LOGINCole's POV2-1 was the score now…The whistle blew for the end of the second period. One more round left now…One more chance to turn this game around.“Harrison!” “Harrison!” “Harrison!” The home crowd were chanting my name now as we stepped into the recess area.Coach barked out his instructions. It wasn’t much of scolding, rather encouragement.Go and out there and play the best period of our lives till now.Then he ended it with this. “This season has been special. We’ve had high highs and low lows. Each one of us…But every single one of you looking at me right now deserve to be here. Every single bit and regardless of what the full time score shows…I know that, and you know it. Now show them…show them who the hell Crestwood Hockey team are!”“Crestwood on 3!” “3!2!1!!” “CRESTWOOD!!”We filed out into the ice again. But coach held me back before I stepped pn.“Still need that substitution?” He asked teasingly.A small smile formed on my lips. “I’m good coach.”He leaned over no
Lila's POVI sat on that bench for ten minutes.Ten minutes of crying. Ten minutes of feeling sorry for myself. Ten minutes of letting Vanessa win.Then something inside me snapped.Fuck it! What the hell was I doing?!I stood up from the bench sharply, enough to make me a little dizzy. I was done being scared and being manipulated. And I was sure as hell done with letting other people decide my life for me.I didn’t take the step to end things with the boy I’ve crushed on for lot of my school life, just to sit out under the cold night. Vanessa wanted to expose my past? Fine. Let her. Let the whole world know.They best they could do was to whisper and to judge wuth their stares..But I’ve survived that before. Survived even worse…What I couldn't survive was walking away from Cole. Not again.I wouldn’t be able to live with myself I didn’t see him tonight. If I wasn’t there for the biggest night of his life.I started running into the darkness, my legs carrying foward. The entran
Lila's POVIt was Game Day. Arguably the biggest sports day of the whole school’s entire history.From the moment I was up, I could feel a certain charge in the air. A buzz.Sophie was out already, prepping for their cheerleading acts for the game.So, I had the dorm all to myself and my thoughts…and they all seemed to circle around one thing.My choice. My decision for tonight.Watch Ryan’s football match. Or cole’s hockey game.From a purely logical perspective, it was hardly a difficult choice. Ryan was my boyfriend and I was his girlfriend…I should be there to support him on the his return from injury.And plus, Cole made it pretty clear he didn’t want me at his match…Yet—the choice was far from easy. Because everything else beside logic pointed me to Cole. My heart pushed for Cole…Hours ticked by, and I carried my dialysis routine, my mind still churning on this.Until finally, I made a choice. A big one.I glanced at my watch. “Shit.”Nearly an hour to kick off for both games
Lila's POVThe week passed by quicker than I thought—And another cold evening, I was sitting out in the stands, watching Ryan train.This time, it was the final practice. The one before the big game. He was out there, moving hard and faster and sweating himself off.I should have been paying attention and cheering him on. But I wasn’t.Instead, my eyes were fixed on my phone, scrolling through the campus blog like I’ve been doing for the past twenty minutes.For a while, it was nothing. And then I saw it."STAR HOCKEY PLAYER RETURNS TO FORM AHEAD OF CRUCIAL MATCH"My thumb froze—I clicked the article before I could think better of it.There was a photo at the top. It was of Cole training hard at practice with his face covered in sweat.I saw the look in his eyes—he was locked in focus as I’ve ever seen him.The article under it was short."After a week-long absence that raised questions about his future with the team, Cole Harrison returned to the ice yesterday and delivered what c
Cole’s POVFinal practice was done, we stopped at exactly 6 PM. Coach gathered us in a circle in the ice to deliver the final speech. There was a deafening silence now. No one bothered to make funny jokes or teases.The tension in the air was thick as knife and they could all feel it. Me included…"Tomorrow,"Coach started, his tone surprisingly low, "is the biggest game of your lives."His eyes moved past each one of us. "I've coached a lot of teams and a lot of players. Some of you will go pro and some of you won't. That's just how it is." He paused, letting the silence strech. "But tomorrow isn't about scouts and it isn't about standings. Heck, it isn't even about winning.""Tomorrow is about proving something..to yourselves, to each other and to everyone who ever doubted you." His eyes landed on me then... "To everyone who walked away."I held his gaze as he carried on…"Northgate is good. They're fast and boy are they physical. They're going to push you harder than anyone ha
Cole's POVWhen I arrived at the rink. It was dark and cold. 4:45 AM was the time on my wristwatch…No one else was here but me. The lights were still turned off. It was so dead quiet that I could even hear the echoe of my own breathing.I changed into my heat, feeling the stick in my hand, then the puck as well…Gosh! It felt different—strange in a way. A week without thei. I was off form with a big game coming. I had to do this.No, I needed to do this. It was either hockey or drowning in hurt, rejection and anger.“Here we go…” I took in a slow deep breath and began to skate around the ice.The first glide around the ice was very shaky and wobbly..My legs felt foreign in away. Like it wasn’t me skating. And my balance was very off. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been sitting in your room for a week straight.It’s as if my body had forgotten what it was supposed to do.But I pushed through it. I forced myself to skate laps around the rink. Again and again and again.I







