The Favorites: A Novel(41)
“I understand that you two…” Garrett shook his head. “Well, okay, I don’t understand you two at all. But I know there’s a lot of history there.”
Heath knew me when I was a gangly little girl with bloody kneecaps and prairie grass in my hair. He’d seen me sobbing and weak and shaking with helpless rage. He knew my pressure points. He knew how to provoke me.
Garrett had never known me as Kat Shaw from Nowhere, Illinois. I could leave her behind, as abruptly and heartlessly as Heath had left me. With Heath, I could be myself. But with Garrett, I could be someone better.
And if Heath wanted to see me again? He could watch me on television, winning goddamn gold medals with Garrett Lin.
Part III
The Champions
In front of the Lin Ice Academy’s glass atrium, Katarina Shaw and Garrett Lin pose for photos next to Bella Lin and Zachary Branwell as their new partnerships are announced in spring 2002.
Jane Currer: New skating teams typically take a while to gel.
Garrett Lin: Kat and I worked well together from the start.
Both teams hold hands and beam at the cameras as if they’re on homecoming court. Katarina has a new look: blond hair, professional makeup, clothing chosen to coordinate with Garrett.
Ellis Dean: From Hot Mess to Ice Princess. Incredible what a makeover can do, isn’t it?
Jane Currer: I didn’t see Ms. Shaw’s potential until her partnership with Mr. Lin.
A clip of Shaw and Lin’s original dance for the 2002–2003 season: a smooth waltz to the song “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal. They spin across the ice in perfect sync, Katarina’s skirt—layered to evoke rose petals—swirling around her legs with each turn.
Jane Currer: Katarina Shaw grew into a lovely young lady during those years.
Inez Acton: They made her look like fucking Figure Skater Barbie. It was some bullshit.
Garrett Lin: Kat and I brought out the best in each other. Everyone talks about her like she was so difficult, but that wasn’t my experience at all. She made everything easier for me.
Kirk Lockwood: Shaw and Lin were unstoppable. They won the U.S. title the first year of their partnership, which is practically unheard of.
Francesca Gaskell: People used to call them “24 Karrett,” cause they always got gold.
A video montage shows Katarina and Garrett standing on podium after podium: collecting gold at three consecutive U.S. National Championships, silver at two World Championships.
Veronika Volkova: They were good together, I will admit. But not good enough to take the world title from Yelena and Nikita.
Francesca Gaskell: Bella and Zack, though—they had a tougher go of it.
A clip of Lin and Branwell’s free dance for the 2002–2003 season: they skate to selections from the score of the popular film Titanic, in Jack and Rose–inspired costumes.
Inez Acton: It made sense Bella would want to do more romantic programs, since she’d been skating with her brother for so long. But this was…not it.
In a closeup of some steamy choreography from the Titanic program, Bella tries her best to connect. Zachary barely makes eye contact with her.
Ellis Dean: She had more chemistry with her brother.
Paparazzi shots show Bella and Zachary out on the town in Los Angeles, wearing party clothes and bored expressions. Katarina and Garrett walk a few steps behind them, arm in arm.
Ellis Dean: After their first season, Bella gave up on trying to convince everyone she and Zack were a couple. No one was buying that shit. Everyone knew he was still hung up on Paige.
Garrett Lin: It was hard for Zack, being away from his family. Especially when he was doing all that rehab for his injured knee.
Ellis Dean: Sometimes I wonder if he hurt his knee on purpose, to have an exit strategy. It was some real old Hollywood shit, the way the Lins insisted on hushing up Zack’s love child.
Jane Currer: I don’t particularly like this metaphor, but people often say an Olympic cycle is like a political campaign.
In a photo montage spanning the first few years of Katarina and Garrett’s partnership, they greet fans, sign autographs, and pose for pictures.
Jane Currer: There are years of preparation required, then an intense push to the finish. And it takes far more than athletic prowess to be successful.
Garrett Lin: There was so much pressure on Kat and me going into the 2005 World Championships. In our three years together, world champion was the one title we hadn’t won yet. And we were competing in Moscow—home turf for our biggest rivals. Not to mention this was one of the first major events using the new scoring system.
Kirk Lockwood: In the 2004–2005 season, the International Skating Union introduced a revamped scoring system. The goal was to make skating fairer and less subjective.
A graphic explains the new metrics: levels from one to four assigned to each element based on its difficulty, then a base value that can increase or decrease with the “Grade of Execution”—that is, how well the team performs the element.
Jane Currer: It was an adjustment, certainly, but it was necessary. I always judged objectively, but the old system was rife with opportunities for corruption and collusion.
Veronika Volkova: The Americans could not defeat us, so they changed the rules.
Ellis Dean: The new scoring system was a pain in the ass. I knew how to work a crowd and put on a good show, but all this “level” and “GOE” shit? Hard pass. Josie and I had become a total afterthought anyway, ever since our shit-tastic showing in Nagano. Sheila kept taking our money, but she never showed the slightest interest in our progress.