Hey guys! Man, sorry it took so long to write this chapter. I just got caught up in a whole lot of things this summer and this story was the last thing I was thinking about. But now, as I am always on the computer and trying to do something other than homework, I will be writing a whole lot more. I promise. Just remember, I own nothing...Except for the characters Jason and Ellie. Other than that, I own NADA!
Oh yeah, I want to clear something up. I got a review that said goths don't act like I was having Ellie act in the first few chapters. But I said that she DRESSED like a goth...I never said she WAS a goth. I just wanted whoever posted that to know my view on the comment. And please, don't review about the characters clothes or make-up. Or call me 'dense' because of what I was picturing the charter to be. Those two reviews just bugged me and I had to say something.
I hope you like this chapter. Rememeber to review! And as you read this I am working on the next chapter! So be sure to come back and read it. The big chapter about the Olympics draws near...Aren't you excited. lol. Love ya!
****************************************************************************************************
With the relief that Travis was finally alright, everything seemed to once again be going well for Ellie. Now, there was only two months until the Opening Ceremonies on the Olympic games, and this was when it got tough. Ellie and her parents made the decision that instead of going to skate after school and staying up really late doing homework, she would go to school in the morning, leave to go to the rink for a few hours and then go home and catch up on the classes she missed during the afternoon. Which wasn't too bad since all her hard classes where in the morning. There where also four skating events she was going to in that time period and she had to get her programs even better than they already were.
The next Monday, Travis was able to return to school on crutches with Nick and Ellie at his side. Everyone was thrilled, yet shocked to see him there.
"Hey Travis, how is your first day back going?" Ellie asked as she passed him in the hall with Nick.
"Oh just wonderful." Travis said with a smile.
"Thats great." Ellie said as she zipped her backpack up. It was time for her to ge over to the rink that day. "Well, I'll see you all later."
"Bye." Travis said as he continued to moved towards the lunch room.
"Hey, I'll check up with you in a minute." Nick called to Travis.
"Alright." Travis called back.
"Hey Ellie. Can I ask you something?" Nick asked.
"Sure, but can we walk and talk at the same time?" Ellie asked.
"I can't see why not." Nick said as they began to walk towards the front entrance of the school. "I was just wondering, you aren't going to tell Travis I showed you that note are you?"
"No, maybe in a few weeks, but right now my life is stressful enough with training, I don't want to throw guy problems into the mix." Ellie told him.
"Thanks."Nick said. "Cause i think that if he found out he would hit me with those crutches he has, and that would hurt badly."
Ellie laughed. "I could imagiane that." She looked outside and noticed Jason was waiting for her outside. "Oh, my ride is here, see you later."
"Bye!" Nick called after her as she ran out and got into the car.
~Meanwhile in the lunch room~
Ethan as usual sat with all his popular friends at the lunch table. Like always, the girls were talking about who's wearing what, and who's dating who. And the guys were talking about the upcoming games and parties on the weekend.
"So Ethan, what are your plans for this weekend?" Claire asked him suddenly.
"I'm going to Quebec...You know in Canada." Ethan told her.
"What for?" Hannah Walker asked him.
"Skate Candana." Ethan told them. "Ellie's going and she asked me to come along."
"Oh. Why would you want to go to a boring event like that?" Claire asked. "Its just a bunch of people skating around on the ice, nothing big."
"Yeah. Why don't you just tell her you don't want to go and come to my party." Hannah offered.
"Why would I want to do that?" Ethan asked. He noticed that the girls were wondering why he was acting so strange. He never missed out on a party like that.
"Ethan...Your sister is the one going to the Olympics...Not you." Mary told him. "How does that make you feel?"
"Yeah, if she wins a gold medal, she will be the one in the papers and on the TV...Why do you support her?" Claire asked.
"Why shouldn't he?" Mark suddenly spoke up before Ethan could reply. "He should be proud that Ellie is going to the Olympics. Not jealous."
"And that is exactly what I am. Ellie maybe the one who will get all the publicity, but she won't forget about me. If anyone is jealous here it's you." Ethan told all of them firmly.
"Excuse me..." Mary began.
Ethan stood up. "You heard me! If Ellie where standing right here you all would say it was cool she was going to Italy for the games. But since she not, your saying 'its not a big deal'." His voice was louder than it normally was and everyone was staring at him.
"Yeah right." Heidi spoke up. "We aren't jealous. We just think it's an easy sport. I mean, anyone can go to the Olympics for that..."
"Oh yeah sure." Ethan then grabbed his backpack and walked off fuming. How dare they? Why were they going back to belittling his sister for doing something great? It just wasn't right.
"You know, she's going to get all this publicity and forget about you!" Hannah called after him. "You know its true!"
"No it's not!" Ethan thought to himself. He then left the cafeteria and decided he was never going to hang around the cheerleaders again.
************************************************************************************
Later that night, Ellie was talking online to Kate and Lizzie in a private chat room. (A/N:This is going to be done in IM format, because it would be confusing any other way.)
IcEdIvA17: (Ellie) "So anything exciting happen at school today?"
Blondie825: (Kate) "Sort of..."
IcEdiva17: "Meaning..."
LizzieM74: (Lizzie, if it wasn't obvisious lol) "Oh nothing. Your brother just got into a little fight with the cheerleaders."
IcEdIvA17: "Oh really? Why?"
Blondie825: "Not really sure. You know, we sit on the other side of the cafeteria, we really coulnd't hear anything."
LizzieM74: "Yeah, probably he just got sick of their whining and he just blew up."
IcEdIvA17: "Probably." There was a long pause. "Well...I gotta go finish my homework. See you all tomorrow. Bye!"
LizzieM74: "You think we should tell what they were really fighting about?"
