| Chapter 22 It was Tuesday, three days since the night at Kylee's cabin when everything changed, some for the worst and some for the better. The ladies still had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to do their laps for an hour. They tried to compromise with Coach Lisa into making them do their laps later in the day, but Coach Lisa said this was the only time when the dance team wasn't doing anything and the track was free so they had no choice. Because they had to wake up so early, they didn't have that much time to hang out with the short track team. Their off time was spent catching up on their sleep, well that's what Crystal and Karen did, but they tried to spend some time with Dan and Shani. Lindsey spent her free time with Rusty; the two had become inseperable, while Kylee was busy with her schoolwork and tutors, coming up with new dance moves with the choreographers, assisting the designers with what uniforms they were going to wear at each performance, and collaborating with Coach Lisa to decide on which songs they were going to perform at each performance. With all this going on in such a few days, she didn't even have time to think about Apolo, until today. Today was the day they were going to try-out short track. The guys were also feeling the pressure of the whole country on them. Tomorrow they would be racing their first races. The races tomorrow would qualify the whole team into the relay race final next week. They knew any false move and it would be all over. There was a lot of pressure on them in this Olympics because they are the reigning Relay Team World Champions, but Canada was the reigning Olympic Champions. They wanted that gold so bad they could taste it. When the ladies arrived at the Olympic Oval, the short track team was already out on the ice practicing. Kylee, Crystal, Lindsey, and Karen sighed as they looked at the ice rink. It had only been two hours ago they had been here doing their laps that were tiring. Now they had to return back to try-out the sport. "Okay, ladies, I want to introduce to you the coach for the short track head coach and my loving sister, Susan Ellis," Coach Lisa said as Susan acknowledged herself. "She's your sister?" Karen asked shocked as she, along with the rest of the girls, was lacing up her skates. "Yeah, unfortunately," Coach Lisa said jokingly as she smiled at her sister and her sister returned with an evil, but playful glare. "I see that I've met some of you before," Coach Ellis said looking at Crystal, Kylee, Karen and Lindsey. "You've already met my captains?" Coach Lisa said puzzled. "We bumped into each other on move in day," Coach Ellis said smiling. "Well, anyway, today you will be trying out the sport of short track and you will have lots of help out there. This is Tony Goskowicz, the assistant coach out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. You wanna say some things to the ladies?" "Just to have fun out there and don't let these guys intimadate you," Coach Goskowicz said smiling as the short track team stepped off the ice. "And this is the Men's Short Track Team," Coach Ellis said as they lined up beside her. "This is Ron Biondo, Rusty Smith, Apolo Ohno, Shani Smith, JP Kepka, and Dan Weinstein. Unfortunately the ladies couldn't be here today because of other events they had to attend to. So, ladies, just remember one thing: If you fell like you're gonna fall, then fall, don't try to force yourself to stay up. You'll end up hurting yourself more. Well, enough of my chatting. Go out there and have some fun." The ladies stampeded off the stands and onto the ice one by one. As soon as they got on the ice they started making laps around the rink. Some were wobbly at first, but got the hang of it after a while. Others were wobbly and remained wobbly the whole time. The coaches and skaters focused on them the most. Of course Crystal, Lindsey, Kylee and Karen looked like professionals out their, whizzing past the other struggling dancers. "I guess those early mornings paid off," Lindsey said as they whizzed past another group of ladies that surrounded Coach Goskowicz. "You guys look like pros out here," Rusty said grabbing a hold of Lindsey waist from behind her. "Yeah, you're making us look bad," Apolo said skating next to Kylee. "Well, I guess you guys will just have to train harder so we don't look better then you," Kylee said smiling. "I'm assuming you guys are still doing your laps in the morning," Shani said skating next to Crystal. "Yep," Crystal said yawning as the turned another corner. "We feel so bad about what happened," Apolo said as they stopped by a wall. "Don't worry about it," Kylee said playing with her ponytail. "It was our idea to go up to my family's cabin." "Plus, by doing laps in the morning keeps us in shape," Crystal said as Shani wrapped his arms around her. "But we hardly see you ladies anymore," Shani said kind of in a sad voice. "especially Kylee. What have you been doing girl? We haven't seen you in three days." "Well, I've been busy keeping the dancers together, working with the choreographers, fashion designers, collaborating with Coach Lisa on various events we're working on, trying to keep up with school work, you know that kind of stuff," Kylee said yawning. "Aren't you going to get burned out with doing all these things?" Apolo asked concerned. "Nah, I'll be fine, I've been doing this many things since I became the captain, so I'm used to all the pressure," Kylee assured him. "I'll be fine." "Hey, I have an idea, how about we all race each