Page 10 of The Pucking Kiss

“Yes, my dear. I see so much of my daughter in you every single day. I know things must be tough for you right now at school, but you must remember that you come from a line of strong women. You must not let them win.”

I pursed my lips, considering her words carefully. “I don’t want to just ignore them, though. I’m tired of always being quiet.”

“Then, you must learn how to fight back.”

“But how?” my voice was desperate now. When I looked at my grandmother, I saw a wise woman. I wanted her to impart some of that wisdom to me, helping me get out of this mess that I was in.

“Well,” my grandmother paused for a moment as if she was searching for the right thing to say. “You must make your weakness into a strength.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“The things that are worth doing are always hard,” she remarked with a kind smile etched across her face. “I trust you to figure it out.”

“Thank you, Grandma,” I said, my voice choking up with emotion.

She patted my shoulder affectionately, “Now, wipe that frown away from your face. You are Romai, and you can get through this.”

Later, when it was time for bed, I lay awake in my bed, tossing and turning as my grandmother’s words echoed inside my brain.

You must turn your weakness into your strength.

I thought about my mother. If she was here, she would have wanted me to stand up for myself. I knew that I had to do it, even though it seemed too hard right now.

My biggest weakness had always been the fact that I was a loser at school. I was never popular enough to fit in with the cool kids, and I had never had a boyfriend. Kathy thought she could just use these things against me.

Suddenly, I stood up in bed. My mind was racing, and I had a revelation.

If getting through this meant that I had to transform my weakness into a strength, then I suddenly knew exactly what I had to do.

The next day, when I walked into school, I did not let the whispering get to me. This time, I had a plan. During lunch, I watched Bryan as he leaned against his locker. His tousled dark hair gave him a mysterious air around him. Even though he was the most popular guy in school and therefore unattainable to me, I knew that he was exactly the person I needed to help me get out of this mess I had found myself in.

Chapter 5

Bryan

“Come on, Bryan, pass it here,” my teammate Jake shouted at me from the other side of the ice rink, waving his stick in anticipation.

It was yet another practice match for ice hockey. As captain, I made sure to attend every practice and do my best.

I swiftly angled the puck toward my teammate and then shot it across the ice. But the opposing team was too quick, as one of their players intercepted it before it could be caught by Jake.

“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath, feeling the adrenaline pumping in my veins.

Not one to give up, I glided towards the puck, making my attack, and swiftly took control of it. The other team tried to catch up, but they failed in taking the control back from me.

I was just that good.

“Goal!”

My teammates shouted out in celebration as I scored the winning goal. A boastful grin tugged at my lips as the opposing team captain walked over towards me, looking annoyed.

“That’s fucked up, Bryan,” he said to me.

“Come on, now. Don’t be a sore loser.”

“How do you always make the winning score?”

It was true. Out of the hundreds of games I had played in my life, I had scored the winning shot for the majority of them. Onlookers thought that it was sheer luck that I was always to get the glory, but in reality, I had trained thousands of hours, trying to perfect my game so that I could make these shots look effortless.

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