My Hockey Alpha

Nina

“Why were you two saying my name so much just now?” Eli asked quietly as he blocked my way to the door.

I furrowed my brow. “We weren’t. What are you talking about?”

Eli shook his head. “I heard you. You kept saying the name ‘Enzo’.”

My eyes widened. His name wasn’t Enzo. It was Eli… Right? For a moment, my heart skipped a beat as I looked up at him, searching his face for some sign that he really was Enzo; but unlike before, his face never shifted or changed. He stayed looking just the same as he was now: an unfamiliar face.

It must have been some sort of sick prank.

“That’s not funny,” I growled. Eli stared at me with wide eyes, but I just pushed past him and through the door, out into the cold night air.

“Wait!” he called, running after me. “I’m serious.”

I scoffed. “Sure you are,” I replied, holding my arms as I walked briskly through the cold night air. “Did Sadie send you? Is this some sort of prank to get more dirt on me?”

kept walking. “No one sent me,” he said quietly. “You

chest as I shivered in the cold. Part of me wanted to turn around and run to him, as though Enzo would be standing there when I turned to face him, but I knew that wasn’t the case. All of this was just some sort of nasty prank; either Selena had sent them both to mess with me, or they had simply heard rumors about my relationship with Enzo and wanted to bully me. Either way, I didn’t want to get involved any longer. If Selena did send

without turning around to look at

at home, I ran to my room and ripped off the dress that Eli had given me. Without thinking, I shoved it into a plastic trash

rubbing my back gently while I cried. I wanted to tell them everything, but I

…

have been asleep for two, maybe three hours.

bed. In fact, I quickly realized from the feel of the freezing cold

up abruptly, looking around wildly; I

my bearings, I knew where I was. I had come to know

place where I last saw Enzo stepping through the

in my throat as I scrambled to my feet. The moon was full and bright, but the forest still felt dark and ominous, and I was all alone out here in my pajamas. My hands and my feet were freezing; when I looked down at them, they were bright red from the cold. I quickly shoved my hands into my armpits and shivered, looking around frantically as though a Crescent, or even Selena, would suddenly burst

forest was silent, aside from the lonesome call of

part of me wanted to stay, as though Enzo would suddenly come through a portal and hold me in his arms. But I couldn’t stay here — not if I

somehow managed to sleepwalk out into the middle of the woods and wake up next to the portal, and somehow I knew it wouldn’t be the last. I would have to tell Jessica and Lori to lock me in my room at night, otherwise I really would freeze to death out