Chapter 11: Getting Closer

	Over the next couple of weeks, Yume worked harder on her skating 
than she ever had before. Her new regime made her Olympic training look 
like mere child’s play in comparison. She was determined to earn Mikhail’s 
respect as a partner, but it seemed that no matter how hard she tried, he 
still refused to truly acknowledge her.

	“Hey, where are you going, Yume?” Fool asked one night after 
almost everybody else had gone to bed. The Spirit of the Stage had become 
an almost permanent fixture in her life, a fact she was reluctantly 
starting to accept.

	“The rink,” she replied, grabbing her skates. “There’s something I 
need to work on.”

	“This late at night? Doesn’t that partner of yours realize you 
need your rest?”

	Yume shook her head. “This is something I’m doing for myself. 
Mikhail and Coach Wong know nothing about it,” she said as she left the 
dorm. “Don’t worry. I won’t be gone long.”

	Yume thought she had finally come across a way to impress Mikhail: 
by mastering the triple axel. She could tell he hated having to lessen his 
technical skills to match hers, but if she could just learn to land the 
triple axel consistently, they would have the toughest side-by-side triple 
jumps ever done by a pair, even out-doing Mikhail and his former partner. 
The most difficult jumps they ever tried together in competition were 
side-by-side triple loops, the same as all the other top-ranked couples, 
although she knew Mikhail was capable of triple axels. She often saw him 
doing them in during warm-ups, beautiful jumps that made Yume wonder why 
he had ever decided to become a pairs skater when he obviously had the 
talent to become a world-class men’s champion. For her, though, the triple 
axel remained her nemesis.

	“Shimatta!” Yume cursed under her breath, getting up and brushing 
off the tiny shards of ice that stuck to the back of her practice clothes 
from yet another fall. “Why can’t I ever seem to get this?”

	Even though her body was begging for her to go back to her room 
and soak in a nice, warm bath, she tried the jump again. That time when 
she fell, however, Yume stayed where she was and sighed.

	“This is hopeless, absolutely hopeless…”

	“What are you doing out there?” someone asked in a thick Russian 
accent.

	Startled, Yume looked up and saw Mikhail standing at the boards, 
his skates slung casually over his shoulder. *Oh, great. What is he doing 
here?* she wondered. She wasn’t expecting anybody, much less him, to show 
up at the rink so late at night.

	“You are going to break your neck if you keep jumping like that.”

	Purposely ignoring him, Yume stood back up and tried another 
unsuccessful attempt at the axel.

	“You are doing it all wrong,” he criticized, sitting down on one 
of the bleachers around the ice and putting on his skates.

	Annoyed, Yume skated over to the boards. “What do you think you’re 
doing?”

	“I’m making sure my partner doesn’t kill herself before opening 
night,” he said, stepping onto the ice. “Watch this.”

	As Yume watched, Mikhail performed a magnificent triple axel that 
practically took Yume’s breath away. It was almost as if he was flying 
across the ice, and when he came down, the landing was soft and smooth, 
like a knife cutting through butter. He made the difficult edge jump look 
as easy as walking. 

	“See? That is how you do a triple axel.”

	Despite her awe, Yume rolled her eyes. “I already know you are a 
fantastic jumper. You don’t have to be such a show-off.”

	“Do you want me to teach you the jump or not?”

	“You…want to teach me how to do the triple axel?” Yume asked, 
unable to hide her surprise. He was actually offering to help her? During 
practices, Mikhail always seemed so exasperated whenever May had to stop 
and explain a move to her that he could probably do in his sleep.

	“Is that a problem?”

	“N-No, of course not.” She skated over to him, apprehensive, yet 
curious. “Okay, what am I doing wrong?”

	“You think too much,” Mikhail said without pause. “You are much 
too stiff. When you do the axel, you must go into it with confidence, or 
else you will never land it.”

	“That’s easy enough for you to say. You’re one of the best skaters 
in the world,” Yume said, sighing.

	“And you are not?”

