Hunter

"You're lookin' more like yourself every day—love to see it," I tell Glenn Winslow, smiling into his shy aquamarine eyes, vaguely aware of Miko joining me at the food table and taking the plate I've started to fill for us to share.

Sharing a plate is so convenient, and we get to take turns refilling it without looking like total gluttons. Besides, eating is more fun when you're sharing yummy things with your best friend.

Honestly, I forgot all about the food the moment Glenn said hello, while piling things onto his own plate. I'm really happy to see him here tonight, looking so well. A few weeks ago, he'd suffered a bad fall during a match, and we'd all been truly stressed about the extent of his injuries, especially since he got knocked unconscious.

Mercifully, aside from a couple of busted ribs and a concussion, he was in much better shape than expected.

Still, getting him back onto the ice took time and effort. He's been skating more and more each day, getting ready for the coming week when the school semester will be starting in full swing again.

"Been workin' out," he tells me, grinning happily. "C'mon, feel these muscles," he urges, offering me his pumped-up bicep to feel. I do, and I must say, I'm rather impressed! Until two weeks ago, he'd been suffering from some muscle loss due to being inactive. I can feel a definite improvement.

"Wow," I smile. "Hey, that's coming along real nice. Not bad at all. What about the abs, though? Gonna let me be the judge of that too?" I ask, patting his stomach, and he eagerly lifts his sweater so I can see them and swoon a bit.

"They're much nicer after some situps," he assures me earnestly, and I hastily stop him from dropping down to demonstrate it to me. We're standing next to the food table. If he started to do rigorous exercise right here, we might have a food platter avalanche on our hands.

"Oh yeah—no doubt. I bet they're a full-on heartthrob situation when they're all pumped up," I laugh, enjoying the way his cheeks colour.

Glenn, with his fluffy, blond, shaggy hair, is one of the few innocents at the Farm. His blushes are legendary, even more so than Kame's. Despite being a bit of a pretty boy and, therefore, having hockey groupies running after him with gusto, the ice is the only love in this 16-year-old boy's heart.

Jeroen also doesn't hang around with girls much, but it's not because he is young and innocent. He's just fully dedicated to his studies and used to spend all his free time doggedly chasing the scholarship he finally got rather than chasing after girls. I'm going to miss him when he leaves to join the varsity team he was chosen for, ensuring him a scholarship to study engineering. His true passion.

He is currently studying for the placement exam he'll be taking soon, since he is no longer on the first-year level due to the many independent online courses he's passed.

"Alwin," I say, spotting a boy near me looking over the spread on the table with a pained expression on his ruddy face. His dark-blond hair gleams vaguely in the lights, illuminating the food set out on the table, and he turns his nearly transparent green eyes on me.

"These ones are safe, promise," I tell him, lifting a small party pie and holding it out to him to try. "Just savoury mince—no spice, no mystery ingredients, nothing your stomach'll pick a fight with."

"You sure?" he asks, coming closer, glaring at the tiny pie as if it is about to bite him.

"You betcha," I assure him. "I've had two. They're real tasty, too. You'll like 'em."

Poor Alwin Schneider has had too many run-ins at parties with strange fillings and spicy pastries. There are only a couple of the small egg sandwiches, some cold cuts and fruit skewers on his plate. He studies every platter on the table, looking for something that will not burn his mouth or make him want to puke or cause diarrhoea.

When it comes to food, the guy is sensitive to a lot of things. When he's on the ice, he's an indestructible beast the size of a small house.

He takes the pie from my fingers and gives it a tentative bite, which I find a little insulting since I've never lied to him... Well, there was that one time, but I didn't lie; it just turned out that my idea of mild and his were not the same. I now know what he means when he says mild.

Happy to have found something he can keep in his mouth, and probably in his stomach too, he helps himself to a handful of the pastries while I point out other things he could potentially have for variation.

He grins, pleased to have his own willing guinea pig to taste things for him, and his plate is soon filling up nicely since he is not shy once he finds food that he can eat. It's good that the Farm staff keep their boys' appetites in mind when they arrange catering for their functions.

I glance towards our table, my eye catching Galen's, and I cannot stop the sun from rising on my face in a cheerful smile. Seeing the boy affects me like that, and I'm just accepting it now. There's not much point in trying to avoid it.

It is what it is.

