Chapter 94

Hello. It was balloon number twelve, and behind it Mathias stood with a full head of hair and his gray eyes sparkling. “Hello.”

When I pulled him into the room and into my arms, he released the balloon and let it float to the ceiling. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I got the first flight I could.”

“Why?” The moment I let him free, my hand went up to hide my jacked-up grill again.

“I thought you stopped doing that.” He moved it.

“Oh.” The media team’s discussions about my looks had gotten to me, it seemed. “I’m nervous, I guess. And surprised.”

“It’s shaving week,” Mathias said.

“I know. I got the e-mail.”

It was a bit of a quiet tradition, known only within the inner circle. Before competitions with long downtime in between, swimmers would buddy up for hair removal parties or do it solo, and then exchange photographs.

“Get any good pics?” Mathias asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Some.”

“And requests for yours?”

“Well, I haven’t done it yet, but…yeah.”