Page 26 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
"I'm sorry I got us thrown out of class."
"Stop apologizing, and let's just get this over with." She walked into the front office and stopped at the secretary's desk. "We've been sent here by Mr. Thompson for talking in class."
Mrs. Fuller—the secretary—gave them a tight smile and pointed to a line of empty chairs near a closed door.
Jesse relaxed into a seat next to Charlotte, who sat with a rigid posture. Her leg bounced with nerves.
"Let me handle this, okay?" He knew how to deal with Principal Morgan. The guy was a big hockey fan. It was easier than if they’d been sent to see Vice Principal Madison. She was the nicer of the two, but the only sport she cared about at this school was surfing—thanks to her son, Nate, who’d gone pro.
Charlotte looked sideways at him. "If I were you, I'd have quit by now. Why do you still play?"
He thought for a moment. "Because when I'm on the ice, nothing else matters. I don't have to think about my responsibilities at home." He stopped himself. Only Roman knew what home was like—that he was basically raising his brothers and taking care of his dad. "There's no homework or relationships. It's just me and my teammates. Everything else fades away. I could never give up that feeling. I love the game."
Silence stretched between them before Charlotte spoke again. "It's like that for me too when I'm running a skating program. At least, it used to be."
"Are you trying to say we have something in common, Charlie?" He grinned.
"No."
"Yes, that's exactly what you said."
She shook her head but failed to suppress her smile. "You lose a lot."
"Thanks for reminding me."
She laughed. "What I meant to ask is why now? You're willing to lose face with the guys by telling them to take a lesson from me. They don't like me."
He couldn't refute it. He knew what most of them thought of her, but he also didn't care. "They might not like it, but some of these guys have never gotten to experience a win. Even a single one is a feeling that can never be taken away. It's like this tiny light in the darkness you can return to whenever you get lost. I want them to have that, to experience it. Sure, I'd love to win every game. But... I need to start with just one."
She stared at him. What did she see? Someone who'd gone off the deep end? A guy with giant delusions?
A single high school game meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
But it also meant everything.
"I think..." He held his breath when she paused. "You're a good captain, Jesse Carrigan."
A smile spread across his lips. "And I think that was a compliment, Charlie Morrison."
She hadn't taken her eyes from him when Principal Morgan opened his door and waved them inside.
8
Charlotte
Principal Morgan didn't speak as he rounded his desk and took a seat. He gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. Charlotte lowered herself to sit and clasped her hands in her lap, twisting them together as she forced breath into her lungs.
Jesse sat beside her, looking too relaxed for someone who was in the principal's office.
Charlotte's gaze bounced around the room from the cherry desk to the diploma hanging on the wall from Muskingum University, wherever that was.
She wanted to crawl under the desk and hide, to pretend this never happened.
If her mom found out...
She pushed a breath past her teeth and chewed on her lip. Jesse gave her a sideways grin.
Principal Morgan drummed his fingers on the top of his desk and directed his gaze at Jesse. "What class were you two kicked out of?"
