The Cocky Hockey Captain

Chapter 5 ● First Impact

I'd never actually had to think about it, but as the rental skates were handed down to me by an irritable looking old man, I realized that wearing what essentially was knives on my feet and expecting to be able to navigate myself on ice with them was one of the worst ideas I'd ever had. And that was excluding the whole thing where I was pretending to have more testosterone than estrogen in my genetic makeup.

"I see the other guys," Pace said as we entered the ice rink.

My violent shiver didn't go unnoticed to them. As they stared at me I said, "What? I was born in the tropics. The only place I like ice in is my drink."

Pace put his hand on my shoulder. "And you just moved to Canada? How are you going to survive?"

Dean's eyebrows went up. He looked me up and down and shook his head before heading away.

"What the fuck is his problem?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. His friend dropped his hand from my shoulder and arranged the strap of his duffel bag on his. He was a lot friendlier and I already liked him better.

"Not gonna lie, he's an acquired taste."

I juggled the skates in my hands as I followed him to the bleachers, where the blond boy was sitting as he put on his gear. He gave a curt nod to a couple of kids our age who skated to a halt in front of him. One of them had glowing dark skin. The second one was a walking freckle.

"Welcome back, you jerk," the second one said as he rested his stick against the sideboard. "How was the whole thing?"

The first guy gave a good natured grin. "You shouldn't be so rude, Hunter. You're in the presence of a celebrity."

"A what?" I asked, which immediately made them all look at me.

Freckles, or Hunter, as the other guy called him, jerked a gloved hand in my direction. "Who's this? One of your buddies from World Junior, or what?"

"I just met him," Dean said as he laced up his skates. He didn't wear any padding, unlike the guys on the ice, when he grabbed his stick and swung his legs over the sideboard in a smooth motion. He hit the ice like he was born on it, and though I'd only known him for less than an hour, I had the feeling that he was much more comfortable in the ice rink than on land.

"Do you play?" the darker skinned boy asked me.

I looked around me. Pace was already joining his friend on the ice. Then there were these two other boys whom clearly were hockey players. I realized that the arena was actually quite full with people, a few watching from the bleachers as others skated. Little kids, adults and teenagers. It was the most action packed place I'd seen in town so far.

"So," I casually asked the two new boys. "Is there anything to do in this town other than this?" I asked as I motioned all around.

Freckles grinned up at me. "It's either this or try to get a date out of Lena Lee."

"Who?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Clearly you're not from around these parts."

I sighed. He had no idea.

"I guess I better get with the program, huh?"

I plopped myself on the bleachers and took off my boots. The skates felt tight, but the boys told me that that was much more preferable to having loose skates. That could risk either a twisted ankle or a flying skate, which sounded terrifying. I laced them up good and stood up.

Big mistake. My legs faltered and my panic had me flying to meet the floor intimately.

"Whoa," one of the boys said as I managed to catch myself by the sideboard. "You okay?"