Love Instead of Hate
He loathed her. How dare she beat him? How dare she win the flying derby tryouts that were rightfully his? She was a stupid girl.
He'll show her! No girl belonged in a boys sport no matter what class they were. They belonged on the ground like everyone else.
Wait a minute. That was the old him talking Hugo realized as he skated across the pond with his former enemy and held her hand like a gentleman.
An eternity ago he would've punched her pretty face and her older brother would've punched him back in her defense.
Things were now complicated between him and her.
Hugo didn't loathe her anymore but they managed to make an acquaintance between themselves as children do while he held Sofia's failing body so she wouldn't stumble on the ice.
She was still a novice with skating. He once would've laughed at her for being pathetic when it came to the movement of her long tiny legs.
Now? Not so much.
He assured her whenever he could. He wouldn't have done that years ago. He wouldn't have allowed himself to.
Things change when you grow up, it seems.
Hugo twirled Sofia around the ice as her giggles filled the winter air with a sense of joyous excitement.
Was he blushing? Oh why was he blushing? Was she causing his cheeks to crimson?
Winter made it easier to hide the evidence of him enjoying his time with her.
How could he have loathed her at one time over a trivial tryout race when she deserved it more than him? Sofia was sweet and kind.
Anyone would give themselves up to protect her. Hugo knew he would.
"Thank you for the extra practice, Hugo," Sofia smiled as they continued to twirl on the pond. "We'll do wonderfully for next time's recital."
"You mean I will, Sofia" he would've said to her with a sneer if he had been his old haughty self.
But not anymore.
"I know we will," Hugo agreed. "Especially with you as my partner."
The crismon on his cheeks deepened. Why did he say that?
Being nice to her was complicated. Yet Hugo liked it.
She changed him for the better and he was starting to adore it.
Little by little.