Fourteen-year-old Chloe pictured herself in the orange jacket that Riley was holding up. No, the silver one would look better with her hair. Of course, she and Riley had the exact same shade of blonde hair, not to mention the same blue eyes and the same complexion. Still, Chloe thought that the silver jacket suited her personality better.
Riley laughed. "That's a great idea. Except we came to the mall to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, remember? For other people?"
"Fine. I'll buy you the orange jacket for Christmas, and you can buy me the silver one. They're only-" Chloe paused to check out the price tag. She let out a small scream when she saw the triple digits. "Aargh! I mean, they're a tiny bit more expensive than I thought."
"Maybe we should wait for the January sales," Riley suggested.
"But we're leaving for Vail on Saturday!" Chloe groaned. "We have everything else we need . . . new snowboards, hats and scarves, the coolest sunglasses. But we still need the perfect jackets. And these jackets are really special. They have personal stereo systems inside with headphones sewn into the hoods. We could listen to our fave CDs while we tear up moguls."
Chloe and Riley were leaving for Vail, Colorado, in three days. Their mother, Macy, was taking them to the famous ski resort for their holiday vacation. Chloe couldn't wait to hit the slopes with her new snowboard. And she couldn't wait to see snow. At home in Malibu, California, there was nothing but sunshine and warm, balmy weather almost 365 days a year. Which was nothing to complain about. Still, there was something special about seeing snowflakes falling gently onto a pure white landscape.
The three of them also planned to visit the resort's spa for lots of post-skiing massages and beauty treatments. Chloe had read online that the spa's pineapple-papaya facials were to die for.
"Let's go next door to Video Planet and get some DVDs for Dad," Riley said, tucking her arm through Chloe's. "That will get our minds off the--hey, look at those awesome black ski pants!"
"Oh, we have to get them!" Chloe cried out.
Ten minutes and lots of cash transactions later--the pants were thirty percent off--Chloe and Riley managed to tear themselves away from Powderhounds.
They stopped to look at a flyer for Surf Expo posted on the wall outside the door. "I guess we're going to miss that when we go to Vail," Riley said sadly.
"I know you've been looking forward to it since last year, but trust me . . . once you hit the slopes, you won't miss it at all," Chloe said, as they turned to go into Video Planet.
Chloe shifted her shopping bag from one arm to the other as she scanned the shelves of DVDs. "So what would Dad like?"
Riley pointed to several titles and read them out loud. "Beach Yoga for Your Health. The Meat-Free Gourmet. Spirituality after Forty."
chloe pretended to yawn. "Okay. As long as we don't have to watch them with him when we stay over at his place."
[CHLOE: SEE, MOM AND DAD ARE SEPARATED. THEY DECIDED TO SPLIT UP WHEN THEY REALIZED THAT THEY LIVE AT TWO DIFFERENT SPEEDS. YOU KNOW THE STORY OF THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE? WELL, DAD IS THE TORTOISE; MOM IS THE HARE--ON CAFFEINE. RILEY AND I LIVE WITH MOM IN OUR BEACH HOUSE IN MALIBU. DAD DECIDED HE PREFERRED THE SIMPLE LIFE IN HIS SMALL TRAILER BY THE OCEAN. HE'S INTO YOGA, MEDITATION, AND HEALTHY FOODS WITH STRANGE NAMES.]
Riley grinned and put the three DVDs into a shopping basket. The sisters continued to browse. Riley found some movies for her best friend, Sierra. Chloe found a special three-DVD set for her boyfriend, Lennon, of his favorite TV show. It cost more than she had wanted to spend, but Lennon was so worth it.
"Hey, Chloe! What are you doing here?"
Chloe's head flew up at the sound of the familiar voice.
Lennon was standing in front of her.
Chloe stifled a gasp and whipped the DVD set behind her back.
[CHLOE: OKAY, THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL BAD TIMING. DID LENNON SEE MY PRESENT FOR HIM? DID I BLOW HIS BIG CHRISTMAS SURPRISE?]
Lennon leaned to kiss her. Chloe noticed that he was holding something behind his back, too.
"Hi, Lennon," Chloe said, enjoying the kiss. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh-just picking out some DVDs for my mom," Lennon said quickly.
"That's what we're doing, too! We're picking out some DVDs for our dad," Chloe said. "No one else. Just our dad."
"That's cool," Lennon said. "Hey, Riley."
"Hey, Lennon," Riley said with a little wave.
Lennon turned back to Chloe. "Listen, I was going to call you. Are you free Friday night? Do you want to go out with me and my parents? We want to take you out for a special good-bye dinner before you leave for Vail."
"I'd love to," Chloe said eagerly. "Is this going to be fancy or casual?"
