“Marlene! You better work on your fucking axels or I’m taking you out!” once again, her coach is pissed. He smelled like liquor when she arrived at the rink in the morning and it’s even worse now, less than two hours later. She hates him. She hates him more than anything in the world. But it’s the only licensed coach in her area that she can afford. It’s fucking unfair. He’s always so rude and harsh with her but, when it comes to the rich girls, he’s all smiles and nice remarks. Half of them can’t even move in rhythm. They’re, like, really bad. But nobody won’t tell them only because they’re giving this man a fortune all for nothing but their mum’s egos. Rich girls are either figure skaters or riders. They can afford to spend a million a year on shiny dresses and breed horses. Fuck them. She wants to throw her skates at the coach’s face and dump this place. Dump these bitches.
Unfortunately, this hellhole is also her only chance to escape her future. If only she could land her jumps consistently, she wouldn’t be stuck with this drunkard as a coach. The problem is that her skates are second-hand shite. She hurts her hips not long ago and it still bothers her when she jumps. She has to ride her bike to come here at dawn because her mum’s working night shifts at the hospital and her dad would never take her. At the last competition, she could land a triple axel without hesitation. It’s been months, now. And she spends her trainings on the floor, collecting bruises and insults from her coach. If she wasn’t so mad about everything, she’d probably be crying. But still, she gets up again and glares at the man who’s drinking from a thermos. It’s certainly not coffee. Arsehole. Only her dreams of being a champion keep her from making a scene right now and there.
“I’m taking a break,” she says, barely acknowledging him when she gets off the ice. He mumbles something along the lines of “Get yourself together” but Marlene doesn’t stay long enough to listen to him. Once she put the protection over her blades and threw on her jumper, she rushes towards the locker room. It’s Saturday. The ice rink is full of people and still, no one cares about her. This is the loneliest place in the world. Even though she’s been skating since she was five, she isn’t friend with the other girls. Most of them aren’t good enough to be considered as competition. They all look down on her because she’s not like them. Charity and Lucinda are quite talented but they lack the motivation. They’re only here as a hobby. As almost every other girl in the club. They don’t understand what it means to survive on the ice. For them, it’s only a silly way to pass the time. They learn tricks to impress their classmates. They love putting on their pretty dresses and skating on their favourite songs, no matter if it doesn’t work or anything. Their programs don’t make any sense but no one cares. They’ll never share Marlene’s ambition when it comes to skating. They’ll never understand what it means to her to be there. They don’t have families to hide from. Classmates to avoid. Their futures don’t come with a deadline.
Hestia is her only true challenger. She’s rich and hasn’t miss a single jump today. But she’s afraid of powerful combination. She’s staying in her comfort zone and that’s how Marlene can beat her in competitions. Only if her shithead coach doesn’t withdraw her from the rooster just because he’s being petty. But, if you take out the sport and everything, Hestia’s all right. She’s a nice girl and always try to act as if she doesn’t come from money. She shares thrifting tips with Marlene and even proposed to offer her a new pair of skates for her birthday. Of course, Marlene refused, but it’s the thought that count. She’s really kind. They’re not quite friends, they don’t acknowledge each other outside of the rink but they share something when it comes to the ice. They both want to pursue this dream.
Today, though, Marlene doesn’t really have the mindset of a winner. She’s tired and everything hurt. It sucks. And oh, right, she has to hold back a sigh when she enters the locker room and all the hockey girls are there. Loud and frantic. Fuck them. They’re putting their stuff all over the place and never take care of others’ equipment. One of them made holes in one of her dresses, once. And she only has like two of them for her programs. She was so mad that day, she spent fifteen minutes cursing at the bitch until someone dragged her out of the room. They always look weirdly at her. She hates them at least as much as she hates the girls from her club. There are some exceptions, of course. But it’s only because she decided to be nice sometimes. Today, she doesn’t want to be nice. She tries to turn around and go out before someone sees her but it’s too late.
“Hey, Marls!” shouts the team’s captain, Alice. She’s a pretty girl with short hair and a big smile. She’s also too nice for her own good. Marlene doesn’t dislike her but she’s not happy to see her either. Alice exists in the weird void of her mind, in between the people she hates and the few people she tolerate.
“Hi.”
