"Nicholas Walker - Ice Princess" - читать интересную книгу автора (Walker Nicholas)

"I don't know, Liz," said Alex morosely. "I'm not sure I could ever replace Samantha."
"You used to moan that she was too serious."
"She was right-it was me that was wrong," said Alex.
"Well, what are you planning, Alex?" asked Liz. "Carrying on moping around in the middle of the ice?"
"I thought I might try individual skating."
"You mean figures?" demanded Liz. "I can't see it-anyway, I don't teach figures. Can you afford one of the other coaches?"
"Sue said she'd help a bit."
"Ah, yes, Sue," said Liz. "She's your special friend, isn't she?"
"Yes, and that's all she is!" said Alex defensively.
"Don't be so touchy," said Liz. "So you won't be bothering with the dance club any longer?"
Alex shrugged. "I thought I might still come along," he admitted. "Keep my options open."
Liz smiled. "Good, I think dance is more your forte," she said. "You were working for your inter-silver, weren't you?"
"On and off," he said. "We were concentrating
more on the Juniors. Samantha was putting a new free dance together for then." He sighed. "Never mind, let's just see what happens."
The rest of the dance club were appearing in ones and twos. Most of them were extra friendly to Alex. Only another skater could appreciate the trauma of losing a partner.
Liz kept them to basic steps that night, fortunately for Alex because it meant they didn't do much pairing up. When the rest of the class disappeared, Alex stayed on and lost himself in the crush of general skaters who came pushing and shoving onto the ice. He found himself a clear space in the middle. Samantha and he had been trying out a more advanced turn that involved nicking the whole skate right around while still traveling in the same direction. Relentlessly Alex practiced the move over and over again, oblivious to everyone else on the ice.
"Hello, Alex," said a voice, and he jumped and turned, expecting to see Sue. But it was Diane.
"Oh-er, hi, Diane," he said wonderingly. It was the first time she had said anything to him, other than an insult, since the medal test when they had fallen out.
"Sorry to hear about Sam."
"Are you?" He didn't believe it.
"Oh, c'mon Alex. I know how you feel. It happened to me as well, y'know," she said. "Nigel and me, we were just getting used to each other and his parents up and move to America."
"Yeah, I know," he said. Then he gave a sigh, "What do you want, Diane?"
"Why should I want anything?"
"Because you're being nice," he said. "Only last year you deliberately ruined my skates to try and make Samantha and me lose our first competition."
"That wasn't me," she said.
"Oh, come on, Diane," he said. She was silent for a moment.
"You still won, didn't you?" she said. "I was wrong about you. You could be a darn good skater-you are a darn good skater. You rank higher than me in the club nowadays."
"It isn't going to work, Diane," he said. "We don't like each other enough to be partners again-remember how it was?"
"I was just playing with an idea," she said. "Look, we're both trying for inter-silver. We are both working for the Juniors-and we both need partners."
He sighed and shook his head. She gave him a rare smile.
"Think about it, Alex," she said. "We know each
other's skating-do we have to like each other as well?" She skated off into the crowd. Alex watched her go.
"That's the whole point," he said to himself. "Liking each other."
5.
The Icing on the Cake.
Toby came out of the storeroom holding a huge, square, cake tin.
"Told you we'd get one somewhere," he said in triumph.
"Look at the size of it," said Alex. "How many people are coming to the wedding for heaven's sake?"
"I dunno, we haven't really discussed it," said Toby examining the tin closely. "Hm, it should clean up all right."
"Don't they usually have three or four layers?"
"Tiers," corrected Toby. "She just wants one big square cake-I think she's frightened she'll be hidden behind it at the reception, else. Anyway, you can be more adventurous with the decorations on a single tier."
Toby and Alex were the only two boys in the home economics class. Alex had only chosen home economics as a subject to keep Toby company.
It was virtually a free period for him. Miss Talbot, the teacher, tended to ignore him. Toby was the star of the class.
"And your sister has seriously asked you to make her wedding cake?" Alex said. "I thought you couldn't stand the sight of her?"
"We've got this sort of love-hate relationship."
"You have?"
"Yeah, she loves me and I hate her," grinned Toby. "Anyway, it's cheaper than buying her a wedding present."
"It's a big thing though, isn't it, Toby," said Alex, "trusting you with the cake."
"Eh? Don't you think I'm up to it?" Toby was so taken aback he stopped polishing the inside of his tin.
"Of course you are," sighed Alex, who was well aware of his friend's capabilities. Toby lived his whole life in the world of food and was intent on training to be a chef when he left school. "I just mean trusting you not to throw it at her head during one of your arguments."