Chapter 3

"It's already 3, you better hurry, it takes at least half-an-hour for you to reach there, if the traffic's good." She said, blowing a bomb.

Well that was unexpected, the traffic was heavy while coming here, I wish it won't be worse than that.

"Then, I should better hurry." I said in a hurry.

"Yeah, You should, bye." She said with a smile.

"Bye coach." I said and runned outside the academy.

Thank god, I got a cab in no time. The driver was driving at a good speed. Well that was good. I reached the academy and checked the time it was 3:45. I sighed in relief.

I went inside the academy. It was pleasant and huge and there's a big ice rink in the middle. I was about to find Mr. Yakov when I saw some girls cheering for some guy encircling him.

I didn't see the person inside and how I know it's a guy, well there was a guy cheering with his lungs out saying 'You can do it man.'.

"Such an attention seeker." I said to myself rolling my eyes.

I ignored that mess and went looking for Mr. yakov. I was searching when I heard someone calling me from behind. I turned around and saw Mr. Yakov.

"Cordina come here." He said, asking me to come over there.

I went towards him and stood right in front of him.

"So you ready ?"He asked with a smile.

"I guess." I said with a weak smile.

"Don't stress, do your best. Okay?" He said.

"Okay." I said, nodding my head.

"Good, there's a changing room, you can find your size skates in there, come back and we'll begin." He said, pointing at the direction of the changing room.

I nodded my head in agreement and went into the changing rooms and found the skates that fit.

I brought them outside, wore them and stood on the edge of the ice rink.

"Ready?" He asked?

"I guess." I said.

"Okay, so I'll ask you the move I want and you do it okay?" He instructed me.

"Okay." I said and took a deep breath to relax myself.

"We will start with the very basic one's, okay now march forward." He said.

Seriously, he wants me to do the basic one.

"Okay." I said and did what he said.

"Good, now do forward two foot glide." He said.

I did it.

"Dip." He said.

I nodded my head and did it.

"Forward swizzle...um…. 6 times." He said.

I did it. I slipped a bit but I did it.

"Backward wiggles same 6 times." he said

I did it. I was dead scared where I was going wrong, but didn't show it out and did what moves he asked me to do.

"What about snow plows and stop on two feet." He said.

What seriously I can do it on one foot. So, I did the move and stopped on one foot instead. I want to show my capability.

"Not bad. Now, how about two-foot hop in place?" He said.

I did he move, my leg slipped a bit, but I stood in place.

"Come back on the ground." He said with a smile.

I went back on the ground and removed my skates. I didn't even do the basic moves, I slipped in some moves. He definitely won't accept me. I was scared as hell inside.

"Not bad, cordina. You slipped sometimes, but you can do better." He said.

I kept my head down. That was it, he isn't accepting me.

"But when your coach tells you to snowplow and stop on two feet, you stop on two foot. Okay? " He said.

I shouldn't have done it, I should've listened to him, He's not accep-... wait a second did he say coach? Does that mean I'm in?

I lifted my head with curiosity all over my face.

"Coach? Does that mean I'm in?" I said with curiosity.

"Yes Cordina." He said with a smile.

"Thank you so much Mr. Yakov, thank you for accepting me. I won't let you down." I said with a happy smile.

"Good, but remember one thing, you should perform what you got, not to show it off to people, understood?" He said ruffling my hair.

"Yes Mr. Yakov." I said.

"It's coach my dear." He said.

"Yes coach." I said.

Then we heard a loud cheer. I looked at the bunch of people I saw earlier.

"You'll be spending your time here, so get used to it. It was just a beginning they'll shout out loud." He said.

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Let me introduce you to others." He said.

He called his students out loud, maybe he was referring to himself earlier.

"Students, get over here." He shouted out loud.

All the students came here. I wasn't paying attention to who came and not, never cared about that. After all the students gathered here, he introduced me.

"Students, we have a new girl here, she's Cordina Røze Baümle." He said.

Was my full name needed to be said?. Well, I've to say something now.

"Hello." I said waving my hands.

Then I noticed one thing, all the fellow students were looking at me like I'm an antique piece. Well, it did really feel weird and uncomfortable.

"Make yourself comfortable here. Your training starts from tomorrow." He said.

"Students, you'll have class at same time, class dismissed." He shouted again. My ear drum must've been damaged by now. He left the place.

First thing to remember about Mr. Yakov, never stand beside him when he is addressing something to his students, your ears will be damaged for sure.

All the students surrounded me. Was that needed now? It felt like I'm some kind of animal in a zoo and these people came to visit me, so uncomfortable.

