At first, Ari was embarrassed.
I can handle it myself, a small voice in her mind said.
But I don’t have to, another, slightly louder voice said.
Harrison took a step back, assessed Ari’s friends with barely contained disdain, and looked at Ari as if to say, “Are you going to let them talk to me like this?”
But Ari wasn’t the same woman she’d been last year. So, this time, she took a stand.
“I don’t want to see you again. And I meannever.Don’t text, don’t call, stay out of my life for good,” she said.
And with the four of them looking at him in disgust, Harrison finally relented and walked away. He could be horrible in private, but he was too much of a coward to be his true self when other people were around.
Ari let out a sigh of relief as the surge of adrenaline began to dissipate. Between her family drama, the pressure of becoming a good captain, and dealing with her relationship dilemmas, she felt like she’d been running at full speed for days and was about to crash.
“I hate that guy. I always have and always will,” said Sienna quietly. Yasmeen and Izzy nodded along.
“I just feel so tired,” Ari said, her voice barely a murmur as she felt tears starting to fall again. But this time, she ended up in the arms of her three favorite girls.
They’d grown up together, lost games, carried each other through heartache, and been there for each other through the best and worst of life. But somewhere along the way, that bond had fractured. And since then, Ari had felt like a swimmer alone at sea. Desperately searching for a buoy, but so far removed from everyone who loved her that it seemed necessary to deal with it all alone.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant,” she said, her voice quivering as she sat on a nearby bench.
“It’s okay, you know we love you,” said Izzy as they went over to sit beside her. But Ari couldn’t stop thinking about how alone she’d felt through it all.
“I just feel like I’ve been on this treadmill all year, carrying everything by myself, and I don’t think I can do it anymore,” Ari said.
“We can carry it with you,” said Yasmeen, giving her arm a squeeze.
“But how am I supposed to keep the team together if I’m falling apart?” she said, her voice breaking. She’d done a pretty good job of holding it together, but the worry that had come over her ever since Gracie’s injury was threatening to break her.
“It’s not your responsibility to keep us together, Ari, we’re grown,” said Sienna.
“If we make a mess, we can fix it. You can’t take on everybody’s burden,” said Yasmeen. Ari shook her head. That didn’t feel true, it hadn’t felt true for a long time. And since she was on a streak of honest conversations, she decided to tell them.
“But whenever an issue comes up, whether it’s training, a big game, or friendships, you all look to me. I love you, I love being there for you. But do you know how much responsibility that is right now?” she said, being honest for once. “It’s exhausting trying to be everything to everyone without getting anything back. I don’t even feel like I can talk to you anymore because I have to maintain this image of having it together,” she said.
Her friends had been her safe space, but she’d let a chasm form between them. When she was appointed captain, she began compartmentalizing to try to ensure that her self-doubts didn’t affect the team. It had gotten to the point where there was no space left in which to be complicated, messy, and occasionally broken. Except when she was with Drew.
“I just don’t want to let you down,” she said as tears slid down her cheeks. Her three best friends squeezed her tight.
“You could never let us down. You’re an excellent player and an incredible captain. But most importantly, you’re our best friend. If anything, we’ve been letting you down,” said Izzy. Sienna nodded.
“The stress of everything made us focus more on winningthan making sure we were winning together. We probably put way too much pressure on you to deal with how hard this has been,” said Sienna, and the other two nodded.
Ari had put too much pressure on herself, too. She’d spent her whole life hearing pundits say that women weren’t strong enough for the game, that they let their emotions get the best of them, and they couldn’t handle pressure. So, she’d unintentionally spent her life trying to prove them wrong, taking on more to appear stronger and more effortless than she needed to be.
And the truth was, she could handle a lot.
But a man she’d met on a rooftop had reminded her she didn’t have to handle everything alone to prove a point. So, she looked around at her friends, wiped her eyes, and decided it was finally time to let herself lean on them. Because as long as she had her girls, she would never be alone.
“Okay, in the spirit of helping each other, could you do me a favor?” Ari asked, and they all nodded. She reached for her wrist and unclasped gold timepiece and black leather band that had been weighing her down for too long. “Could you help me get rid of this watch?”
43Drew
DAY NINE OF THE 2026 OLYMPICS
Drew knew that calling Ari wasn’t enough. There were certain conversations that had to be done in person. Face-to-face, close enough to bare your soul. So, once he’d said goodbye to Hans and left the figure-skating competition, he walked out into the Village and tried to find her. He ran through the snow and over to the skating rink to see if she might be there for practice, but the rink was occupied by the Finnish men’s team training for their quarterfinal. As the sun set, he went to Ari’s favorite café to ask if she’d ordered a cup of matcha, but they hadn’t seen her since that morning. So, he headed to the multibuilding complex known as GB House.
