Flashback to the Past

Lillian stepped through the doors of the high school that she had passed by a million times over the past five years. As it closed behind her, she felt as if there were many eyes on her and a silence had fallen over every student. She continued to walk, trying not to trip and fall in front of all of the judging eyes of her new peers. She made her way over to where her locker was and dialed the combination to open it.

As she started to put her binder in there, she could feel someone come up behind her. She turned around to see a girl smiling at her. She was a few inches taller than her with long, mid-back length snowy hair and crystal blue eyes. She knew this young woman. It was her best friend since she was five years old and her neighbor.

“Hi, Destiny!” She smiled back at her. “What’s your schedule like?”

“I got chemistry first period!”

“Yuck!”

“I know.”

“With who?” She shut her locker door once more, turning to give her best friend her undivided and full attention.

“With Mr. Newton!”

“Ugh! I’m sorry about that.”

“How about you?”

“I got English with Mrs. Slagle!”

“Sick.” With that the bell rang and it seemed like it still took everyone a few extra seconds to start heading to their classes, even though they were older and seniors in High School now.

They started down the hallway.

“What about second period?” Lillian asked.

“Bio!”

“Relly? Me too! Come on, we can partner up the first day, so I’ll partner with you.”

They linked arms and walked down to the class. Their first period classes, strangely were back-to-back, so they entered each room. After the bell rang and the class droned on, they eagerly met back up outside in the hall once more and walked to their next class of Biology.

When they walked into class, the teacher was writing something on the board and the silence fell over the class once again, as they entered the classroom. I don’t get it… What did I do? Lillian thought, as she went with Destiny to a lab table.

“Alright kids, I’m your bio teacher and--“ But he was cut off by the door opening. The young woman heard a few people sigh happily and the girls across from her started to fix their hair, but she was doodling, so she didn't notice. “Ah Mr. Nichushkin and Mr. MacKinnon, thank you for gracing us with your presence,” she heard the teacher say.

She hadn't looked up, until this point and that was when her eyes met the most beautiful blue eyes she’d ever seen in her life. “Sorry Mr. Wells, we got lost,” a boy with blondish-brown hair and a thick Russian accent apologized, as the other one snickered and so did a few boys who were 3 tables behind her.

“Oh yes I’m sure that’s true since I had you in this classroom everyday last year,” the teacher retorted.

“Damn he’s sassy,” Destiny whispered to her, which caused her to let out a little giggle. The boys at the front must have heard, because they jerked their heads slightly in their direction.

“Just take your seats boys.” Mr. Wells then continued to talk, as he had been, finishing up his previous thought.

As the boys passed by them, Lillian saw that they were both wearing sports jackets and when she looked close enough, she saw that they were for the hockey team. She smiled at the thought of that jacket that she had loved years ago. It had been awhile since she’d seen one and she was glad they hadn't changed.

The rest of the period consisted of Mr. Wells constantly telling the girls in front to quiet down and answering questions about this year’s curriculum which were all redundant. As the period ended, Destiny headed off to her math class, but Lillian actually had a free period.

Lillian went and sat in the student lounge, pulled out her MacBook and put in her headphones to drown out the noise. She looked up and saw the orange chat bubble on her Skype and saw it was from her older brother, Lukas. She looked around and saw no one else in the lounge, so she pressed the video call button and on the third ring he answered.

“Hey Lils!” He chimed after a few seconds.

“Hey! How’s Colorado?” She asked. Her brother, Lukas Kinnan, had been drafted by the Colorado Avalanche about two years ago, when she was fourteen. It was a happy day for her and her family and everyone who knew them all, but a sad one as well. Lukas and Lillian had always been close and a few weeks after the draft, he had to leave for Colorado, leaving her behind in Halifax.

Sure, he called whenever he could and they talked all the time, but it still sucked. She vowed that she would make it to Colorado sometime in her life and drag her best friend Destiny with her. Halifax was great and all, but she missed her brother and she loved Colorado.

“It’s great, but I miss you guys like crazy,” he complained, scratching the back of his neck.

“Well we miss you too,” Lillian told him, smiling kindly.

“So, mom decided to send you to Halifax High after all?”

