Page 2 of Rivals

When my mom passed, it was the worst day of my life. I stood stoically by my dad at her grave and watched as the man, who was now my provider, cried. Reign stood next to me, his shoulder touching mine, while I comforted my dad. The guy my mom had sworn didn’t want us. Later that night, I discovered why he never wanted us around.

I woke up to glass smashing and a thunderous yell. I ran from my bed and found my dad wearing his pajama pants and no shirt, holding a knife. His eyes were open, but they appeared to be seeing something in front of him that no one else could see. He jumped from the floor to the couch and stabbed his knife through the pillows.

“Dad?” I slid along the hallway wall, trying to call to him, hoping he would regain control. His head turned in my direction. “Dad.”

His head shook, and when his eyes glazed over again, he started prowling toward me. I panicked, holding my hands up. I couldn’t think of any other way to distract him, so I started talking to him about hockey. About statistics of his favorite NHL team. Right as he reached me, towering over my body in the hallway, I slid to the ground. I sat clutching my knees to my chest while he stood over me, breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on the wall. A sob escaped my throat.

“Riley?”

I glanced up. “Dad?”

He fell to his knees and cried. “I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sorry.”

Somehow I managed to get to my knees and wrapped my arms around his bulking frame.

The next day he visited the VA with me in tow. Apparently he has been getting help for years after his tour in Iraq when he was in the military. But moving locations and being out of his normal routine induced a PTSD episode. For weeks after that, it would happen on occasion. One time he even started digging a trench in the backyard. He never hurt me, but I was scared. The only thing to calm him ever was hockey statistics. Eventually, when he suddenly took an interest in watching me play, we bonded over it.

At the end-of-the-year tournament, I wanted to make my dad proud. He made it to as many games as he could, but he requested time off with his boss to be at this tournament. I played hard. Reign and I dominated the games. There was no stopping us. He scored; I assisted. I scored, and he assisted. We led the entire tourney, across sixteen teams, with most goals scored, and our team was heading to the championship game.

“We got this, Riles.” Reign fist bumped me, his dimple flashing in his smile as we took the ice to play the last period.

We were winning 3-1 and the other team was looking tired. Still, I was salivating for another goal. It felt good to be winners. It was even better that my dad was cheering the loudest in the stands. I felt like I was on cloud nine, playing for the pros or something. When the puck split between Reign and me in the last few seconds of the game, I didn’t hesitate to take it from him. I even gave him a smile, knowing if I scored, I would also get most goals scored in the tournament and take the trophy home. Reign’s surprised look accompanied a hint of hurt, as if I’d betrayed him. His competitiveness won and he fought me for it. We had a breakaway: there was no one else close to us and we were stealing the puck from each other to score. I heard my dad cheering and plunged forward, using my stick to knock it loose. I saw Reign go down, but I kept skating and scored the final goal of the game. Our team won 4-1, and then I noticed Reign wasn’t getting up.

Our team huddled around him while he was taken out of the rink on a gurney. My stomach dropped and I felt sick. I tried to remember what happened, but I couldn’t recall. I had been so caught up in the drive to score that I blocked out everything else.

“He’ll be okay,” my dad reassured me. We ended up leaving the arena. I wasn’t able to make it to the hospital to see him and heard from everyone at school he had a knee injury and would most likely not be better by the time spring camp started. I felt terrible knowing how much Reign loved skating. Spring camp was one of our favorite times of the year because we always played against our town rivals, the Saints, at the end of the eight weeks.

I tried to get over to his house to see him, but his mom informed me he didn’t want visitors. At school I saw him hobbling on crutches. When I offered to help, he gave me the iciest glare; his baby blue eyes filled with an anger I’d never seen before. He wouldn’t let me apologize and flat out refused to speak to me. That was the day Reign stopped being my best friend. It was the day I lost my other half. We were eleven at the time and that moment will stick with me forever. An accident that I had not meant to take that far occurred. That was the year everything fell apart and my friendship with Reign became a rivalry of epic proportions.

Reign, 13 years old

Riley Conrad became the bane of my existence when she tore up my knee and ruined my summer. It didn’t matter that we were only eleven at that time. I thought she was my best friend. The other half of my soul. We shared a love of the same game to the point it was almost an obsession. So she knew how important that game was to me. How much I needed to sweep that tournament to keep my old man from taking me out of the sport I loved above all else.

Being Magnus Thorn’s only child and son placed a lot of pressure on a kid. I knew my father was always one step away from ruining my dream to play in the NHL. While I was playing well, on winning streaks, being named MVP of my teams, he laid off. But I always felt him in the shadows, just waiting to pounce and remind me that the chances of me becoming a player in the NHL were one in a million, and that I was better off studying finance so I could take over the family business and inherit millions. Over my dead body. I never wanted to be a snobbish prick like my father. My mom was the only one who could wrangle him in and make him see reason. He adored her and listened to her and then he’d leave me alone again for a while. So when Riley swiped that goal from me at our squirt level game, consequently tripping me and causing me to injure my knee, she became the enemy.

