Shaped Me

Normalcy

Chapter One: Manny

"MOVE out of his way!" My throat is going to hate me from the screaming I have been doing. I just got my voice back, and now it is definitely going to be gone again. Thanks to this hockey summer camp, my voice was pretty much gone every weekend. I am proud that the lessons Nile gave me on hockey are paying off. It had strange enough become our thing. Most girls had cute dates, I had weekends at the ice skating rink. Nile and I would meet up here after his practices.

I actually understand what is happening right now. Currently, there is less than a minute left on the clock, and Nile had the puck. I am positive the beast of a human in front of him was trying to steal the puck, and if I know Nile as well as I think I do, he wasn't going to let that happen. Nile is aggressive. No one would believe me if I told them that but if you watched him play it was evident. Compared to the guy in the red jersey, Nile looked almost miniature. I definitely need to tease him about that later on today.

"Manny, I don't think he can hear you," Jake yelled over the other screaming individuals. Still focusing on the rink, he completely ignores my eye roll. Jake is the epitome of unbothered. Lex and I have made it our goal to rattle him, almost two months into summer, and it has not happened yet.

"Jake, you're just mad that you're not out there." Sticking my tongue out at him, I watch as he feigns hurt. I still have not gotten used to how identical he and Nile are. Looking at them one would swear there were no differences However, I have noticed distinct differences in the two. Take right now, for instance, Jake is smiling and his dimple is barely showing. The deep dimples on Nile's face definitely contribute to me swooning over him. Jake also did not hesitate. He said what he wanted and did what he wanted. As the clock winds down Nile shoulders the guy in front of him and passes the puck to Aaron.

"Come on Aaron!" I scream. Aaron was one of the guys Nile had become friends with. It was always weird watching them interact. All they did when they were together was trash talk

"Um, Manny I don't think that girl appreciates you yelling in her ear." Jake says, looking at the girl in front of us. Her long braids thrown casually over her shoulder as she throws what I take is supposed to be a dirty look.

"Shh, you're going to distract Aaron from making the shot."

"Nile would be proud but they still can't hear you." Jake says. Giving him a dirty look I turn my attention back to the ice. 

Within seconds he makes the shot, and the game was over. With our conversations forgotten, Jake and I screamed at the top of our lungs. Shoving the sign in my hand up in the air I try to keep my balance as I jump up and down in the stands.They needed this win to qualify, and they did it. Somehow in eight months, I have become the poster holding ,obnoxiously loud girlfriend. As I threw my arms up, almost losing the sign in the process, I couldn't care less. As with all of his games, I fought the urge to run down to the rink.

"Manny, you can't run down there."

"I don't appreciate how much you think you know me." I threw at Jake as the team crowded around each other and celebrated.

"I do know you, and you can't run down there." After the first game of the summer, we stopped forcing Lex to come with us. Jake thought it was smarter to let her sit these out since we had to keep her occupied with food for her not to want to kill us. After calculating the cost, so he just told her to stay home. It's probably the first time she actually listened to something he told her to do.

The arena buzzed with chatter as people began to make their way out. Usually, once the closing announcements were made, everyone makes a beeline for the door. In our vanilla town, this was about the most excitement there was. Saturdays are hockey days. Most of the high school showed up to the games. Apparently, the hockey season during school is really short, so this is how the guys scratch their hockey itch. Not my words.