A/N
Whew! First chapter done! I know it's short, there will be more chapters in the future. Thanks for reading so far. I'll have to put together an update schedule for this book tho.
Merci! Au revoir!
..

"Straighter posture! You look like a backless sea lion!"

Alexander nodded and restarted his routine from stance one, positioning most of his weight on his left leg as his right skims the thick layer of ice under him. He uses his arms to help spin himself into a 360 degree spiral spin, landing him in his second stance.

"You're doing great, Alexander!" His best friend John cheered from the sidelines, a cup of hot chocolate in his gloved hands. He was speckled with freckles and pieces of his hair fell from his upward pony tail as his nose was tinted red from the cold.

Alex flashed a quick smile before returning back to his determined mindset. He tossed his head up, his brown hair flipping when he did; and he proceeded his toe loop jump. Something quite easy for him.

He took off from the back outside edge of the skating foot with some assistance of the toe of the free foot and turned one rotation in the air, landing on the back outside edge of the take-off foot. It sounded difficult, but he had managed to pull it off with elegance. He posed in his final stance and waited for feedback.

"There's always room for improvement." George muttered, but tried and failed to hide his smile. "Overall, you did wonderful. I propose you practice a few more times and add on to your routine. Other than that, you're pretty good." He gave his adopted son a thumbs up. Alexander grinned and skated over to the wall dividing the rink from the rows of seats for the audience, knowing John wanted to talk with him. "You were amazing Alexander! I wish I was as good as you!" John chirped, face pressed against the glass that separates them from each other.

Alexander sheepishly smiled, hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks, Jacky. I'm going to go get cleaned up and maybe we can go get something to eat later?"

"Yeah sure, Lex!" He said, face still pressed against the glass.
····

"Nice practice today, Alexandre. You'll make the World Figure Skating Championships for sure!" A french accent spoke when Alex emerged from the changing room, his skates dangling loosely from his hand as he held his bag with the other.

"Ah, thanks, Laf. How's your day so far?" He set down his stuff on a nearby bench so he could pull on his windbreaker jacket. "My day has been- how you
Amer-hicans say- wack. My boss is trying to cut my pay and my crush won't even spare me a passing glance. I should've stayed home today." He sighed sadly, resting his elbows on the counter he was behind.

"Oh. Why is he cutting pay?"

"Less and less people keep coming to the rink. He's thinking about shutting it down this season." Alexander's eyes grew big. "What!? He can't shut it down!"

"No costumers, no business." Lafayette muttered, quoting his boss. "Plus if I lose this job, I'll be paying off student loans in my grave!"

Alexander paused in thought for a second.

"I know a way you can get better business." John spoke up, appearing in his dance outfit. He usually came the to rink to watch his friend practice before leaving off to his ballet classes afterward. Both Lafayette and Alex looked up at the same time.

"How?" They both said in unison.

"Easy. All you have to do is get Alex to get into the town championships again. People will have more faith in us and they'll want to be just like the bastard immigrant who copes his demons by skating." John smiled, tying on his black ballet slippers before sitting up straight. "It can work."

Alex thought for a quick second before sighing. "But there's no way I can get into the town championships! I'm a crappy skater." Lafayette looked him up and down before nodding. "Oui. But you can always improve."

"Ugh, you sound like George.."

"I guess he's in the right mindset then." George chuckled, throwing an arm around him. "You could lose a few pounds, maybe gain a little muscles, try washing yourself for a chance-"

"Hey!"

"It's true." John agreed, shaking with laughter.

"But really," they slipped back into seriousness. "If you were to get back into the championships, you could save the skating rink for us."

He stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulders. "I'll think about it."