tw: mention of suicide
"alright ladies, now that you've gotten your groups for your practice sessions– you may head into the dressing rooms to prepare" daniella lange, the main official for the competition, announced to the group of figure skaters. kate sat in the corner of the room, mentally placing herself into her competitive mindset.
her parents stood behind her, much like all the other skaters. in the world of young athletes, having a mother and father like kate's was more common than one would think. though it was unfortunate.
kate stood up, taking a deep breath in as she slung her duffle bag around her shoulder. "i'll see you out there" she spoke softly to her parents, they simply nodded in response. the girl turned on her heel to head into her respective dressing room.
there was something so frightening yet so exhilarating about competition days. kate thrived on getting to showcase her skills for a prize, but the pressure that came along with it was too much to bare at times.
as she sat on the bench inside the warm locker room, surrounded by groups of girls her age– kate laced up her skates and suddenly all her worries melted away. here we go. she told herself.
as practice concluded, all the girls swiftly made their way off the ice. kate stood outside the rink, her heart up in her throat as she pulled her slim jacket tighter around her. a part of her routine was watching the zamboni lay down fresh water on the ice before the competition started, it soothed her in an odd way.
as the large machine drove around the ice, she noticed the building beginning to fill up. she spotted her parents immediately considering they always sat in the same spot, right down in front. as she scanned the rest of the audience, a familiar boy entered her field of view.
all the air left her lungs in one quick exhale as a wide smile graced her features. she wanted to go say hello to him, but she knew she couldn't. he looked perfect, with his hair all ruffled in messy curls, his denim jacket covering his torso as he stepped over people to find a seat.
she hurried off into the locker room before the competition started, she had to wait a little while before her turn was up. meanwhile, nick had been taking in the sights as he just so happened to sit in the row above kate's folks.
after about a half hour, it was finally kate's turn. "now presenting contestant number five, kate montana" a man's voice sounded over the speaker system. nick sat up straighter at the sound of her name, "yeah katie!!!" he clapped loudly. he was easily the most heard voice in the crowd, some prestigious families look over at him in disapproval.
her eyes fell to him immediately, he had been smiling proudly at her. kate's mother turned around swiftly, eyeing him from head to toe. she opened her mouth to question who he was, but decided against it once she heard the beginning of kate's routine begin.
slow down, you crazy child
you're so ambitious for a– juvenile...
kate put everything out of her mind, except for the jumps and moves she had to do for her performance. billy joel's voice serenaded the building as she gracefully flew across the ice, the triple lutz jump weighing down on her mind. falling in front of anyone was humiliating enough, but if she fell in front of nick– she knew she'd be just mortified.
to kate's standards, she felt she had been doing a great job. but she knew she had to do whatever it took to land the final jump, she'd definitely hear an earful from her parents if she didn't.
with a magnificent effort, the young girl lifted herself into the air– spinning around gracefully as she landed perfectly on her blade. cheers erupted from the stands, one in particular came from a very excited nick andopolis. "that was awesome!" he laughed from his seat, looking around at all the high end individuals.
a shock was sent through kate's being as she finished out her routine. she couldn't seem to think about anything else after she landed the triple lutz. it felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
as claps filled the building, she skated off excitedly. for the first time, she was truly proud of herself after a performance. it was hard to have confidence when she constantly had people chopping her down.
nick wasn't too interested in watching the remainder of the contestants, but he stuck through it to see the award ceremony. he remembered how much kate had been stressing about that part of the competition.
the three finalists were called out onto the ice, this included kate, alyssa farrell and molly parker. two other well respected skaters in their section of michigan. butterflies filled kate's stomach as she stood beside them, the entirety of the audience with their eyes on the trio.
all the other extra words the skating official muttered into the microphone sounded like white noise to kate. she couldn't focus on anything else until she knew her place in the competition. suddenly the word bronze caught her attention.
"the bronze winner.. is alyssa farrell" the man announced with a tight lipped grin. a wave of relief washed over kate. the blonde stepped up on the podium as a slim woman skated over to hang the medal on her neck. each winner got a medal and a bouquet of beautiful hydrangeas.