Blondie825: "No, it would just add to her problems. So we just act like we don't know anything."
LizzieM74: "I hate to say it...But your right. We know nothing."
(Meanwhile, Ethan was on the phone with Mark)
"So I'm not going to sit with you guys at lunch anymore." Ethan said.
"Aw come on. It won't be the same without you man." Mark told him.
"I just can't stand the girls. Why are they so jealous?" Ethan said.
"Just because they know they can never accomplish what she has." Mark said. "But you know, they will get over it. Hopefully."
"Yeah, but I still do not want to sit with them." Ethan said.
"Fine. Then the guys will sit at a different table then the girls tomorrow." Mark finally said. "You aren't moving to a different table on a count of the girls."
"Alright. But if they come over...I'm leaving." Ethan said.
"Fair deal." Mark agreed. "And Ethan..."
"Yeah?"
"You know I'm really sorry about what I did you Ellie at the party. I mean, I know I was drunk, but thats no reason to do what I did." Mark said.
"Thanks. But you shouldn't tell me...You should be telling Elle." Ethan said.
"I know...but everything I try to talk to her...She walks away." Mark informed him.
"Write her a letter or something." Ethan suggested.
"I'll think of something." Mark said.
"Alright." Ethan said. "Just make sure it has nothing to do with another party."
Mark laughed. "Way ahead of you there."
******************************************************************************************
As planned, Ethan and Ellie went to Quebec for the Grand Prix event, Skate Canada. The words about what the cheerleaders said ran in his head. Ellie wouldn't forget about him, would she? No way. But he still wondered the whole time.
After the short program, Ethan sat with Ellie for her scores. She did not skate the best program when she was unable to cleanly land a triple toe loop when she hit a knick in the ice before she took off. It was easy to tell she was upset.
The marks where good and dispite the mistake, she was in third place for the time being. She and Ethan walked off, but of course, backstage they were caught by a reporter for ABC Sports.
"Now we would only like to get Maire in this shot." The camera guy told Ethan.
"But what if I..." Ellie began, she didn't want Ethan to have to get out of the picture, but before she could protest the camera was rolling.
"I'm standing here with the new US National Champion, Maire Craft." The repoter said, the camera then backed up so it would show her in the picture, he then turned to Ellie. "Hi Maire, how are you doing?"
"Oh just wonderful." She replied.
Ethan didn't wait around for his sister. Why didn't she stand up for him? He was so angry he just left and went back to the hotel room by himself. Ellie came in about an hour later.
"Ethan?" She called as she opened the door. "Oh my gosh, I was so worried something happened to you."
Ethan was sitting on the bed watching a re-run of TRL on MTV. He just looked up at her with no expression on his face what so ever. "I just got tired of waiting for you." he finally told her.
Ellie looked at her brother. She knew something was wrong, but what was it? "Okay...Could you just tell me, or something next time."
Ethan shrugged. "Sure." He then stood up and turned off the TV. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."
Ellie nodded. "Sweet dreams." She said. Ellie then got ready for bed herself, but was not able to fall asleep so easily. Ethan was acting so strangely, but what the reason was she could not figure out.
***************************************************************************************
The next day, Ethan continued to act strange. Even Jason noticed the extremely weird way he was behaving. He refused to go with Ellie to her practice, or even out to lunch. She thought maybe he was sick or something, but that was really what she was telling herself because she did not want to have something distracting her while she was skating, because if she did, no telling what would happen.
Ellie picked up her bag and costume at around 4:30 that afternoon. She was going over to the rink early to watch Jason in his free program which was going to take place at 5:00. She was to preform at exaclty 7:18 if everything was going on schuedule.
"Hey Ethan you coming?" She asked as she was about to leave to hotel room.
Ethan shrugged. "I'll be there later." He said. "I just have some homework to catch up on."
Ellie left out a little laugh. "No really, are you coming?" She asked.
"Whats so funny?" Ethan asked looking over at her.
Ellie exchanged looks. "Nothing, its just you have never stayed behind because you had to do homework."
"So in other words, I the stupid one who leaves everything to the last minute and is never going to amount to anything..." Ethan said raising his voice.
"I never said that!" Ellie told him firmly. "How did you get that idea?"
"Face it Ellie! I'm not like you! I'm not the straight A student who has won a ton of trohpies and awards because of something I do!" Ethan yelled.
"So?" Ellie asked. "We are different, whats the problem?"
"Of course this is not a problem for you! You have done something with your life, and your only 17! Me on the other hand, mom and dad are constantly on my back about my grades or anything else I do." Ethan continued. "They don't even care about me."
"Where did you get that idea?" Ellie asked in shock.
"Oh if it isn't obvious! They never put me into a dance class, or signed me up for a sports team when I was younger. When they found out you could skate, that was it! They wanted one talented child and the other was just ignored! Lucky me, I get to be the ignored one." Ethan then threw himself onto the bed. "I wish you never came home from Texas." He told her with a look of jealously and hatred in his eyes.
Ellie just stood there a moment. "If thats the way you feel, maybe I will just go back there." She finally said softly. She then just turned and left the room, not wanting to talk to Ethan for a long time.
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back home, Lizzie, Miranda, Shawn and Gordo had gone to Kate's house to watch Ellie and Jason skate on TV.
"Why don't they show the short programs on TV?" Gordo asked.
"They are cheap and just don't want to broadcast it." Lizzie replied. "But they will show highlights before the free program."
"Well thats cool." Miranda said.
"Oh shhh!" Kate said as she came into the room with a bowl of popcorn. She then sat down on the couch next to Shawn. "Its starting." Sure enough the talking heads came on and began to talk about how they hoped everyone liked wanting the ice dancing and pairs skating which had been shown eariler that day, and then the camera began to show five men out on the ice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~
Jason and Ellie sat backstage in the gym. Ellie was doing a small warm-up while waiting for Jason to skate.
