Truth and False

2

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I look onto the huge crowd of daily mall customers and the new faces of excited people and seemingly big fans of the iconic figure skaters.

I breathe in shakily as my nerves begin to give into fear. I go back to the dressing room and look into the mirror to see myself but in a cosplay costume of Victor Nikiforov. My hair was tied into a ponytail hidden under a crown of fake blue roses. My outfit was laced with tightly woven fish netting and seemingly velvety black material. The whole outfit was pulled together with jagged spikes even my black four-wheel skates made the outfit look tasteful and natural.

The only thing I hated was the fact that Victor was male, then I wouldn't have to wear the wrap around my chest to compress my boobs into my ribs.(for male readers, imagine two fists mildly pushing into your pecs but they are wearing big stoned rings and they are digging into your nipples. No joke.) I took a couple of breaths until I felt my breathing hitch at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Relax a little." My friend and coworker Mochi came up behind me.

"Oh. Hey, Mochi and Thanks. God, I've done this so many times but not with this many people." I said as I looked towards the dressing room exit. Mochi laughs letting his shoulders bounce in the process.

"You got nothing to worry about Cam. Just do you." He smiles a toothy smile. At first glance, Mochi could pass as Yuri Katsuki if it wasn't for his stocky stature and obsession of turtles. I laugh at his goofy grin and gain a new bit of confidence.

"You need to get out there now and knock 'em dead." Marcus seeming to come out of nowhere bursts through the door and then proceeds to grab my hand dragging me to the plaza rink. I yank my arm out of his and begin to skate across the tile into the stage. As I stand in the middle of the rink. Everyone clapped as I waved to the crowd, most of which fangirled over how I looked like fifteen-year-old Victor. I take my position in the center of the rink and wait for the music to begin playing. The music begins to play softly and as I begin to step out of my foot position, I close my eyes and let the music envelop me as I count each step that I rehearsed in the time prior. I skate as light and airy as I possibly can with four-wheeled skates and begin my first jump. My legs were heavy but I managed to land safely. The second step comes more naturally as I gain speed from looping around the rink. The second jump I landed a little too early and I could hear a couple of scoffs and sighs from the crowd.

At this point, I was getting aggravated with the routine and decided to give the crowd a surprise. I gain speed once more and instead of jumping, I do a flip. The crowd awed at this sudden surprise and now I knew I had their attention. I then proceeded with the last jump of the actual routine earning a round of applause from the crowd but little did they know my routine was over.

I wave to the crowd and then suddenly react to the music as if I were programmed on command. The music takes a dramatic turn for the intense tempo and beats. I then skate to do a Triple Salchow, it landed. Next was a Lutz. perfect. Finally, it was a special skating trick I learned in rollerblade derbies and street performers. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as I skid one of my skates on the ground, my momentum catapulted me forward causing me to launch from my side of the rink. I reached my hands out and began to tilt backwards in a sort of backflip split combo. The sweat was glistening on my platinum eyelashes and I could sense everyone holding their breath as I near the ground.

As I begin to face forward and adjust myself to a vehicle standpoint, the break of one of my skates touches the ground beginning to make a rubbery screech sound on the rink's polished floors. My other foot touches the ground I begin to slide towards the gate of the rink but, I intentionally slid in a curvature motion and bring myself lower to the ground and finally sliding on my knees and thigh as I roll to a stop at the center of the polished wood floors of the old rink. And as I finish my routine the intense music ends with a finale of silence. I then make an effort to stand, despite my limbs screaming for me to stop.

I look to the crowd and bow as roars of praise begin to fill and echo throughout the mall. I felt my makeup wear down as I skated out of the rink and onto the tile trying to make my way back to the rental shop. Although my feet blistered in slight agony, I ignored the feeling to go and talk to Mochi in his costume.

"That was great Ca- Oh! I mean Victor." I chuckled at his praise as I examined his costume. He was dressed in a costume similar to mine except he was dressed as Yuri but during his first debut as Victor's underling when he skated hot springs on ice. Mochi than began to grow a little serious as he looked at the direction of the rental shop.

"You know Marcus is gonna have an aneurysm knowing you didn't follow the exact routine." I look up at him and ask very cooly, "When have I ever followed his scripts?" We both share a moment of laughter before it was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek from one of the guests at the rink. The huge crowd began to get flustered and agitated as they all proceeded to look down at their phones. I give Mochi a confused look before he looks down at his own device and taps his notification for Victor Nikiforov's Instagram page.

I looked over his shoulder to see a picture of me in mid-air as I was about to land my triple salchow. He then swipes the page to the left to see a short clip play of me flipping through the first half of the show and ending on my final show-stopping move. My legs buckled as I fell into Mochi's back but I regain my ability to stand quickly but pure shock was all I could feel. It was a sort of numbness that felt like it would engulf my whole being at any moment, as if my soul wasn't enough.

I was soon interrupted by the many tapping of footsteps on the tiles of the floor. I look over my shoulder to see most of the footsteps belonged to female super fans who looked like they were about to spontaneously combust at any moment with excitement. Admittedly this frightened me a lot and as soon as the pain in my calves began to subside, Mochi puts a hand on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "If I were you, I would leave. . . Like right now." He then starts to skate off himself and I am quick to follow behind as a sea of fangirls mixed with some children begin to chase us.