Skating School: Blue Skate Dreams

by Linda Chapman

  ‘I know, but seeing as I have to, I want to win it,’ Amanda told her. ‘I wish it was just skating on the rink though. I think I’ll go down there now.’

  ‘Shall we go too?’ Emily said to Hannah and Molly. She could feel her feet itching to get back on to the ice. They nodded and set off for the rink after Amanda. Heather came too.

  The ice rink at school was one of Emily’s favourite places in the Land of Ice and Winter. The glittering white surface was smoothed out regularly by the frost fairies, tiny creatures about two centimetres high, who helped look after the girls. Above the ice was a clear glass roof. In the day you could see the sun and at night the dark sky, dotted with bright sparkling stars. Now Emily could see a magnificent sunset through the roof, pink and golden streaks covering the pale sky.

  They all put on their skates. In her locker, Emily kept the special snow-white and scarlet skates that she had won, although she usually wore her old practice boots when she was skating in lessons or with everyone else. She was really proud she had won the special skates, but she didn’t want anyone to think she was showing off.

  ‘Let’s play tag,’ said Molly after they had all warmed up with some simple stretches. ‘I’ll be It!’

  They scattered as she counted very quickly to ten. ‘Coming! Ready or not!’

  She raced after them. Molly was the fastest skater in the school. Hannah and Amanda were fast too – all three of them were in the advanced skating group, whereas Emily and Heather were among some of the least experienced skaters. Within a few seconds, Molly had tagged Heather. Heather set off after the others, but she didn’t like going very fast.

  ‘Come on, Heather. You can go faster than that!’ called Amanda as Heather missed them again and again. ‘Honestly, I can see who’s not going to be the skater on our relay team!’

  Emily saw a look of hurt flash through Heather’s eyes. ‘I’ll be It with you,’ she volunteered quickly. ‘Let’s try and catch them together!’

  Heather shot her a grateful smile. ‘Thanks, Emily.’

  The two of them managed to corner Hannah and tag her. She quickly caught Molly who whizzed after Amanda.

  ‘You’re not so fast yourself, Amanda!’ Molly said as she zipped in front of her, making her stumble and pull up.

  ‘Molly!’ Amanda exclaimed.

  ‘Whoops, sorry!’ Molly said innocently, darting away after tagging her. Emily was sure she had done it on purpose. Molly and Amanda always clashed.

  They broke apart to skate on their own. Molly whizzed across the ice and threw herself into a triple jump, spinning round three times. She stumbled on landing, but just about kept her feet, laughing and skating on as her arms windmilled round. Looking composed, Hannah jumped an elegant double axel while Amanda spun round, her body arched dramatically back.

  Emily set off round the rink. She loved the feeling of the ice under her skates. Speeding up, she did a double loop and then glided on one leg, her arms thrown back. She could do so much more now than when she had first started at the school four weeks ago. She turned into a layback spin. As Emily whizzed round faster and faster, happiness surged through her. Nothing was quite as much fun as skating!

  Chapter Three

  A Winter Wonderland

  The next morning, Emily was woken up by something brushing against her face. She lay there for a moment wondering what was going on and then her eyes snapped open. Four little frost fairies were tickling her cheeks with their tiny fingers.

  She grinned. ‘Thank you!’ She’d asked the fairies to wake her up extra early. No one ever needed an alarm clock at skating school!

  Jumping up, she shook Hannah and Molly awake. ‘Come on!’ she said as the frost fairies started pulling at their duvets to help her. ‘We said we’d go to the kennels and see if we could take the huskies for a drive before breakfast, remember?’

  The other two got up, yawning. The evening before, they had decided that Molly would do the skating part of the race because she was definitely the fastest skater and that Hannah and Emily would have another go at husky driving and decide who did the driving and who did the skiing. They set off for the kennels.

  Trakin was watching as six of the huskies gambolled around a fenced-in paddock, rolling in the snow with each other. ‘Hello, you three. What brings you out here so early?’

  ‘We were hoping we could take a sledge out before breakfast,’ said Hannah. ‘We wanted to practise a bit more.’

  ‘Great!’ said Trakin. ‘You can take a sledge each.’

  ‘Really?’ said Emily. ‘Thanks!’