Jason was stretching his back when he noticed something. "Hey Ellie, where's Ethan?"
"At the hotel room." She said.
"Is he coming tonight?" Jason asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"He's an asshole and I don't want to talk about it." Ellie finally said.
Jason shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say."
Ellie and Jason continued to stretch in silence. Then Jason had to go change into his csotume and put on his skates, and shortly after it was time for Jason's final warm-up out on the ice with the last five skaters. And then once again, he waited backstage for his turn to go on. He went over his choreograhpy as he waited and Ellie just watched, of course there was a camera there just filming them.
*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The TV showed Jason in a open space going over his program, considering it was almost time for him to go on. As always they made sure they showed Ellie in the backround just watching him.
(*( "Jason Storm will be the skater up next, and prepared to be dazzled...This is one of the top male skaters in the world and his has only gotten better since last season." One reporter said as the camera was showing Jason )*) (A/N: This symbol, (*( )*) around quotation marks means it is the sports announcers talking, yeah weird looking I know...but whatever.)
"I haven't seen Jason skate, I'm excitred." Mirando said as the TV went to a commerical.
"Me too. I just hope they are making all that up so that we will stick around to watch it." Kate said.
"Oh no way. I saw his preformance at the Nationals. He really is awesome." Lizzie told them.
"I guess we are going to find out now how good his is." Shawn said. "Its back."
The camera showed Craig Evans, who was also a member of team USA for the Olympics, sitting in the Kiss and Cry area waiting for his scores as Jason took the ice and began to skate around and practice his jumps or anything he was worried about doing.
(*("Here is a look at Jason's short program last night.")*) The camera then showed Jason, in a red and orange shirt with black pants, and a recap of his very nicely skated program which landed him in second place behind his Russian rival, Evgeni Nyscko.
"Sweet." Lizzie said.
(*( "And it looks as though Jason is now ready to begin his program." )*) And so Jason began to skate a wonderful program to selections from the 'Gladiator' soundtrack. The only mistake came when he seemed to over rotate a triple axel and he landed it funny. But it wasn't a mistake big enough to knock him off the medal podium.
"Not too shabby." Miranda said after the program ended.
"Hey, its Ellie!" Shawn pointed out as they showed Jason got off the ice to get his scores.
(*( "These two rink mates are almost inceperable. This past year, Maire moved to be closer to her family and ended up changing coaches and rinks, so Jason decided to switch rinks as well since it just wasn't the same without his good skating friend." )*)
"Yeah like they really know anything about it." Lizzie rolled her eyes.
"Hey, its the media...They just have this way of finding out everything." Kate said.
"Yeah, I guess so." Lizzie said.
"Its times like this I wish I actually knew how those scores worked." Gordo said as the TV went to a commerical.
"Me too." Miranda said. "Even Ellie has said that she doesn't quite understand the scoring process."
"Oh well." Gordo just shurgged.
"Okay, we have about thirty minutes until we have to start watching Ellie's competition." Kate told everyone as she stood up to stretch. "Anybody want to go for a walk or something?"
"Sure." Lizzie said as she stood up.
"I guess a walk could do me some good." Gordo agreed.
"Well I'm not being left her by myself, so of course I am coming." Miranda said.
"Actually, I think I am going to stay here and go set up a live web cam in Kate's room so I can watch her 24/7." Shawn said with a little smirk on his face, but then he sat up and his eyes got wide. "Did I just say that out loud?"
"Yes." Lizzie and Miranda giggled.
Kate glared at her boyfriend. "You know if you ever did that I would do something invovling a baseball bat and your car!"
Shawn just stood up and hugged Kate. "Oh come on, you know I wouldn't ever do something like that."
"I know. I just like to threaten you." Kate said with a laugh. "Now lets go stretch our legs and then come back to eat more junk and watch our friend on TV."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie went into the back and began to stretch again while listening to her headphones. She was still so mad for Ethan saying that, but she could not let it control her mind, she had to be thinking about her skating right now, and not her stupid brother.
Jason came back and sat down next to Ellie. "Need someone to talk to?" He asked.
"Nah, you can go back to the hotel room if you want." Ellie told him.
"No way, you watched my program, I'm going to stay to watch yours." Jason told her with a smile.
"I would have come early anyway." Ellie frowned.
"Why?"
"Just because. Its about someone who looks just like me, and is older than me by about four minutes." Ellie told him.
Jason said no more. He just sat there with Ellie. He could easily figure out that they were fighting, but why?
Ellie turned her music on one more time. She just couldn't get her focus on her program, and it was really bugging her. All she could think about was how much Ethan hated her. It finally came time for her to get changed into her costume and then it would be time for her to skate, although how well she would do...She was not sure.
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The group had gotten back to Kate's house just as another female skater was finishing her program. They had taken a little longer than they thought, since they decided to order pizza to add onto their list of munchies.
"I really hope we did not miss her." Lizzie said as she sat down on the couch next to Gordo.
"I don't think so. Remember she said someting about being like the second to last skater to go." Gordo reminded her. Just as the camera showed Ellie stretching out her back.
(*( "Up next, the two US skating sweethearts, Taylor Johnson and Maire Craft. As well as hometown favorite, Elise Stone." )*)
"And so I am right again." Gordo said with a smirk.
"Oh stop it." Kate said as she handed him a plate with a slice of pizza on it.
"Is it just me, or does Ellie look a little upset?" Miranda asked.
"Maybe she is just tired, or something. But then again, who could blame her?" Shawn said.
"Your right." Miranda said. "Hey, has Mark talked to you about Ellie's send off?"
"Yeah, he called me like two days ago." Kate said. "I think it is sweet he is doing this for her."
