I Can't Stay Away

Kaylin was about ready to try the superpipe for the third time, now. She had fallen about halfway through the last two times. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was falling on the easy tricks, like 540s, things she’d done a million times before.

As she got ready to go, she saw five sets of eyes all focused on her at the end of the pipe. Shaun White, Danny Kass, Kevin Pearce, and Kelly had met up with Kaylin and Molly at the superpipe, and the six of them decided to have some fun.

As Kaylin dropped in, she felt good. She got through the first 540 and thought, Good, I’ve finally gotten it. But she thought too soon, as she suddenly felt that she was off her line. Not even five seconds later, she was falling to the bottom, hitting her wrist in the process.

“Shit!” Kaylin cursed.

“Are you okay?” Molly yelled as she began to make her way over to Kaylin.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kaylin said as she stood up rubbing her wrist. “My wrist hurts like hell, but I’ll be fine. I’m just off my line.”

“Well, why don’t we quit for now? We’ll come back in the morning, and you’ll be back to normal. We’ll get some runs in then,” Kelly suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Kevin agreed.

“I think I’m going to stay out here for a little while longer,” Kaylin said. She saw Molly was about to protest, and she added, “I’ll be fine. I just want to get a couple more runs in. I promise, I’ll be back in the room in a little bit. You guys go on in.”

“Fine,” Molly said. “But, please be careful. You haven’t exactly done your best work tonight, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. You’ve already hurt your wrist.”

“Mol, my wrist is fine. See?” Kaylin said moving her wrist around in all directions. “And I’ll be fine. I’ll be inside in a bit.”

“Okay,” Molly said reluctantly as everyone said their goodbyes and went back to the hotel.

Ten minutes later, Kaylin was once again sitting at the bottom of the pipe after falling. She hadn’t been able to make it through a run yet. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kaylin Pennington fall before,” a voice said from behind her.

Kaylin immediately took her snowboard off of her boots and turned around, seeing Mason standing there. “Mason,” she smiled.

“When did you get here? I didn’t even know you were back yet,” he said walking up to her and giving her a hug.

“I just got here a few hours ago.”

“Have you seen Molly yet? She’s been so excited for you to get back.”

“Yeah, actually we’re sharing a room here. She was out here before with me, along with Shaun, Danny, Kevin, and Kelly,” Kaylin said. “They were ready to go back in, and I told them that I was going to stay out here and do a couple more runs.”

“So, did I just catch a bad run or something?” Mason asked with a smile.

“Um, it’s more like you caught a bad night. I haven’t been on my line all night it seems. I don’t think I’ve gotten through one run yet without falling.”

“Maybe you need a break?” Mason suggested.

“Maybe,” Kaylin replied walking off the pipe to a nearby seating area. “So, I talked to Mol about her new boyfriend. What do you think of him?” she asked.

“David?” Mason asked. “I like him. Finally, she’s got a good guy. I just wish she’d like my girlfriend,” he added.

“Yeah, she told me about her,” Kaylin said.

“What exactly did she say?” Mason asked.

“Not much. Just that she wasn’t too fond of her.”

“God, she never likes anyone I’m dating!” Mason exclaimed.

Kaylin started laughing, and Mason looked over at her. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just I said the same exact thing to her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t listen to me.”

“Oh, well…” Mason began.

“Mason! There you are!” a small, dark-haired girl with blonde highlights interrupted, running up to Mason. She threw her arms around him and kissed him.

After a few moments, the two separated, and Mason said, “Missy, I want you to meet a friend of mine, Kaylin Pennington. She’s Mol’s best friend. Kaylin, this is my girlfriend Melissa.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kaylin said.

“Yeah, you, too. You can call me Missy, though. I absolutely hate the name Melissa.”

“Okay,” Kaylin said. “Well, I’m going to go hit the pipe again.”

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea with you being off your line so much today?” Mason questioned.

“Now, you’re starting to sound like your sister! I’ll be fine, I promise,” she said smiling as she grabbed her snowboard and began running toward the pipe.

A couple of minutes later, she was ready to go. She started, and she felt good. Halfway through, she went up to do a McTwist, and when she came back down, her board hit the lip of the pipe, sending her crashing down to the bottom. Her head crashed against the ground, leaving her unconscious for a few moments.

“Shit!” Mason yelled, as he watched from where he sat with Missy. He had seen Kaylin fall, and she didn’t appear to be moving. He took off running toward the pipe.

“Mason, where are you going?” Missy asked, as it was apparent she was paying no attention to Kaylin at all.

Mason ignored her and ran as fast as he could to Kaylin. When he got there, he saw that her eyes were open, but she wasn’t moving. “Kay, are you okay?” he asked as he knelt down next to her.

“My head hurts,” Kaylin replied as she removed her helmet.

“Mason!” they heard Missy yell as she tried to make her way down to the bottom of the pipe.

“Call 911,” Mason told her.

“What?” Missy asked.

“Call 911,” he repeated. “Kaylin’s hurt. We need someone here now.”

“No, Mason, I’m fine,” Kaylin began, but then she stopped as her head began throbbing even more. “Okay, maybe I’m not so fine.”

“What’s wrong? What hurts besides your head?” Mason asked, worried.

“Nothing like my head. It’s killing me right now,” she said, as she tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to break through at any moment. “Mason, it really hurts.”

“Okay, well we’re trying to get some help,” he told her, and then he looked up at Missy. “Is someone coming?”

“Yeah, they said they’d be here soon,” she replied.

“Okay, Kaylin, you’re going to be fine,” he tried to comfort her.

Kaylin sat up but became extremely dizzy, so she lied back down. “Mase, I’m really dizzy right now,” she said.

“Okay, well just stay with me, Kay. Someone’s going to be here really soon,” he said as he grabbed her hand that was closest to him. He was too preoccupied with Kaylin to notice the death glare Missy was shooting at Kaylin.