On Thin Ice (editing again)

Chapter 2- Oh No, Hes Hot

When Blaze arrived at school, she was once again greeted with the joy of having a locker close to Razor's. He was the kind of guy she now knew she would never be friends with. He was the type who would lead a girl on and break the truth to them heartlessly. He was the type to laugh at someone who just fell down the stairs instead of fall with them or help them up.

It didn't matter to her that he was extremely good looking- according to the standards of the world of their high school. He used it to his advantage, since he knew he was attractive. Blaze estimates that she could deal with him if his personality wasn't influenced by all the attention he got. His ego inflated with every single mention of his name within a 20-mile radius. Blaze figured he just needed to be humbled, and she hoped that one day he would be brought down to earth.

Just like she did every morning, she prayed that she wouldn't run into him in the hallways or next to her locker. This was especially relevant to her today considering the rough encounter with him at hockey practice last night. She questioned who the hell taught him manners. But, just her luck, he came up to her as she slammed her locker closed.

"You know, Blaze, I think I've figured it or. You don't know what it's like." He started vaguely. She highly doubted that he was the person she should be listening to when it came to just about anything. He just felt untrustworthy to her, and she was cautious going in and listening to his speech.

"What are you talking about, and why should I care?" She answered, pissed that he didn't even have the decency to say good morning.

"Hockey. You have no idea how it feels to play." He clarified. She rolled her eyes and laughed, for the situation turned straight into a bad sitcom.

"Oh my God, take a hint! I'm not interested in you or your stupid sport and I would love it if you just left me alone. That would be great, thanks." She answered before beginning to walk off.

The bell rang, and the rush of students started walking to their first classes. Blaze started walking with them, tossing her backpack over her shoulder and trying to get lost in the middle of the crowd to avoid him. He caught up to her, and she tried to end the conversation, because she really didn't want to talk.

"What do you expect me to do, change for you when you won't do it yourself?!" She asked him.

"Why should I have to change when you're the one who is closed-minded about everything around you?"

"You don't have to believe me, but the way I'm seeing it is that you're pointing a finger at me, but you just don't see it in yourself. You'd be just a bit close minded too, at least for a little while, if you had just gotten dumped somewhere you don't want to be, so now I know you really know nothing. Go look in the mirror and then we'll talk."

"Whatever. We have history together." He responded, quieter.

"Oh yeah, I remembered that we do! Oh lovely. An hour and a half with you!" She snapped sarcastically.

After that, the rest of Blaze's day was full of frustration. She reminded herself that she just needed to make it through ninth period, and then she would be free of Razor. She spent nearly all day fighting through just about every class she and Razor had together. At the end of the day, the thoughts running through her head weren't about hockey. It was about what she was gonna do about everything. Razor made her stressed, and made her think about everything all at once.

Blaze realized she really was there in Pittsburgh, a big hockey town. She would hear on TV "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh!", and she finally realized that I wasn't adjusting well to my surroundings. She was the last to know that things really weren't working out for her. She had always struggled with fitting in, but maybe now she wasn't helping her case and was just excluding herself at that point.

Blaze drove Dallas to the rink for his practice and she sat in the stands as always. She didn't have any homework, which was a rarity, so she put her earbuds in and watched his practice. Even though the rink was cold, Blaze was trying to warm up to it. It didn't help that Razor was there again, getting ready for his practice and leading his team in some stretches before they got on the ice. There was a gap between Dallas and Razor's practice so they weren't in their gear yet, but the angry tension between her and Razor was like a fire, and it was burning her instead.

The more she watched and the more she thought about it, it was actually kind of cute, seeing the kids fall over and over and then get up and keep playing. They had so much heart, and she wished had as much strength as they did. Kids were so resilient. It seemed that they could bounce back from anything, and Blaze wished she still had that spark. But where did it go?

After their practice cleared and before the next one began, Blaze pulled on her brother's skates and she skated around. She hated to admit she even knew how to ice skate, because it would just give Razor what he wanted. She didn't know how much time he had before his team paraded out of the locker room and he would see her, but she decided to run the risk of him seeing her anyway.

Everything faded away when she stepped on the ice and she got a sudden rush of what it felt like. For a second, she knew what Razor was talking about to some extent, but she could still never understand because had never played hockey.

The cold air was making her cheeks red as the skate blades were carving up the ice. It wasn't surfing but she had to admit it was still nice. She didn't look too much into it, but Razor did.

She looked down at her phone to change the song on her playlist, when suddenly her earbuds were yanked out of her ears.

"HEY!!" Razor yelled in her ear and tried to turn Blaze around to face him. Startled, she screamed and lost her balance on the ice, falling on to her butt. Blaze's black jeans were now littered with flecks of white ice everywhere.

"WHAT?!" She yelled back, looking up into Razor's eyes. He was angry.

"You lied to me!!" He was standing over her, mixed emotions on his face.

"You said you had no interest in hockey and yet here you are! You lied! You know how to skate!"

"I didn't lie. I know how to skate I never said I didn't. I used to go skating a lot, Razor. You overthink a lot. That doesn't mean I want to play hockey."

She got up off the ice and brushed the ice chips off her jeans, gave him a look and skated off. He was faster and he blocked the exit.

"Explain."

"I don't have to explain anything to you. It's not like I have to prove anything."

"You kind of do!"

"I kind of don't. There's nothing to explain. So move, asshole."

He rolled his eyes and he moved.

"Thanks." She smiled bitterly.

Blaze took Dallas home, not even giving a second thought to staying for the high school practice. She didn't want to be around any more hockey. It was the obsession of Razor and his attempts to make her 'understand' and she couldn't handle it. She wasn't like that at all, and she didn't see herself being a hockey fan, ever. She knew because of that, she wouldn't ever fit in.

Blaze went home and studied for a science test, attempting to push her feelings far, far away until she couldn't feel them. She blasted an album from a band that was locally famous in California, not ready to face another day at school.

Not only that, she was not ready to face Razor again. She didn't want to confront him about her feelings about the sport he was pushing on her, nor the feelings she was harboring about her life and the lack of feelings she felt for him.