"Again!"
Winona frowned as she skated back towards the center of the rink. The Olympic tryouts weren't for another 3 weeks, but her coach, Rebecca was tyrannically working her day in and day out. Rebecca was an Olympic silver medalist only 10 years older than Winona, but her career had been tragically cut short by an injury, forcing her into coaching early. Winona sometimes felt like she was feeling the brunt of Rebecca's desire for vengeance at what fate had given her. Winona was drenched with sweat as she approached center ice. Ice rinks were by their nature cool places, but hard work was hard work regardless.
Winona thrust her hands in the air and waited for the playback to start. A moment later, the music filled the auditorium as Winona began her routine for the umpteenth time. She skated over towards the front and propelled herself into a double axel and then transitioned into a spin, drawing her outstretched arms inwards.
"Damnit, Winona, you're not concentrating! What goes after the double?"
Winona stopped and lowered her head, "I'm burnt, Rebecca, I can't do it."
"Burnt! You don't know burnt. The only burnt part about you is going to be this routine, burnt into your brain! You're not getting off this ice until you do it right! The tryouts are only 3 weeks away. You wanna watch the Olympics on TV or what?!"
Winona cursed under her breath. She hauled herself back to center ice. The music began again, and this time, she concentrated hard and made it through without any major gaffes. She stuck her final pose as the music stopped. Rebecca was furiously scribbling away on her note pad.
She finally looked up and said, "That's better, but that's not saying much. You've got to do a lot better than that if you want to make the cut. I know you can do it, and I want to see better tomorrow."
With that, Rebecca turned and left. Winona skated over to the exit door of the rink, sat down on the bench and traded her skates for her street shoes. She was too tired to change out of her sweaty workout clothes, instead deciding to just drive home and collapse in a heap. She was tired. Not just physically tired, but mentally and emotionally exhausted from the weeks and weeks of training. And she knew it was only going to get worse. There were three more weeks of training before the tryouts, and then two years of work to prepare for the Olympics. She closed her eyes.
She had no idea how long she had sat there when she was snapped back to reality by the doorbell. She wasn't expecting anyone. She stood up and went to the door and opened it. It was Rebecca. Winona blinked. Rebecca had never visited her before - she didn't even realize Rebecca knew where she lived. After standing dumbfounded for a moment, Winona invited her in.
Rebecca followed Winona into the front room and motioned towards the couch, "Please sit down, Winona."
Winona took a seat and looked at Rebecca as she spoke
"Winona, I see a lot of myself in you. I think that's why I was picked to be your coach. I know you think I'm being hard on you. But I've been there, and you haven't. It's going to get tougher. I'm not sure you realize how much tougher."
At this point Rebecca closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"When I was in your shoes, my coach found a way to motivate me. And so now, I'm going to use it to motivate you. Stand up."
Winona stood up with a puzzled look on her face. Rebecca traded places with her and sat on the couch.
"Take off your clothes."
Winona blinked, "What?"
"You heard me. Everything off."
Winona wasn't sure what to make of this. Rebecca had been in the locker room while she was changing before, but this was different. Still, Winona pulled her T shirt over her head and then did the same with her sports bra, allowing her perky breasts to spring free. Her hands trembled slightly as she grabbed the waistband of her sweatpants and pulled them and her underwear down to her ankles and then stepped out of them.