It was a normal day at the rink in Simsbury, Connecticut… or so I thought. But then, I found out something that I had been dreading for a long time. I was sitting in the café, looking out on the ice when they both sat down with me—my coaches that is.

"Max does not want to skate anymore." My coaches Natasia and Stanislav (Stanley) told me my partner, Max—whom I had won the New England Regional's with and came in fifth in the nation with—didn't want to skate anymore. So I would have to find a new partner. This came just as the new skating season was starting, in early summer. I had just started intense training and hadn't seen Max all June. Now I realized why he hadn't been at the rink.

"What?" I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "But I've been skating with him for over ten years!"

"We know, we know, my little Sputnik." (Don't even ask me where the nickname came from) Natasia said, "But we must take this in stride… you still want to skate, do you not?"

"Well… yeah! Of course! Skating's my life!" If I gave up now it would be an insult to my mother and grandparents, who worked so hard despite some bad times to keep me skating. And there was no way I was letting Eva and Tyson win the gold again. It was all mine this year… if I could just find a partner…

"Well then we will just have to find you a new partner!" She sounded happy about it, like it was a good thing and I should be happy. But I wasn't. Max is my best friend. We've known each other since kindergarten. He even goes to the same school as me. (That's going to be awkward)

I sighed, getting up and walking to the trash to throw out my empty bowl—which was filled with a Caesar Salad about ten minutes ago.

"Come, let us go 'partner watch'." Natasia led me out into the lobby of the rink on the top floor, grabbing my arm. Stanley grumbled about his wife behind us, taking a seat near the window.

We stepped out of the Snack Bar and into the foyer. Immediately I saw dozens of people. There were about a dozen hockey players from the Hartford Wolf Pack—who were way older than me, me being sixteen. So, obviously those were a no.

But then I saw him… Adam Morozov… he and his partner, Julie Stevens. They were arguing—which was no surprise.

Adam's the top guy in the world of pairs skating, even though he came in sixth place at Nationals. However, that's only because Julie has been dragging him down. They used to win all the time, like two years ago when they won Nationals. But then Julie decided she didn't want to work hard anymore.

And by the looks of it right now… she wasn't coming back next season.

She walked away, without a skating bag and in normal clothes. Adam stomped his foot of the ground as his coach tried to calm him down. He kicked the wall, brushing a hand through his short blonde hair, and headed our way. I knew as well as Natasia to get out of his way.

I could almost feel the frustration radiating off of him as he passed by me, bumping my shoulder a bit. His coach rushed after him.

And then, I thought of the worst thing that could happen.

"Misha!" Natasia whisper-yelled in my ear.

"Natasia." I rolled my eyes, giving her a serious look. "He's a jerk. Never."

I could read her mind. She wanted me to partner up with him.

"It is fate, my Sputnik! Fate!" I started to walk towards the door and she scurried after me. I had to fight my way through a few dozen hockey players on the way.

"Yeah. Right. If you say so Natasia." I was about to open the door when she caught up to me, grabbing at my arm. My skating bag got caught in the door.

"Please, Misha! Think about it!" She pleaded. I couldn't say no to those big blue eyes.

I sighed. "Yeah… I'll think about it."

She smiled and the excitement returned to her face. "Thank you… now go! Rest! You have big day tomorrow!"

As I turned and walked out the door I realized she had said I had a big day tomorrow… but I didn't have anything planned…

Oh shit. She's going to set me up with Adam. I knew it! And right now, she was probably back there talking to him right now…

"Hey loser." A familiar voice came from just in front of me. Eva was entering the rink. I didn't hold the door for her.

I simply rolled my eyes.

"What's the matter? Trouble with your partner? Oh wait, I forgot—you don't have one!" She started to crack up all by herself. The people scattered around the parking lot turned to look strangely at her.

There was nothing I could do except walk away from her. She was unbelievable.

I tried to block out all the stress of the day on the drive home in my mom's old, red Volkswagen Jetta.

