CROWD FAVOURITE - Mason Thames x OC

♡Running Late♡

I was late, I am never late, why now, why when I am three days away from my last competition before the 2022 winter Olympics. Of course, it goes this way though, I am walking as fast as I can with my Skate bag and training bag, down the streets of Vancouver. My phone was on with maps app showing me directions to the skating rink that my teams was training at, it says I am only a five minute walk away so I should only be about seven minutes late when I get inside.

As I continue to speed walk with my head down looking at my phone, I don't notice the small group of people only twenty meters ahead of me. As I run into them I drop my Skate bag on my foot, "ой, какого черта!" ("Ow, what the hell!") I howl out.

"Shit, are you okay, I'm so sorry, oh my god, I didn't mean too." A voice rushes out as they pick up my bag. I look up to see a trio of two boys and a girl, they all look to be about the same age as me. The curly haired boy hands be back my skates and gives me a small smile.

"Thank you, I'm very sorry." I say in my thick accent l, hoping he could understand me.

"No that's fine, I'm Mason, this is Miguel and Maddy. Where are you off to in such a rush anyway?"

"Mason, can't you read, her jacket says Russian National Skating Team, she must be going to training or something." The girl I assume named Maddy tells him in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes, I am going to my training, and I'm very sorry but I'm late and I want to Skate on Thursday, so I have to go." I exclaim as I hurry off into the doors of the ice rink. I breath in the cold air and run into the change rooms to swap my sweatpants to leggings and make sure my hair is done up tight. Once I'm ready I run into the gym to warm up with the rest of my team.

"Екатерина, почему вы опоздали, это недопустимо, вам виднее!" ("Yekaterina, why are you late this is unacceptable, you know better!") My coach Eteri Tutbertize yells as I enter and rush over to where her Daniil and Sergei are sitting.

"Мне очень жаль, что я встретил американцев, и они продолжали со мной разговаривать. это больше не повторится" ("I'm so sorry I ran into some Americans and they kept talking to me. This won't happen again.") I explain to her avoiding eye contact. She give me a nod and points for me to join Sasha.

"привет Екатерина как дела сегодня?" (Hello Yekaterina how are you today?") Sasha greets me with a smirk.

"не фантастическое начало дня, но у меня все в порядке, а ты, Саша?" ("Not a fantastic start to the day but I'm okay how about you Sasha?") I giggle slightly nudging her, I have always been close with Sasha, she was like an older sister to me, I mean I saw her more then I saw my real sister, but she has always been supportive of me and I will be forever trying to repay the favour.

"да, я в порядке." ("Yeah I'm good.") She replies, as we go back to stretching and warming up our bodies for the next few hours to come.

After an hour we are stopped by Eteri, "всем одеваться на лед и встретиться со мной там через двадцать минут, быстро." ("Everyone get dressed for the ice and meet me there in twenty minutes, quickly."). We all rush out the gym and into our changing room.

"Я не могу поверить, что ты опоздала, Екатерина, ты никогда не опаздывала!" (I can't believe you were late Yekaterina, you are never late!") Anna laughed.

"Я знаю, Анна, я проснулся поздно, а потом столкнулся с американцами, и это еще больше отстало." ("I know Anna, I woke up late and then ran into some Americans and that put me even further behind.") I complained.

"американцы? но мы в Канаде." (Americans? But we are in Canada.") Sasha says with a confused look on her face.

"Саша, везде американцы, они, наверное, здесь на соревнования." ("There are Americans everywhere Sasha, they are probably here for the competition.") Anna explains to the red head. Once we are all dressed we tie up our skates and head to the ice rink. I make sure to have a packet of tissues, my drink bottle, extra hair ties and my teddy with me as I know there will be media taking photos of us. The air became even cooler as we opened the large blue doors and walked to the rink gates. The clicking of cameras became more obvious as I began skating, making sure I was ready to do whatever Eteri wanted when she arrived. I did a couple of jumps, my 2A, 3L and 3F were my best jumps at the moment but I was working on perfecting my 4A and 4S as they were in this seasons long program.

"Хорошо, давайте начнем с четырех в каждом одиночном прыжке, пяти в каждом двойном, восьми в каждом тройном и двенадцати четверных, которые вы можете сделать, а затем мы перейдем к коротким программам." (Okay everyone let's start with four of every single jump, five of every double, eight of every triple and twelve of whatever quads you can do, then we will get into the short programs.") I heard Eteri yell towards us from the fake judges table she had set up on the sideline. I began with my 1S moving onto the 1F and so on, when I got to the quads I was nervous and that showed because I couldn't seem to land any of my 4S's. "Екатерина, что ты делаешь, тебе нужно за три дня сделать эти прыжки!" ("Yekaterina what are you doing, you need to be able to do these jumps in three days!") She shouts at me. I have been told that I am one of Eteri's favourite students, and most of the time it shows but sometimes I feel as if she hates me, I know that she is right and I really do need to be able to do this specific jump in the competition, and I know that she is one of the best, if not the best figure skating coach in Russia and I am very grateful to be her student but I don't know how people who she doesn't like as much as me handle it. I Skate over to her, my eyes stinging with tears threatening to fall, I try my hardest to keep them down, "вам нужно иметь более сильные ноги, когда вы собираетесь приземлиться, вам нужны эти прыжки, если вы хотите победить." ("You need to have stronger legs when you go for your landing, you need to have these jumps if you want to win.") She spoke with an annoyed tone.

"Я правда пытаюсь, но это не работает." ("I really am trying, it's just not working.") I say a tear finally slipping down my cheek, I quickly wipe it away before any photos are taken.

"тебе нужно больше стараться, эти простые вещи должны быть идеальными для Олимпийских игр." ("You need to try harder, these simple things need to be perfect for the Olympics.") She replies, I nod and Skate back out to the middle of the ice to try again.

I hope this chapter was alright. Thank you for reading.