Young Writers Society

Chapter 1:

I felt my rapid heartbeat and my nerves tearing me up from the inside, but I knew I needed to stay strong if I wanted to get anywhere with this performance. As I put on my skating costume, I began playing out three different scenarios which could play out after the performance:

First, I’ll return to my coach crying with happiness.

Second, I’ll return to my coach crying with sadness.

And third, I’ll return to my coach with the ‘meh’ kind of attitude.

I walked out of my changing room and looked at myself in the mirror outside it. My friend, Eliza Williams, gasped in shock.

“Oh my God!” She squealed. “You look absolutely glamorous!”

“You think?” I asked, looking myself up and down in the mirror. My costume was black, with a translucent part on the right side and centre of my torso. It also had a few shiny chrome shards on the both sides of my waist and on my left shoulder. The most interesting part of this costume was the bottom. On the right side of my waist was a short ‘skirt’, while the other side had a simply flat piece of fabric on my cream-coloured tights. The dark colour of the costume complimented my long blonde hair very well, in my opinion.

“I’m sure your program will be just as great!” Eliza fangirled on.

“Hopefully.” I replied, before sighing and leaving the changing room.

It’s easy for her to say so, I thought. She’s already done her program and is currently in second place.

I put on my white skates, before taking off the black blade covers and stepping out onto the ice. My coach, Nate Rivers, yelled after me:

“You can do it, Katrina!”

I wish I could share his sense of optimism.

The crowd cheers me on as I await the music. I hear my name announced:“Please welcome: Katrina Stirling, Great Britain.”

I still couldn’t believe it; I’m in the Grand Prix Finals! I had quite a hard time at the Rostelecom Cup, but I’m still here. Thankfully, the Finals are in England, meaning I can return home and not to some hotel.

I want to- No, I need to pass to the Free Program!

I skate into my position in the centre of the rink after a few laps around it. I wait almost impatiently for the music to come in.

Soundtrack: In Regards to Love: Eros (Piano) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8EeSs1dB-c

I began my performance with an Ina Bauer. I stretched my back as far back as I can, throwing my arms backwards. As I did this, I pushed myself forward on my skates. I felt a bit of satisfaction because I was finally able to do it without my back hurting a lot. I glided across the ice for a few seconds, before pulling myself up into a Biellmann Spiral. I stuck my left leg as high as I could behind me, caught the blade of my ice skate with both of my hands and continued skating around the large rink. Then, the music had come to a moment of silence, where I moved my skates in a Double Three shape and twirled in a Twizzle as I entered my first jump: a triple Lutz. I quickly turned to face backwards, whilst still skating forwards, and lifted myself up from the outside edge of my left skate’s blade. I quickly squeezed in three rotations as I began to descend. When I finally hit the ice, I landed on my the outside edge of my right skate and spun around as an exit from the jump. I smiled as the warmth of gratification spread throughout my body.

Then, it was time for my serpentine step sequence. All serpentine meant is that I had to make S-shapes on the ice. I knew precisely what to do when; the order of steps and turns was drilled into my head, for which I was thankful. However, now I can barely remember what it consisted of. You can’t blame me; it’s been ages since I performed that program. What I do remember, though, is that I definitely moved at a quick slow pace, which then helped me with the seductive motions I was making with my upper body. The steps and turns I did, from what I remember, were complex ones; not that I mean to brag.

The step sequence lasted about 40 seconds and took out quite a bit of my energy. Swiftly after it ended, came a key change in the music, and with it came my first jump combination; a Double Axel, followed by a Triple Loop.

I skated forwards, facing the direction I was skating in. Motioning my arms into something like a hug, I launched myself into the air from my left outside edge. I spun twice in the air, before descending onto the same edge I took-off from. Straight after that, I gathered all my strength and leaped up again from my left outside edge. After spinning three times in the air, I landed onto that same edge, before exiting the combination with a short spin.

Feeling ever so gassed, I moved on into my spin combination. I crouched down and began spinning around at a quick speed in a sit spin. I did this for about 10 rotations, before leaping up into the air and swapping the foot I’m spinning on. I spun for another 5 rotations, before picking myself up and stretching my left foot out behind me and turning my torso on its side. I carried that on for another 5 rotations and left the spin combination with a small Twizzle.

