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That I could win.

SEVENTEEN

REN

The rumors reached me eventually. When there are three thousand athletes all living and working together in one confined area, gossip travels fast.

Camden Navarro had been pulled in for drug testing.

I overheard it at lunch, in one of the smaller cafeterias by the river, not the main one where everyone tended to congregate. I’d stopped going there when it became clear I’d have to avoid Cam three times a day.

The Japanese snowboarding team were chatting in Japanese at the table next to mine. I hadn’t meant to overhear, but it was difficult not to when six of them were talking at full volume. Cam’s testing appeared to be public knowledge. Clearly, I was the last to know.

Drug testing.

Not routine.

Him alone.

I put my coffee down with a clatter and stared out of the fogged windows at the lazy river drifting by, steam rising off its surface, catching the sunlight.

Camden hadn’t been tested at random.

I knew who’d been behind it.

A word in one ear, a mention in another. He wouldn’t even have to lie. “Look closer at Navarro, he has a reputation.”

And I knew Cam would take it personally.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared at the last messages he’d sent me.

hey, it’s 9 pm

did you forget?

skate sharpening?

r u coming?

I’m leaving now text you later Hope everything’s okay

morning i figured maybe your battery was dead last night?

hey, we good?

did i do something?

opening ceremony tomorrow!

Happy opening ceremony day

???

And nothing since then. Why would he, when my only reply had been silence?

My thumbs hovered over the buttons. What could I say that wouldn’t make all of this harder on him? By now, he’d be realizing it was over between us before it had really begun. That had to be for the best, in the long term. It was certainly the best for his career and prospects at the Games.

But I wanted to tell him my father had done this. That he wasn’t to blame. That none of this was his fault.