‘Ha ha ha.’ He stood up in his large boots and held out a hand. ‘Come on.’
Georgie took the hand, stood up, and swivelled really, really alarmingly.
‘I’m going to die,’ she said, when Raf had her vertical again. ‘We aren’t even on ice yet.’
‘It’s easier on the ice,’ he told her. ‘That’s where skates aremeantto be.’
‘Oh please.’ Georgie rolled her eyes as she began to inch forward towards the entrance to the rink.
‘Hi, so I’m Billie and I’m your instructor for today.’ Billie was a lot closer in age to Max than to Georgie and was wearing an all-in-one slinky orange skating outfit and had her black curls piled high on her head. She basically looked like a youthful goddess, who Georgie could never hope to emulate. ‘What are your aims from this session?’
‘I’d like to be able to perform a jump on ice,’ Georgie said.
‘Like this?’ Billie skated off, did a simultaneous jump and turn in the air and then came back.
‘I wouldloveto do that,’ Georgie said. ‘How much training would that take?’
‘Depends on your skill level and your commitment.’
‘Skill level low. Commitment high,’ Georgie said.
‘Amazing.’ Billie turned to Raf. ‘And what about you?’
‘No specific aims. Just to have fun.’
‘Amazing,’ Billie repeated. She looked at the two of them and smiled. ‘You’re cute together. I love teaching couples.’
‘Oh, no, I…’ Georgie said, but Billie was already skating off in goddess fashion.
Raf was laughing.
‘Come on.’ Billie turned and beckoned.
Raf pushed with one foot and off he went. Georgie stared at them both in horror and then set off walking along the side of the rink holding on to the side.
‘Over here,’ Billie called.
Georgie shook her head. ‘I literally can’t.’
‘You literallycan.’ Billie was a positivity goddess too. Her encouragement wasn’t going to work, though.
Maybe Georgie could do a jump holding on to a penguin.
Fifty minutes later, Billie had said, ‘Amazing,’a lot of times and Raf seemed to have learnt a lot and was on his way to being able to do an unaided waltz jump, whereas Georgie had fallen over a lot of times and still couldn’t skate by herself more than two feet away from the side.
‘Okay, you’ve both been amazing,’ Billie said. ‘Now we’re going to have some fun for the last ten minutes.’
‘Fun?’ Georgie was pretty sure she would be having no fun until she was out of her skates and well away from the rink.
‘Yes, we’re going to put some of your new skills together. With your chemistry, it’s going to be amazing.’
‘Chemistry?’ Georgie queried.
‘The two of you.’ Billie drew a heart shape with her finger between them. ‘It’s amazing. Sizzling. Now.’
Nonsense. Obviously alotof people would find Raf attractive, and yes Georgie might be one of those people, but she had definitely not been demonstrating that for the past hour while she’d been concentrating on avoiding breaking a bone.
Before Georgie could correct her, though, Billie took her arm and pulled her away from the side.
