As we skated off so the next lineup could get out on the track, Lena slapped my shoulder. “Not bad, rook!” I appreciated this but found myself looking to Kat to see what she thought. After she finished squirting water into her mouth, she eyed me up. “Yeah, not bad at all. But now you sit for a bit. You’re a rookie, after all.”

What? Dammit. I didn’t want to sit. Was this because I’d held back? “Really? But we just won that jam.”

Kat swished some water around in her mouth for a good long while before replying. “And? You’ll get in again. Just chill out.” She turned away from me to talk to Dom.

Something happened on the track—Sage, Grace, and the others sitting on the bench rose up to their feet and cheered. Charlotte, also a jammer like Kat, had broken through the pack and taken the lead.

Still feeling the adrenaline from the last jam and jittery from wanting to be out there, I had to steady myself and regain focus by placing my hands on my hips and gazing hard at the ground in front of my skates, bringing my wheels to a still position. I pushed my fists into my hip bones, feeling the tenderness of one of the bruises Kat had given me.

Breathe, Daya, I heard Dr. Hoang again in my head.

Fuck breathing. I needed to get out on that effing track, fast. Standing around in all this madness was just making me antsy. Waiting for my time to come wasn’t really my strength. And watching shit wasn’t really my thing either.

But watch I did. The second jam finished. We were up by nine. Kat and the others went on for the next jam, except Saba was back on the line with them instead of me. I pressed harder into my hip.

Kat cleared the pack again and raced around the track. Her eyes blazed—there was something both savage and targeted in them. The way she leaned into her stride, it was like some force was acting against her, like she was battling some invisible team of blockers, expecting the worst and giving them her fiercest. The look was both scary and exciting.

And our blockers were killing it. I tried to zone in on them, even though I just wanted to be out there with them. Lena, Dom, Jin, and Saba formed a virtual wall of muscle. Lena was an expert backward skater—so smooth and easy and solid. Dom homed in on the other team’s skaters like a heat-seeking missile.