I'm even happier when he returns my smile, and now we're just smiling at each other across a crowded room, unable to look away.

We're a flippen' '80s love song!

Galen only moves his attention away from me when Jax asks him something, and he turns his head to look at him. Now that I'm no longer standing here grinning like a love-sick puppy, I notice that poor Ginny is gradually covering herself with all kinds of pastry goo. The girl always eats with her entire body, her heart and her soul. Chuckling, I hurry to one of the serviette mountains placed at intervals among the food platters.

"Hunny... you gotta be a little less obvious, hey?" Miko tells me when, satisfied that our plate has enough food, she joins me where I'm gathering a bunch of serviettes to take to our table. Guilt stabs at my heart when I see the plate in her hand. I've completely forgotten my original mission when I came to the food table. I was no help to her at all. As usual, she doesn't mind. She's always happy to take care of me while I get sidetracked.

"What on Earth do-" I don't finish my sentence when I see the look on her face. She's talking about Galen, obviously. Everybody says Miko is a mystery, unreadable, cold and distant, but I don't know what they're on about because I can see everything she feels and thinks as if it is written on her face in ink. Miko is not cold and distant. She is the most caring person I know.

"I'm not... I mean..." I try again, but I give up, knowing I'm not going to be convincing at all. Besides, I never lie to Miko.

"C'mon. If I can see it, so can everybody else," she frowns, and I sigh resignedly, shaking my head. "And look, if you don't ease up a bit, they're gonna start giving him grief. You want them riding him the way they've been doing to Xavier?"

"That's not the same thing," I say, clenching my teeth. "Xav was... an experiment that blew up in my face. Gan is... I don't even know what he is."

"Clearly," she sniggers, and I realise that I have a massive grin on my face and am disturbingly close to giggling again, just trying to think about the boy while my eyes involuntarily search for him.

"I seriously don't know what to do," I admit when I see Galen, and my heart jumps up and takes notice. I hurry to look away and see Miko's expression soften in sympathy. She rubs her free hand over my forearm and gently squeezes it. "I've never been nuts like this before."

"Nope," she chuckles. "Usually your kind of nuts is more the kind where you make people shriek and giggle while you drag them into crazy games with your boys. This is new. Weirdly sweet..."

"Oh, dear, did you think it was supposed to be a fancy dress party, eh?"

Miko and I turn our heads in unison to see Claire Parker helping herself to a couple of grapes and a carrot stick from a platter near us. She runs her gold-lidded eyes over me slowly and deliberately, smirking in a way I've become all too accustomed to through the years. We've had our share of run-ins and will probably never get along well.

Not that I really want to try.

"Yes," I tell her, causing the girl, who has been a fly in my ointment and a thorn in my side since we hit puberty, to frown. She is confused that I am unexpectedly agreeing with her. We never agree about anything.

"But turns out it is a BE dressed party instead," I tell her, and looking down at my outfit, I shrug. I was mostly messing with Jax and my dad when I put this ensemble together. Though I love mixing styles and colours and often throw in subtle Goth makeup and items just for fun, I don't usually dress to grab attention; I just wear comfortable stuff that makes me happy when I see it.

Sometimes, it looks a little crazy.

Tonight, I was actively trying to look ridiculous, but I ended up really liking the overall effect. It's cheeky, colourful and fun, just the way I like it. I might try something like this for an ice-dancing costume. I'll add some bunny ears! Yes! I'll be a puck bunny! I might need to borrow Claire's top to make it more yowza!

It's gonna be awesome!

Seeing the appreciative look on Galen's face earlier when he saw me enter the living area nearly made me fall down the stairs.

Score!

Yes, I'll definitely be dressing like this more often from now on! I think I've found my style. A fluffy Goth, colourful gangster!

"I guess this qualifies for a be-dressed party, hey?" I say, nodding my approval. I look up and smile at Claire, though I would love to shove one of the small caramel pastry cones up her nose. She could do with some additional accessories.

She looks at my outfit, frowning and then looks down at her own too... the little bits of clothing in attendance. It's probably warm enough in the hall for her to be comfortable wearing only a top that could double as a very fancy bra and a tight skirt that barely covers her bottom. She gives me a blank look, shaking her copper-brown curls, and now I just feel mean.

I don't like being mean.

