Page 6 of On Thin Ice

His lips thinned and he took a step from the door, his hands in fists, and I blindly reached to the left of me, looking for something to protect myself with. How much protection could I find while I waited for a chaperone to find me?

Keep talking, bamboozle him with nonsense.

“I mean, I admire your ability to simplify complex topics down to one word, and I’m sure that is a valuable skill that will serve you well in your future endeavors.”

What am I even saying? Where is the chaperone?

“Whatever,” Miles snapped—his standard reply for whenever I used words with over two syllables. I’m not saying that the only reason he passed exams was by cheating, or that his family bought their way into him having an education, but it was true.

I shook my wet hands and glanced at the drier, which I wouldn’t use now, because if I did, I’d be in reach of Miles, who’d taken one more step closer. At least he was out of the path of the door, and if someone pushed it in, I could get out. He saw me checking out his position and smirked—rightly assessing I was planning to run, and I was probably scared.

Of course, I was freaking scared. I alternated between being brave and scared every damn day.

Someone banged the door, opening it enough to knock Miles in the back, and he stumbled forward. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was one of Soren’s dads, Jared, in the doorway, his grey eyes assessing the scene, taking in me, then Miles, and frowning.

“Boys?” he asked.

I didn’t hang around, darting past Miles and evading Jared’s outstretched hand, and headed out into the dance, right to the middle where no one could single me out. Soren was right there, Felix sashaying up close to him, and for a few moments, I reveled in having my friends near me.

Hell, Felix even smiled at me, and he was so high on life there wasn’t a hint of his usual guilt. I liked when he smiled as if we were just normal friends. I needed that tonight. I ignored everything and gave myself time to think about all the good things, like Soren and Felix, and Jared hovering close enough to make me think nothing could hurt me.

Best thing to do was to forget Miles.

I wishedI could forget Miles.

I’d tried so hard, but it had been a week since the dance, and every time I saw him I walked the other way. I’d already received three tardy slips, and detention was next because I was late to classes. Teachers never noticed the repercussions of real life on students—or at least none of mine did. Not one teacher asked me why I’d dyed out the pink from my hair and gone back to my normal color, or why I was so quiet. Not even Soren had noticed that I was quiet this week, but then, he had Felix, didn’t he?

Bitter, much?

What did I care? Since Miles had said he was going to make me pay, avoiding him was taking all my brain power. No one had come forward to own up to reporting him and Jonah, but the gossip had gone up a notch when a rumor started that it was Soren who’d turned them in. God knows who’d started the rumor, but Soren didn’t take it well, and I sensed a storm brewing around my best friend. I was tense waiting for the explosion, and concerned about meeting Miles, and my head wasn’t screwed on right at all. That was probably why I ended up inentirelythe wrong corridor atexactlythe wrong time, and walked straight into Jonah, who reached out to steady me, but wasn’t quick enough to catch me.

My breath stopped—if Jonah was here, was Miles with him?

“Tyler,” he blurted.

I retreated the way I had come, spotting Miles hanging around the art room and realizing my options were walking past him and his new group of cronies or dealing with Jonah. At least I had my hockey stuff to defend myself, and I knew exactly how to handle a stick, so Jonah had better leave me alone.

Chin up, shoulders back, I went with the lesser of two evils, turned smartly, and headed back past Jonah, calculating that if I cut across staff parking, I could make it to practice on time and not incur the wrath of Coach Sennett.

“You want to get coffee, or a hot chocolate, or something? With me I mean? So, we can talk?” Jonah said in a rush as he fell into step with me. What in hell?

I hurried my pace, but he was taller than me, and he kept level. “Go away.” It was easy for me to say that to Jonah; I guess because without Miles—and before him, Felix—he was easy to ignore. Jonah had never threatened me verbally, or hurt me, he’d just been there backing the others up, staring at me with his soulful dark eyes and shutting down whenever I caught his gaze.

He was insistent on talking to me now, though. “Just five minutes to—”

“No.” I upped my speed, deliberately letting my hockey stick tangle with his legs.

He stumbled as I got through a door and let it fall back in his face. Then I sprinted across the parking lot and made it to the locker room with a few moments to spare.

“Cutting it close, Tyler,” Shaun, our captain, commented.

“Sorry, got stuck with… stuff.”

Shaun took the team seriously, but I did as well. Hockey was my safe place. No one on this team messed with me. No one said I wasn’t good at my role on the wing alongside Soren. I wasn’t big; I didn’t hip check, I didn’t fall on pucks, but you bet, if they needed a sprint-speed skater to sweep up the right, I was there, and I was fast.

I’d been a Coyote from day one, and thanks to the one thing I’d inherited from my deadbeat dad—my hockey skills—I was a valuable member of the team.

Felix caught my gaze, grinned at me just a little too hard, then winced when Soren elbowed him in the side. Even Soren was getting pissed on my behalf that Felix was still on edge with me, but it wasn’t Soren’s place to be concerned about Felix worrying about me. I wanted Felix’s grin from the dance floor, the one that wasn’t dripping with guilt, the one where I’d moved on, and Felix had moved on, and we could be friends. And I didn’t want Soren trying to broker a new normal, because I already feared I was losing my best friend to his new boyfriend. We didn’t hang out as much or talk as often.

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