Chapter 2 — The Fall That Ended Everything

POV: Evangeline "Eva" Laurent

The skate blade snapped with a harsh crack, and my balance vanished in an instant as my body was thrown sideways onto the hard surface, sliding fast until I slammed straight into the wall by the side gate.

A sharp, unbearable wave of pain exploded through my right leg, and when I looked down through my blurred vision, I saw the bone pushed through my skin, making me scream out loud while the entire arena stopped shouting and went dead silent for a long moment before pure panic broke out in the stands.

"Stay back and don't touch her leg!" a paramedic shouted, running across the rink alongside three other workers while people in the crowd held up their phones to record me, and the overhead lights reflected off the blood spreading around my foot.

"My leg," I cried out, covering my face with both hands as the medical crew surrounded me on the ice, "it hurts so badly, please help me."

"Keep your head still, Eva," the lead paramedic said, cutting my skate laces off with a pair of scissors while two arena guards tried to block the news cameras zooming in on my face, "we are going to lift you onto the board right now, so try your best to stay still."

They loaded me into the back of an ambulance outside, and by the time we reached the emergency room, the internet news sites had already shifted their main headlines from the coach scandal to live updates about my crash, declaring everywhere that my competitive skating career was officially over.

I woke up hours later inside a hospital room with a cast covering my whole leg from my thigh down to my toes, and the first thing I saw was my mother standing by the window while my father walked back and forth near the end of my bed.

"Are you awake now?" my father asked, stopping near the foot of the bed and looking down at me without showing any warmth or relief in his voice.

"Dad," I whispered, reaching for the water glass sitting on the table, "the doctor told me the bone was broken completely, and they don't know if I can ever skate again."

"Do you have any idea how much money we lost today, Evangeline?" he answered, ignoring my question and crossing his arms over his chest, "the sponsors called us while you were still in the operating room, and they are dropping every single contract because of this scandal."

"I told you both that I didn't do anything wrong," I said, feeling tears run down my face as I turned toward my mother, "Mom, please tell him I didn't cheat or do what those posts said."

"It doesn't matter what you say to us anymore, Evangeline," my mother replied, looking out the glass instead of turning to face me, "you brought disgrace to our family name, and now everybody online is laughing at us because you couldn't keep your personal life under control."

"Where is Damien?" I asked, looking toward the door and holding out hope that he had come to the building after hearing how bad the accident was.

"He isn't coming here, Eva," my father said, taking his phone out of his pocket and holding the screen right in front of my face so I could read the statement Damien had just posted online, "he put this out thirty minutes ago to save his own career and reputation."

I stared at the screen where Damien had written that he was officially ending our relationship and our pair partnership, stating clearly that he could no longer stand by someone who had broken his trust and brought shame to the sport.

"He lied about everything," I said, pushing the screen away from my face while my chest felt tight, "he knew those photos were fake, but he put this statement out anyway just so people wouldn't hate him."

"We are done paying for your training and your ice time," my father said, turning toward the door while my mother picked up her bag from the chair, "the doctors said they will discharge you tomorrow morning, and after that, you need to figure out what you are going to do because we cannot afford to fix this whole mess."

"You are just leaving me here alone?" I asked, looking between the two of them as my voice shook.

"You ruined your own future, Evangeline," my mother said as she stepped out into the hallway, "we spent years paying for your coaches and your travel, and you threw it all away in one weekend."

They closed the door behind them without saying another word, leaving me completely alone in the room while every brand canceled my sponsorship deals, every friend from the rink blocked my phone number, and everything I had worked for was taken away in a single day.

A full year later, the bus pulled up next to the main entrance of Northcrest Academy, and I stepped down onto the snowy sidewalk carrying one black bag over my shoulder, using the transfer papers and scholarship forms that listed my name simply as Eva Laurent.

The campus was huge, with several buildings built around a large ice arena right in the center of the grounds, but I pulled my jacket up around my neck and kept my head down, moving straight toward the main office so nobody would look at my face for too long.

"Are you the new transfer student?" the lady behind the front desk asked, looking up from her computer as I walked up to the counter.

"Yes, I am Eva Laurent," I said, handing over my enrollment papers and my scholarship approval letter, "I was told to check in here first to get my room assignment and my work schedule."

"Everything looks complete on your form," she said, checking the names on her screen and printing out a blue slip of paper for me, "you are set up for the academic scholarship, but you will need to complete your daily work-study hours at the sports center to keep your funding active."

"What kind of work will I be doing?" I asked, taking the paper from her hand.

"You will be working down at the main arena," she answered, handing over a set of keys, "you will handle the equipment room, track the ice time sheets, and clean up after the sports teams finish their daily practice sessions."

"Is there anyone else working that shift?" I asked, holding the keys tightly in my palm because I did not want to be around large crowds of students if I could avoid it.

"You will be sharing the shift with the hockey captain," she said, leaning back in her chair and pointing down the main hallway toward the arena doors, "he manages the building keys, so you will need to coordinate the weekly schedule with him starting today."

I took a deep breath and walked out of the office, carrying my bag through the empty hall toward the double doors, determined to do my job, keep my head down, and make sure nobody at this school ever figured out who I really was.