Matthew lay on his bed, staring at his poster of Jason Brown. Jason was one of the best figure skaters in the world. He had probably never had a moment like Matthew had had that morning. He had probably never fallen, spectacularly, right in the middle of a performance. That’s what Matthew thought, anyway. But if the poster could talk, Jason would have said that he’d fallen plenty of times. It was easy to fall. What was hard was to get up.

Matthew rolled over and looked at his sequined costume draped over his desk chair. He had thought it was so cool looking yesterday. Now he realized that it was only cool if you could pull it off. If you could skate perfectly while wearing it. Matthew’s fall on his double axel proved that he couldn’t skate perfectly. Not when it mattered. Not when a place on the junior team was on the line.

Matthew’s sister Kate knocked on his bedroom door. “Hey there,” she said. “Feel like coming to the TV room? I have something to show you.”

Matthew groaned and got up slowly. He didn’t feel like doing anything. Kate was being nice though, so he figured he’d see what she wanted.

What she wanted was to show him recordings of Jason Brown’s old performances. “I know he’s your idol,” she said. “Just watch this.”

They watched as Jason glided across the ice. “He’s so graceful,” said Matthew.

“Yeah, but watch what comes next,” said Kate. As the words came out of her mouth, Jason fell. Spectacularly. Right in the middle of a performance.

“See?” said Kate. “Even the best skaters fall. And he still made it to the Olympics.”

Matthew wasn’t sure he wanted to be cheered up, but he had to admit that Kate was right. “Thanks,” he said. It was nice of her to try to make him feel better. Of course Matthew had seen almost all of Jason’s performances before. He knew that Jason sometimes fell. But that was easy to forget when he felt so badly about his own mistakes. Kate was nice to remind him.

Matthew continued to mope all afternoon, through dinner, and while he was going to sleep. He might as well quit, he thought. He’d never make it to the Olympics like Jason. He’d probably never even make it on to the junior team.

When Matthew woke up, the first thing he saw was his sequined costume. The sun streaming through his bedroom window made it sparkle. It looked just like something Jason would wear. Matthew realized it wasn’t only his outfit that looked better in the sunshine. His outlook did too.

“Hey Kate!” he called. “Will you drive me to the rink?”