  Trakin called to Dina, one of the other ice sylphs, and together they helped the girls get three teams of huskies ready to go. ‘Just take it steady,’ Trakin said, his eyes resting on Molly in particular. ‘No going too fast.’

  ‘And be careful as you reach the end of the line of trees.’ Dina pointed to where they had been practising the other day. ‘Do you see where the trees stop? You should go round to the left towards the forest, but just be careful because the huskies will try and go in the other direction.’ She pointed to a hill behind them. ‘There’s a wooded gorge down there. The huskies love going for walks in it and chasing arctic rabbits. If you’re not careful, they’ll try and pull you that way.’

  ‘And it would be very dangerous on a sledge,’ added Trakin. ‘The trees have very low branches. You would get swept off very quickly. Make sure you keep a strong hold on the left rein when you get to the end of the line of trees.’

  ‘OK, we will,’ promised Hannah and they got on to their sledges.

  The huskies were eager to be off and barked loudly as they started to pull, but the girls, even Molly, all drove sensibly and kept to a slowish pace, making sure they were always in control. When they reached the end of the trees, the huskies tried to veer to the right as Trakin and Dina had said they would, but the girls pulled them firmly to the left. The huskies gave in. As they headed out across the field towards the forest, Emily called across to the others, ‘Should we go faster?’

  ‘Yes!’ they both shouted back. The girls urged the huskies on and rainbow sparks from the dogs’ paws rose up around the sledges.

  Emily laughed in delight as the world whizzed by. She wanted to go faster and faster! But she managed to resist the urge, steadying the huskies as they reached the forest. Hannah and Molly also slowed down, and the huskies stopped barking and began to make happy wuffling noises as they settled into a steady trot.

  ‘Isn’t this amazing?’ said Hannah. The early-morning sun was rising in the sky, its rays slanting through the tree branches and making the snow on the ground glitter and shimmer.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Emily agreed, watching a silver-furred squirrel dart up a tree.

  ‘There’s some snow foxes over there!’ said Hannah, pointing to one side. Emily caught her breath as she saw a white vixen proudly watching her four fluffy cubs playing in the snow. They were so cute!

  The girls drove the huskies on down the path, but after a bit, Molly reined in her dogs. ‘I’m thirsty!’ She jumped off the sledge and walked over to a nearby tree. Like all the others, it had long icicles hanging from its branches. Molly reached to break one off, but as she did so, it gave a wriggle and dropped to the ground at her feet!

  ‘Arghhhhhhh!’ Molly squealed as the icicle turned into a snake and slithered away at top speed through the snow. She gaped. For once, she seemed almost lost for words as she pointed after it. ‘Did you see… what was that… oh, my goodness…’

  Hannah looked equally shocked. ‘That icicle was alive!’

  Emily giggled. ‘Don’t be silly! Of course it wasn’t. It was an icicle snake.’

  ‘What?’ Her friends turned to look at her.

  ‘I read about them in one of the books Madame Longley lent me.’ Emily loved this magic land so much she had asked Madame Longley, the teacher who taught them all about it, if she could borrow books about the creatures who lived there. ‘Icicle snakes disguise themselves as icicles and hang o
n tree branches until their prey comes along. Then they drop on it and eat it.’

  ‘Are they poisonous?’ Hannah asked anxiously.

  Emily shook her head. ‘They swallow small mice and spiders whole, but they’re not poisonous.’

  Molly was staring after the icicle snake. ‘Just think what tricks you could play with one of them,’ she murmured, her eyes gleaming.

  Emily jumped off her sledge and checked the tree out. There were two more icicle snakes. If you looked hard, you could see their tiny silvery eyes at the end of their bodies. She snapped off a real icicle and handed it to Molly. ‘Here you are. A proper icicle!’

  She got back on her sledge. As she picked up the reins, she looked over. Molly had gone back to the tree. ‘Come on!’ Emily exclaimed.

  Molly turned swiftly round, grinning. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’m ready.’ And they were off again.

  It was brilliant driving through the woods and Emily didn’t want to stop, but eventually they had to take the huskies back to the kennels and go inside for breakfast and lessons.

