Page 12 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
Hadley stared at her for a moment. "Okay, so I know the whole ice princess thing is kind of bad and people use it to make fun of you... but there might be a little truth to it." Her words came out in a rush, like she just needed to get them out.
They struck Charlotte like a spear straight through the heart. "Are..." She took a deep breath. "Are you saying I'm cold?"
"No. Yes. Maybe. Don't be mad, Charlie."
She'd known her classmates thought that of her, but not her best friend, the one person who was supposed to know her better than anyone.
"So, let me get this straight." Charlotte averted her eyes from Hadley’s. "You want me to change so you can fit in with Jesse's crowd?"
"Change? No. Just..."
"Because that's what it sounds like."
"I'd never try to change you, Char."
Charlotte got to her feet and brushed the creases out of her skirt. "Yeah, I used to think so too." She looked down at her friend. "I'm not cold, Hadley. Some of us weren't born with the natural social skills. I thought you understood that."
"I do."
"But not as much as you understand what a guy like Jesse Carrigan wants." She couldn't look at her friend anymore and walked away without another word. Hadley didn't follow her.
So what if she spent all her time at the rink training? That didn't mean she was cold or a robot. She skipped study hall, didn't she? Was it so wrong to strive for perfection? To want to be the best at everything she did?
Trying not to think of Hadley's words, she operated the next few hours on autopilot.
It wasn't wrong for her friend to develop a crush on someone, but she didn't see the appeal of an arrogant boy like Jesse, one who let the entire school call him "the king." She imagined the rest of his life was just as charmed as the hours he spent inside that building.
Did he have parents who bent to his every whim like their peers? Did they tell him they were proud despite the fact he led a losing team?
Charlotte's mom was disappointed with anything less than first place. Even that wasn't good enough when she knew her daughter would never make it onto the world stage. Charlotte went through life constantly feeling like she was letting people down. No amount of winning solved that.
She just never expected Hadley to make her feel like that as well.
She went through the rest of her day as she always did, apart from everyone else, a wall of ice between her and the rest of the world.
When Hadley wasn't waiting for her by her car at the end of the day like she normally did, Charlotte had never felt more alone.
* * *
The slammingof the front door reverberated through the house, and Charlotte sat up on her bed. She'd been reading since she got home but didn't want her mom to catch her.
Every morning before school, Charlotte got to the rink for a training session. The afternoons and evenings were saved for conditioning. It was the first day in months she'd skipped her afternoon run—but her mother didn’t need to know that.
She slid off her bed and stepped into the hall to lean against the stair railing. Her mother's tight eyes didn't stare up at her; instead, her father grinned. "How's my girl today?"
Charlotte rarely got any time alone with her dad. It was as if her parents decided when she was young that she belonged to her mom to mold and shape. If she'd been a boy, would her dad have taken more of an interest?
Her dad shrugged out of his leather jacket and hung it on the peg by the door. "Have you eaten dinner?"
"No." Charlotte descended the stairs. Both her parents usually worked at the rink through dinner. Her mom left pre-made meals in the fridge for her, tasteless low-calorie dishes.
Her dad held up a white sack. "I stopped atEmma's."
Charlotte's stomach rumbled at the smell coming from the sack.Emma'swas her favorite restaurant, but she had to hide her trips there from her mom. The diner was a tribute to Emma Bay, an old Hollywood actress. It was pretty much the coolest place in Gulf City. Hadley had introduced her to the wonders of their food years ago.
"What did you get me?" Charlotte took the bag.
"Hollywood sliders with cheese." He grinned like that made him father of the year. In her book, it did. "Oh, and zucchini fries with that aioli stuff you love so much."
