On Thin Ice (editing again)

Chapter 8- There Has To Be Something Wrong Here

"Blaze, come on! We're going to be late for the party!" Dallas called out from the living room, up to Blaze in her room upstairs. 

"Dallas, this party isn't really for you, and I'm not sure if this environment is the right one for you either. I'm going to go home after five minutes, so why don't you have dad take you so you can come home whenever you want to?"

"I probably will now, and other guys from JV are going to be there, too!"

"But it's for Varsity."

"I don't understand why you got put on Varsity and I got put on JV!" Dallas whined, going down the stairs. Blaze came out of her room and yelled down the stairs to him,

"Because you get to be the star of JV and they needed you to fill that roster spot. I got on Varsity so I could learn the game from the really good and experienced guys. Next year, you'll be on Varsity, so quit whining." She explained before ducking back into her room and finishing her left eyeliner wing.

Blaze was wearing an olive canvas skirt that had cargo pockets, a black crewneck sweater and her Converse sneakers. She pulled her hair back into a messy braided bun and put on some dark matte lipstick to finish the look off. Her acrylic nails were painted a glossy black and she was ready to go physically, but not emotionally.

Blaze grabbed my jacket and keys, making sure her phone was in the jacket pocket. She yelled a goodbye to their dad and dragged Dallas out to the car by his ear, making a statement that she didn't want to hear him whine anymore. The car ride was silent, even though her heart was beating fast and loud. She thought maybe Dallas could hear it beating, it felt like it could just jump right out of her chest.

Upon arriving at Jake's house, everything changed. Blaze stepped out of the car and closed the door, putting her keys in her pocket after locking the car. Dallas was out of sight after spotting one of his friends who also made the JV hockey team, and she was left all alone. Blaze walked slowly up the stone path to Jake's front door and didn't bother knocking, the door was open.

She could hear the music from down the block, which made her want to turn around and go back home before she even stepped inside. Blaze expected everyone there to think of her as either a random girl who showed up uninvited to the party, or someone's girlfriend. Once she introduced herself to some of her teammates, their attitudes changed completely.

Blaze couldn't tell if they considered her a teammate and were happy to have her, or if they were faking it and really upset about a girl on the hockey team on the inside. She really didn't see why they would feel upset or threatened, they know they're better than her, and they get to see a girl every day at practice.

Blaze still got some mixed emotions, which was expected. No one in the school knew how to feel about her, and she didn't know how to feel about her, or that, either.

She tried to keep her head down low, which was easy. Everyone was stuck in their own little bubble and didn't really pay much attention to her. Eventually, she spotted Razor, Jared and Austin. Blaze perked up a little bit, but she didn't approach them. They were caught up in their own world, too. A world Blaze quickly saw that she wasn't a part of.

Blaze doubted any of them saw her or were even thinking about her. Razor had his arm around Allie's waist, and he was laughing with Jared, Austin and a few other guys. Quickly, it all became too much and Blaze ran upstairs to seek some peace and quiet. She could still hear the music in the bathroom on the second floor, but it was muffled; and there was nobody else around.

She curbed an anxiety attack, but she didn't know what to do from there. She knew her brother wouldn't want her interfering with his activities at the party, hanging out with his friends and stuff. She knew she couldn't stay there, so she eventually made her way downstairs again and found her brother. Blaze put a hand on his shoulder gently and he turned around. He was pissed at first, she was right in her guess of him wanting Blaze to leave him alone, but he stepped aside so he could talk to her soon after.

"What's up, Blaze?"

"I think I'm going to go home. I can come pick you up, call or text me when you want to come home. Don't take any drink anyone offers you that comes in a red solo cup, go get your drink yourself. Stick to soda, I'm begging you. Stay safe and don't bother the guys that are like, 6'5 and weigh 250 pounds. They won't hesitate to knock you out. And don't hit on any cheerleaders. Have a good time."

"Got it." He confirmed, and Blaze started to walk towards the door.

She thought she would make it out before someone stopped her, but she was wrong. Razor caught up to her and started walking next to her, but all she wanted to do was go home.

"Hey, Blaze! What's up? Are you leaving already? I thought you would come and say hello, how long have you been here?"

"I've been here for about a half an hour, but I've spent 20 of those minutes alone in the bathroom. I don't like parties, and you were doing your own thing without me. I didn't want to interrupt. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to go home. I don't need Allie seeing you with me right now, because she'll stop the party and probably kill me in front of everyone. I'll see you later, okay?" I quickly explained, picking up my pace and taking my keys out of my pocket.

"I would have been fine with you interrupting us."

"Yeah, but how would I have known that? I didn't want to be that girl."

"Did you at least meet some of the team?"

"Yeah, and they weren't very welcoming. This whole thing was a mess, every cheerleader gave me nasty looks."

"Oh, come on. Not every one!"

"Oh yeah, that's right, Allie didn't, because she was stuck under your arm." I snapped unnecessarily. He didn't have a comeback.

"Listen, this isn't the right place for me. Let's face it, I'm still an outsider here, and I'm not accepted by any of you. I don't know what it is about me, am I not cute? Do I send out bad vibes to people? Do they think I try too hard, I'm annoying or I smell or something? Is there any reason they don't like me, because I need to know, Razor. I want to know what it is about myself that I can fix so I'm not stuck at a party and spending it all crying in the bathroom."

He didn't have an answer. Blaze didn't expect him to.

She unlocked her car and climbed in, wiping a single tear from her cheek and started the engine. She got out of there as fast as possible and went home, doing nothing more than sitting on her front porch crying with a cup of tea. It wasn't a good night.