Ice Green Sunday

The local ice rink was always a favorite hangout for the teens in the area. Three girls who especially enjoyed it were Kirsten Crandall, queen bee of the local high school, and her two best friends, Madison and Amber.

"Just wait 'till we get in there," chuckled Kirsten as she, Madison, and Amber put on their skates. "My signature ice spin is perfection! It will put everyone else's spins to-"

"Oh, hold on, Kirsten," said Amber cutting her off. "I think I see Jessie! Hey, Jessie! Over here!" She got up and ran over to her.

Kirsten and Madison looked at each other. "What?" said Kirsten in an annoyed way.

"Hey, Jessie!" yelled Amber. "You ready to get out there?!"

"Yeah," agreed Jessie with slight strain. She looked over at Kirsten. She did not know Kirsten was going to be there either.

"Come on, let's go!" said Amber excitedly. She grabbed Jessie's hand and ran in the direction of Kirsten and Madison. "Alright, guys…are you ready?! Let's skate!"

Kirsten gave a small sigh as she and Madison looked at each other. Then, they followed and joined Amber on the rink.

Jessie stopped at the ice rink entrance, looked around, and saw that it was packed with people. She started to feel nervous since she had not skated in years and did not want to fall in front of everyone. Jessie thought about using her force field power to help keep her balance, but she was afraid it might damage the ice. Plus…she really wanted to skate on her own.

Amber was just finishing her second lap around the rink when she noticed Jessie. She skated over to her. "Aren't you gonna skate?"

"Yeah," said Jessie quickly. She slowly stepped onto the ice. Suddenly, she started to lose her balance and grabbed onto the side of the rink.

"Don't worry," said Amber. "Skating is easy once you get used to it." She skated in a circle.

"Yeah," retorted Kirsten. "Even a little kid can learn to skate eventually."

Madison chuckled.

"Come on," insisted Amber, holding out her hand. "We'll show you."

Jessie hesitated for a second. Then, with apprehension, she took Amber's hand and started to skate.

"See?" reassured Amber. "You're doing it."

"Yeah," said Jessie insecurely. After a few minutes, she started to relax. But, as she made her way around the ice, she noticed Ace and the Gangreen Gang as they sped to the center of the rink on their skates. She quickly looked the other way. She definitely did not want to fall in front of them! But, as long as she was holding onto someone or something, she thought she would be fine.

"Watch this," Ace chortled to his gang. He skated fast and furious all over the ice and then jumped and spun hard and fast in the air.

"Yeah!" cheered his gang. As they clapped, Ace looked around as if to take a bow to the other skaters. He stopped short and paused as he noticed Jessie skating on the other side of the rink.

'She's here?' thought Ace surprised. He looked the other way and started to blush.

Jessie continued to hold on to Amber as she skated. Finally, she was starting to gain a little confidence.

"Crack the Whip time!" yelled the ice rink's activities director who was also skating. Suddenly, everyone on the rink laughed and started to hold hands.

"What?" asked Jessie. "What's Crack the Whip?"

"Oh, it's really fun," said Amber as she held onto Madison's and Jessie's hands. "You'll see…"

Jessie, Amber, Madison, and Kirsten joined the group as they all skated, holding hands with the line of people playing "Crack the Whip." The group started skating faster and faster as the momentum started to build! Suddenly, everyone let go of each other and Jessie found herself flying across the ice all by herself! She screamed as she could not stop or control which way she was going!

As they flew around the rink, Madison and Amber finally slowed down and stopped on the other side.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" asked Amber.

"Sure was," said Madison. They laughed as they started to relax. Then, Madison looked around and then looked at Amber.

"Uh, where's Jessie?" she asked.

"Oh, she's right over he-" Her eyes widened as she realized Jessie was not anywhere near her. She looked around and gasped as she saw Jessie and Kirsten skating in the direction of each other. Before anyone could do anything, they bumped into each other and fell on their butts!

Madison and Amber flinched.

"That's gotta hurt," said Madison. She and Amber skated over to them.

"Are you two okay?" asked Amber.

"I think so," said Jessie. Amber helped her up.

"Am I okay?" yelled Kirsten sarcastically. "How can I be okay?! Look at this! Look at my outfit," she whined furiously. "I slid all over the ice and now I'm soaked!" She grabbed a hold of Madison's hand and she helped her up.

