Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush or anything recognizable in this chapter. Okay? Okay.

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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, or reviewed this story! You guys are amazing and beautiful and you rock, so thank you! :)

Not really a lot I need to say about this chapter. I guess the main thing is that the chapter title is from the P!nk song "F**kin Perfect" and it's mentioned in the chapter. Also, with the competitions, save for nationals, are all just basically my creations. If there are ice skating competitions similar to them, it's not intentional at all. Anyway, I guess that's about it :)

Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Effing Perfect To Me

Katie's POV

James hollered to his mom that we were heading out and he dashed up to his room to grab his keys and wallet, before joining me in front of the door. He slipped his feet into his sneakers, called bye to Shane and Kyle, and we headed out to his car. He unlocked it and held the front passenger door for me.

"Thanks," I said to him as I slid in carefully, watching my ankle to make sure it didn't accidentally bang against the door or something.

"No problem." He closed the door and got in on the driver's side. We buckled up and he started the car, backing out of the driveway and onto the street. He got the heat going and turned the radio on, glancing over at me. "Are you warm enough?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for earlier. For getting Lauren off of me," I added when he looked at me curiously. "She may be thin, but she's surprisingly heavy."

"No problem. I would have gotten her off of you sooner, but I think I went into shock when I saw her attack you like that. I'm pretty sure the same is true for Shane and Kyle."

"Probably. I know I was shocked." I leaned back against the seat, breathing in the smell of the car, the scent of James' aftershave, the whiff of what I knew was his soap. It was strong enough that I knew he had showered within the past couple of hours, probably just before I had arrived. His hair looked soft in the dim light, a perfect golden brown, smoother than silk. I ached to run my fingers through it, to feel it sliding through my fingers, brushing against my skin. It was a weird thought, to crave touching a guy's hair, but somehow it felt normal with James. After all, James was different than the other guys…No other guy had managed to earn my attention, to wield it, the way he had. No other guy had ever been able to make me want to throw all caution to the wind and pull him into a deep kiss right then and there. No other guy had ever intrigued me the way he did, or make me want to know every single thing about him. There was no one else like him and there never would be, of that I was absolutely certain.

A rock song came on the radio and James drummed his fingers against the wheel to the beat, singing along to it.

"Who plays this?" I asked him curiously, nodding to the radio.

"Darling Parade," he answered.

"Never heard of them."

"I don't think they're well known yet. I found them on iTunes one night and I've been hooked on them ever since."

"Cool. They're good," I added. "The lead singer's got a good voice."

"She does," he agreed. "They're all awesome. So…are you nervous about tomorrow?"

I shifted slightly, massaging my ankle. "A little bit…I hope my ankle will hold up. I really need to win this competition."

"What happens if you don't?"

"Well, there're other competitions that Sarah's entered me in, but this one will gain me a lot of exposure as a high school ice skater and it'll send me to regionals in the area."

"Gotcha."

I nodded. "The competition's a really big deal for the ice skaters in this area. Our school's hosting it, so at least I'll be on a rink I'm used to."

"Which is good," James agreed. "Do you think your ankle will be okay?"

"Hopefully. I'll bandage it up and there's some medicines I can put on it to numb the pain. So I'll probably do that tomorrow morning."

"What time's the competition?"

"It begins at one. Are you going to be there?"

"I'm planning on it."

"Cool. I'll try not to let you down."

"You won't," he assured me. "When it comes to ice skating, I know you won't."

I didn't miss the double meaning of his words – with everything else, with us, with our relationship, he would never know if he could trust me or not. And the only way he would ever agree to go out with me was if I was able to prove to him that he could trust me.

Easier said than done.

"What about the game tomorrow, after the competition?" I asked him. "Nervous about that?"

"A little," he admitted. "We're going to have a lot more games coming up, so with any luck we'll be able to crush the competition."

"Here's hoping." I crossed my index and middle fingers and held them up so James could see.

"Thanks." He smiled slightly, flipping on the turn signal and turning into the parking lot of Creamy Delish. He pulled into a parking spot and switched the ignition off. We unbuckled and climbed out, heading into the ice cream, frozen yogurt, and milkshake parlor. James held the door open for me and I'll admit it, I almost swooned. I had forgotten the tiniest bit that he could be a gentleman. I hoped fervently that Lauren knew what she had lost, and that James would eventually take me back now that she was out of his life.