	Yume’s eyes widened at the unexpected question. “Um…well…I --”

	“You know, I can’t stand weak partners,” he said, interrupting 
her. “If I had known you were so…wishy-washy, I never would have agreed to 
partner with you.”

	And there it was, her worst fear confirmed. She had long suspected 
it, but to hear Mikhail say the words aloud felt like a slap in the face. 
However, Yume refused to let him have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. 
“Why did you pick me then?” she asked instead, remembering the question 
she had asked May a couple of days after they began skating together. 
“Wouldn’t you have been happier pairing with somebody more on your 
technical level, like Clarissa or Dominique?”

	To Yume’s surprise, he didn’t answer right away. She thought he 
might be ignoring her, yet Mikhail made no move to leave, a thoughtful 
look on his normally expressionless face.

	“You were different from the other girls,” he finally said. “At 
the audition, all the other girls tried to follow my lead and failed, but 
you --”

	“Yeah, I know, I know. I basically gave you the symbolic middle 
finger and did my own thing.” Yume felt her cheeks warm at the reminder. 
She never had properly apologized for her behavior at the audition. “I‘m 
sorry. I shouldn‘t have done that.”

	“Why not?”

	“What do you mean?” she asked, incredulous. “I completely 
disrespected you that day. I mean, you’re the reigning Olympic champion, 
and I was just a beginning pairs skater. I had no business taking over the 
routine like that, even if I thought you were making the choreography much 
too difficult for an improvised program.”

	“So, you caught onto that?”

	“Of course I did. It was obvious to everybody at the audition. A 
person would have to be blind not to see what you were doing.”

	“Yet you were the only one who decided to do something about it,” 
he reminded her. “I…liked that.”

	“What?!”

	Yume would not have been more shocked than if Mikhail had told her 
he was actually an alien from another planet. Even more astonishing, 
however, was the fact that Mikhail began to laugh. In the short time she 
had known him in person, she had never, ever seen the Ice Prince smile, 
much less chuckle, yet there he was in the middle of the ice, laughing so 
hard that his face was turning red.

	“Mikhail?”

	“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologized, wiping away a tear of 
laughter from his eye before becoming serious once again. “Yume, in answer 
to your question, I chose you to be my new partner because I thought you 
would challenge me. At the audition, you were the only one who showed any 
kind of independence, any kind of…what’s the word? Spunk.”

	“But pairs skating isn’t supposed to be about being independent. 
It’s about two people skating together as one, isn’t it?”

	“Yes, but as equals.”

	“I don’t understand.” To Yume, who had grown up in a culture where 
men were traditionally thought to be the stronger, more dominant sex, 
while women were supposed to be submissive, the idea of a totally equal 
partnership was fairly foreign to her.

	“Each partner in a pair needs to be able to carry his or her own 
weight,” Mikhail explained. “Until tonight, though, all you have been 
doing is depending on me instead of improving yourself, haven‘t you?”

	“No, I haven’t! I --”

	Yume stopped mid-sentence, realizing the truth of his words. From 
the moment they became official partners, she had been letting Mikhail 
dominate her. She never made any suggestions during their private ice time 
with May; she never insisted they try things her way instead of his. Since 
Mikhail was the current Olympic champion and she was just an upstart in 
pairs, Yume just assumed that he and May knew best and always did what 
they told her in the hopes that she would one day become the kind of 
partner worthy of a true champion. Evidently, that was not what he wanted.

	“Mikhail…” She started to apologize, but he shook his head.

	“Let’s work on that axel, okay?”

	Nodding her agreement, Yume decided from that moment on she would 
try harder to stand on her own two feet when it came to her skating, and 
the first thing she was going to do was learn how to land a consistent 
triple axel. 

	Mikhail was a surprisingly good teacher. Because her old coach in 
Japan had never tried to land a triple axel herself, Coach Hasegawa had 
never been adequately able to explain to Yume the subtle differences 
between performing the double and the triple. Mikhail, on the other hand, 
had plenty of experience to draw from, which he used to help Yume modify 
her technique on the axel so that she could spin higher and faster in the 
air. Within the hour, her consistency on the jump nearly doubled. It still 
wasn’t quite good enough to think about putting in the show, but with a 
little more practice, it was possible it would be.

