“Okay,” I whisper.
“Okay?”
“Okay.” I nod, more firmly this time. “I'm doing this.”
Lyss grins. “Damn right you are.”
Reign checks her phone. “You've got five minutes. We should get you down there.”
My stomach drops again, but I force myself to nod. “Right. Five minutes. I can do this.”
“You've got this,” Reign says, squeezing my hand.
We leave the locker room and head toward the tunnel that leads to the ice. The sounds of the arena grow louder with music, announcements, and the low roar of thousands of conversations all happening at once.
When we reach the entrance, a staff member with a headset spots me. “Laura Conners?”
“That's me.”
“Great. Coach McKibbon wants you to wait here until they call you. You'll walk out to center ice, they'll hand you the mic, and you'll sing. Easy.”
Easy?Right.
The staff member walks away, speaking into his headset, and I'm left standing at the mouth of the tunnel with Lyss and Reign flanking me.
The staff member walks away, speaking into his headset, and I'm left standing at the mouth of the tunnel with Lyss and Reign flanking me like bodyguards.
“So,” Lyss says, reaching up to adjust a strand of my hair. “This is happening.”
“This is happening,” I repeat numbly.
Lyss grabs my hand and squeezes. “I know you're scared. But Laura, I've lived with you for two years, and I've watched you hide your voice like it's something to be ashamed of. It's not. It's the best thing about you, and tonight, you're going to let everyone else hear what we already know. That you're fucking incredible.”
My eyes sting with tears I refuse to let fall. “What if I mess up?”
“Then we'll still be sitting in section 102, cheering for you anyway,” Reign says. “But you won't mess up. You've got this.”
Lyss pulls me into a fierce hug. “Go out there and show them what you've got, Conners,” she murmurs into my ear. “And if you see that hot boyfriend of yours, remember he's watching because he's obsessed with you.”
“He’s not obsessed,” I mumble into her shoulder.
“Sure he's not.” She pulls back, grinning. “Now go sing your heart out so we can brag that we knew you before you were famous.”
Reign hugs me next, quick but solid. “We'll be cheering so loud, you'll hear us over everyone else.”
“I'm counting on it,” I say, my voice shaking.
They start to walk away, and Lyss turns back one more time. “Oh, and Laura?”
“Yeah?”
“Break a leg, babe.”
Then they're gone, disappearing into the crowd, and I'm alone in the tunnel with my racing heart and trembling hands.
Through the opening, I can see the teams taking the ice for warmups. The Covey Crushers in their purple and white jerseys, and the opposing team—Brighton U, I think—in red.
Then I spot him.