"Thanks," I gave him a small smile and he returned it, following me inside.

I eyed the menu hanging on the back wall before approaching the counter. I ordered a large Belgian chocolate frozen yogurt with sprinkles and cherries on it. I opened my purse to grab my wallet out but James placed his hand over mine.

"I've got it."

"What? No. This is – I mean – you don't have to…"

"I want to," he said firmly, pulling out his own wallet. "And I'll get the triple chocolate hot fudge sundae," he added to the waitress, who nodded.

She punched our orders into the cash register and gave James the total. He passed her a twenty and she handed back some change. He put it in his wallet and we stepped back, waiting for our orders to be ready.

We were called to the counter a minute later and we grabbed our bowls, heading over to a comfy looking couch, snatching up spoons and napkins on the way.

We plopped down on the couch side by side and I took a bite of my yogurt, humming happily. I had to eat lightly until the competition was over since I couldn't be weighed down by heavy food – I had decided lasagna was a necessary exception – but luckily for me Creamy Delish's frozen yogurt was exemplary, so I didn't feel like I was missing out in the least.

"So," James said after he had taken a few bites of his sundae, "what exactly was it that you wanted to tell me?"

With a deep breath, I pulled out my phone, scrolling through my old texts. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually I managed to find the one I was looking for. I wordlessly passed my phone to James and he took it, reading the text.

His eyebrows shot up. "Whoa. Okay. What the fuck does this mean? 'What's this I hear about you 'spending time' with James Diamond? He's a hockey player and a distraction. Get rid of him, or else I'm going to leak the news about his little brother's sexuality'. That – she texted you the day we drove up to the hotel…"

"Right before you got into the van with me," I said quietly. "I was already scared and wondering if maybe I was making a mistake and then she texted me and it just sealed the deal. I mean, I don't know if I would have broken up with you or not if she hadn't texted me, I'll probably never know, but it definitely pushed me to the edge. I couldn't…I had to protect you and Shane. If I couldn't be with you, then I could at least protect you."

James stared at me for a long moment, unblinking. "Holy fuck," he whispered. "This…wow…holy fuck…"

"I know…"

"This is insane…"

"I know that too…"

"Your coach is such a bitch!"

"I'm aware…"

"I can't believe she'd do this to Shane or to you. What a fucking bitch."

"I know…"

"You have to do something about her!"

"I can't! She gets me through competitions."

"Did she make you practice with a twist ankle?" he asked bluntly.

"I – what?"

"Yes or no, Katie."

"I – yes. Yes, she did."

"Which she should never have done, especially the day before a competition. What an evil, sadistic bitch. You need to get rid of her and hire a new coach, you know you do."

I slowly nodded.

"So why don't you?"

The question was put so bluntly, so forwardly, that it caught me off guard for a second.

"I – I don't know…I guess I've always just assumed that Sarah's the best coach we can get. She gets me through competitions, at the very least."

James rolled his eyes. "What's more important, Katie? Winning competitions? Or being able to use your ankle in twenty years?"

I subconsciously rubbed my ankle. It still ached like a bitch and I wasn't even sure painkillers were going to help me this time.

"You broke your ankle a few years ago, didn't you?" James pressed on. "How bad was it?"

"Bad enough to keep me from ice skating for a few months," I recalled. "I broke it during a competition. I was already having trouble with it, I had bruised it pretty badly the day before and I wasn't being careful enough. It gave out under me when I landed a jump and I fell on it. It was enough to break the bone. I was twelve," I added, running my fingers through my hair. "And I didn't cry. Not once. Because I didn't want anyone to think I was weak. Sarah was already my coach by that time and she had drilled it into me that I wasn't allowed to show weakness. So I never did. Not until you showed up." I smiled sadly. "And then everything I had worked so hard for came crashing down around me, and I couldn't go back. Not ever."

James listened to me, not saying anything; instead, he just slipped his fingers around mine, thumb stroking over the back of my hand, a slight but still constant pressure.

There was a long pause as I fell silent, and then he spoke: "You know what song reminds me of you?"

I looked at him questioningly, wondering what had spurred on the abrupt change of subject.

"P!nk's song Fucking Perfect. Listening to you talk, being around you…that song reminds me of you."

"But I'm not perfect. I'm an absolute bitch who keeps making mistakes when it comes to you. I keep hurting you."

