by Jake Maddox
That night, the air felt thick enough to slice with a sword.
“Sure, Dad,” both girls muttered at the exact same time, avoiding each other’s eyes.
“Wow,” he said. “Sure sounds like it.” He caught Maggie’s eye. “I’m excited to see what you and Coach Stone have been cooking up.”
Beatrice spun her head to look at Maggie so hard she almost got whiplash. “Are you doing something new?”
“Guess you’ll have to just wait and see,” Maggie said. She got up to scrape her uneaten food into garbage. She didn’t want to talk about her routine in front of her mother who was finally being nice to her.
Her mother sat calmly, spearing her broccoli.
* * *
Maggie woke up extra early the next morning. She yawned and stretched.
She spotted a strange package sitting on top of her desk. Picking up the card that lay on top of a package wrapped in shiny gold foil paper, she read, Good Luck Maggie, in her dad’s familiar sloppy scrawl. Maggie ripped the package open, shredded paper flying, and looked inside to see the most beautiful skating outfit that ever existed. It was royal blue velvet with black leather cap sleeves and metal studs and rhinestones trailing up and down. It oozed rock-n-roll.
Maggie picked it up and crushed it to her chest, thrilled. When she did that, she heard a loud, “clunk” by her feet. Looking down, she burst out laughing when she saw a fresh bottle of blue hair dye with a note taped to it saying, Just in case, with a smiley face.
* * *
Beating drums started before the first notes of music began. Maggie tapped her skate to the tempo.
She hoped that her newly shorn and brightly colored hair looked every bit as awesome as it felt. Every move in her routine was burned into her brain, but she mentally ran through her spin combination one more time. Here at the competition, every movement would have to be perfect.
When the loud guitar riff slammed out of the speakers, Maggie flung her arms into the air and dashed across the ice in a complicated sequence of steps that she choreographed. She could feel everyone watching her. She wanted to bring the music to life.
Her first jump combination, a single axel and then a toe loop, went off without a hitch. When Maggie landed exactly on a pause in the music, she could tell that the crowd was holding its breath. Starting across the ice again, her body moved like it was lit from within. Every muscle was alive and in tune with the music.
Maggie launched into a sit-spin and stood up again to carve out a delicate arabesque, the lights pulsing all around her. Her difficult spin combination was coming up. To win, she knew she’d have to nail her final spin and her axel.
Maggie gathered speed and went into the camel spin, lifting her leg behind her as she spun in tight circles. After four rotations, she switched feet to go into the Biellman, arching back gracefully and raising her foot behind her. She was as graceful as Beatrice, as rock-n-roll as Coach Stone, and as confident as she’d ever been.
She spun faster and faster. As she orbited around feeling every fiber in her body, she made her final decision. She was going to double her last axel. She knew that it was a daring decision. She knew that there were many other double jumps in-between that were easier than the double axel. But her mind was made up.
The combination spin came to end.
The crowd cheered, knowing she’d just set the bar higher for the other competitors. Maggie charged down the ice, determined to pick up enough speed for her big jump. She surged ahead, her feet light and nimble.
Turning around, she sped backward and gained power. She took to the air. Maggie soared up and up like a winged thing, higher than she had ever gone before. The two and a half rotations of the axel were almost too easy, and she came down to earth just as the last guitar note screamed.
Maggie halted in her final position with her chest heaving and sweat trickling down her face.
When Maggie looked up, the stands erupted in a shower of cheers. She felt suspended on a cloud of happiness. Her parents whooped and hollered. Coach Stone looked on with pride. Maggie knew then that she’d probably just won the competition. But then she looked to her sister. Beatrice’s face was a stormy sea.
CHAPTER 10
SISTERS
Maggie was supposed to be sound asleep, but instead she was reliving every moment of the competition. That included standing on the podium to receive her first-place medal while Beatrice stood below her at second. Maggie had done it, and she had done it her way. As she flipped through each delicious memory, one tiny thought continued to niggle at her like a sliver that she just couldn’t remove.
She kept coming back to Beatrice.
Beatrice had acted graciously at the celebratory dinner with their family that night.
Still, Maggie couldn’t forget the look on Beatrice’s face right after Maggie had finished her routine.
Maggie couldn’t stand it anymore. She peeled her comforter off and snuck down the hall to her sister’s room. She slid open the door and peered in at Bea’s shadowed form on the bed. Beatrice turned when she saw the light from the doorway shining in.
“Scoot over,” Maggie said and crawled under the warm sheets next to her sister. Beatrice hiccupped. Her shoulders shivered.
“Are you crying?” Maggie asked, astonished. Beatrice never cried, even when hurt. She was always strong and composed.
“I don’t know why I feel so sad,” Beatrice said. Her breath was stinky, but Maggie didn’t have the heart to tell her that.
“I do,” Maggie said. “I always feel a tiny bit bad for myself when you win.” She rested her head on Beatrice’s damp shoulder, thinking guiltily about how she hadn’t even congratulated Beatrice after the last competition. “And you win, like, all the time, you know.” Maggie shoved her sister’s shoulder, trying to lighten the mood.
“You’re just so brave,” Beatrice said. “I always wish I could be more like you.” Her body shook.
“What?” Maggie said. She seized her sister’s hand. “Are you kidding me? You are the most talented skater I know. You try everything without even thinking about it. You’re the brave one.”
“I just do whatever Mom and Coach Bennett say, without even questioning them,” Beatrice said. “You turned your hair blue!” She was laughing and crying at the same time.
