Stretching deep into a split I try stretching my back in a way that would be commonly described as 'half-assed.'

I lace up my skates. They're fairly new so I've had to go through the strenuous process of breaking them in, though the fact I've worn the boots while doing random chores around the house has helped soften the blow. The Ice Fly model by Edea Skates is apparently 'the best pair of skates on the market at the moment.' At first I was a little hesitant but after finding out how much lighter the boot is that my previous pair of skates, my adversity towards new skates was basically forgotten. I switch my soft blade covers for the hard ones that protect the metal against any debris that could be lurking on the floor. I begin walking out of the locker room and out onto the ice. However I make sure to remove my blade guards before stepping onto the ice because last time I forgot to do that I fell flat on my butt in front of a midget Hockey team congregated in the bleachers.

Honestly the whole experience was mortifying. It's hard enough 'gaining' their respect as it is, being a figure skater and all. Technically this is their rink though, if the hockey banners hanging proudly above the two rinks didn't get the message across, the fact that Kettler Center Iceplex is home of the NHL's Washington Capitals should be hint enough.

Kettler isn't my 'home' rink, but it's conveniently located so more often than not I end up practicing here, plus since there's two rinks, there's more freestyle sessions than the likes of some other area rinks.

When I get out onto the ice I head to the Music booth and connect my phone to the auxillary cord. I pull up Spotify and put on my warm up playlist. It's my private ice time I have booked so no one else is allowed to be on the ice without my approval. That's why my domination of the rinks stereo system isn't an issue.

7/11 by Beyonce is the first song in the playlist and it really pumps me up for the rest of my skate. I start out by doing different footwork patterns. I start with brackets then end with twizzles. I go through all of my spiral sequences such as heel stretches and Biellmann's. Which I admit is fairly difficult considering I forgot to fully stretch out my back before I got on the ice.

When I'm finished with everything I move onto jumping. I start out by doing three waltz jumps and running through all of my singles before moving onto doubles. Then I execute the triple jumps that I've been landing consistently. I then proceed to work on combination jumps, (which is when you do a jump and proceed to do more in the same sequence.)

I do simple combinations to warm up until I finally feel ready to tackle the most difficult one I've been working on which is a triple lutz-double toe-double toe.

I land the first one without error but as I continue to run through it more I find myself messing up more often on the last double toe so I decide to work on triple flip-double toe combination just for good measure. Then I move onto spins.

I warm up by doing scratch spins both forward and back. Then I ease into camel spins where I'm aiming for at least 10 revolutions. Then I do the same with Laybacks, sits, I-Spins, Y-spins, Death drops, and Bielmann's. After running through all of those I move on to different variations of all of them, Still aiming for the 10 revolutions. Even though I love practically everything about skating, I'm more partial towards spins, they're something I've never had too much difficulty with when learning new positions and variations so I enjoy them a little more than other elements.

The stringent International Judging System expects basic spin positions to be held for a minimum of eight revolutions so I try to surpass that every time I spin. When I'm satisfied with my work I proceed to work on my combination spins and flying entry spins, then I return back to jumping for the last part of my warm up.

When I'm finished jumping I skate over to the music player and put in my long program music, which is a mash up of a few pieces from the Girl Interrupted Film Score by Mychael Danna. I Run through the entire program cleanly, then I run through my short program which is Celine Dion's rendition of Fever.

When I'm done I start doing improvisation to random songs on my playlist. The intent basically being to work on fluidity and musicality. Hands to Myself by Selena Gomez comes on and I kind of just start jamming out on the ice. I do random dance moves with my arms. Then I notice someone come in so I purposefully get into set up to do a double axel in case it's my coach. I land it and when I turn around to check who it is I see Adam Oates, the coach of the capitals. I skate over to him and smile, "Hey Adam."

"Hey Tris, how are you doing?" He asks and I shrug. "So we're down a Red Rocker tonight and I was wondering if you could substitute for Emily, she twisted her ankle going down steps or something so we need a new cheerleader for the next couple of games, are you in?"

