Page 9 of Finding Her

bear

“Please, Coach.”

“No.”

“But I?—”

“No.” He crossed his arms with a firm expression. “Now get back on the ice.”

I sighed but pushed away from the boards.

I knew trying to ask him about gym class stuff during hockey practice probably wouldn’t go over well, but what else was I supposed to do?

The guy was avoiding me. Every time I tried to go by his office, he was conveniently gone or on his way out the door.

The one time I did manage to catch him, he hadn’t let me get a word in as he yelled at me for almost breaking a girl’s nose on the first day of classes and how he’d had to defend me to Mrs. Dixon when she suggested that maybe I shouldn’t be in a class of “young, fragile girls.” I’d wanted to tell him those girls weren’t nearly as fragile as she thought they were but I wasn’t sure if that would actually help me, so instead I’d suggested that maybe he should just listen to her and pull me out of the class. He hadn’t been amused.

Tino appeared at my side as I continued skating the rink. “You know, I think this is a little pathetic of you.”

I didn’t even glance at him. “Oh yeah?”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. Of course, it was pathetic that I was in the freshman girls’ class. That wasn’t what I needed to be hearing from my best friend, though.

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, begging Coach in front of everyone—are you kidding?”

Oh, he was talking about that. Okay, I could admit that was also a little pathetic.

But what other choice did I have? It was obvious Coach wasn’t budging on anything, though.

So I was going to have to keep working on my alternative ways of getting out of the class.

I’d looked through the rule book three times over now.

Still nothing. I’d even asked Crossy to glance through it because his dad was a lawyer and had taught him how to read contracts well, so he might spot some detail I missed. But no such luck.

When that didn’t work, I’d tried looking at other gym classes I could switch into.

I figured being with the freshmen wouldn’t be so bad if it was a boys’ class.

But the problem became obvious to me pretty quickly—every other gym class that was running, and there were several, was at the same time as another mandatory class I needed.

And since I was in my senior year, if I didn’t take classes now, then I’d be completely screwed over and I’d have to either take them in the summer or, even worse, repeat the year again.

“Maybe extra credit can replace it,” I mused. “Like Coach could run a special after-school program for me and whoever needs another class credit.”

Tino snorted. “You’d be worse off there than with the girls.”

“You haven’t met them,” I mumbled. “They’re vicious.”

But he wasn’t entirely wrong, either. Coach already seemed unimpressed with me needing to take gym again anyway, I’d be even worse off if I somehow managed to wrangle him into giving up his free time to coach a gym class. He’d probably kill all of us.

But then I thought of Poppy and her stupid bright, smiling face. It had only been four days, but I was already struggling with getting out of bed every morning and facing that. How was I going to continue on like this for five months?

“You know what you need to do? Just learn to embrace it.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Embrace it? Great plan, thanks.”

“You always look for the worst in things,” he said. “I mean, this doesn’t have to be as bad as you’re making it out to be. There are worse fates than being surrounded by your adoring fans for an hour every day.”

I snorted at adoring fans. I guess he wasn’t entirely wrong, since for some reason, the girls at this school seemed to think being a hockey player was equivalent to being a god.

But I didn’t want adoring fans. I just wanted to make it to the end of the semester without being ripped apart piece by piece for accidentally offending a girl.

It was easy for the other boys to call me dramatic when they weren’t the ones having to show up there every day, but they didn’t know what it was like.

I swear, half those girls had red eyes and fangs.

I pushed forward, leaving Tino in the dust, and went to skate my warm-up laps with Crossy instead. I realized that was a bad idea pretty much immediately when he looked at me and said, “So how’s the girl?”

Would it be wrong of me to punch him? Probably. But it didn’t stop a fist from curling at my side at the mention of Poppy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said flatly.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, Bear, we all saw you together. She’s pretty.”

“You didn’t see us together,” I hissed. “I just had to walk her to the nurse, don’t make it weird.”

He chortled. “You had to walk her to the nurse? What did you do to her?”

“Wasn’t that what you were talking about?” I asked, choosing not to answer the question about what I did to her. I didn’t need that spreading around school if I could avoid it.

He laughed even harder. “No, I was talking about seeing you at your locker this morning.”

My plan to avoid using my locker at all costs hadn’t worked out too well for me.

I thought for sure that I could live with all my stuff in my backpack, but when I got to my Chemistry class in last period, I was told in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t have my backpack in the lab.

Apparently, it was a safety hazard because it could block people from being able to run out in the case of a fire.

My life was pathetic enough without begging for a rule exemption over bringing my backpack in, so I agreed to take it back down to my locker.

My next plan had been to avoid going to my locker at the same time the others were there, but that meant either showing up late to every single class, carrying my books around with me all day, or excusing myself five minutes into every class to get my books.

And given that I was already on thin ice from the whole failing gym thing, I wasn’t trying to push my luck with the administration.

So, this morning, I’d ripped off the band-aid and showed up at my locker before classes along with everyone else. And now, I was already regretting that decision.

“How old is she anyway?” Crossy asked. “Tell me she’s not a freshman.”

“Did she look like a freshman to you?” I asked. He opened his mouth but I didn’t wait for a reply. “No. She’s a junior.”

Tino caught up to us then, looking too smug for his own good. For the second time that day, I was tempted to punch one of my friends, just for looking happy. Maybe I should work on my anger issues.

“I just realized why I recognized your girl,” Tino said.

“She’s not my girl . And what do you mean, you recognized her?”

“He was with me when I saw her at the lockers,” Crossy said.

“She’s Poppy !” Tino said. He emphasized her name so hard that it made me certain he knew her, and the idea of that made my stomach twist. I didn’t want him to know her. And how would he know her anyway?

“What about it?” My voice was practically a growl.

He smiled triumphantly. “She’s Lilah’s roommate.”

Oh, here we go again. Tino was obsessed with this girl named Lilah, who he swore was the love of his life. Honestly, I was half-convinced she was made up, since I’d never met her. But, in this instance, I was willing to believe him.

“No,” I said immediately.

Tino’s eyes furrowed. “What?”

“You will not use her to get closer to Lilah. Understand me?”

Tino put on an innocent expression that was so fake, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“When did I say anything about that?” He asked innocently.

“You didn’t need to. I know you well enough by now. Do not use her in any way, shape, or form. You understand me?”

“Getting a little protective there, Bear?” Crossy asked from the other side of me.

I glowered at him then at Tino again. “Do you understand me?” I repeated.

Just then, Coach blew the whistle, telling us to all come into the middle. But when Tino tried to skate off, I grabbed his arm harshly and pulled him back, glaring at him until he bobbed his head and said, “Understood.”

I let go of him and went along to line up in front of Coach as well.

But my head wasn’t on the hockey practice anymore.

Suddenly, it was focused on the sunshine girl.

Why did I care at all what Tino did with her?

I’d never given a second thought to any of the girls he fooled around with.

But I did care. And that scared me more than anything.