	By that time, it was getting late, so Mikhail suggested they stop 
for the night. A part of Yume wanted to continue, pumped up by her 
progress, but her body was beginning to feel the signs of fatigue. 
Fighting back a yawn, she plopped down beside Mikhail on the bleachers and 
began unlacing her skates.  

	“Mikhail, may I ask you a question?” 

	From his spot beside her, Mikhail gave a soft grunt as he pulled 
off his skate. Yume took it to mean “yes.”

	“Why are you a pairs skater?” she asked, remembering the thought 
she had the first time she ever saw him land the triple axel. “I mean, you 
are obviously a very strong jumper --”	

	“Just not strong enough,” he interrupted, and sighed. “My coach -- 
the one I had before Coach Wong -- used to say that I was born thirty 
years too late. I was never able to land a quad, and you aren’t anybody in 
men’s competitive figure skating these days if you don’t have at least a 
quad toe and a quad salchow in your arsenal. Coach Kazakov suggested if I 
ever wanted to be successful in my skating, it would be best if I switched 
to pairs, so I did.”

	“It was good you did. You and Tatiana Pekrovskaya were the perfect 
pair. It must have been so amazing to win the gold medal at the Oly--”

	To Yume’s surprise, Mikhail abruptly stood up. “You should 
probably get back to your dorm room now,” he said, his voice losing a bit 
of the kindness he had shown up until then. “It’s getting late.”

	Looking down at her watch, Yume saw that it was almost midnight. 
Fool would be wondering what had happened to her if she didn’t get back to 
her room soon. “Oh, I didn’t realize it was so late!” she exclaimed, 
quickly jamming her feet back in her sneakers without tying them and 
grabbing her duffel bag. “Um, thank you for helping me with my triple 
axel. I really appreciate it.”

	“It was nothing,” he said, and left without saying goodbye.

*****

	The next time Yume saw Mikhail wouldn’t be until their afternoon 
practice with May the next day. She thought she caught a glimpse of him 
when she and Clarissa were leaving the cafeteria after breakfast to head 
to their yoga class, but he passed by too quickly for Yume to be certain, 
most likely in a hurry to get his meal before they stopped serving.

	“Yume?” Clarissa lightly touched her arm. “Something wrong?” she 
asked, noticing Yume looking back at the door to cafeteria. “Did you 
forget something at the table?”

	Yume turned back around and shook her head. “No, it’s nothing,” 
she said. “I just thought I saw something. I probably just imagined it. 
Come on, let‘s go.”

	When they arrived at the room where the yoga class was held, they 
discovered they were among the first to arrive. Only Zoe Alexander was 
there, going through her pre-class warm-up. Noticing them at the door, she 
waved them over.

	“Yume, Clarissa, over here!”

	“Um, I think I’m going to set up in the back,” Clarissa said to 
Yume. “You can set up over there if you want.”

	“What? Why? You were the one who wanted to come early today so we 
could get a good spot.”

	“Yeah, but --”

	“Is it because of Zoe?” Yume guessed, frowning. She and Zoe, along 
with Zoe’s best friend Becca, had become casual friends over the past 
couple of weeks. They didn‘t see each other much due to their differing 
schedules, but sometimes they would hang out in between practices. “She’s 
a nice girl, you know. It’s not her fault that Jason has a huge crush on 
her.”

	“I know, and it’s not like I blame her or anything, but --”

	“Then don’t be rude. Let’s join her.” Taking Clarissa by the arm, 
Yume pulled her in Zoe’s direction. “Hey, Zoe!”

	“Hi!” the contortionist greeted them. “You two are early today.”

	“Clarissa is always complaining about not being able to see the 
teacher properly, so we thought we’d get here early and stake out a good 
spot.”

	“Oh, is this a good enough spot, Clarissa? We can move if you 
want.”

	“It’s…fine,” Clarissa replied, setting her mat on the other side 
of Yume, who had taken the place on Zoe’s right.

