The Favorites

by Layne Fargo

Call me what you want. I don’t give a damn anymore. My story is mine, and I’ll tell it the same way I skated: in my own way, on my own terms.

We used to joke they were going to die in each other’s arms or kill each other with their bare hands. Nothing in between.

Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn’t.

My first love was figure skating.

I became a skater because I wanted to feel like that. Fierce. Confident. A warrior goddess covered in glitter. So sure of myself, I could make my dreams come true through sheer force of will.