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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........

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I greeted 2006 with a lot, and I meant a lot, of homework.

The second semester of the school year was quite busy. The teachers seemed hellbent to throw in at least one to two projects weekly and five to six assignments daily. It was insane. Nevertheless, I was able to juggle my time between schoolwork and skating.

I did return to Japan at least once a month, staying only for about two days during the weekends. It was difficult since I had to leave directly on Friday after school to catch my flight. It was worth it though since I need the instructions and guidance of my coach there.

It also helped that Shoma was there. He officially became my personal squish ball. Those chubby cheeks of his really begged to be squished and played around with. He inadvertently and unwillingly became my stress reliever.

Aside from my monthly trip to Japan, I also began training again at the mall rink. There were still many guest skaters around but not so much as last year so my space in the rink got larger. It seemed the hype was slowly dying down. In the end, skating wasn't really popular in the Philippines. The Filipinos focused more on volleyball and basketball.

Now that the people were dwindling down, I was able to be trained properly again by Coach Edmund. He guided me through my triples and implemented the programmed exercises set by Coach Omura. With the combined guidance of both my coaches, I was able to improve leaps and bounds.

My body became toned and strong enough to withstand my current programs without being thoroughly exhausted afterward. There was still room for improvement, especially in the future when I get more taxing programs.

I decided to take some dance and ballet classes on the side. My flexibility was a little lacking compared to other figure skaters. I really wanted to do the Beillmann spin, but I just settled for the haircutter at the moment.

My double Axel was coming along nicely, it took months, but at least now I was able to land it. As for my triples, I could only do the Salchow, toe, and flip. My loop was horrendous, and I couldn't land the Lutz at all.

*****

https://youtu.be/Sd-wWxpshCQ

I flowed to the ice as I gracefully danced to the music. My body bent and spun in arches as I did a layback spin before stretching my arm upwards.

Acting out the song, portraying it's meaning, I glided effortlessly through my step sequence, while my arms reached out to an invisible target in longing.

Fwoosh!

Successfully landing a triple Salchow, double toe combination, I pushed my arms forcefully as if pushing away from something as I glided backward while bending my waist down and hugging my body. I threw my arms outwards before I spun and landed a triple flip.

I continued to dance as I circled the entirety of the rink. I prepared my stance before stepping forwards and landed a double Axel.

The climax of the song began as I sped up my step sequence and landed a double toe, double loop combination. I reached up an arm upwards, before reaching up with my other arm and letting my body bend backward together with my outstretched arms, doing an Ina Bauer.

Doing a waltz jump, I glided to center ice as I did my combination spin consisting of a camel spin, turning into a catch camel spin, flying sit spin, tuck-spin before finally doing a haircutter. Letting my body relax, I gradually slowed down and put my left hand on my heart and my right hand gently arched and stretched out to the side.

I was met with a round of applause.

Heaving in deep breaths, sweat dripped down my face, I bowed to the audience while smiling.

"Good job!" Coach Edmund yelled out, hugging me excitedly.

"Thanks." I grinned and took a huge gulp of the water he handed me before heading towards the Kiss & Cry.

Coach Edmund and I were nervously waiting for the results of the FS.

I made some mistakes in the SP a day ago. I fell on my triple flip, double toe combination and stumbled on my triple toe, which then led to a sharp decrease in points. I was currently in fourth place after the SP.

There were six competitors in the Juniors Figure Skating Competition in total.

Yes, Juniors. I skipped levels.

My skills surpassed the advanced novice in terms of the level the Philippine Skating Federation had set. So, here I was.

I was last to skate. The other competitors made some slight mistakes in their program and the SP scores weren't that far apart, to be honest. Nevertheless, for me to win, I had to break my personal best and the season's best.

"The scores please," the announcer's voice boomed through the speakers.

Coach Edmund and I waited with bated breaths.

The scores were shown.

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

I sat there dumbfounded.

"Congrats!" My coach side hugged me in excitement, nudging me from my daze.

"I won?" I asked, still not believing my eyes.

"You won!" He laughed loudly, eyes crinkling.

I wasn't yet over my shock when tons of flashes surrounded me, blinding me momentarily. Great, plenty of images would be passed around with my mouth hanging open. I shook myself out of my shock just as the reporters descended.