"But you also have these really amazing moments. And you're not always a bitch. You're really not as bad as you were when we first met. Back then you were practically a raving lunatic."

"Gee, thanks."

He gave my hand a small squeeze. "It didn't keep me from liking you or falling for you. I knew there was a reason I couldn't get over you. I'm not sure I ever completely believed the story you told me when we were in the van."

"It was partly the truth."

"But there was more to it."

I sighed, spooning some more frozen yogurt into my mouth. "What about your dad? What happened with him? You said something about him physically abusing you and your mom tonight when you were screaming bloody murder at Lauren."

James ran his hand over his face, groaning. "I can't believe I let that slip…"

"What happened? Was he – was he really bad?"

"It was just this…it was an occasional thing. He would get angry and he had a fucking awful temper. He would take it out on my mom and me, shoving us into walls, slapping her, pushing me to the ground. Shane rarely got the brunt of it, he usually knew when he needed to stay out of Dad's way, but Mom and I were a little…we were kind of stupid. I thought I could stand up to him, make him stop, and Mom would stay around to try to keep him from doing too much damage to me. It wasn't an everyday thing, but it began to happen more and more often as I got older. Dad lost his job and he began drinking instead of trying to find another one. And he was a mean drunk. Shane and I began spending a lot of time at the ice rink, practicing hockey and skating, and my mom got her hands on a job. She finally got up the nerve to tell him to either get himself clean and sober or to get the fuck out. He packed his bags and left that night. We didn't hear from him for months and we had no idea if he was still alive or if…We had no clue. And then my mom was served with divorce papers almost a year later. We found out he was in Minneapolis, but he never bothered to come and visit us in Shakopee. I haven't seen him since the night he left. Shane and I sometimes get a birthday card from him and he always puts money in it, so that's something. But yeah, other than that he doesn't contact us."

It took me a few seconds to realize that I should probably say something to him. "Wow…that…wow. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's whatever, you know? It happened years ago, it's not a big deal now. It's just something that happened."

"You guys haven't had it easy," I said softly, thinking about Shane being bullied and James almost getting kicked out for standing up to the bullies.

"Does anyone?" James replied quietly. He swirled his spoon around the half melted ice cream, following the spoon's tracks with his eyes. "Shane and I probably should have been more open to Brad, but…I don't know. We didn't even know about him until he was standing in our kitchen, half naked, cooking breakfast. We had no idea Mom had started dating, it was a total shock."

I nodded. "I get where you're coming from. If I came downstairs one morning to find that one of my parents had someone of the opposite sex over, I would probably throw a bitch fit. It wouldn't be pretty. Is your dad…was he possessive of your mom?"

James shrugged. "Not really. If he was, I don't think he would have left. He always told Mom that she would never find someone else, though, that she wasn't pretty enough."

My jaw dropped. "Your mom's gorgeous!"

"Yeah, I know. And obviously she did find someone else, someone who's been a better father to me in the past few weeks than my dad ever was in the twelve or so years he lived in the same house as me."

"He was afraid of you being gay."

"Or appearing gay. Or – I don't even know. I think some of the shit he sprouted out was because of the alcohol."

"Well, you know what they say – alcohol kills brain cells," I quipped and he laughed a little.

"Yeah, I've heard that one. That's probably the case with my dad. But yeah, he came up with a load of bullshit and I don't even know if he really believed it or if he was just too far gone to really know what he was saying."

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely. "I really am."

"It's over and done with, has been for years."

"But you're still hurting…"

"I'll always be a little hurt because of him, Katie. He chose alcohol over his family. You don't just get over that."

"I know."

"Why'd you kiss Jett Stetson?"

I turned to face him, shocked; I hadn't expected that question at all. "I – I don't know…I mean…You and Lauren had left the New Year's Eve party. We had just made out in the closet, things had gotten so intense and then you just left. You didn't care. And I knew you were going to kiss Lauren at midnight and maybe do more and I just…I wanted to – I wanted to punish you for just leaving me like that. And Jett was right there. So I kissed him. If it makes you feel any better I think I threw up a little in my mouth and I pushed him away right away. It was gross. He uses too much tongue, it was like kissing a dog with a slobbering problem. And then he told me I was flat chested but it wouldn't matter as long as I put out and I dumped my drink over his head."