“Well, I don’t know if turning my hair blue was brave,” Maggie said. “I did it because I felt like I was always in your shadow.” Maggie sighed and snuggled up close. “It was my way of shouting, I guess.”
Beatrice leaned into Maggie. “I feel like we’ve been growing apart, and I don’t like it. I want us to be friends again. And teammates.”
“Me, too,” said Maggie. She held onto Beatrice’s hand as if it were a life preserver.
Beatrice stopped shaking at last.
Maggie had a flash of insight and yelled, “Bea!”
“Oh, my gosh. What?” Beatrice said, startled.
Now it was Maggie’s turn to shake — with laughter. “I have the best idea.”
* * *
Early Saturday morning, the girls sat in front of the television, chortling to themselves. They had served themselves big bowls of cereal and then piled onto the couch in a sea of blankets to watch cartoons like they used to. Maggie thought it felt so good to have her sister back, but she was a little freaked out about her mother waking up and seeing what they had done.
An hour later, their mother walked in. “Good morning, girls,” she said. She looked mother-like in her fancy silk robe, but her eyes were half-closed. She clung to her cup of coffee like it was vital to her existence.
The girls shared a sly look, wondering when she would notice.
“What are you girls watching?” their mother said, sitting down in a chair across from them and finally really looking at them. At Beatrice, especially.
A tense moment passed.
“No,” she finally said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Not you, too.” Beatrice now had a long blue streak in her blond hai
r, right in the front.
“Do you like it?” Beatrice asked, trying not to sound scared. Their mother paused for a long time, peering at her two daughters.
“Actually,” their mother said, sighing, “I kind of do. But I’m starting to think that we need to make more frequent trips to the salon?” Her eyes gleamed.
The three of them stared at each other and then burst into howling laughter, gripping their sides until they couldn’t breathe anymore.
“What’s going on down here, you lunatics?” their dad said, entering the living room, looking unshaven and tired.
As the laughter died down, the sisters gave each other a hug. Maggie grabbed Beatrice’s hand and said, “We’ve made a decision.”
“What’s that?” their dad said, looking at their mother for clues. Their mother shrugged her shoulders.
“We only want to continue to figure skate if we can do it together,” Beatrice said. “Here, with Coach Stone. No more driving.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” their mother said, falling over in a mock faint. “I’m so tired of that stupid drive.” The girls watched her in shock, both wondering about the strange new relaxed creature that their mother had become.
Their dad just smiled.
“Now that that’s finally settled, how about some music?” their dad said. He walked over to the stereo and pressed some buttons.
Instantly, a loud burst of rock-n-roll music shouted from the speakers. Their dad grabbed their mother, who protested. When he was finally able to pull her up from the chair, he whirled her around until she got so dizzy she fell into him.
Maggie and Beatrice both stood up. The strength of their smiles could have powered the house.
And then they started to spin, together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joelle Wisler is a freelance writer and physical therapist. She grew up in South Dakota and is a lifelong runner, jumper, bender, and skier. She spends much of her time these days laughing at her husband and chasing her two kids around — and any stray moose that might wander into her backyard in the mountains of Colorado.
GLOSSARY
apprehension—
anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen
axel—
a jump with a forward outside-edge takeoff and one and a half rotations in the air named after Norwegian skater Axel Paulson
Biellman spin—
a spin maneuver named after Swiss skater Denise Biellman
crescendo—
the peak of a gradual increase, especially in the loudness of music
resolve—
firmness of purpose
rhinestones—
a colorless imitation diamond of high luster made usually of glass or paste
taunt—
to provoke or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner
toe loop—
one of the simplest jumps; done with a toe pick-assisted takeoff that lands on the same backward outside edge
toe pick—
the teeth at the front of a skate blade that assist a skater in jumps and spins
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Maggie and Beatrice are twin sisters who both ice skate, but their styles and personalities differ greatly. Do you have siblings or friends who are different than you?
Maggie and her mother often disagree. What problems come up when parents and children disagree? Is there a good way to resolve these sorts of disagreements?
Music plays a role in helping Maggie express her feelings. Why do you think this is? What besides music helps people express feelings?
WRITING PROMPTS
Re-write the scene in which the twins first meet Coach Stone this time from Beatrice’s perspective.
Write an extra scene in which Maggie and Beatrice go to watch Coach Stone perform in a skating exhibition.
MORE ABOUT
ICE SKATING
Ice skating was said to be brought to North America from Europe in the 1740s. Speed skating and hockey soon developed after ice skating appeared.
Ice skating first appeared in the Olympic Games in 1908. The Games were held in London that year, and competitions in figure skating were held for women, men, and pairs.
The toe pick is a jagged edge on the tip of skating blades. Figure skaters use toe picks to stop or pivot by digging the edge into the ice.
Jake Maddox JV Girls books are published by
Stone Arch Books
a Capstone imprint
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, Minnesota 56003
www.mycapstone.com
Copyright © 2018 Stone Arch Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.
ISBN: 978-1-4965-4927-3 (library binding)
ISBN: 978-1-4965-4929-7 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-4965-4931-0 (eBook PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-4965-9151-7 (eBook)
Summary: Magnolia and her sister Beatrice are twin sister figure skaters. But when Magnolia tries to break away from the usual program, the sisters and their mother face a difficult situation.
Art Director: Russell Griesmer
Designer: Kayla Rossow
Media Researcher: Wanda Winch
Production Specialist: Tori Abraham
Photo Credits:
Shutterstock: image
Shutterstock: Olga Besnard, image
