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It was so much fun having my teammates around me again. We were living in the Athlete’s Village, it was named that because where most, if not all the athletes at the college decided to live once they were out of on-campus housing. Formally, known as Summit Hall, the village was made up of a large circle of big, detached houses. The ice hockey team had a large house that easily catered for fifteen of us, and thankfully, we never had to turn down any upperclassmen on the team away.

Since being promoted to captain of the Caldwell Orcas at the end of last semester, I’d been having a blast create plays with coach and discuss my future, which I was hoping looked bright, but being one of thousands of people playing sports at collegiate level was a gamble, not everyone could make it into the big leagues, aka, the NHL.

Being captain also meant I had the biggest room, and everyone respected the heck out of me.

There were currently only seven of us at the house until everyone arrived during the week before the semester started on Tuesday, given that the Monday was Labor Day, but that wasn’t going to stop us from getting back on the ice. And for some of the players, that was the first time since we broke up for summer.

We had a chef in house, she catered all our meals and kept us from eating junk food. Fortunately for us, she wasn’t here yet either, or we all just got done pigging at the diner in town.

“Julia cannot know about those two double cheeseburgers Liam had,” I said to the teammates gathered in the kitchen, Liam “The Wall” Anderson, that was. “And you even had all that relish too.”

Liam patted his stomach and sighed. “I’m still hungry.”

“I’m still full, I couldn’t even think about eating anything else,” Zachary said, leaning over the counter and sighing. “I think I’m gonna burst. Damn.”

“Well, just down blow the toilet up,” I told them. “And let’s think about burning off some of those extra calories tomorrow. I’ve got some new skates I want to try out. Jordan.” Looking around, I spotted Jordan, one of the team goaltenders. His head was over the kitchen sink as he groaned, the sounds echoing in the metal basin. “Jordan, come on. I told y’all not to eat so much.” I knew we’d ordered a lot of food when that guy came in and glared at all of us like we were taking on a man v food challenge or something.

Being captain meant keeping all the squad in check, and that was difficult pre-season because we’d all been on vacation mode, except for me. I’d spent most of the summer working at a beach bar in Connecticut just so I could afford new skate boots, but there weren’t many places to go skating there in the summer. I couldn’t wait to get back onto the ice.

* * *

We had a nice rink on campus that we played in. It was all the team colors, blue, black, and white, given that we were the orcas, our logos were the famed killer whales, and we’d been killing it the last couple of seasons in the NCHA league. We’d won a couple of leagues as a team, getting from the playoffs into the division one national championships, but only once since I’d been on the team.

I’d forced the entire team at the house to get on the ice with me. Our coach, Michael, aka Iron Mike was already at the rink in his office. He knew we were coming over before the semester started to warm up.

“Good to have you back, Lucky,” Coach said, greeting us from the door of his office which was opposite the locker room. “I think we might make it to playoffs again this season with you captaining the team.”

Lucky was my nickname, I was known for defying the odds when the puck went flying from my stick, it was like a goal-seeking missile. I wouldn’t call it luck though, I trained hard to make sure my shots made it into the back of the goal.

“We’re gonna change and head out onto the ice,” I said. “I’m assuming the ice is good.”

Coach nodded and cooed. “Oh, she’s a beaut, not a single skate mark on it. Zamboni was just over it about a day ago, so get padded up, I’m not having any of you injured before the season even starts, and before any of the freshmen recruits join.”

“How many freshmen do we have coming in?” I asked. I knew the number somewhere from the end of semester, but it could’ve always changed.

“Five or six,” he said. “We’ve got maybe twenty-one on the team with them. We’re still recruiting though; late minute exchanges happen. And, Lucky, don’t forget that the team is counting on you.”

I wasn’t too bothered by the number, it was a nice, solid team, considering only six of us were on the ice representing the Orcas at any one time. “And I’m counting on the team,” I said.

In the locker room, the team were getting their skates on and wrapping their sticks with tape. As much as they probably hated me for forcing them to get on the ice today instead of lazing around before school started, I knew they were going to appreciate the time on the ice when it was just the seven of us. A third of the time.

“Okay guys,” I said, pulling focus. “I got given access to the team social media accounts, which means, I finally get some say in stuff. You know how Rico didn’t want to participate in any of the trends, I wanna go in the opposite direction. You’ve all seen how those other teams can get millions of views; I think we could try it out.”

Jordan raised his hand as his goaltending mask dropped between his legs. “I’d love to get in on that action,” he said. “I want to be like kapow, whack, you can’t score against me.” He demonstrated what he meant with his hand whacking against his arm. “You know, and stuff like that.”

“Dream big, Jordan,” Liam chuckled. “No offense, you know, because I’m in defense, but you’re hardly saving goals left and right.”

“But it’s for a video,” he said.

