Adelaide is alone when she wakes up, the side of the single bed Paxton had been on long cold. A different coldness spreads through her but she quickly shakes her body awake and gets to work for the day.

Paxton had answered a couple of her questions about the night of the party but there were still some things she needed answers about.

The first thing was how Hailey was doing after finding out just what kind of party she wasn't invited to. And that seemed more like a visit to her dorm instead of a phone call or text.

She gets dressed in some warmer clothes and immediately heads out. It's around 10 am as she leaves her dorm building, Hailey lives closer to the Teams dorms. The Saturday morning is fairly empty the few people walking around the grounds have this lazy slow movement as they make their way towards coffee shops or a very few of them heading to the library.

Adelaide reaches Hailey's dorm feeling a little like she's going to be intruding on the girl's emotions but still she pushes the large glass door open and heads her way to the second floor.

The building is like a ghost town, she doesn't see a single person and the only sound coming through the doors is the light snoring of the students. Still, she walks towards room 224.

The number stares down at her. A tightness enters her chest as she lifts her hand to knock.

A sound echoes out of the room before her fist even hits the door.

"You believe her?" It's an angry voice that takes Adelaide less than a second to recognize. Micheal. "The girl that has made it clear she would do anything to put an end to the team. You believe her over me your boyfriend?"

Adelaide rolls her eyes. Seriously, he cheats but I'm the bad guy.

The whispers tell her that Hailey replied but it's too low to hear anything outside not until Micheal gets back on his high horse.

"I can promise you nothing happened. I would never cheat on you baby. You mean the world to me and I wouldn't throw that away for anything."

And there it is, the man digging himself underlies.

Adelaide can't take it. She doesn't want someone as sweet and innocent as Hailey to be sucked under his lies but there's only so much she can help her. She needs to leave him by herself.

Adelaide grabs her phone and sends one final text to Hailey.

A - I know it's hard to believe something when the person you love is promising that it's wrong but you have the images, and you know your limits. Even if he never went further than these images is that okay with you?

She hit send and start walking away before they get the message. She doesn't need to impose on their relationship any more than she already has.

Adelaide gets out of the building just in time for the skies to open up and drench the world in rain. She doesn't bother shielding herself instead taking a slow walk back to her dorm.

No one else is out, the only people awake are hidden away in the surrounding buildings looking out to the rain.

When she finally arrive back to her room, soaking wet, she grab everything needed for a shower and headed into the warm embrace of the water.

She closes her eyes letting the drops of water drip onto her face and soothes the coldness that had spread there during the walk.

Her mind opens up to all the things currently crowding around inside. The biggest being Taylor the girl who Adelaide pretty much sent to her death the other night.

Others might not see it that way, some might blame Taylor for her death or even Samuel for his rejection of her but standing in the bathroom under the shower head she can feel the dark shadow of Taylor standing behind her, weighing down on her.

Adelaide killed her. It's all her fault.

The water turns to ice pricking her skin as she finally opens her mind to the truth. She could have changed the outcome the other night. Taylor could still be alive.

The water pains her as it hits her all over but Adelaide can't move, she can't turn off the water just like she can't turn off her mind.

In the end, she finds herself at the bottom of the disgusting shower mind completely emptied of everything but Taylor.

She doesn't move until the echoes of someone walking into the shower have her breaking through the layer of ice around her.

She waits for one of the showers to start up before she shakes her mind and body clear of all things Taylor and turns off the shower. She wraps her towel around her and grabs her things making the quick run back to her room hoping no one will see her in her towel, her eyes probably bright red to match her crazy image.

She slams her dorm door and throws herself on her bed. Her shoulders shaking under the pressure of holding in her tears, she finally lets them fall on her pillow silently pulling her back into her mind.

The rest of the weekend was spent alone, wallowing in her thoughts and problems until she couldn't do anything but spend the whole weekend laying in bed slowly leaking from her eyes until their nothing left inside of her.

She surprises herself by finding the energy to get out of bed Monday morning for class. Almost laying right back down when she realizes not only will she have to face the whole Ice Hockey team again but also Paxton who has left Adelaide's phone silent all weekend.

