Kiss her on thin Ice

Chapter One – Ava PrescottSmack!I watch as one of my teammates slaps the new girl, Rita, in her face so hard her neck twists unnaturally to the other direction. My fingers shake a little as I pretend to be uninterested and scroll on my phone. My perfectly manicured fingers tapped away at the screen. I didn’t want to get involved.“How dare a nobody scholarship trash like you try to flirt with the cheer captain’s boyfriend ?” My vice captain and bff, Ashley Hall, demands from Rita.“I didn’t flirt with him, please, Ava, I swear,” Rita says, looking at me, her lips quivering and her eyes looking at me pleadingly.“We accepted you into the team and made you one of us. A ‘scholarship nobody’ like you. We treated you equally. We made sure you were untouchable in this school. You’d have been a doormat if not for the uniform you’re wearing.” Ashley says, backing Rita into the lockers and out of my view.“Ava, please. I’m sorry. I would never betray you. Trust me.” She pleads, knowing that

Chapter Three – Are you Scared of me ?“Who the fuck are you?” The man whom Zane had just tossed aside says, annoyed that he was being completely ignored.“Stay out of our business, school boy.” The injured man adds. Zane turns to look at them. Their faces changed immediately they recognised him.“Ah, Mr Volkov, it's you. Forgive us, this East Rivers girl was talking trash about your team. We were just teaching her a little lesson. We support the West Rivers Titans, you know.” One of them quickly begins to lie through his teeth.“Yes, yes. We do.” the others join in like baby ducklings.What a bunch of cowards.“Really ?” Zane asks. His tone gave nothing away. I can’t tell if he believes them or is being sarcastic.“Yes, of course, man. Exactly. You know how those East Rivers folks are. They walk around like they're royalty. They think they're better than us. We had to –”“They’re lying.” I cut him off, tired of his blatant lies already."Did I ask you?" Zane turn towards me. My mout

Chapter Five - The Deal“Anything.” I say it again because he needs to hear conviction, even if my voice cracks on the word.He studies me for a long moment. The forest is dead silent except for my own ragged breathing and the drip of coffee still sliding down his collarbone. I can smell it — caramel and burnt espresso mixed with something warmer underneath, something that's just him.“Turn around.”My stomach drops. “What?”“You heard me.”I turn slowly, my back now pressed to the same tree that had my front a second ago. He's still got my wrist loosely in his grip, like he knows I won't run again. He's right. I won't. I can't.He steps closer, and in the moonlight I can see the mess I made of him — coffee soaked into the white of his shirt, dark and spreading, ice melting down toward his waistband. My cheeks burn just looking at it.“You made this mess.” His voice is low, almost bored, like we're discussing the weather and not whatever is about to happen. “Clean it up.”“Excuse me?”

“I'll see you tonight,” he says, already walking toward the far exit the one, I realise belatedly, that he clearly already knew existed. “Don't forget our deal, princess.”He disappears before I can throw something at him.I sit back down on the cold bleacher, pulling my knees to my chest, trying to remember how to breathe normally. My reputation is safe. For now.My peace of mind, unfortunately, is a different story entirely. I return to class after a while and powered through the day.Okay fine, maybe tolerated is the better word.I'm halfway through brushing my teeth when I hear it. A soft scrape against my window, like something dragging across glass. I freeze, toothbrush still in my mouth, and stare at the curtain like it's about to attack me.Then the window slides open.I nearly choke."Oh my god." I spit into the sink and spin around, heart hammering. "Are you insane?"Zane climbs through with the ease of someone who has clearly done this before, like my second floor window is

Chapter Nine - CracksThe assembly fallout is instant and delicious in the worst possible way.By lunch, half the school is whispering about the mystery sponsor question, replaying the way Maddox's easy smile had frozen, the way he'd stumbled through some vague non-answer about "restructuring" before the principal mercifully moved things along. Nobody quite has the full story, but everyone senses there's a story to have, and that alone is enough to knock a little shine off his golden-boy armor.I should feel victorious. Instead I feel like I swallowed a rock.I find Freddy again after sixth period, tucked into the same corner by the equipment room, looking paler than usual, a folder clutched to his chest like it might combust."I got the numbers," he says quietly, glancing around like the hallway itself might report him. "I don't know why you want this stuff, but something feels off about it, Ava. Some of this doesn't add up. Like, at all."He hands me the folder, and I flip through i