He smiled. Barely. Just the faintest curve of his mouth that looked more like grief than joy.
I pulled away. Stood. Smoothed down my hoodie and tried to pretend my hands weren't shaking.
He stayed on the floor. Watching me. Not reaching. Not asking. Just letting me go.
I grabbed my bag. Paused at the door. Looked back one more time.
He was still there. Back against the wall. Head tilted. Eyes dark and unreadable.
"See you at practice, Coach."
His jaw worked. Then he nodded. "Yeah. Practice."
I left before I could change my mind.
The hallway was empty. Cold. The kind of quiet that only existed before the building woke up.
My footsteps echoed on the tile. Each one louder than the last.
By the time I pushed through the exit doors into the gray morning light, my chest felt like it was caving in.
Not from fear.
From wanting something I couldn't keep.
I pulled my hood up. Walked toward campus. Tried to focus on the crunch of gravel under my boots. The sting of cold air in my lungs.
Anything but the warmth still ghosting across my forehead.
You deserve to be happy.
I didn't know if I believed that anymore.
But I knew one thing.
I wasn't done fighting for it.
The week blurred into drills,smiles, and silence.
Practice became the only place I could breathe. Calder didn't bench me. Didn't ice me out. Just coached — hard, fair, relentless. Like nothing had changed. Like I hadn't woken up in his arms two days ago.
Maybe that was the point.
On the ice, I didn't have to pretend. Didn't have to measure my words or angle my face for cameras. Just skated. Hard. Fast. Angry.
Saturday's game, I earned two assists. Clean passes that threaded through traffic like I could see the play before it happened. Wednesday, I led the forecheck so aggressively that Reese whistled and called me a "feral beast." Thursday, I held a team meeting in the locker room when half the girls wanted to quit after a brutal conditioning session.
"We're better than this," I said. Voice raw. Hands still shaking from exertion. "And if you don't believe that, get out."
They stayed.
Kira looked at me like I'd grown wings. Reese squeezed my shoulder on the way out.
Calder watched from the doorway. Said nothing. Just nodded once before he walked away.
The ice was the only place I didn't have to lie.
Off it?
