I'm Feeling Twenty-Two || Cole Caufield

Chapter 1 - Backstory

Allison's POV
For as long as I have been alive, hockey has been the focal point of my family's life. My three brothers eat, sleep, and breath hockey, literally. I think I even heard Jack sleep talking about a hockey game once.

While my brothers all played ice hockey, I always enjoyed softball, but, with brothers like Quinn, Jack, and Luke, my softball games were always pushed to the back burner, second best to my three brothers and their travel hockey games.

My parents' absence became more prominent when Jack joined the junior USA hockey team. Sometimes I would go with them to games, but other times my little brother Luke and I were stuck at home with our grandparents.

Quinn was already on his way to becoming an NHL hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks during all of this.

I found out that Jack and my parents fly all over the world for Jack's games and I really wanted to see the games that were beyond the United States.

Though it look a lot of begging, my parents finally allowed me to go to Jack's out of country games. I even started doing schooling with Jack and the other players on his team.

Through going to school with the guys, I made friends with a lot of the players, but my best friends are Trevor Zegras and Cole Caufield.

And that's where my story begins.

*

"This is amazing! I can't believe we're in Paris right now!" I say with excitement.

This is the third game I've come to with my family to watch my brother Jack play ice hockey.

"I'm so glad you allowed me to come with you," I say, looking over at my mom.

"May I remind you, sweetie, that with all the school you will be missing, we have enrolled you in the homeschooling program that your brother and his teammates are in." My mom explains. I roll my eyes.

"I know. I still don't know why I need to do that when I could easily do online schooling," I mutter. My mom shrugs.

"I'd just prefer that you did in-person schooling because then you'll take school a little more seriously,"

"Whatever. I just don't really want to be the only girl in my class," I say.

"It's only a year. I think you'll survive," my mom mutters. I sigh.

With joining my parents and my brother for Jack's hockey games, I have to leave my sports behind. I miss playing softball with the girls at my school.

Now, I'm stuck in private lessons with Jack and his teammates.

In the last two games I've been to, I never had the chance to meet any of Jack's teammates, but I get to have the chance now.

Jack takes me into the classroom where the boys all go to learn. One of Jack's friends is already there and he's on the phone with someone.

The boy has long golden brown hair that he pushes away from his face as he listens to the person on the other end of the phone.

"I miss you too, Jess. I wish you were here, but I promise, we're only going to be in Paris for a week and then I'll be home again. I have to start school soon, so I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye,"

The boy puts his phone in his pocket and turns around. He smiles when he sees Jack.

"Hey man, what's up?" The boy says as he gives my brother a bro hug.

"Nothing much. I'd like you to meet my twin sister, Allison." Jack says. The boy looks over at me and smiles. He extends his hand to shake mine and I kindly accept it.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Trevor Zegras," he says. I nod.

"Nice to meet you, Trevor. So, who was this girl you were talking to on the phone a minute ago." I say with a smirk. Trevor blushes.

"That was my best friend Jess from back home. She, uh—"

"Trevor's in love with her," Jack blurts out. Trevor's cheeks burn even redder than they already were.

"Well, I wouldn't say that I'm in love with her." He says, tripping over his words. Jack rolls his eyes.

"Don't lie, Trev. You're in love with Jess,"

"Okay fine. I'm in love with Jess," Trevor mutters. I smile.

"That's nice. You should tell her about it," I say. Trevor shakes his head.

"No way. I could never. I mean, what if she doesn't feel the same? That would be awkward for our friendship," Trevor explains. I laugh.

"Wow. You really thought this through. I guess you could be right. I'd love to meet Jess sometime if that's cool with you,"

"Sure. Just don't tell her about how I have feelings for her," Trevor says. I nod.

"Of course. I promise, I won't say anything."

"Thanks Allison," Trevor says with a smile.

Another boy with light brown hair walks into the room and greets my brother. A boy with dark brown hair comes in right behind him and greets my brother too.

"Cole, Alex, this is my twin sister Allison." Jack says. The boys shake my hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Cole Caufield as your brother said. How come you're in Paris with us?" Cole asks. I shrug.

"I wanted to see the world with my brother. Plus, my parents enrolled me in this private school you guys have here." I reply.

"Nice. You can sit next to me if you want," Cole offers. I smile.

"Thanks. That's very sweet of you,"

I'm lucky that the teacher isn't one of those teachers who introduces the new kid because I already feel weird enough being the only girl in the classroom.

I'm fortunate enough that all the classes the boys are taking are the same as the ones I'm taking this year.

The teacher, Miss Hargrove, is talking about an English project she's assigning to the boys right now. I'm surprised that they have major projects considering their busy hockey schedules.

"You'll need a partner for this project and I'm allowing you to each choose them yourselves. Make good choices, boys. Oh, and girl, Miss Hughes." Miss Hargrove says, nodding towards me.

Immediately, I watch my brother partner up with Trevor. The rest of the boys partner up and I'm left sitting at my desk, unsure of who to partner with. Cole looks over at me and smiles.

"You want to be my partner for the English project?" He asks. I smile.

I'm so glad I met Cole. He seems so nice and he's willing to be my partner for a project on the first day.

"Sure. I'd love to," I reply.

"Great. I'll go find out what our assigned topic is gonna be," Cole says. He gets up from his desk and asks Miss Hargrove for our topic. He comes back with a notecard in his hand and a disgusted look on his face. "Looks like we have to teach a lesson on poems,"

"Ugh. I hate poems," I mutter, wrinkling my nose. Cole nods.

"Same. They're so boring and confusing,"

"Well, they may be boring, but I understand them somewhat." I say. Cole smiles.

"Well then you might be carrying us on the research aspect. I can help with everything else though," he explains. I laugh.

"Okay,"

That was the day I met Cole Caufield. The person who changed my life.