Girls Only! (26 page)

“Okay with me.”

They got out of the car and picked their way up the
snowy front steps. All the while, Heather’s thoughts were on her jumps. She had more important things to think about than Kevin’s new ice-dancing partner. The way she felt now, she’d probably stay home. Let Mom and Coach McDonald do the audition. Wasn’t her decision anyway.

A Perfect Match

Chapter Sixteen

Mom and Kevin left at three o’clock to meet with Coach McDonald. They wanted to talk with him before Cynthia Ganesford showed up. Heather decided to skip the audition and stay home.

“Why didn’t you go?” Joanne asked, plopping down next to Heather on the sofa.

“It’s all up to Kevin now,” she said, hugging a round pillow.

“But you
know
ice skating,” her little sister insisted. “Maybe you could help Kevin decide if Cynthia’s the right partner.”

She turned to look at Joanne. Here was a first-grade munchkin far older than her years. And Joanne was probably right. She should’ve gone along.

But, no, it was much better this way. With all the
talk of Cynthia, she didn’t need to add her two cents. Besides, Kevin had already made up his mind. She was almost sure of it.

When the phone rang, Heather ignored it. She wasn’t going to bother. She and Joanne were in a close game of tic-tac-toe.

“Aren’t you gonna answer it?” Joanne asked.

“Don’t feel like it,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Just don’t.”

“Are you upset about Cynthia?” asked Joanne.

Heather frowned. “Why would you say a dumb thing like that?”

Joanne’s eyes blinked rapidly, like she was in trouble. “Because I think it’s true,” she said softly.

The phone kept ringing.

Heather shook her head. “How could I be upset?” She wished Joanne hadn’t brought this up. Not now.

“Because ice dancing is your life, and you know it.” Joanne smashed her lips together, eyes wide. “I . . . I didn’t mean to say that.”

Standing up, Heather tossed the tic-tac-toe tablet onto her sister’s lap. “I think you did mean it, and I’m outta here.”

“Where are you going?” Joanne demanded.

“To my room.”

The phone had stopped. And she could hear Joanne
complaining about the unfinished game on the stairs. Closing her door, she wished she and Joanne hadn’t fought. None of this stuff with Kevin and Cynthia was worth hard feelings in the family.

When she felt calmer, she went to her parents’ bedroom and phoned Livvy. “How was school?” she asked.

“I’ve got way too much homework,” Livvy said. “I tried to call you earlier.”

“Oh, was that you?”

“So you were busy or something?” Livvy asked.

“Yeah, with my little sister.” She didn’t want to say that she was bummed out in general. “What’d you call about?”

“I just happened to run into Kevin and your mom.”

“You’re kidding. How’d it go? With Cynthia, I mean.”

Livvy paused for a second. “If I tell you, promise not to be upset?”

“How can I be upset? If my brother’s found the perfect replacement, I’m thrilled. Case closed.”

“She’s an amazing skater, Heather. I watched them try out some dance steps and patterns. You should’ve been there to see it. I could hardly believe it was their first time on the ice together.”

“That’s definitely good news. Thanks for letting me know, Livvy.”

Livvy talked about school and the outrageous amount of homework she already had for the week. But when
Heather hung up, she hardly remembered much of anything Liv had said. Except for the report of Cynthia’s
amazing
audition with Kevin.

During every minute of supper and dessert, her parents talked of nothing but Cynthia’s performance. But it was Kevin who beamed whenever the skater’s name was mentioned.

He’s nuts about her—on and off the ice
, Heather decided. And the way she saw it, that alone was a problem. If Kevin really liked this girl, he’d be shy about putting his arm around her waist or holding her hand. There’d be no way he’d dance close to her on the ice, the way the judges required for good marks. Choosing a girl Kevin was attracted to was a big mistake.

But she wasn’t going to intrude. If Kevin made a bad choice, he’d find out sooner or later. The first real practice session would tell him.

“It’s for sure . . . about Cynthia, I mean?” she asked her mom in the kitchen during cleanup.

Mom poured detergent into the tiny cubicles in the door of the dishwasher. “Coach McDonald will be working with them in Colorado Springs next Saturday. We’re going to take turns driving back and forth between there and here.”

