4.

My throat tightened and I couldn't help the unwanted thought that crept into my mind. Was Aiden the ticket to the hockey team having a successful season? One good season from the hockey team and I feared that the skate club might become a thing of the past.

I forced a laugh. Hockey was a team sport. It was humorous that I could think, even for a second, that Aiden was all the hockey team needed to win. Aiden could have been the best hockey player alive and wouldn't have mattered if the rest of the team still sucked. He couldn't win games on his own. At best he would he help the team's chances of winning a couple more games than last year.

The cool rink air entered my lungs as I took in a sharp breath. My gaze focused intensely on Aiden as he pushed the puck around the ice effortlessly. Frustration boiled inside me. Why did he have to move to this town, and join this rink? I knew less than nothing about hockey and even I could tell that he was going to be a huge asset to the team.

"Are you feeling okay?" Jackie Davis asked me. I pulled my gaze off of Aiden and onto her light hazel eyes. She took a seat on the bench next to me. "You must be sick if you are actually sitting here watching a hockey head."

Jackie Davis was a fellow figure skater. A few years younger than me. She was good but lacked the commitment to go all the way to top. That also that she was one of the few girls at the rink that didn't seem to see me as their competition.

"If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you were crushing hard on the new guy."

I scrunched my face. Clear disdain at the thought of such a thing. "As if. He is about as likeable as stepping on a Lego with your bare feet."

Jackie's eyebrow raised. "You've talked to him?"

"Unfortunately," I mumbled. My head turned back to the ice.

"So... why is it exactly that you are watching him practice?" Her voice gave off her confusion.

My eyes narrowed in his direction. Daggers, they were shooting daggers. "I'm just trying to figure out what makes him so special." I groaned. My head turned back to Jackie who was staring at me with a look of concern. "You know, he has been the talk of the town. Everyone has been buzzing about him all day today."

It was frustrating. I had heard his name mentioned at least fifty times in the first ten minutes of me arriving at the rink. The rink employees, the coach's, my fellow figure skaters even. Everyone was talking about Aiden as if he was some kind of celebrity. I couldn't wrap my head around why everyone was so obsessed with him.

Jackie's face softened. "Do you think that he had something to with the hockey team getting your practice time?"

Probably.

"Don't know, don't care."

Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes now eyed my skeptically. "Are you sure you watching him doesn't have something to do with liking him then?"

I rolled my eyes. Did she honestly expect me to be such a cliché?

Yes, I was madly in love with new guy. Just your average teenage love story: a small-town girl who instantly fell head over heels for the attractive new guy in town.

The very thought sent me into a fit of laughter. Yeah right!

"What are you laughing at?"

I paused my laughter, blinking slowly at her. "You!" I turned towards the ice, gesturing my hand in the direction of Aiden. "The fact that you could possibly think that I could like that."

Jackie smiled at my outburst. The dimples on her cheeks now pronounced. "Oh come on, Zoe. Don't act like some kind of green ogre. He's not the worst guy in the world to have a crush on."

I snorted. Maybe if we were going solely off of his physical appearance.

"I'm guessing that you haven't actually talked to him, have you?" I asked, shoved my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie.

A soft shade of crimson fluttered her cheeks and I couldn't resist the urge to roll my eyes. Jackie violently shook her head.

"I couldn't possibly talk to him," she whispered slowly. Her voiced trailed off as her eyes found him down on the ice, sparkling with admiration.

I wanted to barf. Aiden may have been attractive on the outside, but if you talked to the guy then very quickly his charm wore off. I found myself wishing he could have been one of the hockey players that had been hit with the puck to the face and was missing his front teeth. Maybe then everyone wouldn't be so infatuated with him.

"He's eighteen. There's no way he'd want to talk to me." Jackie slumped down in her seat. A frown morphed onto her petite face.

I my eyebrows quirked. How'd Jackie know his age?

"I promise you Jackie, that's probably for the best." I shook my head. A blonde strand of hair fell out of my ponytail. "Nothing worth hearing ever comes out of his mouth."

Okay, so maybe that was entirely fair of me to have said. I didn't know for sure that nothing good ever came out. But, from the conversations that I had had with him he showed every sign that he was just your stereotypically arrogant hockey head.

