Skating School: Pink Skate Party Page 2

  Monsieur Carvallio wanted them to work on spirals today. They were one of Emily’s favourite moves. As she glided round with one leg in the air, she felt balanced and elegant, just like a bird in flight.

  ‘Excellent,’ Monsieur Carvallio praised. ‘That was beautiful, Emily.’ She smiled. After Camilla’s mean words earlier, it was lovely to be praised. She glanced over at the advanced group to see what they were doing.

  They were practising their double axels, a particularly hard jump. The elation Emily had felt at Monsieur Carvallio’s words faded slightly. Although she had improved loads, she knew she was still nowhere near as good as the skaters in the advanced group.

  That’s OK, she told herself, trying to be positive. You can’t expect to be as good as them, but that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. If you get your routine as near perfect as possible, you might still do well in the competition.

  Determination filled her. She was going to practise and practise and do everything she could to improve! She really wanted to win those pink skates!

  Chapter Three

  Costume Designing

  After they had finished skating, the girls had some free time before supper. They went to the common room to design their costumes. The frost fairies were going to be making them and the girls had been told to give their designs in as soon as possible. Emily fetched some paper and pens and she, Hannah and Molly sat down on one of the sofas.

  Emily didn’t have to think for long. She loved drawing and could already see the costume in her head. She drew sheet after sheet until she was happy. Molly was working almost as quickly while Hannah sighed and chewed her pencil.

  ‘I’ve got the perfect idea,’ Amanda announced smugly, sitting back in her chair. ‘My music is like flamenco music so I’m going to have a flamenco dancer’s costume in red and black, only with a short skirt. I’ll look really cool!’

  Emily saw a few of the others roll their eyes and smiled to herself. Amanda never changed. She could be really boastful at times, but over the last few weeks she had proved that she could be nice too.

  ‘Done!’ Molly declared, holding out a piece of paper. She had drawn a red skating dress with an orange, red and yellow skirt.

  ‘That’s great,’ said Hannah admiringly. Molly’s routine was a piece of music from an opera where people were dancing round a fire.

  ‘You should add some sequins in here,’ Emily said, pointing to the neckline. ‘And make the sleeves longer – it’ll show off the line of your arms better.’

  ‘Great! Thanks, Em,’ said Molly, quickly adding to her drawing. ‘Have you done yours?’

  Emily nodded. She had decided to go for a pale-blue dress with deep-turquoise stripes. It was sleeveless with a short floaty skirt.

  ‘That’s beautiful,’ said Molly.

  ‘I wish mine was as good,’ Hannah sighed. ‘Look.’ She held out her drawing of a pale-green dress.

  It was hard to know what to say. The dress was just plain green with nothing on it. It looked very dull. ‘Oh, that’s um… a nice colour,’ Emily managed to say.

  Hannah ran a hand through her blonde hair. ‘I’m no good at thinking up dresses. My mum does all that for me back at home. I just get on with the skating.’

  ‘Maybe Emily could do a design for you,’ Molly suggested.

  ‘Yes, or we could just add to this one,’ said Emily. ‘I could help you.’

  Hannah looked embarrassed. ‘No, don’t worry. After all, the competition’s about our skating ability really. It’ll be fine –’

  She broke off as the common-room door opened and Camilla came in with Tess and Helena. ‘Did you see that frost fairy’s face when I gave her my design,’ she was saying. ‘I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her silly head!’

  ‘I wish I’d thought of wearing a catsuit,’ said Tess.

  ‘A catsuit!’ Molly echoed from the sofa.

  Camilla looked smug. ‘Yeah. It’s silver and black. It’ll look amazing.’

  ‘Amazingly weird,’ Molly said.

  Camilla gave her a withering look. ‘If I wanted your opinion, I’d have asked for it, Molly.’

  ‘And if I wanted to look stupid on the ice, I’d wear a catsuit!’ Molly grinned.

  Camilla turned sharply on her heel and marched to the far end of the room.

  For the rest of that evening all they talked about were their routines.

  Just six days to go, thought Emily as she got into bed. Who is going to win? Shutting her eyes, she started to go through all the different moves in her head. Lost in happy thoughts of spirals and double toe loops, she fell fast asleep.

