High School Hockey Boys

14

Sunday morning I woke up early and walked to the post office. It was freezing cold and I half expected it to start snowing. I handed my letter off to the man behind the desk and hurried home.

~*~

On Monday I invited Kennedy to sit with us again during lunch. The girls were confused, and maybe a little frustrated. But Harper seemed to understand what I was doing. She sent me a small smile across the table and went back to her lunch. It was stupid what had pitted us so harshly against Kennedy. Fighting over a boy, especially one that neither of us even ended up with, was pointless. After all, bros before hoes. And Graham was definitely a hoe. Conversation was tense at first, but once the others had caught on that the two of us were on good terms again it was like nothing had happened between us. 

When the bell rang Kennedy and Sophia walked to their next class together like always. Delaney yelled her regular goodbye to the two. Everything, if even for a moment, felt normal again. Like the party had never happened, Graham wasn't some lying asshole, and there was no baby. Eli hadn't even crossed my mind. Everything just felt right again.

My good mood was dampened slightly when I caught Graham watching me from his locker as I walked to class. His eyes were dark and he almost seemed to be snarling at me. He was angry. We hadn't spoken since he'd come to my house that day, so I had no idea why he was looking at me like that. My only explanation was that he was upset I'd given Kennedy another chance and he'd been stuck with a restraining order. Although, that hadn't been my fault. I hadn't even known about it until the police showed up at the house. Maybe he thought he didn't deserve it because it had all been part of some game. I rolled my eyes at the thought.He could believe whatever he wanted, it didn't change the fact that he was an asshole.

I walked to class with my head up higher than I usually did. So far, minus the Graham thing, today had been a good day.

But as usual, good things never last.

~*~

A week later, things still seemed to be going alright. School was, well school. Everyone had made their peace with Kennedy and the party situation. I'd spoken to Eli a few times about how the team was doing and they were currently undefeated in the second round of the Invitational. I'd gotten a response to the long letter I'd written to James almost two weeks ago. He'd sounded interested in my life. Like he genuinely cared about his estranged younger half sister. He'd told me more about himself; little things like hobbies and how his final year in college was going. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me.

I was worried the second letter I'd sent wouldn't reach him in time. Thanksgiving was this Sunday and I'd invited him down for dinner. Mom still had no idea I was talking to him let alone even went looking for him. She'd either hate me or love me even more if James did for some reason show up. I was hoping he did. As time went on I found myself wanting to see him more and more. I'd gone almost seventeen years without knowing he existed and it only took three and a half weeks for me to miss him terribly. I wanted to know what his voice sounded like, if he looked like Mom. I wanted to know what his childhood had been like. And I found myself hoping he was curious about the same things. Did we look alike, what was his biological mother like, what kind of relationship did we have? I wanted James to want to get to know me and to consider me family. And not just because we share half our blood. But I guess I'd see on Sunday.

As I walked to fifth period Graham stepped up beside me. I tried to ignore him as I walked and hugged my arms closer to my chest. He didn't say anything for a while but I could feel him staring at me.