Skating School: White Skate Wishes

by Linda Chapman

  ‘How does it work?’ Emily wondered, examining the box.

  ‘Molly and I came yesterday evening,’ Hannah said. ‘You just press the buttons to hear different pieces of music using the labels as a guide for the type of music you want. When you find some music you like, you press the same button on the box at the rink and that piece of music plays.’

  ‘We listened to a few pieces of music last night,’ Molly said. ‘I like this one.’ She pressed the first button under the label ‘lively’. Dramatic music swelled out. Molly moved across the floor. ‘I could do a sit spin, a double salchow–double toe loop, a spiral and then a double flip, followed by a double toe loop–double loop and finish with a layback spin.’

  ‘That would be quite hard,’ said Hannah cautiously.

  ‘I know, but imagine if I got it right,’ said Molly. ‘It would be awesome! Let’s find you a piece of music too, Emily.’

  ‘I was wondering if I could use one of the dances I’ve done in ballet,’ Emily said, ‘but turn it into an ice-skating routine instead.’ She had been thinking about a dance she had done where she had been a bluebird. She started pressing the buttons to try and find a piece of music that might work. The first few pieces of music weren’t right, but then she heard one that just might do. She began to dance to it – stepping into an arabesque, sweeping her arms round, dancing forward and then jumping high into the air and landing lightly, perfectly in time. She danced her way through the whole dance, adapting it to the music as she went. When she finished, she saw the other two staring at her.

  ‘Wow!’ breathed Molly. ‘I saw how good you were in ballet class, but when you’re dancing properly like that, you’re brilliant!’

  Hannah nodded. ‘That was great, Emily!’

  Emily blushed modestly. ‘It wasn’t that good.’

  But her friends ignored her. ‘If you get a bit better at skating and then skate as you dance, you’ll be amazing,’ said Molly. ‘Your balance is so good and you’re so flexible.’

  ‘You should pick up doing spirals really quickly,’ Hannah told her. ‘They’re just arabesques, but moving on the ice. Actually, you could easily add some jumps and spins. If you want, why don’t you put the music on and show me the dance again and I’ll tell you how.’

  ‘I do want!’ Emily said eagerly.

  And so, for the next twenty minutes, Hannah and Molly went through the music, telling Emily what she should try and where to do it. ‘If you can’t manage the difficult moves by the end of the week, you can always make the routine easier,’ Hannah said.

  Emily nodded, but she was determined to practise as hard as she could and do as good a routine as possible.

  Molly looked at the music box. ‘It’s amazing how this thing works just by pressing the buttons, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘I guess there must be CDs or something inside it.’

  She lifted the lid and immediately gasped, dropping the lid in surprise.

  ‘What is it?’ Emily demanded. ‘What’s in there?’

  Molly pointed at the box, her eyes wide. ‘It’s… it’s not CDs!’ she stammered.

  Emily cautiously opened the lid with Hannah peering over her shoulder. Inside the box, there were lots of levers, spinning discs and wheels – and four small, silvery-blue dragons to work them! Both girls gasped. Each dragon was about the size of one of their hands. They looked up at the girls and made a friendly chirruping throaty noise.

  ‘Little dragons make it work!’ breathed Emily. ‘Oh, wow!’

  ‘I can’t believe this!’ said Hannah. They all looked at each other and then giggled at the strangeness of it all. ‘It’s so weird.’

  ‘But amazingly brilliant!’ said Molly in delight. ‘I love this land!’

  One of the dragons waved his front legs at them as if asking for the lid to be shut. Emily carefully closed it. ‘Sorry to disturb you,’ she said, and the dragon chirruped at her in reply.

  Just then, the bell went. The girls hurried back to their dorms to get their clothes for skating.

  The other Snow Foxes were all talking together as Emily walked into their dorm.

  ‘It’ll be so much fun!’ Camilla was saying. As Emily came in, she looked round. ‘Where have you been, Emily? We’ve been planning this great trick on Amanda. I’m going to make her look really silly in the competition.’

  Emily wondered what the trick was. She liked jokes, but she hoped it wasn’t too mean. ‘I’ve just been in the music room with Molly and Hannah,’ Emily said. She longed to tell them all about the dragons in the music box, but for a moment she wondered if they would think it babyish to be so excited about the little creatures.

