Let's puck our limits!

3. I will get better!

Summary:

Noelle continues to practice at the Black Bulls rink, but this time she's not there as early as she would have liked.

Chapter Text

It was another early morning, when Noelle entered the Black Bulls ice rink, unfortunately not as early as she would have wished.

Over the last two weeks she had discovered that if she came even earlier and cleared out after an hour she would not meet with the Bulls. It did not matter that some strange part of her did not deem this meeting as the most awful scenario that could happen. Interacting with hockey players... that was beneath her.

Sometimes they would see each other, exchange glances, but she pretended to not see them. With her head high and figure skates in the bag Noelle would make her way to the awaiting cab and go to her apartment. She preferred cabs. Their family chauffeur would definitely let her eldest brother Nozel know where she was spending time and she wanted to avoid that.

Overall she wished to avoid her family. It was the true reason for why a couple weeks earlier she had moved out into her own apartment despite being underage. She would say that it was closer to the private school that she was attending.

Nozel did not completely let her roam free, because he had assigned the nanny that used to take care of Noelle when she was little to live with her. The woman's name was Agatha and she seemed to be the only person who had offered Noelle some sort of warmth as she was growing up. But she would still not protect her from her siblings, from the emotional abuse.

"Ouch!" Noelle exclaimed as she way too quickly took off her blade covers and slightly cut herself with her skate.

She was already annoyed and thinking about her family was not going to help her calm down. She needed to get ready quickly, finish her practice and clear out before the Bulls would come. She did not have much time. Her alarm clock did not go off. Thankfully Agatha woke her up and prepared her breakfast. Her nanny knew that Noelle was going out, but she did not know exactly where. The girl could not risk Nozel finding out.

Noelle had already stretched beforehand, so all that was left was getting onto the ice rink and skating her heart out. At least that was what she hoped for, because she was feeling very uneasy. Not only did her alarm clock not go off, she also had a nightmare. She did not remember the details, just that her siblings were ashamed of her. Although was not her nightmare the sad reality?

"Don't think about them," she reprimanded herself as she stood up and approached the boards. Once again she was held back by that annoying rusty door and needed to throw her legs over the boards. This was getting annoying. However as she noticed with each time she came to practice and jumped over she would get better at it. Her toe pick did not make her trip all the time while she was landing.

Fortunately that day was not different. If she would have fallen down it would have felt like her final straw and it was just a morning. Noelle had a whole day to get through.

"Great," she sighed as she began skating around the rink, getting the feel for the ice.

She pulled out her phone and a pair of plug-in headphones. Music was going to help, it always did. Noelle scrolled through her more motivating playlist. She needed a push.

Believer - Imagine Dragons

Too close to home considering her bad dream? Maybe, but she needed it.

The beat started and Noelle pushed off the ice harder, faster, less gracefully. She did not notice, she tried not to think. However it was more powerful, more confident. She gained speed. Switched to skating backwards. A little jump and now she was once again facing the direction that she started with. Her long silver hair put up in ponytails fluttered behind her with each twist, each turn.