"Another one of Mark's over the top ideas which he will talk about, but never actually do." Shawn said with a bit of harshness in his voice.
"Why do you say that?" Miranda asked. She had never heard Shawn have such a negative comment to say about someone before.
"Just because. Long story." Shawn said.
"You can tell us..." Lizzie began.
Shawn shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it." He then folded his arms and lay back on the couch. Not saying a word the rest of the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie continued to stretch as she awaited her turn to go onto the ice. During her final warm-up on the ice, she fell or two footed most of her jumps. With all the other skaters doing so well, she had no idea how she was going to even make the top five. This was all Ethan's fault. Now she wasn't even mad at him, she was begining to hate her brother for everything. If it wasn't for him, she would have never switched rinks, or gotten amnesia, or gone to the stupid party where someone almost raped her. It was his fault she was going to lose out on a medal at Skate Canda for the second year in a row. After the Olympics she was leaving and going back to Texas with Jason, not matter what her parents said.
"Maire, your up now for your last warmup." One of the tech guys told her.
"Thank you." She said. She then stepped out onto the ice and began to skate slowly, trying to get her head together for her program. She then went back over to see her coach.
"Ellie, I'm not exactly sure what is going on right now, but I need you to stop worrying about everything but skating." Timothy told her.
"Yes sir." Ellie told him.
"Okay, your up now." He told her.
Ellie then took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Skating next is Maire Craft!" The speaker announcered.
As soon as she heard her name, she seemed to have a clear head, and was not thinking about Ethan, or anything else other than skating.She smiled as she skating out and the crowd began to cheer her on. She then took her starting position, and then began to skate. She was doing fine until she came up to the triple lutz, triple loop combination when she landed the lutz jump funny and then even though she knew she should have doubled the second jump, she did a triple anyway, and fell. Which was the first time she had fallen in competition since the year before at the Cup of Russia. After that, she fell apart. she couldn't regain her focus, not matter how hard she tried. And when the program was over, the disappoint in herself was obvisous. Skating over to her coach and Jason, she burst into tears.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh my gosh! How did that happen?" Lizzie exclaimed when they saw Ellie fall.
"I don't know. She was getting that jump so well this week at practice." Kate said.
(*("She seems to be a little surprised at that. Here is a another triple jump, the triple flip...And it is two footed.")*)
"Good lord, whats going on?" Kate asked. "She was doing so well on Thursday.
"Maybe she got hurt." Gordo suggested.
They watched as their friend struggled through the rest of the program. And when she was done, and saw her crying it broke all their hearts.
"Man, this is awful." Lizzie said. "And she has another competition in two weeks."
"You know that now she is going to be in practice all the time." Kate said. "Her coach is already hard enough on her, now after a program like that...Who knows how stressed she is going to be this week."
"Yeah, but when she see her on Tuesday, don't say anything. She is probably already upset enough about it." Miranda said.
"Duh!" Kate and Lizzie said, and then began to laugh.
~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie sobbed as Jason and Timothy waited for her scores in the Kiss and Cry area. She was able to stop crying and look at her scores, but after the first set, she just lowered her head and began to cry again. As she had predicted, she did not make the medal podium that night...But she was able to come in fifth place dispite her horrible routine.
"Ellie, its okay. Better to have an awful program now than at the Olympics." Jason told her. "We'll work on everything this week alright. Then when we go to Russia in two weeks, you will win for sure."
"I don't wat to go to Russia! I want to go home!" Ellie yelled as she took her skates off and threw them into her bag.
Jason picked up her skates and wiped off the blades who a towel. "We are going hom etomorrow. Don't worry."
"No! I want to go back to Texas! I hate it there!" Ellie told him as she wiped her tears.
"Why?" Jason asked. "I know you loved hanging out with Ethan, and Lizzie and all them."
"I hate Ethan!" She yelled, and then ran into the bathroom to cry more. She was upset, because now her training would be hell, she was embarrassed that she had just acted like a two year old in front of the whole world and Jason, and she was going crazy knowig that she was going to have to go back to the hotel room to fight with Ethan even more. After she was done crying she went back out and saw Jason still sitting on the bench.
"I knew ou would come out of there sooner or later." He smiled. Ellie just frowned and shook her head. "Come here." He then stood up and held his arms out to Ellie and hugged her. She just began to cry again. He just kept hugging her, and telling her it was okay.
"I am such a loser." Ellie said as she finally pulled away from Jason.
"No your not, everyone has an off day." Jason told her.
"Not like this one." Ellie said.
"Listen, I kow right now the last thing you probably want to do is tell me whats wrong, so I'm not going to ask." Jason told her. "But I am going to wait for you to get changed so I can drive you back to the hotel."
"Thank you." Ellie said quietly.
"Your welcome." Jason said.
Ellie then went into the bathroom and changed into her regular clothes and afterwards, Jason took her back to the hotel. When she entered the room, Ethan was sitting on the bed watching TV. He looked up when she came into the room.
"i saw that fall you took. What was that all about?" He asked her.
Ellie just glared at him and tears began to run down her face again. "I couldn't focus." She yelled at him. She then went into the bathroom and locked herself in there, ignoring Ethan punding on the door.
"Ellie, opened the door and just talk to me please!" He said.
Ellie finally opened the door and looked at him, as though she was trying to burn a hole through him. "You want to know why, I couldn't focus...You!" She finally told him.
"Wait, this is all my fault?" Ethan asked.
"YES! And I hate you for it!" She yelled and then slammed the door in his face. Which was something she had not done in a long time.
Ethan went back to watching TV, wondering how it was his fault she fell. But he was too thick headed to think of the reason.
