Toe Pick (Being Redone)

Figure

The warm, Saturday sun shone through the window above Travis's bed, shining off of his closed eyes. The warmth eventually got to Travis and he groggily flung his blankets off of his bed into a heap on the floor. Travis rolled out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs to grab himself some breakfast. Opening the door on the fridge, Travis was met with a wave of cold air as he stuck his hand into the drawer of fruit and pulled out a rather large orange. As he peeled the orange, he got a text from Jason.

J: Hey, U almost here yet?

Travis turned around to look at the clock on the wall behind the stove and he was shocked to see that it read 10:00. Travis, Jason, and Kenzie had agreed to meet up at Crombeen Arena at 10:30 for Mya's first figure skating competition of the year. Travis quickly shoved the rest of his orange in his mouth and ran up to his room, attempting to text Jason as he ran.

J: Hey, U almost here yet?

T: I'm leaving in 5

Travis flung his phone onto his bed as he pulled a white t-shirt and a Pinewood sweatshirt over his shoulders. He then slipped on a pair of grey sweatpants before lacing up his shoes and running down the stairs and to the front door. He flung the door open and was met with a mass of cold, freezing air. Realizing he was underdressed for the cold front, the same one that was supposed to come on Monday, he steeled himself for the cold and headed out the door. The wind was deafening and the streets around Travis's townhouse neighborhood were empty. Thankfully, Travis reached the bus stop at the end of the road. He pulled himself into the bus stop and finally had a small bit of relief from the cold. Eventually, the Aspen city bus pulled up and Travis practically ran up the stairs of the warm bus.

Travis made his way to an open seat in the middle of the bus and he sat down. Taking a look at the clock on his phone. Travis breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that he had 20 minutes to make the 5 minute bus ride to the arena. Once the bus pulled up to the Crombeen Arena stop, Travis walked off the bus and quickly jogged over to the heat lamp where Jason and Kenzie were waiting with tickets.

"Morning guys," Travis greeted as Jason handed him his ticket to the competition.

"Morning," Kenzie replied with a small smile.

"Where are we sitting for this?" Travis asked, glancing at Jason who was still staying silent.

"Section 107, row C, seats 1-3," Kenzie replied, flipping her black ponytail over her shoulder as she led the way to one of the arena's many entrances.

Once inside and Kenzie was out of earshot, Travis turned to Jason.

"Hey, are you alright?" Travis asked, concerned for his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry...its just...I may or may not have a crush on one of the other figure skaters.

"Ooooh, do tell," Travis said as the two friends headed to the concession stand.

"Oh give me a break," Jason laughed, rolling his eyes. "I'll tell you who I like when you actually admit that you like Mya,"

"Wha- I- I don't- Whaaa..." Travis sputered.

"And that proved my point," Jason laughed.

"That doesn't mean I like her," Travis said defensively.

"Oh come on, you couldn't stop staring at her during the whole game against Aspen High," Jason laughed.

"I was not staring at her," Travis snapped.

"You keep telling yourself that," Jason concluded as the two friends purchased their snacks for the competition. Travis bought a bottle of water and chips while Jason bought a can of Pepsi and a bag of M&Ms. Once they each had their food, they made their way to their seats which were right up against the ice. Once they had sat down, they picked up their programs and perused the rosters.

After they had been sitting for a few minutes, the first skater, some Senior from Denver-Green High School, came out and performed the first routine of the morning. As the events continued over the next hour, Travis was in awe of the girls skating abilities. As a hockey player, Travis had to be able to skate incredibly well and with insane amounts of speed and precision. As he watched the figure skaters though, he realized that anything he could do on skates, these girls could not only do, but do better than him.

Eventually, it was Mya's turn to skate and she gracefully made her way out onto the ice, her hair tied up in a tight bun atop her head. The music to her routine, Power of The Dream by Celine Dion, began to play and Mya began her routine. She flew silently around the rink, gracefully stringing together a complicated string of jumps, spins, and various other actions to form a beautiful routine on the ice. Once the judges had tallied up all the scores of the competition, Pinewood won by a huge margin of almost 30 points, aided by Mya's almost perfect score of 9.975. Travis, Kenzie, and Jason all excitedly made their way to the figure skater's locker room exit to congratulate Mya. However, as they neared the door, they overheard hushed voices engaged in a fierce argument. The three friends peered around the corner and saw Katie berating Mya in the hallway.
"So, how many of the judges did you bribe or make out with?" Katie snapped her face red.

"What?" Mya defensively asked, confused.

"Oh don't play all innocent you little cheater. No way does a screw up like you only get one deduction," Katie fummed.

"I didn't cheat Katie," Mya replied, still in shock at the accusations.

"You know, I always knew there was something wrong with you Miss Mental, but I never thought that you'd be a whore to go get competition points," Katie berated.

Back around the corner, Travis knew he had to end this argument somehow. It was then that he saw a hockey puck sitting on the floor. Travis picked up the puck and gently let it rest in his hand. Then, he threw it. He fired the puck against the underside of the metal bleachers causing a loud bang to erupt in the hallway.

"Oh, hi Travis," Katie swooned.

"Oh shut up," Travis snapped. "You leave her alone or I will get you kicked off that roster and ensure no school will ever touch you again. Now get out of here," Travis snapped again.

"Fine you rink rat, you wanna do it this way, we'll do it this way," Katie sneered, dropping the swoon from her voice. "Get your whore out of here," Katie concluded as she turned to walk back into the locker room. As she did, she grabbed a water bottle off one of the benched and flung the water towards Mya, soaking her. As Katie walked back into the locker room, Mya turned to Travis.

"Thanks for getting her to stop talking," Mya sincerely said, bruising a few strands of her wet, blond hair behind her ears.

"Hey, no problem. Now come on, I've got clothes in my locker you can wear," Travis replied, leading a timid Mya towards the Pinewood hockey dressing room.

"Thanks Travis, really, thank you," Mya quietly said, shyly following Travis into the dressing room.

"Wow," Mya simply said when she walked into the dressing room. Her jaw slightly dropped at how nice the room really was. Each player had their own individual and personalized locker stall with a padded chair in front of them. As she continued gazing around the dressing room, Travus walked over and handed her a pair of black sweatpants and a grey Adidas sweatshirt.

"There's a bathroom right through those doors that you can change in," Travis said, gesturing to the bathroom. Mya walked back into the bathroom and a few minutes later emerged wearing Travis's clothes. As the two friends headed out of the dressing room, both friends had to laugh at how big the pants and sweatshirt were on Mya's tiny, petite frame. Once all four friends met up in Crombeen Arena's entrance, they headed out to Travis's house for a Saturday night movie night.