In the hours before leaving for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, sixteen-year-old Katarina Shaw watches her partner Heath Rocha carve Shaw & Rocha into her antique rosewood headboard. The permanent carving reflects how certain they are that this competition will define their future. Their bags are already packed, and Katarina is so restless and eager that she wishes they could leave immediately and never come back.

When Heath asks whether Katarina is nervous, Katarina lies and says no. Her gaze goes to the photos of Sheila Lin covering her wall, revealing how deeply Katarina idolizes the legendary ice dancer and measures herself against that standard. Katarina wants Sheila Lin's success not someday, but as soon as possible, and she believes Nationals could be the turning point that changes everything for her and Heath.

Katarina reflects that she and Heath had qualified for Nationals the previous year but could not afford to travel to Salt Lake City. Because this year's event in Cleveland is close enough to reach by bus, they finally have their chance. That history explains both Katarina's urgency and the enormous weight she places on the coming competition.

Heath reassures Katarina by telling her there is nothing she cannot do, and the intimacy between them deepens. The chapter links their private chemistry to the kind of romantic tension they will later become famous for performing on the ice, but stresses that this moment is real rather than choreographed. As Heath and Katarina finally kiss, believing they have the whole night ahead of them, approaching footsteps interrupt them and abruptly introduce danger.