Built on smoke and mirrors

Chapter 8

"Get up," the lady with purple hair said. I now knew her as Irena.

I struggled to push myself off the ice as another skater passed me. My eyes glanced at the clock on the wall. Only have one more minute of ice time and I was done. 

The buzzer rang, telling us our time was over. 

"Walter!" Irena yelled. I had only skated with her for only a few days but already I was getting the hang of Motherwealth swear words. Walter was just one of them in her arsenal. 

I held the smirk from my face as I skated towards the exit. 

"You aren't looking to bad out there," a boy by the name of Ari said from behind me. 

"Thank you," I said to him as I put some plastic strips of my blades to protect them. Irena told me I needed to wear them every time I stepped off the ice. She called them guards because they protected the blades. I was still getting the hang of putting them on my skates.

"She still has a long way to catch up," a girl named Constance said as she bumped into me. 

"She's just jealous that she might lose her favorite spot with Irena," Ari smirked as he patted my shoulder. "See you around Hellan." With that, he left without another word. 

I was never used to skating with others. Skating was always a private thing so the fact that I shared the ice with another five skaters made this whole thing less enjoyable. I was never a people person, that was why I skated and how I had to navigate all of this. It was almost more than I could bare. 

While the remaining three other skaters got off the ice, I found the nearest bench and started to take off my skates in the cold. Constance wasn't the only person that didn't like me, I think most didn't. I heard them mumble about how I didn't know how to skate properly or that I was too quiet to be a figure skater. It wasn't enough that I didn't want to be here, now I had to deal with politics of the rink. 

"So how was it?" Eydis asked as she hopped towards me. 

My back popped as I pried my skates off my blistered feet. third day in the row of training and it was already enough. I had never been so tired in my life and the thought of completing the day all over again tomorrow was enough for tears to prick at my eyes. I was tired, sore, and homesick.

"Oh..." Eydis said as her smile slid from her face.

I nodded as I wiped the snow from my blades. I sniffled then shoved the skate into my bag. 

"You know, it does get better," she whispered as she sat down beside me, wrapping her arm around me. "And tomorrow is our day off. I was thinking of doing something fun but if you just want to rest, that's fine too."

The last three days worked me hard enough that I forgot that we had days off. The thought of leaving the campus and not training made my heart flutter a little. 

She beamed at me as she took my skate bag in hand. "I thought you might be interested. Now, let's celebrate. Tomorrow we will sleep in." 

"Telvi, wait," Irena spoke up. 

My head snapped towards her direction with a frown. It wasn't enough that I had her screaming at me for three hours. I thought I was free as soon as I stepped off that ice. 

She walked up to me and handed me a box. "These just came in."

I opened the large box in my hands and saw a brand new pair of white skate boots in my hands. They were whiter than any other boot I had before. 

"We just need to get the blades mounted to them after your day off. These are going to be so much better than those trash bags you call skates." She sighed and then added, "You skated well today considering what you came from. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."  She gave one nod then walked off.