The arena was alive.
Deafening chatter and cheers vibrated through the building, making the metal bleachers quake with every stomp of the students’ feet.
Above mid-ice, the scoreboard flickered.
3-3.
Thirty seconds left in the third period.
Thirty seconds was all that was between victory and defeat.
No student was sitting.
They all were standing; one motioned, eyes fixed on the ice in fear that a blink would miss the winning play.
Cameras were taken out one after another, desperately searching for a shot to end up on the front page the following day.
Carter Vance knelt low at the face-off dot, gripping his stick, his blades making shallow incisions into the ice as he set his posture.
A steady breath despite the burn in his legs and a pulsing drumming in his ears.
He had never backed away from pressure.
It fed him.
The more the crowd screamed, the more focused he was.
He wasn’t worried.
Never had the puck been so close to his blade.
“Carter!” Ethan shouted, wagging off two defensemen along the wall.
Carter’s grip tightened as he backpedaled, reading the play.
Ethan wrestled the puck free with a push of his shoulder and cast a look towards his winger.
“It’s open!” he called, slipping a pass in between a gap in the defense.
Carter’s skates carved into the ice as he shot forwards, weaving past people until the puck landed flat on his blade.
He caught a glimpse of the net out of his peripheral vision, carving to a stop and shooting a glance at the clock.
Fifteen seconds.
A defenseman shot forward, stick low, angling to knock him off the puck.
Carter shifted his weight onto his back edge, dropping his shoulder, slipping the hit by half a second.
The defenseman’s stick shot past his hip.
Another player all but shot forward, but Carter was ready, the puck heavy and waiting on his blade.
He sent a wrist shot towards the top corner.
Time slowed.
The crowd fell silent as the puck spun through the air in a slow, deliberate arc, the whole arena holding their breath at the same time.
Then, the red light behind the net burned.
The buzzer tore through the silence like a gunshot, and the arena erupted.
Students spilled out of the bleachers, screaming and hugging each other.
Carter barely registered his skates hitting the ice before his teammates pounced onto him, lifting him onto their shoulders.
“We won!” someone shouted.
“I knew you were gonna score!”Ethan yelled, slapping his glove against Carter’s helmet.
“Now we are qualified for the main tournament,” said Jake
“Carter!” “Carter!” “Carter!”
His name rolled through the crowd in waves.
“Carter, Carter, Carter!” his teammates chanted, throwing their helmets into the air and knocking their heads together like a pack of overgrown children.
He laughed with them, adrenaline surging through his veins, and for a few minutes nothing in the world could touch him.
This was what he lived for.
Finally, he broke away from the pile and yanked off his helmet, dragging a hand through his damp, black, messy hair.
He allowed himself to have the moment, just for a few seconds before the feeling was ripped from him by something else.
Something else took his attention.
The cheer squad was finishing their concluding routine near mid-ice, blue and silver pom-poms glinting under the girls’ lights as the girls hit their final formation.
Each of them had a grin plastered across their face.
Except one.
Maya Lin didn’t seem surprised at all by the outcome.
She never did.
While the rest of the squad shrieked and searched the crowd for their friends, Maya was composed, gracefully sliding through the routine with the same practiced grace she brought to everything.
She didn’t chase the spotlight.
She didn’t have to.
Surrounded by chaos, she carried herself like she already knew how it would end.
Carter’s mouth curved without him really meaning it to.
Not his usual smirk the one he wore for the cameras, the one that came out when he scored.
This one was smaller, quieter.
A smile he probably wouldn’t let anyone see if his teammates weren’t crowded around him, too busy celebrating to notice.
It was a smile that said I see you, and nothing else.
Maya’s eyes found his across the rink.
Neither of them moved.
He didn’t wink nor throw her his usual grin.
He looked at her and allowed himself to mean it.
She held his gaze for half a second too long before glancing away.
He did the same.
Neither of them said a word; they didn’t need to.
The locker room was the opposite of the arena; same noise, different key.
Music blared from someone’s speaker and half the team was pounding their palms against the lockers to the beat.
