The Sky’s the Limit: My Journey with Maryellen

My promise to Maryellen keeps me tossing and turning all night. The next morning, I realize that I’ve decided that I need to go home to my family right away. Maryellen asks if I really mean today? I nod and say that I miss my mom and dad. Maryellen says that she hates to see me go, but she understands why I want to. She’s glad I’m going to stick up for myself.

She comes with me when I go to tell Mr. and Mrs. Larkin and Grandpop and Grandmom. I ask them if they can drop me off at the airport when we leave. I’ll use my return ticket to fly back to my family. Mrs. Larkin says that everyone will miss me, but if that’s what I need to do, then they understand.

As the Larkins pack the car and say their goodbyes and thank-yous, I put my ski uniform back on, fold Carolyn’s clothes neatly, and leave them in the Airstream. When I come out, I hug Grandmom and Grandpop and Tom. I save Mikey for last. He looks so sad and confused when I say goodbye that I have to hurry away to the car. I don’t want him to see me cry.

Mr. and Mrs. Larkin, Carolyn, Beverly, Maryellen, and I get into the car and pull away, waving out the windows as we go. Maryellen and I don’t talk much on the way to the airport, but we hold hands, and we both know what the other is thinking: we may be saying goodbye, but I will never forget you.

At the airport, Mr. Larkin parks the car and Mrs. Larkin and Maryellen start to get out, but I say that I can handle the ticket exchange. I’ve been wondering why the watch sent me to Maryellen, and now I think I know why. She helped me, and now it’s my turn to help her. Through the open car window, I tell Maryellen that I promised that I would go home to demand a second chance to tell them my story. But she needs to promise me to go back to the school newspaper to ask for a second chance to tell her story, too. Maryellen sticks her hand out of the window and says that she promises. We shake, sealing the promise.

Mr. Larkin starts the engine, and Maryellen leans her head out of the window to wave until we can’t see each other anymore. I wish I had a telescope so I could see the car a little bit longer. But then it disappears, and I click my watch.

I’m back on the ski race awards platform. I turn to Coach Stanislav and tell him that I didn’t cheat. I made a mistake. I deserve a second chance to explain. The coach hesitates, but then Emma speaks up and says that she made a mistake, too. She saw me take a shortcut, and she jumped to a conclusion. Emma says she doesn’t know what happened, but she does know me, and I would never cheat.

Coach Stanislav takes off his sunglasses and looks me eye-to-eye. He tells me to explain what happened. I take a deep breath and explain. When I’m finished, the coach apologizes for accusing me of cheating. He’s glad that I had a second chance to explain. Emma hugs me and asks if I’ll give her a second chance, too. Mom and Dad are beaming, and my heart is full of happiness. I gave Emma a Larkin-style hug, and part of me that had been missing has been found again.

Later, when we’re home in our room, Emma says that she hopes we never have another misunderstanding like that again. She pulls out a pair of goggles from her dresser drawer and says they’re new. They’re tinted, so they’ll probably help me ski in bright sunlight. I can wear them in the next race. She tries to hand me the goggles, but I shake my head. I take a deep breath, and tell Emma how I really feel about the ski team. I tell her there isn’t going to be another race for me. Being on the team is good for her, but not for me. I only joined because I thought it would make her happy.

She asks me if skiing makes me happy, and I nod and say that I love to ski. I love to be outside in the cold air, swooping down the quiet whiteness, smelling the pines and flying over the snow. But I want to ski for fun from now on. Emma shakes her head as if she can’t quite understand. Finally, she asks if this whole time, I’ve only been skiing on the team because I thought that she wanted me to. I tell her that’s right. But now I know that’s wrong. For me and for her.

I think of how Maryellen yearned to stand out in her family, and I tell Emma that we might be twins, but we’re different people, and we should each do things we love. Finally, Emma confirms that I want to quit, and I say yes. Emma sighs and slips me a crooked, mischievous grin. She says she kind of guessed that I didn’t like the uniform at the beginning. Apparently, I always groan every time I pull it on. We both smile and burst into laughter.