After school, I get a text message from Ethan explaining Benny and him have a hockey game tonight. He's a bit nervous about actually getting on the ice with Boltz, but thought it might be a good distraction for me from the whole Rory thing. I double check my schedule to make sure I'm not working tonight, and triple check the time the game ends with E. After playing hot potato with yes and no, I decide to go. I find out moments later that Analis is already there and saving a seat for me.
Joshua and I exchanged numbers during lunch, so I get a message from him as well asking if I'm going. When I tell him I am, he decides to come too, but not until he's gotten an hour or two in at the skate park. That part of him I wasn't wrong about. I ask him if he wants me to save a seat for him when I get there, but he says he'll find one on his own. I'm going to look at our meeting as what I should be looking at it as, a unique friendship.
"Carol! Over here!" Analis shouts, standing in the bleachers and waving me over. I gulp as I start climbing the stairs over to her. One of the main reasons why I don't go to sporting events is because you have to walk over these steep steps and seats just to sit. It's the one thing I hate doing and I have to do it several times depending on how many trips I have to take between the game.
"Shaquisha, my baby looks so good in his jersey!" Analis says when I finally sit down next to her. I smile at her and give a half laugh in response.
"They haven't had any ice time yet, but I'm sure it's coming." She says, still hopeful for them. I give her a look and we both crack up because there's no way either of them are getting in this game.
"Joshua's coming too. But he'll be here later after he's done skating." I announce, watching the scoreboards and familiarizing myself with our team colors. Analis looks at me skeptically and I know exactly what she's thinking.
"It's not like that, we're just friends and we've only met today!" I shout, half laughing at the concept.
"Besides, even if he does think I'm cute….I'm still Rory's girl. He knows that." I remind her, but realizing that within five minutes of my being here I've already said his name.
"He thinks you're cute?" She asks, her jaw somewhat unhinged in shock. I nod in response and scrunch my face as I look away from her and scratch my head.
"Shaquisha! He is bad news, you're going to get feelings whether you want them or not. You have to distance yourself." She warns, playfully hitting me on the arm in a scolding manner.
"I know! I know. Especially right now because Rory is nowhere to be found. But I promise, I am not letting it get there. We're just hanging out today because of the game. I doubt he even sits by me, he's got friends of his own." I say nonchalantly. Shaking my head as I think of the irrational thought, I look back over to the game.
Ethan is off the bench and talking to the coach, every time he says something the coach calls Boltz over to do a move. Our one to three score is slowly climbing with every play that's done by Boltz and Ethan's teamwork. I watch as Ethan gives one final call and Boltz passes the puck over to number eight, then body checks one of the defensive players into the net. The crowd cheers in response as we're now in the lead and I call out Ethan's name in a supportive cheer. Analis screams Benny's name as well, even though he hasn't done anything yet. He waves at us from the bench.
"You know, you're supposed to cheer on the players actually playing." I hear beside me in my ear. I look over and see no one, till I turn around and am almost face to face with Joshua.
"Bet you didn't even see me walk in. I know you didn't cause I waved and it went right over your head." He jokes, half laughing at me.
"I'm invested! Hush up!" I shout, pushing his leg in response and laughing at his teasing.
"Besides, it's called supporting your friends. In case you didn't notice, Ethan was the one calling all of those shots just now and we're in the lead because of them." I defend, still smiling at his smirking face. He laughs it off and I go back to watching the game, feeling Analis' eyes all over me.
The game is over and we're all on our way home. But I'm still stuck in the bleachers, glued to my phone because I'm getting updated from the group about what I've been missing. Apparently Erica is with Sarah and Rory, going to check out the old cemetery because they want to catch the grave robber in the act. To which they further explain that Sarah was being accused of stealing them all to drink their blood. Rory and Erica were both signed on to keep an eye on her this entire time, even though she had nothing to do with it. I sigh in response, not sure how to process all of this.
"Hey, the game's over. You coming?" I hear. Looking up, I see Joshua standing on the steps and waiting for me as Analis is already blowing Benny kisses through the glass.
"There an after party that I don't know about?" He asks, joking once again. I laugh, but shake my head in response.
"Nah, just my friends finally informing me about why they've been AWOL all day." I admit, closing up my messages and putting my phone in my pocket. He offers me a hand as I almost trip over my own feet walking down the steps. I smile and take it thankfully. His friends call him over and tease him for staying behind to help me, even tossing in a girlfriend taunt.
"We're gonna head back over to the skate park. You wanna join us? I promise it's not as boring as it sounds." He says, chuckling nervously and still holding my hand as we walk down the remainder of the steps.
"There's a place a block away that has killer curly fries we can hit up afterward." He offers, almost winning me over because of my love for curly fries.
"I'd honestly love to go. But I don't think my boyfriend would understand that us hanging out is just as friends. At least until he's met you, that is." I add in, looking him in the eyes and seeing that sharp green. I look down at our hands again and slowly let go, watching him take his and rub the back of his head with it.
"No, you're absolutely right. It was just an offer though, don't worry about it. I'll catch you on Monday?" He adds in, just before he nods his head at me and slowly walks off towards his friends. It's within that moment I feel like I just turned down a date and did not think that would happen.
Analis texts me that she's at Benny's place helping him look for information on a gem that's in Boltz's helmet. I already know what she's going to be doing, taking pictures on her phone of her in Benny's jersey. Much like how she's of no use to me when we're baking cookies. I honestly feel sorry for Benny more times than I'd like to admit.
I'm on my way home when halfway there I get a group chat message from Sarah. Apparently the stone in Boltz's helmet is called The Eye of Zartak. It's power is to bring to life dead limbs into whatever shape you put them in. Boltz, is made up of dead hockey players and is walking around like a normal human being. To make matters even worse, Sarah says the new coach is behind it and that he's already found the brain he wants inside his creation.
