Snowflake - Maxley

CHAPTER 1

"Hey, baby. I'm off to practice now. See you later?" I said, turning to Tank. "Yeah, sure." He walked off. Nothing surprising there. I walked to my first practice after the summer break. I got to the ice-skating rink, seeing that Mocha was already there. I called over to her.

"Hi! It's great to see you again! Are those news skates I see?" Mocha skated over to me, showing off her new skates. "Well, yes they are. They cost me a dime. But totally worth it. It's nice to see you too, Bradley. But enough of chit-chat. I am still your manager. So go, change, and let's skate!" I obeyed, going into the dressing room to change.

Mocha was fine. She was as old as me, but she was the manager. Not even because she was better, she just applied for the position way before me. And because there were only the two of us, they didn't care enough to get us actual managers. But she was doing a good job - she always told me what to do better, and put me in different competitions. She also chose the dance and music. She was amazing.

The school was heavily based on sports - it offered almost all of them. Basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, swimming, ping pong, hockey, figure skating - which I was doing - and many more. Many famous sportsmen and women came from this school. You can only get in with a scholarship - no losers allowed.

I'm a senior now, who's trying to build up his own career. But the past three years have been amazing - I found an amazing friend who is also my manager - Mocha, an amazing boyfriend - Tank. He is a hockey player and has a lot of talent and friends. Most of my friends consisted of his friends, but I didn't mind.

I was done with changing when I noticed the lockers. On some of them were new name tags, which only meant one thing - new hockey players. I quickly looked over the name tags, trying to spot something that might pique my interest. Zimmeruski... Perry... Pete... Neptune... Goof... wait. Goof? As in Max Goof?

I couldn't believe my eyes. He was one of the most popular and talented kids out there – Tank made me watch all of his matches. He got big really quickly in the hockey world. I didn't pay much attention to him, because he did not concern me, but from Tank, I knew he was really good. I nodded in approval, and went back to the ice rink, only having two hours left before the hockey training began.

I got on ice, stretching while warming up with the rounds. "Well, there you are! It took you quite some time! Chop-chop, start exercising," Mocha started to click with her fingers at me. She usually did that when she was mad, annoyed, or stressed. I scoffed, but listened either way, knowing better than to mess with her when she was clicking.

I did some more rounds around the ring, skating faster and faster with each passing second. Then I stopped abruptly, and did all of the tricks I learned, making sure my body was ready for the jumps and pirouettes I was about to do.

When I was done, I was already out of breath. I assumed this was because I didn't spend a lot of time on the ice during the summer break. Mocha only passed me my water bottle, already explaining how our training would go.

"So, just stretching and workout is done. Now, you will show me your last year's choreo - Flower Boy. After that, I will give you some tips and we will improve it if there is something to improve. Then, I will tell you all about this year's competitions. Will make some ideas for the music and choreography, maybe putting some new moves into it, so judges know you try and improve," she said, standing up and clapping her hands to signalize that the break was over.

This is what I loved about her. She got straight to the point, knowing what she was doing, not wanting anybody to tell her otherwise.

I stood up as well, putting my bottle away and making myself ready for the dance. I waited until the music started. On queue, I spread out my hands, arching my back and swinging them in an elegant manner around. I skated over, still elegantly in harmony with the music.

I turned off my brain, going into autopilot. I did this dance so many times, that I could do it basically in my sleep. The only part I had to focus on, was the big jump at the end. Until then, my mind could go blank.

And it did.

In my mind, I kept going back to the vacation we took with my family. We went to Greece, looking into museums and admiring the Greek gods. The weather was also really nice, and the beach was fun. We had so much fun together. Father did bug me about my studies for half the trip, but it is just how he is. I would kill to be sitting at that beach again, drinking a mojito and just enjoying freedom.

But I couldn't do that. The part of the choreography with the big jump was supposed to take place in no time. I focused and got ready. I skated quickly, trying to get the right velocity to jump. When I reached it, I jumped, turning in the air, doing the jump. But by landing my skate got stuck in the ice, making me fall down.

Damn it.

This happened every time. The jump was perfect, I just couldn't top the landing. This also happened at the competition, costing me the first place.

I signed, got up, and with the front of my face said to Mocha. "Again. From the middle." She already knew the drill. I fucked up this specific jump so often, it wasn't funny anymore.

For the next twenty minutes, all I did was try to stick the landing, but failing each of my attempts. I was at the end of my strength, pissed. How is this possible?! I did way more harder jumps and twists before, and never failed this miserably so often.

"Again." "No," Mocha interrupted me, throwing my water bottle at me, frustrated with me. "You already tried so often. And it just doesn't work. That's just fine. Let's focus on other stuff. We can just replace the jump with a different one, improving at that. You don't have to be perfect in everything."

I signed, still annoyed, but she was right. If I focus on this too much, I lose in the long run.

So, I dropped it, ready for her feedback. "As always, you did everything perfectly. Just try smiling a little. The judges love that. Not now, you don't have to, just remember." I nodded, pleased with myself. "OK, so now for the choreography for this semester..."

We went through all the competitions she thought would be good for me, and tried coming up with some new moves for them. Some of the competitions had a theme set, so we played with that for a while as well. At the end of the practice we had a couple of great ideas, Mocha writing them all down with notes.

We hadn't decided on any particular music yet, thus it was too soon. She also showed me some new moves that would get me a lot of points, and that could match with the themes of the competitions.

We were done with our tasks before the actual practice ended, so I still had some time to practice the new moves. Mocha showed me a couple of videos and tutorials on the new move, also showing me what you do in person. It was basically a backflip without hands, on skates. It looked really cool, but frightening and dangerous at the same time.

I tried to a couple of times, failing, obviously. It was really hard, so I started to learn it with my hands first. The theory was simple - skate, buckle your knees, do a bridge, and flip your legs over.

I did all of that, successfully. The only thing I had yet to master was how not to cut my fingers off. My blades were really sharp, and I could cut off my fingers at any moment. Thank God I only touched my fingers with my blades, resolving in a couple of cuts. By the end of the practice, I needed bandages though.

So I got some, Mocha bandaging my fingers for me. "We will try tomorrow again. You can do it," she supported me, seeing the gloomy expression on my face. I smiled at her, appreciating it.

The practice ended and I was about to step off the ice when I spotted Tank standing outside the ring, looking at me. I wanted to reach him, wave him a 'hi'. But my hand stopped mid-air, noticing his expression. My mood instantly dropped, feeling self-conscious, and I hugged myself.

Tang was looking me up and down with disgust in his eyes.