Driving home through worsening snow after Nationals, Katarina cannot stop talking about Sheila Lin’s invitation to the summer intensive at the Lin Ice Academy in Los Angeles. Heath, focused on keeping Lee’s truck on the road, responds with practical doubts about why Sheila chose them and how they will pay for it, but Katarina treats the offer as proof that their sixth-place finish does not define their future.

Back in Illinois, Katarina keeps the plan from Lee because she knows he would stop her. Lee accepts the returned truck without much reaction that night, but once sober he berates Katarina and slaps her. Katarina barely cares, because her hip is improving and she feels certain she will soon escape. When the Academy forms arrive, Katarina intercepts them, forges Lee’s signature, and she and Heath use money from their rink jobs to cover the deposit and buy cheap plane tickets.

Even after saving for months, they still do not have enough to live in Los Angeles for the summer. Because Lee has already sold everything else of value, Katarina secretly takes her dead mother’s engagement ring to a jewelry store in Lake Forest and sells it for cash. Although the ring is her last physical link to her mother, Katarina convinces herself the sacrifice is necessary for the future she wants.

On their final night before leaving, Katarina and Heath hide from Lee by camping on the beach with their packed bags ready for an early cab to O’Hare. Heath notices the missing ring and is upset that Katarina gave up something so important. Katarina insists the loss will be worth it once they reach California, but Heath admits only that he hopes she is right. Looking back, Katarina realizes Heath’s silence came from fear that something hopeful would be taken away again, which makes his grip on her feel more desperate than she understood at the time.