Read Fabulous Five 030 - Sibling Rivalry for Free Online

those
mountains. Me and the guys probably broke some speed records while we were at
it." He grinned at Beth. "I bet things were pretty hairy on the bunny
slopes, too, huh?"
    Beth rolled her eyes in disgust. "Grow up," she
growled. Even Jeffy Edwards acted more mature than Todd.
    "Todd," Mr. Barry warned, "you take it easy.
I watched some of your friends skiing today, and they're pretty advanced."
    "So am I!" Todd replied, obviously insulted.
    "Yes, you are," Mr. Barry agreed. "But just
be careful."
    Beth smirked at her brother, thinking that he deserved to be
reprimanded by their dad. At the same time she secretly wished she were good
enough to ski some of the bigger slopes. Marcel had pointed out the warning
markers and explained their color coding to alert skiers to the differences in
difficulty—green for beginner slopes, black for intermediate slopes, and red
for the more dangerous expert slopes. What fun it would be to be really good
like the skiers she had watched streaking down the mountain with plumes of snow
spraying up behind them.
    She bet Christie would be a good skier. Christie was an
expert tennis player, and did everything else just as well. It was sad that
Christie's family had moved to England. Beth missed her a lot.
    Beth glanced at her sister. Brittany hadn't made any rude
comments about Beth's hanging around with her and her friends for a while. In
fact Brittany hadn't even seemed to notice her.
    After dinner Beth's parents went off for a walk in the snow
with Alicia, and Julie, Molly, and Sarah came over to the table. Brittany was
busy looking for her new crush, Marcel, so Beth had become invisible again.
    "If Marcel isn't here in fifteen minutes," said
Julie, "we should go and see if he's in the game room."
    "Are you really going to ask him to dance?" Sarah
asked Brittany, her eyes wide with excitement.
    "Sure. Why not?" Brittany answered confidently.
"Don't you think he'd dance with me?"
    "Absolutely," said Sarah. "I'd never have the
nerve, but you are such a great dancer, Brittany. I bet he'd love to
dance with you."
    A smile crept across Brittany's face. "Maybe I'll ask
him on a slow song."
    Julie looked awestruck. "I'd give anything for a
slow dance with Marcel."
    Just then Brad Jenkins, the boy from Wisconsin, stepped up
to their table. "Brittany, would you like to dance?"
    "Not this time, thanks," Brittany replied with a
definite lack of interest in her voice. "I'm really tired after all the
skiing today."
    Brad looked so disappointed that Beth blurted out without
thinking, "I'll dance with you."
    She was immediately sorry she'd opened her mouth, because
everyone at the table looked at her. Brittany snickered.
    Brad looked as if he were going to drop dead on the spot.
"Sure, okay," he mumbled.
    Stupid , stupid! Beth raged at herself. Why
didn't you keep your big mouth shut! She got up stiffly and didn't look at
him all the way to the dance floor. It was a slow dance, and Brad put his arm
around her waist and took her hand in his.
    "I like this song," he said.
    "Me, too," replied Beth.
    They didn't speak for the rest of the dance. When the music
stopped, Brad said, "Thanks for dancing with me."
    "Sure," Beth answered.
    He turned and walked back to his own table. The last thing
Beth wanted to do at that moment was face Brittany's sarcasm, so she walked
straight out of the dining room and into the great room.
    Brad had seemed like a nice person. Unfortunately it was
Brittany he was interested in, and Brittany obviously thought she was too
sophisticated for him. Her silly comment about being too tired to dance
certainly wasn't true. If Marcel had asked her to dance, she would have danced
all night!
    Crossing the great room, Beth headed for the game room. In the
doorway she stopped in her tracks. There, playing pool with another guy about
his age, was Marcel.
    Beth entered the room and slipped onto a couch along the
wall. There were a dozen or so people in the room, playing board games or
Ping-Pong, or