Sebastian

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Sebastian Evans

I had waited a whole torturous month for hockey to start and finally, the season was here.

Walking into school with my hockey equipment slung over my shoulder felt absolutely amazing. When I saw other guys from my team dropping their own bulky bags off in the locker room, I realized just how excited I was for today. Hockey wasn't just a sport to me; it was a lifestyle. I lived to tear up the ice with my best friends—nothing could compare.

It sounded strange, but not even my beautiful girlfriend, Kate, meant as much to me as hockey did. We had been together for a while now, and she was really important to me, but this sport was my one true love. 

After chatting with a few teammates in the locker room about today's tryouts, I went looking for Kate. Of course, I found her standing next to my locker with a slight frown on her face. She always got pouty around this time of year. "You know if you frown too much you'll get nasty little wrinkles around your mouth," I told her with a grin.

Kate wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a warm kiss. "I hate hockey season," she whined.

I tried not to look too upset when I pulled away, but damn she was really raining on my parade. Kate didn't have to love hockey, but she could at least pretend to be interested.

"And why is that?" I asked. 

Putting my arm over her shoulder, I guided her down the hall to our first class. Familiar faces waved and smiled at us as we walked by. As much as I hated to admit it, I did feel good knowing I was popular. I loved that I was the center of attention and so did Kate. Honestly, that was the real reason we went so well together. Other than that, we didn't have much in common.

I looked down at Kate and waited for her to answer my question.

She sighed. "Because you're so obsessed with hockey that you forget about what's really important."

I laughed. "Hockey's my baby, baby. Nothing can beat that."

Kate's face went into seductive mode as she leaned towards my ear. "Not even me—completely naked?" She cracked a smile at the end to signal that she was partly joking. 

The thought of Kate without clothes did sound tempting. But if I had to choose hockey or Kate, it would definitely be hockey. When I didn't answer her right away, she tore away from me with a look of pure annoyance. 

"I just can't compete with that damn sport, can I? We've been together for what, a year now? You haven't even said you love me! God, I hear about how much you love that damn sport all the time, but not once have you said those words to me!"

In just moments my good mood had faded and I was now faced with having to deal with my overdramatic girlfriend for the third time this week. She was always finding a way to be mad at me...

"Oh, come on. You know it's not like that." Lie. Total lie.

"You're the worst liar, Sebastian," Kate said, crossing her arms. "I of all people know that."

I groaned in frustration. I had never been unfaithful to Kate. I bought her nice things to keep her happy. Never had I pressured her into doing something she didn't want. Hell, I always took the blame for our fights and always was the one apologizing. Why couldn't she be satisfied with that?

"Kate, you need to realize that this sport will always come first to me. But don't worry babe, you're right in second place." Maybe that was too cruel, but it was truthful.

Kate was a good foot shorter than me, but damn she could pack a good punch. In one swift movement my head snapped back and the next second she was storming down the hallway. I looked around at the school's population who were all conveniently watching me. My face hardened into a mask of anger and in seconds everyone was back to minding their own business.

"Trouble in paradise?" My favorite teacher, Mr. Locke, grinned at me from the doorway of his history class. If he were any other teacher, I probably have had something snarky, but Mr. Locke was my dude.

"Who knew women could be so complicated?"

He chuckled. "At least you're not married. If you think it's hard now, wait until she gets a ring on her finger."

I frowned at the idea of marrying Kate. Yeah, we had a good thing going, but she wasn't going to be in my life forever. I already knew that.

"So, are you excited about tryouts?" Mr. Locke asked.

And just like that my day was back on track.

**

After seven hours of hell, I practically ran to the locker room and tore off my school clothes. All the guys were talking excitedly about how this was predicted to be our best season yet. Talk of being undefeated only fueled my adrenaline. In all my years of playing hockey we had always come so close to a championship, but never won. Things were different this time. I could feel it. This was our year.

I followed a few other guys out to the state-of-the-art rink my father had insisted on building when I was old enough to hold a hockey stick. He was completely captivated with hockey and wanted me, his only son, to grow up in a town where hockey was a big attraction. He had prepared me for the sport since I was a young kid. He put his good fortune to work for me, and I appreciated it because hockey was now my whole life.

As I placed my stuff on our team bench, movement on the ice caught my eyes. Well, he must have gotten here early, I thought. I kept a close eye on the new guy who was dribbling the puck up and down the rink. He looked a little too skinny for a rough sport like hockey, but his puck handling skills were almost as good as mine. He had to be new to the school, because I knew every guy who was good at the sport, and this guy looked good.

"You know the new guy?" my best friend Matt asked.

Matt and I went way back to third grade. I would never admit this to anyone, but when I was younger I was sort of a pussy. I mean, I let people walk all over me without any intention of fighting back. That's where Matt came in. One day, these fifth graders were teasing me and he came right up and punched the biggest guy square in the mouth. Ever since then we'd been fearless partners in crime. Thankfully we both grew up to be studs.

