Page 21 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
It was as if time froze. Charlotte's heart pounded in her chest, and all eyes turned to her.
She rubbed sweaty palms against her pants. She could out-skate them, no doubt, but now they were looking at her.
Roman laughed. "A figure skater cannot beat a hockey skater."
Those words did something to Charlotte, emboldening her somehow. It was anger more than courage.
She stepped back onto the ice, skating with a purpose as she approached Roman. "Say that again."
Roman looked to Jesse, but Jesse only put his hands up and stayed out of it. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're a girl. You don't have the power in your legs to skate as fast as one of us."
She narrowed her eyes. "If any of you could skate fast, you'd win a game every once in a while." Her mom would kill her for getting into this situation, especially with a competition in a few weeks. She was only supposed to skate in training so she didn’t get injured. But she was here now, and she refused to back down.
Roman's jaw clenched. "Winning a hockey game isn't quite as easy as winning those little medals by dancing around out here."
"Rome," Jesse said. "Come on, man."
Roman ignored him. "A race."
She nodded. "Four laps. No funny business, only skating. You ready?"
"Oh." He laughed. "I won't be racing you." He grinned. "My man Jesse has that honor. Best skater on the team."
She shifted her eyes to the man in question. Jesse gave a helpless shrug. "Fine. The rest of you, get off the ice."
"She's bossy." Roman turned to the rest of the team. "Coach doesn't find out about this. She wasn't even here with us."
They all nodded.
Charlotte bristled at that. Her dad's rule was stupid, but she'd learned long ago she couldn't change her parents.
Roman led the other guys to the benches, giving the ice to the competitors. Hadley hugged Charlotte. "Kick his butt."
"This is your fault."
She pulled away but kept a hand on her shoulder. "Remember, Charlie, have fun." With a thumbs up, she skated away.
"You don't have to do this." Jesse left his stick laying at center ice and she followed suit.
"Afraid I'll win?"
"No." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But you don't have to prove anything to them."
"That's the thing, Jesse. I do. None of you take me seriously. I'm not an ice princess. You have no idea what it's like when you're not at the top of the food chain." She shook her head. "The sad thing is I'm a better athlete than any of those guys. And they call me princess."
"Char—"
"Let's just race, okay?"
He nodded and followed her to the edge of the blue line where they'd start.
Hadley straddled the half-wall in front of the bench with her arm in the air.
Charlotte sucked in a deep breath, calming herself like she did before every competition, pushing the nerves from her mind. In ice skating, there was no room to be nervous, to wonder if you'd land your next jump. The line between perfection and injury was as thin as the blade of her skate.
But this time, she wasn't competing for any judges. No one would score her every move. No, this time she competed for herself.
Hadley's arm dropped, and Charlotte took off, only vaguely aware of Jesse beside her. His strides were shorter than hers, choppier, but he had power.
