Nola Scott

The next morning, my nerves were all over the place. Coach Laurel suggested we carpool to the rink so we could talk a bit before getting there. Of course, I didn't pass up on the offer especially since I was a shaking mess and wasn't sure I was going to be able to drive myself thirty minutes to the rink.

I thought Coach Laurel would help calm my nerves but she just made them worse. For most of the car drive, she spoke and I nodded along so she knew I was listening. And I was listening. Very intently because I had no intention of fucking this up. Not before it even started.

She told me about the two other girls who would be practicing alongside me and didn't fail to mention all their accomplishments. Basically, I was shit on the floor compared to them. They were all stars and I was me. Second, the talk about a cleaner, more complex routine had me shaking in my skates. I was just starting to clean up mine but Worlds is bigger than the competitions I was competing at.

We were going to add more complex moves and make the ones I already had in there longer. I was going to be pushed to the extreme and while I was ready, I also wasn't. I was terrified. This was a big change and it was all hitting me quickly.

By the time we made it to the rink, I was an anxiety-ridden mess. "Remember, just be yourself, and don't let anything bring you down. You belong in here as much as they do, it's why you're here alongside them," Coach Laurel finally gives me words of encouragement that I had been waiting for the whole half of an hour here. I nod and walk inside the cold rink when she opens the door for me.

She leads the way and I follow behind her with my head held high. "Laurel, you made it!" A middle-aged woman shouts from the ice. "I did and I brought my girl!" Coach says, pointing back at me. "Hi." I smile shyly as I already see two younger girls on the ice. They stare at me and I try not to look at them for too long. "Change into your skates," coach tells me and I do as she says. Setting my pink duffel bag down, I pull my skates out and tie them up as quickly as possible.

We step onto the ice a couple of minutes later, joining the four other women who wait for us. "Ladies, you'll be seeing a lot of each other for the next three months so introduce yourselves to one another," one of the coaches says. The girl with the black hair reaches a hand out to me, "I'm Mei." Then the redhead extends her hand as well. "And I'm Karington." I give them both smiles. "Nola, nice to meet you girls!" Their coaches introduce themselves to me and we all get to know each other for a bit before separating.

When Coach Laurel and I make our way to our rink, I'm a shaking mess. I've never been in a situation like this. Those girls radiated confidence and excellence and I was a nervous wreck. I hoped I could get to their level by the end of the month at least. For the next three and half hours, we go over my new routine and talk about what we're adding, taking out, and extending. We're also changing my song which I figured we would do.

I practice my triple flip into a triple toe loop which is new to my routine. It's what I spend most of my time practicing until we take an hour's lunch and come back. The rest of the practice consists of jump sequences and axel practice. I've come to realize that Coach Laurel wasn't messing around when she told me I'd have a lot of triples in my routine. While I've been good at hitting them at practice, there are times when I fail.

Practice makes perfect. I've got three months.

I stay for about an hour longer to practice my triple lutz until Coach Laurel is dragging me off the ice. "We've been here for eight hours, c'mon! We'll be back tomorrow." I almost whine to her that eight hours isn't enough but decide against it. The woman did everything to get me here so who am I to complain?

The car ride back is pretty silent until we reach my apartment complex. "You did great today, Nola," Coach Laurel says. I sigh, trying very badly not to break down. It's only day one, Nola, get it together. "Coach... I don't know if I can do it. It's three months! What if I'm not ready?" I pour my fears out onto her.

She gives me a look that says stop. "You'll be ready, darling. I'm going to get you there, I promise. Each day, you'll see yourself getting stronger. We're going to do this together and you'll see it. It's going to be worth it in the end." Her words actually make a couple of tears slip from my eyes. "I want this," is all I manage to say. "Oh, Nola. I want this for you. Get rest, okay? I'll see you there tomorrow. Bring the same attitude you brought today and we'll have a great time," she says.