Carter dropped onto the bench and peeled his jersey over his head, tossing it towards his stall.
“You really bailed us out tonight,” Ethan said, chucking a towel at his chest.
“That’s usually how it goes,” Carter replied, catching it and wiping down his face.
The whole room groaned in unison.
“See, that right there,” Ethan said, shaking his head.
“Your confidence should be studied, scientifically.”
“What?” Carter asked, all wide-eyed innocence.
“I’m just stating facts.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Ethan said, laughing despite himself.
“I’m not arrogant if I’m usually right,” Carter said, grinning.
The room erupted into laughter and groans in equal measure.
Unfortunately for all of them, he usually was.
Maya let herself into her apartment, grateful for the quiet after the arena noise.
Her keys jingled once before she set them down.
She went upstairs, knocked on the first door, and opened it.
She glanced around the room; it was mostly pink and white.
“Oh, she’s not home yet,” she said.
Maya then headed to her room, which was normal compared to the previous one she entered.
She placed her bag by her desk and headed for the shower.
Maya entered the bathroom and took off the cheerleading outfit she had on, a burnt orange panty and bra.
She took off those and stepped into the shower.
The hot water ran down her back, washing away the last bit of tension from the night.
She always loved coming to the games, not for the players or the noise but for the order underneath all of it.
The precision.
Every player had a role.
Every movement had a purpose.
She turned off the water, dried herself off, and changed into a shirt and shorts.
As she walked to her room, she glanced at her roommate’s room and smiled; she already knew exactly where her roommate was going to spend the night.
She’d ask about it tomorrow anyway.
The next morning the science building buzzed with its usual chaos; students hurrying between classes, coffee cups in hand, voices bouncing off the walls.
Maya arrived early, as always, and slid into her usual seat near the front of Physics Hall.
She laid out her things in order: notes, pencils, calculator.
Everything in its place.
Professor Hale strode in a few minutes later and immediately began filling the whiteboard with equations.
Maya copied each line as they appeared.
Physics was simple to her, like hockey.
Problems had answers.
Equations had rules.
Nothing was left to chance.
Unlike people.
“Girl,” Olivia whispered, nudging her.
Maya didn’t respond, too caught in her notes.
“Girl,” Olivia said again, louder this time.
Still nothing.
“Maya.”
That got her attention.
She finally looked up.
“Sorry, were you saying something?”
Olivia had giant sunglasses on, despite being indoors, and an expression that could only be described as thrilled with herself, and she had a ice coffee in her hand.
“You never came back last night,” Maya said quietly.
“I stayed at a party,” Olivia admitted.
“I figured,” Maya said, unbothered.
“And -” Olivia leaned in close, lowering her voice so only Maya could hear.
“I met someone.”
That got Maya’s attention for real.
She turned, curious.
“Oh?”
“I think I’m gonna see him again,” Olivia said, practically glowing.
Maya smiled.
“I’m happy for you.” Olivia passed her and took her seat that was beside Maya.
Olivia propped her chin on her hand and studied her best friend for a moment.
“You know,” she said, “you’re smart, you’re gorgeous, you’re kind”
She paused, lips twitching.
“-and somehow you’ve decided dating is a waste of time.”
“I’m focused on graduating,” Maya said, eyes returning to her notes.
“Oh, come on,” Olivia teased.
“My reasons are better than yours,” Maya shot back, not looking up.
“They’re boring,” Olivia said.
“So.”
Olivia leaned in again, grinning.
“What about Carter Vance?”
Maya’s head snapped up like she’d been slapped.
“Ew,” she said immediately.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Wow,” a deep voice said from behind her.
“Is that really how you feel?”
Maya turned around slowly.
Carter Vance leaned against the back of her chair, arms crossed over his chest, a few of his teammates lingering beside him, clearly enjoying the show.
“So I’m really that horrible?” he asked, pressing a hand to his chest in mock devastation.
For possibly the first time in years, Maya Lin had nothing to say.
Beside her, Olivia clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Carter’s grin widened even more.
Somehow, against all odds, he had managed to catch Maya Lin off guard.