"and the gold winner.... is molly parker!" as the words left the man's lips, kate could almost hear the sound of her heart shattering. a painful exhale left her lips as the brunette beside her let out a soft yelp. "oh wow!" she clasped her hands together, it was like something out of a movie.
meanwhile all kate wanted to do was disappear, she wanted anything but to stand up on the podium and receive a medal that labeled her: second best.
after getting the medal placed around her neck, she flew off the ice, not looking at anyone as she headed for the dressing room. suddenly a forceful hand grabbed her delicate arm. she whipped her head in the direction, eyes landing on her father. "just where do you think you're going?" he spoke with gritted teeth.
as if he wasn't bad enough, her mother appeared from behind him. the two of them led her off into one of the secluded hallways. "that was just terrible, kate! absolutely terrible" the older woman's words cut through her like a knife. she snatched the bouquet of flowers from kate's grasp.
kate couldn't help the tears from filling up her eyes. she looked up at the two adults with clouded vision. she didn't even try to speak, she just stood there to let them yell at her.
"your toe jumps were sloppy. you looked like a complete mess!!! how do you expect to ever amount to anything when you skate like that?" her mother spat angrily. the young girl in front of them wept, but that didn't seem to soften their emotions in the slightest. "second place" her mother stated in disgust as she grabbed the medal. she looked at it for a moment before dropping it and letting it fall against kate's chest.
"get your stuff and meet us at the car. i don't wanna hear a word from you the rest of the night" her father ordered her. and with that, the two were gone.
soft sobs emitted from her frail figure as she cried into her palms. she began replaying the routine in her mind, trying to imagine the mistakes her parents were talking about. in her opinion, she did a good job.
"hey!! katie!!" footsteps approached her, she quickly looked up at the sound of nick's familiar voice. "you did amazing!!! you totally....hey... are you crying?" he now stood in front of her, concern written on his face.
"i can't do this anymore, nick. i'll never satisfy them, NEVER" she cried out. his eyes searched her face, "satisfy who?" he questioned urgently. "my parents! god, all i do is get told how i'm not enough. how i'll never be enough. they're so disgusted with me, no matter what i do" she rambled.
"i'm their daughter. they made me. they brought me into this fucking world and meanwhile they completely hate me! for once... for once i actually feel like i did good. i feel like i have a good, solid performance and nope! second place! i really don't know what more i have to do" she ran her hand through her ponytail harshly, letting all her emotions unleash on the boy. "i'm trying. as hard as i can, and they still don't love me" the girl sniffled. her words crushed nick's heart into pieces, he couldn't understand how such a wonderful girl could be mistreated so horribly.
"i'm sure they'd finally be happy if i just went ahead and killed myself don't you think?" she barely got the end of the sentence out as nick leaned in to kiss her. his lips collided with her's forcefully, it was evident that he couldn't anticipate kissing her for any longer. kate immediately melted into it, all of her worries disappeared from her mind as she remained there with him.
nick held her face gently with his hands, he had to open his eyes occasionally as a reminder that he wasn't in fact dreaming. kate hummed against his lips, her fingers entangling in his hair. the very same hair she had admired from a distance for days on end. she set her arms on nick's as he caged her in.
"don't ever say something stupid like that, katie" he muttered, departing from their kiss. kate didn't know what to say exactly, her mind was still spinning from the moment they had previously shared. "i would never actually do it, nick...." she broke their eye contact, gaze falling down to her skates.
"yeah well i'm offended you'd even think to say it" he set his fingers underneath her chin to lift her face. "you were incredible out there, katie! i mean, with all your jumps and your dancing... it was badass!" he laughed, the sound of it made kate's heart flutter.
she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "there she is" he grinned at the sight of seeing her happy. her tear stained cheeks now flushed a light pink. "thank you" the girl smiled warmly.
nick reached his hand up again to hold the right side of her face, his thumb padded her cheek softly. "even if your parents don't believe in you... i do" he offered a sad smile. a soft grin graced her expression as she let herself fall into the depth of his eyes. he truly didn't know just how much his words meant to her.
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