They were throwing around question after question, not even giving me the time to respond to the first ones. I was utterly bewildered as I looked at them wide-eyed. Fortunately, Coach Edmund was there.

"Elana will be answering questions later. In an orderly manner," Coach Edmund placated the reporters, standing in front of me. The reporters tried to get to me but Coach Edmund blocked them and guided me to the separate locker room that was for authorized personnel only.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah." I was honestly still shaken. I wasn't used to being bombarded by the media. Guess, I had to get used to it now though.

"Ela!" Mom burst into the scene, or just through the curtains really, before giving me a crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you, honey!"

The staff guarding the entrance let the rest of my family in as they already knew them.

"Damn! Congrats man!" Kuya Gabby ruffled my hair.

"Kuya!" I protested, doing my best to bat his hand off while my mom was still clinging to me like a Koala.

Kuya Matt good-naturedly pushed him off before grinning and kissing me on the head.

"Congratulations, Elana." My ever serious Kuya patted me on the back.

"Thanks, Kuya." I grinned back at him.

"Oh, tama na yan," ("Oh, that's enough already,") Dad said jokingly, laughter in his eyes, as my Mom began to blubber in tears still hugging me. He sighed in exasperation before shaking his head and engulfing me and my mom in a huge bear hug.

At that moment, I sincerely forgot where I was, and the competition that I just won.

Only thoughts of how thankful I was for having such a loving and supporting family filled both my mind and my heart.

*****

Fidgeting, I nervously sat on the couch in the waiting room feeling my heart palpitate like I just ran a marathon.

The competition ended three days ago. After my family accosted me in the staff area, I was led to center ice again for the medal ceremony. Then came the mini-conference along with the silver and bronze medalists where we had to answer some quick questions regarding our programs and about how we felt. It's good and all since I had that experience back when I was named as the basic novice champion a year ago.

However, here I sat now, alone in the waiting room. My hands began to tremble again as my thoughts ran wild.

I was currently in a big television company waiting room waiting to be called to the main studio where tons of cameras would record me in a live broadcast that would then run in every household throughout the whole nation.

I think I mentioned in the past that I was not good with attention.

At all.

Sure, in skating competitions, you had to command the attention of everyone to win. The subsequent interviews were done on the same day just came with the package.

Figure skating was not a popular sport in the Philippines.

Those interviews done directly after the competition?

The details and information regarding the competition directly go to the webpage of a news company or written out as simple articles among thousands of others found along the internet. One would be lucky if the sport got a passing mention in a major newspaper print out. And by passing mention, I meant a tiny part at the corner of the page in the sports section.

Everyone had to be wondering now... what was I, a junior gold medalist of figure skating, not a senior gold medalist, but a Junior, doing in a small waiting room of a major television company waiting to be interviewed?

The culprit was a video recorded by one of the audience during my free skate program.

For some reason, that video quickly turned viral in various social media generating hundreds of thousands of views. It was actually nearing the million mark.

It launched me to a thing called Overnight Stardom.

When I first found out about it, I felt extremely awkward and uncomfortable. I didn't like being the center of attention. I knew it came with the sport, and I knew that when you aim to be the best in said sport it would eventually launch you to the top.

But it didn't mean I had to like it now.

Just the thought of a hundred thousand people watching me doing my program sent shivers down my spine. It was daunting.

So, what was I doing here in the first place, you ask?

Blame Coach Edmund, he was the one who persuaded me to accept the invitation.

Figure skating was a very expensive sport. Especially now that I was training both in Japan and the Philippines, it doubled my expenses. My parents didn't say anything about it, but I know that it's making a dent in their savings.

Coach Edmund told me that if I did this interview, there was a chance that some companies would sponsor me in my career as a figure skater. It's not definite but I'm willing to go for this chance to lessen the financial burden I was making my parents go through.

I took a deep breath and exhaled out slowly. I cleared my mind to calm myself down.

RIIIING

I almost jumped off the couch.

Holding my pounding heart, I looked at my phone to see who's calling and subsequently smiled involuntarily.

"Hello?" I picked up.

"Hello, Ferrer-san," Aiko's voice sounded out.

"Uno-san," I greeted back happily.

"I hope I'm not, catch you in bad time."

"No, not at all."

"I'm just calling to say congratulations!" Aiko's happy voice tilted in excitement. "Congratulations," she repeated it in Japanese.

"Thank you very much," I responded back in Japanese too.

