The Alpha's Ice Mate

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on my phone.

It was the fourth period and the teacher had just walked into class, giving me that same pity look everyone else had been giving me since morning. My chest felt so tight, like something was pressing down on it, and I could barely breathe.

The news was everywhere.

Everyone knew.

The secret I had tried so hard to bury… was now out for the whole school to feed on.

My dad’s abuse.

They whispered it in the hallways. They scribbled it on notes and passed them around like it was some funny joke. Some didn’t even bother whispering anymore,they just stared right at me, eyes full of disgust. I heard them say the words. Tainted. Damaged. Broken.

Because who could respect a girl who was used by her own father?

My hands were shaking as I scrolled through the messages on my phone. One cruel word after another. Each one stabbed me, each one cutting deeper than the last. I refused to believe that man was even my father. A father protects his daughter. A father cares. But he never did. He treated me like I was nothing, like some trash he could use and then throw away whenever he wanted.

And now, thanks to Claire, the whole school knew.

Claire never stopped. She had always made it her mission to destroy me.First with her sharp tongue, then with her fake smiles, and then with rumors. But this time… this time she went too far.

She had found out about the therapist I had been secretly seeing. The only person who tried to help me breathe again, who helped me not feel like I was drowning all the time. Claire found out, twisted the truth, and somehow managed to get it written in the student newspaper. She spread it like it was some juicy gossip.

And all of this… because of Tray.

Tray, the golden boy of the hockey team. Tray, the boy everyone wanted. Tray, the only one who had ever made me feel like maybe I wasn’t invisible. Claire couldn’t stand that he noticed me and not her. So she decided to ruin me. And she succeeded.

Now everyone looked at me like I was dirt. Even my hockey career,the only thing that gave me a reason to wake up in the morning was slipping through my fingers. With every whisper, with every stare, it was like my dreams were being ripped away from me too.

I pressed the power button on my phone and stared down at the scratched wooden desk in front of me. My vision blurred, but I refused to cry. Not here. Not now. If they wanted to see me break, they would have to wait forever.

I clenched my fists under the desk, my nails digging into my palms so hard it hurt.

I didn’t care if Claire thought she won. I didn’t care if they all believed her lies and thought I was just some dirty, scarred girl.

My chest felt tighter and tighter. I couldn’t get enough air. My legs moved before I even realized it. I grabbed my bag, stood up, and ran out of the classroom. The teacher didn’t even get the chance to call my name. The whispering behind me grew louder,mixed with laughter and pity. I hated both.

My sneakers slapped loudly against the tiled floor as I ran down the long hallway. Lockers flashed past me in a blur. I just needed to get out. Out of that classroom. Out of that building. Away from their eyes. Away from their words. My legs shook, but I didn’t stop.

It felt like the walls were closing in, like someone had carved the word tainted into my skin for everyone to read.

I pushed open the heavy doors, and cold air hit my face, biting at my skin. It didn’t matter. I still couldn’t breathe. I ran down the steps, across the courtyard, my heart beating so fast it hurt.

Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Not when they already thought I was weak.

And then… just like that… my mind dragged me back.

Back to another time I had run down a hallway, chasing after someone who had already betrayed me.

It was last semester. I was looking for Tray. He was supposed to meet me after hockey practice, but he never showed up. I waited. I called. Nothing. Then, out of nowhere, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.

“Check the art room.”

Even before I opened the door, a part of me already knew.

My hands trembled as I pushed it open.

And there they were.

Claire and Tray.

Her hands tangled in his hair, his lips pressed against hers like I never even existed. His jersey half off, her shirt already on the floor.

I remember freezing, my body refusing to move, my throat burning with unshed screams. Claire’s laugh cut through the air like a knife, sharp and cruel. It was like she wanted me to see it, like she had planned it.

“Don’t look so surprised, Maya,” she said, smirking at me, her lips red and swollen from kissing him. “Did you really think you were enough for him?”

Her words burned worse than the sight of them together. Tray didn’t even look at me. He didn’t move. He didn’t say sorry. He didn’t chase after me when I finally found the strength to run.

But later… later he came to me. His voice soft, his eyes pleading. He said it was a mistake. He said I was the only one who really cared about him. He said he didn’t mean it.

And I believed him.

Not because I truly trusted him. But because I had no one else.I didn’t have a mother. I didn’t have friends who stayed. My father was a monster who had already taken so much from me. Tray was the only one who pretended to want me.

So I took him back. Even when my chest still burned with the memory of Claire’s mocking laugh.

Now, standing outside the school with the cold air filling my lungs, I wondered if that was the first mistake that ruined me. Holding on to someone who was never really mine.

Because deep down… I knew Claire wouldn’t stop.

Not until she broke me completely.

And maybe this time… she had finally done it.