ENTANGLEMENT
Chapter 1
Warm-up block - Miriam
The warm-up block is an element every team presents on ice before the start of the program. It is presented in a block formation, usually consisting of the same, or similar steps for each team, adjusting difficulty on different age levels. In most cases, the team skates forward through the length of the ice, at the end either switching arms or turning backwards to skate back, ‘bumps’ from the end of the ice and skates towards the middle, where they either stop, or present themselves to judges and skate towards their starting positions.
The end of May brought heat waves, sleepless nights, and first bruises. Miriam Waters was getting sick of all three, but as she staggered out of the sultry classroom, she was ready to forget about any displeasures. Neither seem as much of a bother anymore: nor three hours of sitting in a closed space with a broken air conditioning, nor her curls, previously tied on top of her head, currently damp and sticking to her forehead. As of precisely two minutes ago, Miriam finished and handed in her last exam of the year, meaning that she was officially done with her second year of BSc Physics.
The summer had finally begun.
The rough temperature was impossible to hide from, and for a moment Miriam wondered what kind of genius designed the biggest building on campus to basically be a giant terrarium – the sun was breaking through the glass as if it wanted to fry already struggling students. Another wave of undergraduates left the classroom, discussing the questions, complaining about confusing problems, loudly proclaiming their summer travelling plans. Miriam moved to the side to let them through as she waited to find a familiar silver-haired head between a sea of people. The university had one of the best physics programs in the country, and consequentially, it was the biggest course. The physics department had its own building, completely redesigned just a few years ago in the modern style of what Miriam liked to call ‘ugly’.
But before she could focus on the hatred towards the modern architecture, someone grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the crowd. Fighting the urge to jump out of her skin, Miriam pushed her nails into the palms of her hands, turning towards a familiar face.
“Dorian,” she began, slowly breathing in to calm her racing nerves, “do you like giving me a heart attack?”
Dorian seemed to have no remorse for her pains, instead grinning as he put an arm around her shoulders. “I’m so going to pass. The last page was tricky, but I figured it out literally two minutes before the end. I was writing so quickly that I’m not sure if they will read my handwriting. Do you think they can fail me for that?”
“I’m pretty sure they can.” The two of them smoothly walked towards the exit, manoeuvring between the student masses – some doing final revisions before entering the hell of the examination room, some breathing out with relief after leaving. “I’m so excited to get a full night’s sleep.”
For the past month, Miriam sat an exam after exam, spending all her nights studying, solving multiplex problem sheets, and rewriting all of her notes. Even if she subtracted the study sessions with Dorian, especially the ones that ended in watching movies or falling asleep in the library, most of her time was spent on studying. She didn’t expect anything else
she knew how demanding the program was, she also knew that they were offered opportunities not available anywhere else. In the end, it was all going to be worth it.
Sometimes, Miriam could already see herself at graduation, receiving her certificate with first class. Applying to the best physics labs in the country, getting scholarships, getting another degree... she had it all planned.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Dorian held the door, letting her out first, “though I believe we deserve a nice little something for acing our final.”
Ahead of them rose the library building – one of few on the campus left in the old architecture style. As much as campus was divided between schools, buildings between departments, halls between courses, the library was a no-man’s land. With two coffee shops on the ground floor, amazing interiors and thousands of books, there was just as many English Lit students as future doctors and nurses. Most of the time Miriam came here for an all-night session of writing, equipped with snacks and blankets, but on some days, like today, she came with Dorian to grab a coffee and watch. As their days at the university were passing, the deadlines creeped in their calendars, the two found relief in the suffering of other students: the ones rushing through the gates, arms filled with books, or those sipping coffee as they slowly walked in, or those on their fifth smoking break, crying over the phone. Every person had a story. If Miriam hadn’t chosen physics, she would be a psychology student. She yearned to get into others’ people heads, to know them better than they knew themselves, yet at the very same time, refused to look inside her own.
As the two of them stretched across a giant couch, ignoring the devious looks from other students who clearly planned to sit there, Miriam leaned the cup filled with clinking ice over her knee. She slowly released breath as the coldness broke through the fabric of her jeans and reached the giant bruise forming on her knee. It wasn’t the first one, it wasn’t even the only one she had at the moment, but definitely the most painful.
