CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
FIGHTS

It was the day before Aaron's fifteenth birthday and Aaron was stood on the far end of the ice, a firm hold on his hockey stick as he lightly leaned on it, watching the referee go on and on as he waved his hands frantically.

The blond wasn't really worried, the team were so far up that he doubted they could lose this far into the game.

There was some sort of issue that had the referee furious as he went on and on about something and Aaron decided he was no longer interested in pretending to listen from across the rink.

Instead he turned his head to the side, looking into the stands as he searched for someone in particular. He hadn't had a chance to look earlier, he'd been too occupied with the game at hand.

He didn't even know if she had shown up, but she'd told him she would be there. She'd never missed one of his games, he doubted this would be the first.

Lucas and Steve came to some with her, but she was usually herself. Lucas had his own basketball practice and Steve probably had better things to do than hang around every high school hockey game.

However, Dustin, Mike and Max had yet to willingly show up to a single one. This annoyed Aaron to no extent, seeing as he would have went to any of their games if they had them.

He never brought it up to them but they must have had some sort of an idea about his annoyance.

It didn't take long for him to find her. She was sat in between Lucas and Steve, listening to what Lucas was saying while nodding along.

Aaron held back a smile as he looked at her, she was sat with her jacket on, her hat, scarf and gloves - and she was still shaking from the cold.

"You looking for someone, Harrington?" A taunting voice came from behind him.

Aaron had to refrain himself from rolling his eyes as he turned to face the boy he now absolutely hated. Aaron didn't actually think the boy knew Aaron had such a strong distaste for him, but Aaron didn't care.

Now, usually when the older boy would say something to him, Aaron would say something back.

It had got to the point where Aaron actually had to say something back for the older boy to leave him alone for as much as a single practice.

"Yes." Aaron replied bluntly, a blank expression clearly evident on his face even past the hockey helmet. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Whatever." The older boy muttered, skating over so he was stood next to the blond as he looked out at the stands to try find who he had been looking at.

Aaron looked to him with annoyed eyes, unable to even pretend he could tolerate him.

Aaron absolutely hated Charlie Roberts. Couldn't stand the boy.

It was like the older boy went out of his way to give Aaron a hard time, like he went out of his way to try insult him or try to knock down his confidence.

While Charlie was a senior and Aaron was a freshman, it didn't make the younger boy scared of him. He really wasn't scared of the boy - unlike what some may believe.

He just annoyed him - angered him. The older boy was mean, but he wasn't scary. He was just a dick.

Although with that said, sometimes what the older boy would do or say would hurt him. The blond just never showed it.

"That's the new kid on the basketball team, isn't it? I didn't know, Sinclair had a girl." Charlie muttered with an almost amused expression, nudging Aaron as he pointed. "He's done quite well actually. Don't you think?"

Aaron bit the inside of his cheek as he listened to the boy go on and on about Kimmy and Lucas, doing his best to keep his cool, no matter how much the boys words were slowly angering him.

"She's a freshman." He muttered roughly instead, clearly annoyed as his eyes glued to the side of the boys face.

"So what?" Charlie laughed, his eyes never leaving Kimmy who had yet to look up from her conversation with Lucas. "She's still in high school - I mean, look at her, you've got to admit she's-"

"I know she is." Aaron snapped, tightening his hold on his hockey stick as he suddenly felt this foreign feeling of protectiveness in regard to the girl wash over him. "You have your own girlfriend, why don't you pay attention to her for once."

Aaron wasn't the jealous type, he really wasn't. However, since Kimmy's dad had sent her to the hospital, he'd been more worried about her than usual.

It wasn't that he was jealous, it was more that he was scared something bad would happen to her again. Even if it was sometimes shown in almost stupid scenarios.

Sure, sometimes he was jealous. When the boy from her physics class had asked her out, he was jealous. Aaron could admit that.

But it wasn't in the way that he was ever worried Kimmy would actually do something with someone else, or that he didn't trust her - he did trust her. So much to the point that it never bothered him when she'd be friends with boys, or talk to them or whatever - he didn't care.

He just didn't appreciate the fact that the boy wouldn't leave her alone after she told him she wasn't interested. In fact, he was still bothering her weeks later.

If what had happened had been the exact same, except when she told him no and that she didn't like him he left her alone, Aaron wouldn't have cared.

It wasn't that he'd asked her out - that didn't bother him, it was that he kept picking at her after she'd told him to stop bothering her.

