Akiko looked away from Jamie; she’d caught his scent when he came in before she saw him, but seeing his face still filled her with nervous excitement. She reached down, offering a hand to her teammate, but the girl slapped it away in anger. Without a word, the girl stood up and stomped out of the mat room, clearly upset. She was a senior and the number two ranked player in the country in the 70kg weight division, but now an unknown freshman had come in and shattered her dominance in the club. Now the girl was questioning if she was really as good at Judo as she thought she was.
Akiko felt awful, but she’d finally accepted that it wasn’t fair to give up something she loved so much just because she was good at it or had better coaches. She’d thought about quitting when she first saw the ski