As Miriam learned yesterday, the more she learned, the more she failed. Synchronised skating was a completely different discipline from the academia of physics. Of course, skating was heavily impacted by physics, but learning about the theory and actually applying it on, while wearing knives on her feet was- painful. For the past two weeks Miriam was focusing on her stretches and spirals. Despite not being able to see a progress, she was too determined to stop. As she skated a spiral across the rink yesterday, she tripped over one of the many holes left by someone’s blades, bluntly failing. The only thing that saved her face from being covered in bruises, was the knee that took most of the impact instead. Thank God, it ended only with a bruise.
A loud thud brought her back to reality as she looked at a guy who dropped a stack of books. They slid across the floor, and whilst most students quickly rushed to leave the scene of crime, two stopped to help collecting the volumes. The guy looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“Literature,” Dorian said without hesitation, sipping his iced coffee. “Third year. I actually feel sorry for him.”
Like on command, the strap in the boy’s overflowing bag ripped off from his arm. Miriam sucked in her breath, turning her head back.
“Lit, sure. But first year. By third, he’ll learn to find PDFs for everything. Or to lie in his references.”
Dorian’s response was muffled by an alarm ringing on Miriam’s phone – she felt angry looks as she rushed to turn it off. “Duty calls. Is he still all over the floor? I’ll feel like a bitch just walking around.”
Exam season or not, Miriam prided herself in keeping her word. Of course, her time blindness and messiness meant that she missed her appointments, forgot to upload already finished assignments on time, or turned on the fire alarm multiple times in a week. Nobody could say that she wasn’t trying hard enough. Over her desk towered a bunch of notebooks, calendars and loose papers, most filled in about 23% before being abandoned for a ‘new method that will definitely work for her this time’. On the wall in her bedroom, kitchen,
bathroom even, hang a calendar (Dorian was the one that always made sure they were on the correct month), and her phone was always filled with reminders and ignored notifications.
“He’s gone,” Dorian confirmed, leaning over her shoulder. “Also, I’m proud that you still haven’t missed one practice.”
It wasn’t the first time Miriam found herself a ‘life-changing’ hobby – besides physics, she also had plans to study Dutch literature, become an early 15th century renaissance historian, fashion designer for a maternity line, football player once, and about every two months she brought back to life her cooking Instagram.
“It’s different with skating,” she had told Dorian, two weeks into her practice. Dorian didn’t say anything back then, but he doubted it was.
“I’m actually impressed,” he told her, another two weeks later. “You’re following with it pretty well.”
Proudly carrying the title of her best friend, Dorian didn’t have an ounce of guilt for doubting her determination for figure skating. The only thing he made sure of, was to never bring this doubt in her. They were friends for nearly fifteen years – there came a certain responsibility with that kind of mutual trust, and one of their many, many promises, was to always support one another.
Right now, nearly four months after her first practice with the team, Dorian was still impressed.
“While I get the sentiment, how are you... dealing with this?”
Miriam’s hand froze mid-air as she was gathering her stuff. How was she dealing with this? The same way she dealt with everything for the past two years, she wanted to answer. Instead, she grinned and stood up energetically.
“Come on, Doris, there’s nothing to deal with. It only makes sense to train your body like you train your brain. Did you not listen to the guest lecture last week?”
Miriam never claimed to be a good liar, especially not with Dorian. He was the one person who could read her like an open book. But there were things that she wasn’t ready to discuss with anyone, not even him. She was too busy right now to deal with anything that wasn’t skating or physics. Besides, she did ten hours of counselling in the first year. That should be enough, right?
With every step towards the exit, the pain of the bruise was gradually replaced by the one in her chest.
With the ice rink being only five minutes of walk behind the university campus, Miriam could’ve spent more time with Dorian, relaxing before going for the practice. That, obviously, if only she’d remember to take her skating bag on her way to the exam. Instead, she left it somewhere in her bedroom, where she dropped it after last practice and completely forgot about until now. So, instead of enjoying herself in the chilly library, Miriam was sprinting through the street to catch any bus going towards her studio. By the time she jumped into the stuffy vehicle she was sweating and out of breath, which earned her a judging look from an older woman. The bus was so packed, that she decided to stay by the door and not push herself into the crowd – with the sunny weather, most, logically opted out for short sleeves and the last thing Miriam wanted was some wet skin-on-skin contact.
As if the universe heard her hopes, a wave of people pushed in on the next stop, with backpacks and bags, squeezing her in the tiny space between the glass door and handrail. At this point, Miriam couldn’t care less about getting closer home and jumped out on the next stop.
