12 – Spilling the Beans

'Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...'

The three girls fell over laughing. Jacob raised his chin a little more, and continued reciting theatrically.

'And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...'

Martin clapped, laughing loudly. Next to him, Craig was gasping for breath, and giving him the thumbs up.

'So tweasure your wuv.'

Jacob pointed to Melissa.

'...and do you, Pwincess Buwwercup...'

Tears were running down the brunette's face as she laughed, and she clapped loudly.

'You...' she gasped. 'You're a complete maniac!'

Jacob bowed, then pointed at Craig.

'Your turn, dude!'

Craig wiped his tears and stood to take Jacob's place in front of the couch.

'Jay, a little help here?'

She got to her feet, still shaking with giggles, and went to stand beside Craig. They both took a few moments to compose themselves, then he put an arm around her waist, and proceeded to drag her beside him as he strutted around the living room, singing in his bass voice.

'I can see that we will share
All that love implies...'

The others instantly burst into another fit of laughter. Jubilee bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud, and let him drop her on an armchair, on which he then propped a muscular leg.

'We will be the perfect pair,
rather like my thighs!
You are face to face with destiny.
All roads lead to
the best things in life are
All's well that ends with me!'

Jubilee dropped her head in her hands and gave in to her fit of laughter, as Craig struck a macho pose and flexed his muscles.

'Have you...' managed Chelsea between giggles '...thought about doing Gaston on ice? You're definitely a he-man!'

He smirked.

'That...' he kissed his biceps '...would be a good idea.'

'Yeah,' said Martin, 'and Jay could be Belle! You two have always clicked well together.'

Jubilee's smile immediately melted away

'Um, about that... guys, I need to tell you something.'

'Shit.'

She looked at Jacob, who had a pained expression on his face.

'Jake...'

'I know that look on your face,' he said. 'And I know those words.'

'Last time you said that,' spoke Melissa, her face grim, 'you had stress-

fractured your back in that accident with the hockey players. You spent 6 months off ice.'

'This is your “bad news” thing.' said Chelsea, gathering her hands into fists. 'I'm not sure I'll like what you'll tell us.'

'Guys... please don't make this harder than it already is.' pleaded Jubilee, voice shaking. She stood from her armchair, opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, and sat back down, head in her hands.

'Rutherford is offering me a full scholarship.'

She felt five gazes upon her, but received no reaction.

'I'm going,' she continued.

A few long moments of silence followed, during which she didn't dare look at her friends. She had hoped for screaming matches, and for them not to let her go without a fair fight. But silence was worse than anything else.

'You're leaving us,' said Melissa, voice slightly shaking.

Jubilee nodded, still looking at the ground.

'Leaving for good,' continued Martin.

'I'll be home for the holidays...'

The raspy, broken voice sounded nothing like she knew her own voice to sound. She wiped a few hot tears off her face and looked up at her five best friends. Chelsea and Melissa were crying silently, and the boys had tear-rimmed eyes too, but they were doing a better job at resisting stoically, and at shooting her betrayed looks.

'I'm sorry, guys,' she said, and noted that it had come out like a desperate plea.

'No, Jay,' said Craig. 'We understand.'

'Yeah,' added Jacob. 'You get to do more than skating. You get to leave this little town. And you're going to Rutherford. It's... wonderful.'

'Listen to yourself, Jake,' she sniffled, 'you don't believe that yourself.'

He looked at her for a brief moment.

'You're right, I don't.' He sighed. 'I'll miss you so much...'

'We all will,' said Melissa. 'But you will come visit, won't you?'

'Yeah, and skate with us in the holiday shows,' said Martin.

'And go dancing every Saturday night while you're here,' added Craig.

'And be a team again.'

She stared at the source of the last intervention, the redhead, who didn't look back at her.

'I can't believe you're leaving,' she continued. 'I thought... I thought we'd be The Six Pack all our lives!'

She broke into sobs, and Melissa wrapped her arms around her.

'Chel, please don't cry,' begged Jubilee, on the verge of tears. 'I'll lose it if you start crying.'

'W-well,' she said, 't-too l-l-late for th-that!'

Jubilee broke into sobs too, and the rest of her best friends followed. Arms pulled her into a group hug and held her in a steel grip.

'What about your skating?' asked Jacob.

'I'm quitting,' she said quietly. 'I can't handle them both, Rutherford is too far away from DC to go practice there every day, and I'll either skate or... not skate. And, let's face it, it's not worth fighting for it, I'm not going to be a champion.'

'But you love skating,' protested Chelsea.

She sighed, freed an arm from the huddle, and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

'I do. But... it's time to do something that can offer me a future. God, that sounds so cruel... but for my abilities, the best thing skating can bring me is to skate as Snow White or Pocahontas in Disney on Ice. And I want more than that. At the point when I'll have a family, I want to be able to support them properly, and I'm not just talking about money.' She glanced at her family photo, which hung above the mantelpiece, and fresh tears appeared in her eyes. 'Touring wouldn't allow me to be with my family.'

She broke free from the group hug and picked up the Rutherford envelope from the mantelpiece.

'This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. The hardest decision I've ever had to make. And... and I'm not going to reconsider it. I'm sorry, guys. I'm really sorry. I don't want to leave you, I swear, but it's the best thing I can do.'

