The Sound of Ice

3

I squirm uncomfortably, cracking my knuckles loudly. Mom shoots me a side glare and I sit on my hands. She gets a little crazy when we're in church.

On the other side of me, Veronica nudges my shoulder. Her short brown hair is straightened, and she's wearing shimmery lipgloss. "Stop fidgeting," she hisses.

Hailey leans over and sticks her tongue out at me. I stick my tongue out back. She understands me.

I'm almost never home on the weekends, since we usually have away games. But lucky me, I'm home for the weekend. So Mom drags us to church.

Mom dips her head and closes her eyes as the priest says something in an old, croaky voice that I can't understand. The Cathedral smells like smoke and old wood, and rain is pounding on the stained glass windows. I rub my face and glance at Mom beside me.

Her eyes snap open like she can see what I'm doing. "Say your prayers, Cameron," she whispers. Her eyes are dark brown and her wavy hair is blonde, like Hailey. Veronica and I got our looks after our dad. 

"I am," I whisper back. Satisfied, she closes her eyes again, her lips moving in a silent prayer. My mom is pretty cool. She's always been supportive of hockey. But she is the most religious person I have ever met. 

After church, we walk home. Mom and Veronica share an umbrella, and Hailey and I share one. Our only pairs of dress shoes are getting soaked in the puddles. Hailey isn't helping by jumping in all of them. 

I breathe in the smell of wet concrete and cold rain, and glance down at Hailey, her small hands over mine on the umbrella handle. She's wearing a coat over her favorite purple dress.

"What are you going to do today?" I ask loudly over the downpour.

"My friend Annabelle is coming over," she says. "She's bringing her Barbie. Do you want to play with us?"

"Maybe," I say.

"Do you have hockey today?"

"No, not today."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

Veronica looks over her shoulder, her steps in synch with Mom. "He has to study," she says, her lips curling into a smile. 

"Yeah," I say. "I have to study."

"Oh no," says Hailey. "I hate studying."

"Yeah, me too."

~

I pull open the front door. Sam is soaking wet. 

"Umbrella?" I say. 

"I'm only a few houses down," he says, smiling. His sweatshirt is dripping with water, and rain runs down his face. "I thought I could outrun it."

I step back and he walks inside. The front hall is pretty cluttered, snow boots and coats and jackets tossed on the coat rack or on the ground. Veronica waves from the kitchen counter and Mom leans her head around the doorway. 

"Hello, Sam!" she says. "So nice to see you again. It's been so long."

"Hi, Mrs. Beckett," he says.

"Are you here to tutor Cameron?"

"Yes."

Veronica laughs. "He needs it."

"Okay, let's go," I say. We go to my room, which I cleaned up a bit earlier when I texted him asking if he could tutor me today. And by cleaning, I mean shoving clothes underneath the bed.

"So, math," I say, pulling out my textbook, then glance at him. "Do you want... like, to borrow a sweatshirt or something?"

Sam shrugs. "If you have one."