Three

Weirdly enough, I didn’t see Ace for the rest of the week, not even in the halls or the cafeteria, it was like he disappeared. Only to return on Friday with the biggest grin on his face as he awaited the start of the game.

I sat at the top of the bleachers, as far away from the ice as possible and hoped he wouldn’t see me up there, but to my luck, he scanned the crowd and spotted me right away. He gave a huge wave which only attracted all the female attention to me.

‘Oh, great. I haven’t even been here hardly a week, and I’m already the target of envy.’

I could feel all the jealous stares as the game started. At first, I didn’t find myself very interested, until I heard the horn go off, which I guessed signalled a goal as the players celebrated on the ice. I looked and realized it wasn’t our team, and it was only the first 5 minutes out of 20 minutes.

Maybe this was going to be a lot easier than I thought. I started to pay a little more attention to the game, even though I didn’t understand any of it, but it seemed easy enough to understand after you watched for a little while.

If you scored in the net, it was one point and the team with the most points by the end of the 3rd period was the winner. Each period was 20 minutes, but if a fight broke out it was often paused or what was called a power play would be given to the team that lost a member to the penalty box because the ice was now uneven with players, the opposite team having a bigger advantage with one more player.

Penalties could be given for other things, like something called icing, much like carrying on a basketball court, you could not hug the puck. This was the most I could understand from the single game, and I was so invested I had no idea the game ended until the final horn blared, and our school’s team started to jump in the air.

I looked at the board and saw that they had won by one point. Which meant Ace won the wager. What was going to happen as soon as he found out my name? Would he remember and then embarrass me in front of all these people? I was already the target of envy at the moment, it wouldn’t take much for that crowd to turn on me just like before.

I started to hyperventilate just thinking about that time, when I had no one and nothing, when I was completely isolated from the world. I couldn’t go back to that; I had come so far already to go back.

Ace skated off the ice and right up the stairs to where I was. My heart thumped in my ears the closer he got, until he was right in front of me, covered in sweat and grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m glad you made it; did you see us win?” he asked, looking like a kid on Christmas.

“Yeah, it was pretty interesting. My first hockey game, too.”

He sat down and took off his gloves, then wiped his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes.

“I’m honoured my game was your first, just makes it better that we won, then.” He stopped and took a swig of water from his bottle. “So, I believe we had a deal?”

I looked around at all the girls who were waiting for his attention and decided this wasn’t the best place for this.

“Why don’t I meet you outside? I don’t feel like getting attacked the moment you disappear,” I said and gestured to the girls.

He scoffed and waved them off. “Don’t worry, they’re harmless. Besides, we’re just friends, for now.” He winked. “I’ll get changed, meet me outside and don’t you dare you anywhere.” He pointed a finger at me and then rushed off. As soon as he was gone I too rushed out the door before anyone else had the chance to approach me.

I stood on the side of the ice rink and contemplated just leaving, but I knew even if I succeeded in escaping him today, there was no guarantee for the future. He would most likely hunt me down harder the more I avoid him, so I might as well show him that nothing is interesting about me.

“There you are, I thought for sure you would run off on me.” Ace chuckled. “Would you be interested in grabbing something to eat? I’m starving after that game.”

I didn’t see the harm, I had skipped lunch because of how nervous I was to show up at the game, but it was a lot better than I thought it was. If it wasn’t for Ace being on the team, I would probably watch more games in the future.

He walked us over to the campus cafeteria and grabbed a large slice of pizza. It was ridiculously cheap for a slice of pizza that was practically the size of a small pizza at any regular restaurant, but their dip options were ten times better.

We grabbed our pizza and salad, then walked outside where there were fewer people.

“So, what did you think of your first hockey game?” he asked.

I expected him to jump right into it and ask what my name was.

“Uh, it wasn’t bad, pretty entertaining at least.”

“Were you able to understand most of it? If there is anything you’re confused about, I could explain it to you, so it makes better sense next time.”

I scoffed. “What makes you think I’ll be showing up to another game?”

“Because I saw how interested you were in the first place. You looked really into it by the second period, and you even looked disappointed when the other team got a power play.”

He could see all of that from the ice, and while he was playing? How could was his vision? I was envious as hell. I had to pay for myself to get Lasik eye surgery just so I didn’t have to wear glasses while I danced, it was impossible.

“If I ever pick up the interest, I’ll let you know,” I said, and he shrugged before he took a huge bite of his pizza. “You really know how to impress a woman,” I added.

“I never said I was trying to impress you, and besides look at me. Do I really need to?” he asked with his usual cocky grin. It’s unbelievable that it has been 3 years since I last saw him, and he still looked and acted the same.

“Anyway, a bet is a bet. If I tell you my name, will you leave me alone?”

He looked offended. “Why don’t you want to be friends with me?”

I almost felt bad.

Almost.

“I’m just not interested in getting distracted. I worked too long and too hard for this opportunity, and I won’t let anyone or anything take it away from me, especially not myself. Thanks for lunch, see you around.” I got up from the table.

“Wait, you still haven’t told me your name.”

I chuckled. Well, as soon as he finds out, maybe then he will realize why and avoid me himself instead.

“It’s Isla. Isla Thatcher.”