x1 - Mathew

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My alarm blares next to my face, giving off the only light in the room, the sun barely peeking over the horizon at 6 a.m. this cold Thursday morning. I groan into my pillow, reluctantly leaving my warm sanctuary for the rest of the day. As much as I love hockey, boy do I wish practices were later. Our game isn't even until 7 tonight and it's a home game, what's the point?

I roll my eyes, trudging to the bathroom, staring down my reflection: half squinted eyes blocking out sudden light and my bedhead, my 5 o'clock shadow already making an appearance. I turn on the sink, splashing cold water on my face - giving me a sudden rush of energy to wake me out of this tired coma. Finishing getting ready, I make my way to the kitchen, pressing start on the Keurig and pulling my phone out of my suit pocket:

5 new messages from SnowBitches group chat, Coach Shayvan, and Mom:

Ride Her (Ryder): bro that new girl starts today, how siked are y'all ;)

Glizzy Grizzy (Griziano): i know dude i hope she's hot

Raisin Bran (Brandon): any girl who has social media as a full-time job is a walking red flag

Coach Shayvan: Make sure you bring that extra stick tape I asked you for.

Mom: Have a wonderful game tonight, sweetheart! Your father and I will be watching at Poppy's house!

I fix a beanie on top of my head, grab my coffee and the stick tape for Shayvan, swing my duffle bag over my shoulder, and head out the door. I hop into the blue Range Rover that I bought myself when I turned 18 and blast Pop Smoke while I drive out of my apartment complex.

I finally get to the arena, the team photographer snapping shots as I walk down towards the locker room with pride in my steps. I need to make a good social media appearance, I need to look like a winner tonight! I push open the door to the locker room, half of the boys already in there. "Maty Lang!!!" Aidan jumps on my back, coffee splashing out of the top of my cup as I scramble to find my balance. "What's up Aid?" I say, placing my things down on the bench. I run my hands along the jersey hanging up above my things - the silver 8 raised up against the cobalt blue.

I begin putting on my equipment as I overhear the boys talking about the new girl. "I really hope she's hot," Bryce exclaims. Dylin slaps him upside the head, "Dude, do you ever not think with your dick?" Nate - nicknamed Winny on the ice - walks up, sporting only his shorts and helmet, "No but actually, I wanna know if she's hot." I finally chime in, tying up the last of my laces, "You guys need to get your head out of the gutter and into the game. There's no way we'll beat the Daredevils with us focusing on some new girl." Denver was one of the top teams in the league and we cannot afford to lose to them tonight if we want to make it to the finals next week.

When we're all ready, we head out to the ice to start practice, surrounded by press and coaches all around. I skate across the ice at high speed, my breath hitching as I slap the puck towards the net. It ricochets off of the plexiglass, bouncing out of the rink and towards the crowd of people, "Oh fuck, look out!"


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hi everyone! this was a short story i wrote for my fiction class but i wanted to expand more on it so i brought it here :) so if some of the parts are short in the beginning it's because i was limited with how much i could write, but i wanna add more to this story for sure!! lmk what you all think <3 - mads

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