Teaching the Ice Virgins

"Naturally, since Owen has no clue what he is doing, I'll continue to help him out," Whitney announced.

"You just said I couldn't be with Austin!" Lacey screeched in outrage.

"I didn't say that. I said I would pick partners."

"I want JoJo! I feel most comfortable with her," Jared declared.

"What?" JoJo squeaked, shaking her head.

"Me too!" Newt chimed in. "I feel most comfortable with her too."

"I'll take Jared since JoJo doesn't want to," Ramsey piped in.

"If they get to pick, then I want my girlfriend," Austin insisted.

"No, no, NO!" Whitney shouted.

"Is there a problem, pumpkin?" Harvey questioned from over by the sleds.

"I can handle it!" Whitney answered before turning back to those on the ice. "Fine, nobody is going to get who they want." Hearing their grumbling, she continued to channel all the teachers she had in school. "See, that's what happens when you all complain."

The ice hostess took a moment to study those without experience, limited experience, and those that knew what they're doing.

"Peyton, are you up for teaching?"

"Uh, sure, I can help if you need me," the older blonde replied, after looking around for any disagreement.

"Well, that's on you, Pey," Lana laughed at her friend getting sucked into helping. "Me and Finny are going to be having a blast all by oursel--Finn! Where are you going?"

Already halfway to solid ground, the young man barely looked over his shoulder to answer. "I'm getting some of your mom's hot chocolate before it all disappears."

Everyone's eyes turned to see Rachel pouring steaming cups from one of the thermoses for Bridget and Gabriela. Sybil raised her cup in the air like a prize. Austin, in particular, watched with a wistful look. One that Lacey picked up on as he slowly tried to inch away from the ice skaters, hoping to quietly follow Lana, who raced over to beat Finn.

"Oh, no, you don't, Auss! You're staying right here." Austin's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Remember what I said would be your punishment for not trying to skate? Well, it's either that or hot chocolate."

Whitney's mood lightened a little as she watched Austin realize what Lacey meant, causing him to rejoin their group.

"Okay, I think I have it figured out. Those of you that can't skate, lineup over there." After watching several of them nearly fall over in their struggle to follow her basic order, Whitney called for everyone to stop. "Okay, let's do that a little differently. Those of you that can skate, lineup over there."

Lacey, Ramsey, JoJo, Chastity, Polly, and the Tarver siblings all smoothly lined up in a row. However, Chastity kept on fidgeting and glancing over that cups of hot chocolate. Whitney noticed the little dance going on. Sighing, she waved the receptionist off to the shore. The honey blonde gave a childish squeal, promising to be back soon as she raced toward the warm, liquid treat.

Whitney skated over to the ice veterans, proceeding to go back and forth down the line several times. Nodding, she moved behind their backs. Gently, she put her hands on Lacey's shoulders and encouraged her to move forward toward their students. Whitney brought her close friend over until she reached Owen, where she stopped the petite redhead.

"There, you're in good hands, Owen," his girlfriend told him with a smile.

Next, Whitney guided Peyton over next to Austin. While Lacey seemed pleased by the choice for her boyfriend, Peyton did not. She flashed her brother an annoyed glare that he well knew meant she regretted her offer to help out. Austin didn't seem to notice his new teacher's reaction based on how he leaned back to check out her ass. Oh, he's going to be lucky if Peyton doesn't literally bust his balls, Sean chuckled to himself.

His interest perked up as Whitney now motioned Ramsey forward. Please don't be Jared. I trust him now that he knows about my crush, but her interest in him doesn't seem gone. Oh, good... Sean sighed to himself as his crush stopped next to his best friend. Newt's eyes met Sean's almost immediately, giving him a slight wink and a nod.

"Time for your partner, buddy," Whitney announced into Sean's ear. "I still owe you for that slap, so remember that. I almost put you with Austin for that reason, but I decided to keep up the boy-girl pairings."

Sean's eyes lit up as he realized who that meant his partner would be. Decked out in a light-gray, button-up coat and a charcoal gray stocking hat, Skye appeared ready to perform a photoshoot for a winter catalog. That jacket enhanced her curves rather than hide them, and the skintight jeans she wore looked to be painted on. Seeing her face brighten up that he would be her partner caused Sean to feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.