	Yume sighed when she saw the hurt look that flashed in Zoe’s eyes 
at Clarissa‘s less than friendly reply. A person would expect a girl of 
Zoe’s obvious beauty and talent to be quite popular, but from what Yume 
saw, she was a bit of a loner, only really hanging out with Becca, who had 
been her best friend since childhood. Though there was no shortage of guys 
who liked her, none ever seemed to approach her, most likely afraid of 
getting on Kalos’ bad side. As for the girls, they were either jealous of 
the attention the boys paid to her or called her a no-talent hack who only 
got her job because of her daddy’s influence behind her back. Yume felt 
sorry for her and had been hoping to introduce her and Becca into the 
skaters’ group, but Clarissa wasn’t going to make it easy.

	It wasn’t long before Clarissa’s partner Jason arrived as well, 
evidently deciding to come early to get a seat by Zoe. His eyes lit up 
with glee when he saw Yume and Clarissa sitting near her, and he 
immediately set his mat on the other side of Zoe instead of Clarissa.  

	“This spot isn’t taken, is it?” he asked Zoe, who had resumed her 
stretches.

	“Hmm, what?” Zoe glanced over at Jason and shrugged. “Take it if 
you want,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s a free 
country.”

	“Thanks.” Jason looked like a kid on Christmas morning who had 
just received the present he wanted from Santa.

	Clarissa, on the other hand, was visibly annoyed. “I should have 
taken that spot when I had the chance,” she muttered low enough so that 
only Yume could hear. 

	“Clarissa…”

	“Sorry, but I hate how Jason‘s always drooling over that girl. Why 
can‘t he look at me like that?”

	“Something wrong?” Zoe asked, interrupting them. Fortunately, she 
didn’t seem to be aware of what they had been talking about.

	“Ah, it’s nothing,” Yume said, thinking quickly. “Clarissa was 
just complaining about how sore she always feels after yoga class.”

	“Oh, maybe I can give you some pointers, Clarissa. I know --”

	“I’m fine, thanks,” Clarissa said curtly before laying down on her 
side to do some leg lifts, facing away from them.

	“Did I do or say something to upset her?” Zoe asked Yume in a 
whisper.

	“It’s not you, Zoe. She’s just frustrated and taking it out on 
you, that’s all. It’s not your fault.”

	“Oh, I see.” The contortionist frowned. “If she’s having trouble 
with yoga, I wouldn’t mind helping her out some.”

	“Um, I don’t think it’s yoga that’s giving her problems…” Yume 
said, amazed by how oblivious Zoe was to Jason‘s crush on her.

	On the other side of Zoe, Jason had maneuvered himself into an 
advanced yoga pose in an none-too-subtle attempt to impress her. “Zoe, how 
does this look? Am I doing it right?”

	“Yeah, great,” she said, barely glancing in his direction.

	Yume sighed and shook her head in mild exasperation. It appeared 
this love triangle between Clarissa, Jason, and Zoe was doomed from all 
angles.

*****

	“Clarissa, I don’t think Zoe even likes Jason in that way,” Yume 
said later at lunch while they waited for Pilar and Elizaveta to join them 
at their usual table in the cafeteria. “She barely paid him any attention 
at all, so you really shouldn‘t consider her competition.”

	“Why is it so important to you that I like Zoe Alexander?” 
Clarissa asked. “I don’t understand. Be friends with her if you want, but 
I don’t see why I have to.”

	Yume shrugged, moving the contents of her salad around with a 
fork. “I just thought it would be nice if we could be friends with some of 
the other performers, and Zoe always seems so lonely.”

	“Lonely? Hah! That girl has boys following her around everywhere 
she goes. Did you see all the guys around us today in yoga?”

	“Just because she’s popular with the boys doesn’t mean she’s 
friends with them.”

	Clarissa frowned. “Well, I guess that’s true,” she admitted. 
“Still, I can’t help but --”

	“Hey, what are you two talking about?” Pilar asked, taking the 
seat across from Clarissa. Elizaveta was right behind her.

