Second Chance :: Nathan Chen

Chapter 11

Song: River of Tears by Alessia Cara

Kierra's POV

I lie on my bed alone staring up at the ceiling. For the past year, I have managed to ignore anyone or anything that would remind me of Nathan, well other than skating.

"Let's go," Coach Emily yells as I arrive at the rink half dead.

"Seriously!" I scream. "I just ran 2 miles, did half an hour of stretching and 2 hours of serious conditioning."

"Yes and U.S. Championships are next week, you are expected to defend the title." Emily states.

"Yes, yes," I reply as I begin putting on my skates.

"They're saying Amber Glen has stolen the hearts of the U.S. and she's the supposed favorite for first this year," Emily informs.

I stare up at her for a moment, "Amber Glen?" I ask.

"Yes, so let's get moving," Emily encourages.

I skate a quick warm-up lap before I start my program.

I fall out of all 3 quads that I attempt in the program and struggle to land a triple axel and triple toe loop.

"Seriously?" Emily asks.

I just lay on the ice wondering if I lay there for long enough I'll freeze.

For the next two hours, I attempt jump after jump, struggling with every quad, and failing to land the majority of them.

"Look, let's call it a day," Emily suggests. "You can stay here and work, or go home and clear your mind, but be ready to work tomorrow."

I skate around the ice alone once again listening to the sound of blades scraping the ice.

I finally grab my phone which is plugged into the speakers and google Amber Glen.

Thousands of Instagram pictures and photos come up of her and Nathan. It hurts to know that everything we had was fake. 

It was all some fucked up lie. 

He never gave a damn, and he never will. 

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Someone screams from behind me, which I don't pay any attention to. That is until I'm suddenly enveloped in a huge hug.

I spin around totally shocked and fall into the arms of Vincent.

"KIERRA!" He screams.

"Stop," I warn. "Don't cause a scene."

"GUYS KIERRA'S HERE!" Vincent screams as loud as possible.

"Vincent, stop," I whisper struggling to get out of his grip as I grab my bag and quickly run backstage before we cause a scene.

I warm up and step onto the ice for a practice session carefully weaving through other skaters.

I don't practice any of the quads replacing them with doubles and singles.

"Kierra?" A voice asks from behind me.

I carefully spin around meeting Karen who hugs me tightly.

"I missed you so much!" Karen screams.

"Same!" I reply.

"Why did you leave the tour?" Karen questions.

"Look, can we talk about that later," I suggest, trying to avoid the topic.

"Yeah, sure, then you can tell everybody at the same time," Karen says.

"No Mirai?" I ask scanning the ice for any sign of the figure skater.