  Camilla raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, I see.’

  Emily could tell that Camilla wasn’t pleased. ‘We… we were just listening to music,’ she said.

  Camilla looked at her coldly. ‘Well, if you want to hang around with the Frost Fairies dorm instead of us then that’s up to you. But, you know something, Emily? You can’t hang around with them and us. If you want to be friends with them then none of us are going to talk to you.’

  Emily stared. Camilla couldn’t be serious! But, to her astonishment, she saw that the others in the dorm were either nodding or just looking away from Emily.

  Camilla turned back to the others. ‘OK, so we’ve got our plan. You watch and see what I do! Come on, let’s go down to the rink and see if Amanda’s there.’ And with that, she hurried out of the dorm with the other girls following behind.

  Chapter Seven

  Friends or Not?

  Emily felt sick as she got changed. What was she going to do? She wanted to be friends with Molly and Hannah, but she didn’t want Camilla and the other Snow Foxes ignoring her. How can I choose? she thought anxiously. That’s horrible.

  She went down to the rink. Camilla was skating with Amanda. Emily remembered what Camilla had said about the trick she was going to play. Should she say something? Neither Molly nor Hannah was at the rink yet, so Emily put her skates on and started to warm up.

  ‘That looks awesome!’ Camilla was saying as Amanda did a strange move with her arms, wafting them from side to side in a very dramatic way.

  Amanda looked very pleased. ‘I’m being Juliet longing for her Romeo,’ she said, sweeping back her long hair. ‘My mum always says it’s my best routine.’

  ‘Oh, it’s brilliant, Amanda,’ said Camilla, a wicked glint in her eyes. ‘Only maybe you could do with even more expression.’

  Emily stared. Amanda was being extremely dramatic already. She didn’t need more expression!

  ‘More expression?’ Amanda said in surprise.

  Camilla opened her eyes wide and nodded. ‘Definitely!’

  Amanda performed her routine again, this time clasping her hands to her chest and throwing back her head. Camilla stifled a grin. ‘Oh, yes, that’s perfect!’ she said, skating up to Amanda. ‘Tell you what, why don’t I help you with your routine for the competition?’

  Amanda smiled at her. ‘That would be great. Thanks!’

  Emily saw Tess, Clare and Helena giggling at the side of the rink and she suddenly twigged. Camilla had obviously decided to encourage Amanda’s dramatic gestures to make her look really silly. Emily felt uncomfortable about it. Amanda was annoying, but it was horrible of Camilla to pretend to be Amanda’s friend while really laughing at her behind her back and trying to make her look stupid.

  Emily skated off, not wanting to be part of it. As she went round, she tried to remember the routine Hannah and Molly had suggested. She talked to herself as she skated. ‘Crossover steps here and then a three jump and a spiral.’ She began to practise. She wobbled a few times when she started doing the routine, but soon began to get the hang of it, gliding on one foot across the ice. Encouraged, she did a three turn, turning from forwards to backwards and then jumping a single toe loop, something that she had watched the intermediate skaters doing. She landed on two feet, but she didn’t fall over and felt very pleased with herself. Maybe she would be good
enough to put it into her routine by the end of the week.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Camilla demanded, leaving Amanda and skating up to Emily.

  ‘Just practising bits for the competition,’ she replied.

  ‘Well, I think you want to keep it as easy as possible,’ Camilla said bossily. ‘No spins and spirals and definitely no proper jumps like a toe loop. You’re not ready for them.’

  ‘I thought that if I practise all week, I might be,’ said Emily hopefully.

  Camilla shook her head. ‘You’ll just look stupid. You’ll fall down in front of everyone and come last. You’ll be much better off doing something really, really simple.’

  Hannah skated up behind her. ‘That’s rubbish, Camilla!’ she said. ‘Emily’s still got five days to practise. She might not have got everything right yet, but it’s a great routine.’ She turned to Emily. ‘Don’t listen to her, Emily. You were doing really well. She’s just worried you’re going to beat her.’

  ‘Emily? Beat me? I don’t think so,’ Camilla snorted. ‘Anyway, who asked you to interfere, Hannah Peters?’

