Page 66 of Side By Side
“Dude. What is wrong with you?” Belle asked. “We’re learning the routine. She had a couple of bad jumps. It happens. You act like we’ve been at this for months. We’re still figuring things out.”
“And you’re failing. Well, you’re not. She is,” Cat said, looking right at Chandler. “Belle is a better skater than you. That wasn’t the plan.”
“Hey!” Belle said.
“No, she’s right: you are,” Chandler replied and looked over at Belle when she skated up next to her. “But that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like this, Catalina. You might be my coach, but you’re also my sister. And right now, I don’t like you as either. So, please leave.”
“You’re firing me?”
“I’m asking you for some space. A few days. Belle and I will keep working in the meantime, and we’ll make progress, but I don’t want you here for at least a few days. I can’t keep hearing you in my ear. I need to be able to focus. And right now, that can’t be done with you around.”
“What’s Mom going to say?” Cat asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I don’t know. But I don’t care right now. If she calls me, I’ll deal with her. I’m sure you’re going to call her the second you get out of this room, so do that like you always do. Belle and I are going to run through it again without you here. I’ll get it right before we finish for the day. Then, I’m having dinner in my room on my own tonight.” Chandler looked over at Belle. “Is that okay?”
“Of course, it is,” Belle replied. “I’ll eat on my own.”
“Fine. I’ll go. You can have your time alone in here to try to get it right without me. Just remember that Belle, here, was supposed to help you get noticed, but so far, all I’ve seen her do is outshine you. So, she might end up being the one going to the Games in your place if you’re not careful.” Catalina walked off the ice and then, out of the building.
“I wouldn’t do that, you know?”
“Do what?” Chandler asked without turning to face Belle.
“I gave up on the Olympics a long time ago. It’s not what I want anymore.”
“Oh, I know you wouldn’t do anything to harm my chances, Belle. I’m the one doing that.”
“Chandler, you’re an amazing skater. You’ve just let your sister, and probably your mom, too, get inside your head for too long. You should skate for you because you love it and because you want it. You should do what you want.”
“Well, I don’t like that lift and jump combo. I’d rather have the lift move into a turn and then a jump.”
“Okay. Let’s try that.”
“We can’t. I don’t choreograph. Cat does.”
“Then, let’s just do it for us,” Belle requested with a hand on Chandler’s back. “We don’t have to add it to the routine, if you don’t want. Let’s just skate it now and see how it goes. If you’re too tired, though, we don’t have to. I know I’m the reason things haven’t been great today.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The doughnuts. You were slower because you were filled with sugar and too many carbs for that early in the morning.”
Chandler turned and smiled at her.
“No regrets. Those were some good doughnuts.”
Belle smiled back and asked, “Want to try it with a turn?”
“Yeah, let’s do it. Then, I’ll let you go. I’m sure you’re tired, too,” she replied.
They lined up and skated into the lift, which Belle nailed and Chandler landed properly. They moved into a turn, and Belle counted them down.
“Jump on the next one,” she said.
“Okay.”
“Seven. Eight. And one,” Belle said.
They did their jumps, and Chandler actually landed hers perfectly for the first time that day.