I open my eyes to find Meredith staring at me. She’s watching me from her bed, her head still on the pillow, her red curls bright and sprawling against the white sheets.

“Good morning, Espi.”

I blink. Then I sit up. “You’re talking to me now?”

She sighs. “I have to talk to someone.”

“About what?”

“Just in general, I guess. I’m feeling kind of lonely.”

“Oh. What about Stacie? Why don’t you talk to her?”

“Stacie’s got other friends she likes better. Go take a look in the lounge.”

Now I’m curious. I get up and throw on a sweatshirt over my tank top, put my hair in a ponytail, and peek my head outside the room.

I’m definitely unprepared for what I see.

Jennifer Madison and Stacie are sitting on the couch whispering to each other and giggling. Stacie is still in her pajamas. The left leg of Jennifer’s jeans has a knee brace over it. They stop talking and turn my way.

“Well, look who’s joined us!” Stacie says.

“It’s America’s Hope for Gold!” Jennifer’s tone is so sarcastic that if she and Stacie had a mean girl contest, I’m not sure which one of them would win.

Stacie gets a smirk on her face. “More like America’s Natural Disaster on Ice.”

I try to think of a comeback, but I can’t. Joya would come up with something witty and biting to say back in a second, but I don’t have her dramatic talents. I stumble a couple of steps closer to them instead of backing out of the room like I should. I open my mouth. Then shut it again.

Nothing.

Finally I find some words, but they aren’t the ones I want. “What are you doing here?” I ask Jennifer.

Her eyes narrow. “What? I’m not allowed to watch the Olympics?”

“No. I mean, yes, of course you are. I just didn’t know you’d be here.”

She smiles, but not in a friendly way. “My boyfriend needs my support,” she says, drawing out boy and friend long and loud.

“Boyfriend?” I ask before I can stop myself.

Her eyelashes flutter innocently. “You know him, don’t you? Hunter Wills.”

“Yes,” I say stupidly.

Stacie eyes me. “You know you were just a game to Hunter. He’s been with Jennifer this whole time. He just wanted to psych you out, inexperienced innocent little girl that you are. Mess up your precious quad sal.”

Jennifer laughs. “You made it too easy for him!” She holds up her pinkie. “You just let him wrap you right around his little finger. Oh, Hunter! You’re so amazing!” She puts on a high, false voice that is supposed to sound like mine but doesn’t. Not at all. “Oh, Hunter! You understand me like no one else! Oh, Hunter! Watch me jump and help me win!”

I try to make like Gore-Tex and let their comments roll off of me, but I can’t. Tears sting my eyes. Even though I was on cloud nine last night after my romantic moment with Danny, it’s awful to think that the entire time Hunter was acting like he was interested, he was really lying to me and laughing behind my back with Jennifer and Stacie. “But why would he do that? Why would he lie? How do you even know what’s between Hunter and me?”

This question sends Jennifer and Stacie into a fit of giggles. “Do you really have to ask? Why, Esperanza,” she says, exaggerating each syllable of my name in a mock Spanish accent. “You stole what was mine! You stole my spot on the Olympic team!”

“But I didn’t. You got injured,” I say.

She’s not listening. “You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with it, did you? It was so satisfying to see you choke the other night.” She turns to Stacie for confirmation. “Wasn’t it, sweetie?”

“Oh yeah,” Stacie says. “I was glad to help the cause.” Then she covers her mouth and her eyes get wide. “Oops!”

It takes a moment, but then my brain starts to put two and two together. “You can’t mean that you threw your program for the Team Event,” I say, my eyes on Stacie. “You did not actually do that at the Olympics!”

Jennifer’s laughter is loud. “It’s not that big a deal. Everyone has other chances to medal. But we didn’t want you to go home with gold, coasting on the backs of all the other people who have been working so hard to get here — including Meredith, who didn’t even get to skate!”

Stacie pinches Jennifer’s arm.

“Ouch! Why did you do that?”

But Stacie only shushes her.

I look from one to the other. “That’s crazy,” I say. “And horrible. I might not be one of your figure skating buddies, but I’ve worked hard to get here too. And I think all our coaches might be very interested in what you just said.”