Upon entering her flat, Miriam barely had time to fill her water bottle, change, and switch her tote bag for the skating one. As quick as she came in, she came out, snacking on a granola bar she bought a few weeks ago, as an encouragement to a healthier lifestyle. It wasn’t exactly her favourite thing; she had no other option but to grind her teeth and suffer through the sticky bites of oat and dried strawberries. When her phone fallen out of her pocket, with the bar in her mouth and hands busy trying to gather the mess of her hair, she could just grind in frustration. She switched the hair to hold them with one hand, but before she could free the other one, someone grabbed the phone and passed it to her.
“You should be more careful.”
Staring at the girl in front of her Miriam completely let go of her hair, quickly swallowing the bar as she took her phone back.
“God, you’re hot. Sorry! I meant, thank you. I mean, you are, but I shouldn’t justyeah. Thank you.” She repeated, feeling her cheeks turn hot and she could only hope it was the weather’s fault.
But the girl – this beautiful, gorgeous, girl – didn’t seem to mind her talking, because she smiled, brushing hair behind her ear.
“Don’t worry. It’s always nice to hear a compliment from a cute girl. You’re heading somewhere?” The girl was wearing a short, summer dress, with the sleeves moved on her arms, leaving her dark shoulders bare. For a moment, Miriam wanted to shake her head, ask
her out and spend the rest of the day admiring her beauty. But the bag with skates weighted on her shoulder, a physical reminder that this time was different, that skating was more than another, two-weeks lasting hobby.
“Yes, sorry. I’m late, actually... Maybe I can get your number though? I mean, it’s a meet-cute straight from a book. I like tempting fate but even I know when it’s time to stop and listen.” Miriam never claimed to be good at flirting. She was easily flustered and seemed to throw out her brain, letting her mouth run wild. One time she opened the conversation with ‘wow, your name is Max? My old cat was Max, he died three years ago!’, and ever since she tried to keep her tongue behind her teeth.
But the girl laughed. Her laugh was so honest, so cheerful, that Miriam’s chest rose with warmth. Struck with confidence, she passed her phone back, watching as the girl typed in her number, smile not leaving her lips.
“I’ll text you... Diana,” Miriam read her name from the screen and smiled back. This whole situation was straight-out-of a romance book. Dorian will never believe her.
“I’ll be waiting,” Diana promised.
For a second – just a second more – Diana and Miriam looked at each other, before the latter remembered about her destination and lack of time. She threw a ‘bye!’ into the air, sprinting towards the ice rink arena. The building was quite short compared to the skyscrapers surrounding it; from a distance it seemed like the arena bowed to the taller buildings. Surrounded by stretching, wide stairs, modern built, with millions of pounds in the budget, this was supposed to be a place for everyone – concerts venues, shows, sports centre. In reality, the last sold-out event was almost five years ago, when a band from Korea did their final tour around Europe. Besides that, public had no access in most of the year, with the ice rink being fully occupied by various clubs. Even during the winter, the ice was made public only for a few months; enough to keep the interests, and not to note big loses. Because let’s be honest – there was only so many people remembering about ice skating in other months than December.
Most of those people belonged to one of the three local clubs. Starting off strong with the hockey club, Sharks, the current national champions in all age categories they had players in. Most of the halls was covered in pictures from their games, and most of the shelves was filled by the trophies brought back. Miriam’s only issue with them, was their lack of girls’ team – according to the interview with their coach, “Girls aren’t interested in bruises and broken teeth. Hockey is a tough business. You want to skate, put on some glitter, and go to Riversides.”
And whilst talking about Riversides...
Miriam stopped by the display opening the corridor to the changing rooms. It was small, but highly effective. So far, she stopped here every time she visited the rink. She liked to tell herself that it was because of the way the bright lights reflected in hundreds of crystals, but there was no point in lying; the main reason why she stopped here was jealousy. The display presented two models, one dressed in a bright, yellow dress, the other in a sky-blue suit with a subtle nod to a skirt’s shape by the waist. There were no tags, no information about the owners of the costumes, but Destiny from her team told her, that they were from skaters who retired while practicing with Riversides. There was a couple of pictures, some medals, and trophies, but compared to the amount of admiration the Sharks got, it was basically nothing. Still, sometimes Miriam looked at the costume and imagined herself in this kind of life. From all the stories she heard from her mum, it was the most spectacular – your, even if rivals, were some of the closest people you had. The warmth and glow of the lights as you stepped on the ice, from the audience. The hours, days, weeks spent on the practice, all for those five minutes in the highlight. Her mum. Every step into the ice rink was like walking on feathers and burning coals at the same time, sentiment and grief filling every part of her body. The pictures of girls in short dressed could be her mum’s, the medals could’ve had her name. She knew it was ridiculous, so ridiculous, but she couldn’t stop herself from thinking only about her. The cool air and smell of the ice felt like a touch of a ghost – she couldn’t recognise whether it was a good or a bad one. Whether it was the one to bring her calmness, good memories and gently brush her cheek, or the one to rip out her heart and skate over it until it shattered. The unknown didn’t stop her from coming yet.
