Ever since becoming captain, Ari had made a point of being the first person in the locker room every morning. Arriving early gave her the chance to get ready, scope out the rink, and spend time alone strategizing before her teammates arrived. She’d beenwriting detailed recaps of each game since boot camp and using them to make a list of each of her twenty-two teammates’ most significant strengths and weaknesses. She’d made it her personal responsibility to spot their blind spots, notice what threw them off, and figure out the hidden skills they could use to their advantage. She was in the middle of making notes about how Sienna and the other girls in defense could tighten their formation when her phone buzzed with a text message. It was Drew. He’d texted to arrange a good time and location for them to take their first batch of photos. But what had started as a back-and-forth about logistics quickly devolved into Drew sending her live updates about each development in his quest to befriend the other journalists in the press office.
Drew:Hans Leitner nodded at me. I think that means we’re friends now.
Ari laughed. Drew had spent the rest of breakfast telling her about the retired athlete turned filmmaker.
Drew:False alarm, he was nodding at the photographer behind me.
Drew:But I smiled and waved, so now he’s looking at me like I’m crazy.
Ari:Maybe because you’re fangirling over a 72-year-old man?
Drew:All my favorite people are over the age of 65.
Ari read his message and shook her head. He was corny as hell, but there she was, smiling on the locker room floor. At breakfast, she’d come to the comforting realization that Drew was still the same person she’d remembered him being on NewYear’s Eve, which was a relief because she’d spent more than her fair share of time thinking about that night. Usually, it just came back to her in short flashes when she saw or heard something that reminded her of him. She’d listen to a song and try to imagine how he’d spent the first hours of the new year. Scroll through her phone and wonder if she’d ever get to see the photos he’d taken of her. But that had been during boot camp, when she’d thought she was never going to see him again. Back when there was no harm in daydreaming. But things were different now, and she couldn’t risk thinking about her fake boyfriend in any way other than as afake boyfriend,especially when she was supposed to be focused on the next game in the preliminary round of the most important tournament of her life.
“Who’s got you smiling like that?” asked Izzy with a knowing glance as she walked into the locker room. Her deep red hair was in an ornate fishtail braid—Izzy always put in extra effort.
“And is it the guy you skipped out on team breakfast to take pictures with?” Yasmeen asked, raising her eyebrow as she walked into the locker room carrying her hockey stick and kit bag.
Ari was about to tell them about Drew, but then the entire team walked in together, a few of them carrying matching cups of coffee.
“I didn’t know everyone was going to breakfast together,” Ari said. A few of them were already deep in conversation, talking about a famous ice skater they’d seen in the line to get smoothies.
“We sent a message in the group ch—” said Hannah, who played on defense. She stopped speaking as soon as she noticed the others glancing over at her.The group chat?Ari hadn’t seen anything beyond schedule reminders in the group chat for weeks. But as she saw the flash of guilt in Izzy’s eyes and noticed how they were all suddenly very preoccupied with unpacking theirkit bags, she put the pieces together. Her teammates had made another group chat, without her.
“It’s not a big deal,” Izzy said in a rush. “We knew you were busy and didn’t want to give you another thing to have to deal with,” she continued, trying so hard to reassure her that it had the opposite effect.
Ari opened her mouth, then shut it. She’d been in a separate, unofficial group chat with the rest of the team last year. They loved Gracie, but sometimes it was easier to have conversations without their captain in the room. Ari would have never suspected that she’d become the one her friends and teammates wanted to keep their distance from. But then she began to remember the small moments that had gone over her head. The early-January night she’d walked past Yasmeen’s room in boot camp to see almost all of them congregated without her. All the conversations that not so subtly came to an end when she walked by. They were her friends, she told herself, her new role wouldn’t change that. But as they shuffled around the locker room, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Gracie had felt.
“But the boy with a camera, who is he?” Izzy asked, changing the conversation as she took out her shin pads and began to put on her protective layers.
Ari paused for a moment. She wanted her friends to believe she was seeing someone new, but she didn’t want them to think she liked him enough to distract her from what she’d come to Switzerland to do.
“The guy I met on New Year’s,” she said to a sea of surprised expressions.
“No way,” Yasmeen said, wide eyed.
“Nothing’s happening,” Ari said with a shrug, knowing that being coy about it would only make the whole thing morebelievable. “He works for Zeus, so he’s taking photos of me that might end up in a campaign they’re doing.”
“Wait, does that mean you’re finally going to agree to do some PR?” Yasmeen said with a grin. She’d been trying to get Ari and the rest of the team to get more active on social media for years. The most important part of being a professional athlete was being excellent at your sport. But an online presence was the key to getting the kind of sponsorships, brand deals, and online fandom you needed to fund and sustain a career.
“A cute guy following you around, that isn’t Harrison.Andsome Zeus promo?” Yasmeen said, sounding impressed. “I was not familiar with your game, Ari.”
“But let’s focus on the actual game we came to play,” said Sienna, as she put her hair in a ponytail and fitted her shoulder pads. The rest of the room followed along as they changed into their hockey kits and got ready.
Fortunately, their surprise win against the Czech Republic yesterday had given the girls the confidence boost they’d needed to start the day of their second match on a high. The atmosphere in the locker room that morning was one of excitement, not fear. Sienna, who’d treated the last month like an anxiety dream, was joking around with the goaltenders. Yasmeen, who channeled her worry into plotting out alternate careers, was comparing notes with the other girls on defense. And instead of exchanging Village gossip, Izzy was rewatching their last game and making notes about what she needed to do to get ahead. Once Coach McLaughlin gave them a pep talk, the girls skated onto the ice like people who deserved to be there.
But as soon as the starting horn blew and the puck dropped, Ari realized that this was going to be nothing like their win against the Czech Republic. Because this year, the Japanese team was on top of their game. Their opponents immediately seizedthe puck and took control of the match. Before Ari and her teammates could even make sense of what was going on, the Japanese team zigzagged across the rink and scored their first goal. They weren’t even a minute into the game.
Sienna shot Ari a worried look; they were both startled by how quickly the game was moving. But Ari was the captain now; she wasn’t allowed to look worried. So, she gave Sienna a thumbs-up to reassure her and then glided across the ice with fake confidence to show the rest of the team that if she wasn’t worried, they shouldn’t be, either. It was way too early to panic. But Ari had spent hours rewatching Team GB games and noticed a pattern. As soon as the girls started to worry that the other team was better than them, they stopped playing to win and redirected all their energy into softening the blow of a loss.
Ari could sense it in the cautious way they skated across the rink, how their eyes darted from side to side. The girls weren’t focused on scoring goals anymore, they were focused on blocking them. However, defensive play wasn’t a strong enough strategy to win. The Japanese team didn’t score another goal, but the British team didn’t even get close enough to the goal to try. When the first break horn blared and the girls skated back to their side of the rink, Coach McLaughlin gave them practical tips. Told them about weaknesses he’d spotted in the other team and talked about how they could use them to their advantage. When it was Ari’s turn to speak, she tried to summon the most pumped-up Gracie-like pep talk she possibly could. But it didn’t come out the way she’d wanted it to.
“If we play like we’ve already lost, we’re going to lose!” she said, immediately regretting it. The phrase sounded a lot more inspiring in her head. She tried to backtrack, but panic was infectious.
“Don’t saywe’re going to lose! It’s not going to happen!” said Yasmeen in horror.
“Why are you talking about losing?” exclaimed Sienna. “You’re going to jinx it!”
