The Ice is Slippery

1

Sounds of metal slicing ice was loud in George's ears. The rink was the only thing that was lit up in the room. Ice crystals glimmered on George's skin, hair and clothes. He was going over the familiar spins, jumps, and poses he had done so many times before, but he kept getting tripped up on one part of his routine. Every time he messed up, he would get back up and start from the beginning.

Eventually, George ran out of stamina and had to sit down. He wasn't ready to leave yet so he just skated over to the wall of the rink and sat against it. The chill of the ice against his bare hands was refreshing. His breath was slightly visible in the air under the single spotlight and his clothed chest moved in rhythm with the puffs of vapor that left his mouth.

The creak of the door was louder than it should have been. They need to oil that damn door, the thought crossed George's mind, his ears still ringing from the noise. The door shut and a figure appeared in the entrance to the rink. It looked like they were wearing bulky clothes, or they just had a buffer build. They had skates and what looked like a hockey stick. Then there was a loud whack and George saw a hockey puck flying at his nose.

George jolted awake and his hand shot straight to his face. "What the fuck," he mumbled to himself, "Whatever." The clock on George's nightstand read 7:48 am. The bus was going to pick him up in ten minutes. "What the fuck." He slept through his alarm, again. He quickly got up and grabbed a grey knit sweater and black jeans then ran into the tiled bathroom to finish getting ready.

——

When George opened his front door there was a little red box on the floor with his name on it. The same one that everyone had been talking about all his life. There was a soft patter of rain dancing in the background of his internal monologue. Little splashes of cool water bounced off the ground in the dance of the clouds. He picked up the box remembering that he had turned sixteen that morning. When he opened it, there was a little half sphere charm connected to a chain. The necklace he had seen so many people wearing before. He thought he'd be more excited about it but he felt the same, except now he had a cold metal chain hanging around his neck.

George had two bags; one for his school books and the other for his skating supplies, since he goes straight to the rink after classes. Carrying both the bags to the bus stop was a bit tough, but he was always able to do it.

The bus was stuffed as usual, but George was able to get a seat to himself. It was loud as hell in the metal twinky so he just put his headphones in and put his music on shuffle. Anything to drown out the chatter from the other kids, and the thoughts. He closed his eyes and let the music lead him in a slow dance of emotions, none of them showing on his face.

——

George's first period of the day was math. Ew. I hate math.
Second period was chemistry. What the fuck is sodium chloride?
Next was lunch. George sat alone.
Third period was language arts. Words. No.
French was next. Pourquoi suis-je même en train de suivre ce cours?

He had homeroom for his last class. His favorite class. There wasn't any assigned work since it was a free period. The students were allowed to do pretty much anything. George usually did homework or drew something. The classroom was always really loud and for some reason it bothered George. He always uses music to distract himself, so once again he put his playlist on shuffle and scribbled away at his French worksheet.

——

The sky outside was cloudy and it was snowing a little. A light frost covered the grass field that was in the middle of the courtyard of the school. George felt cold just looking out the window.

The period had ended and most of the kids went home. George was waiting in the classroom with a few other kids for the bus that goes to the ice rink. He was still just sitting at his desk and doodling, but without music since it was quieter now.

There were 4 other people in the room; two hockey jocks and two of the hockey teams cheerleaders. The jocks were Clay and Nick; the cheerleaders were Kris and Frankie. All of them have been classmates since the beginning of middle school, but they've always stuck to their cliques. They had nothing against each other and would occasionally talk, but they weren't friends.

George was getting bored of drawing so he packed up and was getting his stuff together for when the bus arrived. When he was finished, he looked around the room and made eye contact with clay. He gave him a friendly smile, inviting him to come over and talk. Clay and Nick took the invitation and made their way across the room.
"Hey super jock. How's it going?"
"Do people really see me as a jock?" The blonde, Clay, groaned. George just shrugged and chuckled lightly. Clay turned to the cheerleaders and asked if they saw him as a jock.
"Only a little, super jock," was Frankie's response, to which Clay started horribly fake crying. At that, George and Nick both burst into a fit of giggles.
"The fuck are you laughing at?" Now Kris and Frankie were laughing.
Nick collected himself a bit and said, "You, bitch boy."

The groups continued to catch up and crack jokes. They all sat around a group of desks in the middle of the room. Eventually the subject of age was brought up. They were all sixteen, except Kris who was seventeen already.hey all had their soulmate necklaces. The chance of meeting your soulmate was pretty slim, since they're only one person out of seven million.he chance of knowing your soulmate before you turn sixteen is almost impossible. Most people never find their soulmate, but that doesn't stop them from still finding someone else to love.

"George," the brunette turned to Frankie, "You just turned sixteen right?"
"Yeah, this morning actually." He remembered the little weight around his neck.
"So you have your necklace now?"
"Mhm."
"Wanna see if ours connect? They probably won't, but you never know."
"Sure, why not?" Frankie moved around the desks to where George was sitting and George untucked the charm from his shirt. They held their breaths as the charms made a little clink when they touched, but they didn't connect. They let themselves breath again. When someone's charm connects with their soulmate's, they stick together like magnets. So Frankie isn't George's soulmate.
Clay, Nick and Kris also wanted to test their soulmate charms.
George's soulmate wasn't Kris either.
Clay's charm didn't work with either of the girl's.
Nick's didn't work with Frankie's, but it got stuck to Kris's. They were soulmates. There was a look of shock on everyone's faces. George had only seen one pair of soulmates before; his neighbors from like eight years ago.
"No way," Nick said with wide eyes, "Is this real? Am I fucking dreaming?"
Clay looked from the connected charms to Nick. "I don't think all of us can have the same dream at the same time."

——

AN: Hell yeah. First chapter. It's kinda long and it was originally going to be longer but I don't want it to be too long. Soooo, I'm gonna put out chapter two sooner than planned :]

(The French might be wrong because i used google translate and it's not the most accurate.)