Not Everything Melts (eBook)

Nicholas Acosta (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
298 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-0673-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Hockey is everything in Cherry Grove, Wisconsin. So when superstar Thomas Maxwell-Pruitt arrives from California, the whole town is on alert. It's been years since Cherry Grove North last hoisted the State Trophy, and their hopes of winning are finally starting to feel real again. But a new friendship with the team manager, Alexis Tate, is dredging up emotions and a past that Thomas hasn't wrestled with in a long time. Meanwhile, Alexis is wrestling with college applications, her senior year, and so much more. As the temperature between them heats up, the ice begins to thin. Will Thomas and Alexis be able to hold on? Or like so many things, will their friendship melt away?

Textauszug

Chapter 2

TMP

“Are you sure you can get to school by yourself?” Thomas’ father asked, passing his black leather briefcase between hands in the doorway.

“You mean the big building up the road?” Thomas replied. “Yeah, I think I’ll manage.”

“Alright, Smartass. Have a good first day.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’m going to check out the ice arena after school. Is that alright?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” his father assured him. “Maybe you’ll meet some friends from the hockey team. If I get out of work early, I’ll try to meet you there.”

Thomas had gotten around on his own back in San Francisco. He rode the bus by himself for the first time when he was twelve and knew the routes inside and out. He had navigated his way around the city with ease, to school, to the ice arena, downtown. Why should this be any different?

Growing up, his parents both had been consumed with their work and the ice arena was close enough to his school that it had become his second home. Before school. After school. He was there every day. If the lunch period at St. Alexander Prep had been any longer, Thomas probably would have spent it on the ice instead of eating with his friends in the cafeteria.

Friends? Thomas wondered. He stood up from the kitchen table and rinsed his cereal bowl in the sink. I don’t know the first thing about kids in Wisconsin.

Thomas had great friends in San Francisco, people that he had grown up with in the Legends Ice Arena youth program. Some of them had even texted him over the past few days to check in and make jokes about him becoming a farmer. He missed them, but there was no sense in letting the past prevent him from creating a life for himself in Wisconsin.

All the stress of the move had conveniently distracted Thomas from what would come next, but there was no avoiding it now. Today felt like the first day of his new life in Wisconsin. With a confident stride uphill, he took a deep breath and tried to bury his worries as he cut across the leaf-covered front lawn. Nervousness wouldn’t serve him today.

“See you later!” he called back to his father pulling out of the driveway, California license plates still dressing the front and back of their car.

The grassy front yards and trees of Cherry Grove were covered in a cascade of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Fall was late in season and the leaves were being sorted in bags and piles along the sidewalk. Thomas casually kicked up a scattering of leaves on the sidewalk as his new school came into view up the road.

Just a half mile from his home, Thomas embraced the convenient walk with confidence. Pavement beneath his feet, he took a deep breath of the brisk Wisconsin air and pulled his backpack up onto his shoulders. Whatever lay ahead, whoever he would meet, Thomas was intent on making the most of his new surroundings.

He marched through the school parking lot and joined the crowds of students congregating near the front entryway. They gathered in large conversation clusters outside, proudly displaying the school colors of red and white on their clothing. A giant bronze eagle stood tall in front of the doors outside and welcomed him to his new school.

The environment hardly lacked in school spirit, a sight that was more and more reminiscent of home with each passing student dressed head to toe in red. Cherry Grove North Basketball. Cherry Grove North Soccer. Cherry Grove North Football. Sports mattered here and, by the looks of it, the entire school was on board.

Thomas wandered past the giant bronze eagle statue, now showing all of the awkward uncertainty of a new student. Caution hung on his every move and his confidence waned. He pushed on the pull doors to enter school, stood for too long in the entryway as students whizzed past him, and looked nervously around for any indication of where the attendance office was located.

The large square tiles of the hallway were a speckled white, with red flecks of color scattered throughout. The heavy brick walls, painted white, made the hallways look sterile and plain, save for the single red stripe and cherry red lockers that spanned the full length of the hall. The onlooking students sized him up as they brushed past him on both sides. He tried to project confidence, but he could feel their curious glances and suspicious looks descend upon him.

