Change of Heart - Yuri Plisetsky x Reader

Chapter Sixteen

I wish I could say that my somewhat romantic mishap with Yuri had sweetened my life a bit in the following days, but unfortunately, such idealistic things couldn't be said for me. I remained in a state of dreamlike melancholy for the rest of that day, but by the time the next had rolled around, any chance of experiencing the same sort of thing again seemed far beyond my reach.

I stayed up pretty late that night; Rolling around and telling myself I was trying not to think about the day's events, when in actuality, I'd laid down for the sole purpose of replaying the scenario over and over again. It must've been three in the morning when I finally drifted off, my mind still swarming with daydreams.

Waking up at eight the next day didn't bode well for me.

I would've loved to have slept in, but unfortunately I'd neglected to remember some of my most important and unfavorable duties: These included completing schoolwork and, of course, practicing for the upcoming tournament. There were only a few weeks to go, so naturally, my parents began to show increasing concern about my form.

"You haven't been active enough!" They would say, while I lay on my bed wondering why I have so little energy.

"You need to eat healthier," Advised the dictators, watching disapprovingly as I munched lazily on snack crackers, feeling deeply unmotivated and numb.

"Make sure you're keeping up with your schoolwork, too!" They warned me, as I kicked weakly at my target and wondered why I'd started doing any of this in the first place.

For obvious reasons, my parents were starting to get on my nerves; This time, however, I felt something a bit more depressing than the typical annoyance at their antics: The bottom line was that I was starting to feel too drained to even bother being angry at them.

When they decided to leave for one of their little tourist trips, however, I found that my energy level, strangely, had increased.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We'll be back around eight tonight," said my mother, waving goodbye to me from the front door. "Please, try not to slack off, okay? You need to be in top shape for the competition."

Forcing a smile to my lips, I nodded. The gesture was much more difficult than it should've been; I'd gotten even less sleep last night than the previous, going to bed at five and waking at nine. But it would've been unbecoming of me to appear unhappy or tired during a time when it was so important for me to be alert, so I tried my best to look alive while I hugged my parents goodbye and waved them out the door.

As soon as it slammed shut, I let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the couch.

Those two are going to drive me crazy, if I don't do it myself, I thought frustratedly, relishing the moment when their forms disappeared from the sightline of the front windows. How can they expect me to be at my best performance if they won't even let me get a good night's sleep?

As much as I wanted to go to bed, however, I couldn't allow myself the luxury. Persistent as they were in their attempts to make me work harder, my parents were correct about one thing: To win this tournament, I was going to need all the practice I could manage. It would be just plain stupid of me not to utilize this time, even though the thought of pulling on a uniform at nine in the morning and working out until two made me feel like puking up a lung.

Nevertheless, I managed to force myself into the outfit and trudge dully into the practice room, cursing all the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~