I then proceeded to skating around the rink almost aimlessly, but I did it mainly to boost my presentation score with seductive movements and emotional bonding with the piece. Believe me, Figure Skating is really pain in the backside if you’re not creative enough with what you’re doing, though I still prefer having myself choreograph my own programs and not some middle-aged scum, be it a man or woman.

I then leaped into the air and land on my right skate. I slightly lifted my left leg up behind me and bent my back into a Layback spin. Jesus Christ, that killed my back so badly. Yeah, the Ina Bauer wasn’t that bad, but I was moving a completely different direction then. You know what made things worse? A more complex position. I lifted my leg up further and bent my back further until my blades were touching my hair mid-length. I kept on spinning until the song came to the last few seconds, where I stopped and lifted my right arm into the air dramatically. When the song ended, the entire arena applauded me, which filled me with a huge sense of satisfaction and happiness. I turned to Nate and skated right over to him and hugged him warmly, laughing and crying with happiness.

We came over to sit down on the, what I liked to call the ‘Waiting-For-Your-Terrible-Score’ chairs. Nate held my hand tightly in anticipation, I was pretty curious what my score was as well, to be honest. The monitor opposite us revealed it after about a minute of waiting:

“Technical Score: 34.73

Presentation Score: 48.50

Total: 83.23”

I screamed in happiness as tears poured out of my eyes in oceans. I threw myself into Nate’s arms and felt like I was about to squeeze the life out of him. Everyone in the arena screamed with me in excitement; it’s not everyday you get to see such a brilliant performance.

It was a dream come true; I beat the world record!

I returned home euphoric and high off my score. I threw myself onto my black leather sofa and took out my phone, before calling my mother.

“Hello?” She answered after a while.

“MOTHER I BEAT THE WORLD RECORD ARE YOU PROUD OF ME?!” I yelled into the phone.

“OF COURSE I AM YOU BEAUTIFUL LADY YOU’RE THE BEST DAUGHTER A MOTHER COULD HAVE!!” My mother yelled back. It still makes me smile how close me and my mum were. We never had any secrets between each other, even after I went to live out my own life in the world outside our house’s walls.

“You want to come over and have a party?” I asked, calmly this time.

“No,” my mother replied serenely, “I’ve got a lot of paperwork to do today.”

“Oh… I understand. Have a great evening!”

“You too, my lady.” I ended the call there and stood up from my sofa, walking over to the wine cupboard. I took out a bottle of Gallo Family White Zinfandel and a wineglass and placed them at my dining table. I sat down and filled the entire glass with wine and began to drink it. As I did, I noticed a someone at the glass door to my garden. It was a boy, probably around my age. Boy, he was smokin’ hot. His abs, his arms, his tan. his sexy black hair… Ok, I’ll stop there before I go too far. Anyways, he stood there, outside my door. I downed my glass, keeping my eyes fixed on him, and once I finished the glass, I moved over to the door and opened it.

“Ooh the bloody ‘ell are you?” I asked, slightly drunk.

“Erm…” The boy began. He seemed very timid. “I- I’m looking for somewhere to stay the night… C- could you let me in please?” I simply rolled my eyes in response and, when I was about to close the door, I noticed something; the rest of his body, to be precise. Instead of normal human legs, he had a chestnut brown horse’s body. I screamed loudly and quickly ran into my house, before hiding behind my sofa.

“PLEASE DON’T HURT ME I JUST BEAT THE WORLD RECORD FOR A SHORT PROGRAM IN FIGURE SKATING BESIDES I’M ONLY 17 I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!” I yelled. Instead of the silence I was expecting, I received a very calm answer:

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! I decided to go a bit more into Figure Skating since I wrote "Ice Dance" and I thought I could try improving. Just in case anyone is unfamiliar with English slang: "to be gassed" means "to be extremely proud of something"... At least I think that's the definition. Anyways, I look forward to any feedback my readers may have! Thank you for reading this!