Thin Ice

Pep Talk

"Harper!" Nathan rushes over.

"I'm afraid she's hurt," Heidi claims.

"No, she's not. It's something else that I don't want you to hear her talk so go back and practice skating in the rink," he suggests.

How does he know that I'm not hurt physically?

"What do you mean?" she wonders.

"It doesn't matter. She will tell you on her own time," he claims.

I don't know about that one because I don't want to talk about it to anyone later. After all, it's embarrassing to say I was laying on the ice because I couldn't land anything.

"Okay," she walks away.

"Harper, what happened?" he asks.

"I don't know," I cry under my arms.

"What do you mean?" he wonders.

"I was doing fine until the quad in the short routine. I got a flashback the first time and Grace kept making me do them and different and the same flashbacks kept happening. I don't know what happened," I answer.

"That makes no sense. Wait did you encounter Mary before?" he states.

"Yes, but I made her run instead of me. I stood up to her," I claim.

"Did you have a confused or sad feeling afterward?" he questions.

"Kind of but the fight did make me ask to come out here and practice," I mention.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain anything because you were confident with Ava and Mary," he claims.

"I know it doesn't make sense, that's why I feel like giving up," I agree.

"Harper, just because you are frustrated with yourself doesn't mean you should give up. You should keep trying because you've got in yourself, you can't let the flashbacks and nightmares get to you or you will never get over them," he responds kindly.

"But, I don't feel like I can continue with them. There really realistic flashbacks," I state sitting up.

"I know and I know that Mary and Ava aren't helping either to get over them, but you've got to keep your head held high," he claims.

"But I can't," I respond.

"Yes, you can. You have to see yourself in the way your family and I do because that is the Harper we want. Not a perfect, upright, popular girl. Who cares if you fall? I don't as long as you get back up again and do it ten times better," he claims.

"Thanks but your not a judge," I state.

"Yeah, but they have all been through the same rough spot that you are going through. They overcame it eventually and became gold Olympians," he claims.

"Do you know what I want to see tonight in you?" he asks.

Perfection, not falls, five rotations, what? I know what Mary and Ava want to see they want me to fall.

"What?" I wonder.

"I want to see you skate like you were on the lake in the mountains. That was the best you have ever skated and I want you to skate like that because you had fun doing it," he claims.

"That won't happen," I respond.

"Why not?" he questions.

"Because people are judging me and scoring me on my talent. This serious not goofy," I claim.

"People will always judge; it's human nature. You have to ignore them and be yourself because everyone else is already taken," he comments.

"I know but I want to please everyone," I state.