"I'd love to do it Adam, but I don't think Coach Sevina would allow me to, she says it's degrading," I explain putting air quotes around 'degrading.' I roll my eyes slightly and he laughs. "Come on Tris, just for tonight's game then. I'm willing to pay you," he says raising an eyebrow.

"How much?" I question. "Eight-fifty per game," he says and I smirk in response.

"Deal," I say and we shake on it. "See you at five tonight, we meet here than bus over to the Verizon center," he says and I check the clock on the wall it's seven, which means my practice time is up. I head to the locker room and run into Christina and Marlene, two of the red rockers.

"Hey Tris," Christina says with an overly friendly smile. "Hey guys," I say in response.

"Apparently I'm cheering with you tonight?" I say and they raise their eyebrows. "But you don't even know the routines! Oh Tris you can't take your skates off, we have to teach you so much," Marlene says.

I internally groan then smile at them. "Okay!" I say in a tone of false excitement. I pull back on my Washington Figure Skating Club jacket and we all head out into the rink. They teach me the choreography for all three of their routines. They're all basically just dancing on ice which is easy enough.

We run through the first two songs which in summary are songs about how great the Capitals are, which I do reluctantly considering I was born and raised a Blackhawks fan. The last routine however is my favorite. "So we have a whole different outfit for this routine it's basically capital colors but it's a cowgirl outfit but since you're the same size as Emily this really shouldn't be a problem."

They put in a Luke Bryan song called Country Girl. They teach me the dance and it's really sexual but I have a blast with it anyways. Then at the end you're able to do whatever you want so I go off and do my Triple Salchow-Double Loop-Double Toe combo. Marlene and Christina look at me in awe and start clapping excitedly. "You're amazing Tris!" Christina gushes and I smile sheepishly considering I'm not good at accepting compliments.

"Thanks," I reply semi-awkwardly.

We run through each dance two more times and by the time it's over my feel are sore and my stomach is grumbling. I get off of the ice and put my blade guards back on. I head over to the vending machines and buy a peanut butter chocolate chip Clif bar out of the machine. When I turn around run into a guy, "Well if it isn't the little figure skater," Peter, one of the Capitals players, teases. I roll my eyes and walk away. "Get back here Stiff!" He yells.

I give him the finger and don't even bother turning around. "Fuck off," I yell. I hear his footsteps behind me and he grabs my ass. "Get the fuck away from me!" I yell simultaneously while slapping him across the face.

"Come on let's have some fun," He says while caressing my side. I walk away but he grabs me and presses me against the wall. "Can you not Peter, I'm really not in the mood to deal with your bullshit," I say really loudly in hopes that someone will hear me. Luckily someone does, just as Peter's hand is about to move up my chest. A man appears behind him and pulls him away from me. He looks him sternly in the eye. "Peter, she said she's not in the mood to deal with you. Neither am I. leave," He says in a voice so menacing it almost scares me despite the fact that he's defending me.

"God why do you have to be such a buzz kill Four?" He says before spitting onto the ground next to him. Four walks over to me after Peter is gone. "Thank you," I say to him. "I'm Tris, and you are?" I say and he just laughs.

"Really you don't know who I am? Right wing for the capitals? Number four? Does that ring a bell?" He says with an amused smile on his face. "Sorry I don't really pay attention to hockey much. Despite the fact that this rink revolves around it," I say with a smile.

"I'm actually going to be substituting for Emily tonight though so I guess I'll be cheering you on," I say awkwardly and he picks up on this. "You don't seem too thrilled about it," He comments.

I laugh and explain, "I'm from Chicago."

"Blackhawks fan?" he asks raising an eyebrow and I nod.

"Please don't tell anyone here though, I'd never hear the end of it." I plead.

Four laughs, "It's fine."

Then he leans in really close, close enough that I can feel his breath on my ear causing a shiver to go through me. "To be honest I was born and raised a hawks fan too. I'm from Winnetka, so basically Chicago. Now I'm going to ask the same of you, please don't tell anyone here seeing as I'd never hear the end of it."

I nod profusely and he smiles. "Well it was nice meeting you Tris, I kind of have a game to prepare for tonight though so I'll see you around," he says as he heads back to the other rink. "See you soon," I yell.

Well wasn't that a pleasant encounter.