"What you acting all sensitive for? I was just joking." The older boy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "I know she's not going out with Sinclair, he's got that weirdo redhead to worry about. Everyone knows you and Jenkins are a... thing, or whatever."

Aaron didn't like the way the boy had labeled the twos relationship. A thing. Like it was just another high school relationship that would be over in two weeks, Aaron felt like himself and Kimmy's relationship was much more than just a thing.

"I'm not being sensitive." Aaron scoffed, fully turning his body to face the boy before he decided he wouldn't snap back at him, not wanting to cause a scene. So, he simply shrugged, trying to defuse the situation he realised he'd quickly gotten himself into.

"Oh, my god would you chill out." Charlie retorted with an obnoxiously fake laugh and an eye roll.

Aaron didn't say anything back, hoping the boy would leave him seeing as they were in the middle of a game and quite literally on the same team.

The blond looked away from him and adverted his gaze into the crowd as he tried to find the brunette girl he'd been looking for earlier.

When he didn't get the reaction he was obviously looking for, he pushed the blond's shoulder roughly before he spoke. "I'm so so sorry, I didn't realise I couldn't even look in the girls direction. You need to take a fucking chill-pill, Harrington. Seriously, she must be such a bitch if she'd got you this stressed out over her-"

Aaron clenched his jaw, tilting his head to the side slightly as he tried to keep his irritations at a calm.

"Don't call her that. And if you've got such an issue with it, then don't look in her direction." Aaron felt as if he was only getting more and more irritated as the conversation went on, an irked tone evident as he spoke that he simply couldn't hide. "Don't talk to her and don't talk about her - especially not to me, alright?"

Aaron didn't know why he was so defensive over the girl when it was clear the boy was only looking for a reaction.

Maybe it was because he already hated the boy so badly, or maybe it was because of the events that had taken place over the past few months that had made him a little more protective over the girl than he probably would have been priorly.

It didn't really matter, he didn't like the way the older boy was talking about her and that was that. And Aaron especially didn't like that Charlie had brought up Kimmy as a way to get to him.

"So defensive." The older boy shook his head as he tried to hide his smirk, doing his best to torment the blond. "Maybe you're just worried I could take her from you-"

"Or maybe if you wouldn't bring her up, I wouldn't get so defensive." The blond shrugged as calmly as he could. "Maybe you're talking about my girl because you know your girlfriend would ditch you for any guy who looked in her direction."

It was a low blow, Aaron knew that it was. However he wanted to shut the boy up before he pushed him to say something he'd regret in the long run.

Aaron watched as the older boy took a breath, evidently growing more annoyed by the second. "You know what I think your issue is, Aaron?"

Aaron furrowed his brows and tilted his head, pretending to think for a minute. "I actually don't think I care what you think my issue is."

"I think you're scared of me." Charlie taunted, getting right in Aaron's face as he pushed his shoulder back. "You know I could get Jenkins to come running to me if I ever gave her the time of day-"

"No you couldn't." Aaron scoffed, his face scrunched up into a look of offence. "Look at you. You're a fucking mess, how you managed to even get a girlfriend is beyond me."

Aaron was aware it was rude and he probably shouldn't have went so low and said something insulting the boys appearance, but truthfully, he didn't care. Besides, the older boy started it.

"You think you're so great since you made it on the team, but guess what? You're a freshman and I'm a senior, you've got the next three years in this school and I could make sure they are living hell for you." The older boy continued to sneer, doing his best to pick at the younger boy. "You don't have your older brother in this school anymore, so I can do whatever I want-"

Aaron was both unimpressed and unintimidated by his words.

It was just like the boy said - he was a senior. How the hell he expected to still bother Aaron in school while he wasn't even there could have had the blond scoffing.

"Do you honestly think I care?" Aaron interrupted while he shrugged clearly unbothered, he turned and went to skate away, but before he could have actually moved away from him, the older boy was talking again causing Aaron to pause and turn to glance at him.

"I bet you'll care when I take your girl off your hands." The boy continued to taunt him, only now the teasing hint in his voice was gone and he sounded dead serious. Once more, he pushed Aaron back, this time harsher. "All I'd need is minutes alone with her and-"

The older boy cut himself off and pushed the blond again, however he didn't actually get to finish his sentence because Aaron had tackled him to the ground, the older boy smashing onto the ice roughly.

Charlie didn't have time to think because Aaron was ripping the older boys helmet off him the second he had him down. Although Aaron wasn't going to hit the older boy, that plan went straight out the window when Charlie curled his first and punched the blond's helmet roughly against his face - most definitely leaving a bruise. After that, the blond hit him back - multiple times.