other in a 500 meter race," Karen suggested. "Actually we gotta go help out your teammates," Rusty said quickly. "What? Too chicken to race us?" Lindsey said. "No, we just wanted to save you ladies the embarrassment of getting you butts kicked," Apolo said. "You guys think you're so confident then prove it," Kylee said looking straight at Apolo. "Fine," Dan said. "So what happens when we win?" "Well, if you win, we will take you up to Kylee's cabin again since you all seem to like it so much and if we win, you have to plan out the greatest evening we have ever had, deal?" "You're on," Rusty said as they all shook on it, sealing the deal. They told their coaches what they were planning to do and cleared everyone off the ice. The dancers couldn't believe four of their own would be racing against four Olympians, but they still cheered on their teammates. They needed all the support they could get. The ladies put on skin suits and helmets that Coach Ellis leant them and did a good stretch before stepping out onto the ice. The guys were whispering something to each other as they smiled at the ladies. The ladies smiled back at them with a cocky attittude. The first race was between Rusty, Lindsey, Dan, and Karen. They lined up at the start line. They dug their blades into the ice and lowered their upper body. "Okay, the top two make it to the finals," Coach Ellis said from behind the wall, standing next to Coach Lisa. "On my whistle, ready set---" and Coach Ellis blew her whistle and the four were off. Rusty took the early lead, while Dan was second. Lindsey and Karen kept switching places as they completed their first lap. The ladies where cheering on their teammates hoping that at least one of would make it to the final. During the second lap, Rusty still had the lead with Dan on his heals, but it looked as if Karen was right there with them, while Lindsey was slowing down a little; she couldn't keep up with them and started to go at her own pace. On the third lap, it looked as though Dan was slowing down. Karen took advantage of that and passed him on the inside with one and half laps to go as the ladies erupted with a cheer. Dan struggled to catch up with Karen, but it was too late. She crossed the finish line and the ladies roared. Karen had done it. She made it to the finals. It felt as if Karen was in the Olympics. "Good job, Karen," Kylee said hig fiving her as Karen tried to catch her breath. "Yeah, good job," Dan said sort of ashamed he let his team down as he skated off the ice. "Don't worry, Dan, we'll get them in the next race," Shani said padding his teammte on the back. "Don't be too sure of that," Crystal said skating past them toward Kylee and Karen. "Karen, go get something to drink and rest up so we can beat them in the finals." "Good luck you guys," Karen said, trying to catch her breath, giving them high fives as she skated off the ice. Now only Apolo, Kylee, Crystal, and Shani were on the ice. They skated to the start line and lowered there bodies waiting for Coach Ellis's whitsle to sound, just as the group before them had. The ladies in the crowd were now more excited then ever because they new that these ladies were capable of beating the guys. As soon as the whistle blew, they were off at a very fast pace, faster than the first group, but, unlike the first group, all four of them were very close to one another. Apolo was in the lead, while Shani was right on his heals as Kylee and Crystal held up the back. They completed their first lap when Kylee saw it, an opening between Shani and the track. She took advantage of it and passed him. Now she was on the heels of Apolo. She was keeping up with him really well as the ladies in the stand continued to cheer for their teammates. They were on their third lap when Kylee saw another opening, this time between Apolo and the ice and once again she took advantage of it. She passed Apolo and the ladies where cheering louder than ever. Shani and Crystal had fallen back while Apolo and Kylee fought over who would get first. The beginning of the last lap, Apolo passed Kylee with ease, but Kylee wouldn't let him get away with this. On the last turn, she past him and crossed the finish line. The ladies erupted from the stands. The couldn't believe it and niether could Kylee. Karen and Lindsey skated out onto the ice and hugged Kylee while Crystal just finishing her lap, came over and joined them. Kylee had never been so happy before, but their celebration was cut short when Kylee and Karen had to get ready for the final race. The race that would decide all who was suprior and, most importantly, what they would be doing friday night. Apolo, Rusty, Shani, and Dan recoperated from that embarrassing lost and focused on the final race. It really did seem like they were racing in the Olympics. It wasn't just another race for them. All their coaches were watching and they knew the couldn't let a bunch dancers beat them. Meanwhile, Kylee and Karen were on a mission. They needed to prove that they were capable of beating the guys at their own game. This race was very important to them; they couldn't afford to loose. All four finalists, lined up at the starting point. Tensions and testosterome levels were high. They dug their blades into the ice. "Remember the loser of this race has to take the winner out on Friday for what both parties agreed on," Coach Ellis said reminding them. "Get ready." Al lfour lowered their upper bodies.Coach Ellis blew her whistle and they were off. Chapter 23 Never had a Dream Come True Homepage Home |