Secret Singing Superstar

Nineteen ~ ♫♪♫

When Leanne arrived at the rollerblading rink, she didn't expect to see Helina already there, standing shyly near a bench with her rollerblades on and a bottle of water in her hand.

Out of all her friends, Helina had been the most negative person when it came to rollerblading, so it was a shock to see that she was the first one there. Leanne waved and sat down next to where she was standing. She slipped on her rollerblades. Unlike Helina, who hired her rollerblades, Leanne had her own. She had bought them two years ago, but back then they were too big for her, so she never used them. Now she was finally big enough to fit them. It was her first time using her rollerblades.

"Are you excited?" Leanne asked Helina.

Helina shook her head. "Not a bit."

"Then why did you come?"

"Because Cailyn forced me to," said Helina, playing with her drink bottle.

Leanne laughed, and so did Helina after a moment's hesitation. She looked much happier than what she had looked like when Leanne first saw her when she came back to school on Wednesday, the day after everyone returned to school after their free day. She had explained to everyone that Cailyn's grandpa had terminal cancer and was in the hospital, and that Cailyn was really sad about it. Helina had missed out on school to visit her at the hospital to keep her company and to help her feel better. Cailyn didn't go back to school until Thursday. She'd told Helina that her grandpa had died, and Helina had told everyone else.

Cailyn was more subdued than usual during the week. She didn't eat any lollipops that anyone offered her, or argue with Helina, which was a bonus, but it also meant that she wasn't okay. Whenever she spoke she spoke quietly. The only time she acted like her loud and adventurous self was when Helina tickled her in an attempt to make her smile. After that Cailyn had smiled more and seemed to be no longer depressed, which was a relief.

"Can you rollerblade?" questioned Leanne.

Helina shook her head again.

"I'll help you," Leanne offered.

Helina smiled. "Thank you."

They began to talk, slowly at first, about things like school and the singing concert, but then they started talking about more random things and conversation came more easily. They were halfway through discussing about pop songs when Claire came.

"Oh, come on! I thought I was going to be the first one this time," Claire said when she saw them. "God dammit!"

Helina laughed. Leanne thought that she looked really pretty when she laughed, although she was already pretty to begin with. Helina was definitely the prettiest out of all her friends, but she didn't say this out loud, for fear of offending her other friends. She knew Claire couldn't care less about how she looked as much as Leanne did, but she might still tell the others and Leanne didn't want that happening. Things could get awkward. Anna and Caitlin did not take insults well.

Leanne practiced rollerblading around a little. Her skills weren't that bad, but Helina and Claire were near to hopeless, which led to Leanne teaching Claire, and Cailyn, who had just arrived, to teach Helina.

Unfortunately, Claire couldn't glide on her rollerblades.

"How hard is it to glide?" Leanne asked to nobody in particular. She was beginning to get frustrated.

"I'm sorry! I just can't rollerblade, okay?" said Claire. Her hand was sweaty.

A few metres away, Cailyn wasn't having that much luck with teaching Helina. Helina seemed to be better than Claire at rollerblading, but Cailyn was often distracted. She would stare out into space at nothing and not respond until Helina waved her hand in front of her face to get her attention.