Unintended Consequences

Chapter 40

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"I take it back, I don't want to do this anymore," I whined as I stared down the hill. From the bottom, it had seemed like a nice easy slope, nothing too crazy. But now that I was up here, my mom and Mrs. Johnson looked like little ants at the base.

"Baby," Archer cooed in my ear, "you were the one who chose this! It's going to be fun I promise."

"She's nineteen now Arch!" Oliver called from next to us. "If she's not going to be a big girl on her own then I'll just push her." His evil grin told me he wasn't joking. I gripped onto Archer's forearm tightly at the thought of whipping down the hill unprepared.

Archer laughed and rubbed my back. I could barely feel it through my thick winter jacket but I still relaxed. "Screw off, man.  You're freaking her out."

"And you aren't allowed to be mean on my birthday," I pouted. Ugh, I do sound like a freakin' baby. With that thought, I straightened my spine and internally shook myself. I could do this. Planting my feet on either side of the rectangular sled, I dropped my bum into the groove.

"Okay, hop in. Let's do this," I said determinedly to Archer. He smirked as he sat behind me and shuffled forward to grab me around the waist.

"Whoever loses has to carry both sleds back up the hill!" Oliver shouted.

I tucked my feet into the sled and held my breath as Archer used his hands and feet to crab-walk us to the edge. the sharp edge of the plastic sled dug into my fingers as I gripped it for dear life. I settled back against Archer's chest as he locked his arms around me and kicked off with his feet.

A scream burst from my throat as the ice-cold air whipped my face. The trees and mountains that surrounded us blurred into abstract colours as we shot down the hill like a bullet. Archer's chest rumbled against my back and I knew he was laughing. I couldn't hear him though over the whoosh of air in my ears and my own screams.

As we got closer to the bottom everything became easier to see. I whacked Archer's arm repeatedly in a panic as I realized we were heading straight for our families and behind them a thin fence made of orange chicken wire. Images of us taking out my dad at the knees then getting tangled in the fence elicited another scream.

Archer dropped his heels into the snow creating a wake of ice chips around us as he easily slowed us down. We came to an abrupt halt in from of our moms who were both laughing hysterically. I looked over to see Oliver stopped already a little farther ahead than us.

"Good lord Lotty," My dad chuckled. "You sure have a set of lungs on you."

Oliver stood from his sled triumphantly, "I won! Suck it, Arch, you're carrying my sled."

Archer sighed as he popped up easily and offered me his hand. "We would have won if she hadn't made me pump the breaks early."

I laughed sheepishly at everyone. Now that we were safely at the bottom I was slightly embarrassed by how scared I had been. I had chosen sledding as our activity today since it was my birthday but I hadn't thought it would be like this. The brochures showed a bunch of laughing kids having fun. I should never have let Ollie and Archer pick which hill we came to because they obviously chose the craziest one.

"Okay," I laughed. "I might have been a tiny bit overdramatic."

We decided to go up again but this time Archer convinced Annie to go with him. She insisted that he carry her so he trekked up the hill with her on his back and a sled in each arm. I wanted to help him but Oliver dragged me ahead and told me to stop being soft on the enemy.