A/N: I'm going to try and get as much of this story uploaded today as possible, even though I still have to finish the story...ahem...

Thanks for those who reviewed: xxxBlueFirePrincessxxx and Spice of Life.

ENJOY!

Chapter 4

Twister flipped a thumbs up to Otto, as the Rocket boy flew over his head and nailed a perfect landing. Twister grinned, camera held to his eye. He only looked down when a form thumped to the ground beside him.

"Good one, Squid," he commented, "I think they'll name that move, 'The Squid Face Vault', it was very impressive." Sam propped himself up, spitting the snow from his mouth, and scowling while accepting the offered help up from Twister. He knocked the snow from his clothes, wrapping his arms about himself and shivering madly.

"I think I'm going to head back to the lodge," he chattered, "I've come up here every year and it doesn't seem like I'm getting any better."

"Maybe because you spend more time drinking hot chocolate then actually snowboarding," Twister commented. They turned when they heard the tale-tell sound of snow crunching beneath an on comer's feet. Otto held his board under his arm and was frowning up at the mountain.

"Excellent run, Otto," Sam praised, then muttering under his breath grumpily, "As usual."

"Very nice, Otto-man, and I got it all," Twister joined in. But Otto wasn't listening. "What's wrong, dude?" Twister asked.

"I can't do some of my best stuff on this run," Otto seethed, "This is so lame. I could get major air on any one of those expert runs! I've been boarding on this mountain since I was old enough to walk...and my dad still won't let me ride the expert runs by myself? What's up with that?"

"Yeah, that is kind of whack," Twister agreed.

"Well," Otto grinned, looking slyly to his best friend, "If you come with me, neither one of us is technically by ourselves. I say we hit the Black Diamond."

"What?" Sam squawked, "That's the most difficult run on this mountain. The hill is so steep that..."

"That major air is a definite," Otto interjected, "Come on, guys, don't wuss out on me!"

"I can't ride that," Sam argued, "Who knows how many broken bones I'll have by the time I reach the bottom!"

"But Twister and I can," Otto pressed, "You could just stand at the bottom and wait for us, and you could tape the totally awesome moves we do."

"I don't know, Otto," Twister protested, "My mom says that when I'm up here, Raymundo's rules are law."

"And suddenly you're above breaking the law?" Otto pushed, hand on hip, "Dude you hold the record for most rules broken in a day, I've lost count of how many times you've been driven home by Officer Shirley, I still remember that night you spent in that holding cell, and you're telling me you don't want to ride down the Black Diamond run once? This is because of Reg, isn't it? She has you so whipped."

"It's not because of Reg!" Twister snapped, frowning and shuffling some snow with his foot, "You've lost count of how many times I've been dropped off by Officer Shirley? She always drops you off right afterwards! And you were right there with me in that holding cell, of course you remember that night! It was your dad's idea we stay the night there; my parents were more than ready to take me home and punish me with no dessert! And it was your stupid idea that got us thrown in there in the first place..."

"Twister!"

"Otto."

"Twister!"

"No, Otto."

"Come on, dude," Otto persisted, "You owe me, man. Remember all those times you totally ditched me to work? Are you my best bro or not?" Twister sniffed, pouting at the ground. He sighed, handing his camera over to Sam.

"Okay, let's go," he mumbled, "Don't mess with my camcorder too much, Squid."

"Oh, this can only end badly," Sam moaned.

"Why would you say something like that?" Otto and Twister cried, looking at him in distraught.

"Because I've known you guys a long time..." Sam muttered.

They made their way to the Black Diamond ski lift, Sam finding a position to stand. He refused to tape them, as he called it "video evidence", but he agreed to wait all the same and "bear witness to their greatness" as Otto put it. Twister and Otto jumped off the ski lift, taking in the height of the run, and examining all the bumps and turns.

"This is going to be so awesome," Otto exclaimed, "Race you to the bottom!" They turned their boards, tearing down the mountainside. Otto got air off the first bump he met, flying through the air, twisting and flipping his way down. Twister picked up speed, ripping his way off the first wall of snow he encountered and pulling off several fancy moves. People stared in awe as the two boys breezed past, making complicated maneuvers gracefully appear simple and easy. Otto was first to reach the bottom, but Twister wasn't far behind and they slapped one another high-fives, grinning broadly, and obviously exhilarated.

"That was so dope!" Twister said excitedly, accepting his camera back from Sam.

"I told you I could get better air on that run," Otto retorted, noticing a few ladies staring at Twister and himself. The girls turned to one another, giggling, when he smiled their direction, "Don't look now, Twist, but we have admirers."

"Huh?" Twister glanced over his shoulder, seeing the girls sending heated stares his and Otto's direction. He blushed, undoing his snowboard, and bending to pick it up, "That's nice."

