Ready, Set, Go!

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sean lifted his stocking hat, wiping some sweat from his brow. Surveying the pond and his fellow workers, he saw that Owen appeared to be nearly finished with his similar work. Both young men had worked to brush the light snow from the outer sections of the hourglass-shaped pond, pleased they hadn't had to tackle the narrower middle section. Austin ended up with that more difficult chore, not by his choice, but by Mr. Stratton assigning it to him. Sean couldn't help but smile as he watched the other teen grunt with each shovelful of snow he cleared.

"Whoosh!"

Sean spun around to find out who made that sound as they sped past mere inches from his back. He wasn't at all surprised to see Whitney turn her head and flash him an impish smirk as she sped away from him.

"Beep-Beep!"

Spinning again, Sean saw Lacey race by with a smile. "Out the way, mister."

"Toot-Toot!" Chastity continued as she flashed a passing smile at him.

Ramsey didn't continue the playful teasing, but Sean watched as she joined her friends on the ice. Leaning on the broom, he admired each of his beautiful classmates. They wore similar style coats, making it fairly obvious they went shopping together. Whitney wore a dark blue coat, Lacey a dark red one with Ramsey rounding out the trio in a light blue jacket. Each girl finished out their winter outfits with slightly lighter or darker shades of the same color for their hats, gloves, and scarves. If anyone asked him, Sean would say Lacey looked adorable, Ramsey appeared enchanting, and Whitney was downright sexy.

"Hey, you aren't getting paid by the hour, buddy. Hurry up!" Whitney joked at Austin's expense.

"Whitney!" his red-haired girlfriend admonished her friend.

The next pair of near passes--happening simultaneously on each side of him--caused Sean to slip and fall onto his butt.

"Sorry, little brother!" Although, Sean doubted she meant it based on her smirk.

"No stopping or standing in a skating zone," Lana added.

"Come on, honey. You better get off the ice before we end up in the hospital," Bridget ordered, helping him stand up. "Now, get over there and put on your skates. Then go show those little brats that they shouldn't mess with you."

Listening to his mother, Sean moved off the ice, sitting down well back from the pond on a fallen tree. Polly acknowledged him with a slight smile as she also put on her skates. Pulling off his hiking boots, he put on a pair of ice skates. After tying them tightly, he took a moment to take in the wonderment of the area.

The hourglass-shaped frozen pond looked like something out of a Christmas special--no, check that, a cartoon--almost too perfect to be real. It felt made for a magical moment of fun and romance. The leafless trees that dotted most of the sides of the pond had a thin layer of snow attached to their branches. Although Sean had been here once before five years ago, he couldn't believe he forgot how beautiful it looked. The last time his eyes had spent most of the day watching the charming strawberry blonde that captured his heart on that cabin stay.

"EEK!!!

Sean swung his head over to see Gabriela flailing her arms out to keep her balance. Surely, she would have fallen if Rachel hadn't grabbed her waist.

"I knew I loved you for some reason," Gabby thanked her.

Sitting as a spectator, Sean forgot to join in with the others. Seeing who could and couldn't skate seemed almost more fun. Owen stood on the edge of the ice dipping the front of his skate onto the frozen water. He looked like a non-swimmer debating whether or not to enter the water. His girlfriend stood on the ice about ten feet away, encouraging him in a voice and manner that one would use on a small child. Whitney gave out a clap and held her arms out as it appeared the college student was finally about to take a chance. But then Owen shook his head, backed up, and said something to his younger girlfriend. Sean couldn't hear but based on his body language, along with Whitney's disappointed mother act, it seemed like Owen promised to try again a little later.

Another participant with limited skating experience, Skye, had three people attempting to help her onto the ice. Kimberly played the role of encourager. How can she be so kind and sympathetic to Skye but a manipulative bitch to others? Harvey and Finn each held one of the young, gorgeous woman's arms as she learned to keep her legs steady. Chastity sped over to offer her brand of vocal encouragement. That caused Harvey and Finn to smile and chuckle.