"You ended up driving him home."

"He had hitched along with us to the party and I couldn't just leave him at Carlos'. His house was the last stop but if I had been smarter I would have gone backwards, dropping him off first. But I didn't actually think he was dangerous."

"Maybe he isn't when he's sober, but alcohol brings out people's inhibitions," James pointed out. "He'd probably wanted to sleep with you for awhile and chances are he didn't really care what he had to do to get between your legs."

"Well, he didn't succeed, thanks to you."

"Good. Because if he did sleep with you, I'd have to go beat the shit out of him. Again."

I let out a small giggle. "I would never sleep with him willingly, but that's good to hear. It's hot when you get all defensive and protective of me."

He blinked. "It is?"

"Yeah. It's fucking hot."

A small grin crossed his face and he turned to face me. Before he could say or do anything, I closed the distance between us, pressing my lips to his. He didn't even hesitate, kissing me back at once. I deepened the kiss, pushing closer to him, and he slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me up against him. I braced my free hand, the one that wasn't still clutching my fro-yo bowl, against his chest, trying not to whimper at the feel of hard, bulging muscles beneath my fingers.

So fucking hot.

We broke apart after a few seconds, both trying to catch our breath.

"Admit it, you missed that," I said once I was able to talk again.

"I'm not even going to lie, I totally did."

I grinned in triumph.

"We need to figure this out," James said after a moment, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "But not tonight. We both have big days tomorrow and we need to keep our heads in the game. We can talk tomorrow night, though, if you want to."

"I do." I nodded.

"Okay. Just…you do still want to go out with me, right?"

"More than almost anything."

"Okay."

"What changed your mind?" I asked curiously.

"That text from Sarah," he said quietly. "And seeing what a total bitch Lauren is. And just…just talking to you. Plus that kiss helped a lot."

"So, you're really just using me for my kissing skills."

"Yeah, pretty much."

I laughed, elbowing him lightly in the side and he grinned.

I grinned back, thinking that yeah, maybe things really would be okay with us.

I couldn't wait for tomorrow night.

James' POV

Once we had finished our sundae and frozen yogurt, I drove Katie back to my house so that she could get her car and head home.

Before she climbed into her car, she turned to face me. "I'm not going to fuck it up this time," she promised, sounding as if she was taking an oath on the bible. "Once I get you, that's it, you're mine, no one else's. Oh, and when our sexual tension finally does explode, we're going to have sex at least once a day." She brushed her lips against mine and smirked at the stunned look on my face before getting in her car. "Peace out, Jamie-Bear."

I watched as she drove away, still a little bit in shock at her proclamation of having sex with me at least once a day.

The front door opened and Brad stuck his head outside. "Did Katie leave?"

"Yeah." I shook myself out of my stupor and headed into the house. "Yeah, she just left."

"And? Are you two okay?"

"You know, I think we are. Or we will be."

"Good." He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"So, why exactly was there iced tea all over the place?" my mom asked me as I joined her in the kitchen. Shane and Kyle were nowhere to be seen and I hadn't seen Kyle's car so I had a feeling they had probably headed out as well.

I gave her a brief synopsis of what had gone down after she and Brad had peaced out during dinner, and she sighed.

"Girls can be so crazy, especially in their teenage years. I'm just glad Katie's okay."

"Me too."

"Did you two get to talk?"

I nodded. "We did."

"And?"

"And I think we might actually finally get together for real."

Mom beamed. "That's wonderful, sweetie!"

I smiled. "It is. Anyway, she's got an ice skating competition tomorrow at the school so I'm going to head down there."

"Sounds like fun. Tell her good luck from me."

"I will."

I made my way up to my room a little while later and changed into my pajamas before brushing my teeth, washing my face, and crawling into bed. With so much to think about and so much to anticipate, I half expected to lay away for most of the night, but I conked out almost the second my head hit the pillow. I slept soundly through the night and woke up a little after ten to sunshine streaming through my curtains. I got out of bed and headed into the bathroom, going through my usual morning routine.

Two and a half hours later, I found myself sitting in the bleachers in the larger of the two ice rinks at school, Shane, Kyle, Kendall, Logan, and Carlos seated around me. In the row in front of us were Mr. and Mrs. Knight, side by side and talking in low voices. I could tell that they were both anxious and worried for Katie.

