Melting Ice

Chapter 33

"We're here!"

Jesslia announced as she hurried towards her family and friends from the entrance of the rink. Lucion was right behind her, though the atmosphere between the two was not what the rest were similar with. It was obvious, to the people who knew the two of them well, that the two were awkward with each other.

In fact, it was so bad that the two had spent the whole flight back in silence, the awkwardness overwhelming and eating into them though they did not do anything to remove that discomfort between them. Lucion had other things occupying his mind and Jesslia, she barely managed to escape that by forcing herself into the world of books. She did not know what Lucion was doing, but she did everything she could to escape the uneasiness.

The two had not exchanged a single word to each other since they had met in the morning. Even their way to Soran High and the ice rink was filled with an unusual silence and Jesslia had never felt so glad that the two of them were surrounded by more people.

She quickly sat next to Immlia, who was about to turn around and ask her questions about the last few days when the Principal of Soran High tapped on the microphone lightly, easily catching everyone's attention. The lady was standing in the centre of the rink, next to her was the captain of the school's figure skating team. The captain, Calle, was to be the MC of the competition that night, as well as the representative of the school's figure skating team. The school team was one of the five judges that night, since they were the few in school who actually knew what was going on. Immlia was kept away from judging that night despite being part of the school's team, all due to the fact that she was a close friend and relative of Jesslia and Lucion respectively.

The Principal went on with her welcome speech to all guests, mainly people from the national team invited by Immlia, before going on to introduce the programme for that night. The first performance was a short medley by the school team, with Quince and Natalye going as the second performance and Jesslia and Lucion going as the last performance. The lady left the rink comically, since she was not wearing any skates and had to struggle her way out, so much that one would wonder about how much effort the lady had used in order to enter the rink. Calle took over the Principal on using the microphone and her excited tone made the crowd more rowdy than they already were.

Immlia, who was already in her performance costume, quickly stood up to join her teammates by the entrance of the rink. The school team was ready to start with their performance, a short Disney medley with Immlia acting as one of the Disney princesses. Calle quickly introduced her team, and the team of figure skaters made their way to their respective spots on the wide piece of ice.

Beauty and the Beast took the intro of the medley, blowing the audience's minds right from the start. The music transit into Sleeping Beauty, then Snow White, Mulan, Tangled, Aladdin, Little Mermaid and finally, Cinderella. Each portrayal of the princesses were almost perfect and spot on, with the iconic songs of each movie playing as the background music. Immlia awed the crowd with her perfect rendition of Cinderella, her graceful and elegant movements on ice giving life to the character as 'happily ever after' arrived. The male skater acting as Cinderella's prince joined Immlia, the two moving in full synchronization which was absent between the other pairs. The two ended the school team's performance with a faultless spiral spin and the crowd stood up, giving only applauses and standing ovations to the school team.

Calle moved to the centre of the rink, where her team were giving their appreciative bows, the girl thanked her team, dismissing them in little time though she did seemed to be extremely proud of them. The girl smiled, introducing and also giving cue to both Natalie and Quince to enter the rink. The two had changed to their performance outfit even before the school team had performed, not only observing the previous performance from the sidelines, but had also used the chance to show off their 'glamorous' outfits which was mainly made of over-the-board feathers and bling. The couple entered in their fastest speed, the smug look plastered all over their faces as usual as Calle introduced them out of courtesy.