"What does the B stand for, huh?" she asks, and suddenly, I'm opening and closing my mouth, swallowing bubbles, trying not to laugh while looking for a proper answer. Miko shoves the plate into my hands and grabs a drink from the nearest icebox to help her cope with her sudden coughing bout.

"No clue, honestly," I finally manage to say, and I am about to shove a small stuffed crepe into my mouth to stop myself from laughing when our exchange is mercifully interrupted.

"Hey, Hunter."

Or not so mercifully.

I know that voice behind me, causing a now familiar twinge in the pit of my stomach and turning around, I find myself face to face with the chaotic, mischievous boy I wrongly thought would make a great boyfriend. Now, looking at him just makes me sad. Xavier and I got along so well before all the kissing and touching started. The truth is, it's all Jax's fault.

I swear!

About a month after he arrived, he started dating Liza, a pretty girl working at a pharmacy in Glisspass. He was always sighing and smiling, looking so blissfully happy all the time that everybody wanted to lock him in his room. I started to feel that hollow emptiness inside me grow wider and deeper. I wanted what Jax had. Someone who made my heart beat faster and caused me to sigh randomly and smile like my life was overflowing with joy, and there was Xavier.

I like Xav.

I've always liked him. His Québécois mother and stepfather live in Quebec, but he used to spend most of his school holidays in Snowglen with his NWT father's parents. They run a large co-ed boarding house, catering to both academies. He moved here permanently when he was 15 years old.

It wasn't strictly his choice to move here permanently, though I think his grandparents' house has been his real home since his father passed away. It was the only place he felt safe. After a long struggle to gain custody of their late son's children, the courts finally granted his grandparents full custody, and Xav and his younger sister were able to leave their dysfunctional family home permanently.

We became pretty good friends shortly after he started school here, and grew closer when my mother passed away. Until two months ago, when our ill-fated romance started, things had been great between us.

Of all the guys I know and am friends with, he is the only one I've ever felt any form of romantic attraction for, so I thought he might be the right guy to fill that void and cause those sighs Jax was throwing around.

All I felt right from the start was uncomfortable, and slightly anxious because of my lack of romantic experience, though the first week was pretty good. When I found out that he wasn't as into our relationship as I was trying to be, I was really hurt and humiliated.

Man, I felt so flippin' stupid!

Looking at him now, I feel regret, but I'm not angry or hurt anymore. I might struggle to trust a boy again the way I trusted him, but I know now, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is not the love of my life, and though I care about him and still like him a lot, he never was.

We were really good at the friends thing. Shoulda just left it there. We were solid.

I don't want to make the same mistake again, thinking Galen McKenna is the one I've been longing for, just to find out harshly that he is not... and mess up a potentially great friendship in the process. To me, true friendship has always been precious.

However, every time I catch the cheeky Irishman's eye, an entire orchestra starts to play in my heart, filling me to overflowing.

Galen's got me all twisted up in ways I've never been before. And I don't hate it.

If things with him were to take off and then crash, I would definitely not simply be disappointed and sad for a ruined friendship. I wouldn't just be filled with regret; I would be completely devastated.

I run my eyes over Xavier, taking in his cheeky, boyish charm, clear grey eyes and the hesitant smile touching his lips, and find myself smiling back. I remember all the fun we had together before we tried dating.

Hanging out with Xav was always a riot. I miss him.

Meeting Galen and losing my mind has made me more benevolent towards the guy I resented only yesterday.

"Hunter... I'm sorry, okay?" he says, holding my eyes with his, and they have the same translucent quality they had when I was heartbroken over my mother's death and he comforted me, telling me about his father, who also died when his car skidded on black ice - just like my mom. He has been apologising to me a lot over the last few weeks.

He's never been this vulnerable about it before, though.

"For real. I'm... uh... garbage boyfriend material. C'est vrai. Whether or not I got it that we were, y'know, exclusive... doesn't even matter. I shouldn't've pulled you into that mess. You're smart, you're smokin', and I—" he exhales hard and clenches his jaw. "I'm just a weak, dumb couyon."

He stops talking, sucking in a deep breath, while he scrunches up his face and pinches his eyes shut. When he opens them again and tries to say something, he ends up groaning instead.

"You havin' a stroke, or just tryin' to pass a moose-sized kidney stone?" I ask him after he's done this weird routine about three times. I'm truly starting to worry about his health, and his words hit me pretty hard just now - in a good way.

