The Black Diamond, Part I (As I said, here is my story from a female POV. I await y'all's rating on authenticity)

OK, just as a warning there will probably be some mistakes in here. And don't be afraid to point something out to me.


Jessica’s breath formed a fog as she shivered and clunked towards the youth group’s van. She adjusted the purple ear ban around her ears and wished she could feel the cloth’s fuzzy warmth on her hands.

She also wished the ban didn’t fill her hair with static, but it was either that or freeze. Her ski boots were making blisters on her heels.

She rubbed her eyes.

Why can’t ski trips involve not getting up at five in the morning?

Her best friend, Tiffany, leaned against the van as the youth pastor, or Pastor Brian, sat in the driver’s seat and scowled at his cell phone. Tiffany rubbed her arms and glanced up as Jessica walked up. Her nose was red from the cold and she wore a black coat.

She looks so cute when her nose is red.

“So,” Tiffany said, “You got up this morning.”

Jessica shrugged, wishing she had a witty comeback.

“It’s got to be the first time in all of your sixteen years.”



Jessica rolled her eyes and smiled. “Maybe. Have you seen Josh?”

Tiffany’s blue lips lifted into a grin. “Don’t you want to know where Dirk is?”

“Oh stop it. I didn’t invite Dirk.”

“Someone’s a little testy this morning! Are you feeling guilty about Dirk?”

In a way Jessica hated talking with Tiffany; she understood her thoughts too well. She sighed. “I didn’t know Dirk couldn’t snowboard, but I was just talking to a group and said I loved snowboarding. For some random reason,” Tiffany raised an eyebrow but Jessica ignored her, “I asked if he could snowboard.

“He said he’d give it a try, but I remember the first day of snowboarding and all the falls. He’s probably going to hate me after today.”

Tiffany nodded the way she always did. “You know he probably wants you to teach him all day, don’t you?”

“What! I didn’t volunteer for that.”

“But that’s what he’s probably thinking. Say, are you two a pair?”

Jessica blushed. Dirk was cute in a way, but she hadn’t thought of him that way. “Tiffany, sometimes I think you’re a little boy-crazy.”

“Well, are you?”

The youth pastor leaned out of the van and shouted at a group of teens standing around the rental building. “Come on people! We gotta go.”

Jessica loaded the van before Tiffany could pursue her question. The air inside the van was warm and stuffy. A few guys sat in the front seats and laughed at some joke. It was hard moving through the van with her snow boots, but finally she managed to plunk down on the back seat closest to the window.

Tiffany sat beside her and grinned as more people loaded into the van. She gestured with her head towards the window. Jessica glanced up. Josh marched towards the van, car keys in hand.

He was his school’s team captain for the hockey and football team. There also didn’t seem to be anyone who could score better grades than him on just about every subject.

He had a square jaw and black hair that was cut short and neat. He wore a blue coat his mom had gotten him for Christmas. He’d told her that.

Jessica hoped she wasn’t blushing as he poked his head into the van. His eyes, blue around the edges and light green in the middle, shot straight towards her. He waved the hand with his keys and they jingled in his palm.

“You wanna ride in my car?”

Duh! Now if I can only get out of here…

“Sorry, Josh,” the Pastor Brian said as he counted the van’s passengers, “I need everyone under eighteen to ride with me. Would you be alright with driving to the slope in your car? We only have room for one more person, and Dirk hasn’t gotten his gear yet.”

Josh frowned and stopped whirling his keys. Jessica strained to hear what he was saying. “Well, I guess. I’d be happy to save a bit of gas but…”

“Oh whatever man!” Pastor Brian laughed. “That’s your mom’s truck.”

“Alright, alright! I’ll see you guys at the resort.”

Josh strode towards his blue pickup and exited the parking lot with a rumble and a plume of exhaust hanging in the frigid air.

Pastor Brian cuffed his hands and shouted at the rental building. “Hey Dirk! Let’s go.”

The door to the building swung open and Dirk nearly tripped on his face as he tried running in his ski boots. He wore a hat with Looney Tune characters on them. Zits seemed to have attacked his face with a vengeance, and his blue coat looked too big for him.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she studied his snowboard. It’s too small! Didn’t anyone tell him what to get?