	“Zoe Alexander,” Yume replied.

	“That contortionist with rubber for bones? What about her?”

	“Yume wants me to be friends with her for some reason,” Clarissa 
said.

	Yume shook her head. “No, not just you -- all of us.”

	“I don’t mind,” Pilar said, snatching a cookie from Clarissa‘s 
tray. “She’s Kalos’ daughter, right? Can’t hurt to have the boss’ kid on 
your side.”

	“Hey, that was mine!” Clarissa exclaimed, taking the cookie back.

	“Aw, come on, Clarissa, they were out by the time Liza and I got 
here, and you know oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite.”

	“Fine, we’ll share it.” Sighing, she snapped the cookie in two and 
handed one of the halves to Pilar. “You really don’t mind being friends 
with Zoe? You know she’s a total guy magnet.”

	“Hey, I’m not in competition with some sixteen year old. She can 
have all the teenage boys she wants. I prefer my men to be at least old 
enough to drink, which is more than I can say about some people…” She 
pointedly looked at Clarissa.

	Clarissa‘s cheeks burned a bright red that nearly matched her 
hair. “Oh, shut up. Jason’s only a couple of years younger than I am, and 
we’re both legally adults. It’s not like I’m looking to rob the cradle. 
Besides, I remember you thought he was hot, too.”

	“Well, I’m not blind…”

	“Can we please get back on topic?” Yume asked, turning to 
Elizaveta, who had yet to say anything. “What about you, Liza? Would you 
mind being friends with Zoe?”

	“She seems nice enough to me,” the Polish girl said. “We have the 
same aerobics class together.”

	“Then it’s settled,” Yume decided, ignoring the glare Clarissa 
gave her. “I’ll invite Zoe and Becca Thomas to have lunch with us 
tomorrow.”

*****

	“Yume, wait up!”

	Yume, who had been on her way to the rink for her private practice 
with May and Mikhail, stopped and turned around. “Oh, hey, Zoe, Becca,” 
she said, smiling at the two girls who had called out to her. “I was 
hoping to run into you.”

	“You were?” Zoe asked, surprised. “Did you need something?”

	“No, I just wanted to apologize for the way Clarissa treated you 
in yoga class today. She’s usually not that rude.”

	Zoe shrugged. “It’s okay, really. I’m used to it. A lot of people 
think I was only allowed to join Kaleido Stage because of my family 
connections, so…”

	“It’s still rude!” Becca said, looking furious on her best friend
‘s behalf. “If they would just give you half a chance, they’d see right 
away how talented you are, Zoe! Sometimes I wonder if you even think you 
deserve to be here yourself.”

	“Becca…”

	“You two are really close, aren’t you?” Yume mused, struck by the 
obviously strong bond between them. She had never experienced that kind of 
lifelong friendship. “But, honestly, Zoe, your family connections have 
nothing to do with Clarissa’s feelings toward you.”

	“Then what is it?” the contortionist asked. “I don’t remember 
doing or saying anything to her that would make her dislike me so much.”

	Yume frowned, unsure of what to tell her. Clarissa never mentioned 
her crush on Jason was a secret, but it didn’t feel right to tell Zoe and 
Becca about it without her permission. On the other hand, Zoe deserved an 
explanation for Clarissa’s rude behavior, especially if they were ever 
going to get past it. “I can’t really get into specific details,” she 
finally said, “but it’s a guy thing. There’s somebody she really likes a 
lot, but he only has eyes for you, and it frustrates her. That‘s why she 
doesn‘t like you.”

	“Oh, I see. Is the guy Jason Kerry, by any chance?”

	Yume’s eyes widened in mild surprise. She thought Zoe had been 
oblivious to Jason’s crush on her. “You noticed?”

	“Not at first, no, but by the end of today’s yoga class, I kind of 
suspected it,” Zoe said with a shrug. “He’s Clarissa’s pairs partner, 
right? Well, you can tell Clarissa that she doesn’t have to worry. I’m 
sure Jason’s a great guy, but he just isn’t my type.”

