The Captain Watches
1187 Words
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JACE
I was heading to the ice when the gym door caught my eye.
I slowed.
There was no music. Or dancing feet. There's no chatter bleeding through the walls the way it always did when the squad was still inside. The gym was quiet enough that I almost kept walking.
Almost not until I pushed the door open with one shoulder, hockey gear balanced over the other, and looked in just to be sure no one was in.
It's empty.
Or it looked empty. The lights were still on and the formation markers were still down on the floor. I figured they'd wrapped early and gone back to class. I turned to leave.
Then I heard movement somewhere near the back of the cheer floor.
I stepped inside quietly.
And stopped.
Violetta was in the centre of the floor, spinning through a routine under the gym lights.
Her hair had come loose and it whipped hard in a wide arc every time she turned, catching the light. Her lips were pressed tight together. Her eyes were shut.
She was breathing hard, going through the same rotation again and again, and her face was the calmest I'd seen it since she arrived in this house.
I stood there longer than I should have.
She looked completely different when nobody was watching her. All the defensiveness was gone, the tight-shouldered wariness she carried through school halls and dinner tables and corridors were gone. Just her and the movement and the music she was clearly hearing in her head because there was no music playing.
I realized I was gripping the hockey gear too tight.
Fuck, practice!
I looked at her one last time, turned, and left before she could open her eyes.
I changed into my gear and hit the ice.
Renner had clearly woken up angry at the world.
"Sprint drills, line up, now!" He didn't wait for anyone to finish lacing up.
The team scrambled into position on the straight line. The whistle blew and we went full sprint, no pacing, trying to outrun each other on pure legs. My lungs registered the objection immediately. We ran it four times before Renner moved us to resistance work, pulling hard against bands while he walked the line correcting form with the specific energy of a man who found every mistake personally offensive. Then full-contact rotations. Then he split us into offensive and defensive groups and put us against each other.
I missed things I never miss.
The puck came to me on a clean pass and I reacted late, hitting it into the defensive post instead of through it. Alex made a sound beside me that wasn't a word but communicated everything.
"Jace, left side!" Ken's voice from across the ice.
I went right.
Alex groaned loud enough that Renner looked up from his clipboard.
James from defensive stripped the puck off me on the third rotation and drove it clean into our post. I stood there and stared at the ice for a second and then threw my stick down with a c***k that echoed off the rink walls.
Renner's whistle cut through the air. "Pick it up, Calloway. We're not dramatic here."
I picked it up.
Alex skated to my side as we reset. He kept his voice low. "Are you going to tell us which girl ruined your central nervous system or should we guess?"
I shoved him lightly. "Shut up."
Alex's face lit up. "Oh my God. There is a girl."
I skated away from him.
It didn't help. The teasing got worse from there because I kept zoning out and every time I zoned out my brain went directly back to the gym.
All I could see in my mind was Violetta spinning under the lights, hair whipping in that wide arc, face calm and soft in a way it never was when people were looking at her. And before that... her getting flustered in the hallway this morning, the hand on her chest, the *what the f**k* she'd said quietly to herself thinking I couldn't hear.
It was becoming a problem because I can't seem to get her out of my head. And worse it's not the attraction of wanting to make out with her. It's just pure attraction like she's different. Of course she's completely different. .
I didn't know what to do with that.
During water break. Alex dropped onto the bench beside me.
He nudged my arm. "It's the human girl, isn't it?"
I coughed and water went everywhere. "No... what the fuck... Alex."
I note that's too fast and over reacting. s**t! Alex wouldn't believe him. As if to prove his point, he said the words he knew would roll out of his mouth.
Alex grinned like he'd just won money. "That was the quickest lie I've ever heard."
I ignored him and stared at the ice.
Internally I was irritated. Not at Alex. At myself, because I didn't understand why I kept paying attention to her. She was awkward. So defensive. Annoying sometimes. And yet somehow every room felt different when she was inside it.
Renner's whistle cracked across the rink. "Line reset, let's go!"
I went harder after that. I tried to physically beat the thoughts out of myself on the ice.
It did not work.
Practice ended and I headed down toward the car park.
I heard Sienna's voice before I saw her.
It was coming from the side corridor near the gym exit, her tone was sweet but her words were sharp. I slowed automatically and caught the words.
"Do you really think one good practice changes anything?"
Silence.
I rounded the corner quietly.
Sienna was standing near the lockers with two of the squad girls flanking her. Violetta stood facing them, her bag gripped tight in both hands, chin up.
Sienna took a step forward. "You don't belong here, Violetta. You're forcing people to tolerate you because Jace feels sorry for you."
My jaw tightened.
Violetta's face moved for just a second... something flickered behind her eyes, something that looked like it hurt and then it was gone.
She grinned so wide and slowly whilst her expression was clearly screaming ''completely unbothered.'
"Ohhh, are we talking about Jace now?" She tilted her head. "I thought we were onto just me alone."
She took one step forward and pointed directly at Sienna. "You know what, stop taking painkillers for other people's headaches." She clicked her tongue. "In case you don't get the message... I meant let Jace complain about tolerating me himself. Not you." She smiled. "Have a good day, Sienna."
Ohhhh, she's such a b***h!
She turned to leave.
And stopped dead when she saw me.
I let the grin come. I couldn't help it. It broke across my face before I could manage it, wide and full and genuinely proud.
I waved her over. "Come on, hurry up."
Then I looked past her at Sienna, whose express
ion had gone completely flat.
"Wonderful night, Sienna," I said pleasantly.
And I turned and walked, Violetta falling into step beside me.
- Writer
