RYKER'S POV
The fluorescent lights of the ice arena hummed with a harsh, unforgiving glare. Outside, the sky was pitch-black, swallowed whole by the quiet chill of early morning. Inside, the temperature was frigid, making every breath visible as thick, white clouds of vapor. It was the first Monday of the semester, and the absolute brutal reality of the new schedule had officially hit.
THRRRRRWWWW!
The sharp, shrill pierce of Coach's metal whistle echoed off the empty bleachers, cutting through the heavy silence like a knife.
"Five laps! Full speed!" Coach shouted, standing near the blue line in a heavy winter parka, a stopwatch already ticking in his hand. "No excuses! You want to be national champions, you start working like them before the sun comes up!"
A collective, miserable gro