The first day of tryouts was my favorite for one reason: fresh meat. It was fun messing with the freshman, especially since I had been the captain since sophomore year and had a lot of practice pissing people off. Coach Howard probably had a hunch about my rough induction for new guys, but I always made sure he never saw my roughhousing.

"No clue," I said, shaking my head as I stared curiously across the ice. The new kid managed to dribble the puck right past our best defender and right in between our goalie's legs. "But whoever he is, he looks like he needs a little lesson on showing off."

Matt smirked at me as we knocked sticks together. We both knew this plan from start to finish. We'd executed it hundreds of times on unsuspecting newbies. During tryouts, we'd double-team the poor guy up. Rough him up a bit. We just had to make sure Coach didn't catch us. By the end of practice, he'd know who was in charge and think twice about showing off on my rink.

Finally Coach stood up—tryouts were officially beginning. "Alright ladies, get your butts out here and start warming up in four corners. If you don't know what that means, then you don't belong here."

Some of the new kids scrambled out onto the ice looking completely confused. I wanted to see the new guy's face but he had on full equipment and was too far away. The drill was simple enough and I lined up. After running through it a few times, Coach had us start another warm-up drill. I couldn't be happier; the feel of the ice under my skates was the best rush in the world.

Halfway through the tryouts Coach finally blew the whistle for a scrimmage. Matt and I made eye contact from across the rink and smirked at each other. This was going to be fun.

"Everyone listen up. When I call out the position you play, I need you to raise your hand," Coach shouted at us. "We'll start with goalie."

Our main goalie Kent raised his hand, along with our backup goalie Chris and a guy who I presumed to be a freshman. Coach split them into two teams, pairing Chris with the freshman and Kent by himself.

"Right wing." He went on calling out positions, and I paid close attention so I could see which position the new guy played.

Finally, there were only two positions left. When he called out center, I raised my hand proudly. After a few seconds the new kid stuck his hand in the air and my lips curled up into a smirk. This was perfect. I was going to have the chance to show him what I was really made of and how much better I was than him. Matt nudged my arm and grinned at me.

We separated into two teams, one consisting of all rookies and the other returning players. Coach was trying to see who was cut out for our very aggressive team. That's why I liked him. He never babied anyone.

I lined up towards the center across from the mystery new guy. Up this close, I could see his brown eyes. He almost looked like a girl. Laughing at the thought, I didn't even notice that Coach dropped the puck to start the face-off. By the time I knew what was going on, the new kid was skating away with the puck.

Matt skated by and shoved me playfully. "Were you too busy staring into his eyes or something?"

I pushed him back. "Beginner's luck, that's all. Now let's show him how we play."

Pushing myself down the rink, I caught up to the new kid and shoved him just as he passed the puck to a player on his team. I was aiming to get a reaction out of him, but the next thing I knew, he was skating away once again. Shaking my head, I followed him across the ice in the direction of the puck.

Another rookie passed it off, and I intercepted it and moved in the other direction. Suddenly there was someone behind me, and his stick colliding with mine. I shoved back at the new guy pretty hard, but he came right back at me and stole the puck right from under my nose. I slammed my fist against the outside of the rink in frustration.

"What the hell was that man?" asked Coney, our right defenseman.

I glared at him. "Something you wanna say?"

He shook his head and skated off in the other direction. Taking a deep breath, I found Matt across the ice and nodded once. He read my signal and we both took off towards the new kid who now was watching another rookie take the puck in for a goal. Matt was the first to attack by slamming into the kid hard. I stuck out my stick at the last moment to send the kid tumbling down to the ice.

Matt and I high-fived and skated away before Coach knew what we were up to. I glanced back at the newbie and waited for his response. He shook his head to himself, and just like that the game was back on. The rest of the scrimmage went by way too fast. I had signaled Matt to leave the new kid alone. He hadn't snitched on us or tried to get us back. Surprisingly he seemed like a pretty fair player, and he carried his whole team. The rookies lost, but it would have been slaughter without him.

"All right everyone, gather around," Coach Howard bellowed. "Before this tryout, I had a pretty good idea that we'd be well off this year." He paused for a moment to build up the tension. "Now I know this year will be our best year at Arrowhead High. Be ready to bring it tomorrow, and then we'll see who's really cut out for this team."

The mass of exhausted, sweaty guys dispersed and made their way towards the bench. I pulled off my helmet, but stayed where I was, intent on watching the new kid. Even after our scrimmage, I was still trying to size him up. Just before he reached the bench, he tore off his own helmet. Suddenly there was a tumble of chestnut locks pouring down around his shoulders...

Or should I say her shoulders.

Her face was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and a few strands of her hair were plastered to her golden skin. Deep brown eyes stared back at me as I took in her high cheekbones and full lips. As if she knew I was totally checking her out, a grin spread across her face.

"What? Never seen a girl before?"

I hope you liked the first chapter! Happy Reading!

-Peyton

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