Written for NaNoWriMo 2007
"Sandy died!"

The polished marble floors and twinkling chandeliers of the Ghellerton Central Hotel were vivid reminders of the days ahead. Nerves, excitement, anticipation... All of these were recurring feelings associated with the hotel at which the competitors stayed every year. (In her tiny region there was only one arena fit for a competition as big as this, and it was G.C.) It was always the same - Emma walked into the reception area, knowing that, in the next few moments, she would begin to feel the pressure.

She would wait as her mother paid the employee at the desk before helping to load the luggage onto a trolley. She would then feel herself being carried up and up in the elevator, and finally she would arrive in her hotel room and crash for a while on one of the beds.

But as the train of memorised events in her head began to play out in real life, something was different. Emma was oddly unconcerned with the matter - the nerves she had been expecting for so long did not come, and the worries that usually filled her mind at this stage did not make an appearance either.

Perhaps it was different, now that she was older and more mature. She may have outgrown her nerves after so many years of competing, or else they were just hidden away under all of the other feelings that had welled up inside her - anger (particularly at Sandy) and familiarity among them - and yet these emotions seemed to be numbed as well.

"Em, are you coming?"

It was her eleven year old sister, Sharlotte, whose voice dragged Emma out of her trance. The girl stood a small distance away, her blue eyes wide with expectation. Emma saw much resemblance between herself and her sister; though Emma's eyes were a sweet shade of hazel while Sharlotte's were as blue as the summer sky, and her own hair was several shades darker than her sister's, the pair had almost identical facial features - wide eyes, a button nose, and a shy smile that could convince almost anyone of their innocence, genuine or otherwise.

"Yeah," said Emma, jogging a little to catch up with her family. Though most skaters at the nationals only brought along one or two family members to accompany them, Emma's family was relatively tight-nit and it was practically tradition for the whole group to attend events such as this - not only Emma's skating competitions, but Sharlotte's swim meets, their father's concerts and their mother's craft shows. Failure to attend was almost a crime.

Emma stepped into the elevator and sighed. She didn't feel like herself today - not at all. She expected - in fact, she hoped - that her usual nerves would catch up with her by tomorrow. Competing as anybody other than herself just wouldn't be right, and Emma was not one to disobey rules in any way.

As the elevator rose and rose, Emma felt as though she was in a jump. In fact, it was quite similar to leaping into the air in a figure skating routine. The only difference was that she wasn't spinning as she ascended - but she may as well have been, what with her head spinning so constantly with the strange no-nerve confusion. There was a loud 'ding!' and the doors slid open. In the hall stood none other than Rhea and Allie.

"Hey!" Rhea exclaimed with unusual – even for her - amounts enthusiasm.

Emma groaned. "Hey guys," she replied, giving each of them a brief hug as she stepped out.

"You don't sound too happy to see us," Allie said, planting her hands on her hips and looking Emma in the eye with concern. "Is something wrong? Did you lose a skate? Are you being forced to share a bed with your sister?"

At this, Sharlotte shot Allie an annoyed look and walked off in an exaggerated huff.

"Sorry, Sharlotte!" Allie called after her. "I just needed something to fill in the gap!"

The girl responded with a smile and a forgiving shrug as she followed her mother and father down the hall.

"Anyway," Rhea said, drawing out her words as if building up to something incredibly exciting. "We've got something that should zap you out of your bad moo-"

"I'm not in a bad mood," said Emma defensively.

The others laughed at her tone (one which very much contradicted the statement she used it for), and Allie nagged in an extremely uncharacteristic manner, “Then what is wrong with you, girl?”

"Nothing," Emma said, wondering what other answer she could possibly have given. In truth, Emma didn't know what was wrong with her. Her thoughts were just so jumbled that she couldn't feel the things she was supposed to feel at this time of the year. "I suppose... I'm just not myself today."

"Then who are you?" demanded Rhea, studying Emma with mock curiosity. "Jebadiah Gregory Chussberk?"

Emma laughed, and found that she couldn't stop - for the first time that day, she began to feel like herself once again, whether or not that was a good thing. Once she had recovered from her all too common fit of laughter, she straightened herself and inquired, "So what's the good news, then?"

"Sandy died!" Rhea exclaimed, eyes wide with enthusiasm.

"Oh, sorry," said Rhea, hiding her face as she obviously realised the tender spot she had hit with her friend.

"It's fine," said Allie, waving her hand, but the distant, weary look in her eyes gave way to the reality that she probably was not.

