The chanting hit her in waves. LAURA! LAURA! LAURA!
Her legs trembled—not from fear this time, but from the sheer shock of it. These same people who’d been laughing at her minutes ago were now screaming her name like she was some kind of hero.
Her heart hammered so hard against her ribs she thought it might crack one. She tried to catch her breath, head spinning from the sudden shift.
“She actually won,” someone nearby whispered, voice thick with disbelief.
“Did you see those moves? I’ve never—”
“Where did she even learn to fight like that?”
Laura closed her eyes, let it wash over her. The pain still screaming through her ribs. The taste of victory mixing with blood in her mouth. The sudden, overwhelming realization that she’d found something she’d thought Kieran had beaten out of he