“Please don’t tell,” Stacie whispers, her voice suddenly full of fear.

“Right. Of course I’d never do that. Because you’ve been oh so nice to me, I should definitely keep your dark, nasty secrets from the rest of the team.”

“Esperanza, wait —” Stacie is saying.

“Also, just to remind you, the Olympics aren’t over yet,” I interrupt, and storm back into my room. I glare at Meredith, who is sitting on her bed with a shocked expression on her face. “Thanks for the warning before I went out there,” I snap at her. “It’s great to know that you were so mad you didn’t get picked as alternate for the Team Event, you were willing to help them try to sabotage the gold for everybody else, especially me. And I stupidly thought you and I were going to be friends!”

“But we are! And I didn’t … I’d never … I had no idea what they were up to! I swear!”

“Save it for someone who cares,” I say, and slam the bathroom door, locking myself inside. Meredith is still trying to talk to me, but I turn on the shower and get under the hot water. I close my eyes and wish it could wash away all the mixed-up feelings surging through me. Once again, I’m pulled right back into just the kind of drama Coach wants me to stay away from.

The question is, can I find my way out of it in time to skate tonight?

“Why won’t you pick up?” I shout at my phone.

Sadly, it doesn’t say anything in return.

I can’t get in touch with my mother. It’s freaking me out.

I’m crossing the Olympic Village, bag bouncing against my hip, my mind going everywhere at once. Mamá. Stacie. Jennifer. Meredith. Every once in a while it scrolls to Danny, which makes my heart flutter, but then inevitably it lands on Hunter Wills, which makes my skin burn. The idea that I’m the target of my figure skating teammates’ viciousness is humiliating.

I have to stop letting the drama get the best of me.

But how can I?

It’s so huge, it’s practically the size of one of those Olympic domes!

I don’t want to be Esperanza Flores, Queen of Drama, though. I want to go back to being America’s Hope for Gold. The Cinderella story of this year’s Olympic Games. The Spiñorita of everyone’s heart.

I call my mother one more time and it rings straight to voice mail.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“What has gotten into you?” Coach Chen says the moment she sees me. We fall in step on our way to the rink. “I left you last night and you were calm and happy. Now you’re a disaster.”

“America’s Natural Disaster on Ice,” I say, remembering Stacie’s words.

Coach studies me. “What happened?”

“When I got up, I found Stacie Grant and Jennifer Madison in the lounge.”

“And? So?”

I can’t meet Coach’s eyes. “And they eloquently expressed how much I’m hated by everyone. What a failure I am. That I’m a laughingstock to the whole Olympic team.”

Coach Chen squeezes my arm. “What those girls think doesn’t matter. And you are not a laughingstock.”

“But I am, apparently. There’s something else I learned too. Something horrible and shocking and wrong about the Team Event and why we didn’t medal.” The words are spilling out of me before I can think.

Coach looks alarmed. “What are you talking about, Esperanza?”

“I’m talking about —” I start, but stop midsentence.

I’m about to say the word sabotage.

I’m about to tell on Stacie. Confess to Coach what she did. How she’s conspired with Jennifer and Hunter this whole time and intentionally jeopardized the Team Event medal.

But then I don’t.

If I tell on Stacie, I’ll be stooping just as low as she has. Coach Chen would have to tell Coach East, who would have to tell the US Figure Skating officials, and they could decide to not let Stacie skate tonight. And if Stacie gets disqualified, I won’t get to compete against her for gold.

Which would mean I won’t get to beat her fair and square.

Which would also mean that if I actually do medal, she could always claim it was just because she didn’t skate. Just like Jennifer wants to claim that I don’t really deserve to be here. That I’m only here because of her injury. Which is partly true, but not entirely.

Coach Chen is waiting for me to explain.

“You know what? Nothing,” I say finally. “Nothing happened.”

“Esperanza …” Coach is suspicious now. “If something is up, you need to tell me what it is.”

I shake my head. “Nothing’s up. Really. There isn’t. I was just being melodramatic.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“I don’t know. But you should.”

“Well, get your head in the game, then.”

“Okay. I will.”

Coach studies me, eyes narrowed. “I mean it, Espi.”

I breathe deep. I nod. “I know you do.”