It was always a very difficult thing to dodge when speaking to Allie, but Emma understood (or at least tried to understand) that her mother's sudden death wasn't something that she could just forget. She tried to think of how she would cope if a family member of her own was to pass away, and the answer was crystal clear - she simply would not.

Emma and Rhea said nothing for the few moments that followed, but simply glanced at each other occasionally as if to ask whether or not it was alright to speak. Emma didn't know what to say to Allie - as usual, she was tempted to comfort her, but she didn't want to keep hitting that vulnerable spot in her friend's heart.

"Shall we find our rooms, then?" Emma said, deciding that it would, in fact, be best to avoid the topic.

"About that..." Rhea started, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes, already vivid with anticipation. "We were trying to tell you."

"What?" Emma said cautiously, suspicious at what Rhea might be hinting at. "Is this another one of your wild ideas? Not the ice cubes again… Or have you decided we’re camping under the stars?"

"Unfortunately not," Rhea replied, pouting. "Allie rejected that idea," Rhea nudged Allie, but the girl was still quite distracted. "Al?" Rhea repeated the nudge a little more firmly this time.

"Oh, what?" said Allie, shaking herself out of whatever reverie had been occupying her mind.

"I was just telling Emma about our rooms."

Emma raised her eyebrows at that.

"Oh, right," Allie said with her eyes focused on her friend. At first Emma thought Allie was with it, but her friend's distant voice gave away the fact that her head was still in the clouds.

"Anyway," Rhea piped up, rather louder than necessary. "Emma, you don't have to share a bed with your sister."

Emma was a little confused at this remark. "Err… That’s great, Rhea. And you know this... how?"

"Because we've got our own room!!" Rhea squealed, pulling a shimmering key out of her pocket. "Complete with a TV and three double beds. That’s right, three. One for EACH of us.” She looked like she considered herself a total genius.

"Are you serious?" Emma called out in spite of this, excitement bubbling up in her stomach. Rhea was jumping up and down, and Emma joined her. Strange though it was, all of those normal emotions and nerves seemed to rush back to her at that very moment. She was thankful in a way, but in another, she was a little upset at the fact that she was going to have to endure the torture of nervousness for the three days to come.

"Sure am," said Rhea, in a voice that was still high pitched and full of excitement. She clapped her hands together and smiled mischievously as she added, "Oh, and there's a pool and hot tub downstairs."

"Great!" Emma cried out, but, realising the heavy burden of her coach's orders, her smile disappeared. "But Griggins is going to kill us if he finds out we're slacking off all day, turning our muscles into jelly…"

"Well, he doesn't need to find out, does he?" Rhea said impishly. Emma sighed. She wasn't so sure it would be in her best interest to spend her time between programs lazing around, but it wasn't very resourceful to come to a three and a half star hotel and not even think twice about the luxuries.

"Guys," Allie – always the Voice of Reason - threw in, "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Chances are, Griggins will be on our backs twenty-four-seven, so it's probably not such a good idea to take a chance like that. But we might have time after the presentations to have a swim or whatever.”

Rhea looked positively crestfallen. Emma shrugged it off, knowing with complete certainty that the majority of her friend's disappointed expression and refusal to speak was for the sake of dramatics alone.

The girls walked down the hallway, checking the number on each door as they passed them. Finally, Rhea paused at room number one-hundred-and-five, and so Emma came to a stop behind her; she was a little shocked when Rhea simply stood there, not bothering to unlock the door, or even to take the key out of her pocket.

"Um, are we going in?" Emma asked, peeking around her friend's shoulder to check her expression. It was quite blank, but she was quite sure that she picked up just the tiniest hint of a sheepish smile.

"No," said Rhea, sounding rather dazed.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

“It’s not our room.”

“Then…whose…?”

"It’s his.”

"His...who on earth is... OH!" Emma silently scolded herself for failing to pick up on this until now. But with this realization came another, and Emma found her freezing in partial terror. "Hang on," she said, standing still as stone. "If that's Jordan's room, then don't you reckon it's..."

But before she managed to utter the name of the person she had come to dread most, the door flew open and that very person emerged. All three of them leapt backwards as soon as this happened. Sandy stood on the threshold, looking as robot-like as always,with her pretentious smile and emotionless stance. She was looking fully pampered, wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe and a towel on her head. She looked as though she had just returned from a beauty salon - though Emma had no idea why she would be leaving her hotel room wearing so little.

