Cole and I walk to our next class, then after is lunch. I don't really want Cole around, but he has not let me out of his sight. I tried to walk away once, to find my own seat in class, and he grabbed my arm and pulled me to his table, making one of his friends move away to the seat I wanted to originally take.
My sister finds me in the lunchroom. She's with her hockey friends while I sit with Cole, where he's waiting for the rest of the team to come in. She stands in front of them, like she's already their leader, and they all stare down at me.
"Hey, how's your day going? Mine has been great", she smirks. Then looks to Cole and smiles. "Mere, I thought you didn't like hockey, because I see you warmed up to it". Cole smirks.
"Cara, this is Cole, center for the boys team. Been in some of my classes today". I turn to Cole. "This is the infamous Cara, my hellish sister".
"Ah, yes, we met this-"
Not even a second later, what seems like hundreds, of hockey and football players rush in a group into the lunch room. There was only about 30 of them. I notice Cara leave a moment after that. I breathe a sigh of relief.
They all call at the same time: "Bengals are number one" Everyone cheers and hollers loudly.
The hockey player rush to us at the sight of Cole, leaving the football jocks to their own thing. "Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy!" They all yell. I recognize a few from classes this morning.
They crowd around me and Cole. A few fight over sitting next to me. They push and pull each other out of their way for the seat. They finally settle on an older boy, probably a junior or senior, with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.
He introduces himself, "Hi Princess, I'm Noah". He goes around and introduces everybody else as they settle into seat around the table. "That's Colby, Dillon, Sampson, Trevor", and the list goes on and on as he goes around introducing me to everyone else. "And of course you know Cole, our captain".
Faking being stunned, and frankly just being sarcastic, I turn to Cole and start flailing my hands in mockery , "Oh. My. God. I can not believe my new bestie, Cole Anderson, is the captain". The whole table laughs at my words. He just rolls his eyes.
I sit in silence listening to things about this hell we people call hockey. They talk about their upcoming season and how they're going to win a state championship two years in a row.
Just before the bell, they all turn to me. "You coming to the game tonight, Princess?" Noah asks from beside me.
I think no for a moment, because, you know, it's hockey. I don't know how it would go. "Yeah, sure, why not. But don't ask me to enjoy it". They start to laugh. But soon realize I'm being serious.
Cole turns to me, "wait, what?"
"I can't stand hockey. It's always too cold in the rink, and I don't understand why people love it so much". Their wide eyes just stare at me. My little white lie.
"Why are you here? Nobody who dislikes hockey is allowed at this table! Ev-er", Noah says.
"It's Captain's fault. He wanted to be friends. I just followed. And I did tell him this morning that I didn't like it", and that was just an understatement.
A few guys get up and hit Cole over the back of the head. I just laugh. "Yes, of course I will be there, you guys are my new friends, I will support you no matter how much pain I go through", once again, Sarcasm. Well, kind of.
The bell rings. Cole, a few other sophomores, and I walk to our next class, Global Studies with Mrs. Franklin. I get my earbuds out of my locker and walk with Cole the rest of the way. I really just want Cole to leave me be, but there's no chance of that happening anytime soon.
Cole introduces me to our teacher and shows me to a seat by him and his hockey friends. They all greet me, I just smile politely and focus on our teacher.
Mrs. Franklin looks like she is stuck in the 1960's. Jessica Franklin, looking to be only in her 30's, wears a lavender purple mid-calf length skirt with matching shirt and sweater. I like the style of the outfit in a way, but this is the 21st century. The best part of the outfit is her shoes. Chuck Taylor Converse. Chucks. The only type of shoe I like to wear. I have at least 20 pairs. Each a different color or pattern. Hers are lavender, to match her already purple attire. What is with all these teachers looking like Sandy from Grease?
The bell rings 58 minutes later and Cole rushes me out. I don't know why, but I don't really care. It looked like Mrs. Franklin wanted to talk, and I wasn't ready for that.
Next class is AP art, which I don't have with Cole. He walks me to the art room.
"Good bye hockey player wannabe", he laughs, giving a smirk. I roll my eyes.
"Good bye hockey boy". I say. He grabs my wrist for a split second, realized what he did and quickly walks down the hall to where ever he needs to go. He seemed embarrassed. I laugh a little as he turns the corner down the hall.
Mrs. Abraham greets me the second I walk in the door. She is short, maybe 5'2".
"You must be Meredith. I'm Mrs. Abraham, your art teacher. I have looked through your art file from your school back in Michigan, and that's why you are in AP". I'm confused. My old school keeps your art in a file? Do all schools do that? "Our school believes that art is just as important as academics and sports, so we have an AP art class".
She shows me over to a table near the front of the room. I grab a piece of paper from a shelf in the back of the room, and my very expensive drawing pencils from my backpack, and start to draw.
As class comes to an end, and I have actually met a girl, who isn't a hockey player. Her name is Sam. She's a junior, a year ahead of me. Her current project of a melting city is exceptional work, clearly showing why she's in AP Art class.
I put my drawing pencils away, I hear a knock on the window in the door. I turn to see Cole motioning for me to the door. I ignore him until he walks in. Mrs. Abraham is shocked when he does, but doesn't really care.
He notices all the girls in my class who swoon. "Hey Baby", I realize he is talking to me. I feel his arm move around my shoulder. I tense. "Ready to go? We need to meet the boys for study hall in the gym for extra hockey practice".
Mrs. Abraham excuses us a few minutes before the bell. We walk down the hall to the gym. All of the guys faces light up when they see us.
By now, Cole's arm is long gone from around my shoulder. I pushed him off me a few feet out of the art room. I heard a few girl scream in excitement as we leave the classroom. I looked up to Cole, who was quite happy with that outcome.
The guys look up at me.
"Hey new girl!"
Edited: 2/24/22
YOU ARE READING
Just Another Goal (Counting on Hockey #1)
Romance*Book one of the Counting on Hockey series* To Meredith, watching hockey was torture. But her sister was a hockey player. She wanted nothing to do with hockey, even thinking about it made her angry. But she had her reasons. Starting 10th grade at a...