In this small of a town, it was hard for anyone to blend in or go unnoticed. The arrival of a new student was a big deal at Cherry Grove North, especially when that new student stood in the school entryway wearing a Bauer-branded hockey jacket. Thomas hadn’t intended on drawing attention to himself or announcing himself as a hockey player, but it was the only warm jacket that he owned. To the rest of the students, however, his arrival was exciting news.

After lingering awkwardly in the front foyer, Thomas turned an immediate right after noticing the school welcome desk. “Cherry Grove North High School, Home of the Eagles,” was prominently displayed in bright red block letters across its oak-stained wooden facade. A middle-aged, blonde-haired woman sat attentively, smiling as she scanned the halls for visitors in her light blue button-down shirt.

“Hi there!” she greeted him. Her round vowels boasted the fullness of her Midwestern accent. The sound reminded him of the Canadian coaches that came down to run hockey camps in San Francisco during the off season.

“You look a little lost there,” the woman continued. “Can I help you?”

“Hi,” Thomas replied nervously. “Yes please. My name is Thomas Maxwell-Pruitt. I’m a new student here.”

The woman sifted through a stack of red folders on the welcome desk and pulled out a single sheet of paper with Thomas’ name printed across the top. He could make out little details across the page, like his hometown, his previous school, and the answers to a questionnaire he had filled out when he first submitted his admissions packet in the mail. The questionnaire had asked for things like his hobbies, favorite foods, and other conversation starters designed to ease his transition to Cherry Grove North.

“Oh sure,” the woman said cheerfully. “We’ve been expecting you! Your student ambassador will be… Oh, it’s Taylor Moore. You’ll love her. Just a moment.”

The woman stood up from her chair and came around the front of the welcome desk. She started down the hallway and gestured for Thomas to wait with a single raised hand and finger while she scanned the crowds of students and disappeared into the hallway.

Thomas leaned back against the desk and tried to occupy himself. He set his hands on the leather mat stretched across the desktop, beside a mug filled with Cherry Grove North pens and pencils and a tower of folders stacked neatly next to the woman’s computer monitor.

Glancing around the school, he took note of his peers. If they weren’t wearing the school colors of red and white, they all wore either flannel shirts or camo hunting attire. They looked like they had just come out of the woods. A boy walked by and tipped his forward-facing Milwaukee Brewers baseball cap in Thomas’ direction. A girl in a heavy, camo hunting jacket smiled at him as she hurried by, clearly late for something but willing to offer a subtle welcome his direction.

Thomas had never even seen a hunting rifle before, let alone fire one. He couldn’t begin to imagine going out into the woods and shooting something, but maybe that was the thing here. There were some branded clothes like Hollister or Abercrombie, but the scattering of heavy work boots, camo Mossy-Oak attire, and Wisconsin sports caps stood out to him.

There’s so much camo everywhere, Thomas said to himself.

Exhaling audibly, he cleared his throat and looked beyond the students in the hallway. A series of plaques and banners hung proudly above the endless string of lockers that lined the walls. Thomas scanned them closely and took in the array of school accolades and accomplishments immortalized on the walls.

Most of the sports teams boasted at least one State Championship at some point in the school’s history, but none could match the long list of state titles that hung for the hockey team. Thomas smiled, embracing a moment of relief, and turned back to look for the welcome desk attendant.

The woman was returning with a young girl, who walked with an excited smile toward him. She was cute. Her light brown hair swayed from side to side in loose, natural curls lay across a lace-trimmed tank top beneath a brown sweater. She was staring at him with a warm intensity that made Thomas blush, and he searched frantically for the right thing to say as she approached. He opened his mouth to speak, but the attendant beat him to it.

“Thomas, this is Taylor Moore,” the welcome desk attendant said. “Taylor, this is Thomas Maxwell-Pruitt from California.”

The girl took a confident step toward him and held out her hand. “Hi!” she offered. “Welcome to Cherry Grove North!”

“Thanks,” he replied, shaking it awkwardly. “Nice to … umm … meet you.”

“Come on. I’ll show you around.”

Taking Thomas’ information sheet in hand, she led him down the main hallway and began to describe the layout of the school. She pointed to the computer labs, the freshman lockers, the gymnasium, the art room. Thomas tried to listen, but she spoke so quickly that it was hard to commit any of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.8.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-0673-8 / 9798350906738