"Yeah, she hurt her ankle yesterday during practice, and something happened at James' house, so her ankle isn't in good condition," Mrs. Knight was saying quietly to Mr. Knight. "I warned Sarah this morning, I called her up to let her know right after Katie left this morning, but she didn't seem too concerned."

"Why'd you call her?" Mr. Knight asked curiously. "Katie could have told her herself."

"You know Katie doesn't like showing weakness, and I wanted to make sure that Sarah went easy on her during practice before the competition, but I'm not sure that actually happened. I just saw Katie a little while ago and she looked beyond stressed, and she was hobbling slightly. Her ankle isn't in good condition, and it's just going to get worse."

"Is it the ankle she broke a few years back?"

"It is. She's had problems with that ankle since she broke it and Sarah's never seemed to understand that. I've been telling you for ages that Sarah does more harm than good and that we need to fire her. If our little girl gets hurt out there, or if she can barely walk in a few years, I'll be blaming you."

I leaned forward to join the conversation. "Katie told me yesterday that Sarah's been overworking her again. She didn't let her have a break after she twisted her ankle. And Sarah's behind the whole eating disorder thing that she had last year."

Mrs. Knight smacked Mr. Knight's arm. "See?! I told you! Just because Sarah's freaking expensive doesn't mean she's good! You don't always get what you pay for, how many times do I have to tell you that? And in this case, you've been paying for our daughter to be tortured!"

"I bet Sarah is also partly to blame for Katie's dislike of hockey players," I added in, glancing at Kendall. "Katie showed me a text from her last night and she definitely has a distaste for them."

"We're firing her after the competition," Mrs. Knight said furiously to her ex husband. "Whether you like it or not."

Mr. Knight nodded in agreement, running his hand over his face and sighing. "It definitely sounds like we need to. Maybe we can hire Camille's, Jo's, and Stephanie's coach to train Katie with them…"

"That might work," Mrs. Knight agreed, just as the announcer spoke into his microphone, proclaiming that the Rosa County Ice Skating Competition for High School Girls ages fourteen-eighteen was beginning.

The first girl went on and my eyes widened. Oh wow…I had a feeling these girls were going to be good, not to mention stiff competition for Katie.

About a half hour later, Stephanie was called up and my stomach churned anxiously for her. While I wanted Katie to win, I was rooting for her friends as well. I was hoping they'd at the very least place.

I watched as Stephanie performed her routine, clapping and cheering for her when she finished. She had been amazing, possibly the best I had seen so far. She would definitely place.

A moment later, Katie's name was called, and she skated onto the ice.

The music began and I almost laughed – she had chosen Orianthi's song Shut Up & Kiss Me. I caught the little smirk she tossed up towards the stands and knew she had me in mind when she had chosen it. It was a far cry from Stephanie's chosen song, an Adele one, and the entire audience was getting into it. The energy from the song and the crowd alike definitely seemed to be influencing Katie, hitting her hard, and she was skating with so much passion, getting so into the song and her routine that it was impossible not to take your eyes off of her, to want to run out onto the ice and join her.

"That," I pointed to her, getting the others attention, "that is true talent. That's passion. It was never Sarah who got her through the competitions, it was Katie herself. She's the golden goose here, not Sarah. Never Sarah."

They nodded and Mrs. Knight gave me a small smile, reaching up to squeeze my hand before turning back to watching Katie.

The song hit the final verse and Katie leapt into a triple axel in midair…I knew a split second before it happened that her ankle was going to give out on her. It crumpled beneath her as she landed, sending her to the ice. I could see the pain in her eyes and the entire crowd let out a loud "Ooooh" of disappointment and sympathy for her.

"Come on, Katie," I muttered. "Come on…"

As if she could hear me, she picked herself up, pasting a determined, focused look on her face, and jumped back into the routine. She tried another triple axel and perfected that one, although I knew ahead of time that she had braced herself, was babying her ankle. Nevertheless, another flash of pain crossed her face as she landed, but she continued to skate, putting just as much energy and fierceness as she had before she had fallen.

I hauled the others to their feet as the final chorus hit; we rose as one, screaming and cheering for her, and she finished her routine on a high note, looking completely steady, like she hadn't almost broken her ankle less than two minutes before.

