Page 6 of Goalies Don't Date Ice Princesses

“I know you do,” I said. “But I promise I’m doing okay. Not just okay but great. My grades are fantastic, skating’s going well—” That was a little more debatable but I wasn’t going to say that to them, “—and I’m living with Adelynn again, so you don’t have to worry about me hating my roommate or anything.”

I couldn’t blame my mom for worrying about me when I was away, but it did get a little grating after a while. I tried to reassure her as much as I could, but she didn’t know how to stop worrying. It was just her nature.

“How’s Adelynn doing?” Dad asked. Hallelujah for getting the attention off me. Since Adelynn and I had become best friends so early on, my parents had met her hundreds of times and pretty much loved her like a second daughter. Of course, that meant Mom worried about her too because that was just what she did, but I didn’t think Adelynn minded.

“She’s great,” I said. “We both found the move from Sinclair to Westwood a little jarring but it’s going great now. There aren’t any kitchens open to students here unless you’re in a class or a club that needs them, and you know how much Adelynn likes to bake, so she started a baking club. I’m in it with her.”

“Just the two of you?” Dad asked.

“No, we had to have three and one had to be a boy, so we asked the only guy we know. His name’s Jasper, he’s the quarterback of the football team.” I glanced around the room quickly to make sure Adelynn wasn’t hiding anywhere, even though I was certain she was over on Sinclair’s campus right now. Her mom was the headmistress there, so she went over for dinner every Saturday night along with her siblings. “And I’ll bet you fifty bucks that she and Jasper will be dating by the end of the semester.”

Dad chuckled. “Playing matchmaker, are you?”

“Me?” I asked innocently. “I would never.”

I had been the one to suggest we ask Jasper to be part of the club, but that wasn’t my only reason for doing it. The simple fact of the matter was that Adelynn and I hardly knew any guys so there weren’t many options to pick from. Archer had been my first suggestion but Adelynn had rightly pointed out that there was no chance of him joining a baking club of all things. So, Jasper was my next suggestion because he was the only other guy we knew and he clearly really liked her. And if he was in the club anyway, why not see what would happen, right?

“And how about you?” Mom asked. “Any Westwood boys catch your fancy?”

“No,” I sighed. “I don’t think that’s in the cards for me. Not this year, at least.”

“You know Bri, hon,” Dad said. “Always focused on skating. No time for anything or anyone else.”

Mom laughed and I laughed along with them but an empty feeling gnawed its way into my heart as I did. He was right—all I had time for was skating. And until recently, I’d been fine with it. Loved it, even. But now… I wasn’t sure skating was enough for me.

* * *

While I waited for Adelynn to get home from her dinner with her mom and siblings on Saturday, I laid down on the floor and read a magazine. To make myself feel like I was actually doing something and not just lying around for no reason, I held my legs in the air and moved them in the flutter kick motion to turn it into one of the abs exercises we did at skating practice every day. But I only got to read a couple of pages of the magazine before Adelynn came back in.

“How was dinner?” I asked, rolling up to a sitting position on the floor.

“It was fine,” Adelynn replied, grinning. “But something interesting happened on the way home.”

I threw my magazine aside and eagerly propped myself up on my elbows. “Tell me everything.”

She sank into her desk chair. “Low on gossip lately?”

“It’s so weird,” I admitted. “Normally, there’s constant drama on the skating team, but this year? So boring.”

Probably because everyone was too occupied with the school change to cause any drama.

“Maybe it will pick up soon,” Adelynn suggested. “Calm before the storm?”

“I hope so,” I said, but I didn’t have high hopes. “Anyway, tell me what’s going on!”

Adelynn began, “So, a couple of weeks ago, I was walking home from Sinclair. It was late too, almost ten o’clock. Not exactly an adult social hour, right?”

“Right…” I said, trying to figure out where she was going with this.

“Well, I noticed someone walking over to the faculty building,” she continued. “A man. An adult man.”

“One of the teachers?” I suggested.

“Nope,” she shook her head. “Mr. Jamison.”

My eyes widened. “What would he be doing at Sinclair?”

“That’s what I thought too,” she said. “Especially on a Saturday night. But anyway, I figured it was just some weird one-off. Like maybe he forgot something at their faculty building when he was there for a meeting or something. But then—” She hit the arm of her chair with her hand, “—I saw him again today!”

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