October Academy

Chapter 22

It's Districts day. The first skating competition of the year.

When I get to the courtyard, Perry, Xander and Acacia are waiting beside the bus. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" I grin.

"Wishing you good luck of course," Perry beams.

"Yeah, break a leg," Xander says normally, as if nothing ever happened between us, as if we never fought at all.

"You two good now?" Acacia says, resting her head on Xander's shoulder.

"Peachy," he says with a somewhat forced smile.

"Still waiting on my apology," I joke with a wink.

"Dream on," he says.

Neither of us have ever apologised before. It goes without saying that two stubborn people never lose.

I say goodbye to my friends then mount the bus.

I take the first seat I see on the bus. There's about five or six ice-skaters in each grade, all the way from seventh grade to senior year. The bus is pretty crowded because half of them were allowed to bring siblings.

I text Ben to see if he's coming to watch. I forgot to organise it with him sooner! I'm such an idiot. Oh well, it's just districts.

We go to an ice-rink an hour away. The ride is quiet, murmuring with anticipation. The figure skaters are all nervous, terrified of failing in front of everyone. The other half of the bus is asleep, since we had to get up so early to make it here on time.

I'm one of them. I fall asleep instantly, the gentle hum of the bus lulling me to sleep like my own personal lullaby.

Once we finally make it to the arena, I'm feeling much more refreshed, but still sad I couldn't have napped for any longer.

The senior competition isn't until 12:00, which means I have a few hours to kill before I have to do my performance.

I think the most practical thing to do would be study – but, statistically speaking, the chances of me doing homework are astronomically small. I get changed into the sparkly outfit Acacia got me while the junior category begins.

Finally, the senior competition begins. After seniors, individual skating is finished and they'll be announcing the winner before starting the pair skating competition.

There's about five other schools, about two girls from each will compete against me. Which means, I'm competing against Alyssa.

The top three girls will get chosen to move forward to regionals. I've made it to regionals every year. In fact, last year I made it to nationals too, but dropped out because Tim's funeral was the same week. And I was a mess. We were in the national spot for partner skating too. We would've looked so good with that gold medal.

But we never got the chance.

Alyssa's name is called over the loudspeaker and I watch her dramatically walk onto the ice, with poise and mock confidence. I know she's scared out of her mind right now. She's bubbling with anxiety – I can see it when her eyebrow slightly twitches.

She stands out against the ice, her brown skin warming up around her like a glowing light. Her long dark hair is pulled up into a bun, sparkling pins are pressed into it, like glowing snow drops. She looks magnificent: she always gets top score for physical presentation.

She stuffs up when it comes to landing the complicated moves. She shakes when she's nervous, enough that it puts her off balance, enough that she wobbles in the slightest, enough that the judges notice. And they always notice. She cares too much.

When her routine is over, I watch her shakily exit off from the ice. Her forehead drips with sweat but her makeup covers up how red her cheeks must be.

Next it's my turn and I know Alyssa is a tough act to follow, even though she makes minor mistakes.

The song Mr Takahashi chose for me was the main one from swan lake. I've only ever seen the Barbie version so I'm not entirely sure what the actual movie was about.

I take a deep breath before the song begins. Every movement, every slide, every push is flawless, elegant, intentioned. I glide across the ice as if I was part of me, an extension of myself.

My whole routine is over within what feels like seconds. I get so caught up in skating that I'm almost completely on auto-pilot, like I'm a mindless zombie just following orders.

I like it, how I almost black out while I skate, because if I had to listen to my thoughts I would get too distracted and forget what I'm doing.

The crowd applauds loudly, in a way that means I must've been flawless. That's when I notice someone in the crowd who I didn't realise was here before.

Darcy.