SHAMELESS

FIFTEEN

NEW DANCE PARTNER??....

"....aren't you supposed to be rushing off to the Ice rink for your rehearsal??" Tessa asked just as the two friends made their way through the crowded school hallway, buzzing with their fellow learners' chatter toward the school's exit, it was past school time and everyone was going home. Letting out an exasperated sigh for the nth time that day, Lilliana looked down at her feet at her friend's question and slowly nodded her head.

"I am but....not today and judging by the way things are going this far, I don't think we're even going to make it to the finals" she mumbled, the clear tone of sadness and utter misery at the idea of her career in figure skating possibly reaching its end before it even began forcing Tessa to stop and turn to look at her friend "What‽‽ Why??" She asked scowling at the girl's solen face, it wasn't like her to be that pessimistic

Nodding her head Lilliana looked up at her friend and explained further "Cameron broke his leg last night and he won't be able to perform for atleast eight weeks"

"What‽‽ but what about the competition?? Isn't it in two weeks" the girl just shrugged her shoulders in defeat walking out of the school building "..ugh that little..." Tessa growled angrily and continued after her friend, they crossed the school's yard to the parking lot to meet with Jake and their new friend.

"Hey, what's wrong??" Jake asked worriedly looking from his seething girlfriend to her sad friend "....babe what happened??" He asked again brushing loose strands of Tessa's hair from her face and tugged them away behind her ear "Liana's partner broke his leg and now she won't be able to compete in the figure skating competition" Tessa said with a pout, the boy pulled her to him hugging her and kissed her forehead as if trying to kiss the frown from her face before mumbling a small sympathetic sorry to Lilliana.

"Not necessarily" Daren who was silently watching them said, The two girls looked at him confused "what??" Tessa asked gently pulling back from her boyfriend's embrace but remained in his arms, Daren shrugged "you can just find another partner" Lilliana let out a groan "right and where will we find one in two weeks" she said leaning against Jake's car in defeat, the feeling of helplessness clinging to her small body like a wet blanket, even if she found another partner.....how long would it take for him to learn the routine?? She was screwed.

The group fell quiet for a few minutes, each one of them thinking of ways to help the girl "I can do the dance with you" Daren suddenly said surprising everyone and smiled when Lilliana looked up at him....a gleam of hope shinning in her green eyes. Even though he hadn't known the girl that much, he could tell figure skating was important to her.

"you know how to skate??" Tessa asked, he nodded.

"I used to take my sister ice skating back home and she always forced me to join her....I'm a fast learner" with his friend humming in agreement, Tessa turned to her friend for her decision. The girl sighed, nodding her head. What other option did she have to compare him to, and in any way dancing with him was better than sitting and not doing anything.

"let's go talk to Mrs Bassett" she said, grabbing her backpack from the ground and started walking toward the ice rink with Daren following closely behind her.

"Ah Liana....I was just about to call you, come look at this" Mrs Bassett said when she saw the girl walking in through the middle doors. Lilliana made her way toward her coach and dropped her bag on one of the spectator seats as the woman started explaining "...I've come up with a list of candidates that we can audition to be your partner" showing her the list on the screen. It had about twenty pupils if not more, some of the names were familiar while most of them were new to the girl.

"actually I wanted to talk to you about the same thing" Lilliana started, giving the woman her tablet back and walked back to Daren "....this is Daren, he volunteered to help us....can we audition him today??" She introduced, standing next to him and nudged him forward with her elbow.

"Oh okay....go change and we'll get started" Mrs Bassett didn't object, the girl smiled grateful, grabbed her bag from the chair and lead the boy to the boys changing room.

"There should be a pair of track pants inside and some skates too, they belong to Cameron ...change into them and meet me back in the rink" she informed Daren, before walking in the girl's changing room to change. Stripping out of her school uniform, she put on a pair of shorts and a sports bra before going back to the ice rink to warm up while she waited for Daren.

He walked out a few minutes later and stopped next to the girl "Okay, let's start with something simple" Mrs Bassett said, clapping her hands together.

Slowly coming to a halt next to the boy, the two started skating side by side to the soft music playing in the background and listened to their coach's instructions. They started soft with scissors and crossovers, skating backward with both their hands spread out sideways. Then progressed to jumps and lifts which of course they did together as a couple to test the boy's capabilities, and while he seemed to be confident in himself uncertainty was clear in Lilliana's moves. Figure skating with a partner meant trusting him with yourself but Daren wasn't Cameron, whom she had been skating with since elementary school. She feared he would drop her and as a result her body unconsciously stiffened every time they would do a lift.

Noticing this, the coach stopped the music forcing the two to stop with Lilliana still up in the boy's arms. Gently putting the girl down back on her feet Daren turned to the Mrs Bassett for judgement but instead was met with an impressed smile "you did good" she complimented causing a smile to spread across the boy's face

" ...but I'm still going through with the auditions to weigh our options.....meet us here tomorrow after school for the results" the coach quickly added, Daren nodded before skating off the ice and disappeared back into the changing rooms to freshen up. Lilliana skated to the audience seats to change out of her skates and put her sneakers back on, only looking up when Mrs Bassett turned the corner of the aisle she was in and sat down next to her "You seemed tense, what's wrong??" She asked gawking the girl's face for her feelings.

"it's nothing" the girl said, shrugging it off and put on her school's white t-shirt over the sweaty sports bra before getting up and swung the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

Sighing, the coach said "Whomever your next partner will be....he won't drop you, you need to trust that or else all of this will be a waste, you've spent too much of your time and life practicing for you to lose the competition" also getting up and placed a hand over her shoulder to stop the girl from leaving just yet.

Lilliana also sighed looking down at her legs and said "I know, it's just ...hard"

"I know Lia and I'm confident that you'll get through this" Mrs Bassett said, gently patting the girl's shoulder in both understanding and encouragement before walking out of the locker rooms to get her bag by the rink along with her speaker and tablet. The two women waited for Daren before leaving the ice rink together.

"Are you still coming with me to the hospital??" Mrs Basset asked, just as they crossed the street back to the school's parking lot. Effectively jogging the girl's memory, with everything weighing heavily on her little brain she had completely forgotten about the hospital visit.

"Yes" She replied, pulling out her phone to inform her friend before following her coach to her car. They jumped in and drove out of the parking space heading toward a private hospital on the outskirts of the city, whereas Daren drove home with his friend and Tessa.