My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 80

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.”

“Does anyone even know where he went?” Matt chimed in. “He was just here one day, then gone the next…”

“He went home to stay 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 would be better this way. If he was supposed to marry someone else, I didn’t blame him for wanting to give himself time to sort out his feelings.

One of the players who I had rarely ever spoken to, seeing as how he was the quietest one -- his name was Bryce -- suddenly spoke up for the first time on that trip, not even turning to face Enzo or anyone else from his seat.

“Convenient timing,” he said. There was a hint of resentment in his voice.

“Oh?” Enzo said curiously. “How so?”

Bryce shrugged, slowly turning his head to face Enzo and I. “I just think it’s funny that Justin gets kicked off the team and disappears, and then all of a sudden you’re kissing his ex girlfriend at a huge hockey game,” he said.

I subconsciously dropped my book into my 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 as I stared out the window.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Enzo snarled, standing from his seat and walking over to where Bryce sat. “Those two things have nothing to do with one another.”

Bryce merely shrugged again. “I’m just saying,” he replied. “It’s an interesting coincidence. But hey… What do I know?”