Alive

The boys were excused two hours before the end of their school day. Patrick waited outside with Jon for Nathan. They knew his math teacher never let him leave easily.
He ran out twenty minutes after they were excused, his hockey bag draped over his shoulder. Patrick shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest. Nathan licked his lips, a smirk forming on them. Pat looked at Jonathan who had a brow cocked at the kid walking towards them. Nathan wiped the smirk off his face.
"What was that about?" Pat nodded at him and opened the trunk.
Nathan just shook his head as he tossed his bag into the trunk. "Nothing. Just happy to see you guys."
He grinned as he stuck fit his sticks in. He closed the trunk. The three piled into Patrick's SUV. He started up as the guys situated themselves.
"What took you so long, kid?" Jon asked, staring at Nathan through the rear view mirror.
"I got caught up in something." He said with same reaction he had while walking towards them.
"Did you get a quicky before you came out?" Patrick laughed. Nathan smiled, looking out the window. "Well shit, who?"
"Uh, Kristen." Nathan explained. "In the back of our math class, actually."
Jonathan spun around with his jaw dropped. Pat was hooting and hollering from the front seat. He didn't know the kid had it in him. They arrived at the arena they were playing at faster than they should've. Patrick was a ruthless driver. They made it across town in under twenty minutes.
The guys all chatted as they got ready. Jonathan glared at Nathan who was mumbling to some other guys about his events with Kristen. He tapped his stick. Sidney walked in with his yellow crocs. He sat down near Jon. Jon took a deep breath.
He leaned into Sidney. "Nathan's,"
"Boys, we have a tough game ahead of us." Coach interrupted. "This team had a win almost as big as ours last week. Majority of the team are seniors. We need to play strong and shoot." He said. He looked at the paper in his hand. "We're gonna go with Jeff, Sid, Beau, Olli, and Nathan. Marc in net. Let's go boys."
They all cheered when the coach walked out. Sidney stood up for their pregame speech. He looked over his team. He knew they could kill this team. Sherwood Park was always their rival. He knew most of the guys were aware of this, from older brothers and prior games. He looked to the rookies mostly as he spoke.
"Sherwood is out biggest challenge out of all the teams. We need to play aggressive offence and tight defense and we can win this without a problem." He began. "How you feeling tonight, Marc?"
"Like I could save a couple shots." Marc shrugged.
"We're gonna need more than that. You know how Sherwood is." Sid said. Marc nodded.
"Anyone have anything else to add?"
"Let's get the dub!" James shouted, referring to 'the win'.
The game started and it was aggressive. Sherwood Park went hard on them. They were hitting and shooting as soon as the period started. Luckily, the Dogs kept themselves together. They made just as many hits and double the amount of shots. The first ended without a point on the board.
The second was more aggressive. Sidney, the guy who always kept his cool, even got into a shoving match with some guy on the other team. They both got penalties. The second ended the same as the first.
The third period was quick paced. By the end of regulation, the game was still scoreless. Overtime fixed nothing. The game resulted in a shoot out.
"This is the worst experience of my life." Kaitlyn whined, standing against the glass.
Patrick stepped onto the ice. He gave her a wink before he skated over to opposite side of the ice. He took a deep breath and then skated to the puck. He did some stick handling tricks before going top shelf. The girls cheered and banged on the glass. He sent a nod to Kaitlyn. She sighed.
"That's so fucking bullshit." Kristen huffed as the Sherwood player poked the puck in under Marc.
"Marc was down!" Ainsley screamed, kicking the boards.
She groaned in pain afterwards, bending down to grab her foot. Felicia swung her hand to get her attention and wound up smacking her in the face. Ainsley growled and stood, looking at her.
"What?" She hissed.
"Jamie's going." Felicia explained.
Ainsley's head flicked to the eyes. Jamie had his A-Game face on. He licked his lips before skating to the puck. He started fast then slowed it down. He deked high before he tapped it in. The girls all pounded on the glass. Sherwood matched that goal with their own.
Sid sighed, hopping onto the ice. He looked over to where his sister and her friends stood. He looked over each of them while he waited for the ref's 'okay'.
He saw Kristen watching him while the two to her right were on their phones. He got to Ainsley who was watching him intently. He shook that off and looked to Felicia who looked angry. The whistle was heard and Sidney went. He got an easy goal. Deked before he went five hole.
He skated past the girls. He locked eyes with Ainsley who was smiling at him as he cheered. He shook his head, still not understand why she had a crush on him since they were young.
And again, Sherwood matched Sidney's goal. Coach looked down the bench. His eyes landed on number eleven. He tapped him on the head. Brendan looked up and the coach gestured for him to go.
Brendan hopped over the bench in a second. He skated to where all the other guys did. He looked up and saw Felicia with her forehead pressed to the glass. He smiled before the whistle blew.
