Hidden || Lashton

eight: are you insane?

Ashton walked into practice looking like a zombie, he had stayed up the night prior, sewing a new ice skating outfit. A gorgeous ruby red one, speckled with faux diamonds that glimmered in the light and made him sparkle as he moved gracefully. He wanted to just walk out of the Tigers Home Rink and go back to the East Woodpine Rec Rink, but he couldn't if he wanted to maintain any sort of a shield from being bullied and outcasted. 

"Irwin!"

The red-haired ice skater turned his head to see that Ryland was staring at him with his classic annoyed expression. Brows slightly furrowed, his arms crossed. "You just going to stand there or you going to get dressed and actually start practice." The hockey player stated, causing their fellow teammates to stare at Ashton expectedly. Suspicious were they? His heart wasn't completely in it, but that was his secret and to keep it buried he stifled his desire to yell at Ryland for being a brainless idiot, and rather walked calmly to the locker room. His hazel eyes glancing over at the cleaned showers, the rancid stench was gone and every surface had been cleaned intensely, but his memory was vivid enough to make him uncomfortable with being in the room still. 

Even so, his comfort level had never been very high in the rink. He was always wearing a mask after all, the mask of a hockey lover. Quickly, he stripped out of plain grey t-shirt and jeans to instead put on his proper warmer gear. Shoving the clothes he had been wearing originally into his duffel bag, glancing at his ice skates, wishing they were the ones he favored with the ice picks rather than the clunky hockey ones. Shutting his locker revealed a grinning Michael, who patted him on the back excited to begin blocking flying pucks. "Hey number 05, don't be so sad when I block all of your shots," his friend joked making Ashton roll his eyes. 

"Hey number 04, don't feel too be sad when you fail to block all my shots."

The two began their silent competition of who could prove themself as superior in the game of hockey. Even though Ashton had a whole entire team behind him, he always felt it was just him and Michael messing around. If that was the case, he might have actually enjoyed hockey and had a stronger desire to play it. The pressure that came with being a Tiger, the nastiness of the Vipers, and the forced job of having to prove that West Woodpine is elite in comparison to East Woodpine, ruined the sport for him. Ruined the whole town for him really. 

Ashton got onto the ice and watched as Coach stared at him with a look which could only mean his expectations of the red-haired player had only increased after the last game. Yet as he moved to skate towards the middle, his mind wandered to the blond Viper who had stared at him when he got injured. 'Break away from those snakes, and throw it all with me,' the Tiger thought, yelping out when he realized the puck was coming his way. His stick moved haphazardly to hit the puck towards the goal which Michael blocked with ease. Ashton could practically see the smirk through his face protection. 

The puck was sent flying to the opposing team, who moved with ease to go after the Jackson who was filling in as a goalie for the "enemy" team aka Ashton's team. The figure skater moved with a lot more elegance than his teammates, because that is naturally how he skated. Pouring hours and hours into figure skating influences your skating overall, there wasn't much he could do about it, nor would he want to, seeing as it was improving his skills in-game. His stick slid forward allowing him to steal it from the other team, and begin skating back towards the front where Michael got ready to block, Ashton instead hit the puck towards his teammate, catching his friend off guard and allowing the team to score. 

The team cheered for Ashton, because his skill meant well for future games and in their minds, future wins. Losing was not an option, a loss will fall on Ashton, and on the entirity of the team seeing as West Woodpine wasn't about to not shame them for humiliating the town. You either win, or you stay silent while the town shits all over you. Time passed by quickly, for hockey was high pressure enough to be able to get the blood pumping, the heart racing, and the desperation for a win (even though it is pointless in a practice game such as the one they were currently playing) to increase more and more even when the two teams tied. However, not this time. Ashton was supporting the rookie Jackson, who was way too inexperienced to have the responsibility of goalie. He blocked shots before they could even get close to their team's goal, and were sent flying back to the opposing team goal, where Michael would think he had blocked it for a moment only to realize he had failed to Ashton once again.