Author's Note:
So here is Chapter One! We get a taste of the setting, as our favorite four boys plan on heading to the nearby pond for some much-awaited ice-skating and hockey playing after a long day at school.
Please excuse my horrible lack of knowledge of hockey in here; I looked up the main hockey team for Minnesota and it turned out to be the Wilds, so I chose to use that team as the boys' favorite hockey team. There is a reference to one of the team players in one of the lines as well.
I hope that you enjoy!
No Means NO!
Chapter 1
It was on a seemingly innocent, normal chilly winter morning in Minnesota when all the trouble initially began. Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan had decided to meet up at the local park pond after school was over, so that they could practice their hockey skills on the ice and have a general all-around good time with each other.
It was supposed to be a harmless, fun-filled time of hanging out with one another, but it turned into much more than that…
"So what do you think of the Wilds' game last night?" Kendall asked, turning to look at his friends as they walked down the sidewalk, heading towards Fowler's Pond, where they planned on playing ice hockey that afternoon.
"It was wicked!" Carlos exclaimed, not bothering to hide the enthusiasm in his voice. "Did you see that last goal that they made? That was crazy, man!"
"The one where Hendrickson totally saved the game when he sprinted past the defenders, and then shot the puck straight past the goalie?" James added, chiming in to the discussion.
"Yeah, that one! That was absolutely rad; I don't think even Logan could sprint that fast on ice!"
"Hey, what'd you just say about me?" Logan asked, eyebrows raised, arms crossed in mock hurt as he glared at Carlos with a fake frown on his face.
"Nothing!" Carlos squeaked, darting behind Logan and towards James for shelter. "Nothing at all!"
"Oh realllly," Logan asked, dubiously. "I thought I heard you mention something about me not being as fast on ice as certain hockey players, am I correct or am I correct?" He huffed, scowling at Carlos as best as he could.
Carlos yelped and dodged behind James, seeking shelter from the daggers shooting out from Logan's eyes.
"Whoops," James said, amused, elbowing Carlos in the ribs. "Looks like you've offended Logiebear with your claim, Carlos. You'd better do something about that, if you want to keep getting good grades in your biology class!"
Logan hmphed in response and turned to James.
"Thank you, James. At least some people can recognize my skill around here…"
But James wasn't finished yet. Just as Carlos was about to protest, James leaned next to Carlos' head, and added,
"But that's not to say that I don't agree with you, ya know." He grinned, smirkingly. Then he and Carlos broke out into a series of muffled giggles.
"Hey!" Logan yelled, indignantly.
"You take that back! Right now! I am fast, and you know it! Ken-doll, why don't you help me out here?" He said, turning to his taller friend, giving him the best hurt puppy expression that he could.
"Nope," Kendall laughed, lightly. "You're on your own here, Logie. I'm not intervening in this conversation."
"But you started it!"
"That doesn't mean that I have to finish it! Besides, we're almost at the pond! Now who's ready for a good ol' game of ice hockey?"
"Ooh, ooh, me! I am!" Carlos yelled, raising his hand, excitedly. He loved playing hockey. They all did.
"Definitely. I can't wait to get on the ice and start practicing my moves!" James interjected. "I've got a really good move I want to try that is bound to impress the ladies when they see it!"
Logan rolled his eyes, while Kendall smiled in mirth.
"You do that, James. But as soon as I get on the ice, I'm gonna go for the goal, so you'd better watch out! I'm only warning you once!"
"Okay. You all can do whatever you want to do once you're on the ice, but no one's going to do anything until I check the ice and find it safe for skating on first," Logan spoke, seriously, trying to gain his friends' attention, and remind them of the dangers of the ice.
In times past, before the guys even put one foot on the ice, they would put on their hockey skates and any necessary gear. And Logan would insist that he checked the ice all around on the pond before they actually played on the ice, skating around and falling onto the ice with their full body weight, plus the added weight of the skates and hockey gear.
Which, generally, took a few minutes for him to do.
But on this day, the guys felt that they didn't really need to check the ice, seeing as how it had always been able to sustain all of their weight before, and that Logan had checked it every single time in a row for the last few days, and weeks in turn, in a row.
