Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or any of the official characters! All OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!

Chapter 11

When they arrived at the rink, the rest of the school hadn't showed up quite yet. They used this opportunity for Cam to get dressed and warm up while everyone else rented skates and lockers for later. When they walked into the main rink area, there was still a lot of time left before it was time for Cam to go on. A few random people could be seen going counter-clockwise around the rink. Sonic grinned at Jet and Shadow.

"I'll race ya! First one 50 times around the rink wins!" He stepped out onto the ice, falling flat on his face. As suppressed laughter went through those watching, Sonic sprang up, having retrieved his balance once again.

"Starting now!" He skated off.

"H-HEY!" Jet yelled, stumbling onto the ice and racing after Sonic.

Shadow shook his head, and started going after Sonic like he'd been on the ice many times before. (A/N: Using those rocket skates finally paid off, eh Shadow?)

As they raced the others slowly filed on. Cream clung to the wall, and Charmy flat out didn't skate, flying above the ice, and encouraging Cream to let go of the wall.

"Come on, Cream!" He said. "Just let go! You'll get better balance if you go faster! There are less bumps further out, too!"

Cream shook her head. "No, I'm sure I'll fall."

Charmy sighed. "Then ask someone who can skate to help you. Here, just start by having one hand on the wall, and one hand in mine." Charmy offered her his hand, grinning.

"W-Well… okay…" She took Charmy's hand, shuffling along the wall slightly faster.

---

Meanwhile, Blaze had already fallen several times, and was covered in ice, slush, and terribly cold water. Silver stood by her, helping her up each time she fell.

"This is stupid. Where's the exit?" She grumbled to no one in particular.

"Just try again, Blaze. I can help you if you'd like…" Silver offered.

Blaze looked at him and sighed at him. "I'll only let you help me if you help me to the exit. My butt is sore, I'm way too cold, and I'm covered in water."

Silver looked slightly disappointed, but helped her up nonetheless. He knew Blaze was tolerant of water, but Ice and slush? And in the temperature they were in? No way. He grabbed her by the upper arm, helping her along. Her skate went straight into a rut, making her turn awkwardly and go off-balance. She grabbed onto Silver, who grabbed her around the middle, holding her up. They ended up extremely close together, their noses almost touching. Both started to blush, and Silver set Blaze upright.

"…Thanks…" Blaze half-muttered while looking away from Silver.

"No problem…" Silver answered, still holding onto Blaze.

They managed to get all the way back without any problems. Blaze sat down in the area outside the rink itself, and despite it being warmer there, was shivering.

"Stupid ice…" She muttered, taking off her skates.

Silver glanced at her from where he was standing nearby, and walked off towards the concession desk. A few minutes later, he came back and sat down by Blaze with two cups of hot chocolate in hand.

"Want some?" He asked, holding a cup in front of her face.

Blaze looked up at Silver, glancing at his second cup, and, determining that he had two, took the one he had offered.

"Thanks, Silver." She smiled at him before taking a sip of the beverage, instantly feeling warmer.

---

When Amy got onto the ice, she went at a comfortable speed between the middle of the rink and the wall. Sonic, Shadow, and Jet were constantly speeding past, but she didn't mind much. She had stumbled a little bit when she reached some bigger bumps, but aside from that everything went smoothly.

As the boys raced by for the 37th time, Sonic and Jet were too busy to notice where they were going. Jet was headed straight for Amy.

"Watch where you're going, idiots!" Shadow yelled.

As they looked up, Jet panicked, and knocked Amy on the shoulder as he sped by. Amy started to fall, and just before she hit the ground, Sonic caught her.

"You okay, Ames?" He said, his voice full of concern.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks, Sonic." Amy said.

"Good." Sonic said, standing Amy up and play-punching her in the shoulder.

Amy winced at the punch that seemed to be very light. "Ow…"

Sonic frowned. "Do you have a bruise?"

"Feels like it…" Amy said, feeling her shoulder and thinking hard.

"Come on, we'll go to the nurse and get you some ice." Sonic said, starting to skate towards the exit.

Amy followed him. "But what about your race?"

Sonic looked back at Shadow and Jet. Jet had fallen as well, and had slid into the wall. Shadow was standing in the middle of the rink, sweatdropping at Jet. He skated over and prodded at Jet with the boot of his skate.

"I think it's over, anyway." Sonic said.

---

Wave and Storm were in the small arcade, playing against each other. No matter what game they played- driving, shooting, fighting, or even trying to beat the high scores- Wave had beaten Storm's behind at everything. Some of the boys that had strayed there even began betting on them. Needless to say, the odds were in Wave's favor. And those who bet on Storm ended up utterly disappointed.

---

Tails had liked the physics class's idea of analyzing the skating for science. He was busying himself setting up a lot of complicated equipment. All of his parts came from his lab- which using his big brain he had packed into a box the size of a rubix cube. He earned a lot of stares pulling a video camera out of that thing…

---

Knuckles and Rouge were both having trouble with the ice. They were better off than Blaze, but certainly not as good as Amy.

"Come on, Knuckie. That the best you can do?" Rouge asked, moving farther away from the wall and skating faster.

"Quit calling me that, Batgirl!" Knuckles yelled, skating up by her. Unfortunately, he didn't watch where he was going, and his skate went into a big cut in the ice, the same one Blaze had tripped in. He fell flat on his face.

Rouge turned around, laughing at Knuckles. "Nice going, Klu-ah!" Rouge fell backwards, falling a few feet away from Knuckles.