As Miriam finished tying her skates, most of the team was ready to walk on the ice, doing some final stretches as they talked. Artemis was the youngest club here, with the smallest number of members and the smallest amount of attention. Not only synchronised skating was a smaller discipline worldwide, but Artemis was also one of the few clubs nationwide. With the strict age categories, there wasn’t enough interest for them to bloom like Sharks or Riversides. As if that wasn’t enough, during the four years of existence, Artemis didn’t have much luck with the competitions. Their coach, Lari, liked to call it a
‘rough patch’, but as two of their best skaters quit at the end of the season, nobody was fooled anymore.
Except for Miriam, apparently.
Before her thoughts could completely occupy her mind, a loud whistle sounded through the air, getting everyone up, steady, taking their positions. Hands behind their backs, chest up front, and feet positioned like a letter ‘T’, right one up front. With the whole team in identical outfits, standing in an arched line they looked like one creature – breathing, turning head on the same count. Despite being a part of the team for nearly four months, Miriam was still just as amazed as when she saw them for the first time. Every time she stood at the end of the arch, watching the rest of her teammates, the pride to be a part of this group effectively overtook the spits of jealousy for the Riversides skaters.
Here, your team were your best friends.
Despite the weather outside reaching well over 30 degrees, inside the building the temperature didn’t pass double-digits. For the warm-up, most of the team wore the team jackets, losing them a few minutes into the practice. Coach Lari, on the other hand, standing by the barriers for the full hour was dressed in a thick, long coat that could’ve been easily mistaken for a sleeping bag. With the whole team dressed in identical colours, Coach sometimes stood out, but as Miriam noticed, her hijab always matched the team’s shirts. Maybe it was all about the little details.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” Coach Lari started, before nodding towards Jeremy, “and gent. I hope everyone’s ready to give 110% today, because this will be our last ice practice before the summer camp.”
The team looked between each other, murmuring in a surprise, quickly shushed by the team captain, Claudia.
“Thank you. I know everyone is surprised, but the board got an unexpected donation last week and decided that a maintenance break is well needed. That also means that once we’re back from the camp in July, we will have the rest of the summer to practice in a newly refurbished arena. After today, all our practice will focus on flexibility, balance, and strength. I hope I don’t have to remind everyone that the off-ice practice is just as important as the one on ice, so I won’t tolerate any absence. But, since we don’t have the August break anymore, I will give everyone two weeks break before we dive into the deep waters. Any questions, keep them for the end. We have lots to work on today, so hop hop!”
Artemis rushed on the ice, leaving sets of hard guards on the barriers and ground by the gate. They started the first few minutes with a free skate, giving each other time to
properly warm up and focus on steps that weren’t their strongest elements. Miriam always felt lost in this part – everyone else seemed so confident in their skating, effortlessly turning between forwards and backwards, switching legs and raising them in spirals. Despite being a small team, with only twelve members, Miriam included, Artemis spread across the whole ice. With each practising a different element, some even spinning in the middle, they could successfully mimic a large, professional team. Or they would, if someone didn’t trip over their own blades, and two other skaters didn’t crash into each other. Not to say that professional teams didn’t fail – everyone had a worse day, obviously, but the level of skills was clearly... lower.
With a whistle coming through the air, Artemis began to gather in one corner, setting themselves in the position for a warm-up block. Consisting of three rows of four skaters, the warm-up block was an element where Miriam could see her lack of experience and skills the most. Whilst in most exercises she was able to keep up with her pair or row, the block added energy into the team that she just couldn’t keep up with. In most cases she just skated in her own speed on the side of the rink, but now Coach Lari waved her closer.
“I wanted to talk with you, Miriam.”
That didn’t sound good. Quickly looking over the rest of the team, Miriam skated towards the gate, where Coach signalled to Claudia to count down. Claudia’s ‘five, six, seven, and’ echoed through the arena, followed by a sound of pairs of blades sliding through the ice in a near perfect harmony.
“Is everything alright, Coach?” Miriam asked, standing in the position. Her fingers squeezed on each other as she twisted them around.
