𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

"get my hopes up"

"Alright team, take a knee!" I looked up from shooting to see Coach Orion standing center ice. I skated over and took a knee in between Connie and Julie. I had just been catching them up on the events of last night and they were very interested.

"As you all know, next week is our first game. As usual it will be against the Bears. If I can help it, this time things will not end in a tie." Orion eyed us all and we laughed, remembering the horrible turn out of last year's Blake game. I hadn't played but I did remember the awful time I had in the stands. "I have a good feeling about it, but that's only if you all continue to put in all the work you have been recently. That's all for practice today, so go home, get rest, and I'll see you all tomorrow."

I hopped up and immediately felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. I sucked in a sharp breath and squeezed my eyes shut until the pain went away. No one seemed to notice so I shook it off.

"Hey Ella!"

I turned to see Polly smiling at me from a distance. I skated over to her and we walked towards the locker room together. "What's up?"

"I know you weren't in Chemistry today but I wanted to let you know that we're partners for the chemical reaction lab."

"Oh really? That's great!" Our teacher, Ms. Ryan, had been talking about that lab for days. I was glad she had paired me with Polly, she was really smart and a hard worker too.

"Yeah! I was thinking we could get together sometime and talk about our plans. Split up the lab report and all that." Polly pushed open the locker room door and held it as I walked inside.

"Totally. If you want to get a head start, I'm free tonight."

Polly nodded. "I'd love to get started early. Your house or mine?"

I opened my locker and set my helmet and skates inside. "Doesn't matter much to me. My house works fine, if you want to come over."

"Sure, I'll get your address before I leave." She smiled and walked away.

I continued to get dressed and made sure to scribble my address on a scrap of paper once I was done. "Here you go." I handed it to Polly. "You can pretty much come over whenever. Just warning you though, my family is a little much. They'll be excited to meet you."

"I can't wait." Polly tucked the paper into her backpack and I went to find Adam. He was standing in front of the double doors, leaning against the wall.

"I was starting to think you left without me!" He put his arm around me and we walked out to his mom's car. After last night's breakdown, Adam's car was in the shop getting fixed. I was thankful for that.

I opened the passenger door and climbed in, setting my bag next to my feet. "What are your plans for the night, cake-eater?"

Adam was quiet for a moment, focusing on back up without hitting someone. "Homework and lots of it. Any chance my super smart girlfriend wants to come do my math?"

I laughed. "I'm not sure you'd want me doing your math. But even if I wanted to, I can't. Chemistry project with Polly."

Adam over dramatically sighed. "Ditching me to hang out with Polly. I see how it is."

"You are too much sometimes Banks." I shook my head and laughed.

A few minutes later we pulled into Adam's driveway and I hopped out of the car. "Thanks for the ride!" I called as I stepped over small shrubbery and into my yard.

"Anytime!" Adam threw up his keys and caught them, putting them into his pocket. He disappeared into his house and I did the same into mine. I could smell garlic coming from the kitchen as I set my bag down next to the front closet.

"Hey sweetie, how was school?" My mom asked as I sat next to my dad at the table.

"Well the one class I went to was great." I laughed. "At practice Coach Orion reminded us that our first game is next week. I'm so excited!"

My dad lowered the book he was reading and looked at me. "First game? Already?"

"Yep! Blake Bears."

"Joey dinner time!" My mom yelled and set a plate of garlic lemon chicken in front of me. "Eat up kids." She kissed my dad on the forehead as he frowned.

"Kids." I heard him mumble and I laughed.

_

"Oh wow, I love your room Ella!" Polly gushed as I led her upstairs and into my room. She had arrived a few minutes ago and as I had predicted, my parents had practically talked her ear off.

"Thanks! I redecorated a little while ago, right before summer break."

She stroked a Leonardo DiCaprio poster with her finger and smiled. "We have the same taste in guys. Ah, I love it!"

I laughed. "You can set your stuff over here if you'd like." She nodded and put her backpack on my desk chair like I had suggested. She pulled out a notebook marked Chemistry and a glittery pink pen.

I picked up my own notebook and flopped onto my stomach across my bed. Polly took a seat on the beam bag in the corner of my room.

"So I'm thinking we can just split the lab report rubric in half, you do top half I do bottom?" Polly asked and I scanned the list of tasks.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Polly nodded and wrote a few things on her sheet. "Then the experiment will be mainly in class, so no worries there. Due date is Friday so if we finish the chemical part by Wednesday, that will give us two days to write the reports."

"Huh, I guess we won't have to do much here then?"

"I guess not." Polly laughed and shut her notebook. "Sorry I came over, when we could've done this over the phone."

"It's no problem! I'm hoping we can become closer friends anyways so it's great that you came over."

Polly smiled. "Speaking of... can I ask you something?"

I nodded and sat up on my bed.

"Okay. Well this might be weird, cause you two are great friends and all, but what can you tell me about Charlie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, like, what are his interests? What does he like to talk about?"

I opened my mouth a little and widened my eyes. "Wait a minute. Polly, do you like Charlie Conway?"

The blonde girl blushed and looked at my floor. "I don't know yet. I might. But someone told me that he had a girlfriend, even though I've never seen her. I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"He's definitely single." I laughed. "The girl he was dating, Linda, they broke up over the summer. As for getting your hopes up, I think Charlie is a guy worth doing that for."

"Really? He's been so nice to me but I think he's like that with everyone." Polly sighed and I could tell she really needed some reassurance.

"He is, but I have caught him staring at him a time or two. Now that, he doesn't do to everyone."

Polly grinned. "He does that? I've never noticed." She paused and then looked up. "I think I do like Charlie Conway."

_

After Polly left, I had gotten ready for bed and started to read. Except I couldn't focus. The pain I had felt during practice a few hours earlier was beginning to get worse and lasting longer.

I turned to my clock which read 12:34. I groaned and set the book onto my nightstand, getting out of bed and walking into my bathroom. I pulled out the top drawer and took out the bottle of Tylenol, placing two pills into my palm.

I popped them into my mouth and took a sip of water from the sink. I walked back over my bed and switched off the lamp.

Hopefully now, I could fall asleep.

_

foreshadowing?? 😳