My Hockey Alpha

Nina

The morning after my motorcycle ride with Enzo, I woke up to dozens of Twitter notifications. Still blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I scrunched up my eyebrows as I opened my phone and started to read all of the notifications.

“Wowwww @ninaharpı, alone time with Enzo, huh?”

“Enzo must be joking if he’s hanging around with that ugly nerd @ ninaharpı!!”

“What a slut, messing around with two boys from the hockey team at once. Save some for the rest of us @ ninaharpı!”

I sat up in bed, my eyes glued to the phone as I opened Twitter and realized that someone snuck pictures of Enzo and I last night. There were pictures of me talking to Justin in the parking lot, a picture of me as I shoved Justin to the ground, Enzo wiping the tears from my cheek, and getting on his motorcycle together.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him. This was just another step in the game he was playing with me!

As I looked at the time, I realized that I had class in twenty minutes. I jumped out of bed and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, quickly braided my hair and brushed my teeth, and ran out of my room.

Jessica was standing in the kitchen when I came out of my room. She looked up from making her coffee briefly, then looked back down. Even in that brief moment, I could see tears in her eyes.

“It was really nothing,” I said, assuming that she already saw the photos. “Justin was harassing me and Enzo just happened to show up. He drove me home.”

“Enzo seems to just magically appear around 1 you a lot lately,” she grumbled as she poured her coffee.

I sighed and adjusted my bag on my shoulder. “It was just a coincidence,” I said.

Jessica suddenly slammed the coffee pot down, sloshing coffee on the counter. “Bullshit,” she said, glaring at me as tears streamed down her cheeks. “What is your relationship with him, really?”

I looked down at the floor and bit my lip. “I’m just the team doctor,” I replied. “But not for long. I’m gonna talk to the dean today and get reassigned.”

seen the way he looks at you,” Jessica said,

I had a hard time believing it then. Now I know something is going on without a

Jessica about everything, but right now I had

I said, “I’ll tell you everything later. But I’m gonna be late for

then turned away and grabbed a paper towel to start

exhausted from all of the dirty looks and whispering from other girls. I kept my head down and sat in the back of the lecture hall; the girls who I sat next to got up and

looked up to see Lisa sitting beside me with an angry

please, Lisa,” I said, rummaging through my

both

this is out of my control. I didn’t ask to

said, raising her voice. “For all I know, you probably slept with someone to get

themselves. Lisa, pleased with herself, stomped off to sit back with her

first to leave the room so I could get ahead of Lisa and

be the only person at this stupid school who didn’t hate me right

toward her and walking with her. “I can’t take this

and down. “Well, not a bullseye exactly,” she said, pulling

the paper and winced.

the paper said. I whirled around to see a

this is funny?!” I said, waving the paper in the air. “Fuck

them,” she said, grabbing the paper from my hands and crumpling it before throwing

never should’ve gotten involved with Justin or Enzo,” I said, fighting back tears as Lori led me away from

whole

and not have to deal with any of the bullying. So