"Coach Omura told us that you won juniors competition."

"Yes, it was three days ago. I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you and Shoma," I responded in a regretful tone. I was planning to tell them personally after I called Coach Omura but then the whole video thing happened.

"Don't mind. Don't mind," Aiko replied quickly. I heard a shuffling sound in the background. "Wait, Ferrer-san, Shoma-chan is here. He wants to talk to you too." Another shuffling noise again.

"Hello," Shoma's boyish tone hesitantly sounded out.

"Hello, Shoma-chan," I answered, smiling sweetly.

"Era-nee," Shoma's excited voice called.

"Hai."

"Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Shoma-chan." I laughed, forgetting my worries at the moment when I heard his voice.

"Ne, ne, was it hard? When are you coming back? I'm competing soon as a novice. Will you be here? I miss you," he rambled on.

"Aw, I miss you too Shoma-chan. Yes, it was hard. Hm, I'll be back in Japan in a few weeks. I'll do my best to attend your competition. I promise."

"Ok. That's a promise."

"Hai." I nodded back, even knowing that he couldn't see it. "How are you Shoma-chan? How's school?"

"I'm ok. School is boring. I want to skate," he replied, petulantly. It was amusing how this boy changed from being a shy introverted child to a certified chatterbox. You just have to get close to him first before that though.

"Are you eating well? What did you eat for lunch today? Don't forget to eat your vegetables. You always give them to me," I teased him.

"Hm... Gyoza," he slowly replied as he tried to remember what he ate. Before letting out a disgusted sound. "I don't like vegetables, they're disgusting. Meat is the only thing I need. I'm a man."

I barked out in laughter. In the background, I could hear Aiko reprimanding Shoma.

A knock sounded on the door before it opened.

"Miss Ferrer," a staff quietly called out to me, seeing me on the phone, "we're gonna be on in three minutes."

"Ah." I covered the phone as I looked up to the staff. I nodded to her in understanding before she left again. "Ne, Shoma-chan."

"Hm?"

"I have to go soon. I have something important to do. I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Aww, ok," he replied, sadly, "come back soon, alright? You promised."

"Yes, and I will. Bye. And say bye for me to your mom too."

"Ok, bye bye."

We both hang up.

Sighing, I placed my phone on silent mode and put it in my pocket. Then I slapped both my cheeks to get myself in the game.

Let's do this.

*****

Surprisingly, the interview started out fine.

There were two hosts, an overtly gay man, and a flamboyantly stylish woman. They were kind enough to introduce me to this gradually and let me relax in my own pace.

"So, now, tell us," the veteran host began again, "you said earlier that you started skating back in 2004... 2004, correct? Two years ago?"

"Yes." I nodded at him. "I started skating back in December 2004. So, that's nearly two years now."

"Wow, that's so long!" the woman reacted. "You actually skated continuously for two years?"

"No, sis," the guy interrupted, holding out his hand. "That's actually quite a short period of time. And to think that you accomplished this much," he directed at me.

"Ah, really?" The woman raised her brows in surprise.

"Yes, I heard figure skaters," he began, nodding to me as he waved his hand indicating my presence, "tend to start quite early. Like, maybe around four years old to six years old, am I correct?"

"Um, yes." I grinned sheepishly.

"Wow," the woman let out an astonished voice. "So, let me get this straight. What you mean is, your other competitors have been skating at an early age, like, since they were kids. Yet, you're the one to win the competition?"

The wording came out slightly wrong. These words alone may indicate that I was conceited if the situation was handled incorrectly. Fortunately, the woman knew this.

"First of all, guys," the woman continued, backtracking. "I'm not pointing out anything ha, I'm just really curious, and I'm sure some of our audience are curious too. Figure skating isn't really a popular sport in our country. So, yes, I'm just asking this question to clarify something, ok?"

I nodded. I understood that the woman didn't mean anything by it and wasn't intending to put me in a bad light.

"Um, opo," I began slowly, working out in my mind on how I was going to answer this, "it is true... that I started pretty late in the game. I don't know exactly when the other figure skaters in my division, the juniors division, started. But usually, figure skaters start to skate and train at an early age of, um, around five years old."

The hosts nodded as they listened to me.

"Then, this is assuming that the other figure skaters in your division really did start skating at around five, six years old," the guy clarified, gesturing with his hand, "then you're really quite talented in your field."

