Page 9 of Until We Burn
A cold sweat breaks down my spine. My heart tenses. Suddenly, I’m sinking back into that time when nurses poked and prodded at me to find a drug that was never there, when journalists questioned me to make me confess to rumors that were never true. It’s been three years, and it still feels like I’m reliving those days over and over.
Buzzcut stares me down, his suspicions fueled by my breath coming out short and my hands shaking at my sides.
Rowan and Luke step in front of me.
“At least he’s here putting in the effort,” Rowan snaps. “Can’t say the same about you, though.”
“I’m doing more than he is,” Buzzcut scoffs.
“Are you?” Rowan challenges. “Because it looks like you just came here to run your mouth.”
“Fuck you?—”
Luke laughs. He shoves his hand against Buzzcut’s chest, pushing him back.
“You take one step closer, and your next workout will have all ofyour bones popping out of your mouth. Now, you don’t want that…do you, buddy?”
Buzzcut goes white. He gulps, shaking his head.
Luke nods.
“I thought so.” His smile falls, and his blue eyes darken. “Walk. Away.”
Buzzcut glares at me before he stalks off. My breath unhitches. I slouch against the cable machine, fighting to ground myself.
Luke claps a hand on my shoulder. “You alright there, man?”
I nod. “Y-Yeah. Thanks for defending me.”
“Hey, it’s not just shit we do on the ice, bro.”
“Don’t listen to that dick, alright?” Rowan claps his hand on my other shoulder, raising me back to my full height. “You know who you are, and so do we. That’s all that matters.”
I rub my hand over my jaw. “Do you think that’s why Diana was acting so weird around me?”
Luke shakes his head. “Come on, Kai. Diana Huang has too much shit on her plate to mull over fake news from three years ago.”
He has a point. Diana has always been untouchable. As weird as she was in class, Diana has no reason to give a fuck about me.
“You’re right,” I relent.
“Of course I am,” Luke boasts.
“Hey…” Rowan draws in close. “You remembered to take your meds this morning, right?”
“Yeah, I did.” I smile at him, relieved and grateful for how much he always cares. “Thanks for checking in.”
Rowan bumps my arm before he looks at the time on his watch. “Alright, guys, we gotta get to practice soon, or else Coach is going to lose his shit if we’re late.”
CHAPTER 4
DIANA
I havethe tempting urge to fling my laptop out the window.
The cursor on the Word document blinks tauntingly at me, demanding words I’ve been struggling to find since Monday when Mellonbaum assigned that stupid observation paper.
I turn to old issues of the Howler in my lap. I sift through Kai’s interviews for a sliver of inspiration, but they only touch on his skills, charity work, and how he began playing hockey. There’s nothing about who he is beyond the game. All I can find is a single line that delves into the significance of his name: Kainoa, the name his grandfather gave him to honor their Native Hawaiian roots. Te Aito, his Tahitian name that honors his grandmother’s side of the family. Mason-Maiau, his last name that honors his biracial identity.
