Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush or anything recognizable in this chapter or story.

Super Long Author's Notes: Congratulations! If you guys have made it this far, then you get a prize - AKA a super long A/N and the preface to a new story. I was originally planning on waiting a couple more weeks before posting this, but this story started nagging at me this afternoon, begging to be put up, so here it is - the preface. It's just a taste of the story, but hopefully the next chapter will be up later in the week :) Also, I don't know a lot about hockey, so I've been slowly learning as I go. If I get anything wrong, please feel free to correct me so that I can fix the mistake.

This story came into existence in January, during the week when it was freezing everywhere in the U.S. I don't live in a particularly cold climate, but it dropped down into the twenties and teens, and for the area I live in, that's pretty freaking cold. So of course, I really wanted to do a high school story set in winter in Minnesota. This story may seem a little bit like "Break the Ice", but I promise this story is extremely different. The main similarities in this is that there's hockey, they're in high school, James has a younger brother named Shane, and Kendall and Katie are twins. But that's where the similarities end. This is a battle-of-the-sexes type story, there's a lot more hockey involved, there's a ton of OCs in this (which I know a lot of people don't like, but unfortunately it was necessary to bring them in since I needed to fill up two different hockey teams) and it's one of those stories that would probably never happen in a million years, but hey, that's what makes it so much fun!

I want to mention that some of you might be a little...offended...by some of the stuff that goes on in here. Some of the stuff that happens, or some of the character's attitudes that you'll encounter in this story, may come off as sexist, and I'm sorry for that. But it's necessary to the story, and I'm not trying to prove a point or make a statement. I'm just simply writing a story that's been wanting to get out for awhile.

One last thing. This story is Jatieluv's very belated birthday present. I promised her a oneshot for her birthday back in early February, only I got stuck. She suggested I do a multi chapter story for her, and I had a little bit of this written, so I sent her what I had and, though she was a little skeptical at first, she decided she wanted it to be her birthday present. So I'm dedicating this to her because she's an amazing friend and she wrote me the cutest oneshot for my birthday. So if you guys have the time, go check her out. Happy birthday, Niki!

Also, I'm dedicating this to Dana2184 who read a little bit of this as well and liked it. She just posted a new story (well, two of them, but the second one hasn't come up, so I think FFN's being a brat again), so if you get the chance, check it out as well :)

I think that's about it :)

Enjoy the preface!

Preface

Katie's POV

I was nervous.

It wasn't something I particularly liked to admit, especially when we were about to face them. But the honest truth was that I was nervous, not to mention beyond anxious. My heart was beating so loudly I was pretty sure the boys could hear it in their locker room, all the way on the other side of the rink.

My palms were sweating like a pig – do pigs even sweat? Do they even have the right glands? – and my breath was coming out in short gasps. It wasn't exactly the best way to prep myself for a game, but I couldn't help it. So much rode on this. My reputation. The reputation of the girls' in the school. The possibility of kicking the boys' asses and reminding them that just because they were bigger and stronger didn't mean they were better than us.

This had all started because of a stupid argument and an even stupider bet, and it had completely blown up in everyone's face. And now I was about to go out there and face the boys in battle. I was going to have to face James, and I wasn't sure I could do that, not after last night. At least not on the rink. That wasn't the time or place to look him in the eye and say "we need to figure this thing out, because it's driving us both crazy", not when we were about to be locked in a fight to death.

Well, okay, not literally. But sometimes hockey felt like a fight to the death, especially when the boys were involved. And could you really blame me for this? I mean, seriously. Women had fought for thousands of years for equal rights, yet when it came to sports, to this town, to the high school hockey teams, girls came in second – always. Over the past few months I had dealt with sneers and whispers and snickers directed my way every time I walked down the school hall, but it had been worth it. Or, at least, it would be worth it if we beat the boys. But if we lost, even if it was by the barest minimum we would never be able to live it down.

Because it was one thing for boys to be beaten by girls. They could just say "we went easy on them" or "we let them win". But if girls lost to boys, they were immediately pushed to the side, ostracized, made fun of, treated like – well, like girls.

