Page 13 of Fake Skating

“I can’t believe you fell asleep again,” Kyle said.

“I can’t believe Sykes let me,” I replied, relieved as we left the classroom.

Because I’d needed that nap so badly.

Last night, after the game, my throbbing shoulder kept me up until my alarm went off, I swear to God. I was fucking exhausted, and that nap during speech had done wonders.

The only shock was that I’d been able to fall asleep at all after getting punched in the gut with Dani’s presence. Somehow, even though I knew she went to my school now, I hadn’t considered the reality that she might actually end up in one of my classes.

When she walked into public speaking, I could barely breathe.

How the hell was this happening? I didn’t want her to be in Southview at all, but definitely not in my life, in my fucking speech class.

It was unbelievable.

Her cheeks had been bright red, and her eyes were down when she walked to her desk, and if I didn’t know her, I would’ve thought she was super shy.

But Dani Collins wasn’t shy. At all.

I wasn’t sure if it was an act or if she was unhappy to see me, but it didn’t matter.

She was just another girl at my school, and I would ignore her like I did any other girl I wasn’t friends with. I loaded a little Connor Kauffman into my playlist and moved the hell on.

Only for some reason, when I saw her through the library window at lunch, I couldn’t do it. She was sitting all by herself at a table, and dammit—I couldn’t ignore her.

“Hey, I’m going to go in the library for a sec,” I said to Kyle, my eyes on blond hair and glasses. “I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”

“I’ll go with you,” he said with a smirk. “I see what you’re doing.”

“It’s not what you think,” I said as he gestured with his head toward Dani. “I just need to grab a book.”

“Sure, me too,” he said, walking beside me as I pulled open the library door and went inside.

For a half second, I was able to look at her without her seeing me. Her eyes were on the book in her hands, so I took a moment to really take in my old friend.

Holy shit.

I might not give a damn about her now, but the kid who’d spent his entire childhood following her around like a puppy needed a minute to catalog this updated version of her.

The curly hair that used to stick out all over now fell in long waves around her face, like she’d figured out how to relax the wildness. Which could maybe be said for her personality, I supposed, since I’d yet to see the wild-ass grin that used to be her default expression.

She looked good in the black turtleneck sweater she was wearing. It was plain, nothing remarkable about it at all, but it was like it fucking showcased her soft skin and the—

“Dude,” Kyle said, grinning at me like he just caught me staring at the new girl.

Because he had.

“Kiss my ass,” I said, walking over to her table.

“Hey, Collins,” I said, dropping down into the chair across from her even though I had no idea what I was doing there or what my plan was. She was like a magnet pulling me toward her.

I hated it.

She raised her eyes from her book, and for the splittest of seconds it looked like she might smile.

The moment held like a pause, long-lashed brown eyes I’d known so well watching me from behind black glasses, and I felt almost homesick for the person I used to know.

But then her eyes went to Kyle, and back to me, and then she blinked fast before quietly saying, “Hey, Alec.”

“So how come you’re hiding in the library at lunch?” I asked, telling myself to get it together and knock off the homesick bullshit.

“I’m not very hungry and I wanted to read,” she said with a shrug.

Then she lowered her eyes back to her book, brushing me off.

Like she was finished with me.

Like she’d been finished with me back in the day.

And just like that, I wanted to get under her skin.

To mess with this unfamiliar quiet composure that I found to be irrationally irritating.

“Have you met Kyle yet?” I asked. “This is Kyle. Kyle, this is my old buddy Dani. Say hi , Dani.”

She raised her eyes again, and annoyance was all over her face. “Hi,” she said to Kyle.

“Hey,” Kyle replied, smiling but looking confused.

Which made sense because the vibe between Dani and me was awkward as shit.

“So how do you like Southview so far?” I asked, setting my chin on my fist like I was dying to hear her answer.

“It’s fine,” she said, a crinkle forming in between her eyebrows as her eyes dropped down to my mouth, cataloging what I was sure appeared to be an asshole grin.

Good.

“What’s this about?” I asked for no good reason, reaching out to flick the front cover of her book. “ The Blind Assassin isn’t actually about a visually impaired killer, is it?”