It was his turn to laugh. "Who's the klutz now, Batgirl?"

Rouge glared at him. "Apparently both of us."

As they got up, they stumbled, and ended up running into each other, but they ended up holding each other by the arms and staying upright.

"What would you do without me, Knucklehead?" Rouge smirked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Batgirl." He glared back.

Espio, who was walking around the edge of the rink, tapped on the glass near them. Once he had their attention, he signaled for them to come off the ice.

The rest of the gang was given the same signal.

As an employee came over the speakers telling the rest of the skaters to clear the ice for the zamboni, Mrs. White directed them to a seating area reserved for the skaters' close friends and family, close to the ice and with access to the area the skaters go that is usually closed to the public. Once seated, their attention fell on a few different things: The four men in business suits sitting in the judge's seats, namely Cam's sponsors, the sounds of busses pulling up and large numbers of people congregating in the lobby, and after the zamboni was done, Cam in the middle of the rink, her first outfit ready under her hoodie, poised as if starting a routine.

Suddenly, "Don't stop the music" by Rihanna (A/N: THAT I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY!) started playing loudly over the speakers, and Cam started dancing to it immediately, soon after beginning to skate. The routine obviously wasn't professional, as it's choreography didn't flow the best. But you could still feel the energy flowing off of Cam as she skated. While they watched, Mrs. White came over and filled them in on what exactly was going on.

"This is a warm-up routine I came up with for Cameron. It's designed to get her ready for the moves in her upcoming routines. Aside from that, it's an opportunity for her to get over the initial pressure and nervousness of her first performance. The fast moves help with that. It's not a problem for her to do this at all, because it won't count against her if she falls or messes up. It will also give us time to evaluate which students we'll need to keep an eye on during the real performances." As she said the last sentences, the rest of the school began filing in and filling up seats, a few teachers setting up cameras around the rink.

It was about halfway through the song now. Cam began noticing the people coming in. Just before she went into a big jump, (A/N: Guess who?) Peter, Hannah, and their posse all yelled out at the same time: "FAIL, DEMON!" Cam stumbled at this, not falling all the way down, but using her hand to keep off of the ground. This sparked the rest of the kids in the crowd, so that a large number of "Boo"s and rude statements filled the room. When she was supposed to go into a spin, Cam stopped instead. She dug into her pockets and pulled out two small objects, putting them in her ears as she glared straight at the crowd booing her. Then she began skating again.

"She expected this." Mrs. White stated, watching her. "So she brought mini headphones that are synched to the sound system wirelessly. That way she can still skate to the music, but completely ignore the crowd. I wouldn't approve of it if it wasn't her."

Cam kept skating, if anything then stronger than when she started, doing the rest of her routine almost flawlessly, and ending with more dance moves accompanied with a fake smile that could fool almost anyone. She skated off the ice to a hole in the wall by where the Sonic gang sat, catching her breath and removing the headphones. Mrs. White handed her a bottle of water, which she gladly took from her. Mrs. White followed up with a lecture as Cam started stretching.

"Now remember, Cameron. Don't-"

"Fall under the pressure from the crowd." Cam interrupted, showing the others that she had heard this lecture many times before.

Mrs. White shot her a look, but continued. "You need to-"

"Go into the bubble."

"Out there, you're-"

"The only person that exists."

"And never-"

"Deviate from my program."

"Even if you do nothing but fall, it's-"

"Not even an option. I know."

Mrs. White shot her another look, before saying "Good luck." And moving off to the stands to control the crowd with the other teachers. Cam took off her hoodie and stepped up to the opening in the wall, waiting for her signal to go onto the ice. There was a small wall in front, so the crowd couldn't see her and vice versa. She took a few deep breaths, but was called over by the stands where the Sonic gang sat, everyone wishing her luck. The signal was given for Cam to get onto the ice again, and she put her headphones in and skated out.

Initially, there was a large amount of booing and bad talk again. But everyone fell quiet by the time Cam had made it to the center of the rink and taken her pose. Most were under the glare of the teachers and threat of punishment. But one particular orange Echidna (A/N: coughKEVINcough) was staring at her, just like everyone at the store earlier. Cam looked right at him and they locked eyes for a few seconds before Bolero (A/N: Don't own it, just in case you were still wondering.) began playing and Cam started to skate.

She started out doing a few dance moves and small spins, as a distraction for the true purpose of building up speed for her first jump, which would eventually become a combination of a triple lutz double toe loop. For now, though, she did a double lutz double toe loop. She landed delicately, like it was too easy. Really, she had practiced this move more times than she could count. She continued skating around to the other side of the rink, where she did a double flip that would become a triple. Once again landing nicely. She flowed right into a layback spin, coming out of it with ease and moving on to a number of spirals that showed off her wide range of flexibility. She came out of the spiral looking more cautious than before, jumping to do a double axel but this time falling and sliding into the wall before getting back up again and to the spot she was supposed to be.

The fall caused a lot of laughter to erupt from the crowd, which was quickly silenced by glares from the teachers.

Cam went into a combination spin, that would obviously have been easier had she had more momentum from the double axel. But nonetheless she pulled it off, following up with a wide range of moves as part of a serpentine step sequence. She then skated off to the middle of the rink, going out into a moving lunge as she approached the middle, then standing up and stopping into a solid pose with her legs crossed and her hands on her hips at the end. She stood there for a few seconds that would have otherwise been filled with applause, then skated off to the opening again, rushing back to the dressing room to change.