The Billionaire Hockey Captain's Biggest Regret

CHAPTER 1: The Girl Everyone Blames

POV: Ivy Bennett

The chatter inside the Kingsley Elite Academy student lounge was usually loud, but today it felt entirely different as hundreds of eyes locked onto me the exact moment I walked through the double doors. I clutched my textbooks tightly against my chest, trying to ignore the sharp whispers echoing from the leather couches where the hockey players usually sat.

"Is that her?" Chloe, one of the varsity cheerleaders, pointed a manicured finger in my direction while leaning over to whisper to her boyfriend. "I can't believe she actually showed up today after what happened."

"She ruined everything," Marcus, the backup goaltender, muttered loudly enough for the entire room to hear. "If the board suspends us from the National Championship, she’s the one who needs to pay for it."

I kept my head down and quickened my pace toward the library annex, hoping to find some quiet, but the heavy oak doors swung open before I could reach them, and Principal Vance stepped out with a cold expression.

"Miss Bennett, in my office immediately," Principal Vance said, his voice cutting through the noise of the lounge as he gestured for me to follow him inside.

"Sir, I didn't do anything," I said, my voice shaking slightly as I took a seat across from his massive mahogany desk while he pulled a silver laptop from his drawer and turned it around to face me. "I don't even know what those files are."

"This laptop was found in your locker an hour ago, Ivy, and it contains the exact digital copies of the final chemistry and advanced calculus exams that were leaked online last night," Principal Vance explained, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the desk while looking at me with absolute disappointment. "The entire hockey team is facing disqualification because five of their starting players suddenly passed sections they were failing miserably."

"But this isn't my laptop, Mr. Vance, because mine has a scratch on the logo and this one is brand new," I pleaded, reaching out to touch the sleek aluminum casing before drawing my hand back. "Someone must have put it in there to frame me, and you know I've spent the last two years tutoring those guys for free because I wanted the team to succeed."

"The IT department already verified the student registration number linked to this device, and it belongs to you," Principal Vance sighed, shaking his head as he closed the laptop screen with a definitive thud. "The board is already discussing expulsion, but right now, you need to clear your locker and step outside because the athletic director and the team captain are demanding an explanation."

My heart dropped into my stomach as the office door opened, revealing a crowd of angry students waiting in the hallway, and right at the front stood Noah Kingsley.

He looked taller in his official black-and-gold academy hockey jersey, his jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle ticked in his cheek, and his dark eyes burned with a mixture of anger and disbelief that cut through me sharper than any words could.

"Noah, please tell them," I said, stepping toward him as the crowd parted to let him through, my hands trembling as I reached out toward his sleeve. "You know how hard we worked on those study guides last week, and you know I would never do something like this to jeopardize the championship or your future."

Noah didn't move away, but his expression remained completely frozen, like ice on a winter pond, while the rest of the team gathered behind him like a wall of solid armor.

"Did you do it, Ivy?" Noah asked, his voice dangerously low and quiet, drowning out the murmurs of the students who were crowding around us with their phones out. "Just tell me the truth right now, because everyone is saying you took the money from a rival school to tank our season."

"Of course I didn't do it, Noah, because I care about this school and I care about..." I trailed off, catching myself before I said his name out loud in front of everyone, but the look of pure betrayal on his face told me it didn't matter anyway.

"She's lying, Noah," Coach Miller shouted, pushing his way through the press of bodies while holding a printout of the digital logs. "The files were uploaded from her IP address at three in the morning, which was exactly two hours after the athletic department locked the master files."

"I was asleep at three in the morning, and anyone could have spoofed my address if they had access to the student portal," I explained to the crowd, looking around desperately for a single friendly face, but even my closest friends were looking away or staring at the floor.

"We trusted you with the playbook and the academic records because you were the top student, Ivy, but you used that access to destroy everything my family built for this academy," Noah said, stepping closer until he was standing right over me, his voice carrying clearly down the long corridor.

"Noah, please listen to me for just one second," I whispered, tears blurring my vision as I realized nobody in this building was going to believe a scholarship student over the evidence piled against her.

"I trusted you," Noah said.