“Tonight is the short program. You’ll do your triple axels. Tomorrow is your free skate. You’ll do your triple axels again and you’re going for the quad sal. Right?”

I swallow. “Yes.”

“You’ve got to let go of whatever is bothering you — whatever it is you won’t tell me.” A lightbulb goes on in Coach’s eyes. “Is this about Danny Morrison? Did something happen with him?”

My cheeks flush. “Um.”

“Something did happen!”

The flush deepens. “Um.”

Coach Chen puts her hand to her hip. “I’m going to kill that boy if he’s upset you.”

“No, no,” I say quickly. “He didn’t upset me. I promise. He made me feel better.”

“Humph.” She looks up at the dark gray sky a moment. “I need you to block the bad drama, whatever it is. You can’t go out there again and let it get the best of you. Focus on Danny if you need to. On Tawny. On me and Bax. Your friends Libby and Joya at home. Your mother, who adores you.”

I nod. We are almost to the rink. I pull out my phone and dial my mother. For the millionth time, it goes straight to voicemail. Mamá would never let the phone ring like this, not on the day of my short program. “Something has happened to my mother. I can’t handle this. I’m starting to get scared. How can I focus if I’m petrified about my mother?”

“Espi —”

“I mean, where is she?! I need her! I’m worried!” I look at Coach in despair. “Why aren’t you more worried? It’s been over twenty-four hours since she and I have talked, and that is not like her!”

Coach Chen puts her hands on my shoulders, the thing she always does when she wants to calm me down and reassure me that everything will be okay. My heart rate automatically slows. “Espi, be quiet and follow me.”

Coach leads me through the glittering glass entrance to the arena. She takes my hand and pulls me toward the stands, not toward the door to backstage, where we should be headed.

“Where are we —?” I start, then stop.

Because I see where we’re going.

Because I see why too.

“Mamá!” I cry.

My mother is standing there beaming at me. Her eyes are tired and her hair is sticking up in the back like she slept on an airplane all night.

Because she did. She must have. That’s why she didn’t pick up the phone. She was on her way here!

She puts her arms out. “¡Mija!”

I run and give her the biggest hug I’ve ever given my mother in my entire life. She squeezes me tight and kisses the top of my head, and it’s in this moment that I know that no matter what, everything is going to be okay.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I say, taking a step back to look at her again.

“I can’t believe it either.” She hugs Coach Chen. “It’s good to see you, Lucy.”

“You couldn’t have gotten here a moment sooner,” Coach says, shaking her head. Then she turns to me. “Surprise, Espi!”

“You knew?” I ask.

“Since three days ago. The visa came through.”

I look at my mother and all around us. That’s when I see Luca hovering a ways off by the seats. “Luca’s here too?” He waves at me and I wave back. Mr. Chen is next to him and gives me his mad mathematician face, like always. It’s strangely comforting.

My mother smiles a little bit shyly. “Luca insisted on coming.” She glances behind her at him and Mr. Chen, then turns back to me. “The three of us flew together. We wanted to see your dreams come true in person.”

“Being here is definitely a dream,” I say. “But I don’t know that my dreams of Olympic gold will ever be a reality. Please don’t expect too much tonight.”

“Esperanza Flores,” my mother says sternly. “I did not raise you to be a doubter! Your name means hope. Don’t go losing it now.” She picks up the small carry-on bag at her feet and holds it out to me. “I brought you something that might help.”

I take the bag and unzip the top to see what’s inside. The smile on my face reaches ear to ear.

“So, there’s been a change of plans,” I say to Coach Chen. “I’m not wearing the Wang.” I pull out her old costume and hold it up between the three of us. “I’ve decided I’m going to wear the Chen. For good luck.”

When I get backstage before the Ladies’ Short Program event, Tawny is deep in conversation with Meredith.

I didn’t know those two were friends.

Meredith waves her arms around as she talks. Tawny has a look of horror on her face. I hang back. I don’t want to talk to Meredith right now.

Stacie and Coach East are a little ways off in the corner. I don’t see Coach Danson anywhere, and I almost wonder if he’s simply abandoned Meredith altogether. The thought sends a pang of sadness for her shooting through my middle.

