𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐲

FOUR

——— HAYDEN DIDN'T THINK SHE'D last the rest of the week from the moment her twin brother walked through the doors of the Burke household Monday night after his tryouts. The second he stepped into the house, she couldn't only smell his stench, but she could feel the his cocky presence fill the room, which only meant one thing.

It was already a known fact that Emeroy Burke would make varsity the moment he stepped on the ice, and as much as Hayden would hate to admit it out loud, his skill proved he deserved to be there not just because he was the son of a hockey star. Nonetheless, she loathed the way his ego inevitably got the unnecessary boost it received. She loathed the bigger shadow cast upon her by a boy two minutes older than her. And she loathed the way his God complex somehow increased; which she never thought could even be possible.

She spent the entire week hearing his praises, not only from himself, but from her dad, her classmates, and every goddamn person who graced the halls of Eden Hall. She just hoped she had enough will power to make it through the week. Thank God it was Thursday.

Hayden groaned internally as she strolled into her fourth period class right before lunch. Not because she didn't like the class, in fact, Chemistry was one of her favourites, but her brother is what she hated.

He had already been smugly sitting in his seat when she walked in. The seat in which he took from her moments before she slid in. The seat in which she had to sit behind. And the seat on which was seated right next to her best friend. She thought not being able to sit beside Mollie was bad enough, but the fact that she could see part of Mollie actually liked sitting next to Emeroy was even worse.

"At least you sit behind us," Mollie tried to assure, shrugging pitifully as she strolled in next to Hayden seeing the annoyed look on her face. The girl couldn't help but feel a little guilty, "and the guy you sit beside is kinda cute..."

Denny huffed out, glaring at her best friend with a frown, shortly darting her gaze between her and the boy already sitting in his designated spot just writing stuff down in his book. Part of Hayden contemplated Mollie's words, but then she shrugged it out of her mind. "He hardly speaks to me," Hayden grumbled. Her face fell, giving Mollie a grim look of inquiry, "maybe he's depressed?"

"Well that's morbid..." Mollie gasped lightly, knitting her eyebrows together, "maybe he's just shy."

"Yeah right..." Hayden sighed, "he's talking to Emeroy right now."

The two girls set their gaze on the boys not so far away as they began walking over, giving each other a questionable look before sliding into their respective seats. Neither Mollie nor Hayden could talk to one another for Emeroy leaned completely over the invisible diagonal line the two had between their seats. His arms rested on a table as he led on a lengthy conversation with Denny's seat mate who didn't seem to be in the mood— as per usual.

"But anyway, Rick said he'd want us there," Emeroy finished off, catching both Mollie and Hayden's attention. The two girls exchanged looks from across the table as the brunette boy ran a hand through his hair and sat up. "You in?" Not once had he looked at either of them yet.

"Sure... maybe..." It was the first time Hayden had actually really heard her seat mates voice, glancing at him as she took the time to actually look at him properly. She had to say, his voice matched his face, and Mollie definitely wasn't lying when she said he was cute.

Denny's hazel eyes scanned his features. He was incredibly familiar, and maybe it was because her sub-conscience just planted the face in her brain after these past four days of sitting next to one another, but he was still familiar.

His blond hair parted in the middle and his blue eyes looked almost sad. Melancholy. Like they were miserable but for absolutely no reason. His smile was so forced as he spoke it almost made her want to hug the stranger. And she wouldn't blame him if it was because Emeroy just made him uneasy, but he seemed like he just didn't want to be there. Or anywhere at all really.