ice monarchs ; y.h

chapter 15

mar. 3, 2012 (23 days left)

i stood back up, stretching my shoulder back. "that was really good, i enjoy how you almost always bring your arms up when you jump." i nod my head, wiping the ice off of my side.

"if you want to get more rotations for your jumps, try to put more power in your jump, rather than putting power in your entrance, okay?" i nod again, and Tracy skates away from me, heading over to another skater.

i stayed looking at myself in the mirror, sorta wanting practice to already be over. my heavy breathing had sorta steamed the mirror up, so i skated closer to it, wiping off the condensation.

"that was a pretty bad fall." my shoulders slump, and i glance to see blondie behind me.

"it was, you did really good on that double lutz tho, looked amazing." she smiled, skating up right next to me. i turned back towards the mirror, playing with the condensation.

we sat in a comfortable silence, but it was clear as day that blondie next to me wanted to talk about something different. "stop staring at me and get to the point." i heard her clear her throat, and could see her straighten up in the reflection of the mirror.

"i'm jealous of you." i scrunch my eyebrows, turning towards her, "what?"

"i said i'm jealous of you." that is not what i was expecting to come out of ms. blondie.

"i'm sorry i heard you, it's just hard to wrap what you said around my head." she scoffed, turning to herself in the mirror.

"you're literally just... perfect. it makes no sense how someone, your age, can land a triple lutz. some people who have been skating twice as long as you aren't even able to land a triple toe loop. like make it make sense." i smile, feeling a sense of pride.

"i had a coach back at home who would push me beyond my limits... a bit too much but it still really worked out." i turned back to the mirror, squatting to play with condensation forming at the bottom of the mirror.

"and you let her?" i nod my head, putting tiny smiley faces that would sooner or later turn into crying faces.

"that doesn't make sense to why you're so flexible and agile. like with every jump you probably get some type of positive GOE because your entrance looks hella complicated, and you always have your arms up in the air." she continues rambling about everything, and i end up trying to hide a smile.

"hey. you're great too. your step sequences? out of the park. not only that, but you're musicality and your emotion during skating is so... ethereal. never get jealous because you are always amazing in something, okay?" i can't believe i just pep-talked a 22 year old.

the blonde girl nodded, and skated away from me. i faced the mirror again, preparing myself for my own step sequences.

-

"mei." i turned around, the water still dripping onto my hands. today was rough, tracy wilson had been nonstop questioning me about the consistency of my jumps and whether or not i would ever put them into one of my programs.

and i mean, i couldn't really say anything because she was a coach and i didn't want to seem rude, so instead i just went with the flow. it was fun, but now i feel like there's a hundred elephants on my back.

we started with my most consistent jumps, which happened to mean always starting out with my loops and sals. she would ask me to add a jump before it, or try to jump it from a stand still.

again i wasn't complaining much, but when it came to my flips... let's just say i now have a purple bruise forming on the side of my hip. it also wasn't helping that my shoulder was on fire the whole practice, now throbbing even more from falling on it too much.

"mei." i snapped out of the mini trance i had been in, looking up to Yuzuru. my fingers looked like prunes, and i placed the plate into the sink, turning the water off.

"yes? sorry were you talking to me?" he walked around the counter, sighing.

"are you sure you're ok? you've been out of it since we got to canada." besides the fact that i want to go home, yes i am ok.

"yea of course, i just need time to settle in." he nods, turning his back to me.

"if you say so." his tone was... strange. i raised my eyebrow, stepping around him to make eye contact with him.

"why'd you sound like that?" he avoided the contact, looking everywhere but back down at me.

"sound like what? in my opinion i sounded pretty normal." i scoffed, crossing my arms.

"you're the one acting strange, you aren't even looking at me." he tilts his head down, pretending to be looking at me, but our eyes wouldn't meet.

"yuzuru." he huffs, the puff of air reaching the little tuff of hair resting on his forehead.

i smile, but go back to being intimidating. "yuzuru what's going on in your head?" he finally makes eye contact with me, pouting.

"why did you say you didn't belong here?" i breathe out, not expecting to have to talk about this. i blink, turning my back to him, wanting to walk away.

"meinami you can't keep ignoring me." i inhale sharply, looking back at him, "stop calling me that."

"why?" i grimace, looking at his face again, "you know i don't like it when people call me by that name.

"you said i could." i sigh, my shoulders dropping.

"yuzuru, i liked it back at home, with my mom and brother. i only agreed to come here because i knew it would make you comfortable. after you're comfortable i'm going back to my own comfort space, and that's in japan." my tone had made it sound like i was begging to get out of here, and i could visibly see his shoulders stiffened, and i know he wanted to argue back.

Instead, he just grabbed my hand, dragging me into the direction of our shared room. the room had a really nice window that looked over Toronto, the sun had just began setting, the oranges and pinks really settling in.

Yuzuru plopped me onto the bed, telling me to stay put. I did, looking back out the window. the colors slowly disappeared being switched with darker shades, like blue and black. he came back, sitting down next to me, placing a piece of paper in my hand.

"that's the ticket for your round trip. you fly back on april 12. i won't stop you from flying back, but if you stop yourself i really wanna see you tear it." i looked down in my hands, looking back at yuzuru standing up.

"i love you." he leaned down, placing a chaste kiss on my forehead.

he walked away, leaving me in the dim lights of the room..