Diana Hargrove has gone through enough tragedy for three lifetimes, yet she still has an affirming smile on her face. She's lived and travelled all over the world, but the last straw that broke the camel's back, brought her back to her hometown, Cre...
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𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 | 13
The night of Jayden and Seth's ice hockey scrimmage. Emi picked me up to go to the ice rink together.
Green, black, and white colors on Jayden's hockey jersey matched with the black jeans I decided to wear tonight. My green converse sneakers match the color perfectly. Mom claimed these shoes would have no purpose. Who's laughing now?
Owning nearly every color pair of converse sneakers is finally coming in handy. Mom said buying all these shoes was a waste of my hard-earned money. Lies! These shoes are my lifeline. Converse sneakers hold a special place in my heart.
Wearing Jayden's number 13 hockey jersey, it caused goosebumps. I put on a zip-up jacket over the jersey, because I didn't want Emi to know that I was wearing Jayden's jersey.
She has already tried to torture my feelings for Jayden out of me when we were kids. The last thing I needed was her giving me the ultimate third degree about it seven years later. As far as she's concerned, my feelings are gone.
The truth: I don't know my feelings for Jayden. The only thing that I know, after seven years, seeing him and being around him causes butterflies to flutter in my stomach. I can't stop them. I don't think I want to stop them.
I don't know how Emi will react. It's better to figure out my feelings before opening a can of worms that never should've been opened in the first place.
I need to figure out my feelings on my own.
"How'd you know to get a spare jersey from someone?" Emi asked.
"Seth mentioned it's tradition or something," I lied.
"Remind me at the party after the game to get a picture of us in the jersey's. I need new pictures of us, not as children, to prove that we both went through puberty," Emi said.
"What party?" I asked.
"The after game party. During preseason we have them in Crescent Heights Park. Once the weather gets cold, some guys from Jayden's team will choose a house for the party. They're really fun, and everyone goes," Emi explained.
It looked like everyone in town and everyone at Crescent Heights high school came to the game tonight. I can't wait to see what it's like when the season actually starts.
My eyes immediately became fixated on number 13 warming up with the rest of his teammates. Emi and I got hot chocolate before securing ourselves in a seat on the bleachers. She introduced me to some of her friends that I vaguely remember from back in the day.
Emi's girlfriends are her smart friends.
"Which number is Parker?" I asked.
Emi found Parker doing slapshots in front of the net.
"35!"She squealed in my ear. "He looks so good in his hockey pads!"
Truly, my eyes weren't paying any attention to Parker. I didn't care about him. All I could focus on was Jayden. He, Seth, and another player were doing a passing play on the far side of the ice.