  When Emily woke up the next morning, she saw Tilda and Alice getting dressed in their outdoor clothes – trousers and padded jackets.

  ‘Where are you going?’ she asked, sitting up in bed.

  ‘Out to see the huskies,’ said Alice. In the gardens there were kennels where the school huskies were kept. They were used for pulling sledges to get around the land.

  ‘I might have known,’ Emily said with a grin. Alice was animal-mad and Tilda, being her best friend, went everywhere with her – which usually meant down to the kennels.

  ‘Trakin, the head husky handler, has said he’ll start teaching us how to drive husky sledges if we go early today,’ said Tilda. ‘You should come, Emily.’

  Emily loved the huskies, and the thought of learning to drive a husky sledge was very tempting, but what about the competition? She wanted to go to the rink and practise before breakfast. ‘No, I’m going to go skating.’ She frowned. ‘Shouldn’t you be practising too?’

  Alice shrugged. ‘I’m not going to win so what’s the point?’

  ‘You might,’ said Emily in surprise.

  ‘I won’t,’ said Alice. ‘Anyway, I’d rather see the huskies.’

  ‘OK then. Well, have fun,’ said Emily, getting up and pulling an ice-skating dress out of the neat little wardrobe at the end of her bed. The girls each had a selection of practice dresses and Emily chose a soft one in white and pale pink with a scooped neckline and long sleeves. She laid the dress on her bed along with her cream tights.

  Alice and Tilda had said goodbye and left. Molly and Hannah were still asleep. Emily grinned and went round to the table between their beds, where there was a glass of water. She dipped her finger in and dropped water on to their faces. They both woke up with a start.

  ‘Emily!’ groaned Molly, throwing a pillow at her.

  ‘Come on, lazybones!’ Emily said, pulling their duvets off. ‘We’ve got some practising to do!’

  Chapter Four

  Found in the Woods

  Emily glided round the rink on one leg, her head down near her knees, her arms flung back as if they were wings. She felt she really was soaring through the air – just like a bird. Lowering her leg, she started skating backwards, faster and faster, until she launched herself into a double flip. But she landed badly on two feet instead of one and tutted at herself. It wasn’t good enough. She was going to have to do better than that if she wanted to win.

  Frowning in concentration, Emily tried again and again.

  Hannah came over. ‘Em, I was thinking about my dress when I went to bed last night. My design is OK, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Emily was distracted by the jump not working. I need more height, she thought anxiously.

  ‘Do you think I should just scrap that design and do something else?’

  Emily hesitated, torn between wanting to help and wanting to get her double flip right. ‘It’s fine,’ she said, her feet itching to start skating again.

  ‘Oh,’ Hannah said. ‘OK.’

  Emily skated off. For a moment she felt bad she hadn’t talked more about Hannah’s costume, but she pushed the thought away. Concentrate on what you’re doing, she told herself. You know you have to focus if you want to win. You need to skate faster…

  She launched into her flip, but her body felt wrong and she stumbled on landing.

  ‘Good jump, Emil
y,’ Camilla said sarcastically as she glided past.

  Emily’s practice didn’t go well that morning. Her jumps just wouldn’t come right and her spins seemed off-centre. I’m going to have to get better than this, she realized as she came off the ice. I’m never going to do well in the competition if I make dumb mistakes. I’m going to have to practise harder and harder.

  She was just putting her boots away, feeling cross with herself, when Alice and Tilda came hurrying into the changing area. There was a look of excitement about them.

  ‘What’s up with you two?’ Molly called from where she was changing.

  ‘You’ll never guess what just happened!’ Tilda said. ‘We were out in the woods, practising husky driving, and we saw this little baby ice dragon on the ground, all on his own.’

  ‘We picked him up and took him back to the kennels. Trakin said he must have dropped out of his mother’s pouch when she was flying overhead. If we hadn’t found him, he’d have died!’ said Alice.

  ‘Where is he now?’ asked Emily.

  ‘Trakin told Madame Longley and she’s put him in the walk-in cupboard in her classroom in a big box. Come and see him!’

