جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

~~~Declan~~~The rink was empty by the time I stopped skating.Australian ice felt different under my blades. Colder somehow, even with the heating vents blasting along the boards. Or maybe that was just me. Maybe nothing was going to feel right again until I was standing on ice back in Boston, with Soraya making sure I don't win by playing with everything in her, but somehow I still win, my little rival.I sat down on the bench and pulled my gloves off, staring at my phone like it might do something different this time. It didn't. No messages. No missed calls. Just the same black screen staring back at me, mocking me for every day I hadn't found the nerve to call her.I had a plan. I'd had a plan since the second night here, lying awake in a house that wasn't mine, listening to my father's voice still ringing in my ears from the argument in the car. The small plan was to finish this week of training so it doesn't look suspicious. Tell the team something, anything. And then buy a tick

~~~Soraya~~~I didn't sleep that night. I just lay there, staring at the same little crack in the ceiling, turning Coach Bennett's words over and over until they wore grooves into me.‘Circling together in scouting reports.' Like our names were still tied together somewhere out there, in some file I'd never see, even after everything. Like the universe hadn't gotten the memo that Declan Shaw had already made his choice, and it wasn't me.A million dollars deal. That's what Maya found out from one of the guys on the men's team, who'd heard it from someone else, the way everything eventually makes its way back to me in this school.Declan signed. Declan's staying in Australia. Declan chose an entire new life on the other side of the world instead of a plane ticket home.He didn't even call to tell me himself.That was the part that hollowed me out more than anything. Not the money, i never cared about the money.It was the silence. Weeks of silence, and now a signature on a piece of p

~~~Soraya~~~By the second week, six in the morning didn't feel like punishment anymore. It felt like the only part of my day that made sense.Caleb was already on the ice when I got there, same as every morning, running a puck through a line of cones like it was the easiest thing in the world. He looked up when the door banged shut behind me and something in his face shifted, easy and warm, like he was actually glad to see me and not just showing up out of obligation."You're late," He said.I glanced at my wrist. "By two minutes.""Scouts don't care about two minutes, Rivera. Get out here."I laced up faster than I meant to, something in his voice pulling me onto the ice quicker than usual. We started with the same drills as always, edge work, tight turns, quick-release shots. but today he pushed harder, sharper, like he could tell I needed something to actually fight against."Again," he said, after I fumbled a one-timer for the third time. "You're overthinking it. Stop thinking an

~~~Declan~~~"No." I said flatly.Then pushed the folder back across the bench toward my father before he'd even finished setting it down properly. The contract sat there between us, untouched, my name waiting at the bottom of four different pages like it already knew I was going to lose this fight before I'd even started it."I'm not signing that," I repeated. "I'm going back to Boston. I don't care what it costs me."My father didn't look surprised. That was the worst or should I say crazy part. He never looked surprised by anything I did, like he'd already mapped out every possible version of this conversation before he ever walked into the room."I thought you might say that," he said, almost gently, which from him was somehow worse than if he'd yelled.His gaze held mine. "So let me make something very clear to you...Declan, so there's no confusion about what happens next." "There's nothing to be clear about. I'm done letting you control my life." I shot back."This isn't about

~~~Soraya~~~The morning of day nine started like every other morning at camp. It had started, early, cold, the rink still half-dark when I laced up my skates on the bench outside the locker room, going through the same routine I'd built without even noticing I'd built it. Left skate first. Double knot. Tap the toe twice against the boards for no reason except that it had started to feel like luck.My phone buzzed while I was tying the second lace. Unknown number.“I see someone made it to camp, oh dear enjoy your day.”It's been so long I got any message from this person and today's message sent chills down my spine. But I'd decided I won't let whoever it is get to me. I deleted it the way I always did, it was nothing.I finished tying my skate and got on the ice.The session started with the usual warmup laps, easy and loose, the ice biting cold under my skates in that familiar way that used to calm me down before it ever unsettled me. Jordan skated past on my left, gave me the sm