Young Writers Society

Chapter 4:

I was getting ready for my performance in the waiting room, with Nate and Crystall cheering me on. The outfit I wore for this program was a dress in many shades of blue, representing water. There were also light blue plastic gems stuck around the collar of the dress. I had no intention of messing this up, I had to win. I waited to be entered into the Grand Prix Competition for a very long time and I wasn’t going to disregard this chance I was given.

I was having my short warm-up when Queen Bitch decided to make herself present. Queen Bitch is my nickname for Ashley Chen of the United States. I hated her since we met at the Rostelecom Cup this year, let’s just say she’s the bitch to end all bitches. Moving on, she decided to curse us with her presence, though she wasn’t alone. Next to her was my latest ex-boyfriend, Jonathan Williams. Ashley still wore her performance outfit, which was simply the US flag as a sparkly dress.

“Good luck, Katrina. Hope you break a leg,” Ashley said, as she gave me a dirty look. God, how I wanted to slap her there and then. By the way, is it me, or does the American accent make things sound really stupid?

“Thanks, Ashley. I’ll break a leg; your one,” I replied. “Oh, Jonathan, I see you lowered your standards to hoes now?”

“At least she’s not you, you crazy bitch,” Jonathan replied.

“Anyways, how are you going to date her? She’s from the USA.”

“I’m moving to the USA,” Jonathan turned to Ashley and complained to her about me burning his clothes. For fuck’s sake, he deserved it! If he didn’t like it, then he shouldn’t have been dating me in the first place! I warned him I was insane!

“Nate, you should send her to some mental asylum,” Ashley said. “Do you understand what she did to my boyfriend?”

“I understand what she did,” Nate replied. “And I also understand why she did it.”

“I see you’re as thick as each other,” Ashley then decided to notice Crystall. “And who’s this schmuck?”

“My boyfriend,” I replied. “A much better one than my last.”

“I’d say the complete opposite from what I can see.”

I stood up and walked up to her face. 

“Listen here, you fucking wankstain,” I growled. “Unless you would like to see your dad, Satan, I suggest you keep your trashy mouth closed before your ass gets jealous of how much shit comes out of it.”

“Ooh, Katrina’s getting angry!” Ashley chuckled. Jonathan also laughed.

“You’re like a little kitten when you’re mad!” he added.

“Shut it, you fucking pussy,” I was very close to ripping their guts out with my skates. “Your dick is what I put down as a word for ‘disappointment’ in a crossword. Now scram, both of you, unless you like hospital food!”

Ashley and Jonathan decided to take my advice and left, although Ashley did roll her eyes at me. However, I responded with a very kind gesture of my middle finger and a passive-aggressive smile. When they were finally out of my sight, I sighed loudly and sat down.

“Who was that?” Crystall asked.

“My worst enemy and my ex-boyfriend.” I replied calmly. “Ashley Chen and Jonathan Williams respectively.”

There was a short silence after that.

“I’m sure you’ll do well in your program! It’s amazing in my opinion!” Crystall said optimistically.

“I have no choice. I have to do well; well enough to beat a combined score of 234.82,” as I said this, a security guard came into the room.

“Miss Stirling, it’s your time to go now,” he said. I nodded in return as Crystall, Nate and I stood up.

Before I stepped onto the ice, I heard Crystall yelling:

“Show them what you can do!”

It made me smile to know I have such caring people behind my back.

I skated into my position in the centre of the rink, waiting for the music.

Soundtrack: Bel Suono - Megapolis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-MWqxKgbNk

I started my program with my Spiral Sequence, it was a signature thing for me to do that. My first Spiral was the Charlotte Spiral. I lifted my left leg into the air so that it was almost completely vertical, whilst leaning my body downwards so that my nose almost touched my boot. All of that while skating forwards. I did this for a few seconds, before returning to my normal position and doing the Ina Bauer again. Skating a little further, I moved on to the next element: Hydroblading. I got low so that I was almost touching the ice with my body and placed my hands on the actual ice. I began to rotate around my hands. After doing so a few times, I got up smoothly and proceeded to do my Cantilever. It was essentially a hardcore backbend and I ended up nearly murdering my back in practise because of this move. I kept my arms and lower legs in normal position, while the rest of my body bent parallel to the ice. After a few seconds, I lifted myself up and spun around, preparing for the impending Hell.

