[ O C E A N  E Y E S ]

❛ late night sneaking ❜

          AFTER THE GAME, Bombay, Charlie and I arrived home. We joined my mom to help make dinner. Charlie was taking out the pot from the oven "You know, I heard the Northstars wore the same underwear all through the playoffs last year for luck, so I'm doin' the same thing," Charlie comments coming into the nicely decorated dining room.

"Don't say that when I'm 'bout to enjoy this, um, lovely meal?" I furrow my brows at the uncertain meal Charlie decided to make.

"Hmm. Maybe I shoulda cooked," Bombay hums "You know, I'm thinkin' maybe we can all go down to the winter festival tonight."

"All 4 of us?" Charlie asks.

"Sure," Bombay shrugs.

"I don't think I should, 'cause I got a lotta homework and Alex, over here, is helping me out, right?" Charlie winks at me, which was very obvious to what he was planning on doing.

I joined in "You should go with our mom... by yourselves," I smile at the idea.

The front door slams shut and my mom's excited figure pops in "Mmm, smells great," my mother sets her bag on the couch before walking to the table.

"Hello," she greets awkwardly.

Charlie and I leaned into Bombay "Go for it," we whisper.

"Hi," he smiles. My mother's smile brightens as he said that one word. After our somewhat lovely meal, mom and Bombay did decide to go to the winter festival since Charlie and I had 'homework' to do.

"Wonder what mom and Bombay could be doing right now?" I say in awe, with my palm stuck to my chin.

"Why don't we go see and find out for ourselves," Charlie smirks getting into my personal space.

I push his face away before turning my chair and facing him "No! That'll ruin the surprise."

"Fine, then I'll go," Charlie whines.

"Fine," I chuckle as Charlie gets ready to head out.

"Wait. What are you gonna do while I'm gone?" Charlie asks. I simply shrug as I flip through the magazine on the table that managed to fall into my hands. I sigh loudly as the door slams shut with Charlie gone out of the frame. I decided before mom and Charlie come back, I'll go late night skating. I make sure to write a small note to the family just in case I come home way after they do. While I finish that, I grab onto my coat and pick up my figure skates that stood cleanly next to the door. My hand flings the note onto the door before closing shut and locking it.

The huffs and puffs of cold air mix with the night sky as I stroll towards the lake. I didn't have much on my mind except for that I hope Charlie doesn't get caught by mom and Bombay which will totally ruin their date. I shake my head out of the thoughts as I reach the nicely laid out frozen lake. I take a seat on the closest bench before putting on my skates. My feet reach the ice above my skates and easily my body glide with the silent winds. I did a few warm-ups to keep my body heat from the hurricanes of cold wind. As my skates come to a twirling stop, I take a deep breath before recreating a routine I did years ago back when I did figure skating.

https://youtu.be/BKfqB3CwMKk

A weight felt like it's been lifted from my spirit. Suddenly, a swift of wind flew past my space. My head jumped up as well as my body at the quickening pace around me. "You just gonna stand there?" the familiar voice shouts from across the lake.

"Adam?" I shout back as the figure comes crawling closer.

"What's up?" he smiles swinging his body closer to mine. I skate backward a bit with which he followed slowly.

"Um," I try thinking of an answer but for some reason, I froze under his presence.

"Cat got your tongue?" he smirks.

"Psst, no!" I scoff "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be flirting with a bunch of girls that are just so in love with you."

"Nah, 'cause none of the girls are you," Adam looks down at me. The moonlight hitting every perfect spec of his. He head slowly starts leaning down. At this point, I don't know what to do but freak out from his actions and shove him away which resulted in me stumbling onto my butt.

"I-I gotta go," I exclaim scurrying back to my things and quickly changing.

While I was running away all I could hear were faint yells of my name. The cold wind slapping my face like a thousand knives. It was freezing but that didn't stop me. My mind rushes with so many various scenarios of what that one action could've done to mine and Adam's 'relationship'. The blood from my body hurries onto my cheeks as I reach my house. I hesitate in making a quick decision as I could still hear my name being called by the angelic voice.

"Alex?" a voice catches my attention. I turn around in hopes that it wasn't Adam. My eyes were shut at this point ready to turn to the person behind me.

"Yeah?" I croak out as I slowly open one eye to see Charlie with the biggest smile on his face.

"Charlie, what happened?" I ask.

"Mom and coach!" Charlie exclaims.

"Mom and coach, what?" I didn't quite understand where his story was going. Charlie was about to answer when soft footsteps approach the both of us.

"Alex, why did you run?" Adam says trying to catch his breath.

"It was getting late," I make up some lie.

"Adma, what are you doing here?" Charlie asks.

"Nothing," I say for him "He was actually just about to leave, right?"

"Uh, yeah... I'll see you at the next game," Adam shrugs walking away with his scrawny, slumped down body.

"What was that all about?" Charlie asks me.

"Nothing," I assure him taking his hand and walking to apartment complex we lived in.

—

[ G A M E  D A Y ]

It was one of the first final games. If we win this game against the Hornets, the next game we'll verse the Cardinals to see who will get the final position in state finals. I was on the bench cheering on for my team. With every turn, the game got rougher. The Hornets were tackling us as we were them. Banks never missed a shot which made the crowd go crazy every time. I truly wished his dad could see his success on this team but instead he can't stand the fact that his son is a Duck and he's proud of it. The game was almost over when Averman made one last shot and scored. It was 5-3 and we won! Next thing for us Ducks to do is beat the Cardinals in semi-finals.

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[ G A M E  D A Y ]

The Cardinals were playing rough which made this game even better. I liked the challenge that came with. Banks kept scoring once again. This man was amazing! The crowd kept getting crazier and crazier as time went on. I was on the ice with the guys. Averman had the puck which he then passed it down to Banks who passed it down to Guy. Guy looks around and sees me and swiftly passes it through two Cardinal players legs. I aim for the shot and score. Everyone huddles around me and congratulates me for getting us the winning goal right before the game ended.

The game ended and everyone was celebrating with their pops. We made sure to shake every last bottle before spraying everyone with the sticky substance. The locker room was crazier than the crowd. I couldn't be more proud of my team and I. We actually made it. From being one of the worst teams in Peewee hockey to being one of the state finals teams. We were off to state finals against the Hawks, and this was the game no one was going to want to miss.

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[ A U T H O R ' S  N O T E ]
Another short chapter! Don't forget to vote and leave some random comments about the book.