𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐂 a.banks

t h r e e

Joey rolled out of bed the next day, tiredly slipping on some clothes lying around in her dorm. She was nervous about practice that morning. She knew how tough and demanding high school hockey was, and while she was never one to back down from a challenge, she felt that things were going to change very quickly, which was something she hated. Joey hated when things changed. This was one of Joey's few qualities with her father, and for once, she wished she wasn't so similar to him.

Joey quickly went through her morning routine, afraid to be late for practice. Running downstairs for breakfast, she joined her teammates at their table that had arrived a few minutes before she had. Taking a seat next to Camila and Ken, Joey tiredly threw her head on the table, mumbling for a cup of coffee since she had barely gotten any sleep the night before. As if her prayers had been answered, a steaming coffee from her favorite coffee shop was thrown in front of her as Charlie took a seat in front of the tired girl.

Charlie Conway. The first recipient of Joey's secret love letters that nobody knew about. The first boy to hold her hands, well, sort of. Charlie had tried to teach Joey the triple deke a few years ago, somehow resulting in him holding her hands. Charlie was the first boy Joey had a crush on, and he always found a way to find a way into her heart.

"You are a godsend." Joey sighed, thanking Charlie before happily sipping on the hot beverage that she had grown to be dependent on.

"Does anyone else think it's concerning that Joey is addicted to coffee this early in her life?" Charlie asked, receiving nods of agreement from her teammates.

"What can I say? It runs in the family." Joey answered with a shrug as if she denied that she was addicted to coffee.

"That's true. Did I ever tell you guys about when I found Joey's brother on a coffee high at 3 in the morning?" Camila commented.

"It was so funny." Joey laughed as she pictured Sebastian hyper in his bedroom.

"Also, I think it's weird that we've known Joey for five years but never met her family." Charlie points out as he steals a strawberry off her plate.

"You'll meet them soon enough. Joey's brothers go to school here too," Camila interjects before her best friend can deflect any accusations.

"Really?" Charlie questions, raising an eyebrow at her.

Joey shrugged, picking up her stuff, not wanting to talk about her siblings.

"We should probably get ready for practice. I don't know about y'all, but I don't want to do extra laps for being late.

Fifteen minutes later, Joey found herself lacing up her skates before practice. Quietly warming up, she kept to herself as chaos erupted in the locker room, unsure how her teammates had so much energy at 6:30 in the morning.

"You know, they're gonna find out about Rick and Sebastian at some point." Camila starts softly.

Sighing, Joey finished lacing up her skate before turning to her best friend.

"I know that, Cam."

"Why can't you just tell them?" She asks. "I mean, they know Christian is my brother, and they seem fine with him."

"That's because Chris is Chris, Cam. Nobody could hate him if they wanted to. I love Rick, but Rick is nothing like Chris. Once they find out I'm related to him, they're going to treat me differently."

"You don't know that." Camila protests.

The brunette sighed once again.

"But I know Charlie, and that's enough for me to know they'll hate me."