My Hockey Alpha

Nina

That night, I returned to the arena for the hockey game. There were still protests happening outside, but there were fewer people now that campus security was standing around — and apparently, as Lori and Jessica explained to me on our way there, several students were arrested for throwing objects and starting fights. After the mini-riot, more students also realized that such negativity was toxic, and decided to join the pro-werewolf club. I was relieved to hear this.

The hockey game that night was a landslide victory on our part. Although the crowd on our side of the arena was much smaller than it normally was and our cheerleaders had completely boycotted the game, our team played hard. Enzo used a lot of different tactics to outsmart the other hockey captain, and I began to wonder as I watched them if the other captain was even nearly as skilled in hockey as Enzo, or if he was only placed in that role because he was a Crescent werewolf. It made me think, as our team scored goal after goal, that there really was nothing special about werewolves in particular that could help them win this tournament over skilled hockey players.

I was also shocked to see that Enzo was not only performing incredibly well despite his recent injuries, but so was Matt. In fact…

Matt’s performance was far above what it used to be, and his injured hand was perfectly fine now. It was almost superhuman.

…

The next morning, I went to class after another uneasy night of sleep that was full of nightmares. I could practically feel the dark circles under my eyes as I walked to class, and even the coffee I bought at the dining hall didn’t seem to be helping much.

How much longer would these nightmares last?

I arrived at class with Jessica, and vowed to focus solely on my classwork. I couldn’t let Enzo, Edward, anyone or anything else invade my thoughts anymore. Now, my grades were the only thing that I could focus on.

At the end of class, however, the professor called me down to his desk.

“I’ll catch up with you at the student center,” I said to Jessica before swallowing the knot in my throat and walking down to the professor’s desk.

said with a concerned look on his face, “I’ve noticed that your grades have been slipping, and you were

that I was missing from class because I was being held hostage by the campus counselor for days on end and was brainwashed

“Well?” the professor asked.

personal issues,” I said, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “I’m sorry. Is there any way I can make up for the

“I don’t normally do this, but I like you and I know that you’re a good student,” he said. “Tell you what: there’s a symposium next week. If you give a presentation, I’ll award you with some extra credit. But this is just a

said with a smile. “I promise I’ll do my best and I won’t let my

then let

the library to get started on my presentation. Much to my surprise, I spotted James crossing the

smile as I approached. “Where are

adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Uh… Nowhere

“Did you hear what happened at the protest yesterday?” I asked. I waited to

about it,” he said, his eyes shifting from left to right and giving him

I decided to pry just a little bit more. “They sure are,” I replied. “Whoever leaked this information is probably

few moments, unblinking, then cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak — but before anything came out, his eyes caught something behind me,

shoulder and looked up to see Enzo standing beside me. His eyes were fixed unwaveringly on James. Was he about to

said suddenly, turning to look at me and breaking his gaze from James. “Do you have that jersey I gave you?

into my bag for it. “I was gonna find you later to give it

hear that some psycho at that protest hurled a rotten tomato at Nina?” Enzo asked. His voice was low, and

the other. “Uh, yeah,” he said, moving to walk around Enzo and me. “They really should’ve. Um,

on his heel and stormed off. He moved so quickly, in fact, that a folded up piece of paper fluttered out of his pocket and landed on the