A ding on my phone sounded and I knew that meant open ice had now started. Anyone at the rink was able to take to the ice. I stood from the bench.

"Sorry to cut this short, but free ice just started and I really need to get in some extra practice."

Jackie nodded, a smile fell on her face. "Can I be like you when I grow up?"

If you start putting in the time, I thought but decided it was best to keep that to myself. It probably would have come across as rude.

With my white skates on, my hair fixed securely back into my scrunchy, I placed my hands on the railing. Aiden was still on the ice, and while technically he could stay on the ice, he had had the ice blocked off for the past two hours. It was common courtesy to get off and let others have a chance to skate in peace.

"Do you mind getting off? It's now open ice!" I called out in his direction. Maybe I just didn't want to deal with sharing the ice with him. "Please?" I added, trying my best to come across as civil. Much different than I acted the other night.

. There was no response.

Anger boiled inside of me. "Aiden!" I yelled. My voice raised louder this time just in case he hadn't heard me the first two times.

Yet again, no response.

I let out an annoyed huff and found myself on the ice and heading in his direction. He had to have been listening to music. Either that or he was straight up ignoring me. Both viable options.

The closer I got to Aiden I noticed his severe lack of padding. He was wearing a plain gray hoodie and a pair of black sweats. Wasn't hockey player's supposed to wear padding? I thought it was a requirement to hockey.

I skirted to a stop directly behind Aiden, careful that I didn't bump him. At this point I was certain he was listening to music. I could see his black earbuds in his ears. I rolled my eyes.

"Aiden," I said loudly as I brought my hand up to tap his shoulder. If he didn't turn around now, I would know for sure that he was just ignoring me.

Aiden brought the puck he was moving to an abrupt stop with his stick before he turned around. A soft sigh left his mouth before his lips curved into a lopsided smirk when he saw it was me. "Can I help you?"

Annoyance flashed briefly over his face. I tensed as I sucked in a sharp breath before forcing as nice of a smile as I could muster onto my face. Be civil Zoe, life at the rink will suck if you are constantly at each other's throats.

"It's noon. Your private ice is over."

He sighed. His right hand crossed over his left, he rested atop his hockey stick and leaned his weight into it. He seemed done with this conversation. "Your point? It's open ice."

I bit my tongue. My nails curled tight into the palm of my hands. My effort to keep my composure, to not snap at him, was already proving hard.

"You've already had the ice for two hours. There are other people here that would like to get in some ice time." I turned my body; my hand flew up to the direction of several skaters either getting on the ice or getting ready to.

Aiden didn't even bother to look in the direction I was pointing. His dark eyes did a once over on my body and he took a step back. "You mean, you would like extra ice time?" He smirked, held out his stick in my direction.

I shot him a cold glare, warning him to shut it. He was asking for a fight. "Well I certainly didn't put my skates on just to come over here and have such a lovely conversation with you."

"Why would a twirl girl such as yourself need extra ice time?"

My jaw clenched. Heat rose to my cheeks from the anger boiling inside of me. He did not just call me a twirl girl. "What did you just call me?" I hissed through gritted teeth.

Aiden seemed satisfied with his words. I'm sure he was quite proud of himself for that one. He had pushed just the right button to tick me off. So much for trying to be civil.

He skated up closer to me and leaned down so that his tall figure towered over me. "I know you heard me."

The closeness of his body admittedly made me feel uncomfortable. Something inside of my stomach swirled. I wanted to flee backwards to relieve the built-up tension I was feeling. But I knew I couldn't do that. Fleeing would have been a sign of fear. Aiden would not get to me to back down.

Instead, I turned my body to face him. My brown eyes narrowed onto his as I leaned closer. Our faces only a mere few inches apart. I smirked. "If I'm just some twirl girl, then what does that make you exactly? The skate club here is superior to the hockey team in every way."

Aiden raised his eyebrows and I could see the amusement flash in his eyes. He said nothing. Instead he laughed and pushed himself backwards and into a slow skate around me.

After a moment of silence he said, "You think you are better than everyone, but in all actuality, anyone can do what you do."

