My Hockey Alpha

Nina

The next week went by in a blur. I was so busy with midterms and catching up on classwork that I hardly even noticed that the leaves had almost entirely disappeared from the trees, and the days had already gotten shorter. By the time midterms were over, it was cold enough outside to have to wear a thick jacket and a beanie everywhere I went.

Enzo and I didn’t see each other at all, which thankfully ended the rumors floating around campus about our ‘ relationship’ even though it hurt to not see him after our fateful kiss in the rain. It also seemed as though Enzo must have started telling people that we weren’t together, which helped the situation. It felt nice to not be stared at and talked about everywhere we went, although there were still those who shot me angry glares –such as Lisa and her friends.

Soon, it was time for the Half-Moon Tournament to begin. The campus began to stir with excitement at the prospect of a new tournament to fawn over, and the first match was set to be played a few towns over. I didn’t intend on going after everything that happened, just wanting to focus on school, but I was unfortunately forced to go after Tiffany conveniently fell ‘ill’ just one day before the match.

“I’m so sorry,” she said over the phone, her voice sounding nasally and congested. “I would go if I wasn’t so sick.”

“It’s fine,” I replied as cheerfully as I could while simultaneously holding in a deep, heavy sigh. “I’ll go and make sure that no one gets hurt.”

As we filed onto the bus that would take us to the match, I could feel the mixture of tension and excitement in the air Enzo’s teammates had no idea that they were participating in something so important, to them, it was just a new tournament to replace the old one. They were confused about the sudden switch, but didn’t seem to ask too many questions.

As the team bus pulled away from the campus and began to make its way to our destination, however, it seemed that there were tensions throughout the team regarding something that had nothing to do with the Half-Moon Tournament

“I wish Justin was here,” someone said suddenly, about an hour into the trip, taking the rest of us by surprise. I felt my face get hot as I pretended to be too absorbed in my book at the back of the bus to listen

“Me, too,” someone else said. “Our team feels unbalanced without him ”

anyone even know where ne went?” Matt chimed in. “He was just here one day,

with his parents,” Enzo spoke up in a stern tone of voice. He was seated at the front of the bus, as far away from me as he could get. It admittedly hurt for him to be so distant when we were supposed to be friends, but maybe it

was the quietest one his name was Bryce — suddenly spoke up for the first time on that trip, not

timing,” he said. There was a

just think it’s funny that Justin gets kicked off the team and disappears, and then all of

lap, not caring that I just lost my place where I was reading. There was a palpable silence on the bus as Bryce’s words sunk in. I felt a lump rise in my throat

and walking over to where Bryce sat. Those two things have nothing to do with

just saying,” he replied. “It’s an interesting coincidence But hey.

suddenly whirling around to face the rest of the team. I could see the anger written across his face. “Does anyone

met with

has a problem with it, you can come

of the seat in front of me as he turned his head to look out the window. No one brought up Justin or my past relationship

finally arrived at the place we would be staying for the duration of the match. As we got off the team bus,

was an old, run- down lodge that appeared as though it hadn’t been used or cleaned in years. The windows were caked with dust and Enzo had to use his

wall and running his fingers along the dusty surface “I thought you said this team was known for their money,

were,” Enzo replied darkly as he flicked the light switches to