***********************************************************************************************
That stupid bastard! He messed everything up! Now what happens? Does Ellie forgive Ethan and then everything goes back to normal? Why does Shawn hate Mark so much? Review and you shall soon find out. And I promise it will not take me three months to write the next chapter!
Oh yeah, I want to clear something up. I got a review that said goths don't act like I was having Ellie act in the first few chapters. But I said that she DRESSED like a goth...I never said she WAS a goth. I just wanted whoever posted that to know my view on the comment. And please, don't review about the characters clothes or make-up. Or call me 'dense' because of what I was picturing the charter to be. Those two reviews just bugged me and I had to say something.
I hope you like this chapter. Rememeber to review! And as you read this I am working on the next chapter! So be sure to come back and read it. The big chapter about the Olympics draws near...Aren't you excited. lol. Love ya!
****************************************************************************************************
With the relief that Travis was finally alright, everything seemed to once again be going well for Ellie. Now, there was only two months until the Opening Ceremonies on the Olympic games, and this was when it got tough. Ellie and her parents made the decision that instead of going to skate after school and staying up really late doing homework, she would go to school in the morning, leave to go to the rink for a few hours and then go home and catch up on the classes she missed during the afternoon. Which wasn't too bad since all her hard classes where in the morning. There where also four skating events she was going to in that time period and she had to get her programs even better than they already were.
The next Monday, Travis was able to return to school on crutches with Nick and Ellie at his side. Everyone was thrilled, yet shocked to see him there.
"Hey Travis, how is your first day back going?" Ellie asked as she passed him in the hall with Nick.
"Oh just wonderful." Travis said with a smile.
"Thats great." Ellie said as she zipped her backpack up. It was time for her to ge over to the rink that day. "Well, I'll see you all later."
"Bye." Travis said as he continued to moved towards the lunch room.
"Hey, I'll check up with you in a minute." Nick called to Travis.
"Alright." Travis called back.
"Hey Ellie. Can I ask you something?" Nick asked.
"Sure, but can we walk and talk at the same time?" Ellie asked.
"I can't see why not." Nick said as they began to walk towards the front entrance of the school. "I was just wondering, you aren't going to tell Travis I showed you that note are you?"
"No, maybe in a few weeks, but right now my life is stressful enough with training, I don't want to throw guy problems into the mix." Ellie told him.
"Thanks."Nick said. "Cause i think that if he found out he would hit me with those crutches he has, and that would hurt badly."
Ellie laughed. "I could imagiane that." She looked outside and noticed Jason was waiting for her outside. "Oh, my ride is here, see you later."
"Bye!" Nick called after her as she ran out and got into the car.
~Meanwhile in the lunch room~
Ethan as usual sat with all his popular friends at the lunch table. Like always, the girls were talking about who's wearing what, and who's dating who. And the guys were talking about the upcoming games and parties on the weekend.
"So Ethan, what are your plans for this weekend?" Claire asked him suddenly.
"I'm going to Quebec...You know in Canada." Ethan told her.
"What for?" Hannah Walker asked him.
"Skate Candana." Ethan told them. "Ellie's going and she asked me to come along."
"Oh. Why would you want to go to a boring event like that?" Claire asked. "Its just a bunch of people skating around on the ice, nothing big."
"Yeah. Why don't you just tell her you don't want to go and come to my party." Hannah offered.
"Why would I want to do that?" Ethan asked. He noticed that the girls were wondering why he was acting so strange. He never missed out on a party like that.
"Ethan...Your sister is the one going to the Olympics...Not you." Mary told him. "How does that make you feel?"
"Yeah, if she wins a gold medal, she will be the one in the papers and on the TV...Why do you support her?" Claire asked.
"Why shouldn't he?" Mark suddenly spoke up before Ethan could reply. "He should be proud that Ellie is going to the Olympics. Not jealous."
"And that is exactly what I am. Ellie maybe the one who will get all the publicity, but she won't forget about me. If anyone is jealous here it's you." Ethan told all of them firmly.
"Excuse me..." Mary began.
Ethan stood up. "You heard me! If Ellie where standing right here you all would say it was cool she was going to Italy for the games. But since she not, your saying 'its not a big deal'." His voice was louder than it normally was and everyone was staring at him.
"Yeah right." Heidi spoke up. "We aren't jealous. We just think it's an easy sport. I mean, anyone can go to the Olympics for that..."
"Oh yeah sure." Ethan then grabbed his backpack and walked off fuming. How dare they? Why were they going back to belittling his sister for doing something great? It just wasn't right.
"You know, she's going to get all this publicity and forget about you!" Hannah called after him. "You know its true!"
"No it's not!" Ethan thought to himself. He then left the cafeteria and decided he was never going to hang around the cheerleaders again.
************************************************************************************
Later that night, Ellie was talking online to Kate and Lizzie in a private chat room. (A/N:This is going to be done in IM format, because it would be confusing any other way.)
IcEdIvA17: (Ellie) "So anything exciting happen at school today?"
Blondie825: (Kate) "Sort of..."
IcEdiva17: "Meaning..."
LizzieM74: (Lizzie, if it wasn't obvisious lol) "Oh nothing. Your brother just got into a little fight with the cheerleaders."
IcEdIvA17: "Oh really? Why?"
Blondie825: "Not really sure. You know, we sit on the other side of the cafeteria, we really coulnd't hear anything."
LizzieM74: "Yeah, probably he just got sick of their whining and he just blew up."
IcEdIvA17: "Probably." There was a long pause. "Well...I gotta go finish my homework. See you all tomorrow. Bye!"
LizzieM74: "You think we should tell what they were really fighting about?"
Blondie825: "No, it would just add to her problems. So we just act like we don't know anything."
LizzieM74: "I hate to say it...But your right. We know nothing."