“Did you need something? Or are you done with the rink? Coach Moody would like to talk with yours for next week’s schedule. We have a tournament, so—”
“We’re not done, no. We still have two hours left,” Marlene frowns. It’s not rare for the girls to come early to the rink so they can discuss strategy or whatever but they never come this early. Unless… “Don’t fucking tell me the arsehole changed our planning without telling us. Not again!”
“Eh… I won’t say it…” Alice offers her an apologetic smile while some of the other girls snickers all around. She can feel the blood boils in her veins and rushes out the door so quickly she violently crashes into someone, making the both of them fall. There’s a loud and sinister cracking sound then a scream. It’s blood-curdling. Hestia’s on the floor, holding her forearm against her chest. She’s howling in pain.
“Fuck! Are you alright?” Marlene immediately tries to approach her but she’s still wearing her skates, making everything a little bit complicated. By the time she manages to get up, everyone’s already here too. Their coach, the other skaters, the two hockey teams, girls and boys and even the lad working at the reception. Their club’s nurse is close behind, too.
“What happened?” asks furiously her coach while someone calls an ambulance.
“We crash—,” starts explaining Marlene before one of the rich bitches cuts her off.
“We saw McKinnon pushing her on the floor!”
“Yeah! It was really violent!”
“She did it on purpose!”
Lies. They’re all lying. But Marlene’s only friend, if she can call Hestia a friend, is crying on the floor and everyone else hates her. She tries to explain, she tries to get away. The coach grabs her arm and shakes her roughly, almost making her fall again. She almost kicks him before remembering her skates. It’s too late, though, some girl saw her movement and starts screaming again.
“She tried to hurt the coach! Security!”
Marlene’s head is full of noises. Everyone’s yelling and she’s being pushed around by too many people. Above all, Hestia’s cry won’t leave her mind. It’s horrible. She’s muttering excuses and explanations but no one hears her. She sees the rink’s guards approaching and she wonders if they’re going to arrest her. Or kick her out. If they do, she’ll have to ask if she can pass by her locker before ‘cause her pretty dress for the gala is in it and it was terribly expensive…
“Hey, leave her alone,” someone she knows suddenly comes at her rescue. It’s Mary, from the hockey team. She’s one of the nice ones. She always wears a kind smile. At her side appears Lily, her best friend. They go to the same school but they never really talked. They’re trying to get her coach to let go of her arm.
“We saw everything! They simply bumped into each other! Marlene didn’t do anything to her!” another girl, Em… something, joins them. She’s tall and strong and very intimidating. Her coach squirms and drops her. The steep movement makes her stagger backwards. Fortunately for her, another hockey girl catches her before she can fall again. And, oh, it’s Dorcas. The co-captain. The prettiest, in Marlene’s opinion. But the coldest, too. Ice seems to be her element. She rarely takes part in her teammates’ fuss. When their eyes meet, Marlene suddenly feels shy.
“Th-thanks,” she stutters, regaining her balance. Still, Dorcas keeps a hand on her shoulder while Alice comes forward.
“Sir, we all saw what happened. No one pushed no one on purpose. They both fell together and, unfortunately, Hestia fell on her arm. I believe we all should be civilized and act as mature people, right?” despite being only two years older than Marlene, making her nineteen, Alice looks very grown-up in that moment. Calm returns and the rink is quieter than ever, only interrupted by Hestia’s sobs and the hockey coach’s voice, talking with the medical operator on the phone.
The guards and the receptionist help Hestia getting up and guide them over the infirmary. Charity and two other girls go with them, not bothering to take off their skates. It would look funny, in any other case, to see these pretentious girls walking in such a wobbly fashion. The coach glances at Marlene one last time before leaving too. As soon as they’re gone, the other figure skaters are instantly chirping and squeaking in their high-pitched voices, acting as if they just witnessed a crime. The boys from the hockey team are also talking about it but in a more low-key way, one of them mimicking the way Hestia was crying while holding her arm. Marlene has to use every inch of patience in her body to not punch him right in the face. Prick.
“Marls? Are you fine?” Alice stands in front of her and the boys. She looks like she’s really concerned about her, it’s a little bit off-putting. She’s not used to it. So she does what she usually does when people are acting weird. She brushes it off.
“I’m alright. Thanks for the help. Uh, have a good day,” she awkwardly smiles at her then heads off to the locker room.