Sunnycrest was a town resting at a high elevation to begin with, but the journey from Sunnycrest to Bald Ridge was still a constant climb for the yellow Sunnycrest school bus. The highway wound through the mountains, past high cliffs and steep drops. After only an hour of driving, the cheerleaders were beginning to see plowed snow piled by the roadside. Winter came a lot earlier to Bald Ridge than it did to just about any other town in America.

The town itself had the kind of pristine natural beauty and quaint homespun charm that only become possible through reams of draconian zoning regulations. Log cabins with snow-covered roofs interacted unobtrusively with the surrounding woods. The football field was nestled cozily within a horseshoe of steep hills, which rose high over the bleachers and were blanketed with tall, snow-capped pine trees.

The Bald Ridge Yellow Yetis were no slouches. Like in Paranske Falls, there were a lot of tourism dollars behind Bald Ridge's team. They had talent both on the field and on the coaching staff, and were solid on both offense and defense. Plus, the home team advantage was real. Many of Sunnycrest's plays were broken up by the home crowd's infamous Yeti Yodel.

With a score of 27-27, the game went into overtime. Bald Ridge scored a field goal quickly, raising the score to 27-30 and making the cheerleaders and the away fans very nervous. Being subject to high school overtime rules, Sunnycrest had to at the very least score a field goal if they wanted to keep the game going.

If Kirk was nervous, he didn't show it. His hands were steady and his eyes sharp when the ball snapped into his hands. On the first down, his pass was dangerously batted to the turf. On the second, the tight end gained them a few yards with a run that still left them short of the line to gain.

Then, on the third down, Kirk ran the option. For a split second Kirk and his running back faced off against a Bald Ridge defender. During that blink of an eye, Kirk read the defender. The Bald Ridge boy thought the the handoff was coming. So Kirk held his arm out to the running back...but kept the ball.

By the time the defender could correct his path, Kirk was past him. He sidestepped a second defender from the left, only for a third to close in at him from the right, diving for his legs. Kirk hurdled the boy's grabbing hands, landed on his feet...and trotted into the end zone.

The away section erupted in cheers. The band played a triumphant, brassy paean of joy. Lindsey let out a whoop and hugged Chase in pure excitement before the squad began another cheer. When the clock expired the score was 33-30, with Sunnycrest the victor.

Kirk took off his helmet and he and the rest of the team exploded in youthful exuberance, hollering and throwing their arms around each others' shoulders before the uproar finally shaped itself into a chant: “STATE! STATE! STATE!”

Alicia was so overcome with joy she rushed the field. She barged into the mass of guys and gave Kirk a kiss. “Kirk, you were awesome! You were awesome!” she exclaimed.

As the crowd began to file out and the players started heading for the locker room, Alicia held Kirk back and said, “Hey, the girls are staying here for the weekend! We're all going to go skiing!”

“Oh, really? Good for you, sounds fun!”

“You should stay too, Kirk!” suggested Alicia. “We'll be staying at the lodge! Including meee!” She hugged him and looked up at him sweetly. “If you stayed, I'm SURE we could get our own r-room. You know, one where we can be alone...miles and miles away from our parents...”

Kirk smiled obliviously. “Sounds like fun, Alicia, but I dunno, skiing's not really my thing!”

Alicia's face fell. “Oh...”

“Plus, now that we're going to state we're gonna be practicing morning, noon and night! I can't relax now!” He winked. “You stay and have fun, alright?”

“Hey dude, you coming?” called a guy from the team, standing at the locker room door.

“Yeah, bro!” said Kirk, pulling away from Alicia and jogging over. He turned back and waved. “See ya, babe!”

“Y-yeah, see ya!” she replied, forcing a smile to go with her wave. Once he was gone, she sighed.

“Oof,” said Lindsey, as she, Caitlin and Chase walked over from the sidelines.

Alicia cringed. “You guys saw that?”

“Yup,” said Caitlin. “Hey, at least you tried.” The other cheerleaders were leaving the field too, laughing and clearly in high spirits.

“It fine, Leash!” said Chase. “Much nice if Kirk here too, but it much fun just us too!”

“That's right!” said Lindsey, giving Alicia a pat on the back. “This weekend's ladies only! Now come on, let's go get our passes! There's still plenty of daylight; I wanna get on that snow!”

