"Nora. Wake up. You’re famous."
I groaned, pulling the pillow over my head to block out the morning light and Priya’s voice. My whole body was still aching from yesterday’s skating disaster. My tailbone was throbbing, my left elbow was stiff, and my palms felt like sandpaper.
"Go away, Priya. I’m sleeping."
"No, you’re not," Priya said, ripping the pillow away. She was standing over my bed, waving her phone in front of my face. "Look at the campus gossip page. You’re trending."
I squinted at the screen, where a grainy, slow-motion video played on the campus forum. It captured the exact moment I sat on the ice, drew my arm back, and threw the rubber puck across the rink.
The video zoomed in just as it smacked Knox Sheridan dead center in the face.
The caption read: "Nerd Snipes Hockey Captain. Bridge of Knox’s nose shattered. Is the season over?"
"Oh my god," I whispered, sitting up so fast my back protested. "Who filmed that?"
"No idea, the page just posted it," Priya said, scrolling through the comments. "The whole campus is talking about it. Some of the hockey fans are calling for your head, and the rest are calling you a hero. You broke his nose, Nora!"
"I didn’t break his nose," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "I mean... I don’t think I did. He... he got in the way."
Before Priya could reply, my phone on the nightstand started vibrating. The screen lit up with Coach Brennan’s caller ID.
"Don’t answer it," Priya hissed. "He’s going to fire you."
"I have to answer it," I said with a dry throat as I swiped the screen and pressed the phone to my ear. "Coach Brennan, I..."
"Bennett! Get to the athletic administration building. Now!" Brennan’s voice was so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. He sounded completely panicked.
"Coach, I told you yesterday; the puck throw was an accident," I started. "I was aiming for..."
"It’s not about the puck, Nora!" Brennan shouted. "Knox just got into a massive fistfight in the student center! He punched Harold Orwell’s son, and Harold is threatening to sue and have Knox suspended for the season. If Knox gets suspended, your tutoring contract is voided. AD Pierce has called an emergency board meeting. You need to get over here right now!"
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone, my heart dropping straight into my stomach. If Knox got suspended, my three-thousand-dollar paycheck was gone. The bank’s foreclosure deadline was in less than a month.
"What’s wrong?" Priya asked, her expression turning serious.
"I have to go," I said, throwing the blankets off. "Knox got into a fight."
Ten minutes later, I was sprinting up the stairs of the athletic administration building. I pushed open the heavy glass doors to AD Pierce’s office, panting for breath.
The room was large and silent.
AD Pierce, a stern, gray-haired man, sat behind a massive oak desk. Coach Brennan was pacing near the window, chewing nervously on his thumbnail. Knox was sitting in one of the leather chairs, looking completely unbothered despite the fresh bandage on the bridge of his nose and the white gauze wrapped around his knuckles.
"Miss Bennett," AD Pierce said in a cold voice. "Take a seat."
I sat in the chair next to Knox. He didn’t look at me, but I could see his jaw clenching.
"We are discussing Knox’s future at this university," Pierce said, leaning forward. "Punching a fellow student is a severe violation of our conduct policy. It is grounds for immediate suspension, regardless of how many goals you score."
"And to make matters worse, he did it in the middle of the student center, and the student in question is Harold Orwell’s son, one of our primary boosters, and he is already demanding your head."
"He was harassing my girlfriend," Knox said flatly. "I was defending her."
I froze. My head snapped toward him with wide eyes. His what?
AD Pierce stopped, his brow furrowing. "Your girlfriend? You are dating someone?"
"Yes," Knox said, finally turning to look at me. His dark eyes were intense, filled with a desperate, warning glare that practically begged me to play along. "Nora Bennett."
Pierce turned his gaze to me. "Miss Bennett. Is this true? Are you in a romantic relationship with Knox Sheridan?"
My brain was screaming.
I looked at Knox’s bandaged nose, then at Coach Brennan, who had stopped pacing and was watching me with wide, panicked eyes. If I said no, Knox was suspended. The contract was void. The bakery was gone. My mom would lose everything.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my voice to sound steady. "Yes. It’s true. We’re dating."
AD Pierce leaned back, crossing his arms. He looked highly skeptical. "Dating? Miss Bennett, you literally threw a hockey puck at his face yesterday. It is all over the campus forums."
"Uhmm... it... it was a lover’s quarrel," I lied straight to his face. "We had an argument. I lost my temper."
Knox let out a muffled cough, pressing his hand to his mouth to hide what looked suspiciously like a smirk.
"A lover’s quarrel," Pierce repeated, looking from Knox to me as if contemplating if to believe that excuse or not. "I see. Well, if this is a genuine relationship, you will have no problem attending the Boosters Gala together in two weeks. If I see you together there, and Knox’s grades improve under your supervision, I will waive the suspension. But if I find out this is a sham to protect his eligibility, you will both face disciplinary action. Am I understood?"
"Understood," Knox said.
"Understood," I echoed.
"Good. Get out of my office," Pierce said.
The moment the office door closed behind us, I turned around to face Knox. Before he could say a word or I even thought about it, my hands moved to meet his cheek in a rush, landing a slap across his face.
SMACK!