A Crack in the Ice

Chapter 19

Three days later, we were back in Saint Petersburg. Her third competition wasn't until next week. It was being held in Moscow, so we thought that it would be a good idea to head back to Saint Petersburg for some time.

"Hey, Yurio, what do you want to do today?" Sarah asked as she sat on the couch.
"I'm not sure," I said. "Do you have any ideas?"
"Actually, I do," she said, turning to face me. "I was thinking that maybe we could go practice for a bit. I mean, it is only two in the afternoon. We have, like, eight hours to do stuff."
I shrugged. "If that's what you want to do, then I guess we can."
"Good," Sarah said as she stood up. "In that case, let's get going. I'll let you drive," she said, tossing me the keys to the car.
"Got it," I said, catching them.
"I'll go and grab our skates. Meet you in the car, okay?"
With a nod, I went out to the car and waited for her.

Once we got to the rink, I wasn't overly surprised to see that Yuri and Viktor were already there.
"I'm surprised you beat us here," Sarah said as she got our skates out of the car.
"What can I say? Yuri and I technically live closer to the rink," Viktor said with a shrug.
"I personally couldn't care less," I mumbled.
"No need to be such a downer," said Sarah as she slightly nudged me.
"Anyways," Yuri said, slightly shaking his head. "We should probably get inside and put our skates on."
"Sounds like a good idea," Sarah said.
With that, we went inside.

About half an hour later, I was sitting on the side with Viktor as Sarah was working on something with Yuri.
"She's come a long way since she's been here."
Viktor nodded. "Indeed she has. And I think I know why," he said, slightly nudging me.
Knowing what he meant, I went into a blush. "Sh-shut up."
Viktor chuckled. "You know I'm right."
"...I never said you were wrong," I mumbled.
"Hey, can you come here, Yurio?" Yuri called out from the rink.
I looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah. I'll be right there," I said, standing up.
"What exactly do you need?" I asked as I skated over to them.
"It's not that we really need you for anything, but-"
"I want to show you that I can do a Quad Salchow," Sarah said, finishing Yuri's sentence.
I nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"That, and I want to do something else," Sarah added on with a smirk.
I slightly groaned, knowing that I was going to regret my decision to come onto the ice once Sarah did whatever her 'something else' was. "...just get on with it."
Sarah nodded and began to skate around, picking up speed. Once she had enough speed, she went in for the jump, taking off on the back outside of her left skate, making four rotations, and landed on the back inside of her right skate.
"That was...wow. I never knew you could do that," I admitted.
"Neither did I," Sarah said as she came back over to us.
"Still, I don't understand how you went from a jump that takes off from the back inside edge to one that takes off from the front inside edge," I mumbled.
"Neither do I," Sarah shrugged. "But honestly, I don't both myself with it."
"Actually, that gives me an idea," I suddenly said.
"What is it?" Sarah and Yuri said basically at the same time.
"Hey! Jinx! You owe me a Coke!" Sarah called out.
Yuri groaned. "Fiiiine...I'll get you one at dinner, okay?"
Sarah nodded. "Fair enough. Anyways, what's your idea, Yurio?"
"Well," I sighed. "I was thinking about seeing if you would be able to perform my routine as it was originally done, at least in terms of the jumps and all."
"...you want me to try a Triple Toe Loop Quad Salchow combo?" Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded. "Yeah. With everything I've seen you do, I think you'll be able to pull it off."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. I've never attempted a Quad in a combo. It's just too hard."
"Well, there's no harm in trying, is there?"
Yuri sighed. "I'm actually going to agree with Yurio on this. I think it would be a good idea to work on that. I mean, it would be an amazing thing to do for the Grand Prix Final, as you're pretty much qualified to be in it at this point."
Sarah sighed. "All right. I'll try it. But if I get hurt from doing this, I'm blaming both of you."
"I'll actually be glad to take the blame," I said with a sigh. "I mean, it is my idea, so I'll be responsible for anything that happens."
"...all right then," Sarah said.
I looked at Yuri. "Let's watch from the side."
He nodded. "Good idea."

Once we got to the side, I pulled out my phone and opened my music. "I'll start the music when you're ready," I called out.
Sarah nodded. "Go ahead."
I then pressed the play button, and On Love: Agape began to play through my wireless speaker.
"So, what's she doing now?" Viktor asked as he walked over to us.
Yuri then looked at me. "Well, it was your idea, so why don't you tell him?"
"All right," I mumbled. "You see since Sarah was somehow able to pull off a Quad Salchow during On Top of the World, I was thinking that maybe she'd be able to pull it off with her Short Program, reverting back to my original choreography."
"I see," Viktor said.
I nodded. "I have a feeling that she'll be able to pull it off."
Yuri nodded. "Speaking of which...here it comes."
I watched, nervous. She did the Tripe Toe Loop without fail and then went for the Quad Salchow....and she did it.
"Yes!" I nearly screamed. "That was amazing!"
With that, Sarah finished the routine without any flaws.

Once she was done, she skated over to us, a huge smile on her face. "Did you see that?"
I nodded. "I did. That was amazing!"
Viktor nodded. "Indeed. Now, I want you to try again. I want to record you this time, so you can have footage to look over."
"Got it," she nodded.
We continued working on that throughout the day. However, I wasn't aware at the time that what had just transpired would lead to me getting embarrassed in public.