Sean barked out a laugh when his eyes found Jared. All by himself, the stocky teenager seemed to be trying to walk on his skates instead of using them the proper way. While it appeared that he hadn't fallen over yet, the star linebacker came across more like a tightrope walker. Isn't hockey big in Rattle Ridge? With his love for sports, how hasn't Jared learned to skate yet? Oh, I need to get a picture of this and send it to Jules.

After he finished gathering embarrassing material on Jared, Sean took another picture of his other close friend. Rolling his eyes, he wasn't the least bit surprised to see Newt refusing to skate, considering his allergic reaction to any sport. Still, Sean was surprised to see that Newt had ice skates on. Someone--almost certainly his mother--had managed that Herculean feat. Attempting her own miracle, JoJo stood on the ice, pleading with her close friend to at least give it a try. Arms folded, head shaking vigorously, Newt looked to have shaved a good decade off his age. Nearby, Polly imitated his stance with her arms crossed as her head slowly shook in disgust.

"Not going to get in on the fun, Mr. Stratton?" Sean asked.

Turning his head over his shoulder to see his questioner, Clive shook his head. "Nope. I'll man the refreshment sled." He said with a wave to the sled with the cooler and several insulated bags. "That's my dad role for today. What about you?"

Noticing that Austin had finished shoveling and was heading their way, Sean stood up, his eyes focused on his target. "I'm going out there right now."

"Boys: no good when you need them," Whitney remarked to her two best friends as they skated slowly in a loose circle. "What's the point of bringing them along if they won't join in?"

"Auss doesn't know how to skate either, but I already told him he had to try. If not, then no nookie until the new year."

"Lace!" gasped a horrified Ramsey.

"Oh, you'll learn, Rammy, sometimes just the threat of cutting off your man will move mountains," Lacey said, dispensing some knowledge to her virgin friend.

"I bet you'll be a master of that too, Ram."

Ramsey started to issue a comeback at Whitney but held her tongue with a strangely satisfying smile crossing her face.

"BOO!"

Whitney screamed in horror as a speed demon raced past, not before whacking her with a sharp slap to her ass. Seeing it was Sean that terrorized her, Whitney pointed her finger at him sharply. "You asshole, I'm going to--haha, you dumbass."

The blonde's sudden change in demeanor came about from Sean's tumble into a snowbank near the middle of the pond, where it narrowed to form its hourglass shape. The teenager had built up too much speed on the unfamiliar track to stop in time.

"Way to go, Tarver!" Austin jeered from firm ground.

"Are you okay?" Lacey as she neared Sean.

"Karma's a bitch, bud--hey!" Whitney squawked as she was lifted into the air.

"And my little pumpkin should know better than to be a bitch," Harvey stated, his arms wrapped around her stomach. With a firm grip on his rude daughter, the elder Diamond began to swing the younger Diamond and himself around in a twirl.

"Daaaddd!" Whitney squealed as they went round and round. However, their momentum caused them to drift toward the shoreline slowly.

"Whoops!" Harvey exclaimed as his skate caught the solid ground, flinging him backward. Hitting the snowbank, Harvey gave out of an "oomph" as Whitney's weight landed on his stomach.

"Serves you right, old man," his daughter said to him, looking over her shoulder. Whitney saw that Sean still sat in the snowbank, only a few feet away, as Finn attempted to pull him out. "And that goes for you too, buddy."

"Are you okay, Harv?" Bridget asked as she came up onto the multiple crash scenes.

"I'm fine. I'm not an old man quite yet," Harvey answered, giving Whitney a strong push at the old man part. Bridget used that momentum to help the younger blonde off her father. "We used to play hockey on this pond growing up. This narrower section sure made things interesting. I've probably hit this or the opposite side at least a thousand times."

"I'm surprised you lived to tell the tale, Dad."

"If I hadn't, you wouldn't be here," Harvey shot back as Finn and Sean both held out hands to help him get up. "Thanks, guys."