"Let's go talk to them," Otto decided, grabbing Twister's arm.

"What? But I don't want..."

"Reg won't mind if she doesn't know. You're just going to talk to them," Otto pressed, stopping in front of the girls and smiling disarmingly, "Hey, ladies. I'm Otto Rocket, you may of heard of me..." The girls broke into giggles.

"I'm Candy," one of the blondes said, "You guys are really good. We're just starting ourselves, maybe you could show us a few moves on the bunny slopes?"

"Sure," Otto grinned.

"Well, you see, I have..." Twister began, but Otto elbowed him hard in the side, "Er...I guess...sure...no problemo..."

"I'm Melissa," a brunette said, then pointing to her redheaded curly topped friend, "And this is Joanie."

"My name's Twister, and that's Squi-er...Sammy." Sam waved sheepishly.

"Does he snowboard?" Candy asked, giving Sam a once over.

"Yeah, but there's more snow than board involved in his moves," Twister joked, and the other blonde released a somewhat high-pitched giggle.

"I'm Trina," she told him mid-squeal.

"And I'm Kelly," the last girl, whose black hair was pulled in a ponytail, stated.

"Now that we all know each other," Otto announced, "Why don't we go over to the bunny slopes?"

"Otto, I don't know if I should..."

"Chill out, Twist," Otto hissed, "The ladies just want us to show them some moves."

"Alright...if that's all..." Twister mumbled and they made their ways back down to the beginner runs.

As it turned out, the girls weren't so much just beginning, as had never been on a board in their entire lives. Twister was stuck showing Melissa and Joanie, who seemed inseparable, how to stand and move down the mountain, Otto stood most of the time at the bottom of the hill chatting with Kelly and Candy, and Sam was attempting to get Trina to stand on the board without dragging him down to the snow.

"You guys must come up her often," Melissa attempted to make conversation with Twister on one of the runs down, until she hit a snag and fell, latching onto Twister and dragging him under her. Joanie had the misfortune of being behind them, and tripping in their bundled heap.

"Ow," Twister moaned, "I think you girls are getting better. Can you get off me now?" Melissa propped herself up on her hands, having landed squarely on Twister's chest.

"I'm so sorry," she gushed, looking down at him. He blushed, realizing she was laying on top of him in a very compromising position.

"That's okay," he stammered, trying to lift himself on his elbows. Joanie was sitting next to them, giggling slightly.

"You're really cute..." Melissa mumbled, "I hope I didn't hurt you."

"Nope, I'm fine...now if you could get off..." Twister paused as snow was kicked up on them. A boarder had come to a halt, a very familiar form standing over the two fallen teens, hands on hips.

"Are you two...okay?" the boarder asked in a tone that suggested she didn't care.

"Yeah, we're fine thanks," Melissa said, looking up at the boarder with a pleasant smile, "We just fell...and decided it was a nice place to chat."

"That's nice," the boarder seethed, "Now could you get off my boyfriend, please." Melissa frowned, brows drawn together in confusion.

"Boyfriend?" she repeated dumbly.

"Oh man," Twister groaned, looking up to Reggie's very peeved face, "I know you're mad, Reg. But I can honestly say, this is all Otto's fault." Melissa pulled herself up off of Twister, who felt it was probably safer to lay still in the snow. Reggie was looking down at him, lips pursed in permeating anger.

"I thought you said you guys were going to be on the intermediate runs," Reggie hissed.

"Funny story, really," Twister chuckled meekly, "And if Otto were here, I'd make him tell it to you, because right now I'm trying to figure out how I got from there to here." Reggie crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head slightly. "Okay, are we going to get in a fight? Because I swear this time it's not my fault!"

"Jeez, ease up on the guy," Melissa spoke up, "He was just teaching us how to snowboard." Reggie turned her icy stare on Melissa.

"Please don't help me," Twister whispered to her.

"Since when are you an instructor, Maurice?" Reggie pressed.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm in a great deal of pain since she fell on me, I'm extremely cold, I'm soaked with snow, and...and I'm in a very uncomfortable situation," Twister said quietly, pouting up at Reggie, then adding, "And you're very pretty." Reggie rolled her eyes, falling to her knees in the snow in front of Twister, who sat up slightly.

"I'm sure it's nothing you don't deserve for listening to Otto," she said, placing her hand on top of his helmet and knocking the snow off.

"How come you didn't tell us you had a girlfriend?" Melissa demanded, sounding slightly ticked.

"You didn't ask," Twister shrugged, "I tried to."

"Do your friends have girlfriends?" Melissa pressed.

"Nope. They're...um...stags?" Twister grinned, looking to Reggie as Melissa and Joanie pulled themselves up.

"He was really cute too," Joanie commented, as they stumbled the rest of the way down the mountain.

"Do I have to get you a nametag?" Reggie asked Twister.