The older boy managed to hit him back once more, punching him against the exact spot he'd hit him in already. Although this only pissed Aaron off further, leading the blond to punch him exactly in the middle of the nose causing blood to spurt as the boy groaned.

Aaron almost didn't hear the way the crowd had began to cheer loudly when he'd taken the boy down. However Aaron was soon being ripped off him by the referee, the man dragging him off the ice.

...

The morning of March 26th, Aaron was admittedly rather confused when he woke up.

Kimmy was sat on the edge of his bed, her legs dangling down and her hands clasped together as she looked down at them. She wasn't watching him, but he could see her side profile and the way she bit her cheek harshly.

After what had happened at his game the day before, Aaron had only created more issues for himself. He wasn't allowed to play the next four games the team had, and he wasn't allowed to attend practice for two weeks. Not to mention the week long detention.

Also his parents were called.

The blond didn't know for sure, but he could safely guess that they would be furious when they next saw him.

Not only that, but he was now scared that Kimmy had some resentment towards him for being so aggressive with the older boy. The fact that Aaron had practically beat him up in front of half of his own school as well as the school of the opposite team.

As usual, the boy was overthinking and had convinced himself that she wouldn't like him anymore because of it.

Like maybe because of what happened to her with her parents, the second Aaron hit someone it would completely change her opinion on him.

He knew she had been and was still having a hard time with what her parents did to her, and he'd probably just made himself look a million times worse in her eyes because he couldn't control his temper.

It was so out of character for him to do, that's why it annoyed him. It had taken the blond by surprise just as much as it had probably taken Kimmy.

And now, seeing her sat like that only made those fears a million times worse.

"Whats wrong?" He blurted as he sat up, already assuming something was wrong due to her demeanour.

At the sound of his voice, she flinched, looking to him with wide eyes. Despite this, her once startled expression promptly faded into a look of excitement.

She gasped and smiled as she looked to him, leaning down to pick up something at her feet. The blond boy raised his brows in confusion as he watched her shuffle closer to him with a plate in her hands that had a double stacked cake on it.

Once it was close enough, Aaron was able to read what had been written out in frosting on the top.

HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY AARON :)

The blond could feel his cheeks grow pink but did his best to ignore it as he looked back up at her.

"Do you like it?" She asked him nervously, her face scrunched up in uncertainty. "I know it's not the best, I couldn't get the frosting to work evenly, and I spent ages on it, so I don't know how-"

"What-Kimmy, it's seven in the morning." Aaron cut her off with a taken aback tone once the realisation set in. "Did you stay up all night to make this?"

"Yeah." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Aaron looked to her dumbfounded for a moment, unsure what to even say to her.

The boy could hardly believe that she would even do something like that for him, he'd never had someone stay up all night to make something for him just because they wanted to.

He'd never had anyone go out of their way to try make his birthday special, even with the circumstances.

"You didn't have to do that." He told her sheepishly, trying not to show her just how much her small gesture had meant to him. "And, yes, I do like it. Thank you."

"Okay, thank god- oh, shit." Her once relived sigh was quickly replaced with an expression of frustration. "Sorry, I completely forgot to put candles in it. I can go get them now if you-"

"No, it's fine, Kimmy." The blond smiled at her, holding back a laugh. "I like it the way it is."

Kimmy sent him a toothy smile in return, the kind that had the slightest bit of dimples showing with how wide the girl found herself smiling in response.

Just as the brunette went to say something, Aaron stopped her with his own jumble of words falling past his lips.

"Listen, about yesterday." Aaron reluctantly started, messing around with his fingers anxiously as he spoke. "I'm sorry about what happened. I'm not like that, I'm not like... like violent or anything. I swear. I just-"

"I know you aren't." Kimmy reassured him in a calm voice. "But I don't- I don't think we should talk about yesterday, okay? I know you're not a bad person, so just enjoy your birthday, okay?"

Aaron couldn't say he was surprised to hear her response, but he was glad she felt that way. At least some of his worries could be put to rest.

Aaron pursed his lips in hesitation before reluctantly nodding. "Okay."

...

OMG TYSM FOR 18K READS?!?!? IT MEANS SM TO ME THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT ON THIS BOOK!!!!

I hope everyone had / is having a great day!!!!

Actual season 4 is starting soon!!!!

- AJ :)