As they left, they did not sense the pair of eyes watching them from the woods above.

........

The cheerleaders went to the locker room and quickly changed into their street clothes. Naturally, none of them were going to go skiing without looking their best, and had brought specific outfits, just in case. Caitlin looked sleek in a red jacket and slim black pants that showed off her hips. Alicia had an insanely cute puffy pink jacket that fit her neatly without looking bulky, with white pants and a matching winter hat with a pink puff on top. Lindsey's pants were canary yellow, boot cut, and on top she wore a tight blue sweater that bared her toned stomach. She had ski goggles on top of her head. Chase wondered if she would push her cyclopean bangs aside when it came time to pull the goggles over her eyes, or if they were just for decoration.

“Really?” asked Caitlin, looking at Lindsey's belly button. “You're going to ski in that? It's freezing out there.”

“Once the blood and adrenaline start pumping you don't know the difference,” said Lindsey, revealing scantily clad skiing was something she'd done before. “Besides, just because it's cold out doesn't mean this belly button goes into hibernation. It needs love and attention all year round.”

Chase had a green jacket, tapered at her waist, with a collar of beautiful puffy fur. It was long enough to hang down over her black leggings, halfway down her thighs. She zipped it up and admired herself in the mirror, squeezing the fur as she did. “Fur so soft! More soft than fur wore in woods. What beast you skin?”

“I didn't make it or skin anything!” replied Alicia. “Besides, it's not even real.”

Bringing their duffel bags containing their cheer uniforms with them, they left the stadium and headed over to the lodge. Once there, they bought their weekend passes and booked an impressive suite.

“Oh wow, this is nice,” said Lindsey, dropping her duffel bag on one of the beds and walking to the balcony door. “Look at that view!” Bald Ridge itself was visible in all its glory, its dark cliffs and patches of trees contrasting artfully with its steep white slopes. The ski lifts traced two thin black lines up the mountainside.

“Is two beds gonna be enough?” asked Caitlin, looking at the two queens.

“They said the couch folds out, and Chase likes the floor...” said Alicia. “We'll make it work. We couldn't afford anything else.”

“But hey, at least we got a hot tub!” shouted Lindsey, opening the balcony door and walking out. The other three followed to take a look. It was advertised as a mountain air jacuzzi, and it lived up to its name. There were walls up around it to provide privacy, but they were low and there was no ceiling, letting in a lot of fresh brisk air and a beautiful view of the mountains.

“Now THAT'S nice,” commented Alicia. She closed her eyes against a breeze which ruffled her red hair and delivered unto her the scent of fresh pine trees.

“Do we have to go home?” agreed Lindsey.

Caitlin looked at the hot tub longingly. “What's the difference? Unless you packed a swimsuit to go skiing I don't know what good it does us.”

Lindsey stared at her, then laughed. “Oh, you sweet summer child.”

“Don't call me that,” said Caitlin, annoyed.

From there, they went over to the rental shop to pick out there skis. Skis in all colors and types were hanging on every wall, including behind the clerk.

“Oh! Them skis?!” asked Chase, pointing at them.

“Uh, yes? Those are the skis,” confirmed the clerk.

“Wow! So much skis! Them much more big than thought!” remarked Chase.

“Pick out any kind you want, Chase!” encouraged Alicia.

They spread out around the store to look at the skis. Caitlin was eyeing a fuchsia colored pair when a voice said, “Caitlin! There you are!”

Caitlin jumped and turned around. Flor was there, an excited smile on her face. “Flor! There YOU are!” she echoed, in a panicky sort of way.

“I tried to find you after the game, but you disappeared!” said Flor, as Caitlin quickly looked around to see if any of the others had seen her yet. “So I figured I'd check here!”

“Ha, yeah, what a coincidence...”

“Wow, you look great. Nice jacket. Popular girls are so trendy...” Flor trailed off, distracted by Caitlin's distraction. She raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay? You're acting weird.”

“Hi, Flor!” shouted Chase, approaching the two of them.

Caitlin's heart sank. Flor was struck dumb for a moment. “Oh, uh, yeah! Hi, Chase!” She glanced at Caitlin, then back at Chase, and asked them both the same question but with different meanings: “What's going on?”

