Author's Note: Howdy howdy howdy! And how has everyone been holding up in my absence? Good? Great? In a slightly better mood than homicidal? Good to hear… So I think it's become rather obvious that no matter how happy, dedicated and inspired I may feel, I still seem to update rather sporadically. I suppose the best thing for you to do if you're the impatient reader type, would be to wait till I include something that says, "I FINALLY FINISHED! I NEVER THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD COME!" in my summary, and then start reading. If that sounds yucky, I promise that though slow, I'll never just stop writing this. I enjoy SSX characters much too much, and am so ESPECIALLY fond of the evil little plot I've decided on for each and everyone. So yay! Now start reading! (As if you haven't already skipped over this section or clicked 'back')
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JP was feeling a little put off by the results of the race. Sure, he hadn't necessarily expected first place- No, that wasn't true, that's exactly what he had expected. He had of course modified that expectation when he had heard the announcer's booming voice relate that some girl had managed to find a hidden shortcut. However, he had not managed to take second place, either. And so it was that when JP glided into third place, he felt more than a little irritated. Third does get me into the semi-finals heat, at least. I'll just have to make up for this defeat there.
He removed his designer sunglasses and proceeded to go through the motions of cleaning them, looking up through his eyelashes at the swarm of reporters who were obscuring his view of the winner. Humph. Enjoy it while you can, because you won't be enjoying that standing for very long. As he replaced his sunglasses and finally got a chance to see just who was the winner, his scowl faded away. The tall beautiful blonde who had stood in between Marisol and him was relatively easy to see, considering she stood a head taller than many of the photographers and reporters surrounding her.
"Perhaps I'll go congratulate the winner after all," JP mused to himself, a smile slowly spreading across his face. He strode over to the crowd as the last few snowboarders straggled into fifth and sixth place. It only pleased JP more to see that fifth had gone to haughty Marisol, now looking less like a snob and more like the angry alley cat he remembered her as. Suddenly the blonde girl- Eloise was it?- was striding into his field of vision, directly towards Marisol.
As she got close, she reached out and shoved Marisol's shoulder, knocking her slightly off-balance, and causing her to whip her head backwards to glare upward. Behind JP someone growled softly, and when he turned to look, he saw that boy, Eddie, whom Marisol had been fooling with before the race, looking like he was ready to step in and deal with the girl himself.
"What did you think you were doing! I could have been killed!"
JP turned back around in time to catch Marisol sneer back at the girl "Killed? Don't be so dramatic, Elise! The worst you could have gotten were a couple of scratches."
So Elise was her name…
"Scratches? If it hadn't been safety glass, it would have shredded me to pieces!"
"And if you had bothered to pay attention at all during their briefing this morning, you would have known that it was just going to crumble into useless little pieces, instead of being the panicky little mess that you were." Here Marisol stopped her ridicule to scoff, "Of course, had they told us that the surprise behind those glass panes was a helpful one, I would have just crashed through it myself."
"And instead you came in fifth. I'm sure that that just drives you crazy, doesn't it," Elise leaned in, letting the edges of her mouth grow into a satisfied grin.
"Not as much as the fact that a talentless bitch like managed to get into first place completely on luck," Marisol hissed back, raising up on her feet and throwing her head back.
"Talentless? You're the one that came in fifth. Then again, I'm sure you used some very interesting off-the-slope talents to persuade the judges to let you in this competition…"
JP noticed the boy Eddie moving right behind the tall blonde, his hand clenched into a fist. He probably didn't even realize that he was about to let his emotions take control and hit the girl. But JP did.
"Now, now," he said in a calm voice, catching the boy's wrist. "It's not nice to meddle. Let's let the girls finish on their own, shall we?"
The boy merely glared, and for a moment, JP was certain that he would jerk back his other fist and hit JP instead. But then a purring, rolling voice said "Eddie, dear, let's go back to the lodge." Eddie jerked his arm out of JP's grip, following Marisol as she walked by, completely ignoring JP. "Perhaps I can go discuss this with Mr. Harrison. I'm sure he'd be very worried about this horrible verbal assault on a snowboarder that was invited to compete against his fledgling little league!"
To the common ear, it sounded like Marisol had clamed down. But JP had had plenty of time to learn all about Marisol's hidden meanings, and right now that hidden meaning was one of revenge.
"Oh, I'm sure he'd also be worried to hear about how you pushed one of his league members into a glass pane!" The girl Elise shouted, striding after the boy and Marisol.
"How odd of Marisol… she isn't usually so… controlled in such situations… perhaps I should follow and see just what sort of trouble Marisol decides to stir up," JP murmured to himself. And with that, he followed the small procession that was now heading to see Mr. Harrison, owner of the SSX League.
