Chapter 9 Ari
Ari
ONE DAY BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
A moment later Yasmeen, Izzy, and Sienna bounded out into the snow wearing the coziest iteration of the uniform they’d been given on New Year’s Day.
Puffy red winter coats embroidered with the Team GB logo and cozy blue beanies that Yasmeen had hand-sewn silk lining into on the plane to Switzerland.
“It’s so beautiful,” said Izzy as she ran across the snow to pull Ari into a bear hug. “Can you believe we’re here?” Ari and her teammates looked around. The sky was a bright shade of blue; the sun was hanging low, its rays lighting up a fresh layer of brilliant white snow.
“We’ve got to go and see the frozen lake, take a ride on the Glacier Express, go to that spa I sent you a link to, and take a few pictures before we ruin our uniforms,” said Yasmeen, excitedly scrolling through the list on her phone.
“More importantly, we’ve got to get our strategy together and figure out how to make it past the preliminary round, which seems pretty damn impossible to me,” said Sienna.
“Ah, it’s good to hear you’re feeling optimistic,” sighed Izzy, already tired of Sienna’s catastrophic thinking.
“How are you not panicking right now? Everything we’ve been working toward could fall apart before the end of the week.”
Sienna had been freaking out three times a day, every single day, since New Year’s morning.
When they’d woken up after the party, Coach McLaughlin called the whole team into his office and broke the news that their superstar team captain wouldn’t be joining them at the Winter Games.
Despite Ari’s attempts at encouragement, the team didn’t take the news well.
Sienna was the most worried of them all.
“I can’t understand why everyone is so calm,” said Sienna, shaking her head as she nervously gritted her teeth. All the girls glanced over at Ari, as if looking to her for reassurance as they walked out of the athletes’ quarter, through the training area, and down toward the hockey rink.
“We’ve been training nonstop for weeks. We know our strengths, we’re working on our weaknesses, and we earned our way here.
There’s no need to panic, because we’re prepared,” said Ari with practiced composure.
It was the line she’d been telling herself every day for the past six weeks, the mantra she’d been repeating whenever she woke up in a cold sweat or the team’s nerves manifested on the ice rink.
Because something fundamental had shifted in the dynamic Ari had with her friends the minute Coach announced that she was their new team captain.
There were twenty-three girls on the team, but Sienna, Izzy, and Yasmeen had always been her closest friends.
They’d seen each other through breakups, birthdays, deadlines, and injuries.
They genuinely loved spending time together, and in an emergency, they were the ones she would call.
But overnight, Ari went from being their friend to becoming the leader who was supposed to be ten steps ahead.
So, instead of ending the nights after boot camp making tea and chatting to Ari about the girls she fancied, Izzy drank hot cups of lemon water and asked Ari for tips on improving her game and saving more goals.
Rather than asking Ari to help her film videos for their team’s social accounts, Yasmeen sent her links to hockey analysis podcasts.
And instead of spending hours on the phone sharing industry gossip and speculating about other ice hockey teams like she usually did, Sienna spent each boot-camp breakfast sharing her worries about what lay ahead of them.
The girls were looking to Ari for reassurance, so she couldn’t let her doubts show.
They’d landed in the Village by the skin of their teeth, but they hadn’t worked this hard to only come this far.
So, Ari was going to lead her team to victory.
However, when they walked into the hockey stadium and saw the ice rink, Ari was reminded of just how many hurdles they would have to jump to get to the other side.
Because right there, speeding across the ice with enough focus, skill, and excellence that it sent a chill down her spine, was the one team they’d never won a match against in their lives.
The winners of the International Ice Hockey Federation Championships and the team with the second-most Olympic ice hockey medals in the world.
Team USA.
They were so brilliant that it was annoying.
Ari and the other girls walked down the stadium’s steps and sat in the bleachers.
Amelia, who played on defense, studied every move intently.
Orla, one of the left wingers, gritted her teeth as she saw just how precisely their opposition scored.
As Ari watched the Americans practice, the reality of the dream she was chasing came into focus.
As did the sheer improbability that her team would achieve it.
When Team USA finished training, they skated out of the rink and looked up at the stadium.
A few of them smiled and waved as they headed back to the locker room.
But one player stayed on the rink and skated a final loop around the perimeter before gliding off the ice and taking off her helmet.
Her dark brown hair tumbled down her back, and her face lit up with an expression that Ari could only interpret as twisted delight.
Ari’s shoulders tensed, her mouth dried up, and her heart began to beat a little faster.
Because the girl looking up at her from the ice was no ordinary Team USA hockey player.
She was Thandie Dlamini—one of the best players in the league.
And ever since Ari misjudged a tackle that had broken Thandie’s leg and stopped her from competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thandie had been harboring a long and fraught personal vendetta against her.
It was an accident. Ari had only ever intended to take possession of the ice puck to win the game.
She would have never gone out of her way to injure someone on purpose.
But the match that almost ruined Thandie’s career had catapulted Ari’s team up the rankings.
Team GB became the curious underdogs of the season, and the attention they’d gained for almost winning against one of the best teams in the world had boosted their visibility and won them an unexpected Zeus Athletics sponsorship.
It wasn’t enough to take them to Beijing 2022, but it was enough to capture the attention and investment of some of the more senior figures who ran Team GB.
In short: Thandie’s loss was Ari’s gain.
And from the look on Thandie’s face as she stared up at the stands, it was clear that she still hadn’t forgiven her.
In fact, Ari knew that Thandie had spent the past four years learning her weaknesses and getting into her head before every match to plot her downfall.
What started as a friendly rivalry had become a one-sided feud.
And now that they were both at the Winter Games, Thandie was finally in the position to get her revenge.
“See you on the ice, Captain,” Thandie said, her words laced with venom as she followed the rest of her team out.
Ari sighed and shook her head. Every decision she’d ever made came back to haunt her as her team stared blankly at the ice.
“We’re screwed, aren’t we?” said Sienna, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes.
Ari didn’t need to reply for them to know her answer: Yes. Yes, we are.