Ethan.
I run all the way back to school, tossing my phone in my bag haphazardly. Ethan stayed behind to give the coach some tips about the upcoming season games. The coach would use this time to get Ethan's brain out and there's no one there to help him. Why did no one see this coming?!
When I reach the school's hockey area, it's dimly lit. Only the lights for the ice rink are on and it's so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. I carefully walk across the ice and behind the glass towards the locker rooms and the coach's office. Inside I can hear Mr. Steiner talking to Ethan about how he created Boltz from all the greatest hockey players that ever lived in White Chapel. As I'm about to walk in to save Ethan from the lunatic we have for a hockey coach, I'm slapped in the back of the head with a hard and blunt object. My vision fades out before it blacks out completely.
I hear my name being called and try to lift my head up to see who it is. Waves of my vision come through like layers in a painting, blotches of color and misshapen figures, until finally an image sticks. Ethan is strapped into a tub, he looks horrible and miserable at the same time. With all of my strength, I nurse the back of my head with one hand and push myself up with the other.
"Carol, quick, before he comes back." Ethan pleads. I wobble over to him and try to shake off the throbbing in the back of my head. As I fight with the straps holding the wooden board onto Ethan and keeping him locked onto the tub, I hear him trying to help me by directing me. But my vision is still too blurry to fully focus on things.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A stowaway?" I hear behind me. When I turn, I see Mr. Steiner standing by the stairs that lead to the studio overlooking the ice rink.
"Where have you been hiding?" He asks, walking over to me slowly.
"Now just wait, please, just wait." I plead, trying to move and focus on him at the same time. My vision is getting better, but I'm nowhere near ready for walking at focusing.
"I know what you've been doing and authorities have been called. They should be here any minute." I lie, trying to buy some time until I'm capable of looking to the side without wanting to puke.
"Ethan!" I hear Sarah scream, he calls out to her and she flies into the room. I focus on her long enough to see Mr. Steiner put a helmet onto her head. It's attached to a bunch of wires hooked up to the roof and the minute it touches her head, she starts shaking in place. Within seconds, she's on the ground and I'm left alone again with Ethan and Mr. Steiner.
"There. Now where were we?" He asks, looking from Ethan to me and back again. My vision slowly returns, almost miraculously. There's a small tickle down the back of my neck as I walk over to him. He watches my every move until I'm face to face with him. As I keep eye contact with him, I knee him in the groin and then kick him over so he's a good foot away from E and I.
As I quickly untie the strap around Ethan's right arm, I begin to see why he looked so miserable looking. He's been sitting in a tub full of ice and is chilled completely to the bone. My timing is better off this time, but I still feel slower than I should be. E's about to say something when I hear groaning behind me and some sort of buzzing. Turning around, I see Sarah holding the helmet onto the coach's head as he collapses to the ground.
"Sorry coach, looks like you won't be making the cut." Sarah says, watching him lie on the ground. She quickly runs over to Ethan's other side and takes off the other strap.
"Are you okay?" She asks, her tone soft and caring. We both laugh when we hear Ethan say he's had enough ice time to last him forever.
Later that night, Sarah brings the remains that were stolen to the vampire council for inspection. With the guy who did all the grave robbing there to help defend her point, they were forced to take her word. Which meant that Erica and Rory were free of babysitting her. Not that it meant Rory would be running to come hang out with me, he hasn't this past week, why should he now? I lie in bed with a slight headache and a bandage on the crown of my head.
When Boltz hit me, it left a nasty cut on the back of my head. Thankfully my hair can cover up the bandage and when my hair is being stupid, a hat guarantees coverage. But it's getting harder to hide all this from my parents. They weren't happy when I came home late tonight, but I got off the hook when I called Ethan to have him confirm we were at his house celebrating as an after party. Thanks for the idea, Joshua.
I'm about to fall asleep when there's a tap at my window. Looking over, I see Rory floating outside my window with a white face and black designs across his cheeks. He looks like Kiss threw up all over him and then tried to fix it with makeup. I slowly get up and walk over to open the window. There's a silence as we look at each other for the first time in almost a week.
"Aren't you going to invite me in?" He asks, looking to me almost apologetically. I step back and watch him climb in with ease. There's so much I want to say, so many things I want to do, but they're all silenced right now.
"I'm sorry. My mom and dad had me on lockdown after I tried boogie boarding indoors. I couldn't use my phone or go online and when I saw you at school, it just felt so weird. Trying to talk to you was so awkward, I was waiting for the conversation where you told me that you were breaking up with me. So I froze you out to prevent it from happening." He admits, biting the inside of his cheek.
"It's only awkward if you make it awkward. I wanted to talk to you so many times this week, do you know how lonely I felt? It felt like you were moving on without telling me that it was over and that's what made it so hard, Rory. Not knowing what we were, if there still was an us." I vent, letting him have all the emotions I'd been bottling up.
"I know. E already called me a durf nerder and Benny hit me on the head to prove it. Not to mention the countless death threats Analis was spewing at me. She's really scary. How are you friends with her?" He asks, making that face I always see when he's nervous or scared. I smile at him, missing this side of him. No, missing him.
He brings me to my bed and I use his chest as my pillow, while he holds me with both hands. I hear him comment on how my bandages were leaking, making me smile. I ask him why he's dressed this way and he explains he heard I was hanging out with an emo kid and thought I was into that now. I laugh as I explain to him that's not what this makeup means and help him wipe it off. He then helps me change my bandages and for the first time I fall asleep with him still here with me.