I clapped, silencing them. Probably less impressive given the size of the group. “You’re only a sophomore, Jordan, you’ve got plenty of time to make an impression on the world. We kinda need to showcase what we’ve got and catch the attention of scouts. Someone I know who got recruited right out of college had an online following, it helps.”

The team socials had about fifteen thousand followers altogether. It was nothing compared to the sixty thousand the football team had, but football in general had a larger following. Hockey, on the other hand, required actual skill, without getting into a fight with them about it, but we were on sharp fucking blades cutting through ice to score goals, they were just running up and down field.

“We could always do one of those lip-sync thingies,” Zachary said. “You know like they do on that one show where the people dress up.”

All eyes turned to Zachary. “What show?” I asked, although I kinda knew what he was talking about.

“Noah, you know what I mean,” Zachary said. “Come on, it’s the—”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race?” Noah said, looking around the locker room. “But I only know that because of a girlfriend I had who watched it. I’m not—I’m not gay.”

We were all quiet for a second before bursting out into laughter.

“It does sound gay though,” I said, and the laughter stopped. “What? Like it’s super gay, it’s not like I said a slur. I didn’t say f—”

Zachary tssked. “Oh man, I’m not sure you can say stuff like that anymore. You know.”

I suddenly felt like I’d put my foot in my mouth. I wasn’t homophobic, I was—a lot of things, but I wasn’t one, scared of gay people, and two, had never been around gay people. I couldn’t name a single gay person I was friends with.

They all stared at me now, waiting for me to say something. “I don’t have anything against gay people,” I said. “But I was just saying, it’s probably gay, like a gay TV show.”

Nope. I was digging my grave now. They continued to stare at me, their mouths on the verge of breaking into smiles or complete disappointment.

“My ex liked it, though, and it was fun,” Noah said. “I’m just comfortable in my sexuality.”

“Yeah, yeah, my too,” I said, a bit forming in my stomach and wishing to consume me from the center out. “You know what, we should all watch it and see if there’s something we can do. Like the lip-syncing stuff, sounds fun.”

“There’s more to it,” Noad added. “Like they dress up and stuff as well.”

I felt like I was being trapped in committing to something I had no clue about, or at least, hardly any clue. “Right, well, I don’t mind. If it’s something that could go viral for us, in the best way.”

“Yeah,” Zachary said. “So, no more that sounds gay .” He laughed, and so did everyone else. “You know, in case anyone here is gay.”

I feared I was losing them, and I hadn’t even started the semester as captain yet. I was just glad it was only the six of them who heard me say it. “Right. Well, I have no problem with that. We’re a team, I’ll support everyone.”

Once it was over and I got laced in my new skates, I finally found my peace on the ice. It was absolute bliss in the stark overhead lighting, bouncing off the ice as if illuminating the entire place. On match days, all the seats around the rink were full, and there were strobe lights putting on a show.

The only person in the rink seats currently was coach, but in the corner of the rink, sat up on the top row, there was a gay. He was scribbling onto a pad of paper, and just as he looked out at me, we made eye contact. The same guy from the diner, I couldn’t forget that face, deer in headlights.

“Lucky,” my name was called, distracting me. Liam tapped the puck in my direction. “I thought we were doing penalty shots at Jordan. We’ve got to get him prepared.”

In the goal, Jordan was in a wide stance with his knees nearly crossing, trying to make himself appear scary. He even opted for a growl, which was very audible with the empty rink. “Come on,” he shouted. “I’m ready to pitch that video idea for real. See if you can score.”

I played with the puck, side to side with my stick. All I needed was a short skate toward him, guiding the puck, followed by a swift shot and right between his legs it went. “Idea denied,” I said. “What’s Elena even coaching you on?”

Elena was the goaltending coach, although given Jordan wasn’t on the A team, he probably wasn’t being trained as hard as Tyler was.

Looking back out into the stands, Coach was now making notes, and the guy was gone, or moved seats, I couldn’t find him again.

“Try again!” Jordan said, swinging his stick and the puck sliced through the air, but with no real direction, forcing Noah to swing into action and chase after it.

We didn’t have enough players to play against each other in teams, so we took it as a chance to play a puck tag, which was when one skater had the puck, and they had to hit you with it to pass the puck on. It was a game of speed, endurance, and most of all, fun, because nobody wanted to be tagged. There was usually a punishment involved with whoever the last one touching the puck, and Coach often set that, but he left halfway through, so I set it.

“Last one with the puck after ten minutes has to make group dinner,” I said. “Julia isn’t here until the end of the week, so we’re gonna need some good food, and if it’s not good, another punishment determined by the group.”

Nobody wanted to cook for the group, and I didn’t blame them either, we could be ruthless when it came to the foods we loved and hated. Julia had perfected being able to create food for each of us based on whatever the nutritionist was telling her. Being one of us and getting stuck with the job was going to be an absolute pain.

But I lowkey really enjoyed cooking, it was a shame I was nicknamed Lucky and not Loser, otherwise I might’ve been at risk.