Noah jumped, closing the distance between him and Anderson, ready to beat him senseless. "Or maybe you're just mad that you have no talent. Accept it, Anderson. You’re a duster and always will be one. Even if I wasn't on this team, you would still be on the bench."
Anderson's eyes widened with anger as he got ready to hit Noah, and though Noah knew he shouldn't argue with him, and that it was best to ignore him, he couldn't deny that Anderson had gotten under his skin. He was pissed, and right now, he was ready to pound Anderson's face in.
"Stop it! Now!"
Adam banged his fist against the locker, causing everyone's attention to turn to him. Everyone was gathered around to see the fight between them.
"Head to the showers now," Adam said, "before I'll have us do another ten sets of shoot the ducks."
Everyone reluctantly headed off to the showers with halfhearted glances back just in case another fight sprung out again. Anderson walked away, but not without shoving Noah first. Noah gritted his teeth more than ready to show Anderson that not only was he talented on the ice, but when it came down to his fists too.
"Leave it alone," Adam said, reading Noah's thoughts.
Noah clenched his fists before dropping down on the bench in front of his locker. Though it was over now, he could still hear Anderson's words echoing in his head. He gritted his teeth with anger, wishing he could release his anger. He couldn't think like this.
"Just ignore him," Adam said. "Everyone knows Anderson is a dick and has serious anger issues. Besides, he's just jealous of you."
Noah knew that too. He should know that. But it was hard to just take Anderson's words with a grain of salt when it wasn't the first time hearing it. He had heard it before throughout his life, not just from jealous people like Anderson, but from others as well. Sometimes, those words didn't come from jealousy.
"You're more than your parents, Walker."
Noah wanted to believe that too. He wanted the world to know that, but it was hard when he had the shadow of his father on his back. The reason that Anderson's words bothered him was that sometimes they came from truth. Noah couldn't help but remember the times his father had used his name as a way to get Noah on teams. Hell, he had barely graduated from high school before his father started to push him to put his name in the draft, and that’s when the whole debacle started.
Reports had come out that his father used money to buy Noah’s way onto his AHL team, and that he was planning to do the same for Noah in the big leagues. It didn’t take long for everyone to start questioning Noah’s skills, and for those to wonder if he even deserved a place in the league. At the time, Noah had no idea that his father had done those things, and it had been the ultimate betrayal. He thought his skill set alone had gotten him on the Roaring Lions’ team, one of the best teams in the Atlantic Division, but he was wrong. His father had brought his way in, and everything Noah had known before was a lie. Till this day, it was still a sore spot for him, creating a division in his relationship with his father, which was exactly the reason why he had decided to go his own way, and instead of directly heading to the league like his father had planned for him, he had instead chosen to play college hockey first, and prove to the world and his father that him being on any team in the NHL wasn’t because of money or nepotism.
Anderson was right. There was a place for him in the league. But Noah didn't want it that way. He didn't want it riding off his father's coattails. He wanted to get it from his own skill. He wanted people to recognize him, not his name.
Adam patted his shoulder before he stalked off to the showers, but Noah did not follow. He was so deep in his own thoughts that he couldn't think about anything else; not even his tutoring session.
CHAPTER
8
NOAH
N
OAH WAS LATE. Despite all of Professor Bryant’s warnings, he walked into the classroom they studied in at 7:30. He hadn’t done it on purpose. Though he wasn’t overly fond of Professor Bryant and didn’t particularly care for this class, that didn’t mean he would do something as disrespectful as purposely be late, but after the practice he had, time was lost on him.
He couldn't say that he necessarily regretted coming late at first. Mistakes happened, and sometimes, people were late. She should be able to understand that. But when Noah stepped inside of the room and saw Professor Bryant's furious expression as she bumped into his chest headfirst before backing up, regret instantly washed over him. She was leaving.
Noah tried to think of what to say as an apology for his actions, but the moment he opened his mouth, she raised her hand, silencing any excuses he planned on telling her. Clearly, she did not want to hear them.
“Save it, Noah,” she said as she held her purse with an iron grip. Out of all the ways Professor Bryant had looked at him before, this was the first that bruised his pride. Usually, she looked at him as if he were an annoying fly buzzing about, but now she looked at him as if he were a roach she wanted to step on. Noah gritted his teeth. All of this anger simply because he was late. It was ridiculous.
“Stop wasting my time,” she said firmly. “I have better things to do than babysit someone who doesn’t care about this class. There are other students who actually need help and want to learn.”
“I want to learn—”
“No, you don’t. You want to pass. That’s it. You don’t want to learn anything from me because if you did, you wouldn’t have wasted thirty minutes of my life.” She shook her head angrily. “I’m done with this.”
When she tried to walk around him to leave, Noah grabbed her arm, but she quickly shook off his hold.
"Come on, Melanie," Noah said, trying to get her to understand. Though he was annoyed she was making a big deal out of nothing, he also knew he needed her. "I'm going through a lot of stuff with hockey right now, and it's not easy for me. I have to make sure I'm ready for the season. I have to be great on the ice. I have to be the fucking best right now."
Noah knew he shouldn't curse, and more than that, he knew he shouldn't speak to Professor Bryant so casually. She was his professor. But right now, Noah could think of none of those things. He was frustrated, and surprisingly, he wanted her to understand. Not solely for an excuse alone, but for her to understand the weight of what he was going through. "If I'm not the best on the ice, then everything is over. If I don't prove myself, then everything I worked hard for is over. I have to prove myself."
“That’s why you should take your work seriously,” Professor Bryant said, and Noah shook his head, wondering if she had even heard a word he said. “You shouldn’t just think of school as something secondary to hockey. If you take this seriously, and hockey doesn’t work out for you, then you’ll at least have something to rely on.”