"Of course!" The woman laughed, playfully slapping the arm of the guy. "She's a gold medalist. Congratulations for that again by the way."

"Congratulations too," the guy added before getting into gear again. "Back to the question. What do you think helped you get where you are now?"

"Ah, thank you." I smiled in response, then continued, "and, I think, yes, talent is a factor. You honestly have to have the talent to get into figure skating since it's such a difficult sport. But, what really helped me was my family's support. They are with me every step of the way. And, of course, the never-ending practice." I let out a small laugh at that.

"Practice? How many hours do you practice ba? And do you practice daily?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I do practice daily. My hours usually range from 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays. While on weekends it usually starts from 10 am to 3 pm. I do dance or ballet classes at around 5 pm to 7 pm."

"Wow. That's a jam-packed schedule!" the woman exclaimed with widened eyes. "You can still focus on school? With that kind of schedule? Don't you find it difficult?"

"Yes, it is hard." I shrugged, smiling at them again. "But I really love figure skating. I guess, if you love something, you will really make an effort to do it no matter how difficult the situation may seem to be."

The hosts took a moment to process what I said.

"You know," the guy began again, humor covering his eyes, "you really know how to speak. You sound so mature already. How old are you again?"

"Fifteen years old po," I shyly answered in the microphone.

"You know what," the woman interjected as she looked at me with a smile, "kanina pa kita tinitingnan." ("I'm actually observing you since earlier.")

"Sorry ha, but you're so pretty," the woman continued, nodding in her assessment of me.

Well, this was awkward.

The guy laughed while the woman nudged him. Red-faced, I just sat in my comfy chair squirming in front of the camera.

"What?" the woman asked exaggeratedly, slightly raising her hands. "It's true, right?"

"I agree." The guy nodded approvingly. "Pwede ka mag showbiz." ("You can go into showbiz.")

"I know, right? I mean she has the full package. Pretty looks, very talented, and top it off with a beautiful smile," the woman assessed me yet again.

I just smiled awkwardly again.

"In the first place, the video that spread around the social media. It was of you skating that program of yours, right? My gosh, when I saw it, I thought, like, Oh my god, it's so beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes," the woman rambled on.

"Thank you," I said quietly, hoping that she would just drop it.

"Yes, and ah, I saw the netizens' comments," the guy interrupted and focused on me yet again. "They kept on asking about you. They want to find out who you are. You're beautiful already as it is, but when you skate, it seems like your beauty amplified in several degrees. That atmosphere you created was just magnificent."

Oh god.

I felt embarrassed to the highest level.

While it was nice to hear that others loved my program and described it as magnificent, it was very uncomfortable for me to be praised regarding my physical looks.

I loved my looks and I loved myself. I inherited my looks from my beautiful mother. You could say that we're like twins, there's just a young version and an adult version.

Ok, I'm coming off as conceited now. Sorry.

But yes, I did have a vain side, which person didn't?

Most people wanted to look their best and appear attractive either to themselves or to other people. We all just had different degrees of vanity within us. As for me, while I did love my looks, my vanity was small enough that I get uncomfortable when other people praised my physical looks in public.

Especially during a live telecast. In front of all the people nationwide.

I was pretty sure my face looked like a ripe tomato now.

"Aw, she's blushing," the woman cooed at me.

Kill me now.

*****

Turns out that I did manage to get some sponsors.

Keyword: Sponsors.

Plural, not singular.

The audience really ate up my interview. Now, it seemed that I became something like a mini-celebrity. It's not like people bombard me or surround me in public places. It was more like, 'Oh, I know this girl' or 'Can I take a picture' kind of celebrity.

Getting back on the sponsor thing. They seemed to like my physical looks and overall image to the masses. Some sponsors wanted me to wear their brand logos on my sports jacket, like the ones you see on television where athletes had various brands in their sportswear. On the other hand, the rest of the sponsors liked to have me model their products and paste my face on minor magazines or small billboards.

There were some offers made in the showbiz world too, like commercials, and even a minor role in an indie film. But I put my foot down on that.

Modeling was ok, but promoting in CMs or acting in films?

My heart couldn't take that at the moment.

My parents' life had eased the moment I managed to bag some sponsors. I could now pay for my own expenses in figure skating if I wanted to. My parents resisted at first, saying that I should keep the money and save it for my own personal use in the future. I strongly resisted. I did this for them in the first place so that I could somewhat ease the financial burden that I was creating.

