𝑭𝑰𝑮𝑼𝑹𝑬 𝑩𝑶𝒀 , 𝒌. 𝒘𝒖 [1]

7 || 100%

The smell of the ice, the sight of the glittery leotards, and the competitive aura, this was a figure skating competition and there was no doubt about it. Rue was surprised her mom didn't have anything to do that day. It seemed a little too good to be true but she didn't mind. Her mom went to sign some paper while she headed to the changing rooms. She had her skates in hand, roller and ice.

"Are you looking for someone?"

"Um... hi Daisy" She greeted in a confused tone. Daisy was facing the wall in front of them instead of her. Sort of like those "spies" trying to give secret messages in movies. Without responding, Daisy turned her head, yanked Rue's free hand, placed a folded paper in it, winked, put her sunglasses on and ran off. If Rue wasn't the most confused human in that moment, I don't know who was. She put her bag and skates down and opened the note.

"We've been meeting in coincidence so much I thought we could meet and have it planned this time. Step outside for a sec? - Ken Wu"

Oh my god, was Rue's initial thought. Of course she was going to go. But the competition was about to start and she barely knew this guy. Was this... a trap maybe?

What type of trust issues do I have to have to think that? As she questioned her questioning, she soon realized she already had her roller blades on and was already out the door.

They were eleven and from her perspective he could've even been younger. He couldn't hurt her, he just couldn't. She trusted him. At some point she just told herself to stop thinking. She just kept becoming more and more paranoid the more she thought about the situation.

"Isn't the competition going to start soon?" she said after seeing the boy afar.

"You came!" he said while turning around trying to hide the excitement in his voice. It was too noticeable to hide though. She knew it and he soon figured it out too.

"Come on Ken, the competition is gonna start soon and we don't have a lot of time" he looked at her with a confused look. He looked at his watch, looked at her and then looked back at his watch again, making sure he had the right time.

"It starts in two hours" he told her with a confused/obvious tone.

She shrugged "Better safe than sorry". He looked at her— and that's sort of all he did. He just looked at her. She intrigued him for some reason and he just couldn't get his eyes off her. What he couldn't understand is if that was qualified as creepy or not. He playfully rolled his eyes at her before heading over to take her hand and skating away with her. "Come on, you said you want to explore right?"

"I never said that!" she screamed as they both started laughing and kept skating, their hands still interlocked. He brought her to the Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze.

"Woah..."

"It looks even prettier at night"

She turned to him, with stars in her eyes. She never thought she'd ever become this relaxed before a competition.

"You're awesome," she told him.

"Seriously?" he asked in all seriousness.

"Well yeah, 100%! What, you've never heard a compliment before?"

He shrugged in response. Rue turned to him in disbelief.

"Wait, you're telling me, you're one of the best youth figure skaters —in America— and you've never heard a compliment before?"

The truth is, he had. Well obviously. His family was one of the most known in figure skating and, if all went well, he'd be going to the Olympics soon enough. The only problem was they would be half-hearted. Kind of like a "break a leg" when the person actually wants you to break a leg. He let out a "Whatever" while playfully rolling his eyes before bringing her into the maze. He was about to take her hand, but soon realized he was already holding it.

A few minutes passed as they laughed and had fun until a man passed in front of them with a San Jose Sharks jersey. It reminded Rue of the pond, hockey, her friends, and soon enough, the competition.

"Shoot Ken we gotta go!" she told her friend. Without explanation, she took her friend's hand and headed back the same way they came in. It was hard because of all the mirrors, which, soon enough, started to stress her. Everywhere she turned she only saw her reflection confirming she was about to be late. When they were outside Kenny stopped her.

"Rue... it starts in an hour" he said, while putting his two hands on his thighs trying to catch his breath. "Also you..." he started while pointing at her. "...are way too strong for an eleven year old".

She playfully rolled her eyes at him "Whatever figure boy, just lead the way". She said that while motioning to the side-walk they had to use to get back. He sighed in exhaustion before once again leading the way.

As they got to the front of the rink Ken saw two very angry looking women crossing their arms looking straight at them. "What? Why'd you sto-'' she started her sentence, placing herself next to him before seeing what he saw "-p. Crap." they slowly approached them while Rue whispered something in Ken's ear. "You know, we can still make a run for it"

"Rue!!"

"What?!" she asked him, shrugging innocently. It made him want to laugh but he knew it was not the right time. Rue may have been the maturest of the bunch but that didn't change the fact that she hated confrontation. They finally got in front of they're moms, who weren't so happy to see each other.

"Ken"

"Rue"

They both stared at their children, before they started screaming at them about how worried they were and how they could've had to forfeit the competition if they hadn't shown up sooner. The two kids looked at each other, then looked back at their mothers. They wanted to say something. They really did. But they didn't have a death wish, so they let it be. Ken's mom then turned to Rue's.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree now does it Claudine?" she then added a "Control your daughter next time" and walked inside. Ken and Rue exchanged confused looks before he followed his mother. They both knew their parents weren't really that mean. This was just the competition getting to their heads. Which wasn't very surprising considering they both worked in the business industry.

Rue compared Miss Wu to Mr.Banks so she could get a better perspective of her. He was a really nice man once you got to know him, but when it came to Adam and hockey, you'd think we'd be in a double personality disney tv show thing. He gets competitive with everyone, even the parents of the other players.

Rue turned to her mom who was still shocked by Miss Wu's outburst. She didn't look back at her daughter, not even a glance.

"Vas te préparer Rue," was the only thing she said before Rue headed inside to change. She wore a flowy sparkly blue leotard.

It was Ken's turn to compete next. He was nervous but not really. He'd been doing this since he was 4. It wasn't anything new.

There was one thing that kept bothering him though. "You're awesome," he remembered Rue telling him. He felt tingly all over his body and his face turned bright pink every time he thought about it. He told himself it was just because of the competition, but he knew it wasn't true.

He could tell himself it was just like any other compliment but this one was different. There was a tiny key detail that made his heart flutter every time he thought about it.

Her compliment was full hearted.

100%.

Translation:

Vas te préparer Rue :

Go get ready Rue