"I'm tryin' not to flirt with you," he says, looking ready to bolt. "This is torture."

Laughing, I shake my head, happy to see his weird look disappear and hear him laughing too. Before we tried dating, we laughed together a lot. This feels so good. Relief makes me light-headed.

"You're a whole damn idiot," I tell him, and he pinches his lips together, solemnly nodding his head. Actually, Xavier has always been a flirt. I never took him seriously... until I did, and then, when things went south, his flirting ways were too much to deal with.

"Yeah, well. That's public record by now, hein?" he grins, and then his expression sobers, his eyes softening again. "One day, when I'm old and boring and finally ready to settle, I'll be sittin' there thinkin' about you... real sad I biffed it."

"Honestly," Claire chimes in, stroking a long, colourful nail down the side of Xavier's neck from his ear to where his sweater starts, causing him to shiver slightly and turn red. She'd been listening to our exchange, growing steadily frustrated by the lack of attention. She's probably still waiting to hear what the B stands for.

"I don't get frigid people at all," she says, leaning an arm on Xavier's shoulder while she gives me a once-over to ensure I know she means me. To his credit, Xavier still looks at me with the same beseeching expression, not responding to the girl's seductive act.

Now, if only he were this well-behaved back when we were giving the whole dating thing a whirl.

Then again, I do vaguely remember him saying that he wasn't interested in mean girls, and Claire definitely qualifies as one of those. That might be why he is not giving her the time of day at all.

"Pretty sure they got pills for that now," Claire tells me, and I'm left to wonder if she understands what she'd just said to me. Probably. She usually understands very well when she's being mean, and she definitely enjoys it.

"Just because I'm not jumpin' to play hide-the-salami on impulse or have anything to do with salami in general," I tell her, really annoyed now. "Or any other unsliced lunch meats, really," I try to clarify when the expression on her face changes from mocking to puzzled. I suspect I'm not clarifying anything because she's frowning hard now. "It doesn't mean that I'm like... uhm... uh..."

"A vegan?" Claire asks, clearly confused now.

"A lesbian?" Xavier is also not entirely sure of what I'm getting at.

"FRIGID!" I exclaim, feeling my cheeks catch fire. "I'm not frigid! Geez!"

I need to get out of here before I shove my other foot down my throat too. Miko is coughing again, patting my back. She's the one needing her back patted, not me. I frown at her, handing the plate back to her so she can stop patting me, since both her hands are occupied now. I can see that she is torn between laughing at the ridiculous exchange and shoving her fist into Claire's mouth. Miko is good at multitasking a large variety of emotions, and she can be quite feisty when someone pushes the right buttons.

Claire is smashin' those buttons right now.

"Naw, the lass just hasn't met the right guy for her yet."

I gasp, wrapping my fingers around Miko's when she puts the plate down on the table and slips her free hand into mine. She gives Claire an irritated look when the girl smirks, running her eyes over our intertwined hands, completely misreading the situation. She heard the word lesbian and has forgotten the context.

I recognise the voice speaking near me before I turn my head to see Galen, and that orchestra in my heart immediately threatens to destroy my sanity. I'm simultaneously mortified and excited. I wish he hadn't heard this embarrassing conversation. I wish Claire would notice a hot boy she hasn't bothered in a while, clear across the room, and charge at him to remedy her neglect.

She should go take a ride on Miles' hot air balloon!

"Hunter's not the kind of girl to be throwin' her pearls at pigs—or whatever way the sayin' goes. She's got too much heart for all that carry-on," Galen says, looking at Xavier and Claire, a slightly sad smile touching his lips. "What she needs is someone solid. A lad who makes her heart sing and her soul settle. One who can promise her forever."

He turns to look at me, his expression frustratingly unreadable, and I am finding it hard to breathe while he just stands there, gazing at me in that guarded way after saying such poetic things.

"When she meets him, 'tis gonna be savage," he finally says, wrapping one of my ponytails around his hand and giving me the sweetest smile I've ever seen. There I go, melting into a puddle of giggling goo.

Where's a good tea candle when you need one, eh?!

"Yeah," I assure him, looking up into his sparkling blue eyes, enjoying the golden halo the overhead light is conjuring on the surface of his rich auburn hair.

"I could be so savage... with the right guy."

~~~