LOGINChapter Sixty-Four- The Bad GuyMaddox's fist connects with a sound I'm going to hear in my sleep for weeks.It isn't loud. That's the strange part. It's a flat, dull crack, like a heavy book dropped on a tile floor, and it carries across the ice because for one whole second every other sound in the building has stopped. Zane's head snaps sideways. He doesn't have his helmet on. There is nothing between Maddox's knuckles and his jaw.He stands there with his face turned toward the visitor bench, lips slightly parted, like he's listening to something very far away.Then blood slides out of the corner of his mouth and drips onto the ice.One drop. Then another. Bright red on white, so bright it looks fake."Oh my god," Kenzie breathes beside me. Her fingers have wrapped around my sleeve and I haven't felt her do it.Zane turns his head back. He doesn't touch his mouth. He looks at Maddox the way you'd look at a stain you've decided to deal with later, and then he hits him.Once. A short
Chapter Sixty-Three - Broken SticksWe hear it before we see it.A crash first, like someone dropped a drum kit down a flight of stairs. Then a roar from the far end of the arena that has nothing to do with hockey.Kenzie's head snaps toward the sound. "That's our side.""Come on."We run. My sneakers slap the concrete and her skates click behind me, and we burst out of the service tunnel into noise so loud it feels like walking into a wall. The third period is supposed to be starting. Nobody is on the ice. The resurfacer sits abandoned near the blue line with its engine still rumbling, and the entire West Rivers bench has spilled out onto the rubber mat in front of the penalty box.They're all holding something.Teddy Okafor, their goalie, stands at the front with his chest pads hanging off one arm. The foam has been slit open from collar to hem, and stuffing droops out of the cut like guts. Beside him, a defenseman named Luca holds two halves of a hockey stick, one in each fist, sta
Chapter Sixty- Two Half time II"The text told me to stay away from Zane. It didn't tell me to stay away from the school. It didn't tell me to quit cheer or move to another city. It told me to stay away from him specifically." I take another step. "Then a picture arrives, and nobody posts it. If you want to ruin someone's life, you post the picture. You don't sit on it.""I'm not a detective, Ava, I can't help you with your theories.""I'm not done." I count it on my fingers. "Someone who cares about him. Someone who didn't want it blowing back on him. Someone who'd rather quietly scare me off than watch his reputation take a hit.""That could be anyone.""It's not anyone. It's you."She laughs. It's a bright, brittle sound that bounces off the cinderblock. "Wow. You really think you're the main character, don't you? Some random person takes a picture of you and it's automatically my fault?""Show me your phone.""No.""If it isn't you, there's nothing on it.""There's nothing on it t
Chapter Sixty-One - HalftimeThe scoreboard above center ice says WEST 2, EAST 2, and there is one minute and twelve seconds left in the second period.I know the exact number because I haven't stopped looking at that clock for ten minutes. It's easier than looking at the ice. It's a lot easier than looking at my own squad."Pom-poms up," Coach Ellery calls from the end of the line. "Smile like you mean it, ladies. It's a tie game, not a funeral.""Feels like a funeral," Jade mutters."Smile, Jade."Jade smiles. It is the worst smile I have ever seen on a human face. She's standing three girls down from me with her shoulders angled the other way, which is how every girl in this line has been standing since Wednesday. Like I'm a draft from an open window. Like if they turn their bodies just right, they won't feel me.Coach put me on the left end tonight. She didn't explain. She pointed, I went, and Priya slid into the center spot where I've stood since sophomore year like it had her na
He doesn't come into the bathroom.SuprisingHe texts me when he's outside, and when I push through the side doors with my bag clutched to my chest, Zane is leaning against his car in the faculty lot like he owns the building.Every window on that side of the school has a face in it."You can't be here," I say, walking straight up to him."Obviously I can. I'm here.""Zane, this is literally East Rivers. They have a security guard named Doug.""Doug waved at me.""Doug waved at you?""Nice guy. Asked if I was lost." He opens the passenger door and holds out his hand for my bag. "Get in.""I have second period.""Do you really."I look back at the building. Three girls from my squad are standing in the second floor window, arms crossed, not even pretending to hide. One of them is Priya. She lifts her phone and angles it at us.I get in the car.I make it exactly four minutes before the school calls. Not my phone. His. He glances at the screen, hands it to me without a word, and I hear
Chapter Sixty - You really thoughtIt's up before I even make it to school.I see it the second I unlock my phone in the driveway, notifications already stacked three deep, and my stomach drops so fast I actually have to grip the steering wheel for a second before I can make myself look properly.The photo's grainy, clearly taken from across the street, but there's no mistaking it. Me, climbing out of Zane's window at dawn, his jersey still half tucked into my jeans, hair a mess, looking exactly like what it is.The caption underneath just says: didn't realize East Rivers and West Rivers did sleepovers now 👀No account name I recognize. Same energy as the rivalrytea post that leaked Kenzie's video weeks ago, posted from somewhere designed to spread fast and disappear before anyone can trace it back. It already has thousands of views by the time I've read it twice, the comments section exploding in real time while I sit frozen in my own driveway.My phone starts ringing before I've ev