	“You should tell her yourself, tomorrow at lunch. I’d really like 
for you two to join us if you don‘t have any other plans.”

	Zoe and Becca exchanged a look that was like a silent, private 
conversation between the two of them. “Are you sure the others won’t mind, 
Yume?” Becca asked, reaching for Zoe‘s hand. “We don’t want to cause 
trouble between you and your friends.”

	“But you guys are my friends, too, right?” Yume pointed out. “I 
just want us to all get along. Pilar and Elizaveta don’t mind, and I’m 
sure once Zoe tells Clarissa that she has absolutely no interest in Jason, 
Clarissa will warm up to her. Please, come join us.”

	“One lunch wouldn’t hurt, I guess,” Zoe decided. “I would like to 
clear up this misunderstanding with Clarissa.”

	“Are you sure, Zoe?” Becca asked.

	Zoe nodded, and Yume grinned, happy they had agreed. “Great! We’ll 
see you tomorrow, then. We’ll be at our usual table.” She glanced down at 
her watch and realized that if she didn’t hurry, she would be late for 
practice. “Oops, sorry, gotta run! Bye!”

	Yume arrived at the rink with only a couple of minutes to spare. 
May, who was a stickler for punctuality, shot her a glare as she came in. 
“Cutting it close, Yume.”

	“Sorry, Coach,” Yume said, sitting down to put on her skates.

	Mikhail, of course, was already on the ice, warming up for their 
practice. Though unsure of how he would react to her after how the 
previous night’s triple axel lesson ended, Yume took a chance and gave him 
a small wave when she caught him glancing in her direction. To her 
complete and utter shock, after a moment of hesitation, he waved back.

	Was it possible? Was the Ice Prince actually starting to thaw a 
little?

	After lacing up her skates, Yume stepped out on the ice and began 
her warm-up, skating a couple of laps around the rink by herself. She and 
Mikhail tended to go through warm-ups on their own, so she wasn’t 
surprised when he didn’t join her. Once she got a feel for the ice, Yume 
began doing some easy jumps and spins, aware that Mikhail’s eyes were 
following her as he took a break at the boards to get a drink of water.

	*Why is he staring at me like that?* Yume wondered. She didn’t 
mind, exactly, but it was disconcerting when he usually ignored her 
existence during the warm-up period. She popped an easy triple toe loop, 
distracted by his sudden interest in her.

	“Oh, great,” she muttered, “that’ll leave a good impression.”   

	Yume expected him to give up watching her after the pop and resume 
his own warm-up, but Mikhail stayed where he was, arms crossed over his 
chest and still staring at her with those icy blue eyes of his. It was 
like he was silently challenging her to do something to blow his mind. 
*The triple axel, then,* Yume decided, fully prepared to take on the 
challenge if that was what he wanted.

	She picked up speed and launched herself in the air, taking off 
from the left forward outside edge. Her body spun three times in the air, 
but she didn’t have quite enough time to complete the last half-turn 
necessary for the axel, causing her to fall on the landing. From her spot 
on the ice, Yume sighed and glanced over at Mikhail, who was skating over 
to her.

	“Nice attempt,” he said, offering his hand to help her off the 
ice. “Your speed going into it was good, but you spun a little too slow in 
the air.” 

	“Um, thanks, I guess,” Yume said, allowing him to pull her back 
up.

	“We’ll work on it some more tonight.”

	“Tonight?” She blinked, letting go of his hand.

	“Oh, do you have other plans?”

	“No, not really… You want to have another triple axel practice?”

	Mikhail rubbed at the back of his neck. “If you want. I mean, I 
just assumed --”

	“No, if you don’t mind, that sounds great,” she said, surprised, 
but pleased by his offer to continue teaching her the axel. “Is nine o’
clock okay with you?”

	“Sounds fine.”

	As he skated away to resume his warm up, Yume watched his back, 
dumbfounded. 

	Mikhail Vladimirov was certainly full of surprises.


DISCLAIMER: Kaleido Star doesn’t belong to me.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: Any comments and criticisms can be sent to me at 
ElysionDream@aol.com.