Crossing the line with the Rival Hockey Captain

Abby's POV “GO FALCONS!” I lift my arms into the air in sync with the cheers, screaming at the top of my lungs along with the rest of the cheer squad. My pom-poms are raised high but I pretend my heart isn’t doing backflips.. After our performance, we move to take our front-row seats as the most anticipated hockey game of the season begins. The crowd roars as two teams, the Falcons and the Ice Hawks, emerge from the waiting room, lined up and ready for action. As their feet touch the ice I can feel tension in the air. This is the final championship game of the season, and only one team will win the trophy. Our team must win, so that we can finally put the Ice Hawks in their place. I see my brother and captain of the Northridge Falcons, Caleb, stand up to exchange formalities with the captain of the other team, who just happens to be the hockey prodigy, Jaxon Lockwood. He says something to Caleb with a smirk on his lips, and my brother’s shoulders rise as though he's getting ready to lunge. His grip tightens on his hockey stick, and he looks like he's about to swing at Jaxon. Luckily, Caleb doesn't give in to it and steps away, but Jaxon's smirk doesn't drop. His eyes flicker to where we're seated, and lands directly on me for the whole of two seconds before he looks away. Even though I'm sure I was the only one who noticed that, the other girls on the team burst into whispers, oohing and ahhing with admiration as usual as they argue which captain is hotter. “Okay, but did you see that?” Kayla, our cheer captain says. “See what?” Bri asks. “The tension. And also,” Kayla lowers her voice dramatically, “why are they both so hot?” “Caleb’s arms are ridiculous,” someone says. I roll my eyes. It's annoying that she'd say such things where I can hear, but hey, I've heard worse. I'll never understand it when girls say or do crazy things because of a guy. It's lame. “Jaxon’s hotter,” another girl says, twirling her hair like she's imagining herself with him. “First time I actually agree with you,” says Kayla, reapplying her lip gloss. “Caleb’s got a soft edge to him, but Jaxon . . .” she closes her eyes and demonstrates squeezing her thighs together, “yeah, just yeah.” The other girls laugh in agreement. She turns and catches me looking at her, but I quickly look away before the laughter in her eyes fade to disdain. Everything is off to a great start. The opposition team, the Everglade Icehawks, have skilled players, but we Falcons have always been known for resilience. I spot Caleb zig-zagging around on the ice, confident as he passes the puck to a teammate who heads for the goal and is able to shoot into the Icehawks’ post before he can be intercepted. We all rise to cheer as the scoreboard shifts on our end to record our point. “Go Caleb!” I shout, even if he didn't make the shot he was still instrumental to it. He turns during the celebration in my direction. I can't see his eyes through his helmet, but I know that he's looking at me. He gives me a thumbs-up and goes back into position as the game continues. The game gets more and more intense as time, with each team racking up points until somehow a tie forms. Everyone starts to get nervous. At first we had been in the lead, but now, anything can happen. Caleb and the coach, our dad, have worked so hard to get this far, losing to the Icehawks would be so painful. At one point, my brother comes face-to-face with Jaxon again. For some reason the other players give them space, as though waiting for something explosive to happen. The puck sits between them, waiting for the first person to make a move. The air fills with tension. We have less than five minutes to secure a win, but I can't deny that Jaxon is a threat to our success. I've heard too much about how legendary Jaxon is, even though he’s from a different town. The Icehawks have been undefeated for seasons because of his talent. He is the secret sauce, and everyone knows it. But then, something odd happens. The game is brought to a pause when the Ice Hawks coach calls for Jaxon from the edge of the rink. The man's face is a mix of sadness and disappointment. Jaxon stalls for a moment, as though reluctant, before leaving the rink. He and his coach talk briefly. Jaxon nods once, then he skates off the ice. As he skates past, I catch a close-up of his side profile underneath his helmet. I've seen pictures of him online—who hasn't—but today, it's different. He turns, and for a split second, our eyes meet. My heart rate speeds up, and all sounds fade away. The moment ends, but not before that single moment steals a spot in my mind. “So hot,” Kayla purrs , pulling me out of my thoughts. I shake my head and swallow. What was that? After a few more minutes, the game continues when another player replaces Jaxon, who doesn't return. — We won the championship, but I can't stop thinking about Jaxon for some reason. I should be happy that the Falcons won, but I can't help but think that Jaxon's strange disappearance from the match somehow led to our victory. Even after the game Caleb was in an odd mood and didn't take us out to get our special winning milkshakes from J&J’s like we always did after the Falcons won a game. So what could have happened? Weeks after, while I walk down the school hallways I catch whispers of a name that gets my attention. “Did you hear? Jaxon’s leaving Everglade High,” a guy tells his friend as they walk past me. “Yeah, is it true? Heard he got into some messed up s**t . . .” I strain to hear the rest, but they are already too far away. It doesn't make any sense to me though, why leave a place where he's treated like a king? Why jump ship? My mind keeps going back to that day, and the look on that coach's face. At closing time, Dawn, my best friend, meets me at the lockers. From the drumsticks poking out of her bag I can tell she just finished band practice. “Abs, did you hear about Jaxon?” I nod. “Yeah but it's probably just rumors. Someone like that would rather sell his soul than come to our territory. Think about it.” “I don't know…it might be true—” “Come on Dawn, you know better than to believe silly rumours. Jaxon? Here? Pfft.” Before she can say something else, Caleb appears, ending the conversation. “What's up?” I ask, eyeing his serious face. Beside me, Dawn’s face is quickly turning red as she stares blatantly at Caleb, I give her a discreet elbow jab and she wakes up. “Dad wants us home early today. Says he has very important news to share with us.” I pick up my things and follow him outside to where his car is parked. “He's been acting weird all week, though. Think it's serious?” I ask as we get into the car. The engine revs up as Caleb stabs the key into the ignition. He shrugs, but I can tell he’s not happy about it. “I honestly don't know. He doesn't even seem to really care that we won the championship.” We zoom home in silence. On getting home, I can't help but feel like something big is about to happen. I shake it off and walk through the front door, Caleb following closely behind. I already see my dad seated on the dining table. “Hey Dad, you won't believe the strange rumours we're hearing about that Jaxon—” The words freeze in my throat. “What the hell?” Caleb's question from behind vocalises my inner thoughts. “Dad, what the f**k is he doing here?” Seated across from my dad on the dining table, is the one person I would never have thought so see inside my home in a million years. Jaxon Lockwood.