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First Date?
publish date:
2026-06-25 20:35:55
Latest chapter
The Collision The Corridor
Jace's POVThe swinging door hit my bad shoulder on the way through, and I swallowed the sound before it could come out.The corridor was narrow and bright. Fluorescent tubes buzzed overhead, and the floor was the gray rubber kind that squeaked under sneakers. My good hand found the wall and stayed there. The room behind me was still loud, chairs scraping, somebody shouting my name, but the sound was getting smaller with every step.Footsteps followed. Two sets, one heavy, one quick."Jace!" Denise's voice cut down the hallway. "You're not cleared to walk.""I'm walking.""You're walking like a man who's about to hit the floor again."I didn't stop. The vending machines went past on my left, humming, their glass fronts lit up with bags of chips and energy drinks. The trophy case came next, and I caught my reflection in the glass for a second: pale face, damp hair, the white strap across my chest. I looked like someone who'd been pulled out of a river."Where are you going?" Mike calle
The Collision The Reaction
Jace's POV"Sit down," Coach said.I pushed my chair back anyway. The legs scraped across the floor, loud enough that the front row turned around.Coach caught my good arm above the elbow. His grip was hard. "Sit down before you fall on camera.""She's leaving.""I can see that.""Then let go."He didn't let go. The flashes kept going, white and fast, and somebody in the back yelled my name like it was a question they wanted answered right now. My head felt full of water. The lights above me swung a little to the left and came back."Jace." Coach's voice dropped. "Look at me."I looked at him. His face was red at the cheekbones, and his mouth was a flat line."You said it in front of the whole league," he said. "You don't get to walk out after her like it's a private thing now.""It was never private."He didn't answer that.Along the wall, Ryan pushed off from the cinder block and came forward a step. He had his cap in his hand, turning it around and around by the brim. "Well," he sa
The Collision The Media Room
Jace's POVThe flashes started before I reached the chair."Jace! Over here!""Jace, is the arm broken?""Did you see her? Did you see Ariana?"I kept walking. My right arm was strapped to my chest, and every step sent a dull knock through my shoulder. Coach was waiting at the long table with a bottle of water and a microphone that looked too small for his hand. He pulled out the chair beside him and didn't look at me when I sat down."Keep it short," he said under his breath."I know.""Keep it about the team."I pulled the microphone closer with my left hand. It was warm from the lights.The room was packed. Rows of folding chairs, cameras on tripods, phones held up over the heads of people standing at the back. I could smell wet coats and burnt coffee. Along the wall, Ryan had his arms crossed and his cap pulled low. Mike stood beside him with his hands in his jacket pockets, looking at the carpet. Ryan muttered, "Here we go," and went back to glaring at the cameras.Mike didn't s
The Collision The Training Room
Jace's POVThe ceiling tiles had a water stain in the corner, shaped like a tooth. I stared at it for a long time before I understood that I was lying on the training table and the light above me was too bright."Don't sit up yet," Denise said.I sat up anyway. The room tilted, then settled. My right arm was strapped across my chest in a sling I didn't remember anyone putting on me. The shoulder throbbed in a slow, heavy beat, like something was knocking from the inside."You hit your head," she said. "Hard. Stay still.""I'm okay.""You're conscious. That's different."I lay back down. She didn't argue. She pulled a chair beside the table and sat with her clipboard on her knee and the pen tucked behind her ear. She didn't write anything. She just watched my face, the way she'd watched my arm all week.The door opened, and the team doctor came in with a folder under his arm. He was a tall man with reading glasses on a cord, and he looked tired the way doctors look after a long day. He
The Collision The Collapse
Jace's POVThe dressing room was loud before warmups, the way it always was on championship day. Somebody had the speaker going, and Ryan was singing badly along with it, slapping the lockers in time.Denise was waiting by the training room door when I came out of the shower. She didn't say hello. She just pointed at the table."Lift it," she said.I lifted. The arm came up to my ribs and stopped where it had stopped all week. She pressed two fingers along the top of my shoulder, and I didn't flinch this time.She looked at the clipboard. She didn't write anything new. She just read the page for a while, then tucked it under her arm."You're going to play," she said. It wasn't a question."Yes.""Then play the way you can, not the way you used to."I didn't answer. I got my shirt on with my left hand and walked out before she could say anything else.Kingsport was waiting for us at center ice, the same forwards as the final, the same blue jerseys. The crowd was louder than it had been
The Collision Engine Off
Ethan's POVThe mall car park was almost empty for a Friday afternoon. I had driven across town instead of going straight to the arena. I'd told myself I needed to get out of the house, and then I'd walked past two shop windows without going into either one. The radio played a song I didn't know, and I turned it off at the second light. Now I sat on the top level, facing a concrete wall with a painted number on it, the engine off.On the passenger seat was the ticket for tomorrow's game. I had bought it on Tuesday, the same week the tournament ended. The paper was stiff in my jacket pocket, and I'd taken it out twice already to check the date, as if it might have changed.I took out my phone and opened the contacts. Jace's name was near the top.I pressed it.The screen changed to the call view. His face from last year's team photo filled the corner, the one where the photographer had told him to smile and he hadn't. The ring came through the speaker, soft and even. I held the phone t
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