All Chapters of PUCK ME ON ICE: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Tessy’s POV “Tristan,” I whispered to myself, a smile tugging at my lips. He was sitting alone on the stairway, elbows on his knees, looking effortlessly good in a way that felt personally unfair. This is it. I smoothed my hair, took a breath, and started toward him — only for a group of girls to swarm him at the last second. I froze mid-step. “Have you talked to him yet?” Sophie’s voice pulled me back. She followed my line of sight and shrugged. “He has company. Doesn’t matter.” “Look at them, Soph.” “Hey. We’re not doing this tonight.” Her voice softened. “You look perfect. Better than all of them. Stop doubting yourself and go talk to him when you get the chance.” “I will. When he’s actually alone.” “Sophie, come here!” Owen’s voice cut through the music. “Be right back,” she said, already slipping away. My eyes stayed locked on Tristan. The girls were finally peeling off. My pulse kicked up. This is my chance — He stood up too. No, no, no. I pushed through the

Tessy’s POV I stared down the crowded hallway, wishing Mrs. Zoey’s words were a hallucination I could blink away. Out of the entire student body, she’d paired me with Ryder King. This was a nightmare with a syllabus. “Hey — hey, wait up!” His voice cut through the noise behind me. I stopped, dragged an exasperated breath toward the ceiling, and turned. “What do you want, Ryder?” He caught up, hockey bag slung over one shoulder. “For the record, I don’t want you tutoring me either. Let’s get that straight.” I crossed my arms. “Good. At least we agree on something.” “But,” he said, leaning down with that same familiar smirk, “I need my grades up to stay on the ice. So I guess I’ll survive it.” “Survive it?” “Yeah.” He laughed, completely unbothered by my glare. “You seem like a lot of work, and I don’t have the bandwidth for drama. When are we doing this — today at four?” “Busy.” “Tonight, then?” “Still busy.” He dragged a hand through his hair, exhaling hard. “Wh

Tessy’s POV I had officially lost my mind. That was the only explanation. The entire drive home, all I could think about was the deal I had just made with Ryder King. I was actually going to let him teach me how to get Tristan’s attention. What kind of nonsense was that?! I pulled into the apartment parking lot and rested my forehead against the steering wheel for a long, painful second. “You’re an idiot, Tessy,” I mumbled to myself. A complete, unmitigated idiot. With a defeated sigh, I grabbed my bag and headed upstairs. The moment I unlocked the apartment door, Sophie looked up from the couch. “There she is!” she exclaimed, tossing the TV remote aside. “So? How was tutoring with Mr. Campus Playboy?” I kicked off my shoes and dropped my bag by the door. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Sophie’s eyes lit up instantly. “Oh my God.” She sat up straighter, her full attention locked on me. “What happened?” “Nothing.” “Tessy.” I ignored her and walked toward the

Tessy’s POVBy seven-thirty, I was already regretting saying yes.I stood in front of my bedroom mirror for what had to be the tenth time, staring at my reflection with growing frustration.“What exactly counts as something I actually feel confident in?” I muttered to myself.Every outfit suddenly looked wrong. Too plain. Too dressy. Too desperate.The text Ryder had sent replayed in my head: Wear something you actually feel confident in.I had changed three times already.“You’re overthinking it.”I turned to find Sophie leaning against my bedroom door, arms folded and an annoyingly amused smile playing on her lips.“I am not.”“You’ve been staring at the same black dress for fifteen minutes.”“I have not.”“You absolutely have.”She walked over, snatched the black dress from my hands, and held it up against me. “Wear this.”“It’s too much,” I protested.“It’s literally a black dress.”“For a hockey team party? Everyone there probably looks like they walked off a magazine cover,” I m

Ryder’s POVWhat the hell is Rebecca doing? Tessy isn’t my girlfriend.“Tell him, Ryder. Tessy is your girlfriend,” she says, giving me a known pleading look.“Yes, she is,” I responded, and everyone seemed to gasp in shock. I mean, yeah, I never date anyone, and here I am announcing to the whole world that I am in a relationship with Tessy.“What the hell is going on...” Tessy’s voice broke.Oh shoot. I go to her immediately and put my hand on her waist. She tried to remove my hand, but I didn’t let her.“Please just go with it,” I whisper in her ear. Then I turn back to the crowd. “Danny, I am not hooking up with your girlfriend, so you don’t have to be insecure around me,” I say.He glared at me, grabbed Rebecca’s hand, and walked away. The second they were out of sight, Tessy pushed me away immediately and walked out. I followed behind her until we got outside of the party.“Wait,” I say, stopping her by grabbing her hand.“Let go of my hand, Ryder,” she says with annoyance laced