"Hello, girls!" she practically screeched, opening her mouth in mock surprise, and covering it with a freshly painted and moisturised hand. "I'm just on my way to the spa."

Evidently, Emma had been mistaken in assuming that she had just returned from such a place. What was even more ironic was that the three of them had just rejected the idea of any kind of luxury. If only Griggins knew exactly what his new favourite student was up to…

"Would you care to join me?" Sandy asked.

"No!" Rhea exclaimed, on reflex, it seemed. Sandy's smile began to vanish, leaving her face so similar to a solid brick that it was almost funny. "I mean, sorry, but we really need to get everything sorted out in our room." She forced a weak smile that looked more like a twisted sort of grimace.

"Oh," said Sandy. "Well, I guess we can always hang out tomorrow, can't we?" she said, laughing in a positively annoying manner. "Well, I'd better be off! Toodle-oo!"

And with that, she strutted off, flicking the door shut behind her and shoving her way past the three of them. They remained where they were, utterly frozen, until they were absolutely sure that Sandy was out of view, and, for that matter, earshot as well.

"What a freak!" Rhea cried out. "If anybody's going to get it from Griggins, it's her! Who needs to get all pampered up before a skating competition? It's just not practical! Her time would be better spent improving her skating skills."

“Careful, Rhea,” Allie whispered. “Remember, her cousin’s in there…”

Rhea gave a sigh and glanced longingly at the door.

“You look like a lovesick puppy, Rhea,” Emma said with a roll of her eyes. "Let's get to our room, shall we?"

Reluctantly, Rhea followed Emma and Allie down the hallway to room number one-hundred-and-twelve. This time, she took the key out and placed it in the slot. The door clicked open.

Emma's eyes were met with such a comforting sight she almost wanted to fall asleep right there and then - three double beds, all lined up along a clean wall, dressed with soft white linen and looking ever so tempting. On the opposite wall was a large TV in its very own cabinet, and down at the end, Emma could make out a door that led to - judging by the spotless white tiles she could see - the attached bathroom.

"Talk about luxury!" Emma said, bewildered. She rushed into the room and dropped her bag onto the floor. She threw herself onto the bed nearest the window and let her body sink into the softness of the mattress and the layers of covers.

"Hey," Allie called out, sounding a bit like a whining child. "Who said you got to pick first?"

Emma pulled her face out of the heavenly pillows and looked up apologetically at her friends, realizing her mistake. "Sorry," she said.

"Oh well," Allie shrugged, launching herself onto the bed in the middle. "I guess this one's mine!" Emma laughed. Rhea didn't look so pleased.

"You meanies," she said, sounding quite a lot like a disgruntled five year old. "I guess I'll just have to settle for the one that's closest to the fridge!"

"Fridge?" Emma piped up, raising her head so that she could see what her friend was looking so eagerly at. Sure enough, there was a mini fridge on a wooden table in the corner nearest Rhea's newly chosen bed. The door was made of glass, and inside, Emma could see numerous cans of pop and other confectionery items inside. On top of the fridge were a few bags of chips, a bag of what Emma assumed were peanuts, and a box containing a few chocolate bars. The food sat there, smiling at her like little fairies, urging her to come closer. Emma turned her head away to avoid temptation - if she had not, she would have bolted towards the fridge and eaten its entire contents within less than two minutes. She’d managed to keep mostly away from junk food for all these years, and she wasn’t about to give in just when it mattered.

"Why must they tempt us?" Allie groaned, rolling over on her bed.

"Don't worry," said Rhea, stroking the fridge door longingly. "You have to pay for it, my mom says. So it's off limits for us."

"Thank goodness," Emma said, and buried her face in the pillows once again. She didn’t feel particularly pumped for the practice session at seven-thirty tonight, but it wasn’t as if she had a say in the matter. Right now she was in heaven, and she wanted it to last as long as possible – tomorrow, she’d be skating her performing her new short program, performing in junior level for the first time. Things weren’t going to be quite so relaxing anymore.

Yipes, sorry about that long wait. I can never seem to predict how much time school and other stuff is going to take up on me - I should just remind myself from now on that the answer to that question is "a LOT". And sorry about the short chapters, too. I'm working on making them longer with my more current stuff, but, seeing as this is nearly a year old... it's kind of a lost cause. I'm tweaking and uploading this purely for the entertainment for anybody who wants to read it.

You'll get the next chapter... well, when you get it.

(Thought I should probably just stick with ambiguity to be safe.)