Instead of spending my spring season and summer on the ice, I was forced to listen to my father talk nonstop about how much of a waste of time my favorite sport was. Every doctor appointment he was forced to take me to, he would belittle my dream, talk down to me and further prove how much of a prick he was by picking apart every play I ever made and listing the ways I would never be good enough. I hated him. I hated the way he would ruin his own son’s dream and shit all over his heart. I resented Riley and blamed her for doing what she did. So when I had my chance for revenge during the following winter season, I didn’t hesitate to put her in her place and leave her behind.

Before the start of middle school, our school broke apart and half the students were shipped to the school across town, on the other side of the river that divided us. The school that happened to always be our rivals in every sport and academia, All Saints Academy. I wasn’t thrilled; I had never wanted to play for the Saints. Even though I had to admit they had good players, the bad blood between us was always there. Now I was being forced to move, based on the area code I lived in. The whole thing seemed weird. The new school included all the kids whose families were as wealthy as mine, while families who didn’t have money, like Riley’s, remained at our old school, Crimson Bay Public, which meant she stayed playing for the Pirates.

Now that we were out of the same school and playing for warring teams, the divide that was between us grew bigger and bigger. I enjoyed anytime we played against each other because our team always won. I loved seeing the look of defeat on my ex-best friend’s face. She’d try to hide it behind the curtain of her long, silky, brown hair, but I saw it and felt triumphant about it. She deserved it. She started it. Riley being a little more miserable when I carried a trophy or wore a medal off the ice made winning that much better.

Our little spat didn’t go unnoticed. My mom thought it was weird that Riley and I were no longer friends after being inseparable for years. She tried reminding me of all the times she couldn’t keep me away from Riley. How I would tease her in warmups, or pull her ponytail while we waited to go out, or how I always insisted she be on my line to the coach. My mom didn’t understand though how Riley had screwed me over.

I made damn sure my team knew though. Riley and the Pirates weren’t just my enemy; they were my entire team’s nemesis. In our last year of playing against each other, All Saints Academy decided to hold a lottery for tuition to our high school. I saw the way Riley’s amber-colored eyes lit up. She was hopeful that she might have a chance at attending my school. Because after this year, she could no longer play on the co-ed team at Crimson Bay. She would be forced to play on the all girls’ team and they weren’t good. None of them had her competitive spirit or her talent. Unlike the girls’ team at my school. They were decent enough that Riley would have shone on their team. Too bad I was never going to let her get there. The spot came down to Riley and another player on her team, a defenseman, Bauer Lotis. With the help of my other wingman, Riley was pinned before she could shoot and I hustled away with the puck. Without making it obvious, I let Bauer take the puck from me, and he scored. The Saints still won, but Bauer got the credit for his speed and agility. He was offered the scholarship to my school and would play on my team next year.

Revenge pulsed in my veins and watching Riley hold back tears was the best feeling in the world. I owned her tears; I owned her downfall. Anytime Riley would touch the ice in the future, I knew without a doubt, she would think of me. I was going to be forever entwined in her goal to be better but her inability to reach that goal.

Riley, age 15

My stomach blazed with anxiousness when I picked him out in the crowd, surrounded by Saint and Pirate students alike. Reign Thorn. The guy who used to be my best friend, the same one who still holds a piece of my heart in his hands. I left it with him long ago and I don’t even think he knows it. By now, I know that he blames me for his knee injury and for the past few years we’ve been trading barbs on and off the ice. When Reign left Crimson Bay Public to attend All Saints Academy, the divide between us grew even further. I stopped trying as hard to fix our friendship when I couldn’t see him every day. It felt weird. I felt empty like a piece of my soul was missing. I missed him. I missed playing hockey with Reign, goofing off on the ice, and the dumb jokes he would tell but that always made me laugh.

Looking at him now, he doesn’t look like that young kid anymore. We’re heading into our sophomore year of high school, and time over summer has aged Reign. He isn’t lanky anymore. He’s tall, broad, and starting to fill out. He’s always been a cute kid but now he’s handsome, older, and makes my stomach swoop with butterflies. I think I’ve changed too, grown up, and I want him to notice. I want to have his attention and hopefully we can find a way to bury the past. I’m giving it one last chance to try and win my best friend back. I’m tired of being mean. I don’t want to continue hurting each other with words or barbs.

I’ve known Reign since we were six. I know his personality, the things that make him tick. I know that Reign is a daredevil and he does not back out of any challenge. Which is exactly what I plan to present him with tonight.

As if sensing my thoughts are on him, his baby blue eyes flick up and instantly he spots me. For a few seconds I have his whole attention. The smile falls off his lips and he runs his eyes over me from head to toe. Despite my best efforts I can feel a blush working its way over my cheeks. I’m well aware that my body has made some changes in the past year of high school. Almost overnight I grew boobs, after spending countless nights wondering if I fell on them on the ice one too many times and stunted their growth. I don’t think that’s actually a thing, but a few of the girls on my team worry about it.

With my best girlfriend, Emma, at my side, I manage to approach Reign. The people around us give me a wide berth, and a few of them snicker. I make myself stay put, pride pushing my back to straighten. I need to try. I need to give it one last shot, so my heart will know whether or not we let him go or keep hoping.

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