(Meanwhile, Ethan was on the phone with Mark)
"So I'm not going to sit with you guys at lunch anymore." Ethan said.
"Aw come on. It won't be the same without you man." Mark told him.
"I just can't stand the girls. Why are they so jealous?" Ethan said.
"Just because they know they can never accomplish what she has." Mark said. "But you know, they will get over it. Hopefully."
"Yeah, but I still do not want to sit with them." Ethan said.
"Fine. Then the guys will sit at a different table then the girls tomorrow." Mark finally said. "You aren't moving to a different table on a count of the girls."
"Alright. But if they come over...I'm leaving." Ethan said.
"Fair deal." Mark agreed. "And Ethan..."
"Yeah?"
"You know I'm really sorry about what I did you Ellie at the party. I mean, I know I was drunk, but thats no reason to do what I did." Mark said.
"Thanks. But you shouldn't tell me...You should be telling Elle." Ethan said.
"I know...but everything I try to talk to her...She walks away." Mark informed him.
"Write her a letter or something." Ethan suggested.
"I'll think of something." Mark said.
"Alright." Ethan said. "Just make sure it has nothing to do with another party."
Mark laughed. "Way ahead of you there."
******************************************************************************************
As planned, Ethan and Ellie went to Quebec for the Grand Prix event, Skate Canada. The words about what the cheerleaders said ran in his head. Ellie wouldn't forget about him, would she? No way. But he still wondered the whole time.
After the short program, Ethan sat with Ellie for her scores. She did not skate the best program when she was unable to cleanly land a triple toe loop when she hit a knick in the ice before she took off. It was easy to tell she was upset.
The marks where good and dispite the mistake, she was in third place for the time being. She and Ethan walked off, but of course, backstage they were caught by a reporter for ABC Sports.
"Now we would only like to get Maire in this shot." The camera guy told Ethan.
"But what if I..." Ellie began, she didn't want Ethan to have to get out of the picture, but before she could protest the camera was rolling.
"I'm standing here with the new US National Champion, Maire Craft." The repoter said, the camera then backed up so it would show her in the picture, he then turned to Ellie. "Hi Maire, how are you doing?"
"Oh just wonderful." She replied.
Ethan didn't wait around for his sister. Why didn't she stand up for him? He was so angry he just left and went back to the hotel room by himself. Ellie came in about an hour later.
"Ethan?" She called as she opened the door. "Oh my gosh, I was so worried something happened to you."
Ethan was sitting on the bed watching a re-run of TRL on MTV. He just looked up at her with no expression on his face what so ever. "I just got tired of waiting for you." he finally told her.
Ellie looked at her brother. She knew something was wrong, but what was it? "Okay...Could you just tell me, or something next time."
Ethan shrugged. "Sure." He then stood up and turned off the TV. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."
Ellie nodded. "Sweet dreams." She said. Ellie then got ready for bed herself, but was not able to fall asleep so easily. Ethan was acting so strangely, but what the reason was she could not figure out.
***************************************************************************************
The next day, Ethan continued to act strange. Even Jason noticed the extremely weird way he was behaving. He refused to go with Ellie to her practice, or even out to lunch. She thought maybe he was sick or something, but that was really what she was telling herself because she did not want to have something distracting her while she was skating, because if she did, no telling what would happen.
Ellie picked up her bag and costume at around 4:30 that afternoon. She was going over to the rink early to watch Jason in his free program which was going to take place at 5:00. She was to preform at exaclty 7:18 if everything was going on schuedule.
"Hey Ethan you coming?" She asked as she was about to leave to hotel room.
Ethan shrugged. "I'll be there later." He said. "I just have some homework to catch up on."
Ellie left out a little laugh. "No really, are you coming?" She asked.
"Whats so funny?" Ethan asked looking over at her.
Ellie exchanged looks. "Nothing, its just you have never stayed behind because you had to do homework."
"So in other words, I the stupid one who leaves everything to the last minute and is never going to amount to anything..." Ethan said raising his voice.
"I never said that!" Ellie told him firmly. "How did you get that idea?"
"Face it Ellie! I'm not like you! I'm not the straight A student who has won a ton of trohpies and awards because of something I do!" Ethan yelled.
"So?" Ellie asked. "We are different, whats the problem?"
"Of course this is not a problem for you! You have done something with your life, and your only 17! Me on the other hand, mom and dad are constantly on my back about my grades or anything else I do." Ethan continued. "They don't even care about me."
"Where did you get that idea?" Ellie asked in shock.
"Oh if it isn't obvious! They never put me into a dance class, or signed me up for a sports team when I was younger. When they found out you could skate, that was it! They wanted one talented child and the other was just ignored! Lucky me, I get to be the ignored one." Ethan then threw himself onto the bed. "I wish you never came home from Texas." He told her with a look of jealously and hatred in his eyes.
Ellie just stood there a moment. "If thats the way you feel, maybe I will just go back there." She finally said softly. She then just turned and left the room, not wanting to talk to Ethan for a long time.
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Back home, Lizzie, Miranda, Shawn and Gordo had gone to Kate's house to watch Ellie and Jason skate on TV.
"Why don't they show the short programs on TV?" Gordo asked.
"They are cheap and just don't want to broadcast it." Lizzie replied. "But they will show highlights before the free program."
"Well thats cool." Miranda said.
"Oh shhh!" Kate said as she came into the room with a bowl of popcorn. She then sat down on the couch next to Shawn. "Its starting." Sure enough the talking heads came on and began to talk about how they hoped everyone liked wanting the ice dancing and pairs skating which had been shown eariler that day, and then the camera began to show five men out on the ice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~
Jason and Ellie sat backstage in the gym. Ellie was doing a small warm-up while waiting for Jason to skate.
Jason was stretching his back when he noticed something. "Hey Ellie, where's Ethan?"
