Chapter 3 First

Time seemed to have stopped. Fans roared with appreciation as the boarders zoomed through the gates like bats out of hell. In no time at all Snow Jam had become pure chaos.

Elise tumbled over Psymon after being shoved by Moby, after which Psymon got his revenge by throwing a nice-sized round snowball that collided with Moby's head, and Mac pushed Allegra in front of tree. As the snow from the tree fell mechanically on the new competitor, she started to realize just how tough ssx would be. The only one that didn't seem to be having problems was Nate as he was far ahead of everyone else. "Who is this guy?" the vets thought to themselves being beaten by the newcomer. "There's no way I'm gonna be beat by Americana boy!" Psymon thought and immediately picked up the pace, being closely followed by Moby, Elise, Mac and a very snowy Allegra, struggling to keep up.

The group of five kept close the whole race with Nate nowhere to be found as tripping and shoving and cursing and pushing and fighting followed the whole way down the track. Allegra had kept up with the pack and was even able to leave her last place position, Psymon was still leading the pack knocking down anyone who tried to come too close and Elise followed him everywhere, avoiding his attacks. Behind them where Mac and Moby Battling furiously

In the stands at the end of the track, amongst the screaming fans delighted to get their dose of ssx action, sat Kaori and Zoë watching the Jumbo-tron, taking in the violent struggle for first. They didn't miss a thing, from Allegra throwing a tree branch at Moby, to Elise taking the lead, to Psymon pushing Mac off a ledge, who fell head first into the snow.

"Did you see that! He hurt my Mackie!" The Japanese girl shouted with extreme worry and anger in her voice. Then, Zoë replied in a very soft "in-love trance" manner: "Yeah…". She found it slightly odd that the other girl called Mac "her Mackie", she concluded that the rumors of the two being romantically linked had some truth behind them. She then thought about herself, and if anyone had found out she had a thing for psycho-boy, other than Moby of course, who knew since the beginning of time. She never had to point those kinds of things out; Moby always knew when something was going on. And not only with her, he was the kind of guy that could sense things, when people were in trouble, when people were in love, when people needed help, he could always tell. Zoë smiled to herself and was thankful to have such a good friend there for her…

Suddenly, awaking Zoë from her thoughts, out of nowhere, arrived Nate, crossing the finish line winning the first place title. The crowd gawked for a short while at the boarder who seemed to appear from thin air. After the silence of incomprehension came a triumphant roar of applause and screaming. The crowd had been so focused on the impressive battle between the other five that they almost forgot Nate, who was leading since the beginning.

Elise could hear the crowd; the feeling of the raw energy from the crowd gave her an extra push as she, closely followed by the other competitors, grew closer to the finish. The excitement was too much for her. She could see the arch, she could see the podium, she could see… "NATE! DAMMIT!", They all thought. Still, there were two other medals up for grab. The group gave it their all, punching, shoving, pushing until Elise and Psymon finally crossed the elusive archway getting them silver and bronze.

As soon as she saw Psymon come in third, Zoë stood up and screamed at the top of her lungs as did the massive crowd. Kaori, on the other hand, unimpressed, left the stand to greet Mac and his bleeding nose.

That night at about 7 o'clock, Allegra was on a hunt. She searched through the hallways, looked in every room and peeked into the kitchen but her target was nowhere to be found. Discouraged, she slowly moved her tired and aching body to the lodge lounge where she finally found what she was looking for, A 6'2" boy who conquered at anything "xbox".
As he saw her enter the lounge, he turned off the black and green machine and smiled

"Hi." He said
"Hi, can I sit here?"
"Sure!" He answered.
She then sat down and the two started discussing their day, flirting now and then.
"You really impressed me today, you know" Allegra admitted. "What's your secret?"
"Well I don't really have a secret… I just practiced a lot I suppose. And as for my victory, you better get used to it, cause it's gonna happen more that once!" The boy answered
"I never expected it to be so tough, just dodging attacks was a real workout!"
"You don't have to dodge them when your ahead of the pack" He stated in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh well ex-cu-s-s-s-e me!" She answered "I suppose it's not as tough when you don't get shoved into a tree!" She got shivers just thinking of all that snow going down her jacket.

The fireplace lit up the room romantically as the two looked into each other's eyes passionately. She found him to be very seducing once you got to know him. Nate was highly attracted to her and the two of them, slowly, got closer and closer, Allegra tilted her head as Nate leaned in for a kiss, unexpected but very welcome for both of them, it was the perfect setting, the fire, the cozy couch, the huge windows with a starry mountain scene. Opening her eyes with Nate inches from her face, she immediately roared with laughter leaving Nate scratching his head, wanting an explanation.

"Way to ruin the mood." he laughed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she answered "It's just that…" she couldn't finish her sentence as she was laughing uncontrollably.
"What, what is it?" He asked.
She turned bright red as she looked him in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face, and answered: "You look like Elmer Fudd!"
"OH GREAT!" He belted sarcastically, making Allegra laugh even more
"The scary thing is your not the first person to tell me that…" He said while laughing
Allegra now felt a bit better, she had finally controled her laughter
"…You wascally wabbit"
Allegra burst out laughing once more.
"Is that why you were laughing on the gondola?" He asked.
"Yeah." She admitted with a smile.
"I see." He answered in a flirty tone.

The two continued their discussion into the night, but to the disappointment of both, there where no more romantic attempts. Elsewhere in the building, however, there were other things going on…

end of chapter 3