Elise felt a solid shove in her side. She veered slightly to her right, away from whoever it was. Looking back with worry at whom she expected to be the big American, she was surprised to see Marisol once more, her left arm held in front of her, and her right out to the side, reaching for Elise again.
Elise gave Marisol wide berth as they went around the corner, losing speed and falling a bit behind. A fork ahead in the trail loomed, and Elise took the right course, hoping Marisol would be content with first place for the time being. But apparently that didn't satisfy Marisol, who was veering to the right, towards Elise and her course. Marisol stayed just out of arm's reach until they were a few feet away from another pane of red glass emblazoned with the SSX Tricky logo. Then Marisol made a swerve to the right, locking arms with Elise and forcing her towards the glass, with a surprising amount of force, considering the girl was just shy of being a full foot shorter than Elise.
Elise wrenched her arm from side to side, but couldn't get free. She finally gave up and Marisol let go, swerving away. Elise didn't have enough time to follow, only getting far enough to avoid hitting the glass dead center and braced to slam into the glass, expecting thousands of tiny sharp shards to flay her alive.
She heard the glass shatter and felt herself being pelted with glass bits, but when she opened her eyes, she was approaching a small cliff, still very much in tact.
"And Elise Riggs has just become the first boarder to find one of only a handful SSX Tricky shortcuts! It looks like Riggs has this heat in the bag!"
Elise didn't react for a moment, as shocked as she was that not only was she not mortally wounded, she was winning again. And then she let out an uncharacteristic giggle in anticipation of Marisol's reaction at the bottom of the hill.
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Author Notes: Hey, I actually continued with the story! Yeah! (I'm sure some of you out there are thinking "She considers it a victory to still be writing?! Dammit, I'm not reading this story no more!") It's more a rejoice that I got something done this summer, because I've been so incredibly lazy. I'm going to have so much summer school work to get done in the last month, because I am going on vacation for about two weeks (technically today). So no more story guaranteed for awhile. But I promise it'll keep coming! Lemme know what ya think, if you please (Please be brutally honest. I'd rather get told something I'm doing sucks, sulk, and change it when I've come to my senses than keep writing the same way, suffering under the illusion that I'm doing good.)