"At the hotel room." She said.
"Is he coming tonight?" Jason asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"He's an asshole and I don't want to talk about it." Ellie finally said.
Jason shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say."
Ellie and Jason continued to stretch in silence. Then Jason had to go change into his csotume and put on his skates, and shortly after it was time for Jason's final warm-up out on the ice with the last five skaters. And then once again, he waited backstage for his turn to go on. He went over his choreograhpy as he waited and Ellie just watched, of course there was a camera there just filming them.
*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The TV showed Jason in a open space going over his program, considering it was almost time for him to go on. As always they made sure they showed Ellie in the backround just watching him.
(*( "Jason Storm will be the skater up next, and prepared to be dazzled...This is one of the top male skaters in the world and his has only gotten better since last season." One reporter said as the camera was showing Jason )*) (A/N: This symbol, (*( )*) around quotation marks means it is the sports announcers talking, yeah weird looking I know...but whatever.)
"I haven't seen Jason skate, I'm excitred." Mirando said as the TV went to a commerical.
"Me too. I just hope they are making all that up so that we will stick around to watch it." Kate said.
"Oh no way. I saw his preformance at the Nationals. He really is awesome." Lizzie told them.
"I guess we are going to find out now how good his is." Shawn said. "Its back."
The camera showed Craig Evans, who was also a member of team USA for the Olympics, sitting in the Kiss and Cry area waiting for his scores as Jason took the ice and began to skate around and practice his jumps or anything he was worried about doing.
(*("Here is a look at Jason's short program last night.")*) The camera then showed Jason, in a red and orange shirt with black pants, and a recap of his very nicely skated program which landed him in second place behind his Russian rival, Evgeni Nyscko.
"Sweet." Lizzie said.
(*( "And it looks as though Jason is now ready to begin his program." )*) And so Jason began to skate a wonderful program to selections from the 'Gladiator' soundtrack. The only mistake came when he seemed to over rotate a triple axel and he landed it funny. But it wasn't a mistake big enough to knock him off the medal podium.
"Not too shabby." Miranda said after the program ended.
"Hey, its Ellie!" Shawn pointed out as they showed Jason got off the ice to get his scores.
(*( "These two rink mates are almost inceperable. This past year, Maire moved to be closer to her family and ended up changing coaches and rinks, so Jason decided to switch rinks as well since it just wasn't the same without his good skating friend." )*)
"Yeah like they really know anything about it." Lizzie rolled her eyes.
"Hey, its the media...They just have this way of finding out everything." Kate said.
"Yeah, I guess so." Lizzie said.
"Its times like this I wish I actually knew how those scores worked." Gordo said as the TV went to a commerical.
"Me too." Miranda said. "Even Ellie has said that she doesn't quite understand the scoring process."
"Oh well." Gordo just shurgged.
"Okay, we have about thirty minutes until we have to start watching Ellie's competition." Kate told everyone as she stood up to stretch. "Anybody want to go for a walk or something?"
"Sure." Lizzie said as she stood up.
"I guess a walk could do me some good." Gordo agreed.
"Well I'm not being left her by myself, so of course I am coming." Miranda said.
"Actually, I think I am going to stay here and go set up a live web cam in Kate's room so I can watch her 24/7." Shawn said with a little smirk on his face, but then he sat up and his eyes got wide. "Did I just say that out loud?"
"Yes." Lizzie and Miranda giggled.
Kate glared at her boyfriend. "You know if you ever did that I would do something invovling a baseball bat and your car!"
Shawn just stood up and hugged Kate. "Oh come on, you know I wouldn't ever do something like that."
"I know. I just like to threaten you." Kate said with a laugh. "Now lets go stretch our legs and then come back to eat more junk and watch our friend on TV."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie went into the back and began to stretch again while listening to her headphones. She was still so mad for Ethan saying that, but she could not let it control her mind, she had to be thinking about her skating right now, and not her stupid brother.
Jason came back and sat down next to Ellie. "Need someone to talk to?" He asked.
"Nah, you can go back to the hotel room if you want." Ellie told him.
"No way, you watched my program, I'm going to stay to watch yours." Jason told her with a smile.
"I would have come early anyway." Ellie frowned.
"Why?"
"Just because. Its about someone who looks just like me, and is older than me by about four minutes." Ellie told him.
Jason said no more. He just sat there with Ellie. He could easily figure out that they were fighting, but why?
Ellie turned her music on one more time. She just couldn't get her focus on her program, and it was really bugging her. All she could think about was how much Ethan hated her. It finally came time for her to get changed into her costume and then it would be time for her to skate, although how well she would do...She was not sure.
~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The group had gotten back to Kate's house just as another female skater was finishing her program. They had taken a little longer than they thought, since they decided to order pizza to add onto their list of munchies.
"I really hope we did not miss her." Lizzie said as she sat down on the couch next to Gordo.
"I don't think so. Remember she said someting about being like the second to last skater to go." Gordo reminded her. Just as the camera showed Ellie stretching out her back.
(*( "Up next, the two US skating sweethearts, Taylor Johnson and Maire Craft. As well as hometown favorite, Elise Stone." )*)
"And so I am right again." Gordo said with a smirk.
"Oh stop it." Kate said as she handed him a plate with a slice of pizza on it.
"Is it just me, or does Ellie look a little upset?" Miranda asked.
"Maybe she is just tired, or something. But then again, who could blame her?" Shawn said.
"Your right." Miranda said. "Hey, has Mark talked to you about Ellie's send off?"
"Yeah, he called me like two days ago." Kate said. "I think it is sweet he is doing this for her."
"Another one of Mark's over the top ideas which he will talk about, but never actually do." Shawn said with a bit of harshness in his voice.