“Sounds like a good trade-off,” she said. “Have you met her parents?”

“Very nice people,” Mom replied. “Might even be Christians. But I guess we’ll find out.”

“That’s great.” She finished wiping the counters and dried a few pans that didn’t fit into the dishwasher.

They had family devotions, and then Heather went to her room to work on unfinished schoolwork. Mom was a stickler about following through on things.

Ice dancing is your life
. . . .

Joanne’s childish words kept intruding into her thoughts off and on all evening. Not until she got wrapped up in a library book on free skating was Heather able to nudge the ridiculous assumption out of her mind.

A Perfect Match

Chapter Seventeen

Making birthday party plans for her dad and practicing jumps consumed most of Heather’s free time. There were occasional spats with Kevin, but they seemed to occur during homeschooling sessions. The disagreements had nothing to do with skating, either free skating or ice dancing. For the most part, their relationship was still intact.

By Wednesday, she found herself enthusiastic to work with Livvy’s coach once again. Mr. Sterling was the most helpful, kind coach she’d ever known. Not any more than her former coach, of course, but he had a wonderfully encouraging way about him. Made you want to work till you dropped.

Livvy didn’t show up for Heather’s second jump lesson with Coach Sterling. Just as well. Heather wanted to make her own connection with the kindly gentleman.

“You are improving so rapidly, Miss Heather, you make my head spin,” Coach Sterling told her after the lesson.

“Thank you very much.” She could hardly wait to tell her parents. And Livvy, too.

The walk home seemed shorter than usual. Maybe it was because she was so jazzed up about her progress. Yet in spite of her development as a free skater, something seemed not quite right. Try as she might, she couldn’t put her finger on it.

After the supper dishes were cleared from the table, she asked permission to use her father’s computer. Checking her library book, she found a listing of the top-ten ice-skating Web sites.

In an instant, she located the Kristi Yamaguchi Web page and info about the Stars on Ice tour and other skating news. There were many Internet links to figure-skating tidbits and bios of the most famous free skaters in the world. For an hour, she was lost in a world of extraordinary people—brilliant skaters and lavish costumes.

Lying in bed, her head buzzed with high hopes of becoming a Junior Olympics gold medalist. Her focus, hard work, and determination would get her where she wanted to be.

Had to!

On Thursday morning, she went to the mall rink to practice. Kevin did the same. In fact, they shared the ice, but not their practice. It seemed terribly odd to Heather, and she did her best not to keep watching her brother. But it was hard to focus on her own work.

Kevin worked through his solo stroking as usual, then went right into his half of the cha-cha dance pattern. She tried to ignore his marvelous, intricate footwork and turns. Of course, the only thing missing was his partner.

Heather busied herself with preparations for the flip and Lutz jumps. The setup for the Lutz had her stumped nearly every time. Skating backward in a curve—and the long glide into the jump—was definitely difficult.

Once, when she fell, she felt stunned for a moment. Both Mom and Kevin came running. But it was Kevin who picked her up gently and held on to her while she got her bearings again.

“Maybe you oughta take a break for a while,” he said, guiding her off the ice.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks.”

He stood there, looking down at her. “You sure you’re all right?”

She nodded, waiting till he’d turned and stepped back onto the ice to rub her leg.

“Are you hurt, honey?” Mom asked, hovering over her.

“Just a little bruised, that’s all.”

“Maybe Kevin’s right about taking it easy. You’ve been pushing yourself really hard these days.” Mom sat beside her, looking on with sympathetic eyes.

“I can’t slow down, Mom. You know I can’t.” She sighed. “I’m so far behind.”

Mom patted her hand. They stared out at the ice—at Kevin executing one beautiful dance pattern after another. Alone.

Heather sat on a soft chair in Jenna’s bedroom later that afternoon. Her leg still hurt from her reckless fall, so Jenna and Livvy babied her by giving her the chair. Actually, she was hurting in two places. Her leg hurt because she’d pushed herself too hard at practice. The second hurt was deep in the core of her stomach. The pain wasn’t a typical stomachache—like from something she’d eaten or the flu. Nothing like that. The ache was more like the squeamish, worrisome feeling she often experienced before an ice-dancing competition. But she knew that was ridiculous. There were no events coming up very soon. This was mid-January. The next big event was the Summer Ice Spectacular.