She doesn't have time to dwell on it, instead, she gets up, gets dressed and heads out.

The school is much more bustling than it had been over the weekend.

Adelaide was the silent watcher as she walked towards her class. Watching the way Taylors' friends closed in on themselves, she had never even noticed them before, just a group of girls that hung to the Hockey team like fleas to a dog but now they made themselves stick out. They all wore black, their faces stained with makeup from crying and ... most noticeably all of them hanging off an arm of the Hockey team.

It was like something out of a movie. It made Adelaide sick to her stomach as she walked past them.

As she walked into the building it all seemed too fake, all the signs now hanging about suicide and all the people wiping non-existent tears from their eyes and faces. It was all too fake, all too much for her.

She swung into the lecture hall, happy to get away from it all until she came face-to-face with Captain Samuel. Now the drop in her stomach was to something much worse than some girls faking sadness for attention.

He sneered down at her from his place in the middle of the room, his followers surrounding him.

"Well, well, if it isn't a little miss perfect." His voice is cold and the smile spreading on his face has a cold ache entering Adelaide's brain. "I was surprised to see you at the party last Friday. You didn't seem the type to be into that kind of thing."

A burst of cruel laughter fills the room as the ones who know exactly what type of party it started making horrible, disgusting thoughts about her.

"Hope you didn't keep her all to yourself, Sam." One of the teammates shouts down at her thicker laughter echoing around the room.

Adelaide keeps her eyes solely on Samuel as she waits for him to speak someone comes through the door behind her.

Her body stiffens waiting for the onslaught from behind but not taking her eyes away from Sam.

Who nods at the person behind her.

"No. I was excited to see her there but someone else took her away before I could." His voice is condescending and the person behind Adelaide finally pushes into her vision.

Paxton gives her a wide berth as he walks around her.

She tries not to notice the way his eyes don't look towards her. Samuel's eyes however are solely on Paxton as he walks up the stairs and takes his spot beside the other players.

She takes that as her cue to rush to the back of the room and take her seat.

Her eyes are on the team as Samuel sits down in his seat.

"Where were you after the game, Hart?" His voice is cold and rude but Paxton doesn't let it bother him.

"I told you, family emergency. My mother called right after the game and I had to rush to meet her." He rolls his eyes and then a smile spreads on his face. "Of course, that woman thinks everything is an emergency and by the time I got there she was already over whatever had bothered her."

The others laugh with him but Adelaide can't help but notice the way Samuel doesn't relax or the way his eyes stay on Paxton as the class starts.

The boys are just as rowdy as normal making it hard for Adelaide to learn anything. Thankfully she's able to download the teacher's slides and works on them silently in the back of the hall.

She tries not to notice the way the team all talk about their Friday night activities, the girls they had hooked up with, the drugs they had slipped the girls.

She also hates the way she immediately notices Paxton leaning back in his chair for a moment and then as he's leaning forward to write something in his notebook her phone vibrates in her pocket.

P - Study Session tomorrow night? Your place.

Paxton. Her eyes find him still sitting there, writing notes on his laptop as the others around him continue chatting.

He's trying, something more than can be said about the rest.

A - How will you get in?

Adelaide forces herself not to watch him, instead, she looks at the others, unfortunately, this time noticing the way Samuel has turned back ever so slightly to look at her.

She has the urge to stick her tongue out or give him the rude finger. Instead, she gets another message and pulls out her phone ignoring him.

P - Leave your door unlocked and I'll get in. Around 6 pm good for you?

She sends him a thumbs up before placing her phone back in her bag and finishing the class. She doesn't need the distraction if she's going to help herself and him pass this class. 

AUTHOR NOTE

Thank you all so much for reading. I know its been a while since Skating on Thin Ice was last updated. A lot of changes and holidays kept me from working on it but I'm back and still so in love with the story so I should be able to get back onto a better writing schedule for you all. 

Thank you again for waiting for me. 

As always if you see any mistakes or issues in this or any of my books please comment so I can fix them. 

Thanks for reading, 

Laura