  ‘I’m not interfering. I’m Emily’s friend,’ said Hannah, meeting Camilla’s glare.

  ‘Oh, are you?’ Camilla said, looking challengingly at Emily.

  Emily went red, not knowing what to say. Just then, to her absolute relief, there was the loud blast of a whistle and the teachers skated on to the ice.

  ‘Come on, girls. Time to begin!’ Madame Letsworth called. Emily skated away as fast as she could.

  Emily forced all her problems out of her mind during the lesson, trying to concentrate on her skating and nothing else. But as soon as the lesson was over, she left the ice and headed straight to the hall, away from all the others. Emily didn’t know what to do. Questions ran through her mind. Would Camilla really not talk to her if she was friends with Hannah and Molly? And what should she do about her routine? Was she going to do the easy routine or the hard one? I don’t want to look stupid like Camilla said, she thought. Maybe I should just do the easy routine.

  She had just reached the hall when Molly and Hannah came running up behind her.

  ‘Hey, Em, how come you dashed off so quickly?’ Molly said.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Hannah asked, searching Emily’s face.

  Emily tried to nod, but as she tried to smile, her face crumpled and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying.

  ‘You’re not OK.’ Molly frowned. ‘Oh, Em, Hannah told me what Camilla said about not doing anything difficult in your routine. Is that what’s upsetting you? You’re not going to listen to her, are you? She’s just scared you’re going to skate better than her and win.’

  ‘It’s not that,’ Emily said unhappily.

  ‘What is it then?’ asked Hannah in concern.

  Emily saw the worry on Hannah and Molly’s faces and suddenly it all burst out. ‘Camilla’s said that none of the Snow Foxes will talk to me if I go round with you two.’

  ‘How dare she!’ exclaimed Molly.

  ‘Oh, Emily. What are you going to do?’ Hannah asked in concern.

  Emily didn’t say anything.

  ‘You are going to be friends with us, aren’t you?’ Molly said.

  Looking from Molly’s upset face to Hannah’s anxious one, Emily knew the answer. ‘Yes, of course I am,’ she said. She couldn’t not be friends with them. They were much nicer than all the Snow Foxes.

  Molly grinned. ‘Phew!’

  Hannah still looked worried. ‘It won’t be easy for you though, if the rest of your dorm aren’t talking to you.’

  Emily realized she was right. ‘No,’ she said slowly. ‘It won’t.’

  Chapter Eight

  Which Routine?

  Emily sat with Hannah and Molly at lunchtime and Camilla looked very cross. After that, none of the Snow Foxes talked to Emily for the rest of the day. They’ll stop it soon, Emily thought. However, the next morning, they continued to ignore her, talking to each other, but pretending they hadn’t heard whenever she said anything.

  ‘You should ask Madame Letsworth if you can move to our dorm,’ said Hannah after breakfast.

  But when Emily asked, Madame Letsworth shook her head. ‘If I let you move then everyone will want to swap around. I’m sorry, Emily, but the answer is no.’

  Emily walked away, dejected. It looked like she was stuck with the Snow Foxes and that was that.

  Over the next few days, the rest of the Snow Foxes continued to ignore Emily. She spent all her spare time in the Frost Fairies dorm. Tilda and Alice, the other two girls in Frost Fairies, were also really friendly. The five of them had a massive snowball fight one day, and, after tea on Thursday, Alice, who was friends with the sylphs who looked after the huskies in the kennels, asked if they could all go on an evening sledge ride. It was brilliant!

  The sledges were pulled by a team of huskies, each driven by an ice sylph. They raced across the frozen land, throwing up clouds of snow crystals as they were pulled through pine forests and past small villages with twinkling lights.

  As Emily snuggled down under the thick blankets on the sledge, she wondered about the land they were passing through. Why did the ice sylphs need a human girl to help them, and what was the Ice Princess going to have to do? She longed to see more of the land, but there wasn’t much time for exploring because every spare minute was spent practising for the competition.

  On Saturday, the day before the competition, Emily got up early and went to the rink to practise. The frost fairies were smoothing over the ice, and two of them flew over and landed on her shoulders, their wings fluttering.

