Chapter 1: Half Term

Daniel had just finished his GCSE mock exams at the International School where he was a student in Palma, Mallorca, an island off the Spanish Mediterranean coast. He was almost 16 and lived with his Welsh father, a super-yacht captain and his Australian mother, who was a yacht broker. He enjoyed sports, especially soccer, but now that it was half term, he was excitedly looking forward to the annual school ski trip, this year to Andorra. The sixth formers were flying to France, but Dan and the other 13-16-year olds were going on a coach then ferry to Barcelona then coach to Andorra in the Pyrenees mountains which separated Spain from France. He had skied with his parents since he was 5 but had opted to go on the school ski trip with his friends as soon as he was old enough. Like most 15-year-old boys, he was more than a little interested in girls. His last girlfriend, Lucia had moved with her parents to Madrid the previous summer and he had only had a few dates since then which had resulted in more girl friends but no girlfriend. He was hoping that the ski trip might lead to something with Francesca in his year although he really had the hots for Isabella who had started at his school in September. The trouble was that she was only 13 and he had agreed with his friend Sol that fooling around with a 13-year-old was a bit pervy.

Isabella, known as Izzy, had had a crush on Daniel since her first day at her new school. She had been trying to figure out where her next classroom was and, noticing her looking lost, he asked if he could help and then took her to the classroom. She thanked him and gave him a beaming smile which she repeated with a “Hola Dan!” whenever they passed each other at school getting a big smile and a “Hola Izzy!” in return. Her English father was a logistics manager with a major international logistics company in Barcelona when he had been offered a promotion to head up their operation in Palma. Her mother was Spanish, from Seville and she worked in advertising. Izzy had inherited her mother’s Spanish looks and pretty face with her black hair, eyebrows and long eyelashes, olive skin and dark hazel eyes which Sol had called her ‘Come to bed’ eyes. She was slim and sporty with a nicely developing figure which Dan could not help noticing. Like Dan, she had been skiing from an early age and, living in Barcelona meant that they could easily get to the Pyrenees mountains for skiing at the weekend in addition to their family’s annual ski holiday. Izzy was really looking forward to going on the school ski trip with her friend Maria, who was the only one who knew of Izzy’s crush on Dan. Izzy was also wondering how she could get Dan to notice her.