As the loud piano bit neared, I leaped up into a Triple Lutz, which was closely followed by a Triple Flip, taking off from my right inside edge and landing on my right outside edge. But it didn’t end there. I quickly lurched again into a Triple Toe Loop. This wasn’t the one I was going to change to a quad. If I did, I’d end up probably smashing my head onto the ice before I’d spin even three times. Anyways, I leaped from my right outside edge and landed onto the same edge after spinning three times in the air.

After getting proper gassed over that successful combination, I proceeded to skate emotionally before yet another jump: my second Triple Lutz. It was possible for me to do it twice if one jump was part of a combination and the other was a separate jump. Before the verse came in, I quickly performed the Lutz, just in time with the music.

I then started my Circular Step Sequence. Circular meant that I needed to make loop shapes in the ice. I still, of course, struggle to remember what exact steps and turns I did, but I knew it was enough to get me a good score. It had quite good variety and a very nice flow; it was guaranteed to give me a good deal of points. It lasted for a good part of the verse before I moved on to my next element.

Before the music’s volume decreased, I leaped into a Triple Flip, landing it perfectly. My next element was a spin combination, which lasted for most of the quiet part of the song. I entered an almost crouching position for the Sit spin with my left leg sticking out in front of me and spun for 8 rotations, before I jumped up to switch the foot I was spinning on. After another 4 rotations, I stood up and moved into the Camel spin position. When I did another 5 rotations, I stopped spinning and that was when the wave effect came on in the music.

I then decided to boost my Presentation Score a bit by cruising around the rink emotionally. I do it a lot in my programs, and it usually helps my score. I used my upper body to give off emotions of almost sadness and grace. After the effect faded out, I went into my Layback spin. This one was no different from the other ones I did and almost broke my spine. I spun for about 8 rotations before leaving the spin just when another loud part of the song came in.

That part signalised one thing: my Triple Axel. I swiftly leaped into the air with the same hugging motion as always and spun three times in the air. But, I almost knocked myself off-balance when landing. I cursed quietly, but kept my cool and carried on with my routine. After the Axel came more emotional skating, although I did find it kind of boring. I wish I could find something to do instead of this boring stuff. I separated this almost aimless skating with a Triple Toe Loop, which I performed when the first high note was hit. This was the Toe Loop I planned to change to a quad. After some more emotional skating (I am not sorry if I’m boring you to death with this), while the high parts of the piano were playing, I successfully performed a Triple Loop, followed by a Biellmann spin for 10 rotations. This was essentially the Biellmann spiral, but as a spin. I performed my last jump - a Triple Salchow - just in time to finish with the music in a dramatic position.

I was given a huge round of applause as I left the rink, ready to accept my score. But was I ready? Nate and I sat together by the panel, ready for the score to come on. I was more than anxious about this; it could’ve determine my reputation and how I will talk to Ashley; if I won, I would have put her down for losing to me. If I lost, I’d avoid her at all cost. Not that I’m scared of her, I’m scared I’ll send her back home to Hell too early. Getting back on track, we finally got the scores:

“Technical Score: 103.35

Presentation Score: 48.25

Total: 151.6

Combined Score: 234.83”

Although I got a high enough score to be in second place, I broke into tears, unable to hold in my great disappointment. Nate quickly hugged me and Crystall rushed over to comfort me too, but their attempts were fruitless; nothing could fix the mistake I made.

I was a whole point away from first place.

Author's Note: Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll probably be uploading Que Sera Sera and Ice Queen in turn, though I'm pretty close to 'finishing' Que Sera Sera. Enough about that, thank you for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it!