Skating Part 4 – by phoebenpiper
Sharpay tottered shakily along towards the rink, holding on for dear life to the waist-high carpeted wall. She had never felt so clumsy in her life! 'Surely it'll be easier once I get on the rink itself,' she thought, watching the other skaters instantly become more graceful the moment they left the rough carpet.
But stepping onto the rink, she immediately discovered that being on the frictionless polished wood floor made her even more unsteady.
'How can this be so difficult?' she wondered in frustration. 'They skate in a Weber musical – how hard can it be?'
It was hard enough that it was taking every muscle in her body to prevent herself from falling to the ground. She couldn't believe that people did this for fun! It seemed more like a masochistic form of self-torture. And this opinion didn't change as her skates suddenly started to slide out from under her. Reaching out to try to stop her fall, she slid down the carpeted wall, receiving a nasty rug burn on her arm for her efforts.
"Ow!" she mumbled under her breath, wondering why Zeke wasn't around to help her up. But she knew why -- two of Nessa's friends had grabbed onto Zeke and dragged him off the moment his skates were on. So Sharpay realized she would just have to fend for herself.
As she pulled herself back up, attempting to put her feet back under her where they belonged, a silver-haired man in a striped polyester shirt skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Let me guess," he said with a cheesy grin. "First time?"
"No, I'm an freaking Olympian!" Sharpay snapped impatiently.
The man just chuckled. "My name's Dave. And you are...?"
'Annoyed! Frustrated! Pissed off!' "Sharpay."
"Well, Sharpay, the first thing we need to work on is your feet," Dave said matter-of-factly. "They shouldn't be so far apart. Put your heels together, like this."
Sharpay had no desire to listen to this cheeseball. Yet she was in no real position to argue. And this "Dave", whoever he was, seemed to know what he was doing. So Sharpay struggled to follow his instructions, trying her best to put her feet together as Dave was demonstrating.
"Good," Dave encouraged. "Now let go of the wall."
Sharpay did, but immediately her wheels started to roll. She flailed her arms, trying to prevent herself from falling.
"Stop flailing," Dave instructed. "Flailing doesn't help, it only disrupts your balance more."
'That's what HE thinks,' Sharpay thought as she desperately grabbed onto the wall again, unable to regain her balance without it.
"Instead," Dave continued as if nothing had happened, "put your arms out to your sides like you're pushing down on an imaginary table. Like this."
He demonstrated, and Sharpay did her best to imitate him. But like before, the moment she let go of the wall, her feet started to roll, this time in opposite directions.
"Don't flail!" Dave scolded again as Sharpay struggled to keep her balance. "Hands on a table."
Sharpay really tried to do as she was told. But putting her hands on an imaginary table was NOT helping her keep her balance NOR stopping her feet from rolling apart. And as her feet continued to move in opposite directions, she grew afraid that she'd end up in the splits if she waited any longer for the so-called imaginary table to help, so she finally gave up and frantically grabbed for the wall.
Dave chuckled. "Okay, let's try something else," he said, nonplussed. "Face the wall, feet together as before."
Sharpay was tired of trying to follow Dave's directions. But she was also tired of being at the total mercy of gravity. So she struggled once again to pull herself upright and then turned towards the wall.
This new position felt familiar to her – it reminded her of ballet class. Except in ballet class she lightly touched a wooden barre instead of desperately clutching a dirty carpeted wall. And in ballet class she was able to admire her own graceful reflection in the full-length mirror instead of staring at a noisy snack bar full of bratty kids. But if she could thrive from years at the barre, she could surely endure a few minutes of this. She tried to block the snack bar distractions from her mind and focus instead on keeping her balance, which was much easier in this position since her rubber toe-stops rested against the wall, preventing her skates from rolling away.
"Remember – hands on an imaginary table," Dave reminded, and Sharpay did as she was told, letting go of the wall and remaining standing upright in place for a change.
"Excellent! Now what I want you to do is bend your knees," he said, demonstrating the desired position as Sharpay copied him, "and waddle like a duck."
Sharpay immediately straightened back up. "Seriously?!" She hoped he was merely pulling her leg as some sort of skating virgin prank.
Unfortunately he wasn't. "Lift each foot in turn, back and forth, like this," he said, showing her the position she needed. And as he demonstrated, Sharpay realized he indeed WAS waddling like a duck.
"See?" Dave asked, continuing to waddle. "This is the basic movement you need to skate. Left, right, left, right. Quack quack quack." He stopped and looked at Sharpay expectantly. "Your turn."
Sharpay sighed, rebent her knees, and tentatively lifted her feet one at a time. The skates made her feet heavy, and she had trouble keeping her balance on her wheels, despite the wall holding them in place. But she did her best to waddle like Dave was demonstrating, softly clicking her wheels against the rink as she carefully stepped back and forth.
"Good waddling," Dave encouraged. "But I can't HEAR you."
Sharpay attempted to lift her feet higher so her wheels made a louder clack when she set them down.
But apparently that's not what he meant. "C'mon. Let me hear you. 'Quack quack quack.' Say it."
Sharpay couldn't believe this was happening to her! But having come this far, she couldn't see a way to get out of this gracefully, so she sighed and mumbled under her breath, "Quack quack quack."
Yet despite this humiliation, Sharpay was feeling better about being on her skates. Her feet were staying together, and she was able to keep upright without flailing her arms around. This humiliating teaching technique was actually working!
"Groovy!" Dave enthused. "You're a natural! And now that you have the motion down, let's try it for reals. Turn away from the wall and let's give it a go."
Sharpay smiled, pleased that she'd come so far in such a short amount of time. She turned away from the wall...
and immediately found herself on the ground, her butt throbbing from the sudden impact!
She was still on the ground when a guy skidded to a stop next to her.
"Newbie?" the new guy asked Dave as if she wasn't even there.
Dave nodded. "Wanna take over for a bit?"
"Sure thing," the new guy said.
As Dave started to skate away backwards, he gave Sharpay two thumbs up. "You're doing great, Sharpay. Keep trying."
Once Dave was gone, the new guy, who was balding and had a bad 1970's moustache, turned to Sharpay and introduced himself. "I'm Dave. And the first thing we need to teaching you is how to fall."
Sharpay rolled her eyes and rubbed her sore bottom. It seemed to her that falling was the LAST thing she needed lessons in!
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