Hour of Need (Scarlet Falls #1)(22)

I’m watching . . .





Chapter Eight


Lindsay


November

I slam the car door. Mom waves and drives off. Standing on the concrete apron in front of the ice-skating arena, I stare at the front of the hulking building.

Why do they hate me?

I scrape the toe of my black Converse on the cement. I’m in no rush to go inside. Mom is headed to the grocery store. I could just slip around back and wait for the free skate hour to be over. Before we moved here, I couldn’t wait to get to the rink. Now I really don’t care. I’m tempted to quit the team. It’s not like I’m going to be an Olympic star or anything. I only skate because I love it.

The rink is the one place I’ve always been able to forget my problems, and now they’re trying to take it away from me. At school, the hallways are covered with cameras, and teachers lurk everywhere. It’s hard for the Shrew Crew to do real damage to anything but my pride. The skating arena is where my tormentors choose to get creative.

I play with my lip ring. My mom will come into the rink when she’s done shopping to ask Coach Victor about my practice. If I don’t skate, she’ll ask questions. She’ll poke and pick at me until I bleed. Then she’ll blame me for my complaints. She won’t let anything ruin her new life. She loves New York State. Me and Dad, not so much.

Our new home sits on almost an acre of land in a small development. Big and yellow and white, the house has four bedrooms, two stories, and a porch that spans the whole front of the building. Behind the house is a meadow and woods. After living in a furnished shoebox in San Francisco for the last six years, my parents couldn’t wait to move to this country suburban bliss. A trail through the woods leads to my school, though I’m not allowed to walk. My parents don’t think it’s safe.

“Upstate New York will be green. We’re saving so much money, you can get a horse if you want. There’ll be snow in the winter.” They say all this as if it’s supposed to make leaving my friends and the city I love sound attractive.

I still don’t buy it.

What would I do with a horse? We’ve never even had a cat. The apartment was tight for the three of us. There was no room for a hamster or fishbowl, but to me, it was home.

We’ve been here three weeks. So far, the only thing that has been OK is the weather. To remind myself of this one and only high point, I close my eyes and turn my face to the afternoon sun. Its rays warm my cheeks and turn the inside of my eyelids blood red. So far, early winter has been mild. Unlike my parents, I’m not looking forward to ice and snow. I have no idea why my parents think this is such a BFD. It’s not like I’ve never seen snow. In California, we drove up to Tahoe a couple of times to snowboard. It wasn’t my thing. I spent more time flat on my face than standing on the board. On the bright side, if the lake down the road freezes, I’ll be able to skate outside. No need to come to the rink.

I dig my phone out of my pocket. No messages from Jose back home. I miss California and my friends with an empty ache, something like hunger, but it can’t be alleviated with food. No worries, though. Jose, best friend not boyfriend, isn’t home from school yet. It’s only lunchtime in Cali. He’ll text me later, and then maybe I won’t feel so alone. If the wireless signal holds, we can even Skype tonight.

I miss going to the Bay City Ice Rink with him every day after school to practice. Jose is a male figure skater. He knows what it’s like to be bullied. I just want to go home and get away from this nightmare of suburbia. I miss walking down to the wharf and listening to the sea lions bark. I miss everything from the steep streets to the fresh seafood. The sushi here sucks and so do the kids.

And on that note, I’d better get inside. Someone is coming out. A member of the advanced team and her mom. Their practice must be over. Maybe Regan and Autumn, my nemeses, will already be gone.

Smiling, the mom holds the door open, a gaping mouth waiting to swallow my will to live. I’m being overly dramatic, but that’s how it feels, this sense of impending misery that crushes my chest.

I pass through the lobby and walk down the hallway to the rink. Free skate has started. A dozen skaters are warming up. Watching them, Coach Victor leans on the rink half wall. He nods to me as I pass by. I scan the ice. No sign of Regan or Autumn. Oh, wait. Their dads approach Victor. The coach is trying to watch his skaters. I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I know the score. It’s not that different than back home. Regan and Autumn are the stars of the team. Their dads pay the arena a lot of money each month. They’ve bought and paid for Victor’s full attention. He gives it to them now. I catch a snatch of their conversation, something about Victor needing to step it up. If they don’t make nationals next year, they’ll be looking for a new coach.

I feel sorry for Victor. He’s been nice to me, but let’s face it. He’s been with the club for seven years and not a single one of his skaters has won a major event yet. I know some of this is luck. He can’t control who joins the club, but the parents will look for any excuse when their precious little darlings lose. Plus, there’s a rumor going around about Victor and one of the married skating moms, and that this isn’t his first indiscretion. Seems like Victor is a dog. Ew. I can’t even think about a guy that old doing it. I don’t know if it’s true, but a scandal won’t help him keep his job. He’s already one losing season away from unemployment.