"Hello again, Mr. Photographer," she shyly greeted him, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Skye's beauty led to Sean missing out on the final selection. Whitney announced Polly as Jared's partner. Mentally, JoJo sighed in relief, figuring she could take a break by grabbing a cup of hot chocolate. On the other hand, Polly appeared apprehensive at teaching the strange teen.

"Hey, what about JoJo?" Jared protested, feeling disappointed and a little frightened in getting teamed up with a girl that shot him a terrified face.

"JoJo, don't leave," Whitney directed. "Since you were such a popular choice, I thought you could join me in acting as a floater. That way, if anyone needs a hand, you could help out. Sound good?"

"Yep!" JoJo responded cheerfully. She liked the idea as it would allow her to help out both of her best friends.

"Good! You're starting to learn. Hey, learning to march in place is an essential step," Lacey declared when Owen shot her a bored look.

Unlike the others, she had started by showing Owen how to fall without hurting himself and how to get back up on his own. Owen hadn't been thrilled to start that way, but after witnessing Rusk take a header into the hard ice and that nerdy kid fall flat on his back with a cry, he was thankful for Lacey's lessons.

"Way to go, Lace. That's my little teacher!" Rachel praised from the sideline. Her youngest daughter shot a beaming look back at her mother. Clive and Finn added their cheers while Lana shook her head in annoyance.

Sean appeared to be the second most successful in helping his partner, more from Skye having skated a few times as a child than his teaching. Still, his steady and calm demeanor showed in how she slowly improved.

"I knew you would be in good hands, Skye. Very good hands," Kimberly remarked. Sean imagined that he could hear the sexual innuendo in her voice.

"Are you going to even bother to listen to what I tell you?" Peyton barked at the fallen Austin.

"Maybe if you actually taught me something!" he spat back.

"Don't be afraid to use corporal punishment, Pey. It's allowed out here," Lana shouted, taking a moment away from her cup of hot chocolate. "I'll look around for a nice, hard branch to use as a switch on him when I'm done."

"Is he okay? Do you need me to come out there?" Bridget questioned Ramsey.

"Oww, it hurts!" Newt whined.

"No, he's fine, Mrs. Tarver. No, stay there; I'll handle it," Ramsey reassured her. Looking back down at Newt, she offered him her hand once again. "It's alright, Newt. Just remember the old age: You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

"I have to break bones to learn this?!"

"No, no, that's not what she meant," JoJo hurriedly tried to placate her upset friend. "How about practice makes perfect?"

"More like practice makes for pain. Both physical and my pride."

"See, you're not dying. Here, try again," JoJo smiled as she and Ramsey pulled him up.

"It's okay if you want to quit, Newt," Bridget reassured him.

"You can do it, sweetie!" Gabby encouraged Jared from her spot next to Bridget. "No, not like that! Oh."

"I told you, stopping on skates is almost the same as stopping on skis. Point your toes in. In! Not out," Whitney sternly reminded Jared as she stood over his fallen body. The ice hostess had turned from a floater into Jared's second teacher as Polly appeared afraid to scold him over repeating the same mistakes over and over. Whitney had no such issue.

"Get back up, sweetie. Show that mean Whitney that you can do it!"

"Aargh! This isn't helping," Whitney groused. "Okay, change of plan, everyone! Since no one is using the far side of the pond, we'll head over there. That should keep the know-it-alls over there from bothering us."

Scanning their new destination, Whitney noticed a potential issue. "Everyone be sure to be careful over in that corner. There's a thicket of branches from where that dead tree fell over. I don't want an out-of-control skater flying into that."

"Wow, how did you get so good at skating?" Skye inquired, a little bit in awe of her teacher/partner.

"I'm not very good, basically I'm passable," Sean admitted, blushing at the compliment. He started to have a harder time around the gorgeous young woman as he had to help her by repeatedly grabbing parts of her body to keep her from falling. It brought back memories of their time at the hot springs when Whitney flashed Skye's breasts at him.

"Well, compared to me, you're a skating natural," she added with a giggle.

"I had lessons for one year back when I was little. When they were like nine or ten, Peyton and Lana decided to be ice skaters," Sean revealed. "They were both upset that Finn picked it up faster, so they wanted extra practice. My mom figured since she was carting me around to the ice rink, too, that she might as put me in a class rather than have me sitting around bored. That led to JoJo signing up for my class. Newt's mom tried with him too, but you can see how that went."