I nod and wipe my tears with my shoulder. "See you tomorrow, Coach," I mutter. "See you tomorrow, Nola," she replies. Hopping off the car with tears threatening to continue to fall from my eyes, I wave goodbye to coach as she pulls out to go. Sighing, traitorous tears continue to slip from my eyes as I start walking toward my apartment.

"Nola? Is that you?" A familiar voice makes me stop in my steps, wiping the tears that fall from my eyes. Once I compose myself as much as I can, I turn around. "Oh, hey. What are you doing around here?" I ask, looking curiously at the blonde boy who walks toward me. JT rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "I was on campus, just... getting ready for the beginning of the semester. Hey, are you okay? You look upset." His eyes flit around my face.

I try my best to keep my composure but when someone asks me if I'm okay when I'm not, I immediately turn into a mess. My lip betrays me, quivering when he asks that question. Don't cry in front of him! "I'm okay," I mutter, plastering a fake smile on my face. His brows furrow. "I want to believe you but your face has red splotches all over it."

My hand defensively reaches up to touch my face. JT watches me closely making me flush, probably making me look like more of a tomato. "I'm okay," I repeat. "There's just a lot going on and the frustration is building up." I don't know I decide to tell him that. Something about the strange boy makes me feel kind of comfortable.

Maybe it's because he's like a golden retriever in a human or because he kind of reminds me of someone I know. Whatever the reason is, I don't feel like running in the other direction when he shows concern.

"Wanna talk about it over a coffee? My treat? I'm not ready to go back home yet," he asks, surprising me. Something has me nodding my head yes. He gives me a small smile. "Can we drive instead of walking? My cars right here," I suggest. JT gives me a boyish grin as he starts walking around to the passenger side. "I never say no to a ride." Chuckling, I unlock my Rover and throw my duffel bag into the backseat before climbing in.

We take the short drive to Renaissance Café in three minutes and order our drinks. The cafe isn't as packed as it usually is, making it nice for a simple conversation in the corner of the building with a hockey player I didn't know a couple of weeks ago.

It takes me a minute to start talking but once I do, I don't stop. I tell JT about the conversation about being an Olympian with Miles, the conversation with Coach Laurel about pushing that idea, and finally, the fact that it actually might happen. My rambling ends with mentioning the fact that it was only my first practice today and I'm already scared shitless.

He let me speak, not interrupting me once, and giving me nonverbal cues that told me he was listening. It's not until I completely tell him about my stresses that he opens his mouth to speak.

"I'd be worried if you weren't feeling the pressure, I mean your life practically changed overnight. Not in a bad way but in way too good to be true way which is equally terrifying," JT tells me. He shakes his head. "I remember when I got drafted a couple of months ago and was a complete mess for those following days. My anxiety was peak and I was overwhelmed by the smallest things. I liked where my life was going but it was still...scary."

I lean forward, my arms on the table as I stare at the boy in front of me like he's telling the best story ever. "I know what it feels like to be an athlete who's given the best opportunity in the world and not want to fuck it up. Trust me. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it gets easier because..it doesn't. But you'll get it, and soon it'll be a routine that you enjoy. You're going to have those tough moments, plenty of them, but then you'll have the great ones that are going to outshine them. Then it'll really feel like a dream because it's so fucking unbelievable."

His words play in my head like a movie. Everything he's saying resonates with me because even though I've been a figure skater for years, it feels like my journey as one is just beginning.

"And even if something goes wrong, don't give up. Let that be the last thing you do because after failure always comes success. You can be great if you really try," he adds. I let a smile cross my lips, nodding. "It's terrifying," I whisper. He chuckles. "I know. It'll get better a couple of weeks from now, I promise. Just bask it in as much as you can because you never know when it'll be taken from you."

Just as fast as it was given to you, my brain says after him.

"Thanks, JT, you helped soothe whatever the heck was happening when you caught me," I say, breathing a lot easier now. A genuine smile fills his lips. "Oh yeah, of course! Like I said, I've been there not too long ago so I get it. It gets a lot easier, Nola." I sure hope so.