“No.” She cleared her throat and closed the book, her eyes narrowing a little. “Is there something I can help you with? I’m trying to get some reading done before my next class, but I can totally move to a different table if you guys want to chat.”

“But we want to chat with you , Dan,” I said, unable to stop myself from being a tool.

“I don’t think you do, though, Al ,” she snapped, but quickly covered it with a fake smile, seeming like the old Dani for a second. “It feels a little bit like you just want to interrupt me.”

“You look fun to interrupt,” I said, wondering as I looked at her frosted pink fingernails if she still insisted that her toes always match. “What can I say?”

“You could say nothing ,” she replied, so quiet I almost couldn’t hear it.

“Jesus, you guys are old friends,” Kyle said with a laugh. “You sound like siblings.”

“There you are!”

All three of us turned as Cassie breezed through the library doors and ran over to the table. “I was looking for you everywhere, Dani, because I thought maybe you’d want to sit with me and my friends at lunch.”

She was friends with Cassie already? Shit. The last thing I needed was Dani showing up everywhere I went with my friends.

“Actually, I think I’m just going to read through lunch, because this is a really good book,” she said, her cheeks getting red as we all looked at her. “But thank you.”

“Sure,” Cassie said, looking at me and adding, “I see you ran into your old buddy.”

Dani looked embarrassed, glancing my way as she said, “Oh, um—”

“You already told her about us, eh?” I couldn’t help myself. “Your Zeus connection?”

That made her nose wrinkle like she smelled something bad. “It definitely wasn’t like that.”

“Yeah, she didn’t even know you at first,” Cassie said, then grabbed a chair and pulled it so she was sitting beside Dani. “By the way, I was thinking about your Harvard problem.”

“Ooh, what’s your Harvard problem?” I asked, grabbing Dani’s book and picking it up.

Dani shot me a butt out look. “It’s nothing—”

“Dani’s been deferred by Harvard, the only school she’s ever wanted to go to,” Cassie explained. “So she needs to get in a couple of extracurriculars here at Southview so she can lock it down, but it’s too late to join most of the clubs.”

The only school she’s ever wanted to go to.

I cleared my throat, forcing away the memory of how for the entire summer after fifth grade, Dani wore a bright red Harvard T-shirt almost every day.

I started to open the book I’d snagged, but Dani snatched it out of my hand.

“Hrznski didn’t even help, she just told her to play a spring sport, which is ridiculous, right?” Cassie made a face and said, “Like someone can just start a new sport their senior year.”

It pissed me off as I listened to Cassie talk about poor Dani, because I had zero choices regarding my education. It didn’t matter where I wanted to go to college, because unless something changed, it wasn’t the plan for next year. It was just assumed I’d play juniors or train over in Michigan.

And yes , it was a dream come true that I had these insane hockey opportunities, but no one had ever even asked what I wanted.

If I was being honest, I wanted to go to college next year like everyone else, so fucking badly.

I wanted to study history, to get lost in old libraries and sleep in university dorms, but I felt like shit even thinking that, because how many guys would kill to be in my shoes?

Still, Dani complaining because she might not get to attend the Ivy League school of her dreams didn’t exactly have me bleeding sympathy.

“Regretting the unathleticism, Collins?” I asked. “Maybe you should’ve practiced skating instead of reading all the time.”

“And risk ending up an egomaniac with a stupid nickname? I’d rather go to community college, but thank you.”

Holy shitballs, there she is—the girl who used to play with me every summer.

“Whoa,” Kyle said, laughing. “Did the new girl just destroy you?”

“I think she tried,” I said, torn between irritation and wanting to smile.

“I think she succeeded,” Cassie said around a laugh.

“I’m telling your mom,” I said, dropping her book on the table in front of her.

“Snitch,” she said with a tiny smirk, and then I watched as she realized what she’d just said.

Oh, the fast blink of regret.

We’d used “snitches get stitches” for an entire summer because it’d been hilarious in the way that middle school jokes were hilarious when on repeat.

It was interesting that the words had naturally fallen out of her mouth.

She might’ve left me behind, but she hadn’t forgotten.