"A wild guess."

"I can see the report on TV tonight," Katie teased. "Innocent ski instructor maimed for life by a total klutza" news at eleven."

They both laughed until the cold air stung the tears in their eyes.

"You have to admit," Christy said, "that for our first time ever on skis, we didn't do too badly."

"We?"

"Okay, you didn't do too badly. And I conquered a whole bunch of fears. I'm willing to try again after lunch."

"Should be easy to find our ski instructor. He's the one with the indentation on his sweater in the shape of Christy's goggles," Katie said.

They burst into another round of laughter.

"He's probably going to run when he sees us coming back for more," Christy said.

"When he seesj;ou coming back for more. I, so far, have not yet had an up-close-and-personal encounter with the guy. However, the day isn't over yet!"

'We make a great tag team," Christy said. "I'll terrorize him in the morning cla.s.s; you terrorize him in the afternoon cla.s.s. Maybe they'll give us a brand-new instructor tomorrow morning, and we can start the relay all over again!"

As soon as Katie stopped laughing, she pulled her sandwich out of her bag and said, "We should have at least insisted on turkey sandwiches. It is Thanksgiving, you know."

"That's right! I wonder if my family has eaten yet. Probably not. We always go for a long walk while the turkey bakes. It feels strange not being there. Happy Thanksgiving, Katie."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too. And thanks for coming on this trip with me. It's exactly what I thought skiing would be like."

"Katie, we haven't exactly skied yet."

"All in good time, Christy. We have two more days of this."

"How many ski instructors is that, if I keep up my present rate of mutilation?" Christy asked.

Katie laughed so hard, she nearly choked on her sandwich.

In spite of all their joking, they both did well in their afternoon ski cla.s.s. Christy, however, felt ready to turn in her skis by three and let her aching legs have a rest.

They met the group back at the van at four-thirty and humbly listened to everyone else tell exciting stories of swooshing down Siberian Express, Shirley Lake, and some of the other more treacherous runs. Somehow, Christy's announcing that she had completed her first successful snowplow didn't seem like worthy news.

Mr. Riley drove to a Mexican restaurant at the Boatworks in Tahoe City, and the group waited twenty minutes before being seated at a long table.

The baskets of chips were instantly devoured, and everyone ordered combination plates. The conversation flowed in and around Christy. From her seat between Katie and Mr. Riley, she found it easier to listen to all the clamor rather than to try to jump in and add to it. It seemed that everyone was having a great time. Even in her weary state, Christy was enjoying all of it as well.

When they arrived back at the condos, there wasn't a lot of complaining when Mr. Riley asked everyone to go right to bed so they could be ready to leave at six-thirty again the next morning.

Christy headed for her bed, eager to make contact with her pillow. But Shannon called to her from the other bedroom, where the three girls were sitting on the floor, pulling off their boots and rubbing their feet.

"We want you to come skiing with us tomorrow," Shannon said. 'We've all talked about it, and we'll only take you on the bunny slopes until you're ready for more."

"I kind of already decided to go back to ski school with Katie tomorrow," Christy said. "I'm not very good yet."

"Yes, you are," Shannon protested. "We saw you, and you're good enough to try a bigger hill."

"You saw me all right! You saw me colliding with the poor ski instructor. By the way, I want that picture and the negative when you have it developed."

"I hope it comes out," Shannon said with a giggle. "It was kind of funny."

'Will you come with us tomorrow?" Jennifer asked.

"Maybe I could ski with you part of the day. I could attend ski school in the morning, and then Katie and I could come with you guys for the afternoon."

"We weren't exactly inviting. Katie," Tiffany said. "We thought it would be more convenient with you because you'd make it a foursome, which makes it a whole lot easier on the lifts and everything."

"I guess I'll have to see how things go tomorrow," Christy answered cautiously. She didn't want to blow an opportunity to get "in" with these girls, but at the same time she didn't want to put any strain on her relationship with Katie after they'd had such a fun day together.

"Okay," Shannon agreed, "we'll meet you at the snack bar after your morning cla.s.s, and you can tell us then."

For the last few minutes, Christy had been hiccuping. With each hiccup came the taste of Mexican food. "Can I get a drink in your bathroom?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

Christy filled her hands with water since there weren't any cups around and drank quickly, hoping to shake the hiccups. She noticed a bottle of mouthwash on the counter and called out, "Is it okay if I use some of your mouthwash? I've heard that gargling sometimes helps hiccups."

"I don't thinka"" Jennifer began, but Shannon interrupted.

"It's okay," Shannon said. "It's not really ours. It was here when we got here, but I'm sure you can use it."

Christy could hear the girls murmuring in the background as she took a quick swig of the green mouthwash and bent her head back to gargle.

Suddenly, her throat was on fire. Her whole mouth felt torched. She quickly coughed and spit out the mouthwash. Then she stuck her mouth back under the faucet to let the cold water soothe the numbness.

Christy thought she heard one of the girls say, "I told you guys!"

She grabbed a towel to dry off her face but kept coughing. Her mouth still felt tingly. "What is that stuff? That's the worst mouthwash I've ever used."

"Why? What happened?" Tiffany asked.

She and the other girls joined Christy in the bathroom.

"I only tried to gargle with a little bit, but my whole mouth lit on fire!" Christy explained, still coughing. "I've never tasted mouthwash like that before."

"I wonder what it could be?" Tiffany said. She opened the large bottle and sniffed its green contents.