Would Adam even give my coach the time of day? Never mind trying out a skating session with me! He was a jerk; a know-it-all of pairs skating. Surely my mom would even see that we certainly weren't 'meant to be'.

A half an hour had gone by, by the time I got to our condo in Cromwell. I got to the front door to find that my mom was home, and making something to eat in the kitchen.

"Hey mom." It was a quick greeting. Just by my silence she knew something was wrong. I could talk forever.

"Okay, what's wrong?" She asked without skipping a beat. She dropped the bottle of Pepsi she was pouring into a cup and sat down across from me at the Island counter.

I hesitated, wondering how she would take the news.

"Max quit on me." I mumbled, looking down at the granite counter top. I placed my head on my right hand.

She didn't even gasp.

"I'm not surprised. He lost his interest years ago… he only did it because of his parents." She shrugged. "But do you still want to do it?"

"Yes." I replied quickly. "Of course, but it's gonna be hard switching to another partner… I… I don't know if I can do it."

"Honey, of course you can! You're the most determined person I know! You just have to find the right person again…"

I really didn't want her to know about Adam and how Natasia was hell-bent on getting me with the best senior pairs male skater around…. But…

"Uh, well, Natasia and I were at the rink today and… we saw Adam Morozov and Julie Stevens 'break-up' I guess Jules doesn't wanna skate anymore… so she was thinking…"

"No way!" my mom exclaimed. She's a big fan of him, which gives you the idea of how many people know him from when he won the gold with Julie. He was basically famous. "Oh my god! Mimi! You have to at least meet with him!"

"—but mom!"

"—you could make it all the way to the Olympics!"

I stopped short of what I was going to say. She was right. The 2010 Olympics were next February… maybe him and I could…

Wait, what I am saying? He's a jerk! We're total opposites! I could never work well with him! What am I thinking?

But it was too late, she saw my face.

"Go to the rink tomorrow… and at least get to know him. I'm sure Natasia and Stanley have already talked to him and his coach."

"Okay..."

So I retreated to my room to get ready for bed. And as soon as I turned on the television set you can only guess what came on.

Rick Langley of Ice Network news was in Simsbury with skaters whizzing behind him across the ice. I spotted Eva in her sparkly red warm up dress. Her jet black hair was back in a ponytail tied by an even more glittery scrunchy.

"Hi! I'm Rick Langley, here at the Simsbury Ice Arena, to confirm the news about pairs couples in the world of skating switching. Things have gotten pretty mixed up over the past few transition weeks… Recently we have confirmed that Eva Parker—" they showed a clip of her doing a double loop "—has broken away from her partner, Tyson Henry. She has told us that they were drifting apart. Her new partner, Maxwell Kanjorski is eager to start training with her—" And sure enough they shot to a clip of my used-to-be partner.

"Mom!" I screamed with all my voice. She rushed into the room, holding a kitchen towel.

"What?" She stared at the TV, reading the ribbon at the bottom of the screen that wrote out: Eva Parker breaks up with Tyson Henry… to start training with Maxwell Kanjorski, who split from his partner, Misha Romanoff. "Oh my goodness."

"Shh!" I shushed her, still listening to Max.

"Yeah, we kind of both decided that it wasn't meant to be. We were total opposites…" He went on and on. I wanted to punch the TV right then and there.

Then the newscaster switched.

"And in other news, it's revealed that Julie Stevens and Adam Morozov have broken apart. Julie plans to team up with Tyson Henry, while Adam still has yet to find his right match…"

I threw the clicker across the room. Surely the internet helped spread all this! I yelled out in frustration.

"Uhhh! She takes everything from me!" My mom flinched.

I threw the remote so hard it turned the TV off. I couldn't take anymore anyway, his last line was, "Yes, it seems things are getting very interesting in the world of pairs skating, and with the Olympics just around the corner—"

"Alright, now why don't you just get some rest, Mi… just don't think about it."

But I did think about it, all night. I didn't really sleep. I only fell asleep for a few hours at the most… maybe four.

All that kept running through my mind was Natasia's voice saying: It is fate! Just think about it Misha!