  Their first lesson that day was about the Land of Ice and Winter. Emily got there early. She wanted to read more in the textbooks about the creatures they had seen on their sledge ride that morning. She was flicking through one from the bookshelf when Madame Longley came in. She was an older ice sylph with grey hair. ‘Hello, Emily.’

  ‘Hi. I was just looking up some creatures I saw in the forest this morning. I hope that’s OK.’

  ‘Of course,’ said the teacher. ‘What did you see?’

  ‘Icicle snakes, an arctic squirrel and snow foxes. This is such an amazing place!’

  Madame Longley smiled warmly at her. ‘I’m glad you like it. Everyone who lives here thinks it is amazing too.’

  ‘I love it!’ Emily enthused. She remembered what Madame Letsworth had said and her brow furrowed. ‘I hope the dragon can be moved on.’ It was awful to think of parts of the land being in danger.

  ‘If we choose the right person to be the Ice Princess then hopefully he will be,’ said Madame Longley. ‘But we must pick the right girl. She needs to have certain special qualities if she is to move the dragon.’

  ‘What qualities?’ Emily asked. But just then, the others started to come in and their conversation broke off.

  Emily sat down. She was so busy thinking about the Ice Princess and the dragon that at first she didn’t notice the look of excitement on Molly’s face.

  ‘Prepare for a fun lesson!’ she whispered as she sat down. Emily stared. Molly’s eyes were sparkling. It was how she usually looked before she played a trick on someone.

  The class began. That day, Madame Longley was teaching them about some of the birds that lived in the land. ‘The largest is the ice owl,’ she said, going to the board and pulling down a picture of three different types of ice owl. ‘Who can name these three?’ Several people, including Emily, put their hands up. Madame Longley called Amanda out to write the names of the different owls on the board.

  As Amanda went to the front, Molly swiftly reached over and slipped something into her pencil case.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Hannah hissed from behind her. But Molly just grinned.

  Amanda returned to her desk and Emily and Hannah watched with bated breath as she sat back down.

  ‘Amanda, can I borrow your rubber?’ Molly whispered.

  Amanda nodded and opened her pencil case. As she did so, she let out a piercing shriek and jumped to her feet, knocking her chair over. ‘Help!’ she squealed. ‘A snake!’

  Chapter Four

  Classroom Chaos!

  ‘Amanda, whatever are you doing?’ demanded Madame Longley as Amanda shrieked even more loudly and jumped on her chair.

  The icicle snake slithered down Amanda’s desk leg and on to the floor. Most of the class squealed and jumped on their chairs too.

  Madame Longley quickly scooped the snake up and it froze in her hand. ‘An icicle snake,’ she said. ‘Girls, be quiet!’ Her voice snapped through the air. ‘It is perfectly harmless unless you’re a small mouse. Now sit down at once.’

  Rather sheepishly, everyone sat back down on their chairs. Madame Longley held up the snake. ‘Who is responsible for this?’

  ‘It was Molly!’ burst out Amanda. ‘I know it was!’

  Emily groaned inwardly as Molly glared at Amanda. Although Amanda was right, her telling would only annoy Molly and make her play more tricks.

  Madame Longley looked sharply at Molly.

  ‘OK. It was me,’ Molly owned up.

  ‘I see.’ Madame Longley frowned. ‘So you brought the snake into class?’

  Molly nodded. ‘I’m sorry, Madame.’

  ‘Well, seeing as you have chosen to waste my time then I will waste yours,’ said Madame Longley. ‘For the next week, you will spend your free time tidying out my cupboard. You will sort everything out and clean it. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, Madame Longley,’ Molly said in a subdued voice.

  Madame Longley huffed. ‘Now will you please take this poor snake outside back to where it belongs, Molly, and then we can all get on with the lesson.’

  ‘I can’t believe that I have to tidy out Madame Longley’s cupboard in my free time all this week,’ exclaimed Molly after the lesson. ‘It’s not fair and it means I won’t be able to practise as much for the competition!’

  ‘You did ask for it,’ said Hannah. ‘Bringing the snake into the lesson caused chaos.’

  A grin caught at the corners of Molly’s mouth. ‘It was funny though, wasn’t it? Didn’t Amanda scream?’ Emily and Hannah both giggled.

  ‘She deserves another trick for telling tales,’ said Molly. ‘I don’t know why you’re friends with her, Em.’

