Status: Active

Smoked Out

Get Out of My Head

“Butterfly jump, Macy! That was miserable. No, your body needs to be parallel; you’re going at a diagonal angle. Macy!” Today’s lessons were going terribly. I thought that skating would help get my mind off of things, but all I kept thinking about was how bad I was doing in Math and how the only person that could apparently help me was the one person that hated me more than anyone. The worst part about it was that Claire, my skating teacher, asked me to stay behind an extra hour to work on my jumps. “Just stop, Macy, at this rate you’re just going to hurt yourself. Bring it in, okay? We’re done for today.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, skating over to her as we made our way to the dressing room. “It’s been a long day.”

“You can’t let that get to you on the ice, Mace. You have to leave all of that behind or you could break your neck out there. I will be damned if I lose one of my best skaters because she had a long day.”

“I know, I know. I won’t let it happen again.” I said, sitting down on one of the benches and untying the laces on my skates. I couldn’t wait to get these tights off and my practice dress was starting to make me itch so bad I wanted to burn it.

“It’s okay to have problems when you aren’t on the ice, but if you let one uneasy thought get to you on that ice it’s going to affect your performance. You can’t let that happen; especially when you have to prepare yourself for your competition. Judges will notice that, I guarantee it.”

“I get it!” I snapped. I immediately regretted speaking to her that way; she was just trying to help. But the stress of the day was enough without someone harping at me about the competition I had to make sure I was perfect for. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you’re better prepared next time, okay?” I nodded watching her leave. I took my time as I showered and got dressed in my after skating comfy clothes. Track pants and a sweater felt so nice after a day of skating. I locked the door to the arena behind me and made my way to my office to check my email. An email from Bree was waiting for me with the subject ‘Intermediate Level Files (:’. I clicked it, feeling a little hopeful now.

Hey Mace! I got your email and I actually have a few spots available for this season still. If you want to give Annabelle’s parents a shout and let them know that she’ll still be able to enter the competition for this levelled class they would probably appreciate it. I sent you the files to fill out for Annabelle. Just fill them out and get her parents to sign them and she’ll be all set. If all goes well, thanks for the new student! By the way you’ve raved about her before I’m sure she’ll do awesome. Talk soon. – B.Spence. (:

I clicked on the files she sent me and watched the screen as three documents appeared. I filled out all of Annabelle’s information and printed the pages off for her parents to sign. I knew I was probably in over my head, but if Annabelle was able to compete then all of the original problems with switching levels were solved.

I had to act fast on this, so I drove over to Annabelle’s house on my way home. I called them to let them know I was stopping by to discuss something with them before making my big decision. I knocked on the paper white door when I reached it and was greeted with Peter’s gigantic smile. “Hey, come on in.” I had been over to Annabelle’s house once before for the skater’s barbeque last year. The place we originally planned on having it had bailed the night before and so Peter offered to have it at his place. Nothing had changed since the last time I was here. The shelves in the living room were still decorated with tiny glass figurines and the layout was exactly the same. It was different from the constantly changing living room at my house. My mom got sick of the layout way too often, always making me move the couches just an inch this way, or in some cases, to a completely different side of the room.

“Hi Peter, I just stopped by because I have some news about Annabelle that I wanted to share with you.” He motioned for me to sit down and so I did. I looked through my bag for the paperwork that I hoped he would sign after we talked everything out. “Is Greta here? I would really like her to be a part of this.”

“Greta! Macy is here!” Peter shouted down the hallway.

“Who?” I heard a loud highly pitched voice shout back.

“Macy Crawford, Annabelle’s skating teacher.” He looked back at me apologetically.

“Oh, Macy!” Greta said walking into the room and smiling at me. “I was hearing Tracy.”

“Your ears are getting worse with old age.” Peter said winking at her. I smiled at the sight of them still happily in love. “So Macy, what was it you wanted to discuss with us?” I suddenly felt very nervous.

“Well,” I said, pausing briefly. “As you know, Annabelle is a very passionate skater and this is partly what makes her such a good skater. She has a lot of spirit and drive. Frankly, I think she’s gotten to be too experienced for my class.”

“What are you saying?” Greta said. I watched as her face fell, her eyes meeting mine, daring me to continue saying something she isn’t going to like.

