Facing Phantoms, Pursuing Flowers

The Fault in Our Stars

Just before Melody fell asleep, her phone rang.
Is that, could it be Sota?

It is! Wonder what he'll say to my out-of-character message I sent a while ago....

Their text message conversation went something like this.....

Sota: 'Hummingbirds don't leave their Thistles for long'

Melody: ':)) a month is still a pretty long time...'

Sota: 'I'll be back before u know it. Good luck for nationals'

Melody: 'Thanks! Have fun in your ice shows! How's school?'

Sota: 'It's okay. Lots of homework.'

Melody: 'Same. Finals is in three weeks and so is nationals!! Freaking out'

Sota: 'Does Canada only have two spots at worlds?'

Melody: 'YES! That's why I have to place at least second to go to worlds! And it'll be between me, Alaine, Gabby and Katelyn!'

Sota: 'Oh, tough field. But you can do it I'm sure. If not, even if you place like third, you can still go to 4CC, and then maybe Junior worlds with me, and if you place fourth, you could go to Youth Olympics with me too instead of 4CC, since you'd actually be age eligible!'

Melody: 'That's true....but I don't want to go to Junior Worlds :( and I wouldn't know any one there'

Sota: 'You know me! And that Roman Sadovsky guy from Canada'

Melody: 'Yeah....well good night! I gotta sleep now'

Sota: 'I can see the stars, over Nagano, I wonder do you see them too?'

Melody: 'I can see the stars over Canada....hahaha since when did you start listening to Ed Sheeran?'

Sota: 'Since I watch The Fault In Our Stars. :)'

Melody: 'You watch the fault in our stars?? o.O'

Sota: 'Yes I do haha. Well good night! :)'

Melody: ':)'

Sota: ':)'

Melody: 'Hey, maybe this ":)" will be our "okay" hahahah'

Sota: 'yeah, maybe it will :)'

Melody: 'okay, seriously, stop it, okay?'

Sota: 'okay'

Melody: '*oh my gosh, stop flirting with me Augustus!*'

Sota: 'okay, Just Hazel'

Melody turned her phone off amd thought,
Maybe the fault in our stars is the fact that we are so far apart

...

Weeks flashed by....

Canadian Nationals came sooner than expected...

Melody was backstage, freaking out...

Brian came over for a pep talk, which only made her panic more. But thankfully, Nam came, and he gives way better pep talks than Brian.

Next up was Melody, and she had to go up after Alaine and Katelyn's great skate.

Okay, keep your cool....

Now smile, and pretend to be calm...

Elvis's Can't Help Falling In Love boomed through the arena...

A little step out from her Triple Lutz-Toe combination was the only faulty element. Other than that, the crowed was crazy during her short, especially after the Double Axel into a Fan Spiral and Ina Bauer exit.

The scores for Melody Samantha Pang, 68.97.

'Yassss, I'm in second behind Katelyn!'

'Good job Dy!' Nam congratulated.

So she ended up remaining in second going into the free skate tomorrow.

Skating third to last, was Roman Sadovsky.

She managed to catch a glimpse of him and waved before he took off on the ice...

With the popped, single Axel, he wasn't expecting a very high score.

The scores for Roman Sadovsky, 64.17

He looked kinda sad, knowing his free skate can't possibly make up enough points to beat Nicolas Nadeau, which means, as Canada on has one spot for Junior Worlds, Nadeau would be the one going.

'But even with a popped Axel, and an edge called Flip, you were still spectacular on the ice, especially during the doughnut spin,' Melody encouraged him after.

'Thank you,' he muttered back, clearly upset about the Axel.
..

Now it was Nam's turn to not freak out and he was doing a pretty darn good job about it, especially for the defending champion who has to skate last, especially after Patrick's stella short program.

Before Nam went up, Melody gave him a hug.

'You go, Spicy boy!'

Nam's Sinnerman short program was fabulous and extra spicy....all except for the fall on the opening Quad Toeloop.

Nam's reaction to fall was so shocking. It's kinda hard to see him fall.

The scores for Nam Nguyen, 76.04.

Nam looked aghast.
And even Brian looked shocked.

Nam was a bit slow, but that score, is like so his Junior days...

In the end of the Men's short program, Nam was in fifth, and Roman in ninth and Patrick in first with 103.58 score.

...

Sota texted her.
'Hey, I saw you! You were great! But send my regards to Nam, he seemed so sad and shocked!'

'Thanks and yeah, he's really hard on himself'

'Good luck for tomorrow!'

'Yeah, thanks. I'm gonna sleep now, today has been really tiring :)'

':)'

Perhaps this smiley face will be our "okay"

---

Nam sighed.
Alot.

People have been saying he's too hard on himself.
And maybe he is.
But he thought he'd do better than that.

Ugh, growth issues...

I hate it...

No longer Mr.Consistency...

I can't believe I fell on that quad...

I need to train harder, have more speed...

People say I'm really slow across the ice...

I need a redemption free skate tomorrow...

If only my bros were here with me...

They always know how to cheer me up...

Hey, thank you for reading. I made that last section as tribute to Nam, cause I really like him, but he seemed so shocked and upset after his short program in Nats, just wish he wasn't so hard on himself. Good luck to Roman and Nam in the free later today.... Yes, I timed this perfectly so that I would be writing about Can Nats just after it :)
By the way, if u didn't know, fault in our Stars is an awesome novel by John Green and YOU MUST READ IT
In case u didn't noticed I used some references to the book :) and If you haven't watch the movie, WATCH IT, but before you do so, make sure you have a tissue box beside you.

And also, good job on Polina Edmonds and Ross Miner and Nathan Chen in US Nats, all of whom I like very much.