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"Ms. Riggs, I am fully aware that what Ms. Delgado did was questionable at best," Mr. Harrison sighed, trying to avoid fury from both of the temperamental blondes at once. "However, the rules of this snowboarding league do not prohibit nor even discourage such behavior. Jostling is expected in this league."
"Mr. Harrison, that little brat could have-"
He held up a hand to silence the tall woman in front of him. "I can also assure you that the league does not disregard your safety. A pane of glass would never be next to the racecourse. Even if actions similar to Ms. Delgado's were prohibited, there would be accidents to take into account."
He rose, paced towards the window of his office which overlooked the last stretch of the race and the winners' circle below. As he turned back to face the furious snowboarders, another of the snowbaorders, the young blonde Frenchman quietly slipped in the door. How the hell did I end up with so many blonde boarders? "A real pane of glass would simply be too much of a risk factor. Even hard plastic could cause more injuries than this league's administration is comfortable with. Let me assure you, Ms. Riggs. This league's officials, least of all I, do not take the safety of it's members, or guests, very lightly."
"Well, I'm perfectly satisfied with that," the Latina began "I would still like to discuss the personal conduct of Ms. Riggs. She was extremely insulting before and after the race, and assaulted me after race was over."
"Assaulted?! You threw me into that safety glass harder than I touched you!"
"Mr. Harrison, jostling during a race is one thing, but I think normal civilized laws should be abided by when the race has completed."
"Ms. Delgado is correct, Ms. Riggs," Mr. Harrison affirmed, ignoring the angry glare that was thrown in his direction. "Any physical exchanges on the course should be left there. No blows are to be exchanged once the race is over. No matter what occurs during the race. Is that understood?"
The girl opened her mouth angrily, looking as if she was about to reply, before snapping her mouth shut and giving a curt nod.
"Thank you, Mr. Harrison. All I ask is that your members behave in a professional manner," the girl continued.
"As I recall, Marisol, the last time we were boarding against one another, our behavior was far from professional," the young Frenchman in the back spoke up.
The girls and the young boy with the afro spun around. Apparently no one but Mr. Harrison had noticed his presence.
"Yes, well," the Latina girl began, taken aback. "That was different. I'm referring to Ms. Rigg's habit of shouting insults down the mountain like a five-year old."
"I'll remind you that you were shouting them right back, Ms. Delgado."
"Ladies, please, if this matter has been settled to everyone's satisfaction, I have work I must resume." Mr. Harrison broke into a smile. "I do have a snowboarding league to run, after all."
The two women nodded curtly, and turned to leave, the two men then following. Mr. Harrison found that the Frenchman was the only one who seemed completely at ease, even continuing to smile in a way that said he found the entire situation humorous. As soon as the door was shut, Mr. Harrison broke into a real smile, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his hands together meditatively.
This is better than I could have ever hoped. First race, and already we have rivalries, alliances, and what looks like a broken romance. If I could find a way to market this image…
This may have been Mr. Harrison's first league, but he wasn't without experience. He had done all matter of jobs around the snowboarding circuits, quitting his last post because the man he worked for failed to see the potential of the story behind the snowboarding. Harrison knew what sold. It wasn't the sport. The sport was merely an avenue which the youth used to find what they really wanted. That was the glory, the edge, the sheer hardcore image of extreme sports.
"The harder they try to break from conformity, the easier to predict they get," Harrison chuckled to himself.
Harrison knew he would have to manipulate the league to turn it into the story he wanted. And he was already starting a wishlist in his mind of what he could use to get it.
Starting with that little hellcat and her little ex-Frenchman…
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Author's Notes: And that is the latest edition of my twisted story. I think I'm taking too long to get the story good and started. Me and my desire to ramble in detail -- I'll be trying to pick up the pace a bit in the next chapter, so if any of you are getting bored with the apparent total LACK of snowboarding/action of any kind- FEAR NOT! Your salvation is coming! Yay! Ok, back to homework and blowing off homework to goof off. I'll be updating as soon as I can (which is longer than you might think due to my weak will power) Ja!
P.S. some of you may notice I seem to have stopped using the TAB key on my new paragraphs. That's because my dad updated my computer to Windows XP in an attempt to rid my computer of a virus (we think in the end it was the worm). Anyway, XP automatically does something screwy where it doesn't actually register I used tab, which screws up my HTML version of this chapter. Hopefully I'll figure out how to counteract the demon spawn that is updated versions of Windows, and my computer will go back to being helpful. If not, you'll all have to get used to non-indented paragraphs.