"Doesn't look all that well."

"Well, he showed up for one class but never even got on the ice. He refused to. Instead, he listed all the ways he could get hurt from the ice, the sidewalls, or the blades. Several kids quit before the next class. I think he scared them off. Newt's not all that into trying new things if you haven't noticed."

"I noticed," Skye noted with a chuckle. "Aw, but he's a sweet kid."

"Operation!" Sean heard called out, causing him to swing his head around in time to see Lacey skate by with a small grin. Confused, he turned back to face his student. " Sorry, you said he's a sweet guy?"

"Absolutely. Last night, after I found out what Fred kept from me, I took a walk. Newt found me in tears. He helped console and cheer me up. We talked a little about our families, and he was such a sweetheart."

"Really? I would've never expected that from Newt." Sean said, knowing how petrified his friend became around beautiful young women.

"I felt terrible too as I kept calling him the wrong name," Skye admitted, looking over to where Newt had Ramsey laughing at some comment he made. JoJo stood hovering around them, shaking her head. "You shouldn't underestimate your friends. They just might surprise you."

"Huh, maybe you're right," Sean agreed, watching how at ease his friend seemed with his crush.

"You sure you're okay here, Ramsey? Okay, I'll go see if anyone else needs an extra hand," JoJo said, her eyes already checking on Sean's progress with Skye.

"Um, maybe she should've stayed," Newt remarked as he watched JoJo skate away.

"What, I'm not good enough for you? Or you're too much for me to handle by myself?" an angry Ramsey challenged him.

"What? No, not at all. I just thought that--"

"I'm only joking with you, Newt," the strawberry blonde admitted with a smile. "We shouldn't hog all of JoJo's help. Someone else could use it."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Come on, lighten up a little. I know you can be funny when you want. I see it all the time."

"You do?"

"Sure, I hear that dry sense of humor of yours sitting behind me in Advanced Biology. Try and relax like that while we're out here on the ice."

"Did you start your project yet?" Newt asked, trying to focus on anything but his wobbly legs.

"Of course, I'm not going to wait until the last minute. Now, just like that. Nice and slow does it," Ramsey soothingly encouraged as Newt already surpassed his record time for not falling down. "Okay, we're moving a little too close to the section that Whitney warned us about, so I'm going to count down from five, and I want you to try and stop like I showed you.

Newt struggled to stay up, even with Ramsey holding his hand as she counted down. Finally, he closed his eyes at the number one and attempted to follow her orders and stop. Only losing his balance a slight bit, Newt managed not to fall over thanks to his partner's steady hand.

"You did it, Newt! Way to go."

"I-I did it? Wow," Newt repeated in awe, looking down to make sure his feet were still underneath him. "You're a great partner, Ramsey. I never thought I could do that." Newt went quiet for a moment. "Too bad we aren't lab partners in biology too. I thought we might be when we got down to the last four people."

"Yeah, that would be far better than what I deal with now," Ramsey agreed but then remembered her manners. "It's not that Nancy Weller isn't a nice girl. It's just that she seems more interested in everything but schoolwork. I mean, how can one girl watch so much television."

"I know. I hear it all the time behind you," Newt stated before switching into an impersonation of Rammy's lab partner. "Did you watch the new episode last night? You didn't! Oh. My. Gawd! It was so crazy. I don't want to spoil it, BUT..."

"And then she goes on to tell me every detail of the episode," Ramsey finished, laughing boisterously. "That was a spot-on job of sounding like Nancy Weller."

"Well, she never stops talking," Newt noted as he joined in on her laughter. Although, he felt a little guilty when the strawberry blonde moved closer to use his shoulder for once to keep from falling over.

"Hey, maybe if we get to choose our partners this next semester, we can team up?" Ramsey suggested, looking into his eyes. "How does that sound?"

"But you'll miss out on what happens on the latest reality shows!" Newt exclaimed in jest.

"Shut your trap, Denton." Rammy gave him a light punch in the shoulder that ended up knocking him to the ground. "Whoops, sorry."

"Touch me there again, and you'll regret it," Peyton warned, staring daggers into Austin.