  ‘She’s not that bad,’ Emily defended Amanda. ‘I mean, I know she’s bossy and she doesn’t always think before she opens her mouth, but she can be nice too.’

  Molly didn’t look convinced so Emily changed the subject. She knew Molly would never agree with her.

  ‘Right then, the competition. I guess the good thing is you’re a really fast skater anyway, Molly, so you don’t need to practise. But what about us? Which of us is going to ski and who will drive the huskies?’ She turned to Hannah.

  ‘You can do the husky bit if you want,’ Hannah said. ‘You were doing really well at it yesterday and I like skiing.’

  ‘Brilliant! Thanks!’ said Emily. ‘I’ll practise lots.’

  ‘While I clean out cupboards,’ sighed Molly.

  After break, they had a skating lesson followed by free time. Molly went off to do her cleaning duty while Hannah headed to the ice rink and Emily went out to the kennels.

  Dina helped her get the huskies ready. ‘Have a good time!’

  ‘Thanks!’ Emily set off along the line of trees and then out towards the forest. The dogs bounded forward eagerly. Emily let them go faster and faster. As she reached the forest, she pulled back on the reins. For a few moments the huskies fought her, but then they slowed down.

  ‘Good dogs,’ she praised them as they entered the trees.

  Ahead of her she saw Amanda, Heather and Olivia on their cross-country skis, practising for the race. Heather was lagging behind.

  ‘Come on, Heather!’ Amanda shouted at her in exasperation. ‘You’ve got to go faster than that.’

  ‘I’m trying,’ said Heather, getting her skis in a muddle. ‘I’m just not very good at this.’

  ‘You’re telling me!’ Amanda muttered.

  Heather fell over.

  ‘Oh, honestly!’ exclaimed Amanda. ‘We’re never going to win the relay race if you can’t ski better than this. You’re too slow to do the skating and not strong enough to race the huskies. You have to be able to ski!’

  Emily reached them as Olivia pulled Heather to her feet. ‘Hi there.’

  ‘Hi,’ said Olivia and Amanda. Heather didn’t say anything; she looked close to tears.

  ‘Are you practising for the competition?’ Amanda asked
Emily.

  Emily nodded. ‘I’m doing the husky driving on our team.’

  ‘I’m going to skate of course,’ said Amanda. ‘I’m easily the fastest. Olivia wants to drive the huskies and Heather’s going to ski – though she needs to get a lot better at it.’

  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get faster if you practise,’ Emily said, smiling at Heather.

  ‘And if she stops falling over,’ sighed Amanda.

  ‘Well, good luck,’ Emily said. ‘See you later! Come on, boys. Mush!’ And flicking the reins on the huskies’ backs, she let them bound away up the path.

  Chapter Five

  Helping Out

  By the time Emily got back, her arms were aching from controlling the huskies, but she felt as if she was sparkling all over. Heather was in the common room and she didn’t look very happy.

  ‘How did the rest of the skiing go?’ Emily asked.

  ‘Awful,’ Heather admitted. ‘I fell over loads. Amanda says that if we lose, it’ll be all my fault. She keeps snapping at me for being useless and bossing me around.’

  ‘Just ignore her,’ Emily advised. ‘I was her partner in the second week and she was like that with me too.’

  ‘But you’re not useless,’ said Heather.

  ‘No and neither are you,’ Emily said.

  ‘But I can’t ski!’ Heather protested.

  ‘You managed fine when we did the scavenger hunt,’ Emily reminded her.

  ‘I guess,’ admitted Heather. ‘But at the moment I just keep falling over. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’

  Emily privately thought it was probably because Amanda was shouting so much. ‘Look, why don’t we go out skiing later? Maybe if I give you a bit of help, you’ll soon be skiing really well again.’

  ‘You’d really do that for me?’ Heather said, hope lighting up her eyes.

  ‘Of course,’ said Emily cheerfully. ‘I’ll meet you at four o’clock.’

  ‘Oh, wow!’ Heather looked much happier. ‘Thanks, Emily!’

  At four o’clock Emily and Heather met by the back door with their skis. Emily had never been cross-country skiing until she started at iceskating school. She found it quite difficult and tiring, but she had got very good at it in the last few weeks.