Skating School: Violet Skate Friends

by Linda Chapman

  ‘Well, maybe a bit,’ said Emily, still astonished but also feeling a sudden new liking for Amanda. ‘But it’s OK. I know you just want to win – I’d like to win too.’ She thought about what she’d just realized out on the ice. ‘It’s not just about winning. We’ve got to enjoy it as well and do our best –’

  She broke off as she caught sight of someone skating slowly along the river they weren’t supposed to go on. ‘Look!’

  Amanda followed her gaze. The person seemed to be searching the riverbanks. ‘That looks like Alice.’

  ‘It is Alice,’ Emily realized. ‘I bet she’s looking for Prince, but she shouldn’t be going down that river. Do you remember what Madame Letsworth said? There’s a big crack in it.’

  ‘We’d better stop her then,’ said Amanda in alarm.

  They began to skate quickly towards Alice, but by the time they had reached the narrow river, she had skated round a bend in the distance. ‘Come on!’ urged Amanda.

  They skated even faster. As they rounded the bend, they saw Alice ahead of them, peering at the bushes. Emily gasped. She could see a large crack in the ice ahead, but Alice was so busy looking around she didn’t seem to have noticed.

  ‘Alice!’ Emily shouted. ‘Look out!’

  But even as she shouted, there was a snapping noise and the weakened ice in front of Alice suddenly split open.

  Alice cried out in alarm. She lost her balance and fell over just in front of the gap in the ice. For a moment Emily thought everything was going to be OK, but then the crack in front of Alice began to widen almost as if the ice on either side of it was being pushed apart by invisible hands. Not invisible, Emily realized with a massive shock.

  Two hairy paws were gripping the edges of the ice, forcing the gap wider. There was an enormous roar and a white bear-like creature burst out of the water!

  ‘Oh, no!’ gasped Emily. ‘It’s an ice monster!’

  Chapter Eight

  Teamwork

  The monster, who looked just like the ice monsters in the pictures Madame Longley had shown them in their lesson earlier in the week, hauled itself out of the water. As it did so, the ice Alice was sprawled on cracked. She screamed as she plunged into the freezing water below.

  Amanda shrieked in horror.

  Emily didn’t hesitate. ‘Get help!’ she yelled. Amanda didn’t move. ‘Go on!’

  Amanda turned and started skating back to the school as fast as she could. Emily raced frantically towards the gaping hole of water where Alice was splashing, unable to get out.

  Emily’s heart pounded. Her one thought was to pull Alice out. Hearing the ice creak worryingly beneath her, she threw herself down on her tummy. It would be no good if she fell in herself! She pushed herself towards the edge of the ice, trying to ignore the great white bear-like monster who was clambering out of the water on to the nearby bank, his coat dripping. If she could just get Alice out then maybe they could skate off before he got them. ‘Alice! I’m here!’ She reached out as far as she could. Alice flailed about in the water, trying to grab her hands.

  ‘Help me, Emily!’

  The monster roared and then gathered himself as if he was about to spring from the bank into the water.

  ‘No!’ yelled Emily.

  ‘Don’t worry!’ Alice gasped. ‘He’s –’

  Her voice was drowned out by the sound of voices and shouts behind them and sticks came flying through the air towards the ice monster.

  ‘Leave them alone!’

  ‘Get away from them!’

  Emily glanced round and saw Molly, Hannah and Tilda skating down the river towards them. They threw sticks at the bear, who drew back with a growl.

  ‘Careful! The ice is too weak to skate on!’ Emily shouted.

  ‘Don’t worry!’

  ‘We’ll help you!’

  ‘Hang on!’

  Molly flung herself down on the ice, wriggled over to Emily and grabbed her feet. Emily realized Hannah was doing the same to Molly. They hung on to her in a big chain so she could lie down full length and reach Alice.

  ‘Alice! Here!’ Emily shouted, edging closer on her tummy to the gap in the ice; Tilda grabbed more sticks from the bank and threw them at the bear to keep him away.

  ‘Don’t hurt him!’ Alice gasped through chattering teeth. Her face was very pale. She tried to grab Emily’s hands, but fell back into the water. Emily tried to edge out further, but the ice cracked around her and she had to pull back.

  Just then, the monster reared up on his hind legs. All the girls apart from Alice screamed as he dived into the water.

  Hannah and Molly threw themselves alongside Emily and frantically tried to grab Alice’s hands.

  He’s going to get Alice! Emily thought.

  And the bear did! He dived down and came up again from underneath Alice, pushing her upwards on his back. She clung to his fur.

  ‘He’s… he’s rescuing her!’ Hannah gasped as the bear swam to the bank and clambered out. He stopped and Alice scrambled down from his back on to the safety of the riverbank. She was wet through and shivering hard. ‘Thank you!’ she gasped to him.

  The other girls watched open-mouthed as the monster sat down beside her and licked her face with a large pink tongue.

