Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Eleven

ᎾN ᎢᎻᎬ ᎬᏞᎬᏙᎬNᎢᎻ ᎠᎪY ᎾF ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ ᎾN Ꭺ NᏆᏩᎻᎢ ᎢᎻᎪᎢ'Ꮪ NᏆᏟᎬ, ᎢᎻᎬ ᏴᎾYᏚ ᏩᎾ ᏚKᎪᎢᏆNᏩ ᎾN ᎢᎻᎬ ᏆᏟᎬ

***

"You sure this is a good idea?" Davey asked nervously.

"Of course it is!" Jack grinned. "When do I ever have bad ideas?"

"Well-"

"Don't answer that."

"You'll be fine," Jojo reassured. "It ain't that hard."

"Yeah, and you can always sit with me if you don't like it," Crutchie added.

Davey nodded and nervously bit his lip. The closer they got to the ice, the more afraid he became.

The other boys reacted completely differently from him. As the park came into view they all got excited and more energetic, loudly buzzing about how much fun it would be.

"There's so many people here," Davey observed when they arrived at the frozen lake.

"Not really. It's usually more crowded than this, today was a good day," Jack said. "You ready?"

Davey took a deep breath and nodded. He took a hesitant step onto the ice, then another... and promptly fell on his face.

His ears burned as he tried to get up. He was starting to stand, but his feet slid and he ended up on the ice again. Davey could hear muffled laughter from the others. Romeo and Race weren't even trying to hide their amusement.

Jack held his hand out and pulled Davey to his feet. "You okay?" He grinned.

"Yeah," Davey mumbled.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Everybody falls sometimes. You just gotta get used to it first."

Davey nodded and tried to take another step. Jack immediately grabbed his arm, stopping him from going anywhere.

"You're going to fall again if you keep doing that."

"Doing what?"

"It ain't the ground!" Race exclaimed. "You can't walk on it!"

"You have to slide," Finch instructed, gliding across the ice.

"I don't know," Davey muttered, trying to copy the other boys.

"You'll get the hang of it! I know it!"

It was a bit intimidating, skating with the newsboys. They were very fast and comfortable on the ice. They were also rough. They seemed to be playing a game. They would skate close to another boy, barely any room between them, then swipe at their legs or kick at their feet in an attempt to knock them over. Davey couldn't understand what was so appealing about the game; falling on the ice hurt. Still, it seemed to entertain the boys well enough; he'd already seen four or five go down.

"That's it!" Jack encouraged. "See? You're getting it!"

Davey, feeling a bit more confident, tried skating a bit faster like the other boys. Race and Romeo shot past him almost knocked him over. His knees shook and he braced himself as he dropped, once again, onto the ice.

"I'm terrible at this," he muttered. This was unusual, him not knowing how to do something. He didn't like the feeling at all.

"Yes, you are," Les agreed. It seemed even his brother had picked up the skill and Sniper and Tommy were trying to teach him to turn.

"Don't listen to the kid," Jack advised. "You ain't that bad, you'll figure it out."

"I don't think so," Davey muttered. Still, he continued trying, giving the sport a fair chance.

After a half hour and dozens of more falls, Davey had pretty much given up hope. He skated over to the edge of the ice where it met the ground and got ready to take his skates off.

"Hey! Davey! What are you doing?"

"I think I'm just going to sit down."

"What? Why?"

"I'm never going to get the hang of this," Davey muttered, defeated. "I'll just watch-that'll be more fun."

"No it won't!" Jack argued. "Just give it some more time! You can't figure everything out in an hour. I've been doing this for years, else I'd look like you!"

"I know. It's just..." Davey scratched the back of his neck, biting his lip as he glanced around at the others. "Everyone else is so good at this."

"That ain't true!" Jack laughed.

"Sure it is!"

"Prove-" Jack was interrupted by a warning from behind him.

"Woah, watch out!" Henry cried, nearly plowing into Jack.

"Slow down!" Finch called.

"You're gonna fall!" Specs warned.

Sure enough, Henry crashed into Buttons and the two fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and ice skates.

"At least you're better than that!" Jack said. "Henry's been doin' this for years and he still ain't got it."

"Really?" Davey asked, starting to feel a bit better.

"Yeah!" Mike responded it. "He never got it!"

"And never will!" Ike snickered.

Davey stood up and carefully made his way back to the pond. "I guess I'll give it another try then."

Jack followed him and looked to where Henry and Buttons were getting back into their feet. He shot them a quick wink that Davey missed completely.

"Sorry again," Henry repeated. "You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Buttons shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Just keep skatin' and fall down every once in a while, okay?"

"You got it!"