In the end, we all agreed that we would share it by half, aka 50% will be paid by my parents while the other 50% will come from my own pockets.

While my skating life was going great, school somewhat became a chore for me.

It started from the time when that interview aired. All of a sudden, it seemed that I had plenty of friends instead of the five close friends that I originally had. At first, these new friends of mine would just randomly say hi when I pass by, but then they would ask me to go hang out with them. That's where the trouble began.

When I officially became engrossed in my skating, I wasn't able to hang out with my friends anymore. We hang out in school, not outside of school.

They understood that and respected my decision to focus on skating and for that, I was thankful. I was scared at first that I would offend them since I kept on turning down their invites but they insisted that it's fine.

Unfortunately, these new friends of mine didn't understand that I simply had no time for them. So now, I had this reputation in school as the 'Girl who let fame get into her head'.

Whatever.

I just shrugged it off when that rumor circulated in school. But hell, my friends were enraged. They literally wanted to hunt down those people. I stopped them of course. That's no reason to get suspended.

"You're really just going to let them get away." Vivian raised her brow incredulously.

"Who cares about them?" I shrugged nonchalantly.

Really, who did care?

I was busy enough as it was juggling school life, skating, dance and ballet classes, as well as some sponsor work thing. I didn't need another stress banging on my mental walls.

"Doesn't it piss you off though?" Charles leaned on his chair, eating one of those long chewy candies.

"Nope," I replied, popping the 'P' word as I continued on finishing my homework. Heck, I only had ten minutes left before the next class begins. I fell asleep last night due to exhaustion, hence, I'm scrambling my ass off to finish this goddamn homework.

Ok, judging from my cursing in my internal monologue, it did affect me.

Just a bit.

I resolved myself to be nonchalant and dismissive against these kinds of things from now on. I was sure that I would face plenty of criticisms in the years to come, especially now that I had entered the public's eyes. It's better to start now with petty schoolmates who bashed your image just because you didn't want to do what they wanted you to do.

Psh.

Child's play.

"So..." Gizelle twirled the pencil in her hand. She was also doing her homework that she didn't finish yet, she's the typical procrastinating friend who gets high grades anyway, so nobody in our group bothered her about it. "I heard that Mike asked about you." She wiggled her brow suggestively.

"Mike? Rubik's Cube Mike or Basketball Mike?" Jason smirked, crossing his arms.

"Basketball Mike." Gizelle gave him a nasty glare.

"So...?" I prolonged the word, ignoring their banter, ignoring the entire conversation actually since I now only had eight minutes left. I was only halfway through. I swear my pencil's going to break with how fast I was writing.

"Ah! It's Basketball Mike." Gizelle sharply jabbed my shoulder, making my pencil skid down across the page. Great. "You like Basketball Mike."

"Hey!" Annoyed, I quickly erased the marks, before rolling my eyes at her. "I don't like Basketball Mike. I don't even know a Basketball Mike. But judging by your interest, you clearly do."

"What!" Gizelle exclaimed, blushing. My friends burst into a fit of laughter. "N-no I don't."

"Uh-huh."

*****

I held this quivering boy in my arms as he continued to sob.

The 2006 Japanese Novice National Championships had just ended.

Shoma placed 4th after falling half his planned jumps.

After his program, he went to one of the rooms designated for players and refused to come out. His family had been worried together with his two coaches; one was Coach Higuchi, while the other was Coach Machiko Yamada, a middle-aged woman who also once handled the infamous Mao Asada.

His mother managed to calm him down but even when we left the venue he was still in tears. And here I was now, holding a teary smol bean in the middle of the parking lot, waiting for his dad to bring along the car.

Words of comfort immediately came to my mind.

I may say 'It's alright', 'There's still next time', or 'You did your best', but those words would sound hollow if I said them. I hadn't yet felt the taste of defeat.

In the competitions that I had been in, both the basic novice and the juniors, I had won the gold medal. That's why it would feel wrong to say something that I really didn't know about.

Somehow, Shoma understood that.

We both understood that.

Sometimes, you just didn't have to say anything at all.

And I didn't.

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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........

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(The original word count of this chapter reached almost 8k words, that's why I opted to just split it into two chapters.)