Page 48 of The Cuffing Game
From underneath the covers, Matías gave him a thumbs-up.
The crew split the contestants by cuffle, so that Shirin and Tiana were riding with Kallie, Jack and Matías were with Alex, and Noah and Celine were with Mia in Damien’s SUV.
“Sorry for third wheeling,” Mia said as she got in the passenger seat. “I didn’t feel comfortable driving up here, so Damien gave me a ride here from school. There aren’t any mountains where I live.”
No mountains?Noah gawked, wondering how Mia could live somewhere so flat. Then again, maybe he was just too used to seeing mountains everywhere, since there were so many in Korea and in California.
Celine was uncharacteristically quiet during the drive to the slopes, and without his phone or smartwatch, Noahdidn’t have anything to do besides alternate between staring out the window, glancing over at Celine, and looking straight ahead at the back of Mia’s seat.
He couldn’t see Mia’s face, but he could see the tension in her shoulders.Mia is always so tense,Noah observed. He could almost picture the hard-set line of her frown or even the way she sometimes bit her lip when she was deep in thought.
He leaned back in his seat, resting his head on the upholstery.
You’re about to go on a date with Celine,he reminded himself.Not Mia.
When he turned to look at Celine again, she gave him a tight, awkward smile.
“Hey,” Celine said.
“Hi,” replied Noah.
“Um... so, we should probably decide if we want to ski or snowboard.”
“I ski,” Noah answered. “It’s what I have the most experience with, anyway.”
“I’m a skier, too,” she said. “That’s perfect!”
Noah waited for Celine to say something else, but she didn’t. His heart sank.
Is she still mad that I came in last for the race?he thought. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal to Noah, but maybe it was for her. After all, he’d been so put off by Celine talking with her mouth full. So why not her with his complete failure with a shovel?
When they arrived at the slopes, Mia and Damien unpacked three small cameras from the back of Damien’s car.
“Since the school’s cameras are way too expensive to use on the slopes, we’ll be using these cheaper cameras to record this segment,” Mia told everyone. “Damien, Kallie, and I will be recording each of the three cuffles, while Alex will be editing some clips from earlier today in the cafeteria. Please don’t mind us and have fun!”
“I’ll be sitting with my back against the wall so people can’t see my screen,” Alex added, holding up their laptop and charger. “But feel free to come to my table if you need someone to watch your stuff or if you just want to chill at any time during the day.”
They split from the rest of the group to go to the cafeteria, while everyone else headed over to the rental cabin. Noah caught a glimpse of Matías happily chatting away with a grinning Jack and smiled, silently wishing them luck.
The slopes were quaint compared to the ones Noah was used to. But they were nice enough, with small log cabins at the bottom that housed the cafeteria, the equipment rental shop, and souvenir stores. After Celine and Noah had gotten their equipment, they met up with Kallie, who silently waved at them from behind her camera.
Celine remained silent as they put on their skis, and Noah shifted his attention to Damien, who was filming Matías and Jack as they started snowboarding. Impressively enough, Damien skied backwardwhilerecording the cuffle, somehow maintaining a relatively steady grip on thecamera. How Mia found such talented individuals to be on her crew, Noah had no idea.
Speaking of Mia...A flash of panic shot through him when he looked around and realized she was nowhere in sight. All the other contestants and crew members were either on skis or on snowboards out in the snow. Where was Mia?
But then Mia stepped out of the rental shack inpink snowshoes. With a happy grin, she trotted up to Tiana and Shirin and brought the camera up to her eyes as they headed to the slopes with their skis.
“Cute!” Tiana exclaimed. “Wait, sorry, you’re recording us, aren’t you?”
Mia’s smile widened, but she didn’t say anything. The girls giggled, and Noah’s mouth quirked into an amused grin.
“Um, Noah,” Celine said. “Are you ready to ski?”
Noah turned back to see that Celine and Kallie were watching him. And so was Kallie’s camera.
“Oh, my bad,” he said. “Yeah, let’s go down the hill together.”
“Sure.” Celine gave him a smile that was just as fake as the ones he himself practiced.
