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“Okay, that’s it for practice.”
All the girls sighed with relief as Coach Lee shouted for them to gather around her on the ice, “I’m sure you know about the competition, and I expect nothing less than perfection from this team.” She paused, making eye contact with every skater, “The Seoul Sonyo Ice Skating Team has been the best and will continue to be the best but that is up to you to uphold.”
“So I recommend you practice until it becomes muscle memory, work on facial expressions, presence, and of course, technique.” She stopped for a second, “Do you all understand what I expect of you?”
A chorus of voices filled the rink, all shouting some version of ‘yes, coach’. In the following minutes, the rink had cleared out, leaving Hyerin as the last skater in the rink.
She approached Coach Lee, “Hey Coach, is it okay if I stay here for 30 more minutes?"
“Yeah, it is, but make sure to leave when the Hockey team gets here.”
“Thanks, Coach.” Hyerin smiled.
“Of course.”
She waited until everyone left to boot up her music again. She started in the middle of the empty rink. It's the one time she didn't want any distractions.
“Hey! unnie, whatcha doing here?” A familiar voice cut through her flow state. It was Soomin being followed by Yeonji. The damned hockey team was here earlier than usual.
“God dammit.” She muttered to herself, stopping her entire routine and shutting off her music.
“Why are you guys here so early?” Hyerin asked, pretty irritated about the whole inconvenience.
“Ms. Coach Yoon wanted extra practice time to prepare for the upcoming game.” Yeonji answered. She slid right up to Hyerin, “Why are you here? I thought practice for you ended 2 minutes ago.”
“It did, I was just practicing my routine.” Hyerin replied simply. She pushed past the both of them. She needed to leave the rink after all.
“Can I see it?” Soomin’s eyes went wide with hope.
“Wait! I wanna see it too!” Yeonji chimed in.
Hyerin just glared at the two younger girls, she had already slid into the gate of the rink and started to untie her skates.
“No, I'm going.” Hyerin replies, picking up her skates and slipping her sneakers back on. Yeonji and Soomin started their usual means of protest whenever she said no to them.
First, it was the reasoning.
“Oh come on, unnie, I'll show you some tricks I learned if you show us your routine!”
“Yeonji, I’ve seen you do the same puck flip trick at least ten times.”
“It’ll be better the eleventh time!”
“Still no.”
Hyerin carefully cleaned her skate blades before sliding the guards onto the blades and putting them into her duffel bag. The two younger girls sat on either side of her, but Hyerin didn't bother to look up.
Second, it was begging.
“Pretty please, unnie, they’re making us do suicides again…” Soomin did her best puppy eyes and comical, sad pout.
“Why would I care if Seoyeon makes you do suicides?” Hyerin deadpans, “You can suffer.”
The third and final stage was acceptance.
The hockey team was filing into the rink. Kotone glanced around the stands to find Yeonji and Soomin pestering Hyerin again. She cupped her hands around her mouth, “Get in the rink, practice is starting soon!”
“Better luck next time.” Yeonji sighs, hitting Soomin’s shoulder. She pouted again, not comical this time.
“There won't be one.” Hyerin retorts, putting on her Seoul Sonyo jacket and zipping up her duffel bag. In a last-ditch effort, Soomin stops Hyerin, “Wait, at least can you watch us? For a little bit?”
Hyerin dropped her shoulders, her fingers slowly letting go of the duffel bag. She thought for a bit. It wouldn't hurt to watch them, despite knowing they would ask her to show her routine as a form of reciprocation after their practice.
The thought of her best friends watching her routine with fresh eyes wouldn't be so bad.
“You know what… Sure.” Hyerin sighs, setting down her bag. Soomin jumped excitedly and gave a quick hug before rushing down for warm-ups.
𓂃˖ ࣪⊹
45 minutes of drills crawled by. Hyerin was pretty tired and kind of bored watching them run the same drills over and over again. Her fist was in her cheek; she could have been home right now, but here she was.
Soomin tapped on the plastic barrier. This was her time; she could see Yeonji excitedly telling Jiwoo and Kotone something. It was probably about her showing her routine for the first time ever. Seoyeon looked unamused, but the team was gathering on the edge of the rink, ready to file out to let her have the entire rink.
Hyerin tied her skates and put her hard guards on, and walked into the empty rink.
“What are you showing us?” Jiwoo inquired.
“My routine for the national championship.” Hyerin replied. Jiwoo hummed, she was pretty impressed.
“Wait, unnie national championship?! You didn't tell us it was that high level!” Yeonji exclaimed. Hyerin dramatically turned to face the team, “I don't tell you anything! Because you two are so annoying about it.” She shot back.
“Can you two quit arguing?! I fought tooth and nail to see this and I'm not letting unnie change her mind.” Soomin interjected. Yeonji sat back down and all the attention shifted to the ice skater.
The speaker started to play the intro.
“Hey I love this song!” Kotone commented.
“We know unnie. You talk about it everyday!” Yeonji shot back at her. Kotone kicked her shin clearly unamused. She was about to open her mouth to say something. “Can you guys be serious for more than two seconds? I'm trying to enjoy this!” Seoyeon hissed.
𓂃˖ ࣪⊹
The intro bled into the first chorus.
Calling you in slow motion.
Her muscles tensed. Her eyes were focused. The scrap of her skates were drowned out by the music.
It's butterfly effect zone.
Her feet glided faster across the ice, her arms were placed perfectly just like she practiced.
Now back to fast motion once more.
The wind was against her back as she accelerated into an axel. The ice chipped underneath her blades, and her heart raced faster as she slowed down.
I'm falling into your kaleidoscope.
Her loose strands of hair stuck to her face. Her pace picked up again as she pushed herself into spin.
She controlled her facial expression as much as she could but she saw the hockey players had on their faces. Something sweet settled in her chest as she continued her routine. Hyerin couldn't help but smile.
A slow chorus of claps started to ripple through the stands. All the hockey players started talking at once.
“Dude, that was amazing.”
“I agree it was so satisfying to watch Hyerin-ah.”
“You did a good job seriously!”
“I’m impressed.”
Hyerin appreciated it all, and when she glanced over at Yeonji in the stands. The younger girl had the biggest grin on her face. Soomin looked over to her and she could tell those two were planning something devious. The both of them ran into the rink, making circles around the skater.
“Here we have the future national champion! Jeong Hyerin!” Soomin mocked, dramatically gesturing like a sports commentator. Hyerin was trying not to smile but it was hard not to.
“Hell yeah that's my favorite unnie ever!” Yeonji chimed in with the same energy.
“Hey! Ouch.” Kotone interjected, acting hurt by not being the favorite unnie anymore. The rest of the team was back on the ice now with the skater, “Okay group hug!” Seoyeon shouted.
“Wait i dont like hugs though.” Hyerin backed up a bit.
“Too bad bring it in!” Yeonji dragged her into the hug.
Everyone wrapped her in a huge bear hug, “You are the best ever you are gonna crush the competition.” Soomin says, her face pressed into Hyerin’s. Hyerin felt warm and calm.
Competition was always stressful, sure but with best friends like hers it didn't feel that bad.
“Thanks you two.” Hyerin says, “You guys are the best friends ever.”