"Oh come on, Logie, don't be such a spoilsport!" James whined. "We skated on the pond just yesterday!"
"Yeah, it's not like the ice has thawed or anything!" Carlos added.
"But guys, I'm serious!" Logan interjected. "I'm not joking, who knows what could've happened to the pond since yesterday? It's always possible that the ice did melt. I just want to double-check and make sure first, before we go waltzing on and playing on it."
"Lighten up, Logan! There's no need for concern! James and Carlos are right! I'm sure that the ice will be fine. Besides, you checked the ice yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and it was fine! What difference will it make if you don't check it today?!" Kendall frowned, as he asked Logan.
"It could mean a matter of life and death, you guys, if I don't check the solidity of the ice first!" Logan cried out, irritated that his friends weren't treating the subject seriously or thinking things through like he did.
James scoffed, Kendall rolled his eyes, and Carlos scratched the back of his helmet in confusion.
By now they had reached the pond, and Logan placed himself defensively in between his friends and the water's edge. James tried to push past him, but Logan wouldn't budge.
"I'm serious! One of you guys could fall in and get hypothermia! You could die from it, if you stay in the water for too long! And I don't want that to happen to any of you!" Logan insisted, firmly.
"Alright, alright, we get it already, Logan!" Kendall sighed. "You're just concerned over nothing. But we'll let it slide. Come on guys, let's forget about all of this, and put on our skates. We've got a hockey game to play."
With that, Kendall moved past Logan and walked to the nearest bench, setting his bag of gear down and proceeded to put on his skates. James and Carlos followed, James muttering something near the words "ridiculous" and "not necessary" underneath his breath.
Logan sighed in relief, glad that he had won the battle, in a sense. Then he sat down and started to unlace his tennis shoes and put on his skates. If it meant that his friends were annoyed or upset with him later, but alive, he would much rather gladly deal with that than if they hadn't listened to him and had risked their safety, or if they'd fallen into the frozen waters.
While Logan was occupied with putting on his skates, Kendall shared a look with Carlos and James, who both returned his gaze, questioningly.
"So are we really going to wait for him to check the ice first, or can we skip that part and just go on now?" James asked, impatiently.
"Logan wants us to wait for him first," Kendall started, "but I don't see any reason to wait for him. I think that he's just being overly paranoid right now."
"So does that mean we can go on the ice already?" Carlos asked, eagerly. He, too, was feeling just as impatient as James and Kendall were.
"Sure. You got your skates on already?" Kendall checked with both his friends.
"Yep!" Carlos grinned, raising his feet from off the ground to show Kendall that both skates were attached to them already.
"I'm good to go," James replied.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kendall asked, smiling. "Let's go!"
"Last one on the ice is a sour corndog!" Carlos yelled, chuckling as he got up and ran towards the pond's edge.
"Oh you're so on!" James yelled back, standing up and chasing after the Latino boy.
"I'm right behind you!" Kendall shouted, getting up and running past James.
All three of them chose to ignore Logan's cries of protests from where he was standing on solid ground. That was the first potentially fatal mistake that they made.
I guess that you could say that they were impatient; that they were tired of waiting for Logan to check the ice each time round, and that they were eager to get started immediately in their mock hockey game. But whatever the reason was, they chose not to listen to Logan's warnings and protests, and immediately after they had all put their skates on, James, Kendall, and Carlos took off running onto the ice, not knowing what lay ahead of them
They expected the ice to be safe, and as hard as it was usually.
But it wasn't.
The temperature had risen slightly, just a few degrees higher than it had been the day before or the day before that, which caused some of the thicker layers of ice below the pond surface to melt away… leaving the ice thinner than it had been the day before, when Logan had checked it last.
And it was due to this slight change in temperature and thinner layer of ice that the ice beneath the feet of Kendall, James, and Carlos snapped, plunging them into the frigid icy cold water of the pond as Logan watched on, helpless to do anything.
Ahhh! It's a cliffhanger! What will happen to the boys? What will Logan do? Is there any way that they can be saved?! I guess we'll just have to wait and see until the next chapter! Until then!
Please feel free to leave a review! I love reading them, and will be happy to respond to any comments or questions you may choose to leave!
~Optimisticat