“Yeah… and everyone hates me. Literally every time I walk into a room everyone stops talking and they all look at me like I’m some worthless piece of shit.” She said it with an exasperated sigh. “The only person who likes me is Destiny!”

“I’m sorry sweetie. Being a Kinnan in Halifax High is hard… Jan and I made it that way for you and I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright Luke… you guys didn't know it would affect me… I wasn't even supposed to be here.”

She thought of everything her siblings had done here. Her brother had been the heart and soul of Halifax High, captaining their number one hockey team to victory in the finals every year, but championships two years ago fell on the same day as the draft and Lukas wasn't there. It was the first time they’d lost in 6 years and they blamed her brother. Her sister, Janet on the other hand, had been every guy’s dream and every girl’s worst nightmare here. She was a junior, when her brother was a freshman. She ruled the school and made sure everyone knew. She wasn't bitchy about things, but she made sure you knew she was in control. She started dating the captain of the football team, which was the second best sports’ team at the school behind hockey, at the beginning of her senior year.

She and Nate had been friends, since they were 6 years old and everyone knew it would happen eventually, but no one ever thought he’d choose her over football and that cost the school football championships that year, because Nate was at the hospital with Janet after her concussion, instead of being at the final game. To put it lightly, her siblings were blamed for ruining sports here and embarrassing the school and since her last name was Kinnan, it followed her too.

She had started high school at a boarding school in western Nova Scotia, Canada, where the rest of her family lived her freshman year. But come this year, her senior year, her mom decided she was too young to be that far away and brought her home, putting her in school here, no matter how much she begged her not to.

The two siblings talked until the bell rang and she had to go to her next class, which was social studies. The lounge was right next to the classroom she had it in, so she was the first person there. She picked a seat at a table towards the back and realized they were similar to lab tables- they were set up for two people.

As everyone came in and sat down, the teacher looked at the clock, and then at the door as it swung open. In walked the guy from earlier with the bright blue eyes. His friend, the one with the Russian accent and blue eyes was nowhere in sight. It was just him.

“Mr. MacKinnon, first day and you’re already late to my class,” the short woman scolded, looking at him.

“Sorry Mrs. March,” he said looking around the room.

The only empty seat was next to her, but she hadn't realized he sat down there, until she smelled the scent of old spice and heard him whisper, “Hi.”

She looked over to see him smiling at her, rather kindly. It wasn’t fake either, no rictus in sight. “Hi,” she replied, as a small blush crept to her cheeks. She nervously tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“I’m Nathan,” he greeted, as he let out a small laugh.

“I’m Lillian.” She continued to smile.

“Alright class, first assignment is a project.”

There was a chorus of groans.

“Yes, you have to research one of the wars on the page in front of you with the person you are sharing a desk with.”

Some people looked happy about this and some people looked like they wanted to shoot themselves. Lillian found out that she was afraid to look over at Nathan, because she was afraid of seeing the expression of disappointment on his face, but she was surprised when she heard him say, “Well this should be fun.”

She looked over at him, just as he stretched. His arms were above his head and his button down shirt was riding up just enough for her to see a small portion of his tanned and toned stomach.

“Like what you see?” he asked smirking at her.

She laughed and started to blush deeper in color. “That’s for me to know, and for you to find out.”

“Well alrighty then. I say before we start this project, we get to know each other. I mean I know it’s a semi-big school, but I know everyone here…” He began to pull out his phone.

“Well I guess I’m not part of the everybody.”

He slid his phone over to her and she saw that the new contact page was open on his IPhone

“You think you’re gonna get my number that easily?” Lillian teased, putting her hand on the cellular device and lowering it away from her. She batted her eyelids at him, flirtily. He cracked a cute smile, wrinkling his nose up, finding her humorous.

The bell rang and she got up, grabbing her bag in the process.

“Well, we need to work on the project.” He walked up next to her, once they got out into the hallway.

“You’re gonna have to work for it MacKinnon.” She turned around and walking away, softly squealing like a fangirl under her breath. She had to find Destiny and fill her in on this sudden incident.

****

Nathan’s POV

“You’re gonna have to work for it MacKinnon,” she had said, as she turned around and walked away from where he stood. Damn she’s good, he thought, as he headed for his locker to put his stuff away for lunch.