"Definitely fancy," Lennon replied. "I'll call you about it later, okay?"
"'kay."
Lennon gave her another kiss, then took off. Chloe noticed him quickly shifting whatever he had been holding behind his back so that she couldn't see it.
"Did you catch what he's getting for me?" Chloe whispered to Riley.
Riley laughed and shook her head. "No! Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Chloe laughed, too. "What kind of sister are you?" she teased. "Anyway, we'd better knock some more stuff off our shopping list, or we'll be here all night."
"Slumber party at the mall. Doesn't sound so bad," Riley remarked.
"True," Chloe agreed.
* * *
"Okay, check out my snowboarding technique," Riley called out to her sister.
Chloe made a face. "Huh? In case you haven't noticed, we're in Malibu. In our living room. And it's seventy degrees outside."
"You are such a skeptic. Watch and learn from the master!"
Riley walked to the hall closet and got out her trusty old surfboard. Then she put it on the living room floor and stepped onto it. Bending her knees slightly, she began swaying back and forth, as though she were zooming down a double-black-diamond slope.
"Okay. You have officially lost your mind," Chloe said, giggling.
Riley giggled, too. She knew she looked like a freak-especially since she was wearing her brand-new black ski pants with the tags still on them with a pink tank top. But she was really excited about their upcoming trip to Vail. She couldn't wait to glide down a mountain of pure, white, frosty snow with a brisk winter wind whipping through her hair. She wanted to brush up on her snowboarding skills-even if it was on the wrong kind of board and in her living room in Malibu!
Just then the phone rang. Chloe reached over to the coffee table and picked up the phone.
"Hello? Oh, hey." Chloe covered the mouthpiece. "Oh, Ms. Snowboarding Queen, it's for you! It's Charlie."
Riley stepped off her board. Charlie was her boyfriend-i.e., her fave guy in the entire world.
Riley took the phone from Chloe. "Hey," she said happily.
"Hey. What are you doing?"
Riley glanced at her surfboard. "You don't want to know. What are you doing?"
"I was just thinking about how much I'm going to miss you while you're in Vail."
Riley's heart melted. Charlie was so sweet. "I'm going to miss you, too," she said softly. "I wish I could clone myself! Then I could go to Vail and stay here at the same time. We could hang out and have movie-fests at my house. Or we could hang out at your house and have movie-fests there," she added. She had never been to his house. In fact, she had never met most of his family.
"Yeah, that would be so great," Charlie agreed.
Then Riley had a sudden inspiration. "Hey! I'm free now. I mean, like, an hour from now, after Chloe and I wrap the bazillion Christmas presents we bought today," she said, catching her sister's glare. "Maybe I could come over?"
"Uh, no . . . I mean . . . why don't I come to your house instead?" Charlie said quickly.
Riley frowned. This was the third or fourth time this had happened. Whenever she suggested that she go to his house, he'd insist on coming to her house instead.
But she didn't want to be pushy. "Um, sure," she said. "See you at, like, four?"
"Great. I'll see you then."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Okay, let's get to work. We have major wrapping to do," Chloe said as soon as Riley hung up. "And if you have time before your love bunny comes over, I need you to help me pick out something to wear Friday night."
Love bunny? Riley thought.
"You mean for your big date with Lennon and his parents?" she said out loud. "It sounds like they're going to take you someplace really fancy. Are you nervous?"
"No, I've met his parents lots of times," Chloe said.
"You are so lucky," Riley said. "Lennon's a great guy. Charlie's great too, but I haven't even met his family. Except for his dad, and that was at his alternative CD store, not at their house."
"I'm sure it'll happen soon," Chloe said sympathetically.
"You know your relationship is rock-solid when a guy introduces you to his parents." Riley sighed. "So why haven't I met Charlie's family? Does this mean we're not rock-solid?"
"You're worrying way too much," Chloe said, grabbing a roll of shiny red paper. "Come on, get into the Christmas spirit! We have tons of wrapping to do, and-"
She was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Car keys jingled. High heels tapped briskly across the floor. It was their mother, Macy.
Macy Carlson walked into the living room. Riley thought her mom looked even more harried than usual. She was talking into two cell phones at once, one at each ear. Her white business suit had a big coffee stain down the front of it.
"Yes, yes, get me on the twelve-fifteen," Macy barked into one of the phones. "No, that order is going to have to wait. Something's come up," she barked into the other one.
Riley and Chloe exchanged a glance. What's up with Mom? Riley wondered.
Macy clicked off both phones and smiled apologetically at her daughters. "Hello, sweeties," she said. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Chloe is cooking dinner tonight?" Riley joked. Chloe threw a pillow at her, which Riley ducked.
Their mother frowned. She looked upset. "I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but our trip to Vail is off!"