"It doesn't really smell like anything. Maybe we should put it back under the counter where we found it," Tiffany suggested.

Her two friends agreed.

"I'm sure it's old or something. We probably should have left it there," Shannon said.

Tiffany was about to stash the bottle under the counter when Katie appeared. "There you are! I wondered where everyone went."

Spying the big bottle in Tiffany's hand, she said, "Are you having a bad breath party, and you didn't invite me?"

"There's something wrong with it," Christy said. "I used some, and I felt as though I was about to choke to death."

"Really?" Katie said. "Let me smell it."

"We already smelled it," Shannon said briskly. "We're going to put it back where we found it. I don't think you should mess with it, Katie."

Undaunted, Katie reached over and took the bottle out of Tiffany's hand. "I'm only going to smell it, you guys. What's the big deal?"

She unscrewed the white lid and took a whiff. "Hmmm." She sniffed again.

Christy noticed that Shannon and the other girls were exchanging glances, which showed their obvious disapproval of Katie.

Katie stuck her finger into the bottle and tasted the green liquid. "Vodka," she announced. "It's not mouth-wash at all! Someone filled this bottle with vodka and added green food coloring to make it look like mouth-wash."

Christy was shocked.

Shannon looked at Christy and then said, "Who would do such a thing? It was here when we got herea"right, girls?"

The other two agreed, and Katie said, "I think we should give the bottle to Janet right now." o "Good idea," Tiffany said, grabbing the bottle back and tightly s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g on the lid. "I'll take it to her."

"Let's all take it up," Katie suggested. "We can go right now."

'We'll do it later," Tiffany said firmly. "The guys are up there now, making lunches for tomorrow, and I don't want to cause a big scene."

Christy thought the reasoning sounded legitimate, but Katie wasn't buying it. "So what if the guys are there? I say we take it up now."

"Look," Shannon said firmly, "we said we'd turn it in, and we will."

Jennifer stepped between Shannon and Katie and said, "Katie, you don't understand. You and Christy didn't go on this trip last year. The three of us did; You see, last year they had some problems. I don't want it to appear that we're going to cause any trouble this year."

"Why? What happened?" Christy asked.

Tiffany spoke up. "Several couples came last year, and Mr. Riley found they were sneaking off at night to be together, if you know what I mean."

"What does that have to do with us finding a bottle of green vodka?" Katie challenged.

"You don't understand. Last year Mr. Riley found out at four in the morning what was going on. He woke everyone up, had us pack all our stuff, and drove us back home after only one day of skiing. It ruined the weekend."

"I remember hearing about that," Katie said.

"So don't you see?" Jennifer pleaded. "If he even thought this bottle of liquor was ours, he could cancel the rest of the trip right here and now. Everyone would be super mad at us for making a big deal over nothing."

"I think the best thing for us to do is pour it down the drain ourselves and not say anything about it," Shannon suggested.

"Great idea," Tiffany said, gently nudging the girls out of the bathroom with one hand while still holding the bottle in the other hand. "If you all will excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

Before Christy knew it, Tiffany had pushed them all out of the bathroom, and they stood together in the bedroom, looking at each other.

"I don't know about you guys," Jennifer said, "but I'm ready for a good night's sleep. Good night, Christy and Katie."

"Good night," they both said on their way down the hall to their room.

Katie switched on the light, and their two roommates, who were already in bed, cried out, "Hey, do you mind?"

With a snap the light was off, and Katie led Christy to their adjacent bathroom.

Once inside with the door closed, Katie turned on the light and whispered to Christy, "I know they're lying."

"How can you say that?"

"I know they are. They brought the vodka. I just know it."

"They said they found it under the counter when they got here," Christy protested. "If they brought it, and it was supposed to be a big secret, then why did they leave it out on the counter?"

"Because it's camouflaged in that bottle and with the green food coloring. They never expected you to use it. Didn't they act a little hesitant when you opened the bottle?"

"Not that I remember," Christy said. "They said they would pour it out, and I think we should believe them and trust them. If they don't pour it out, then we can tell Janet. I'd hate to be blamed for ruining this whole trip over a misunderstanding. "

"You're too trusting, Christy. You're only worried about your precious reputation with those girls, aren't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Christy raised her voice.

"I mean, you want them to like you so much that you're willing to believe a lie!"

"I am not! I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. You're too judgmental. That's your problem!"

"Judgmental! Ha!" Katie spouted.

Before Katie could continue, Christy put her hand on Katie's shoulder and said, "Wait a minute. I'm sorry. I take that back. I don't want to get in a fight with you. We've never fought like this before, Katie, and I don't want to start now."

Katie's red face slowly toned down a shade. "You're right. We shouldn't be arguing. Those girls are the problem, not you and me."

"Actually," Christy said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down, "I think the problem is that we're supposed to be witnessing to those girls, and we've ended up being divided over them."

"You're right again," Katie said, all the fire extinguished from her eyes. "You're probably right too about the judgmental part. I tend to form hard-and-fast opinions of people."

"I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry. And you're probably right about my being too trusting. I tend to be too naive about things. I mean, I practically drank the stuff and choked on it, but I never would have known it was vodka. I've never tasted anything like that before."

"You know," Katie said, "I think there's a way for us both to find out if they're telling the truth or not."

"How?"

Katie's green eyes narrowed to catlike slits. "Listen," she said. "I have a plan."

Christy and her roommates followed the same wake-up routine as the day before. After Katie and Christy dressed, they went upstairs and helped Janet prepare breakfast.