I didn't expect to stay any longer after that, but we finished our drinks and chatted about other things, nonhockey or figure skating related. One of those things was school but the most important thing was my roommate Ember. I hadn't talked to her last night after JT left but I promised to do it tonight. He still looked stressed over the whole situation and I'm dying to hear Ember's P.O.V.

"Is it this neighborhood?" I question, pulling up slowly to a gated community. JT nods so I turn into it, pulling up to the guardhouse where a man dressed in security uniform stands. "I'll deal with this big guy," the blonde next to me says. I pull down the window and JT leans over to my side and gives the man a big grin. "Hey, Artie! Just me, JT. Got a friend dropping me off at home. How's your evening?"

A conversation breaks out between the two guys for about three minutes before the security guard opens up the gate for us. "Love that guy," JT says as I drive inside the neighborhood. I take the opportunity to look around as I'm driving the ten miles per hour speed limit. The massive houses on both sides of the street have me in awe. I've seen plenty of nice houses in my life because of my dad but you can tell these belong to millionaires.

"Which one is Miles'?" I say, not turning to look at my passenger as I continue to admire the houses. "We'll be there in a couple of minutes, his is the last on the street," he tells me. Gasping every time I see a beautiful house, I come to a halt whenever JT tells me Miles' house is on my side. I pull up to a humongous white and black house, having to crane my neck to get it in full view. "This is where you live?" I exclaim.

JT nods. "For the time being, yes." I scan the property that's just as large as the others before it. Carefully, I pull into the driveway parking next to Miles' BMW. "Ah, thanks for the ride, Nola. I hope I've helped clear your thoughts a bit. You helped clear mine." JT's face flushes a light pink color. "Anytime and yes, thanks for that. I appreciate it a lot," I say genuinely.

He gives me that boyish grin of his and we say our goodbyes. I wait for him to make it inside before I start pulling out of Miles' massive driveway. I'm almost out when I have to break hard as a car pulls in quickly almost hitting the back of my car. My body shoots forward slightly at the impact. "What the fuck!" I say to myself, my heart racing slightly harder now. The car parks in the spot I used to be and I wait to see who gets out of the unfamiliar vehicle.

A couple of seconds pass before the car door opens and a fairly familiar face steps out. Miles' special friend. The frown on my face falls then. She takes a look back, realizing it's me. I don't know the girl at all but she doesn't look happy. At all. Before I can put my car back in reverse, she starts walking toward my car quickly on heels. "Oh gosh."

Before my brain processes what she's doing, the gorgeous brunette is tapping on my window. I keep a stoic face since she can see me better now and roll down the window. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you coming," I say. "What are you doing here?" she says quickly, ignoring my apology. "Oh, I was just dropping off JT. We got coffee together," I tell her, feeling slightly intimidated. My cheeks get hot as she stares back at me.

"Right." Her brown cat eyes glare at me. The last thing I wanted to do was make her mad. I don't want to cause friction between her and Miles because even though they're not dating, she means a lot more to him than I do. "Allie?" A familiar voice says catching both of our attention. With my window still rolled down, I turn over to see a shirtless Miles walking over to my car. My face gets hot again but this time at the sight of him.

Nola, no!

"What the hell are you doing?" His words are directed at Allie. She looks at him unfazed and he turns to stare at me, his grey eyes turning softer than before. "Scott. What are you doing here?" he asks me. I look at Allie who's raising a brow at me like she's waiting for an answer even though I already gave her one. "I just dropped off JT. I was about to be on my way," I explain. Something shifts in his facial expression. "And I was just saying hi to JT's new girl," Allie says.

I'm about to deny that statement but Miles cuts me off. He smacks his lips. "She's not JT's anything. He's basically in love with her roommate. Just friends, right?" Miles says, looking at me for confirmation. I nod, giving it to him. "Sorry, I have somewhere to be tonight so I should be on my way now. Nice seeing you two again," I lie, needing to get away from this sticky situation.

"You too," Allie says, smiling. Miles gives me an apologetic look but I just force a smile at both of them before getting the hell out of there.