The Hockey Star and the Ice Princess (Complete)

Ch. 38 - Nationals

Nationals were being held in Las Vegas and Cain was on the road with the hockey team so it was just going to be Rachel, Coach Sumners and his wife Gladys going. Spencer had really wanted to go but he couldn't afford the price of a plane ticket and their Mom refused to pay for it.

Rachel had never been to Las Vegas so she was excited but nervous about how she was going to do at Nationals. The flight there was really smooth and as soon as they landed they went to the Luxor hotel to get checked in. It was really nice and looked like a pyramid from Egypt. She had a room all to herself. 

They arrived two days before Nationals so that they would have a day to explore and sight see and then a day to get ready. They got there early in the day and after they checked in they walked around the city to do some sightseeing. The casinos were so beautiful. One of them actually having a gondola ride right through the middle inside the building and it looked like you were in Venice Italy and another one looked like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They ate at a buffet that was so incredible because it had cuisines from all over the world to sample and Coach and his wife surprised her with tickets to see a Cirque De Soleil show that had crazy flying acrobats. 

Rachel had never gambled before but Coach insisted that the three of them try some blackjack and slot machines just to say they did it. She was losing for quite a while but then she ended up hitting the big jackpot on one of the slot machines and winning $1,000. They were all shocked and she jumped up and down and squealed with excitement. $1,000 to her was a lot of money. 

She had a great time with her Coach and his wife and they really did feel like her family. Even though her real family and Cain weren't there to support her she felt okay about it because Coach Sumners and Gladys were there and everyone else would be watching it live on TV and cheering her on. 

The figure skaters were given specific practice times at the rink where Nationals would be held so that night she was able to run through both her long and short program a few times. She was feeling really confident. She knew these routines by heart and she had gotten her jumps to where she felt just as secure about them as she did before she stopped skating. 

On the day of Nationals her traveling nurse checked in to make sure that her anxiety medication dose was high enough to keep her anxiety in check and she said it was. She was feeling really good. 

When it was time for her short program she skated out to center ice and looked around at the huge arena. It was as big as the one the Olympics had been held in. She took her starting position and hit her pose and the fast upbeat music started to play and she did quick footwork across the ice. She hit her first quad and the crowd went wild. She smiled and felt energized by their screams and cheers and she actually enjoyed every second of her routine. 

When she sat down to get her scores she had all 6.0's except for one 5.9. The crowd cheered wildly and she hugged her coach and he said, "Good job kid. That's the way to start it off!" 

She went backstage to the dressing room and got changed into her white sparkly outfit for her long program and got her hair and makeup all ready.  Then she walked around in the hallway and did some stretches, drank some water and massaged her muscles to stay loose. 

Her phone rang and it was Cain. 

"Hey babe!" she answered with a smile. 

"Hey! Your short program was great. You were on fire." 

"Thank you! It felt great. I'm at the top of the leaderboard." 

"That's amazing. Good job. I'm glad to see you're hydrating and massaging your muscles. Coach would be happy."

"What? How did you know I was doing that?" she asked. "Are they showing me on TV right now or something." 

"No," he laughed. "Turn around."