Thin Ice

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JULES POV

The music starts.

The rhythm begins to pull my feet around on the ice, leading my mind to start piecing together my routine like a bunch of puzzle pieces laying on the floor.

My body releases itself from my starting position and my leg kicks up, gliding on the ice. I maneuver around the middle, in a circle, by doing back crossovers and eventually let myself go into a quick backspin.

I then move around the rest of the ice and my body flows around, remembering to make artistic choices.

My position switches and my body gets ready to perform a jump.

I've been working on an axle for about a month now but I just can't seem to get it down. My coach doesn't want me to potentially hurt myself a week before competition so in this routine, I'm stuck doing a simple lutz.

I start to speed up to gain momentum.

My body begins to twist itself and my legs turn to start gliding backwards. I lean on my left backward outside edge, stick my right toe pick into the ice, and bring my left leg in as I jump and spin into the air.

My skates make contact with the ice, landing perfectly, while still making sure to land gracefully or whatever that means. It's just something Coach always yells at us to do.

I don't feel satisfied with just doing the lutz though. I have thirty seconds left of my music still to choreograph so I might as well mark something in for now.

I think for a moment and then look around the rink, making sure my coach didn't magically appear during the time my music has started playing.

Once I've scanned the area, I prepare myself to do an axel.

I take a deep breath and wiggle my arms to relax my body. If I'm too tense, I get into my own head and then I can't even do a basic scratch spin which is embarrassing.

When I'm relaxed and focused, I allow myself to begin gliding on my right outside edge, turning when it feels right. My left foot rises up to start the jump but as soon as I fully get in the air, I topple down, butchering the landing.

Shit. I thought I had it this time..

My body stays laying on the ice, accepting defeat. I don't want to try again just in case I do end up hurting myself, then Coach would for sure kill me.

In the distance, I hear some claps and hollers from my friends, Kiara and Faye that can be seen from behind the glass, sitting on the bleachers.

I shake my head instructing them not to clap for that.

Kiara and Faye have always been so supportive of my skills but I'm just too hard on myself to even allow them to compliment me. I get into my head too often and it's annoying.

I rise up from where I was sat and begin to dust the ice off of me while making my way over to the two of them. I skid off of the ice, t-stopping right before I hit the wall.

Kiara speaks up before I can even start complaining. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you looked great out there," she compliments.

"I should have landed the axel," I complain. I sigh and make my way over to the bench, taking a seat right next to Faye. I wish I could see what they saw, because in my mind if I mess up once then my whole routine was terrible.

Faye groans, being tired of how hateful I am. "You're terrible at taking compliments, you know that right?" she jokes.

A smirk appears on my face, letting me begin to laugh. "Thank you," I finally say, making sure to over dramatize the words.