  Emily, Hannah and Molly didn’t need any more urging. They jumped to their feet and followed Alice and Tilda to the classroom where they had their lessons on the creatures and geography of the magic land.

  Alice opened the cupboard and Emily caught her breath. Sitting inside a large cardboard box was a baby ice dragon! He was the size of a mouse and a very pale blue. As she watched, he snorted and ice crystals puffed out of his snout.

  ‘He’s gorgeous,’ she said, sinking down beside the box.

  ‘We’ve called him Charlie,’ said Alice.

  Emily chirruped to him. The dragon’s eyes gleamed like dark jewels and he chirruped back.

  ‘What does he eat?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘Mushed-up leaves,’ said Alice.

  ‘Of course,’ said Emily, remembering a class they’d had once on ice dragons. ‘The mothers usually chew the leaves up first, don’t they?’

  ‘Yes. We’re not going to do that though!’ Tilda grinned. ‘We’re just going to mush them up with a pestle and mortar.’ She pointed to a round bowl with its grinding stick.

  ‘He has to be fed every hour at the moment and he needs lots of company too,’ said Alice. ‘Madame Longley said that ice dragons don’t like being on their own, but he’s still too little to be put in with the other dragons.’

  ‘So we’re going to look after him until he’s big enough,’ said Tilda. ‘Will you lot help?’

  ‘Of course!’ Emily said and Hannah and Molly nodded.

  ‘I’ll draw up a rota then,’ said Alice.

  Molly stroked the tiny dragon. ‘It’ll be Operation Charlie,’ she said. He blinked his dark eyes and snorted ice crystals into her face.

  Chapter Five

  Trying Too Hard

  The next few days passed very quickly. Emily spent all her time out of classes practising her routine. She hardly thought about anything except for the competition. She went to sleep thinking about it and woke up thinking about it – she even skated it over and over again in her dreams! However, to her intense frustration, she seemed to be doing her routine less well now than when she had first thought it up.

  It began to seem like the more she tried and the longer she practised, the worse she got. She spent so much time on the ice that she hardly did anything with her friends. The only thing that Emily did make sure she made time for was looking after the baby ice dragon.

  ‘I wish I was better at my routine, Charlie,’ Emily told the dragon as she took her turn to feed him at morning break on Thursday. He flapped his way out of the open box and landed on one of the shelves, where he proceeded to joyfully pull out all the papers from one of Madame Longley’s folders.

  ‘No, don’t do that,’ Emily said quickly.

  The little dragon had got very good at getting the lid off his box and escaping. Alice had made him some dragon toys and got some pieces of bark for him to chew on, but he always seemed to be up to mischief – climbing the curtains or chewing up important papers. Emily scooped the baby dragon up and moved him back into his box. He squawked in annoyance.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Emily told him as the squawk changed to a plaintive squeak. ‘I know you don’t like being left on your own, but I really have to go now and practise again. One of the others will be here later.’

  Shutting the door of the cupboard behind her, she hurried quickly away.

  When Emily got to the rink, Alice came over. ‘How was Charlie?’

  ‘Fine,’ replied Emily.

  ‘I’m really worried about him getting bored and being on his own,’ said Alice. ‘Madame Longley said I can introduce him to the other dragons in a week or so, but what are we going to do until then? He’s getting so naughty – and he’s so good at escaping.’

  ‘Mmm,’ Emily said, not really listening as she put on her skates. In her head she was already going through her routine.

  ‘Will you help me try and think of something?’ asked Alice.

  ‘Yeah,’ Emily mumbled. ‘Maybe later.’ She headed on to the ice and with a deep sigh started her routine.

  She felt tense and uncomfortable inside. With every mistake she made that day, a feeling of panic started to build inside her. What would she do if she got things wrong in the competition? She watched the other girls, hoping to pick up some tips. Maybe she should copy them? Molly was so fast and Amanda so dramatic. Camilla was very elegant and Zoe so accurate…

  ‘Em!’ Emily looked round. Hannah was skating over. ‘Can I talk to you a minute? I’m worried about Molly.’

