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The two stars of Team Donnelly watched as other skaters performed, quietly swapping comments back and forth as they warmed up before their group went out to skate. Another girl from their team, Kim Greylek, was out on the ice, the skirt of her costume flowing in the wind as she flew by. Her performance was broadcast onto monitors in the warm up area, and Alex nudged Casey. “You see what she’s doing, right?” the blonde asked, gesturing to the screen.
Casey snickered and raised an eyebrow. “What? She’s not doing anything—I haven’t seen her even do a triple yet.”
“Exactly,” Alex said, pursing her lips as she nodded. “I think Petrovsky back-loaded her program for better scores.”
The realization hit Casey, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God, you can’t be serious—” she whispered, her brows knitting together, “she can’t do that, can she?”
Alex took a deep breath and set her jaw, trying her best to not look like she was seething. “She can.”
Historically, Alex and Casey were neck and neck since they’d begun competing at the national level, swapping gold or silver at nearly every competition. Their scoring margins had grown closer and closer with each passing month, once only separated by 1.41 points… but with Kim’s sudden jump to the top spot, it seemed their reign of the podium could be over.
“So… what are you going to do?” Casey asked, chewing her lip.
Alex swallowed hard. “I’m going to skate a perfect program,” she murmured, pulling at a resistance band furiously. And I’m going to make her regret trying that, she thought.
They were soon unleashed onto the ice with the rest of their group, waving to the crowds as their on-ice warm up began. Alex and Casey zipped around the rink, demonstrating their speed as they practiced their jumps. The warm up soon concluded, and the skaters made their way back off the ice to wait for their performances.
“Skating for the United States of America, Casey Novak!” the announcer’s voice rang out, and Casey couldn’t hold back her smile, hearing the swell of cheers from the crowd. All she wanted was to prove she was as deserving of a spot on the Olympic team, and now was her chance; this was all she’d worked for since she was able to lace up her own skates. The national stage was no longer daunting; if she managed a clean skate, she could easily become a world champion.
The arena fell silent, and Casey stopped at the center of the ice, posing to begin her performance. She felt her skates gliding over the ice, carrying her into her first jump, and she found herself aloft, frozen in time on her triple combo, her heart leaping into her throat. She landed the second jump—a double toeloop—and the crowd erupted in cheers, but they hadn’t seen anything yet. The wicked grin on her face only grew as she moved through her program, flying past the judges into another triple axel. Everything was going according to plan; this was shaping up to be a clean skate, and there were only a couple more elements to complete until her score would surpass Kim’s. She gained more momentum for her final jumps, but her eyes were drawn to a red jacket on the outside of the ice. Alex—the only girl who could stand between her and a gold medal.