"I'm sorry," said Jessie as she rubbed where she fell. "I think I'm gonna take a break for a while."

Amber helped her cross the ice.

Ace saw the whole thing and watched as Jessie and Amber made their way to the seating area.

'I hope she's okay,' he thought. He wanted to go over there and see how she was, but he was still nervous to talk to her.

About an hour later, Jessie was still in the seating area. Suddenly, Amber made her way over to her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I think I'm starting to feel better," replied Jessie.

"Good," said Amber with relief. "Well, my dad's almost here to pick us up. Did you want a ride home?"

Jessie looked at Amber and then looked back at the ice rink.

"Thanks," said Jessie. She paused. "But, I don't want to go just yet. I really want to try again."

"Okay," said Amber. She hugged Jessie and then left to go with Kirsten and Madison.

Jessie watched them go off, and then she turned her attention back to the rink. After a few more seconds, she got up and made her way to the skating entrance. She took a deep breath, slowly stepped onto the ice, and held onto the side.

Meanwhile, the Gangreen Gang was at the other end of the seating area, about ready to leave.

Snake finished tying his shoes. "Okay, let'sss go."

The gang started to leave when they noticed Ace was not with them.

"Where's Ace?" asked Arturo.

They all looked around and saw Ace standing outside the rink.

"What isss he…" started Snake. "Ace!" He ran over to him.

Ace turned in his direction.

"What are you doing?" asked Snake. "Weren't we leaving?"

"Well…yeah," said Ace. "We were, but…" He looked as Jessie slowly inched her way on the rink. Suddenly, Snake realized what Ace was thinking.

"You know, Ace," began Snake. "If you wanna ssstay and help her out, you ssshould."

Ace was silent for a moment. "Yeah," he said in a distracted way. He was nervous, but he did not want his friend to know. "There's no way she wouldn't want MY help anyway," he said trying to sound confident.

Snake laughed. "Well, okay. We'll sssee." Snake went back to the rest of the gang. "Ace is gonna skate a little more by himssself," he told them. He started to push them out of the area.

Meanwhile, Jessie was still holding onto the edge of the rink.

"You can do this, Jessie," she told herself. She slowly let go of the edge and immediately fell on her butt.

Ace quickly skated over to her.

"You need some help, Jessie?" he asked, holding his hand out to help her up.

"Uh…" said Jessie, surprised. She did not expect someone to help her, let alone Ace. But, she was glad that he did. She smiled and grabbed a hold of his hand and he helped her up.

"Here," he said, holding Jessie's hand. The two started to skate slowly around the rink. "Skating can be hard at first, but it gets easier the more you do it."

Jessie was doing fine as she held onto Ace.

'Okay, this is good,' she thought. 'He just better not let go.'

"You're doing great," he said smiling.

They started to go a little bit faster when, suddenly, Jessie tripped. Fortunately, Ace caught her.

"Whoa, careful," he said, catching her in his arms. Jessie stayed in his arms for a few seconds. Then, she looked up at him and they both started to blush.

"Uh, so…" began Ace. "Let's try it again."

They continued to skate and Jessie kept holding onto him. But, after a while of not tripping, Jessie was ready to let go.

"Okay," said Ace. "Whenever you're ready."

Jessie sighed and then slowly let go of his hand. She stood on the ice and, to her surprise, did not fall over! She slowly moved her right foot and skated a little in front of her. She did the same thing with her left foot and, before she knew it, she was skating on her own!

"I'm doing it," she said, surprised. "I'm doing it! I'm skating!" She started to go a little faster, but then started to lose her balance. But, before she could fall, Ace caught her.

"That was great, Jessie!" he said. "See? You're getting there."

She smiled and tried again and again to skate on her own and each time she did, she went longer without tripping. Soon, Jessie could skate around the entire rink!

A little while later, they were standing outside about to leave.

"I knew you could do it, Jessie," said Ace. "All you needed was a little practice."

"Thanks," said Jessie. "And thank you for helping me."

He smiled as they stood there for a few seconds. Then, Jessie hugged him. Ace was taken by surprise, but he hugged her back.

"Seriously, Ace," said Jessie. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Jessie," said Ace calmly.

The two let go of each other and Jessie launched herself from the ground. Ace stood there as he watched her go off. He blushed again. He waited for a few seconds and then left to go back to the hideout. But, the whole way back, he was smiling and thinking about how he just helped Jessie learn how to ice skate.