Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments or any of the characters.
Clary POV
The week went by rather slowly. In fact, it went by extremely boringly. By the end of it, I was dying to get onto the ice.
And now, it is Saturday, meaning I could skate again. The sound of my alarm cuts through my dreams and I slam my hand down on it. Jumping out of bed I throw on some tights and a light jacket quickly and don't even bother brushing my teeth. As I run to the rink my skating bag bangs against my leg but I don't care. The ice, the ice, the ice I need it.
I turn the corner to the rink leading to the hallway and run straight into Coach.
"Whoa, Clary, so excited for skating I see."
"Yeah, Coach." I try to hide my impatience but I am pretty sure she can sense my urgency.
"I hate to bust your bubble Clary, but I need to talk to you first." My heart drops. The ice…so close…yet so far.
"Do I have to?" Coach just looks at me sternly, giving me a warning. I comply and follow her to the office.
The room is clustered with papers all over the place. It hasn't changed much since the last time I was in here. The first time I met Jace. I push the thoughts out of my mind. I did not need the thought of that scumbag in my mind when I should be happy and skating freely.
"Clary, how badly do you want nationals?" I can automatically tell this is a redundant question. Coach knows how much I want nationals.
"Since the first time I started skating here and saw Crystal make it there." Crystal Davison. A figure skating legend here at Alicante. She had made it to nationals three times while she was skating at Alicante—aged fifteen, sixteen and seventeen. I was in grade nine here when she was in grade twelve and her skating was the most beautiful masterpiece I had ever seen. Her arms, her legs, her spins, her jumps, all practiced to perfection.
I stared at Coach blankly. "Come on, Coach, you know this already."
"Yes, but I mean how much do you want it; what are you willing to sacrifice?" I pause to think.
"I'm willing to practice every day, push myself to my limits each session and make sure no distractions come my way. I have two hundred percent of my focus directed to skating."
"Good. Because if you guarantee me that, then I guess this will be news you can handle. I have scheduled off-ice practices. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, two hour workouts during weekdays, and three hours during weekends; starting tonight," that didn't sound too bad, normally our off-ice was three times a week for three hours anyways, "with the Alicante boy's hockey team." What?
"Wait, so we'll be doing off-ice with the guys together?"
"Yes, Clary which is exactly why I want to make sure you are committed. I am doing this purely because I know how much you want to get into nationals, and their hockey off-ice is much more intense, but if you are only going to get distracted by a bunch of hormonal boys five times a week, then me going out of my way will be pointless. Understood?" Coach looks at me with no hint of doubt or suspicion. She believes in you, Clary.
"Got it Coach. It's okay, I am completely focused on skating and I know my priorities."
"All right, because we all know the rest of the team is going to be drooling over the guys." I can't help but laugh at Coach's intensely correct prediction. I turn to go back to the rink but before I leave, I stop.
"Thanks Coach." I say, "For going out of your way."
"Thank me by making it to nationals." I nod, then run to the change rooms, ready for my session.
The ice feels immensely satisfactory as I step on it. The smooth surface makes me feel at home as I start my warm-up. I decide to take it slow as I have off-ice practice this evening. With Jace. No, forget about him. Priorities, Clary, remember? And yet, through my in-mind rants, I can't help but feel a little excitement that I get to practice with him; see how good he is, show him up, talk to him, brag if I beat him at anything.
What is wrong with me?
I start reviewing my jumps, starting from single, then double, then triple. I stop at triple flip and decide to start on spins.
I do my combo spins, my single spins, my variations, and my back-variations. The centrifugal force is something I have become accustomed to but feels awkward either way. I count each spin's number of rotations and try to beat the number every time.
Mindlessly, I accomplish each time-wasting task and enjoy the coolness of my environment. By the time I check the time, it's seven and time for breakfast, so I change and decide to head to the cafeteria for once, instead of eating my lunch in my dorm or in the rink.
The cafeteria is crowded as usual but the line is short. I grab a sandwich, bacon, scrambled eggs, a yogurt and a fruit cup. Then, I find the skaters' table. Our caf is separated by the sports we major in; skaters, trackies (track and fielders), tennis players, hockey players, soccer players, footballers, basketballers, swimmers and volleyball players. Those are all the sports that Alicante does and we are pretty separated since your schedule is always very similar to the people in the same sport as you.
I pick a seat beside Isabelle and say a "hi" to the other girls on the team.
"Whoa, Clary, that's a lot of food."
"I'm hungry okay, Isabelle? Two hour session this morning." I respond back.
"Oh…so that's where you were…" I nod at her.
"So guys," Kaelie, another girl on the team starts, "did you guys hear about the off-ice practices with the hockey team?" All the girls nod excitedly. Kaelie was not my best of friends but I had no reason to hate her. Although, a lot of rumours have said that she only got into the school because her father had sponsored Alicante. Do I believe those rumours? Slightly, considering she could barely do a double loop, even with some of the best skating coaches available.