That didn't stop a million and one thoughts from flying through my mind, the most prominent of which was, I just turned seventeen last month! I'm too young to die! Eeeeep!

Yeah, I was a bad ass, all right. The eeeeep at the end really spoke for my toughness. But come on, let's face it. Most of the guys were at least 5'8 and muscular. Even Carlos Garcia, who was only 5'6, was all hard muscle and he was built solid. I was barely five feet and that was when I was feeling particularly tall. I was athletic, but I sure as hell didn't have a solid build.

I was so screwed.

I sighed as I finished lacing up my skates and reached for my helmet and visor, glancing around the girls' locker room as I did so. I could see Jo Taylor pacing up and down the aisle of lockers, her long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, giving her an almost angelic look.

Camille Roberts was sitting on one of the benches with her legs pulled up into the criss-cross-apple-sauce position, feet actually resting on her ankles a la yoga style. Stephanie King was listening to her iPod a few feet away from me, and I could hear the heavy thrum of an electric guitar and constant boom of a drum.

The other girls – Mandy, Brittany, Natalie, Kristen, Alexis, and Allison – were doing similar preparation routines. I could see Mandy, the tallest girl on the team, stretching to loosen up. Allison was playing a game on her phone and muttering "be the puck. I'm the puck. Be the puck." Natalie and Alexis were chatting about a couple of guys in one of their classes, but their voices were more high-pitched than normal, their laughter a little too shrill, and I knew they were just as anxious as I was. And Kristen and Brittany were plugged into their iPods like Stephanie, shoulders hunched, fingers laced, looking so tense I doubted even the best masseuse could have unwound them at that moment.

I sighed, reaching behind my head to tighten my ponytail before grabbing my water bottle, taking a long gulp and capping it again. I needed to get myself together. I was the captain of this team and it was my job to lead them to victory. I wasn't the oldest on the team and I probably wasn't even the most experienced hockey player in the locker room, but I was the one who had been voted in as team captain, the same way James had been for the boys' team. And that in itself didn't help any. We were both team captains, constantly facing off with each other, and yet I honestly thought something might actually go right with us? Was I fucking nuts?

"Almost ready?" I called to the girls as I slapped my helmet on my head and adjusted it, fastening the strap.

"Yeah," Jo answered, readying her own helmet. "Let's kick their asses."

I could tell by the determined set of her jaw that she was serious. She wasn't going to let feelings for my brother get in the way of winning, of putting the boys in their place.

"Hear, hear," Allison cheered, putting her phone away. "Let's do this thing."

Melanie Carter, our hockey coach, walked into the locker room to give us a last minute pep talk. It was obvious that she was every bit as antsy as we were, shuffling from foot to foot and tugging at an earring as she spoke about how it wasn't about winning or losing, but that it was how we played the game. "But for heaven's sake, please just beat them!" she finished off, deviating just a tiny bit from the usual end for her pep talks. But then again, this wasn't a normal game and we all knew it. "Oh, and one more thing," she added as we filed towards the door. "The entire town stopped by to watch. Even James' dad and brother made it down here."

Somehow that didn't surprise me.

I gestured the others forward and I yanked open the door. We filed through the hall and a moment later we burst out onto the ice to roaring applause and I felt my anxiety lift as I spotted my family and my best friend. They supported us. They wanted us to win. And I would be damned if we weren't going to walk away with the game.

But then the boys' appeared, skating furiously on the ice, and my breath caught slightly as I saw James. His visor wasn't down yet, and even from where I was standing across the rink I could see his hazel eyes, darker than normal. Our gazes locked and a wave of heat crashed over my body. My adrenaline pumped up, and I flashed back to the night before.

Without a second thought, I broke our eye lock and slammed my visor down, just as the whistle blew.

Time to kick some ass.

*Peeks out through fingers* So...what'd you guys think? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Enjoy it? Please review and let me know what you think so far! And thank you for taking the time to check out my new story :)