CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET IN THE LOCKER
The judges awarded Clara the highest score of the night.
Reporters rushed toward her.
Sponsors suddenly wanted interviews.
Talent scouts demanded meetings.
The same people who laughed at her now wanted photographs.
Clara ignored all of them.
Instead she quietly walked toward an old locker at the back of the arena.
A locker she hadn't opened in seven years.
Inside was a faded photograph.
A young woman in a skating costume.
Standing beside a little girl.
Clara.
The woman was her mother.
A former Olympic skater.
A champion.
And according to every official record...
dead.
Clara stared at the photograph.
Then whispered softly.
"I won, Mom."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
May you like
Because her mother never got to see it.
Or so she believed.