“Us go ski!” announced Chase. “You ski too, Flor?”

“Huh? Flor's here?” asked Alicia, as she and Lindsey walked over. Flor gave Caitlin another confused look.

“Hey, Flor!” said Lindsey. “Going skiing, huh?”

“Well, yeah,” said Flor, “I had plans with-” She saw Caitlin's eyes, which implored her not to mention what they were up to. “Plans with myself, to go skiing today. And that's exactly what I'm doing.”

It was kind of an odd way to answer the question, but Alicia rolled with it. “Well, awesome! Wanna team up with us?”

Flor grinned. “Uh, yeah! Sure!”

When Alicia, Lindsey and Chase went back to shopping, Caitlin pulled Flor aside and explained what happened.

“Ah, I see...” said Flor, when Caitlin was done. “They stole my idea.”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Caitlin nodded. “And I couldn't say anything or tell them I had other plans with you, because-”

“Because they don't know we've been hanging out?” smirked Flor. “Gee, I couldn't tell.” She gave her a mischievous look, then turned to look at some skis. “Now, I wonder what you were trying to hide? Could it be that the world isn't ready for our love?”

Caitlin laughed. “Uh, no? I was GOING to say that I didn't want them to get the wrong idea about us.”

“Sure you were,” Flor teased.

Though Flor seemed to be in good spirits, Caitlin still felt guilty. “I understand if you're mad. I don't want you to think it's because I'm ashamed of you, it's not that at all. I think you're really cool, Flor.”

The bell above the door rang as somebody else entered the store. Flor looked at it, then at Caitlin. “I'm not mad, Caitlin. I know how people talk. You can't do anything in our town without everybody knowing about it. I'm just kind of disappointed. I was really looking forward to having you all to myself this weekend.”

Caitlin smiled. “We'll find a way to get some time alone. I promise.”

Since the skis were mostly confined to the walls, the rental place's floor had plenty of room for touristy merchandise. Hats, shirts, build-a-yeti plushies, it was all there. A mug caught Chase's eye, so she took it off its shelf and looked at it. It was a dark blue mug with a stylized drawing of a golden-furred sasquatch's hairy head and shoulders.

“Yell yet!” recognized Chase.

“Hmm?” asked Lindsey, looking over from the pink top she was inspecting. The words SKI BALD RIDGE were printed on the chest in white lettering. “Oh, right, yellow yeti.”

“Us see him at game!” remembered Chase. He had been on the other team's sideline, jumping around and entertaining the crowd with his antics.

Alicia smiled. “That was the mascot for the other team. They're named after that guy on the mug.” She nodded at it. “The Gold Sasquatch of Bald Ridge.”

Chase knew all those words but one. She looked back at the mug, confused. “Sassy. What Sassy?”

Caitlin and Flor rejoined them. “You know about monkeys, right Chase? You saw them in that movie, remember?” asked Caitlin.

Chase did remember. “Yes! Little men, much fur!”

“Yup,” said Alicia. “Well, sasquatches are like the missing link between humans and monkeys.”

“They're generally regarded as a myth,” said Caitlin. “There have been a lot of supposed sightings, but no hard evidence.”

“And a lot of those sightings happened in this area! Sightings of a sasquatch with yellow fur!” said Flor. From the excitement in her voice it was obvious she felt the 'myth' classification was a bit too pessimistic. “The most famous, of course, being the Burkhardt film!”

“The what?” asked Lindsey.

“You'd recognize it if you saw it,” said Flor. “The one where's he's walking by, and then he turns back and looks at the camera...”

“Oh yeah.”

“Whether he's real or not, he's the second-biggest tourist attraction in Bald Ridge. People come here from all over the world and try to get a glimpse of him,” said Alicia. “You can even go to the place where they shot that film and get your picture taken there.”

This all sounded very interesting to Chase. “Maybe US see!” she piped, clenching her fists with excitement. “Want see yell yet!”

Caitlin laughed. “I wouldn't get your hopes up.”

....................

The Gold Sasquatch of Bald Ridge sniffed the air as it stood at the edge of the high school parking lot. It was warmer than the air in the woods, especially over the blacktop. It didn't hold scents as well.

No one was around. The sasquatch wandered over to the football field and peered through the chain link fence.