Oops . . . she’d forgotten. She almost laughed out loud. Once again she was thinking about her former interest. Ice dancing was none of her concern. She was
something else now. A free skater with the brightest future ever.

Why do I feel so miserable?
she wondered.

The pain in her stomach didn’t go away. Not even when the
Girls Only
Club was called to order. There was no following the bylaws this meeting. And Miranda Garcia was the reason. She had asked if it was possible to have the meeting a day earlier this week because she was already busy during their normal Friday meeting. Jenna, the prez, wanted to make sure their ballet friend was comfortable. So they threw out the rule book and just had a good time chattering about school and boys . . . and of course, sports.

When they went to the barre and warmed up, she partnered with Livvy. Jenna put on a CD of Chopin waltzes, and Heather began to relax.

Halfway through the stretches, she started to laugh. She couldn’t stop, either. Livvy, not knowing what was so funny, began to laugh, too.

At that moment—sharing the barre with Livvy—Heather realized what was causing the pain in her stomach. She missed her partner. In spite of her longings, she honestly wanted things to return to the way they had been. Before she’d decided to go it alone. Before she’d given up the best partner ever. “I have to talk to my brother,” she said through her laughter.

Livvy was nodding. “It’s about ice dancing, isn’t it?”

Heather pulled herself up to a standing position. “How’d you know?”

Livvy grinned and tossed her hair. “Just guessed.”

They fell into each other’s arms. Giggles spilled over into the attic bedroom-turned-clubhouse. Jenna turned up the volume on the Chopin, while Miranda kept at her warm-ups.

“Are the meetings always this wacky and wonderful?” asked Miranda over raspberry lemonade.

“Pretty much,” Jenna said, smiling. “Wanna see a teeny, weenie gymnast?”

“Sure do,” Miranda said.

Jenna said, “Follow me,” and the three of them headed for the nursery to see the amazing left foot of baby Jonathan.

The club meeting ended with a swing dance run-through. “The choreography was created by none other than Heather Bock!” Jenna announced.

“Go, girl!” Miranda said, thumbs up.

Once again, Heather teamed up with Livvy for the practice. While she danced with her partner, the pain in the pit of her stomach began to disappear. And soon, it was completely gone.

Now, how to break her news to Kevin. Was it too late?

A Perfect Match

Chapter Eighteen

Heather had a tough time finding Kevin alone without either Joanne or Tommy hanging around. What she had to tell him might change their travel plans tomorrow. Might change both their athletic futures, too.

Finally, after family devotions, she nabbed him. “I need to talk to you,” she said, cornering him in the upstairs hallway.

“Sure, what’s up?” His eyes seemed to look through to her heart.

“You won’t yell at me, will you?”

He looked thoroughly confused. “About what?”

“About me not wanting to skate solo.” There, she’d said it. Now what would he do?

His face lit into a smile. “What did you just say?”

“I said I miss skating with you. I . . . I made a big
mistake.” Tears were stinging her eyes. “I was crazy to give up everything we’d ever worked for.”

Kevin put his arms around her and patted her head. “You’re crazy, little sister.”

“Will you let me skate with you again?” she sobbed into his old flannel shirt.

“On one condition,” he said, holding her at arm’s length. “Are you through with free skating?”

“Do I look like Kristi Yamaguchi to you?” She spun around in front of him, bursting into laughter.

“Man, will Mom be shocked,” Kevin said, pulling her arm and racing down the stairs. “But it’ll work out. You’ll see.”

Leave it to Kevin to be optimistic at a time like this. No matter what, though, Heather knew she could count on her partner.

“What about Cynthia?” she said as they hurried to the kitchen.

“What
about
her?” He was laughing, too. “I’ve got the perfect partner right here.”

No matter what she might’ve thought about other days in her life, this day—this moment—was the very best of all.

Definitely.