I turn the other way and see Jennifer and Hunter coming toward me, holding hands, both of them wearing smirks. Hunter’s silver medal is dangling around his neck.

It kind of makes me want to barf.

But at least he isn’t taking home the gold.

I’m surrounded on all sides by major figure skating drama. It doesn’t matter which way I go, I’ll have to contend with somebody I’d rather avoid.

Then suddenly, everyone is headed in my direction.

Stacie is on her way to talk to Jennifer and Hunter, I think. Tawny and Meredith are on their way to me. Tawny glares at Stacie and blocks her path. “I can’t believe you’d do that to us!”

She rolls her eyes. “Do what?”

“Sabotage the Team Event!”

Stacie’s face goes white. Her eyes go to me, even as she answers Tawny. “Who told you?”

Meredith snaps her fingers to get Stacie’s attention. “I did.”

“You’d betray our friendship —”

Meredith huffs. “Friendship? What friendship? You’re nasty to me. You boss me around. You make me feel bad about myself. You psych me out, not up. And you call that friendship?” Stacie opens her mouth, but Meredith halts her by putting up a hand. “Don’t even try to fix this. It can’t be fixed. You and I are done.”

“But I —”

Tawny snaps her fingers in front of Stacie’s face to get her attention. “My turn now.” She screws up her face in disgust. “Don’t bother with excuses, Grant. Tell them to the USFS! And to Janie and Johnny, whose only hope of medaling depended on the Team Event!”

Tawny is so sweet all the time that I didn’t know she was capable of such rage. It makes me glad I’m not on her bad side.

Stacie points a finger at me. “Esperanza fell! And Esperanza —”

“Don’t you dare blame Espi. She didn’t do it on purpose. You, however, did! And you threw everyone off in the process!” Tawny looks over her shoulder at Jennifer and Hunter, who’ve been hovering in the background, listening this whole time. Then she turns back to Stacie. “You do realize that sabotaging Esperanza wasn’t the only item on Jennifer’s agenda, right?”

Stacie twirls her blond hair around a finger nervously. She lets it go, then does it again. “What are you talking about?” she asks, her tone uncertain.

“Did it ever occur to you that by convincing you to botch your programs for the Team Event, Jennifer was sabotaging what might be your only chance at gold? And when she let it slip in front of your other teammates that you agreed to this, she was sabotaging you for the individual medals too? Maybe she wanted people to find out your secret so she could pull you into a drama and psych you out. Or worse, even jeopardize your ability to compete. I mean, why would someone like Espi, after the way you’ve treated her, not get you in trouble with the US Figure Skating officials? What reason have you given Esperanza to protect you? Or me, for that matter? Or your former best friend, Meredith?”

Stacie’s mouth opens wide. She clearly hasn’t thought of any of this.

Coach East approaches. “What’s going on here? Why are you girls fighting?” Her voice is sweet, but I can hear the tone underneath that says she doesn’t mess around and isn’t happy to hear us bickering.

Tawny and Meredith open their mouths at once, ready to speak, but I get there first.

“We were arguing about one of the hockey boys,” I pipe in cheerily. “Silly girl stuff. You know how it is.”

Coach East looks at me hard. “You’re arguing about boys now?”

“Mm-hm.” I turn to Meredith and Tawny for help. “Aren’t we?”

Tawny shoots me a what are you doing look. “Um. Sure,” she says. “I guess.”

Meredith stays silent. She gives Stacie a glare as sharp as a knife.

“Cut the drama,” Coach East says to all of us. “Three of you are about to skate tonight.” She eyes me. “I thought you were an exception to this sort of ridiculousness, Esperanza.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Coach East,” I say in a small voice, honestly sorry to lose some of her respect, especially at the expense of protecting Stacie.

Coach East shakes her head and walks away, leaving the three of us alone again.

Stacie’s lip quivers. “Why didn’t you tell on me?” she asks.

I stare straight into her eyes for a long time before I answer. “Because I’m not a mean person like you. And because I’m going to beat you fair and square. No one is going to be able to say that Esperanza Flores only won Olympic gold because Stacie Grant didn’t compete.”

Before she can say anything else, I walk away.

“Wait up,” Tawny and Meredith call out behind me.

So I do.