Once he got there, Val was already there talking to some girl.

“Hey Nathan,” she greeted, flirtily waving at him, as she walked away from Val, who was stuck in mid-sentence and started twirling her hair.

“Hey Tiana,” he said, putting his binder in his locker, followed by his history packet about the wars.

“So I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come over tonight. I need some help with my bio homework.” She chewed loudly on her gum as she spoke.

“Tiana I think you’re forgetting we’re in the same bio class, so I know we don’t have homework.” He closed his locker.

She pouted and walked away with her arms crossed over her fake chest. She mumbled to herself, until she vanished out of sight. Nathan turned to Val and they started walking to the cafeteria.

“Why do you always go for girls like her?” Nathan asked, as they continued to walk.

“Well we can’t all be future captain of the hockey team and have girls falling all over us, now can we,” he said with his Russian accent. Val may have been from America, but his family was Russian and it was his first language and the accent had developed long ago.

“Alright Nichy, but you can do so much better than her!” He looked around the lunch room for examples. “Like Sarah.” He pointed to the captain of the girls’ soccer team.

“She has a boyfriend who’s in college and will kill me.” he answered.

“Samantha?” He asked, looking over to where the girls on the volleyball team sat.

“Doesn't date,” he stated simply, as they headed over to their chosen table.

“Well fine, but you get the point… you don’t need a girl like Tiana,” he said, as they reached the table and sat down with some of the other guys on the hockey team.

A few minutes later Matthew, the captain, looked towards the door, as a smile broke out on his face. He followed the captain’s eyes and saw him staring at a table about two up from where they were sitting.

“Lillian!” he called, as he stood up. No way how does he- but his thought was cut short when Lillian came running over and hugged Matt.

“Matt! Oh my god how are you? I haven’t seen you in…”

“Two years.” he said smiling at her.

“Since the draft…” she finished looking sad.

“Uh you gonna introduce us to the beautiful girl?” Val asked, adjacent to him.

“Guys, this is Lillian, Lilly these are the guys,” he introduced, as his arm was around her shoulder and she was beaming.

Another teammate spoke up, from the other side of Matt, “You know not everyone knows what ‘the guys’ means.”

“Oh Lillian does.” He looked at her, as she started to laugh. They all had confused looks on our faces.

“How? I mean I know I've never seen her here,” Austin, another player, said from across the table.

Lillian and Matt suddenly looked very uncomfortable and kind of sad.

“I gotta go… Destiny’s waiting for me, but come over anytime Matt… Jan’s home and my mom misses you eating all of her cookies because you know I don’t like them.”

“You don’t like cookies?” Val asked, looking astonished. “Who doesn’t like cookies?”

“They’re special protein cookies… they’re gross. I like normal gooey cookies that are fresh from the oven… you know, normal chocolate chip ones.” She flashed a smile to Val. And then hugged Matt and walked back over to the table, she shared with a girl Nathan assumed was Destiny. She was a gorgeous young woman with white hair and he was instantly reminded of Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen. But he was more taken aback and smitten by her friend. Lillian. He didn’t even know her last name. Instead he hit his forehead thinking himself an idiot for not finding that piece of information out.

As soon as Matt sat back down, he wouldn't look at any of them, because he knew what they were going to ask.

“How does she know?” Nathan finally asked.

“I can’t tell you. You’re gonna judge her just like everyone else and she doesn't deserve it. It’s not her fault,” he responded, drinking his water with a cool shrug.

“Just tell us… I’m sure it’s no big deal,” Austin piped up once more.

“Fine but I swear if any of you judge her, I’ll kick your asses myself,” Matt stated, as he looked at all of them, with a serious look to let them know he wasn’t joking. He sighed and finally said it and no one could believe it. “She’s a Kinnan.”

Notes

For this, just imagine that Val Nichushkin is not Val Nichushkin, it's a doppelgänger, who happens to live in Canada....in Halifax and is friends with Nathan MacKinnon. Just work with me on this....okay? Okay.
And more later on. But I felt like I needed another chapter for this story! So here we go. I'm going to switch between present day and flashback in this story, so I hope it isn't too confusing and it works and reads well!
And once more Go Kinghts!!!!