“I was talking with a friend of mine, Bree Spence. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, but she coaches the intermediate level class in the arena next to mine. We both think that for a skater as skilled as Annabelle, she might benefit better from leaving my class and joining hers this season.” I was mentally crossing my fingers as they both thought this over.

“No!” Greta finally said. “No, she’s not switching now. She won’t be able to compete. I know how these things go and I won’t let you two do this to my daughter. She loves competing. You know that too, Macy, which is why I’m really confused with why you would even consider this.”

“No, Greta, don’t worry about that. Bree told me that if Annabelle joined her class now that she would still be able to compete this year. I –”

“But she won’t be able to compete with the other kids who have been in the class longer.” Peter said, softer than Greta had been speaking before. He was handling this in a calmer matter than Greta.

“Annabelle is plenty good enough to compete against those other skaters. You’ve seen her out on that ice, she doesn’t just skate on the ice, she dances with it. I think this would be really good for her.” Greta took a few seconds to ponder the idea, occasionally looking over at Peter to make sure he was on the same page as her.

“Well,” Peter said shrugging. “I guess we could try it.” I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

“Okay, as long as she gets to compete.” Greta said.

“Great! You won’t regret it, I promise! I just need you to initial here, here, and here.” I said handing them the paperwork they needed to sign along with the pen I brought with me. “And the next time you bring Annabelle in for lessons, you’ll just bring her to the arena right beside mine and Bree will be there to greet you. They practice the same days as my class so if there are any concerns with Bree, I will be right next door.”

“Okay, thank you, Macy.” Peter said a bit unsure on if he should be thanking me just yet.

“No, thank you for your time.” I collected the pieces of paper from them as they walked me to the door and felt a pang of sadness wash over me as I walked to my car. I was really going to miss Annabelle, but this was going to happen eventually anyways, so what did it matter if it was now or then?

I thought about what Mr. Sherik said to me on my way home. I didn’t want my parents to see my 40% test even if it didn’t count towards my grade. I wasn’t used to doing this poorly in school. Not ever. I worked really hard to keep my grades up, especially in math. What was so different this year? Why couldn’t I keep up with it now?

I parked in the driveway and made my way to the back door instead of going to my entrance of the house. Talon was already outside with a smoke in his hand when I reached it and smirked at me when he noticed I was there. “I got a call from Shrek today.” He said, making fun of Mr. Sherik’s name like everyone else in school did… except for me. I hated it when people called him that. “I’ll help you on one condition.”

“What condition is that?” I crossed my arms annoyed. I really didn’t want to be standing here with him and his puff of smoke occasionally making its way to my nostrils. I hated myself for being so bad at math. So bad that I needed to get help from this lunatic. Especially a lunatic with a condition. I can only imagine what is going to come out of his mouth. “I won’t help you smuggle drugs across the border if that’s what you’re going to ask of me.”

“Macy, I’m not a drug dealer for fuck sakes.” He rolled his eyes at me and continued. “No, the condition is that you let Axel into your class and you treat him like you treat the rest of your students. Not like some head case you think needs fixing.” That was his condition?

“That’s it? Just let your brother join my class?” He nodded. “Okay, deal.”

“I love how when you need something from me, Axel is suddenly able to join your previously unable-to-accept-new-students-class.” I sighed unbelievably. Actually, Axel was already a part of my class before I even got into my driveway but I wasn’t about to tell him that. If he knew I was already planning on having Axel in my class, he would change his condition and it would be something I would never do, then I wouldn’t get the help I needed.

“Are you going to help me or not?” I asked frustrated.

“Fine. Be here tomorrow after school. I’ve got shit to do later on and I won’t be able to help then.” I huffed and started walking back to the front of my house. “You’re welcome!” He shouted after me sarcastically.

I always let him get under my skin. Ugh, why did I do that? Whatever, Macy, it doesn’t matter now. You have the math help you need and maybe if Talon is as great as Mr. Sherik seems to think he is at math, you’ll be able to pass this course. That’s all that really matters right now.
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Kind of a boring chapter and definitely a shorter one, but necessary for later on in the story.

Hope you enjoyed it!
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