'I hope you're happy in the end,' mumbled Chelsea.

Craig recognized the reference and gave a short, sad laugh.

'Remember how we decided upon the colour combination for our uniforms?'

'Yeah,' said Martin. 'We had just seen Wicked, and had gotten those Defy Gravity jackets. That was all we wanted to wear for practice for, like, a month.'

'So much for Dancing through life for our Jubilee,' added Melanie. 'Look at you, off to prove yourself in the Emerald City... don't screw up, you hear?'

Jubilee set the envelope back on the mantelpiece.

'Yeah... I'll try my best not to.'

'And promise we'll conference call often?' asked Melissa.

'Cross my heart.'

'And come home as often as you can, for every little holiday. And hang out with us. And we'll do stupid stuff, like we always do. And eat ice cream, even if it's the dead the of winter. And take crazy photos, and keep adding memories to our scrapbook.'

By the end of her list, Chelsea was trying hard not to cry again.

'I'll still be part of your lives,' said Jubilee. 'I swear. I'm not going to the end of the world, I'm just going to Maryland.'

'Which is so far away it may very well be the end of the world,' grumbled Martin.

'I'll fly over, it's only a few hours.'

'I can't believe our dreams ends here,' said Craig. 'All those things we said we'd do and never did, like go to Worlds together...'

'We can still go to Worlds together,' interrupted Jubilee. 'I'll be in the bleachers, cheering for you guys.'

'But you won't be on the ice, with us,' he retorted. 'You won't be in our world. You won't share those moments with us. It will be very different.'

Jubilee blinked back more tears, attempting not to show how much his words were hurting her.

'I know... but I probably would never have made it to Worlds anyway. I'm not cut out for that. I'm a good skater, like hundreds of thousands of other skaters in this country. And like them, if I'd keep skating, I'd probably never even make Top Ten, let alone World Team.'

'Jay,' said Martin seriously. 'It's your life. Your choice. We want you to be happy. Will you be happy with this choice?'

She looked at him for a long moment, then leaned against the mantelpiece and dropped her head in her hands.

'I have no idea,' she groaned. 'But I hope it's the right thing to do.'

'Look,' said the redhead. 'I... we all hate that you're leaving us. But we love you very much, and we'll support your decisions, no matter what.'

Jubilee looked at her gratefully.

'Thanks, Chelsea. Means a lot.'

Chelsea nodded and smiled.

'Knock knock?'

All six teenagers looked towards the door, where Chelsea's mother stood with a pleasant smile on her face.

'Hi Mrs. Meisenhelder,' chanted the six.

The woman, looking like a slightly older copy Chelsea, walked over to the group and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

'That's Mom to you, duckie' she said with a smile, smoothing her daughter's hair, then walked over to Jubilee and gave her a hug. 'Jay, dear, how are you feeling?'

'A bit woozy, Mrs. Meisenhelder,' she replied, forcing out a small smile, 'but I'll be up and running in no time.'

'Always a fighter,' said the redheaded woman, squeezing her hand. 'If there's anything I can do for you, just ask.'

'Your husband's shotgun would be nice,' she replied earnestly. Mrs

. Meisenhelder laughed, and the kids followed her lead. When the laughter died down, they exchanged glances, which the woman didn't notice.

'Oh, sweetie, you crack me up every single time. Glad you're still yourself.'

Jubilee nodded, and was pulled into another hug by the woman.

'I hate to break this little party you have here,' she said, 'but I must get this lot home. It's way past 10 o'clock, and their parents won't be happy.'

'If they ask,' said Jubilee, 'blame it on me.'

'Don't worry, honey,' said Mrs. Meisenhelder jokingly, 'I will.'

Everybody laughed again.

'Really, kids,' she said seriously, 'get moving.'

The five groaned and gathered their things, wrapped themselves in their Montana-weather-proof clothes, and gave Jubilee another collective hug.

'I'll see you guys tomorrow,' she said, walking to the door with her friends.

'You sleep well, you hear?' said Craig, ruffling her hair. She slapped his hands away and stuck her tongue out.

'Yeah, you too. All of you. See you in the morning.'

Jubilee remained on the porch and watched with a sad smile as Mrs. Meisenhelder whisked the five to her minivan, poking fun at the ducks that adorned her daughter's jacket on the way.

'You ok?'

She looked over her shoulder at her brother, who walked over to her and wrapped a scarf around her neck. She loosened it a bit, then crossed her arms over her chest.

'Not really,' she replied. 'But I'm glad that's over with.'

Chad nodded and fell silent for a moment. She waved at the departing minivan, and nudged her brother in the ribs, reminding him to do the same.

'I've only been out here for a few seconds, and I'm already freezing,' he said. 'How about hot cocoa?'

'Whatever,' was her absent reply, as her gaze followed the car down the street.

'Ok, so no hot cocoa then,' he mumbled. 'Are you really tired?'

She turned to him, unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and put it around his.

'Not really, no. And I'm not exactly eager to go to sleep either. My Russian guy is driving me mad.'

Chad watched her in silence for a few moments, silently debating wether to say something or not. He then blinked the thought away, and pushed his sister back towards the door.

'Come on, then, I want to show you something.'

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