  Emily nodded vaguely, but her thoughts were on her own bad performance. ‘Do you think I should skate faster into my double flip?’ she asked Hannah. ‘Molly and Camilla always skate really fast.’

  Hannah blinked. ‘It might help,’ she said. ‘But look, about Molly. She keeps falling over all the time when she’s trying the triple jump and –’

  ‘Hang on. Let me just try it.’ Emily skated off. She wanted to see what would happen if she skated even faster into the double flip. She sped up, lifted into the air, spun round, tensed and…

  SLAM!

  She ended up on the ice. Giving an annoyed exclamation, she stood up.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Hannah called out.

  ‘Fine!’ Emily snapped. She saw Hannah’s look of surprise and felt bad. ‘Sorry, I’m just trying to get this right,’ she sighed.

  Deciding to try again, Emily began to skate backwards round the rink, but as she did so, she saw Molly skating into another triple toe loop. Molly’s face was set and flushed.

  Maybe Hannah’s right and we should stop her, Emily realized. She hesitated and then started to skate over. ‘Molly!’

  But Molly wasn’t listening. She dug her toe pick into the ice and propelled herself upwards, but she was going too fast. She spun round and lost control. Falling out of the spin, she landed on one leg. It seemed to buckle beneath her and she thudded heavily on to the ice. Crying out in pain, she clasped her leg with both hands.

  ‘My ankle,’ she gasped as Emily and Hannah both raced over.

  Emily knelt down beside her. Tears sprung to Molly’s eyes. ‘It really hurts!’

  ‘I’ll get help!’ said Hannah quickly.

  Molly started to cry. Emily felt awful. She hugged her tightly. ‘It’ll be OK,’ she said. ‘Madame Letsworth will be here in a moment.’

  It felt like they waited ages, but it was only really a few minutes before Hannah returned with Madame Letsworth and Monsieur Carvallio. By then, everyone else on the rink had noticed something was the matter and had skated over.

  ‘Now, make some space, please, girls,’ called Madame Letsworth.

  Monsieur Carvallio examined Molly’s foot and then scooped her up. ‘We’d better get you to the sick bay.’

  ‘But what’s the matter with it? What have I done?’ Molly said through her tears.
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  ‘We need to get the doctor to look at you,’ Monsieur Carvallio said. ‘Come on.’

  Emily and Hannah exchanged worried glances and followed the teachers and Molly off the ice.

  Chapter Six

  Four Days Off

  ‘No skating for at least four days!’ Molly exclaimed in horror. ‘But I’ll miss the competition!’

  The doctor, a short ice sylph with glasses and a beard, looked at her sympathetically. ‘I’m sorry, but you have strained your ankle very badly and you must rest it. You were lucky not to have broken it. Absolutely no skating until Monday.’

  Molly went very quiet. Emily felt awful for her. She knew how upset she would be if she had to miss the competition. She and Hannah had been allowed to come to the sick bay. Matron, the school nurse, was there with Madame Letsworth.

  Madame Letsworth touched Molly’s hand. ‘It’s only four days, Molly. You really don’t want to do any more damage.’

  Molly nodded, but Emily could see her chewing her lower lip and knew she was trying to hold back the tears.

  ‘You’ll be fine here, my dear,’ said Matron kindly. ‘I’ll make sure you rest.’ She had grey hair, neatly tied back in a bun, and a kind, no-nonsense manner. ‘Now, let me get you a drink and maybe your friends can go and get you some clothes, a toothbrush and some books.’ She looked enquiringly at Emily and Hannah.

  ‘Of course,’ said Hannah. ‘We’ll get them right away.’

  She and Emily set off to the dorm. ‘Poor Molly!’ Emily burst out as they hurried down the corridor.

  ‘I know,’ agreed Hannah. ‘I wish I’d stopped her trying to do the jump, but I thought I shouldn’t interfere. My coach at home always says you have to learn to judge for yourself when something’s too hard for you. But I should have realized that Molly doesn’t think that way. She thinks if she tries hard enough, she can do anything. I should have said something. I knew it – that’s why I came over to talk to you about it.’