  Alice looked up and saw their astonished faces. ‘He’s friendly,’ she said. ‘Ice monsters always are. Don’t you remember Madame Longley saying it in class?’ She stroked the giant bear as if he was a big dog. He nuzzled her.

  ‘We thought you were in real danger!’ said Molly as they carefully skated over to the bank.

  ‘I was, but not from him,’ said Alice. ‘I could have drowned in the icy water. Thank you for coming to save me.’

  ‘We heard the screams,’ said Tilda. She went closer and cautiously stroked the monster, who looked at her with black eyes and made a rumbling noise deep in his throat, almost like a cat purring.

  ‘Why did you come down this river?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘I thought Prince might be here,’ said Alice. ‘I was so busy looking, I forgot about the crack in the ice.’

  Emily hugged her. ‘I’m so glad you’re OK.’

  ‘It was really brave of you to try and reach me,’ said Alice, shivering.

  ‘You’d have done the same for one of us,’ Tilda told her.

  Emily looked round at them all, remembering what she had been thinking before it all happened. ‘We’ve been really stupid, arguing and stuff. I know the competition’s important, but being friends is more important. We shouldn’t be falling out because of it.’

  Hannah nodded. ‘You’re right. It was so horrible seeing you in the water, Alice. I’m sorry for getting cross with you about not practising.’

  ‘I’m sorry for not taking the practising more seriously and upsetting you,’ Alice said.

  Molly looked at Tilda. ‘I’m sorry too.’

  ‘And me,’ said Tilda.

  Hannah looked at Emily. ‘You’re the only one of us who really had reason to be cross with your partner and you’ve been really good about not arguing with her.’

  ‘Where is Amanda anyway?’ said Alice. ‘I saw her with you when I fell into the water.’

  ‘She didn’t just skate off, did she?’ Molly said indignantly.

  ‘No, she went to get help,’ said Emily quickly, defending Amanda. ‘She’s not all bad,’ she added, remembering how Amanda had apologized to her. ‘Not all of the time anyway. I bet she’ll be back any minute.’ She looked at the others. ‘So, we’re friends again?’

  They grinned at each other. ‘Friends,’ they chorused.

  ‘I think we should celebrate tonight by having some fun,’ declared Molly. ‘How about a pillow fight before bed?’

  ‘Sounds cool to me,’ agreed Tilda.

  Molly grinned and rubbed her arms. ‘Actually, I’m pretty cool out here right now. Let’s go in and get warm!’

  But just then, they heard someone calling them. Amanda was skating towards them with Madame Letsworth and Madame
Li. They were carrying blankets.

  ‘Whatever’s been going on?’ Madame Letsworth demanded, looking at the ice monster sitting behind Alice.

  They quickly explained.

  Madame Letsworth smiled at the great bear. ‘Thank you.’

  He gave a soft growl, nuzzled Alice’s hair and then dived into the water and disappeared under the ice.

  Madame Li wrapped a blanket round Alice’s shoulders. ‘Come on, let’s get you back inside and dry you off.’

  As Alice stood up, there was the sound of rustling in the bushes and a white face with pricked ears popped out. ‘It’s Prince!’ gasped Alice.

  Emily hurried to pick him up. The puppy wriggled in her arms and licked her nose. Everyone crowded round.

  Madame Letsworth smiled. ‘It looks like everything’s turned out well after all.’

  ‘Got you!’

  ‘No, got you!’

  Emily ducked as Molly sent a pillow flying at her head, but, as she turned, Tilda walloped her.

  It was great fun. Eventually they collapsed on the beds, panting and laughing.

  Emily felt very happy. No one was cross with anyone else any more. Tilda and Molly had promised to try and work better together and Alice, who was delighted that Prince had been found, had promised to practise more with Hannah. Even Amanda had changed. After tea, she had been really nice to Emily and asked her if she would like to add some more jumps to the routine.

  Emily thought about the competition. It was only two days away. Who was going to win it? One thing was for sure, she couldn’t wait to find out!

  Chapter Nine

  The Day of the Competition

  The next two days raced by. On Sunday, the day of the competition, everyone woke up to find they had a costume made by the frost fairies hanging at the end of their bed.

  ‘Oh, wow!’ gasped Hannah as she held up her costume – a magician’s hat and cloak to wear with a black-and-silver skating dress.

  ‘Aren’t these cool?’ said Alice, admiring what looked like an old-fashioned doll’s outfit.

  Molly and Tilda, who were dancing the story of Jack and Jill, had costumes straight out of a nursery-rhyme book. Tilda, who was Jill, had a dress with puffed sleeves and a short stripy skirt; Molly had knickerbockers and a matching stripy shirt and waistcoat.

  Emily liked her prince costume too. She had black tights and a black tunic that had been embroidered with gold thread. A gold cloak was attached to her shoulders.

  After breakfast, they all practised on the ice in their costumes and then at eleven o’clock the competition started.