"I swear to god, if he gets this, I'll let him take me in front of all the guys in the change room." Felicia mumbled.
Jocelyn widened her eyes at her. "Two of those guys are your brothers." She gasped.
"Fuck. Okay, not in the change room. But I'll give it up really easily." She corrected.
"You've never done it?" Jocelyn laughed. "Obviously we've done it. I just always make him put up a,"
The puck hit the back of the net. Felicia pounded on the glass like a mad women. Brendan skated past her, chewing on his mouth guard. She nearly moaned.
Sherwood went, and Marc made a beautiful save. Boos were heard from the stands. Only a few Bulldog fans had made the trip. All the guys piled around Marc. The girls all cheered, hugging each other. Selena and Valerie made their way over to them from the stands.
"Hey, Ainsley," Selena called.
Ainsley let out a groan as she spun around. "Yes?" "
Tell Marc he played great in net." Selena smiled.
Ainsley furrowed her eyebrows. "Okay. What do you want from me?" She crossed her arms.
"I'm tired of all the drama. I want to be cool with you girls. I just want to hang out with you five." Selena gestured.
"It'd probably help if you weren't always such a bitch." Felicia shrugged and Kristen covered her mouth.
"We can try. Just don't fuck us over." Kristen stated.
"No intentions to. Val likes you guys so you must be fun." Selena grinned.
"Why wouldn't Val like us? We're with him all the time." Ainsley cocked a brow, referring to Val on the team.
"No, Ainsley. Me." Valerie sighed from beside Selena.
"Wow." Kristen spat out, shaking her head at her friend.
"So, like, truce?" Selena asked.
"I d,"
"Yes, truce." Kaitlyn cut in.
Selena waved as she walked away. Everyone turned to Kaitlyn, questioning why she did that. She shook her head.
"She's crazy. I wanted her to go away." Kaitlyn admitted.
"You don't even know the half of it, Kaitlyn." Jocelyn laughed.
The other three agreed as they set off for the change room. The boys were quick to change. Brendan came out and pulled Felicia into a long kiss. Ainsley made gagging noises beside them. Felicia glared while Brendan smirked, holding Felicia against him. Marc came out of the room and Ainsley jumped on him.
Kristen stood, scrolling on her phone. Nathan walked over. She looked up at him. He let out a sigh before he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back as he kissed the side of her head. She watched over his shoulder. Beau walked out. He nodded at her as he walked past. Something about his nod made Kristen pull away from Nathan. Nathan cocked a brow at her and she just pecked his lips. It still felt wrong.
Jon walked out, his arms in the air. All the girls watched him. He looked around at everyone standing in the area. He registered who was there to make sure he was okay with announcing this in front of them.
"Jon, speak." Ainsley growled.
He met her eyes and smirk. She rolled hers. "Party at my house tonight. You," He pointed to her. "Are invited, pretty lady. All of you are invited. Hope you can make it."
Pat came out and shoved him. "No one wants to party with you, but I'll be there so it's okay everyone." He teased.
Jon nudged Patrick as he walked back into the change room. He spotted Kaitlyn standing with Jocelyn and Ainsley. Her eyes met his and he smiled. He walked over, plopping his bag down beside her. He put his sticks on top of his bag before standing up, in front of her.
"Did you see the nice shoot out goal I got you?" He grinned.
"That was for me?" She quizzed. He nodded. "That was sweet of you."
She pushed onto her toes and pecked his cheek. Pat laughed at how innocent she was. He smiled down at her, placing a hand on the wall behind her so he could lean on it.
"Are you going to Jon's tonight?" He asked. "I don't know."
She shrugged. "Are you?" She looked at Ainsley and Jocelyn.
Jocelyn shrugged at her. "Morgan's not going so is there a point?"
"I'll hang out with you if you don't." Kaitlyn smiled.
"Oh no, you're going tonight." Patrick stated to her.
She turned her head back to him and crossed her arms. "And why is that?"
"Because I get really handsy when I drink and there's only one girl I want to get handsy with." He moved held up his hands and wiggled his fingers.
Kaitlyn laughed, shaking her head. "I'm only going if Jocelyn does. Can't leave one of my girls alone." Kaitlyn looked to her friends.
"Jocelyn's going." Ainsley said. "I'll drag her there."
Pat winked at Ainsley as a 'thank you'.
"Well, guess I'll find you tonight?" He offered to Kaitlyn. "
No, I'll find you when I'm ready." She smirked.
"What does that mean?" He laughed, nervously.
"Don't wait around all night, Pat." She winked before she walked off.
Okay, not that innocent. Patrick followed her with his eyes. She walked over to her parents who were waiting for her and Tom. Tom came out and saw Patrick watching his sister. He rushed over there. Kaitlyn looked back at Pat and waved before she sent another wink.

Notes