"I didn't mean to on purpose; I was slipping--"

"I don't care. You touch my ass again, and you'll wish you wore a cup over your junk," the college coed promised. "And you better hope it's just my knee and not a blade."

"You guys need some help?" JoJo asked, coming to a stop next to her best friend's sister.

Peyton paused in answering as she heard someone yell out the name Tarver but realized it was Lacey yelling at her brother. "Sure, why not. Just watch his hands; they seem to have a mind of their own."

"Everything seems to be working perfectly," Whitney softly remarked to herself, her eyes on Newt and Ramsey.

"Hey, how about paying attention to me for once," Jared complained as he struggled to stand back up again. Polly's offer of help nearly landed her on the ice as she was half of Jared's size.

"Oh, you're a lost cause, Lockett," Whitney said with a glance, not pulling any punches on her student.

"You ever consider that maybe it's my teacher. Where's JoJo?" he asked, his head turning this way and that way in the hope of finding the brunette.

"Hey, way to go hurt Polly's feelings, asshole," Whitney admonished.

"I didn't mean her."

"Yeah, whatever. Teaching isn't my thing."

"Isn't that part of being the cheerleading captain?" Jared questioned, noticing that his original teacher had slowly drifted away as she finally had enough of their arguing.

"It's different. Now, why did you want JoJo so badly for your partner? You pissed her off yesterday. So why didn't you want Rammy? I thought you two were about to get all hot and heavy," Whitney recalled, finally giving Jared her full attention.

"I'm trying to get JoJo to accept my apologies, so I thought having her as my partner would help that finally happen," Jared admitted. "And no, I'm not trying to get all steamy with Ramsey. That was only a fleeting feeling, and it's gone."

"Good to hear. I don't want that feeling to spring back up; you got that? I have my own plans for her," Whitney revealed, cause Jared to wonder what they were. He followed her eyes as they once again focused on the redhead helping Newt.

"Wait, you can't be serious, Ramsey and Newt?"

"What's so funny about that?" Whitney demanded as she saw him chuckling at the pairing.

"Newt isn't going to be interested in her. He wouldn't do--I mean, she's not his type," Jared corrected, nearly stating that Newt wouldn't betray Sean like that.

"Not his type? Does he even have his type?" Whitney asked, not really caring to wait for an answer. "The only girl he's even gone out on a date with was Paige Noble. Rammy's not as neurotic as her, but they both are obsessed with getting good grades while being good girls. Besides, Rammy and Paige are distant cousins, so maybe he wants the red-haired version."

Cousins? Now, that's interesting. Sean and Newt both get their first crushes on cousins. That's a double-date I would pay to see. "You're barking up the wrong tree, Whitney. Sean's the guy you should be pairing up with Ramsey."

"Sean?"

"Yep, they both love to read and seem to have similar personalities. They would work far better than her and Newt."

"Sean and Ram would not work. She's too good a girl for him. He needs someone a little wilder," Whitney noted the surprise on his face. "Oh, you don't think so? Then I guess you don't know your friend all that well. Trust me; Sean's got a side you've never seen before."

Jared turned to appraise his old friend. Whitney's not even his friend. There's no way Sean's got a hidden side to him; he's...Sean!

"Dammit, Lockett. You're embarrassing me out here," she snapped as he fell to the ground again. "How do you not know how to skate? Isn't it like half of what you people do for fun in Rattle Ridge?"

I don't like this one bit, not one bit. Something is going on, I can't quite place my finger on it, but something is happening here. Lacey scanned the ice; Whitney seemed quite preoccupied with Ramsey. The question was why.

"You're doing great, Owen. Keep that up," she praised her student, although he barely received her attention anymore.

Noticing the spot where Ramsey and Newt were located caused the petite redhead to decide it was now or never to activate her plan. Moving away from Owen for a moment, she skated in a wide circle, bringing her close to Sean and Skye. Out of earshot of everyone else, she called out the final part of the codename, "Love."

Sean swung his head around to look at her, leading Lacey to give him a big nod. Then she raced back over to position Owen into the spot she needed near Ramsey. Turning her head again, she made eye contact with her latest matchmaking subject. Holding her hand sideways in front of her chest, she wiggled all five fingers to call his attention to them. Pulling back her pinkie finger, she began the countdown.

All Lacey could hope is that Sean was as smart as she thought and didn't miss the signal.