Head Over Wheels

5- ULISSES

"Stop! Stop! For the love of God, stop right now, before one of you breaks a leg or a neck! You are not listening to me!" Jana yelled for the fourth time that afternoon."Just get some water and take ten".

Adapting a ballet into a skating choreography was not an easy feat, to begin with. And Jana seemed to regret having been so ambitious. With merely two months left for rehearsals, her plans started to feel more and more insane by the minute.  But if Jana was certifiable, what to say of me, who agreed to take part on it as my second chance debut into figure skating?

Throughout the last month or so, all of the cast had intensive skating practice and workout sessions. Before my mechanic leg, I was beyond advanced, I was cocky. After winning competitions and collecting medals like Sonic collected rings, I took skating for granted.  I could do an axel with my hands tied behind my back. Having a mechanic limb meant I had to reprogram my brain to put my weight on the wheel and find my balance to do the spins and the footwork, basic parts of the choreography. In short, I practically needed to go up three levels in that timeframe.  That meant working out at the gym and wearing my skates for so long they were practically attached to my feet, like a weird version of Dr Octopus from Spiderman. 

But if it was challenging to relearn the technique, something I had down cold from when I was six, it was nothing compared to how hard it was to attach that to the choreography. To help us with that, we also had a ballet and jazz dance coach enlisted. And my ballroom dance experience turned out to be quite useful. 

We were separated by groups, according to the scene, but Estrela and I had to be present for every scene, sometimes just to watch. Fortunately, not everyone was present for our rehearsals. It was one thing to fall doing something fun and exciting like a triple Lutz  (Not that I could do a triple Lutz at the moment), another was having everyone witness my basically landing wrong and and accidentally sweeping Estrela off her feet as I fell. Not in the best way. 

"Sorry, again, about that", I told Estrela as soon as we sat down. She was holding an ice bag to her forehead.

"I'm suing" she said, although she was smiling under the ice. "I thought it was our knees and legs that were supposed to be sore. Not our heads."

"Hey, I said I was sorry." I said, cooly. 

She picked up the tone in my voice and blushed.

"I'm sorry. I was insensitive. That was...

"Kind of rude. But ok. Never mind."

"No it is not. It's just like me, putting my foot in... I mean, I didn't mean... 

I laughed. She was making it so much worse!

"Whatever, Estrela." I said, trying to change the subject. "I think we're both exhausted. You know what I do when I get home? I take a shower, eat something, leave my leg charging, put on a mind-numbing TV show and fall asleep immediately. That's how tired I've been.

She blushed again. But laughed softly.

"I charge my leg. That sentence will never not be funny".  She said. "But if you're not too tired tonight, Gabi and I are having tapiocas after practice. You are welcome to join us if you want."

"You sure?"

Maybe she wasn't blushing, just flushed from practice, especially her forehead and her cheeks. Her french braid looked dishevelled, with loose hair strands sticking to her face. Her uniform shirt looked so wet, I could practically make out the outline of her sports bra. It was my turn to feel my face turn hot and look away, thanking the heavens no one could read my mind. I just hoped she didn't notice me stare at it for too long.