  Emily smiled at them. They chattered to her in their high-pitched voices. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, but she liked having them there. She put on her boots, warmed up and got on to the ice. The frost fairies fluttered away.

  Push and glide, push and glide…

  Emily set off round the rink, her arms out, her chin up, her eyes fixed straight ahead. She skated faster and felt the urge to jump. Kicking her left toe into the ice, she pushed herself into the air from her right leg. Drawing her arms to her chest, she crossed her ankles together and spun round. She landed elegantly – a perfect single toe loop.

  Smiling in delight, she glided on. Her skating had really improved over the week. She loved it when she did the jumps and spins and spirals she had been learning and got them right. I’ve got to decide, she thought. Do I do the easy routine or the hard one?

  Emily wanted to do the hard one, to do all the more difficult jumps and spins. But then she heard Camilla’s voice in her head: You’ll just look stupid…

  She could just imagine Camilla and the other Snow Foxes laughing at her if she fell over lots in the competition.

  No, I should just be sensible, she thought. I don’t want to make a total idiot of myself. I’ll do the easy one.

  She started to practise her easy routine. She skated round the rink and then turned and went backwards. When she got to the point where she would have done a toe loop, she did a simple turn instead.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Emily looked round. Hannah and Molly were standing at the side of the rink, watching.

  ‘My routine,’ Emily called.

  ‘But what about the jumps and spins?’ asked Molly, coming on to the ice.

  Emily took a breath. ‘I don’t think I’ll do them. I still fall over quite a lot and I don’t want to do a routine that makes me look really dumb so I think I’ll stick to the easy version.’

  ‘But you were doing so well,’ Hannah protested.

  ‘I know.’ Emily shrugged. ‘But… but I just don’t think I should do it.’

  ‘Forget what you think,’ Hannah said. ‘What do you feel? Deep down?’

  Emily hesitated.

  ‘You want to do all the jumps and spins and spirals you’ve been practising, Em,’ said Molly. ‘I know you do.’

  Emily nodded. ‘You’re right,’ she admitted.

  ‘Don’t let other people p
ut you off then,’ said Hannah as if she could read Emily’s thoughts about Camilla. ‘You have to listen to your heart when you’re skating. My coach at home is always saying that.’

  ‘Hannah’s right. If it doesn’t work out, so what?’ Molly took Emily’s hands. ‘The teachers won’t think any the worse of you; they’ll just be pleased you’ve tried your best, and even if you fall over a hundred times, we’ll still be your friends. If you don’t try, I bet you’ll hate yourself and wish you had.’

  Emily looked from one to the other. She knew they wouldn’t tell her to do the hard routine if they thought she’d look silly, and they were right – she really did want to do it.

  She made up her mind and grinned. ‘OK. I’ll do the hard routine after all!’

  Chapter Nine

  Camilla’s Revenge

  Deciding to skate the hard routine was only one part of the battle. Later that day, Emily had to face Camilla.

  ‘You’re not going to do those jumps in your routine tomorrow, are you?’ Camilla asked as they all practised their routines before supper.

  Emily lifted her chin high. ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘You’ll fall and look like an idiot.’

  Emily thought about Molly and Hannah. She wasn’t going to let Camilla bully her out of her decision. ‘Well, I’m going to try.’

  Camilla’s eyes hardened. ‘I don’t think you should.’

  Emily took a deep breath. This was so hard, but she wasn’t going to be pushed around by Camilla any more. ‘I don’t care what you think!’

  Camilla stared at her as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Emily’s legs felt wobbly, but she met Camilla’s gaze. She wasn’t going to give in. She knew she was right to do the routine she had chosen.

  ‘You’ll be sorry about this, Emily Walker,’ Camilla told her angrily.

  Emily shrugged and with her heart pounding she hurried off to find Molly and Hannah.

  At suppertime, Emily saw Camilla and the other Snow Foxes whispering and looking in her direction as if they were planning something. She didn’t want to go back to the dorm that night, but she knew she had to. Walking slowly and feeling a bit sick, she headed from the Frost Fairies dorm back down to the Snow Foxes dorm. As she got to the corridor, Camilla’s words rang in her ears: You’ll be sorry about this.