Brent drops in above. Such an aggressive line; no wonder he goes so big. I count the rotations on his final hit. One, two, three. I think. He spins so fast it’s hard to tell.

“Was that a ten eighty?” I say when he pulls up alongside me.

He grins. “Yeah. I was going for a twelve sixty, but never mind.”

“You went huge. Don’t you get scared?”

“Only when I’m watching you.”

“Shut up.”

“I mean it, Mills. You were way on the edge on that last run. Cool it a bit, hey?”

“What? You’re the last person I expected to hear that from.”

“Sorry. Um, I’m going to grab a snack if you want to—”

“No.”

He heads off to his backpack.

Odette pulls to a stop beside me. “Are you okay?”

I blow out my breath. “Brent just told me to cool it. Such a bloody hypocrite.”

“It’s hard riding with someone you care about. But you have to separate it. Otherwise . . . Pfft. They are holding you down like an anchor.”

It’s so true. And how can you bust big air with an anchor?

“We go up again?” Odette says.

“No. You go. I need to psych myself up.” I want to watch Saskia and see where she drops in from.

“Okay,” Odette says. “Cross your fingers. I will try my inverted spin.”

Odette and I spotted each other on the trampoline yesterday.

“Good luck,” I call as she rides off.

Dale sits on a snowbank drinking a Smash. I regret ever trying the stuff. I’ve cut down to a single can a day now and I’m aiming to quit altogether. Once you get into the habit of not sleeping, it’s hard to break. I think I need stronger sleeping tablets.

Here comes Saskia. I strain to see. Damn—she still goes higher. I look the other way as she rides past me to the tow. Curtis is right behind her. Whatever he did to his shoulder, he’s not letting it hold him back.

“You should go for a Tail Grab on that last spin,” he calls to Brent as he rides past. “You’d be able to hold the grab longer.”

Curtis ranked number one in the UK last year and Brent ranked number two, but the way Brent’s riding this year, he might reverse that. Why’s Curtis helping him? But if Brent thinks there’s anything odd about it, he doesn’t show it. He just nods thoughtfully, like he’s picturing it in his head, and bites into his apple.

I chase after Curtis and throw myself onto the T-bar beside him. I want to see what he’s playing at.

“Thought you’d be down at the hospital,” I say.

“Jacinta didn’t want me to miss training,” he says.

“How is she?”