Page 71 of The Favorites
Garrett Lin:We all wanted to win. But not like that.
Sheila Lin goes into the private room where the medic took Katarina. Garrett stays outside, pacing back and forth. The warm-up session now concluded, Bella and Heath come backstage too, standing off to the side. Heath keeps glancing over at the closed door.
Veronika Volkova:All I will say is this: it certainly seemed like something Sheila Lin would have done.
Chapter 39
“Ms. Shaw, can you tell me where we are right now?”
I blinked into the flashlight beam as the medic checked my pupil dilation. Behind him, Sheila stood, arms folded across her white leather moto jacket.
“St. Louis, Missouri,” I answered. “The Savvis Center.”
The most important competition of my career. But by all means, take your time.
Frannie and Evan had finished their skate to theLord of the Ringsscore, and the first notes of Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” blared through the arena, which meant Josie and Ellis were on the ice. I’d already given a detailed report of my symptoms (dull pain, no nausea, no blurred vision) and listed the months of the year in reverse order to prove I was lucid. But this guy kept asking me inane questions and shining that damn light in my eyes.
“And what’s today’s date, please?”
I sighed. “Friday, January thirteenth, two thousand six.”
I’d heard some of the other skaters joking about the date, what bad luck it was to have the final on Friday the 13th. Figure skaters are a superstitious bunch at the best of times—tying their boot laces a certain way before every skate, carrying lucky charms at competitions, repeating prayers and affirmations under their breath as they take theice.
I thought it was all absurd. I didn’t need luck, I had skill and determination and an unwavering desire to win.
The medic sat back on his heels and clicked off the light.
“Well?” Sheila said.
“She may have a mild concussion.”
“So I can skate,” I said. “Right?” My skull still throbbed, but I was prepared to chalk that up to Josie and Ellis’s earworm music.
The medic hesitated. “You should be examined at a medical facility. They can run scans. Give you a more conclusive diagnosis.”
“I can do that after the competition.”
I stood up. My head swam a bit, but quickly leveled off.
Four minutes. That was all the time I needed, and then they could scan me with every piece of equipment in the hospital.
Garrett waited right outside the door. I might not have been experiencing nausea, but he sure looked like he was. He rushed toward me, arms outstretched, then pulled back as if he was afraid I might break.
“Are you okay? Your head, is it—”
“I’m fine.”
On the monitors, Josie and Ellis took their seats in the kiss and cry. Tanya Fischer and Danny Chan stepped onto the ice for their two-minute warm-up. Garrett and I were next.
“You’re sure?” he said. “It looked like you smacked it pretty hard.”
I shrugged. “Maybe a mild concussion, but nothing I can’t—”
“A concussion? That sounds serious, Kat.”
He looked to his mother. She said nothing.
Bella, though, couldn’t help inserting herself into the conversation.