I scoffed; my head thrown backwards in a humorless laugh. Oh yes, I was positive that he and his hockey heads could do a triple Lutz or a double axel. I began to turn my body slowly, eyes locked onto his as he continued in a slow circle around me. "You mean like it takes a special someone to push a plastic puck around the ice."

Aiden didn't even attempt to hide a grin. "Pucks are made of rubber."

Smart ass.

"I don't think I can roll my eyes far enough back in my head." Did he really think that I cared what a puck was made out of? Clearly Aiden was just trying to push my buttons. And unfortunately, it was working.

I took a deep breath, counted to three in my head, and released. I couldn't let Aiden have the satisfaction of getting under my skin. Relax Zoe, you need to maintain the peace.

Aiden came to abrupt stop in front of me. Some ice sprayed onto my legs and I frowned. "Let me ask you this," he said, "Have you ever had fans? People that would wait in line for hours just to watch you skate?"

His question caught me off guard. I was left without a response. People had congratulated me countless times on my clean programs and beautifully choreographed routines. I'd had hundreds of people that I had told me I was an amazing skater and that the loved watching me skate. But technically, the answer to his question was no. I didn't have dedicated fans that waited hours just to see me skate.

"Do you know why that is?" Aiden asked, his condescending tone pulled me from my thoughts. He had taken my silence as a 'no'. His lips had curled into a smug smirk and his eyes flashed with triumph. "Because everyone know that figure skating isn't anything special."

At that moment all 5'2 of me was ready to pounce on him like some kind of crazy person. My fist clenched so tight that I was sure my nails had drawn blood. I could have killed him.

The nerve of him! He had no right to diss my sport, to play it off like it was easy. He didn't have a clue how much blood, sweat, and quite literal tears that went into becoming the best. He didn't know the endless hours I had spent on the ice. Fall after fall. I'd get up and go again. Doing my best to land the new jump or nail a spin. Aiden had no concept of how much time and energy that actually went into the sport.

Hatred filled my eyes. "Why you arrogant little piece of sh-"

A stern cough echoed across the rink and cut me off before I could finish. I froze in my place. Mark Hansen.

"Zoe and Aiden. Over here. Now."

I swallowed hard and scurried across the ice to Mark. "I am so sorry Mark," I rushed out in one breath. My cheeks were hot. "I swear it's not what it looked like."

Mark crossed his arms over his chest. His normally smile filled face was straight. Not a good sign. "It looked like you two were fighting."

I bit my tongue. Okay, so maybe it was exactly what he thought it looked like. "I swear that I didn't mean to start a fight with him. I was just trying to have a civilized conversation with him."

Aiden let out a large huff of air as he skated up behind me. "It wasn't a fight." He stepped off the ice. His face was straight an unbothered by the situation at hand. "It was more of a minor disagreement."

Minor disagreement? I snorted. That was majorly underestimating it. He had just called me a twirl girl and told me that figure skating was easy. Was that really just a minor disagreement to him?

Both Mark and Aiden looked at me and I turned my head. I sucked in a breath to prevent myself from saying anything that would make this worse. Mark had a no fighting policy. I could not afford to get kicked out for fighting. Even if Aiden was a jerk who deserved to be knocked down a peg or two.

Mark's eyes darted between the two of us and softened. He sighed. "Off the ice please, Zoe."

I inwardly groaned. That was not a good sign.

"Next to Aiden please."

I fought back the urge to object. I couldn't let Mark know just how much I had grown to despise Aiden. We'd had less than three full conversations and I already hated him.

Begrudgingly, I stepped off the ice and took a seat on the bench. I made sure to leave plenty of space between us. My head turned to Aiden, briefly shooting him a glare that cause him to smirk in response. I rolled my eyes. Was this a game to him?

"Okay," Mark said with an exaggerated sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "I see that this is clearly more than a minor disagreement." He paused. Another sigh. "I need you both to get changed in meet me in my office in ten minutes."

A rush of heat and unwanted adrenaline rushed through my body. I gulped. For over ten years I had been training at this rink. Not once had I ever gotten in trouble. I'd only ever had to be in his office a handful of times for paperwork reasons.

What had Aiden just gotten me into?