Page 34 of Oh, Flutz!

Katya looks at me, all innocent. “Iwouldn’t be falling.”

Before I can actually throw hands, Lian jumps back in. “Go around again. Triple Sals, I want to see them.”

Katya doesn’t move. “We do the quads, or I don’t do this at all.”

I laugh, then stop when I realize she’s totally serious. “What?”

“You heard me.” She stares Lian down. “I’m not joking.”

“Can we please discuss this later, Ekaterina?”

“No, we can’t. All I need is you to agree.”

“We don’t bully our coaches here,” I interrupt. Lee doesn’t need me to help her, but she’s important to me, and I don’t like seeing her disrespected.

Katya ignores me, expectant. “Well?”

Lian doesn’t say anything, just rubs at her forehead. I crease my eyebrows. “Lee?”

“Fine. But we’re working on everything else first. I refuse to make it a priority, but we’ll keep it on the back burner.”

What?

I turn to her, stunned. “You—”

“Go!”

Katya grabs my hand and tries to take off before I can prepare, but I recover just in time, snatching her wrist and twisting it back into the correct hold before she can squirm away, starting to skate faster and faster, until she’s the one needing to keep up. I have to fight to keep the triumphant grin off my face. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s going fast. Maybe Dad was right, and I should’ve gone into hockey instead, where it would actually be useful.

I can feel the frustration radiating off her, and it’s making me giddy. We do the step sequence from earlier, then let go in order to prepare for the jump.

One, two, three, four—inside three turn, hang onto the edge until it curves, bend your knee, swing your leg, and jump—three full rotations, taking off from the inside edge and landing on the outside edge of the opposite foot.

“Come on, Katya! You’re too slow! Get back on the count! Again!”

Katya’s fighting to get close enough to me. The amount of satisfaction I get from seeing her struggling for once is maybe a little worrying.

“Slow down,” she demands, and I grin at her.

“Going too fast for you, sunshine?”

She scoffs. “Oh, we’re being like that?”

We space apart again for the next jump. Only when I land, she’s more than just a few counts behind me. For a second, I panic, thinking I must’ve doubled out, but judging from the evil look on her face, she’s got one over on me.

“Again,” Lian calls, an edge in her voice, and that’s when I realize. I whip back to face my partner.

“You quadded it!” I accuse.

Lian sighs. “I said, again, guys.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I hiss, taking her hand.

“And you’re jealous,” she replies.

“I’d rather suck than be a petty jerk.”

“Well, you do suck, so good job.”

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