A rush of cold air invaded the van as Dirk opened the backdoor. Jessica heard Dirk’s board clatter as he threw it onto everyone else’s gear piled in the back.

He slammed the door and boarded the van in a huff. He climbed over several people to reach the middle seat in the row in front of Jessica. “Sorry for keepin’ everyone.”

Pastor Brian nodded distractedly. “Is that everyone? Let’s go!”

The people within the van chattered as the van rolled out of the parking lot. Jessica turned to Tiffany. “Do you remember Amy last year?”

“Yeah! She brought that wool jacket and it got soaked in a spot of melting snow. Didn’t she have to stay at the lodge after that?”

“She cried all the way home! I think that was her first outing with a youth group.”

Tiffany yawned. “It’s too bad we can’t take jewelry on the slope.”

Jessica’s mouth dropped. “Why not?”

“Because the metal gets so cold that it hurts. Besides, what if you lose it? You didn’t bring anything, did you?”

Jessica frowned and noticed Dirk wasn’t saying anything to the guy talking to him, but his left ear was pointed towards her.

She pulled off her glove and held up her sweaty hand. A slender ring with a red stone in the middle sat on her index finger.

She twisted the ring around her finger as she looked away from Tiffany. “This was my grandma’s ring she gave to me before she died. The stone’s not real, but it still looks good.”

Tiffany studied the ring for a split second. “Looks nice. I’d leave it in the car if I were you.”

“What! My mom would kill me if something happened to it.”

“But, there’s more of a chance of something happening to it if you take it with you on the slope.”

Jessica put her glove back on as though to hide it from Tiffany. “I’ll be careful.”

“Fine. Have it your way.”

“Did you like your grandma?”

Jessica glanced up at Dirk as he turned around in his seat. Sweat beaded down his face and he licked his lips slightly. Jessica had never heard a goose being strangled, but she imagined it would sound like his voice at that moment.

“What?” she said.

Dirk swallowed. “I mean, where did you grandma grow up?”

Jessica studied him for a few seconds and then she scanned the other people in the car. Is anyone going to tell Josh I talked to him? Will Josh want to have anything to do with me if he thinks I have feelings for this guy? I don't want to lead him on, either. Just say a few nice things and let the awkward silence take over.

“She grew up in San Francisco. She did a lot of traveling. Eventually she moved further north.”

He made eye contact with her and she felt the whole weight of his attention shift to her. Not a big deal, but it felt good being the center of attention. “I used to have an aunt who lived up north during the pioneer period,” he said, “and she and her family worked on a farm. She told a story once about how she was so frustrated with a cow that she wrenched its tail. The only problem was that the tail came off because it was so cold.”

Jessica stared as Dirk’s Adam’s apple bobbed up down in his laughter. He must’ve noticed she wasn’t laughing with him because he stopped and swallowed. He rubbed his arm as though it were cold.

“Uh, what was your grandma like?”

Jessica grinned. “She was impossible! Every time she came home for Christmas or something she would bring a huge cauldron. It must’ve weighed five tons. Every morning, at exactly five, she would bang that thing with a ladle till one of us kids staggered out of bed.”

Dirk nodded. “What did you enjoy most about her?”

“Well,” Jessica tapped her leg and stared at the ceiling for a minute, “She always wanted to give something to us kids, and the things she gave were from all around the world. There was one time…”

Dirk nodded, laughed, and continued to make eye contact every now and then. If the conversation lulled, he always had a good question to spark another line of thought.

Maybe he’s not such a nerd after all!

The van came to a halt. Jessica wiped her foggy window and peered out. “We’re here already!”

Dirk stretched his arms and turned around. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll see you on the slope sometime today.”

He stood and joined everyone else as they filed out of the van. Tiffany shook her head at Jessica and leaned forward. “Are you going to spend all day with him now?”

“Are you kidding? This is going to be one of the few chances I get with Josh.”

Jessica scrunched her nose, noticing the stench of sweat in the van for the first time.