“There’s nothing to worry about, relax. I can see you’re getting worked up.” Coach smiled, her tone full of warmth. “I know you want to come for the camp, and I want you to come too, but at this point, I don’t know how much I can expect from you. I have to start working on the choreography soon, and I need to know your strengths. The team is only as strong as its weakest member.”
Miriam cleared her throat, despite the friendly tone feeling anxiety rise in her chest. “I understand.”
“I can tell you work very hard. You’ve been skating for just a few months, but your progress is clear. However, this season will be crucial for us. What I’m saying is, at this point I cannot include you in the main team. You’re just not there yet. I mean, look at them –
Claudia has been skating for the past fifteen years. Bea, almost eight. If it were a different team, a different season, you’d get right in, but I just cannot take this risk at the moment.”
The rest of the team just finished the warm-up block, skating off with their hands up, waving towards the invisible audience and judges. Big smiles on their lips. Confidence on their faces.
“I understand,” Miriam repeated quietly.
“I’m not saying you won’t get into the team mid-season. That happens. I just need to know whether you want to keep going. I know some people aren’t as motivated as other, and I can’t have you leaving mid-way ”
“I am motivated,” Miriam interrupted, raising her head. The anxiety was slowly overthrown by determination. “I understand why you won’t put me now, but I will prove that I have place in this team. I want to skate with them. I want to go to the competition.”
I want to win gold
Coach Lari scanned Miriam’s face for a moment before smiling and nodding. “Very well. I’ll be looking forward for it. Now get back with the rest. Like I said, we have lots to do today.”
Maybe it was the fact that the Coach seemed to believe her. Maybe she was rooting for Miriam. Maybe Miriam just started believed that this was real. She skated towards the team, already positioning themselves in three lines with a smile on her face.
Despite them all looking quite different, with the loud counting and beginning of synchronised crosswords, Artemis moved like one. It was nearly impossible to make difference between Bea and Destiny, or Eve and Alex. Miriam didn’t even spoke with most of the team, except for some small talk before or after practices. At this point they were more of acquaintances than teammates. But, as Claudia told her once, the camp was the heart of each season. This was the place where they got to know each other, spent every day together, ate each meal together. One would have to try hard to not bond with the rest of the team. It was also Miriam’s biggest chance to improve and show everyone what she was made of.
Triple Salchow – Jupiter
Triple Salchow is an edge jump in which the skater rotates three times. The skater takes off from the left foot inside edge and lands on the outside edge of right foot (opposite for the right-rotating skaters). In the take out, right foot extends behind the skater and stretches around until it reaches the front where it helps the skater spring into the air. At the same time, the skater draws their arms together. This is usually a first jump to learn as a double and triple due to having slightly less than full rotations, however, timing is crucial for a technically proper Salchow.
The house of the DeLuc family, in many aspects, reminded Jupiter of the dentist office their parents worked in. Walking from the outside, one was immediately welcomed by neatly trimmed grass, pastel pink flowers planted in perfect rows, number ‘82’ hanging on the side of the doors. Despite the rainy weather of the UK, the house always looked perfect. Coming inside, eggshell-coloured walls led potential guests towards an open space kitchen and living room. Jupiter suspected that the paint had the same shade as in the dentist office. The furniture stood in square shapes, the pillows laid exactly where they were supposed to lay, the plant on the table grew exactly how it was supposed to grow. The curtains never let in more lights than Mrs DeLuc would like to, and the tree outside never gave more shadow than she wished for. In short, the DeLuc family house listened entirely to Mrs DeLuc, bending at her commands.
The only bit out of order was currently crashed across the sofa.
It was well after ten am when Jupiter dragged themselves from the bed. They showered, washing their hair with a strawberry conditioner like they did every day. They put stabilising straps around their ankle, like they did every day. They walked down the stairs, to the kitchen, taking out the same bowl they did every day. They poured in some cereal, covered it with a yoghurt and sat in front of TV, like they did every day.
Whilst in the past Jupiter’s life was pretty monotonous, the past two years were like a nightmare time-loop. At this point they’ve seen nearly every TV show, read every book on their bookshelves (and their collection doubled) and spent most of their time blandly staring into the walls. Right now, Jupiter stretched, correcting the pillows they brought from upstairs
across the dark-leather sofa. The TV played one of many British competition shows – their newest discovery for boring days. As they scrolled through Instagram, skipping through the pictures of a few figure skaters they used to be clubmates with, their phone rang – there was no need to check the caller ID.
“Let me guess,” Jupiter started, not letting their mum speak up, “you just remembered someone is missing in the backseat.”