…‘Shift your butt, dog.’

The voice was loud over the music. Everyone in the Snowbird looked around. Jay glared at the girl standing over her. Debby Farrow. What a pain. Jay turned away and kept talking to Ti Hien. Her chair was kicked sideways.

‘Move it, dog. Now.’ Debby Farrow had three mates around her. All Year 10 girls.

‘Actually, we’re sitting here,’ Jay spoke quietly but her face was white with anger…

…Joel was in his ski gear, soaking wet, his ginger curls clinging to his bright flushed face. It wasn’t just the flush from skiing. He was looking embarrassed. He held a small blue cardboard box in his hands and thrust it towards her.

Jay laughed and bounced on her toes, glanced quickly up and down the corridor, empty, then stretched up and kissed him. He put his arms around her and kissed her back, the box a sharp lump between them.

‘Open it,’ he whispered.

She drew away and took off the lid. Inside was a shiny silvery ornament. As she lifted it out the top half swung backwards and forwards. A little silver ski man, suspended above a silver cylinder, his long silver skis shooshing back and forth over it. They watched him. Back and forth over the cylinder. Jay looked up.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘I want you to remember me,’ he whispered back…