Odds and Evens (The Big Five)

Ice Skating

Jack

When the final bell went off, Punzie's mum dropped us off at the sports centre, saying she'd bring Elsa's sister Anna (who got out of school an hour later) soon. Punzie (who visited the sports centre often because her CRUSH Eugene Fitzherbert worked at the front desk) led us into the reception. She lightly tapped the bell on the desk. Within seconds, Eugene was in our presence.

"Hey Punz!" he grinned.

"Hi!" Punzie returned, a huge beam plastered on her face. "Five passes for the ice rink?"

"Sure! I'll put it on your mom's membership," he complied.

"Thanks!" Punzie cheered. I swear, if there wasn't a desk between them she would try to leap into his arms or something.

Anyway, after that sickening exchange, the girls headed to their changing room and Hiccup and I went to ours.

"So, how's Elsa?" Hiccup teased, tying up the laces on his ice skates.

"What about her?" I replied harshly.

"C'mon, I've seen you drooling all over her," Hiccup confronted, winking in a disturbing fashion.

"Are you serious?! I only met the girl yesterday! I barely know anything about her!" I revoked. "Now let's go, Merida's waiting for you."

"Hey!"

He's in denial, because he TOTALLY has a crush on Merida. I mean, he's never told me, but when you've known someone for a large sector of your life, they shouldn't need to tell you about this sort of thing.

Hiccup and I stumbled out of the changing room on plain white ice skates, while the girls graciously (well, gracious for Merida isn't that gracious, but you get the picture) skated onto the rink in skates with intricate, winter-like designs. Merida's were tinted orange, Punzie's pink, and Elsa's blue.

"Did you organise this beforehand or something?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

"... Yeah!" Punzie confirmed hesitantly. "Skating time!"

After about half an hour I was still stumbling around the edge of the rink. You'd think a boy with ice powers would be a natural at this, but apparantly not! While Elsa, Punzie and even Merida were gliding across the crystal ice, Hiccup and I were clinging to the railing to prevent ourselves from collapsing.
Elsa was really good. She pirouetted on the clear ice so elegantly, it was as if she belonged in ice skates... Suddenly, one of my skates slipped and I thudded onto the rink.
"Damn," I muttered under my breath.
"You need help?"
My eyes flew upwards, and Elsa was towering over me, trying to suppress a grin.
Self conscious of the fact that I officially had made a fool of myself, I quickly pushed myself up and brushed shreds of ice off my jacket, before once again gaining hold on the nearby railing.
"No, no, I'm fine," I reassured rapidly.
"Are you sure?" she questioned again, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah-"
"Come on!" Elsa giggled, taking my hands and leading me into the middle of the rink. Sliding after her, my face reddened. Did she seriously think I needed her help?
...Okay, maybe I did.

"To start off with, you need to stand straight, and keep your feet waist width apart. Then you need to push your feet outwards," Elsa demonstrated, skating in a circle. "See? It's easy!"

"If you say so," I grumbled, staring at my feet. Slowly I followed Elsa's directions, and before I knew it, I had made a full circle around Elsa.

"I did it!" I proclaimed, cheering. All of a sudden my skate skidded across the ice and I lost my balance. Elsa reached out a hand to catch me; I pulled her down with me and she promptly landed on top of me. I could feel the cold of the ice seeping into the back of my head as we found ourselves face to face, her platinum blonde hair brushing her eyelashes.