"Are you Leo Baümle's daughter, the great figure skater Leo Baumle" One girl asked with curiosity.

"Um.....Yes." I said, with a nervous smile.

Everyone was murmuring about me and dad and were asking questions to get to know me like 'do you like figure skating or are you in any competitions, your dad must have taught you all the moves.'.

Jeezzzz, they weren't interested in knowing about me when they first saw me, but they suddenly showed interest when they heard my last name.

Gosh, but if they want to know me they need to know one thing in particular about me, that 'I hate being the center of attention.'

I was finding ways to get out of there but failed each time, I was about to burst when Mr. Yakov saved me.

"Students disperse, get back to your house." He shouted and everyone went dispersed.

I sighed in relief seeing everyone parting their ways, there was one guy who was standing in front of me 3 feet distant with his hands folding towards his chest.

I looked at his face and I don't know what the hell this feeling is called, bad luck?, angry?, irritation?, surprise?.

But one thing I know is my day started with quarrel and will mostly end with quarrel maybe a little fight plus or minus.

And it was none other than the same blonde head idiot, jerk "Yuri."

"YOU?", Yuri and I said at the same time pointing our index fingers at each other.

"What are you doing here?" He said in an arrogant way like always.

"What are YOU doing here?", I said, folding my hands to my chest.

"Can't you see, I'm a student here." He said, narrowing his eyebrows

"And can't you hear, I'm a new student here." I said, narrowing my eyebrows too.

"I never thought Mr. Yakov would take people as short-tempered and foul-mouthed as you." He said.

"Mr. Yakov accepted a person as his student. Why wouldn't he accept me?" I said followed by a small smile.

"What do you mean by that?" He said in a confused way yet he didn't dare to lose his arrogant confidence.

"You know, arrogant, self centered, foul-mouthed and the thing I observed today is you're an attention seeker too." I said followed by a smirk.

"I'm not arrogant, self centered, foul-mouthed, or an attention seeker." He said

"Are you sure?, 'cause that's what I saw in the last 2 days." I said with confidence.

He opened his mouth to say something, when a guy taller and probably in his mid 20s came towards the edge of the ice rink and spoke.

"The class was dismissed a while ago. What are you both doing here? Yuri go home and you new girl get going, you shouldn't stay here after practice hours." He said in a bit rough tone.

Yuri didn't say anything, he just left the place while clenching his fist. I went out of the Ice rink and sat on the bench removing my ice skates. I saw the same man coming towards me, I thought he would give a counselling about the rules and regulations of this academy.

"So, you're new here?" He said standing in front of me.

"Yes." I nodded my head while removing the skates.

"I'm Victor by the way, assistant coach," He said, extending his hand for a hand shake.

"Cordina." I said while giving a hand shake.

"Cordina Røze Baümle?" He said with a surprised look in his eyes and a small smile on his lips.

"Yes." I said with a confused look.

Why I was confused, first no one knows my full name including my middle name unless they are close to my parents, second what's with his expression? He was looking at me with an amused look like a scientist looks at an alien. And third, do I know him?

"You seem confused?" He said while looking at me.

"Sir, You know me?" I asked, I was dying with curiosity to know if he knows me or not. Maybe he's one of dad's friends.

"Can I sit?" He asked while asking me to move a bit.

I moved a bit and he sat next to me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself clearly. I'm Victor, your dad's old friend. And there's no need to call me 'sir', you can call me Victor." He said with a smile.

All though he said all that, all I heard was he is dad's friend. That made me happier and more joyful.

"You know my dad?" I asked to get a confirmation again.

"Yes, we have been friends since he joined this academy." He said.

I stayed silent listening to all his and dad's days.

"And that's the reason I know you, your dad was screaming with joy in the hospital the time he knew you were born. Your mum showed you the photo of you, your mum and dad." He said with a smile on his face.

I simply nodded my head in agreement.

"I was the one who took that photo." He said remembering that day.

"You were the one who took that photo?" I asked with a surprised look. Mum said dad insisted on taking the photo but she didn't mention who took that photo.

Then a question striked my mind.

"If you were there at the time I was born, why didn't you come to visit dad in Germany? And why didn't you come at his....funeral?" I asked. It kills to remind myself that dad died but I wanted to know the reason.

"I had work so I didn't come to Germany to visit you guys often, but I came to his funeral . You weren't ready to talk to anyone. I thought it's better to leave you alone so I didn't meet you back then." He said with a sorrow look.

I can see that he misses his friend as much as I miss my dad. I didn't speak anything, I don't want things to get complicated and I end up crying.