She struck a pose with the final note of the song, beautiful and graceful, almost swan like, and it literally felt like my heart was clenching in amazement at how gorgeous and breathtaking she was. She was going to be mine, there was no doubt about that. Lauren was already a mere memory to me, a stupid mistake I had made when I was hurt and angry, nothing more than that. And that was the way it was supposed to be.

Katie skated off the ice and the announcers made comments about her performance, remarking that despite the fall, she had done extremely well, but that it would probably cost her.

"You know," the female announcer said, "I heard she hurt her ankle yesterday during practice. She came into the competition with an injury – that in itself deserves extra points."

"It's true," the male announcer agreed. "She only fell once and she was able to get back up. With any luck her routine will be enough to place her."

"Let's hope so, she was a crowd favorite last year."

The competition continued on with Camille and Jo skating as well. Jo's routine was absolutely flawless and she had chosen Taylor Swift's song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together for her routine song, so that in itself seemed to endear her to the audience.

At last, the competition ended and the judges tallied up the points.

"In first place," the announcer began, "we have Josephine Taylor from La Castillo, California!"

The crowd went nuts, with Kendall whooping and the rest of us cheering, although my spirits dropped a little. Katie hadn't gotten first place. She might have if her sadistic coach hadn't pushed her past her limits, or if Lauren hadn't kicked her in the ankle the night before. But she hadn't. I could only imagine how disappointed she was right then – she had told me herself last night that she had to win. She had made it sound like it was the difference between breathing and not breathing.

"In second place," the announcer continued on, "we have Lacey Johnston from San Diego, California!"

There was another outburst of applause and cheers as I recalled a cute blonde girl with a build similar to Katie's. Her routine had been pretty impressive, although she hadn't had the passion or fire that Katie had.

"And in third place, we have Katherine Knight from La Castillo, California!"

I clenched my fists in triumph as I rose to my feet once more with my friends and her family, screaming and whooping as loudly as we could. At least she had placed, and that was the important part.

"So, that means," the female announcer said into her microphone, "that all three girls will be continuing on to the southern California regionals and who knows? One of them might be able to make it to the California finals."

"That could lead to nationals," the male announcer put in. "Get them into the really big competitions. And possibly even the winter Olympics."

"A lot of these girls are considered to be under trained, as they're still going to high school full time. The first and third placers are two of those girls. But who knows? It's obvious that they can do anything they set their minds to. Lots of luck to all of you girls!" the female announcer said enthusiastically.

I looked at the others. "Should we go find Katie?"

"It'll be a little while, she's probably trying to take care of her ankle and is cooling down in her dressing room right now," Mrs. Knight told me. "She's probably pretty disappointed right now because to her it's either first place or nothing. She'll need some time alone."

I nodded in understanding. I could be like that when it came to hockey, and I had settled into that mentality when I had competed in ice skating. Come to think of it, I had been like that when I was performing in plays – I had to get the lead male role, or nothing at all. I had eventually grown out of that, accepting minor parts, but it was still something I dealt with when it came to hockey.

We filed out of the aisle we were in and headed out to the lobby. I could see the contestants hugging their friends and family, slowly making their way out to the parking lot. Before long, there was just a few people left in the lobby and Katie was nowhere in sight. Camille, Stephanie, and Jo had all arrived not too long after we got out of the rink, hugging us all tightly, Jo half crying from the relief and rush of winning. We all congratulated her and Kendall even held out a bouquet of flowers he had bought from one of the vendors lining the lobby five minutes before. She accepted it gracefully, kissing his cheek and he beamed, a slight blush appearing.

"Hey," I nudged Kendall's shoulder. "I'm going to go find Katie."

He nodded, not taking his eyes off of Jo.

I headed off back through the lobby. I had a feeling I knew exactly where Katie was, and sure enough when I pushed through the doors of the rink, there she was, sitting on the ice, her legs under her, staring unseeingly ahead of her.

I paused for a moment, before moving towards her. "Katie?"

Her head snapped up and she looked around. "Oh. James."

"Yeah…um…you know what? Wait right there, I'll be back." I hurried out of the rink and to the skate rental counter as quickly as was humanly possible. I grabbed skates and laced them up as fast as I could, before making my way out onto the ice. Katie didn't even seem to have moved a muscle; she was in the exact same position she had been in when I had found her.

I skated over to her, before sinking down onto the ice beside her.

There was a long pause of silence, neither of saying anything. At last, Katie spoke.

