Passion

Chapter 5

This is the closest one I could find of Carmella.

        Once we arrived at the rink, we went our seperate ways. She and I had different friends in different places, so we didn't really talk all that much before practice. I'm only friends with Zoe, who is plenty to handle by herself. She's the sweetest being in the world when it comes to strangers, but when she's around her friends? She's the sassiest, most sarcastic person anyone will ever have the pleasure of meeting. It's not a bad sarcasm, she's actually usually relatable and relevant to be honest. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a crush on her a while back, but I fell out of it; we were just best friends now. In fact, I couldn't really see her as anything else now, especially taking the fact that she was a lesbian into consideration.

        We loved to have discussions about philosophy, since she liked the subject just as much as I did. We loved to share ideas and criticize others, which was what we were currently doing. God, I could do this for hours. We talked about the subject while we stretched, loosening up our muscles for the exhausting practice. Eventually though, it was time to head to the ice, and we walked together to the rink. When I looked to the center, I saw Coach Le Fleur practicing a routine from her competitive days.

        She was an amazing skater who had fought really hard to get to the olympics, but fell to third place due to the judges being racist, instead of getting first (like her outstanding routine deserved). She counted it as a win though, and retired on a high note and became a skating coach. She had been coaching longer than I'd been alive, so she was experienced and knew just how far to push her students, me included. Practice was never easy, but I honestly liked that, I would've been the average skater if she hadn't pushed me.

        This woman changed my life, but I had yet to see whether it was for better or for worse.

        When she finished her routine, she called everyone over. Skaters filed onto the ice, and within seconds the few skaters had formed a semi-circle around her, waiting for instructions. We started warming up, doing basic stretches on the ice, eventually practicing lutzes, toe-loops, and axels. I was in the middle of practicing a double axel when Coach asked us to gather up.

        "Alright, everyone, we will be working on triple loops again today, so find an empty area and practice the prep steps."

        Everyone immediately did as told, me included. I might as well practice it a bit more before showing her; I wanted to show her I perfected it.

        After I finished perfecting my form for my prep steps, I skated over to Coach, deciding that I wanted as much time as possible to work on a quad toe-loop. She seemed surprised when I told her I landed my loop yesterday, and demanded I show her. Once I did, she applauded me, the other skaters giving me glares (aside from Zoe, of course, who gave me a thumbs up).

        Most of them were still having trouble with the form on the prep steps, so I knew they were just jealous. I knew that, but I still couldn't help but hate when it happened; I hated it when they were against me when I didn't even do anything wrong. I looked down for a second, but I realized that that was exactly what they wanted. At that thought, I straightened my back and held my head high, feigning confidence, knowing that it would piss them off. It was a trick I learned in fifth grade that at least made the assholes that bullied me think just a tad bit better of me.

        They should know not to mess with me.

        Coach hurried everyone to the walls, giving her plenty of room to provide an example. I guess these quads need a lot more momentum that triples. She started slowly, gaining speed as she skated backwards. When she reached the peak of her speed, she turned around, doing a left inside 3-turn and digging her left pick into the ice. She jumped; I was surprised at the height, but I guessed that was a way of making up for her slow-ish turns. After completing each spin, she landed smoothly on her outside edge. The whole group applauded her as she skated toward me.