Secret Ice Princess

Chapter Five

Dedicated to leeoralove03 because she wanted me to write a chapter and is probably the only one still reading this story :/

***

Libby happily admitted that she had underestimated Indigo. The girl had taken Libby's  little announcement in stride and had never once treated Libby any differently than before. Libby continued to give Indigo rides to the rink after their long days at school and give her rides home after practice and work. Instead of the awkward silences that had once occupied the car, jovial conversations flowed this way and that.

Indigo continued to work on her routine, only now with more of the conviction and strong headedness that Mrs. Miller has warned Indy to be careful of. Some days Libby couldn't even get Indigo to talk about anything besides skating. However, Libby didn't mind much, her heart swelled every time the taller girl began to speak. She knew her crush was pointless and not worthwhile but she couldn't shake it.

Libby understood Indigo's mania, as the competition was just around the corner. With only a month left and so many things to correct in her routine, Indy had begun to allow the craziness to take over her life. Her teachers had even taken her aside, one-by-one, and ask if everything was going okay. Her grades were one of the last things on her mind. Libby even wondered how Indigo had gotten through this in previous years and not be totally exhausted of this pattern. Practice, practice, practice, craziness, practice. Almost all of the time, eleven months of the year.

One of the only times that Libby could get Indigo to calm down were the quiet, snowy, cold, weekends that the girl hung out and watched movies. Indigo's parents joyfully offered up their basement for the girls to spend their time. It was definitely not often that their daughter brought home new friends. In fact, it had been quite a while since Indigo had any friends at all. They were overjoyed at Libby befriending Indigo, as they saw her as a great roll model for the shy girl and a polite, kind one at that.

During one of these weekends, the girls were hanging out and surfing the Internet, each girl on her cellular device. "Hey, Indy?" Libby asked.

"Hmm," the brunette girl answered.

"Exactly how Figure Skating Famous are you?" Indigo shrugged. The topic had come up before when Indigo and Libby had run up to Indy's room and Libby had seen the mountains of trophies and ribbons that adorned her shelves and walls. Indigo was pretty uncomfortably with this topic as she never talked with anyone outside her family about it. She knew she was kind of a big deal and she often heard her stage name in passing. Her town was big on competitive skating and since Indy wore a wig and makeup while performing nobody knew it was her. She didn't bother with that while practicing and she was glad nobody like Georgina had blown her cover yet.

"Because you know," Libby continued, I just found a bunch of articles about you. You are sponsored by USFSA? Isn't that like a huge deal? That's national!"
Indigo shrugged again. It wasn't a huge deal to her, it is just her life.

Then a thought struck her, "Why are you searching me on the Internet anyway?" Indigo asked.

"I may or may not be scoping out your competition and it looks like most people are really excited to see you preform. I know I am." Libby winked playfully at Indigo and the taller girl resolved into giggles. Libby often wondered if she took her playful flirting too far but so far there had been no problems, so she continued.

***

On Monday, as the two girls walked into the school building, they heard a peculiar nonsense. "Did you know that Hope is going to be going to this school soon?" a random boy bellowed to his group of friends. Libby looked at Indigo in shock and concern. Why were they talking about a new girl and was it the Hope that was so near and dear to her heart? 

Indigo shared the look of concern but seemed relatively relaxed about the whole thing. She trusted Libby and knew that there was no way that she would have spoiled a secret like that, plus, she was the only one who knew. Besides, the rumor had it that she would soon be attending the school, not that she was already there. Libby grabbed Indigo's wrist and roughly pulled her down the hallway. 

"You heard that too, right? It wasn't just me?" Libby whisper-shouted as the boy's screech grew quieter behind them. Indigo rolled her eyes as it wasn't really a big deal for her. Sure she had been hiding her true identity for almost all of her life, but it wasn't a big deal if people found out. Libby had definitely shown her that there was more to life than holding what is really dear to you at arms reach. Libby, however, was internally freaking out. What if Indy thought that it was her who spoiled her secret? What if everybody found out? 

"It wasn't just you and I don't feel we should be worried," Indigo stated. "Its not like they know its me and I have no problem with them finding out. It an old secret and they will all know soon enough." 

"What do you mean?" Libby raised her eyebrows.

"I  plan on  telling everyone after high school." Indigo said simply.

Libby shrugged and kept her fears to herself. She was sure that as soon as people really did know Indy's secret her opinion would change but there was nothing they could do about that now except pray that nobody would find her out. And its not like Hope could be new to the school anyway. For now Indigo would have to remain the secret ice princess.

***

The day wore on and the rumors continued. At one point in time Libby snapped at a cheerful girl gossiping to her friends about "'Her best friend, Hope," who was going to their school upon her own request. ' It was ridiculous but Libby felt that their was almost nothing that she could do to stop the pain that she knew would soon be present in Indigo's life.

After school Libby drove Indigo to practice but instead of staying and doing her job as usual, when home saying she didn't feel well.

Indigo pretended that she didn't know something was up and told Libby to feel better soon. She entered the cold building trying to calm down, but that soon went down the drain as she heard the familiar sound of skates on the ice. Georgina was here.

"Hey, loser. I heard some interesting rumors today," Georgina called from the rink. "Heard you were going to school." Indigo froze. "But as I remember, you already go to school, I'm the one who's making the grand appearance. You go to Jefferson High, right?" 

Indigo nodded, reluctantly. "Yes," she whispered. Georgina skated over to the edge nearest to Indy and stopped, leaning all her weight on the boards and lifting her skates off the ice. Indigo walked forward, neglecting the feeling of wrongness that settled in her gut.

"You're going to have a new classmate." Georgina chuckled, somewhat wickedly. "But then I was thinking, if you already go to school, then why would there be a rumor that you were just now attending public school? Then I realized. Your hair is different when you preform that when you practice, hell, even now it's different and you haven't even hit the ice. It must be a wig; is it?" Indigo nodded again, trying to ignore the deep dread that set in her throat. "So those classmates you already have don't know who you are, right?" Another nod. "I knew it!" she pumped her fist, setting her skates back onto the ice and straightening her posture. "Now, I assume only me and that girl who you are always hanging around are the only ones who know, and I'm a nice person, so as long as you don't cross me, your little secret will remain what it is: a secret, go it?" Indigo tried not to faint at the feeling of relief and nodded one final time. "Good, now go get your skates on, we've both got a competition to practice for."

***

Hello, everybody! Its been a while, eh?

I finally got a macbook so I should be updating a lot more often. I'm going to try to finish this story, Voiceless and start another story. If you have any suggestions as to what I should write, comment or shoot me a PM!

Love you, 

M