"I am so gonna flirt with that Jace guy" Kaelie announces, with a bunch of agreements from the others. Remember, stay focused Clary.
"No way!" Another close friend of mine—Carol—interrupts, "I'm team Simon all the way! His dreamy eyes, perfect hair…and he's the best on the team!"
"Agreed," A grade nine girl who I haven't gotten t a chance to talk to yet, says, "I think Simon is way more attractive than Jace."
"No…I think Jace wins this. I mean, his golden locks are perfect on him." I whip my head to my right. Isabelle just said that. She never commented on cute guys. Did she like Jace?
Isabelle notices me staring at her wide-eyed, and tries to take the attention off of her.
"So, Clary, who do you think is better? Jace, or Simon?" Uh… I stare blankly at her. I don't know!
"Um…I guess…neither of them really." Everyone stares at me skeptically.
"Yeah, right Clary." Carol raises an eyebrow at me. "Spill." I shrug at them.
"Really guys, I couldn't be more indifferent between my feelings of attraction towards Simon nor Jace."
"I'm sorry but I believe I just heard my name." Speak of the devil…I turn around and find myself looking directly at Jace, leaning over to hear our conversation. "And, something along the lines of my attraction?"
"Yeah, " I say, "How you would never be attractive, in a million years, and how you should get over yourself."
"You know," He says, looking darkly at me, "I didn't come here to talk to you. I just wanted to meet the other girls on the figure skating team." He flashes a toothy smile to Kaelie and she practically melts.
"H-h-hey, Jace…" She tries to be alluring but stutters. Talk about a flirt fail.
"Hey…Kaelie…is it?" She seems to go eccentric when he says her name correctly. Instead of risking another embarrassment, Kaelie just nods.
Jace walks away with his tray to the hockey table, being met by Simon and Alec. The visit by the blond guy seems to have taken everyone's attention off of me so I dive into my tray full of food.
By the time I finished, only Isabelle, Carol and Maggie—the grade nine who had said Simon was more attractive—are left at the table. So, we decide to head to me and Isabelle's dorm and hang out.
We spend the time chatting, gossiping and watching the TV that my dad had let me out into our room in grade nine. Overall, they are looking forward to off-ice; though I think more for the guys and less for the work-out, unlike me. I sometimes wish I could think like them, but being the top in our team gives a lot more pressure than I like.
You see, the thing about figure skating is that it's a single's sport. That means that even if you and your "teammates" come from the same club, or school, you are still going to face each other. Unlike hockey—or any team sport—everyone is your competition. And, the coach's in skating will only try with the best of the best. Not Coach though, that's what I like about her, but most skating instructors will only push the skater with the most potential to their limit. That, will make every other skater have a secret disdain for them. I sometimes wonder if that's what people think of me.
"Kay! See ya guys in thirty minutes!" Isabelle waves to Carol and Maggie as they leave to change. It was now seven, meaning off-ice was in thirty minutes.
I change out of my tights, and into a pair of Nike shorts, and a spandex shirt. I grab a bottle of Gatorade from the min-fridge in our room and a skipping rope then head out to the fitness room on campus with Isabelle.
The fitness room is located on the south end of campus, near the track field. Almost everyone has at least three fitness sessions along with their sport at Alicante but always at different times. We had state of the art equipment, including treadmills, weights, dumbbells, you name it. Most of the time for our off-ice, we use the gym, for circuit training and just exercise.
I am immensely looking forward to this new off-ice schedule and I could tell Isabelle was too.
"You know," Isabelle says, cutting off my train of thought, "most girls are all into Simon and Jace. Makes me sometimes feel bad for the other guys. I mean, sure there's girls here or there, but I remember last year—before Jace came—everyone was drooling over Simon, and the fact that he wasn't interested made all of their heart's break."
"Well, they don't have to worry about Jace not being interested…but that doesn't mean their hearts won't be broken." I say back. Isabelle shrugs it off.
"Yeah, but every girl always thinks they are the one who can change a guy."
"Do you think that with your crush?" Isabelle seems to stiffen, but she continues talking.
"I have no idea what I think about my crush. It may be infatuation, you know." I decide to give up asking her who she likes and let us walk in silence the rest of the way. When we reach the door of the fitness room, where we were supposed to meet, I take a deep breath in, and enter.
Author's Note:
Let me start off with how absolute SORRY I am about not updating sooner. School and everything…I'm sorry, I'm sure you've heard this with other authors. It's annoyed me too, but now being in their shoes, I get their cramped life. It's okay, I ABSOLUTELY GUARENTEE an update on Saturday.
I should do a Chapter in Isabelle's POV, shouldn't I? That'll probably be the next chapter. So, either way…YAAAY WE HIT 100 FOLLOWERS! That was my goal for this story and I am so happy right now.
Review and win an excerpt, and as always, until next time…
P.S. these update dates are really messed up, so, I've decided, Tuesdays and the weekends. Hope that satisfies everyone!