𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵 𝑰𝑪𝑬,𝖭𝖺𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇 𝖧𝖺𝗐𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗌

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑵𝑬

𝑨𝑼𝑫𝑹𝑨 dropped the last of her boxes on the ground. She let out a long sigh, glancing at her empty apartment. The 20 year old just moved from her University in Texas to Maple Hills University. She needed to get away from Texas after the incident.

She moved her blonde hair behind her ears then opened one of her many boxes. The box read KITCHEN. Audra grabbed some dishes and started placing them in cabinets. This was gonna take awhile.

After about four and a half hours she finished setting up her apartment, it looked good. A sudden knock at the door startled the girl, she didn't plan to have anyone visit. Audra walked over to the door opening it slowly.

There stood two girls both smiling kindly, one stood in leggings and a cropped hoodie. She had light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.  The other stood with jeans and a cropped T shirt, her dirty blonde hair straightened to her shoulders.

"Hello." Audra said flashing the girls a friendly smile. "Hi! You must be Audra!" The girl with the brown hair says smiling. "I'm Anastasia." Her blue eyes wide with excitement.

The dirty blonde girl stepped forward. "Hi Audra I'm Lola." She said. "We heard you just moved in, Im also a figure skater." Anastasia said. Audra smiled, she was glad to have met another skater.

"Come on in." Audra said opening the door wider. Lola and Anastasia stepped in and looked around with amazement. "Your apartment is literally gorgeous." Lola said looking around with wide eyes. "Thank you!" Audra said smiling.

The three girls sat down in Audra's living room. "So why did you move to Maple Hills your senior year?" Lola asked suddenly. The question hit Audra like a truck, she wasn't prepared for it. "Um." She said quietly. Audra wasn't ready to get that in depth with these girls.

"Just, needed some new scenery." Audra said awkwardly. The girls continued to talk for hours about anything and everything, they knew that they were gonna be best friends.

"When are you gonna come to practice?" Anastasia asked as her and Lola walked to the door. "Tonight, I'm supposed to be meeting my partner." she said walking her new friends to her door. "Okay cool." Anastasia said giving her a smile.

Anastasia and Lola both gave Audra a hug before walking out the door. "Hey if you need us we are on the floor below you, first door to the right." Lola said flashing Audra a kind smile. "Okay Thanks!"

-᪥-

Audra grabbed her bag, shutting the car door. she glanced up at the big building. The rink where she would spend hours this year.

Today she would be meeting her partner, was she nervous? Yes. Would she admit that? No.
Audra didn't even know the boys name, all she knew is that he's been here longer than she had.

She pulled open the door walking through a hall and stopping at two big metal doors. She read the sign above the door.

-ICE RINK-
-Figure Skating-

She knew she was in the right place, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to open the door. She took a deep breath, was she ready to be on the ice again? She thought to herself.

"Come on Audra." She whispered to herself.

The girl pulled open the door walking in slowly. The rink was huge, bigger than the one she was used to skating on. Audra immediately spotted Anastasia and a boy standing on the ice.

Anastasia turned her attention to the blonde girl standing awkwardly by the door. "Audra!" She said excitedly. Anastasia skated over to the door of the rink. "Come on!" She waved her hand in her direction.

Audra smiled. She walked over, taking a seat on one of the benches. She pulled out a pair of white skates, putting them on and lacing them up. She wore black leggings, a long sleeve tight zip up, and her hair in two braids.

The girl stepped onto the rink, taking a breath. She smiled to herself, she was ready to be on the ice again. Audra skated over to Anastasia and the boy.

Anastasia took Audra's hand in hers pulling her close. "Audra this is Aaron my skating partner, Aaron this is Audra she's Jonah's new partner." Anastasia said smiling.

"So his name is Jonah" Audra thought to herself. A slim, older woman appeared by the door of the rink. This was Brady, Audra's new coach.

Audra skated over to Brady, smiling at her. "Hi I'm Audra, the new skater." She said softly. "Yes, Hello Audra. Nice to meet you." Brady said stepping onto the ice. A sudden loud bang erupted their short conversation. A tall, broad, blonde boy jogged into the Arena.

"Sorry I'm late coach, traffic was pretty bad" The boy says. "Mhm." Brady says rolling her eyes. The blonde boy skates over to the two who, have now been joined by Anastasia and Aaron.

"Jonah this is Audra, Audra this is Jonah. You two will be partners." Brady said pointing between the two of them. "Today Anastasia and Aaron have the rink. Tomorrow you all will. But today I want you two to get to know each other." Brady said. "Understood?" She asked.

They both nodded. "Good, now go." She said turning away. Audra looked up at Jonah, he was handsome she wasn't going to lie. She realized she was staring for probably to long and looked away quickly.

"Um, I know a coffee place we could walk to if that's ok?" Jonah asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Yea that's fine." Audra said. The two exited the rink, sitting down to change shoes.

Jonah and Audra made their way to the coffee shop. After they had both ordered and got their coffee the two sat down at a table outside.

Jonah took a sip of his coffee. "So, Your name is Audra..?" He paused, hoping she would fill in the blank. "Simmons, Audra Simmons." She said quickly. "And you?" She asked tilting her head. "Jonah Decker." He said. He gave Audra a small smile.

"So Audra, why did you move to Maple Hills your senior year?" He asked sitting up in his chair. Audra's breath hitched, did everyone wanna know why she moved.

"Just..got tired of Texas I guess." Audra shrugged, taking a sip of coffee. Jonah nodded his head slowly. "How long have you been figure skating?" He asked.

"Since about Middle school. What about you?" Audra asked the boy. Jonah's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, he was thinking.
"Maybe..freshman year of highschool." He said in an unsure tone. Audra nodded her head, not looking up from her hands.

"Hey, listen. I know this is weird for you, being your first year here. I just want you to know that if you need anything I'm here, I'm excited to have you as my partner." Jonah said in a soft tone. He reached over and grabbed her hand in his, smiling at her softly. Audra glanced down at their hands then back up and Jonah, she smiled. "Thank you."

The walk back to their cars was quite, not an awkward quiet just a comfortable one. The two said their goodbyes and parted ways. Today left Audra wondering, Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad.

                                     -᪥-