  It was brilliant watching everyone. Heather and Zoe, who were in Ice Owls, did a fantastic routine, telling the story of the Ugly Duckling. It was obvious they had been working really hard; their movements were perfectly in time and neither of them made any mistakes. They kept the routine simple and it worked brilliantly.

  Camilla and Olivia tried to do a very flashy, complicated routine showing the story of Sleeping Beauty, but they lost time with each other and Camilla fell over. She looked furious.

  Emily tried to hide her grin as they skated off to muted applause.

  Hannah and Alice’s magician and doll routine went very well until Alice lost track of what she was doing and ended up skating round in circles several times as she tried to remember what came next. She didn’t seem to mind though and finished with a big smile and Hannah just grinned too.

  Molly and Tilda’s routine was full of energy, but half the time they didn’t seem to have a clue what the other was doing. Still, they had everyone laughing as Molly pretended to fall over with the pail and then got up and dumped it on Tilda’s head. It was definitely the funniest routine!

  ‘It’s our turn soon,’ said Amanda to Emily as Helena and Tess came on to the ice.

  Emily nodded. She felt nervous, but she knew that all they could do was skate their best. And they did. Amanda looked beautiful in a costume made of white feathers. She spun and jumped and Emily tried her hardest to look like a prince in love. She blocked everything else out and focused on her skating. She managed her four jumps perfectly and it was just great to be out skating on the ice with everyone watching.

  Emily skated off feeling very happy. She didn’t think they were going to win – Heather and Zoe’s Ugly Duckling routine had been much better than theirs – but she’d really enjoyed performing in front of everyone again.

  ‘That was fun, wasn’t it?’ she said to Amanda as they came off the ice.

  Amanda smiled. ‘Yes, it was. I wish we could do it all over again!’

  Finally the last pair skated and then the winners were announced.

  ‘You all performed really, really well,’ said Madame Letsworth, coming on to the ice with two pairs of violet skates with silver laces. ‘But this was a competition to see how well you could skate with someone else and one pair stood out as a real team – Heather and Zoe. You’ve been practising well together all week and it really showed. Congratulations, girls.’

  Everyone clapped as Heather and Zoe went on to the ice to collect the pretty violet skates. Heather was bright red and looked very shy but absolutely delighted as they took the skates and said thank you. Emily felt really pleased for them. Out of everyone, they were the pair who really deserved to win.

  When they skated off, Madame Letsworth looked round at the girls. ‘Now, before we finish, I’d just like to mention another team effort. As I’m sure all of you will have heard, there was an incident a few days ago when Alice fell into the river. I’d like to say a big well done to the girls who showed great bravery and acted as a real team that day to help her – Emily, Hannah, Molly, Tilda and Amanda. You might not have won the competition today, but you should all be proud of yourselves for the way you behaved.’

  Emily and the others exchanged grins while everyone clapped.

  ‘You’re now free for the rest of the day,’ Madame Letsworth said. ‘And tomorrow, it’s the beginning of a new week and the start of a new competition. I hope you’ve been listening in Madame Longley’s lessons because next week you’re going to be exploring outside the school and finding out a lot more about this land.’

  ‘Wow! Sounds fun!’ Hannah whispered to Emily, who nodded. It sounded brilliant!

  ‘So, none of us won,’ said Molly as they headed back to the common room a little later.

  Emily smiled at her. ‘Nope. But you know what? I don’t mind.’

  ‘I don’t either,’ said Molly. ‘I’m just glad we’re all friends again.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Hannah. ‘That’s much more important than winning a competition.’

  Tilda and Alice came over. ‘What are you guys going to do now?’ Tilda asked. ‘We don’t have anything now until teatime.’

  ‘I know!’ said Emily. ‘Let’s go sledging.’

  ‘Yeah, we can have races!’ said Molly.

  ‘And a snowball fight!’ said Tilda, linking arms with her.

  ‘Let’s go!’ said Hannah.

  ‘Can I come too?’ asked Amanda, sounding almost shy for once.

  Emily smiled at her. ‘Of course.’

  Fifteen minutes later, they were all standing at the top of the slope in the garden with a sledge each.

  ‘Get ready, everyone,’ said Molly. ‘When you get to the bottom, you have to run round the big tree over there, do a forward roll and then get back on your sledge. First one sitting down wins. OK?’

  ‘OK,’ they all chorused.

  Emily took a deep breath of the clear, crisp air. The pale sun was shining and the snow lay in front of them like a thick, smooth blanket. She looked at the school and felt a wave of pure happiness. They were learning so many things, not just about skating but about everything.

  And there’s still so much more to learn, she thought. We’ve still got to find out what the Ice Princess is going to have to do and how she will be chosen…

  A snowball hit her. She gasped and looked round. All the others were sitting on their sledges lookin
g at her.

  Molly, who had thrown the snowball, was grinning. ‘Come on, Em – stop daydreaming!’

  Emily giggled and sat down on her sledge too.

  ‘One, two, three… go!’ yelled Molly and, laughing and yelling, they whizzed away down the slope.