Lahat ng Kabanata ng Falling For The Hockey Captain: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

AVA'S POVTWO FUTURES, ONE MAPThere's a whiteboard in Chase's apartment now. He bought it two days after Dale's text, mounted it crookedly on the wall above his desk, and has been filling it with dates in different colored markers ever since."You've turned our relationship into a project management exercise," I say, studying it from the doorway."I like having a visual," he says, unbothered, capping a blue marker. "Development camp starts June ninth. That's non-negotiable, Dale already confirmed it. Your regional qualifying circuit""Starts May twentieth, in Colorado," I finish for him. "I know. I'm the one who has to actually skate it.""Right, so." He taps the board. "There's about three weeks of overlap where we're both traveling in completely different directions, and then July's mostly open before your national qualifiers, assuming you place well enough in regionals to advance."I study the board for a long moment, the neat rows of dates laid out like a battle plan, something b

AVA'S POVTHE WHOLE STORYMy mother insists on hosting the interview at the house, which surprises me until I realize it's exactly the kind of small, deliberate statement she's been making a lot lately inviting scrutiny into the actual family home instead of some sterile, controlled office space, as if to say we have nothing left to hide."Are you sure about this?" I ask her the morning of, watching her fuss over a tray of coffee cups in the kitchen with more nervous energy than I've seen from her in weeks."No," she admits, setting down the tray. "But I think that's rather the point. We've spent years being sure about the wrong things. Maybe it's time to just be honest and see what happens."My father joins us a few minutes later, dressed more casually than I've seen him in ages, no suit, no careful performance of respectability, just a button-down and the kind of tired, open expression that's become more familiar on him since the scandal broke everything open."Nervous?" he asks me

AVA'S POVCOUNTDOWNThere's exactly six weeks left of the semester, and someone I suspect Chase, given the whiteboard obsession he's developed has started a paper countdown calendar taped to my fridge, one square crossed off every morning in his careful, blocky handwriting."You're worse than a kid counting down to summer camp," I tell him, watching him cross off another square before he's even had coffee."I like tracking things," he says, unbothered. "Keeps me from spiraling about how much is about to change."I understand the impulse more than I let on. Between his development camp prep, my regional qualifying training ramping up to nearly six hours a day, and the ordinary chaos of finishing final coursework before graduation, the six weeks stretching ahead of us feel simultaneously endless and terrifyingly short."How was practice this morning?" he asks, settling into the chair across from me at my kitchen table, textbooks scattered between us in our now-familiar pretense of stu

AVA'S POVFIVE WEEKS OUTCoach Reyes makes me run the program six times in a row on a Tuesday morning, and by the fifth attempt, my legs feel like they belong to someone else entirely."Again," she says, unmoved by my visible exhaustion, clipboard in hand."Coach, I've landed the triple-triple clean four times already this week.""And you'll land it a hundred more times before regionals, because muscle memory doesn't care about your feelings, Kingston. Again."I skate back to my starting position, breathing hard, sweat dripping despite the chill of the rink, and force myself through the opening sequence one more time. By the time I land the combination for the sixth time, clean but barely, my whole body screaming in protest, Coach Reyes finally allows a small, satisfied nod."Better," she says. "That's enough for today. Ice those ankles the second you get home.""Yes, Coach," I manage, skating toward the boards on legs that feel like they might give out entirely.Chase is waiting in t

AVA'S POVTHE FIRST FEW DAYSThe apartment feels different without him in it, even though Chase never technically lived here, just spent enough evenings sprawled across my couch that his absence somehow still registers as a physical gap in the space."You've reorganized your spice rack twice this week," Leon observes, watching me from the kitchen doorway with barely concealed amusement. "That's not a healthy coping mechanism, Ava.""I like an organized kitchen," I say defensively, though we both know exactly what's actually happening."You like distraction," Leon corrects gently. "Which, fair, I get it. But maybe try a distraction that doesn't involve alphabetizing paprika."I sigh, abandoning the spice rack project entirely, sinking into a kitchen chair across from him. "I miss him. It's only been four days and I already miss him constantly.""That's normal," Leon says. "You've basically been inseparable for months, through actual literal chaos. Of course the quiet feels strange.""H