"Come on, girls. Let's stay away from these clumsy boys," Whitney remarked, turning her nose up.

"Yes, let's do that," Lacey agreed, although she couldn't hide her grin as she did.

Ramsey gave a big nod in agreement as all three left to join Lana and Peyton.

"I hope you guys aren't going to let that stand?" Harvey challenged Sean and Finn.

"Oh, no. My little boy is going to spend some time with his mom before he ends up breaking a leg," Bridget announced. Grabbing Sean's hand and pulling him towards the far section of the pond that no one had ventured onto yet.

Shrugging his shoulders, Finn opted to join his cousin and aunt.

A half-hour later, Sean stood hunched over, his hands on his knees, catching his breath. Wiped out over the workout that Peyton and their mom put him through, he vowed to start jogging more often when the weather warmed up.

"Lana!"

"Haha, got you!"

Raising his head, Sean saw Lacey take off after her older sister, the remnants of a snowball visible in the middle of her back. As the two sisters chased each other around the pond, Sean noticed a nervous Austin standing as perfectly still as possible.

"What's the matter, Rusk? Can't move without your girlfriend's help?"

"Fuck off, Tarver!"

Chuckling at the plight of the usually arrogant quarterback, Sean noticed that Chastity worked to help Whitney teach Owen how to skate. Or at least they tried. Each girl held onto an arm as he slowly moved around on the ice. Rachel and Gabby had taken over trying to teach Skye. The graceful brunette seemed to be learning the ropes fairly quickly. It looked like after nearly driving him to exhaustion, Sean's sister had gone off to pester Finn. Over off the ice, Clive handed Harvey a bottle of water, who seemed to be working on convincing Newt to give skating a try.

"Watch it! Man out of control!"

Sean spun around to see it was Whitney, sitting on the ice, that had yelled. A few feet further away, Chastity also sat on the ice, as did a nearby JoJo. The man out of control--Owen--had surprisingly picked up a head of steam and barreled in the direction of Sean. Or it would have been Sean if not for a motionless Austin staring in horror as the other man approached him.

"No, stay back! Stay back!" the helpless athlete screamed.

The hard thud from the collision caused nearly everyone else to wince.

"Austin!" Lacey shrieked in concern.

Being that he was the closest, Sean reached the other two young men first. "Are you guys alright?"

"Ow! Dammit, Nevin, that hurt!" Austin moaned, holding his side. "Fucking learn to skate, would you?"

"Me? Why don't you learn enough to move even a foot!" Owen spat back.

"Sorry, honey, it looks we got you going a little too fast," Whitney apologized as she reached the fallen skaters.

"Anyone hurt?" Harvey bellowed from his spot over near the sleds.

"Do you need my help?" Bridget inquired.

"Are you two, okay?" Ramsey asked when she arrived.

"Yeah, I'm o--oww, Lace!" Austin groaned as his girlfriend gave him a firm hug after reaching him.

"Only thing hurt is my pride," Owen stated.

"Everyone's okay, Dad," Whitney yelled back.

"Good! But maybe we should have the more advanced skaters stay on the far side of the pond. At least, until the others get more comfortable," Harvey suggested.

"Good idea, Dad, but I have a better one! Each of the rookies can get paired up with an experienced person to help teach them," Whitney yelled back. Turning to the others nearby, she lowered her voice a little. "Sound good, everyone?"

"I'm helping, Auss," Lacey declared.

"Hold up a second," Whitney demanded as an idea hit her. "As the hostess for your stay here at Diamond Cabin, I think it's my duty to assign the appropriate partner for each novice."

Outside of some unidentified sound from Lacey, everyone else shrugged in reply.

"And that means every novice!" Whitney bellowed, looking back at the shore. "That includes you too, Denton. Don't you forget that I vowed to make this a fun trip for you."

Sean watched as Newt threw his hands up in protest, only to quickly give up under Whitney's glare. Shoulders slumping, the despondent teen didn't even react as Harvey slapped his back in sympathy.