"Why do you say that?" Miranda asked. She had never heard Shawn have such a negative comment to say about someone before.
"Just because. Long story." Shawn said.
"You can tell us..." Lizzie began.
Shawn shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it." He then folded his arms and lay back on the couch. Not saying a word the rest of the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie continued to stretch as she awaited her turn to go onto the ice. During her final warm-up on the ice, she fell or two footed most of her jumps. With all the other skaters doing so well, she had no idea how she was going to even make the top five. This was all Ethan's fault. Now she wasn't even mad at him, she was begining to hate her brother for everything. If it wasn't for him, she would have never switched rinks, or gotten amnesia, or gone to the stupid party where someone almost raped her. It was his fault she was going to lose out on a medal at Skate Canda for the second year in a row. After the Olympics she was leaving and going back to Texas with Jason, not matter what her parents said.
"Maire, your up now for your last warmup." One of the tech guys told her.
"Thank you." She said. She then stepped out onto the ice and began to skate slowly, trying to get her head together for her program. She then went back over to see her coach.
"Ellie, I'm not exactly sure what is going on right now, but I need you to stop worrying about everything but skating." Timothy told her.
"Yes sir." Ellie told him.
"Okay, your up now." He told her.
Ellie then took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Skating next is Maire Craft!" The speaker announcered.
As soon as she heard her name, she seemed to have a clear head, and was not thinking about Ethan, or anything else other than skating.She smiled as she skating out and the crowd began to cheer her on. She then took her starting position, and then began to skate. She was doing fine until she came up to the triple lutz, triple loop combination when she landed the lutz jump funny and then even though she knew she should have doubled the second jump, she did a triple anyway, and fell. Which was the first time she had fallen in competition since the year before at the Cup of Russia. After that, she fell apart. she couldn't regain her focus, not matter how hard she tried. And when the program was over, the disappoint in herself was obvisous. Skating over to her coach and Jason, she burst into tears.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Oh my gosh! How did that happen?" Lizzie exclaimed when they saw Ellie fall.
"I don't know. She was getting that jump so well this week at practice." Kate said.
(*("She seems to be a little surprised at that. Here is a another triple jump, the triple flip...And it is two footed.")*)
"Good lord, whats going on?" Kate asked. "She was doing so well on Thursday.
"Maybe she got hurt." Gordo suggested.
They watched as their friend struggled through the rest of the program. And when she was done, and saw her crying it broke all their hearts.
"Man, this is awful." Lizzie said. "And she has another competition in two weeks."
"You know that now she is going to be in practice all the time." Kate said. "Her coach is already hard enough on her, now after a program like that...Who knows how stressed she is going to be this week."
"Yeah, but when she see her on Tuesday, don't say anything. She is probably already upset enough about it." Miranda said.
"Duh!" Kate and Lizzie said, and then began to laugh.
~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ellie sobbed as Jason and Timothy waited for her scores in the Kiss and Cry area. She was able to stop crying and look at her scores, but after the first set, she just lowered her head and began to cry again. As she had predicted, she did not make the medal podium that night...But she was able to come in fifth place dispite her horrible routine.
"Ellie, its okay. Better to have an awful program now than at the Olympics." Jason told her. "We'll work on everything this week alright. Then when we go to Russia in two weeks, you will win for sure."
"I don't wat to go to Russia! I want to go home!" Ellie yelled as she took her skates off and threw them into her bag.
Jason picked up her skates and wiped off the blades who a towel. "We are going hom etomorrow. Don't worry."
"No! I want to go back to Texas! I hate it there!" Ellie told him as she wiped her tears.
"Why?" Jason asked. "I know you loved hanging out with Ethan, and Lizzie and all them."
"I hate Ethan!" She yelled, and then ran into the bathroom to cry more. She was upset, because now her training would be hell, she was embarrassed that she had just acted like a two year old in front of the whole world and Jason, and she was going crazy knowig that she was going to have to go back to the hotel room to fight with Ethan even more. After she was done crying she went back out and saw Jason still sitting on the bench.
"I knew ou would come out of there sooner or later." He smiled. Ellie just frowned and shook her head. "Come here." He then stood up and held his arms out to Ellie and hugged her. She just began to cry again. He just kept hugging her, and telling her it was okay.
"I am such a loser." Ellie said as she finally pulled away from Jason.
"No your not, everyone has an off day." Jason told her.
"Not like this one." Ellie said.
"Listen, I kow right now the last thing you probably want to do is tell me whats wrong, so I'm not going to ask." Jason told her. "But I am going to wait for you to get changed so I can drive you back to the hotel."
"Thank you." Ellie said quietly.
"Your welcome." Jason said.
Ellie then went into the bathroom and changed into her regular clothes and afterwards, Jason took her back to the hotel. When she entered the room, Ethan was sitting on the bed watching TV. He looked up when she came into the room.
"i saw that fall you took. What was that all about?" He asked her.
Ellie just glared at him and tears began to run down her face again. "I couldn't focus." She yelled at him. She then went into the bathroom and locked herself in there, ignoring Ethan punding on the door.
"Ellie, opened the door and just talk to me please!" He said.
Ellie finally opened the door and looked at him, as though she was trying to burn a hole through him. "You want to know why, I couldn't focus...You!" She finally told him.
"Wait, this is all my fault?" Ethan asked.
"YES! And I hate you for it!" She yelled and then slammed the door in his face. Which was something she had not done in a long time.
Ethan went back to watching TV, wondering how it was his fault she fell. But he was too thick headed to think of the reason.
***********************************************************************************************
That stupid bastard! He messed everything up! Now what happens? Does Ellie forgive Ethan and then everything goes back to normal? Why does Shawn hate Mark so much? Review and you shall soon find out. And I promise it will not take me three months to write the next chapter!