Lupe nudged Alvaro at breakfast the next morning and said "Are you ready to lose?" Alvaro laughed. "Are you ready to swallow my snow dust?"
"You both make a drama," laughed Gaspar. "If we come straight to the slope, the slalom poles will definitely not be there anymore."
A bit of new snow had fallen during the night and the students hurried to get ready and come to the slope.
They all stayed together, and Isabel and Ramiro went with them. The weather was a bit foggy and unfortunately nothing of the sun could be seen. The cloudy weather had the advantage that the slopes were almost deserted.
When they got to the slalom poles, Ramiro said, "I'll stop the time downstairs. I'll start the clock when Isabel swings the scarf here." He pulled a woolen scarf out of his rucksack and hoped the visibility wouldn't deteriorate.
The others spread down the slope next to the slalom course.
"The loser begins," said Alvaro, grinning and briefly hugging Lupe. "
So you "said Lupe quick-wittedly, but stood at the start. Isabel said" On your marks, get set ...... go "and swept the scarf. Lupe gave everything she could to get pretty tight around the bars and her advantage was that she was small and agile. She did well and her end time was 53 seconds. "
Ramiro waved and Alvaro got ready. Isabel repeated his saying for the start and Alvaro drove off. He touched the slalom poles while driving around them and drove a very narrow, time-saving line. Its end time was 52.5 seconds. Lupe took him in her arms. "Beginner's luck," she laughed. Alvaro squeezed her again. A few months ago, such a reaction to losing a competition would have been inconceivable.
The others were incited. Isabel and Ramiro were unceremoniously named referees while the students raced against each other. Juanma had the best time with 49.3 seconds.
"You can't do that again," Ramiro said with an joking, aggressive glint in his eyes. Juanma accepted the challenge, laughed and said, "That was just the beginning."
Ramiro stood at the start. When Alvaro waved his scarf, he started. He was skiing very well and, above all, very fast.
"He's undercutting your time," Alvaro said to Juanma, who was standing next to him. "We'll see," said Juanma and got ready to go. Isabel waved, Alvaro launched Juanma and waved his scarf. Then he drove down the slope too.
Ramiro had taken Juanma briefly in his arms. "He was half a second faster," he said with a laugh.
They continued their round and came to the hut where they always paused. This time they sat inside because it wasn't so warm outside without the sun.
When Gaspar wanted to get drinks, he said to Lupe "I have my money in my jacket pocket, please give me that."
Lupe unzipped the bag and took out Gaspar's wallet. A note flew down on the floor. At first she ignored it , gave Gaspar the money, and then picked up the slip of paper. It was Lina's phone number.
Lupe stared at the numbers for a moment. When Gaspar came back she put the note in the sleeve of her sweater.
Gaspar put a Coke in front of her and took her in his arms. Lupe returned the hug briefly, but quickly broke away from Gaspar.
They didn't take a long break, the weather looked worse and the fog got thicker. Ramiro wanted the students back home as quickly as possible.
Indeed, visibility was getting worse and Ramiro asked the youngsters to stay relatively close together.
At first Lupe didn't have time to worry about Lina's phone number. When they sat in the last lift, Ramiro relaxed a little. Isabel knew the story from the last vacation and knew that Ramiro didn't want a repeat. Everyone arrived relieved at the holiday house, where Roberto first lit a fire in the fireplace. It had become so common that Alvaro and the others used the apartment from Alvaro, Juanma, Mia und Zoe as a meeting point.
Isabel put water on for pasta and the students took hot showers. Gaspar noticed that Lupe was very quiet, but believed already it was exhaustion.
Roberto said suddenly with a laugh. "Are you disappointed that Alvaro was faster?" When Lupe looked at him a bit blankly, Roberto said "During the slalom"
"Oh no," she smiled at Roberto.
Isabel called through the house that the meal would be ready. Everyone came to the table. Ramiro said again to Juanma "I would not have thought that I would undercut your time, but that you would be faster again, I would have expected that even less" Juanma laughed. "The snow was great"
"But it was too cold," said Clara, "and the fog was uncomfortable, I was always afraid that I would not see properly when someone was in front of me". Roberto put his arm around her. "That's why I didn't leave your side"
The others laughed. After dinner, Zoe and Mia tidied upstairs the kitchen with Isabel, while Roberto and Gaspar tidied everything down with Clara. Ramiro and Alvaro and Juanma fetched new wood from outside for all the apartments and Lupe had gone into her room.