"I lost."

"You didn't lose," I said automatically. "You got third place, and that was after an injury. Your routine was amazing. You were amazing. Your talent and fire saved you."

"I still didn't get first place. I mean, I'm happy for Jo, but I deserve it. I work harder than any of the others for it. I spend more time at the rink than any of them, Sarah puts me through my paces, I perfect every single thing, everything's flawless. And a stupid injury completely fucks everything up." She tilted her head back, eyes sparkling with angry tears. "It's not fair! I didn't go through all this shit for third fucking place! I deserved first and I didn't even manage to get second!"

"But you're still going to the southern California regionals," I pointed out. "Only three girls out of – what was it, thirty? – earned that, and you're one of those girls."

"Big fucking deal. God, my next practice is going to be fucking torture, there's going to be hell to pay with Sarah." A tear slid down her cheek and she let out a small whimper as she shifted. "Ow!"

"How bad is your ankle?" I asked her worriedly, helping her stretch her leg out.

"I don't know, I just know it gave out under me when I landed that fucking triple axel and that it just fucking hurts."

"You need to get these skates off. You might need medical attention, Katie."

She shook her head. "I don't want medical attention. I just want to stop being a fucking loser."

"You're not a loser. You could never be a loser."

"I can't believe I fell…I haven't fallen on that jump for months. Of all times for my ankle to give out on me…Fuck it!" She screamed in frustration, trying to get to her feet but she collapsed in a crumpled heap, crying out in pain as she clutched at her ankle.

"Get your ass over here now!"

I looked around and saw Sarah at the edge of the rink, a look of blazing furor on her face.

"Do it, Katie!" she hollered. "Stop whining like a little bitch, you're not a truth athlete if you can't work through the pain!"

If it was possible to feel your patience and temper snap, then that's exactly what happened to me. Katie tried to clamber to her feet again but just fell once more, screaming out.

And I lost it. I completely lost it.

I got to my feet and skated so fast across the ice that Sarah didn't even have time to blink.

"Here's what's going to happen," I growled, shoving Sarah back a couple of feet. "You're going to turn, walk away, and you're never going to come near Katie again. You've done nothing but torture her and torment her and ruin her life. You're a fucking bitch and you belong in a fucking insane asylum or a jail or I don't even know. You just need to stay the fuck away from Katie because all you're doing is hurting her."

Sarah sneered at me. "Without me, she would be nothing. All those competitions she won? She couldn't do that without me."

I snorted. "Please. I saw her on the ice today. What wins her those competitions is her talent and fire and passion. She can win those competitions with or without your help, and she'll probably be a lot happier once she gets a new skating coach."

"Her dad would never fire me, he knows how valuable I am."

"Actually," came a deep voice from the rink's doorway, "I'm beginning to wonder about that."

Sarah spun around and I tilted my eyes up over her head to see her parents and brother strolling towards us, each wearing identical looks of rage.

"James is right," Kendall put in. "You've done nothing but completely fuck with Katie. So you need to leave."

"I've been saying for years, ever since Katie broke her ankle in that competition, that you need to be fired, but someone – " Mrs. Knight gave Mr. Knight a fierce look – "was too damn stubborn. But no more. You're fired."

"In fact, you're more fired than a McDonald's employee caught stealing fries while he's supposed to be working," Mr. Knight added. I wasn't entirely sure what that had to do with anything, but I figured there was a point in there somewhere.

Sarah stared at them. "You cannot fire me. We have a contract."

"I'm bringing my lawyers in," Mr. Knight shrugged. "And if everything goes right, we'll be suing your ass for abuse. So, basically, go to hell. Buh-bye."

Sarah threw them all a look that promised revenge complete with a professional hit man and a couple of poisoned darts, but she stormed out of the rink nonetheless.

I skated back over to Katie and scooped her up in my arms, carrying her off the rink. She curled into me, burying her face in my chest, her body shaking with silent sobs.

This was definitely not the way I had thought the day was going to go, and I could only hope that it wasn't an omen for the hockey game that evening.

Well, there you guys go. I'll be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen in this chapter, just like I wasn't positive how the last chapter was going to turn out, but I'm actually kind of pleased with how this chapter ended up, so I hope you guys enjoyed it :)

Thank you for reading, and please review :) I would appreciate it so, so much.