"Would I get a collar too?"

"What else did you instruct them in?" Reggie continued.

"I wasn't very good at teaching them to snowboard, what makes you think I could teach them anything else?" Twister cried. Reggie smiled, wrapping her arms about his neck.

"I could think of a few things," she smiled, pressing her lips against his. He pulled her down, his hands placed lightly on her hips. They broke apart when one of the ski patrollers came upon them.

"We need to keep these slopes clear, so you guys have to get moving," the patroller told them.

"Yeah, sorry," Reggie apologized, flushed and smiling despite herself. Twister was grinning somewhat goofily, helping to drag them out of the snow, "We just got a little distracted...we're really sorry..."

"I can see that," the patroller said with a grin, continuing down the mountain.

"Race you," Reggie called, breaking into a rush down the slope, closely followed by Twister. They nearly ran into the small group of girls huddled around Otto and Sam, who was talking about some of his excursions on the slopes of Mount Baldy. Joanie and Melissa had come to stand with Candy, Trina, and Kelly, and a couple other girls had joined them.

"Rocket boy," Reggie called and Otto perked, looking to her, "Lizzie and Cleo are waiting on the intermediate slopes, me and Twist are heading over there. When you two stags are done boasting, you're more than welcome to shred with us."

"Sure thing, Rocket girl," Otto shouted in reply, giving twin thumbs up.

"Oh, and ladies," Reggie announced, and the girls turned to look at her a bit annoyed, "You can have those two, but this one's mine," she told them, wrapping her arms about Twister's waist, "Got it? Let's hit those slopes, Twist." They departed, the girls shaking their heads and turning back to Sam and Otto.

-0-0-

It was later in the evening when Sam and Otto eventually joined the others on the intermediate runs. The snow began to fall heavily, and they decided to return to the Rockets' cabin; which had been dubbed the unofficial home base, waving a good-bye to Lizzie, who was going to the lodge to find her parents.

"We got all the girls' numbers," Otto was raving, holding out a piece of paper with writing across it, "I think I'll call that Candy girl first, she was really fine. Hey, Sam, I think that Trina chick really liked you."

"I think I've had enough giggling to last me a lifetime," Sam moaned, and the others laughed.

"Hey, Cleo, you really did good on those runs," Reggie commented, "Are you sure you've never snowboarded before?"

"Yes," Cleo smiled, "Thanks. But I don't think I'm as good as any of you. And that Lizzie girl, I've never seen anything so impressive."

"Yeah, she's awesome," Reggie conceded.

"Yup, and not just because she has one leg," Twister put in.

"Twister!" everyone cried in unison.

"What?"

"Wow, it's really starting to come down hard," Ray noted when opened the door for them at the cabin, "You kids have fun?"

"Yeah, dad, it was totally awesome," Otto confirmed, tossing his equipment to the ground, tearing his coat off and jumping on the couch by the fire.

"This week's been great," Reggie told her father, "And this snow only means fresh powder in the morning, right Rocket boy?"

"Right on," Otto agreed, as the two siblings punched fists.

"Twister, your parents are in the kitchen waiting for Cleo and you. Their heading back to your guys' cabin, but they were going to wait for you two," Ray said, falling to the couch beside his son.

"Thanks, Raymundo," Twister replied, wrapping his arms around Reggie.

"Tomorrow is my last day," Cleo sighed.

"You'll come say good-bye before you leave, right?" Reggie asked.

"Most definitely," Cleo concurred, patting her cousin's shoulder, waving to the others and slipping into the kitchen to see her aunt and uncle.

"Bye, Reg," Twister said, exchanging a kiss with Reggie, noticing but disregarding the particularly dark look he received from Ray, and heading towards the kitchen, "Later Otto, Squid, Raymundo!"

The Rodriguezes' cabin was located to the back of the Rockets', so it would be quicker for them to cross through the back from the kitchen door. Sam plopped onto the chair, by the fire and in front of the television, grabbing the remote control. Reggie sighed, leaning against the back of the couch.

"Something wrong, princess?" Ray asked.

"How come the year he's my boyfriend he has to stay in another cabin?" Reggie questioned rhetorically, and Ray growled lightly under his breath. She shrugged, flipping over to lay on the couch, throwing her legs over the arm.

"Tito and Sam's mom are working on dinner," Ray told them, "It should be ready any time now."

END A/N: I know the chapters are really short. Someone had mentioned in my other story, A Simple Kiss (which is where this story comes from), that my chapters should be shorter. That's one of the reasons the chapters are so short. That, and this was originally going to be a one-shot, but it got too long.

Please excuse any grammatical and typing errors (I've begun proofreading the story to some degree as the last chapter I caught a particularly blaring mistake in names...erm...I changed it, though, so all's good. How great is this export/download stuff? I love it.)

PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks for reading.