This is just to give you a general idea of how I picture the characters. These are character aesthetics, so they don't necessarily look exactly like their picture, but it's the closest I could find. Feel free to picture them how you like!

If you don't want to see how I picture them, skip to the next chapter.

Elijah Ellis

**

Fox Ridley

**

Josh

**

Ryan

**

Ian

**

Jude

**

Alex

**

Liam

**

Trevor

**

Nadia

**

Lexa

**

Claudia

**

Johnny

**

Austin

**

Holly

I had always known, somewhere deep down, that I was different. My mother had always insisted that I wasn't, that she had raised me perfectly as her little church boy that could do no wrong. She raised me as if I was her puppet, pulling the strings of my life and forcing me to live under her command. She would have continued controlling me too, if I hadn't told her I was gay.

That was all it took for me to be thrown out and sent to live with my father and his family, not that I minded too much. I was never too close with my father, only seeing him on some weekends, but he was never harsh to me.

When I called him to tell him that Mom had thrown me out of the house, he immediately rushed over to take me to his place. A month later, my mother had given up custody of me and fully gave it to my father and I was to live with him, his wife, her son, and my younger half-sister.

"Elijah?" my father said quietly, tapping on my bedroom door lightly.

"Come in," I called out, sitting at my desk and typing on my laptop.

My father entered the room, but stayed at the doorway, leaning on the frame. He was still dressed in his business-casual attire for work, briefcase in hand as I turned to stare at him expectantly.

"Just wanted to check in and see if you needed any last-minute things before try-outs tomorrow," he informed me kindly.

While my father hadn't been in my life too much after he split with my mom, he was really making up for it when I needed him most. Part of me couldn't even blame him for his absence in my life because I was sure my mother had everything to do with keeping him away.

"I should be good," I answered casually. "I went back to Mom's to grab all my hockey stuff when she wasn't home."

Dad nodded. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything. I'm sure Joshua has some things you can borrow if you need to."

"Okay," I said with a nod. "Thanks Dad."

"Dinner will be ready in ten," he said before shutting my door tightly to presumably go change out of his work clothes.

After he left the room, I shut my laptop and stood up from my desk to head downstairs. When I got in the kitchen, my stepmother, Mindy, and little sister, Ava, were setting the table.

"Need any help?" I asked.

Mindy smiled kindly at me. "Sure, Elijah."

I took Mindy's spot next to Ava to set the table while she went over to the stove to take dinner out of the oven. Dad came down shortly after and helped Mindy finish off the food. The four of us sat down, an empty spot beside me.

"Should we wait on Josh?" Dad asked Mindy as she stared over at the empty place in annoyance.

"No, I-"

Mindy was cut off by the kitchen door opening and Josh storming into the house quickly, looking distressed.

"Joshua, I told you to be home before dinner," Mindy told him sternly.

"I know, I'm sorry," Josh apologized, rushing over to her to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I lost track of time."

Josh hastily washed his hands at the kitchen sink before plopping down beside me and filling his plate. Josh and I never really said much to each other. He drove me to and from school and the two of us shared small talk, but that was pretty much it. I wasn't entirely sure he wasn't a homophobe, but he never gave me any trouble so I just chose to let it be.

"Are you boys excited for try-outs tomorrow?" Mindy asked as she cut into her food. I nodded, taking a bite of my own.

Josh looked at me briefly. "It should be fun."

"You'll look out for Elijah, won't you Joshua?" Mindy asked with a pointed look.

Josh cleared his throat. "Of course."

I had to force myself to keep my eyes from rolling to the back of my head. I understood that my father and Mindy wanted to keep me safe, but having my stepbrother look after me was not something I was okay with. I could look after myself and I definitely didn't need a babysitter. However, I didn't say any of that to my father or Mindy, since I knew their worry was coming from a good place.

***

The next morning I threw my heavy hockey bag into Josh's trunk and then quickly scurried over to the passenger's side and slid in. Josh was already in the car, playing rap music on his phone. He didn't say anything as he pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the school. A few moments later, he spoke up.

"You're a defenseman, right?" Josh asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Right," I answered with a nod.

"Good. Our defense was really lacking last season. Coach and Ridley will be watching you," Josh said.

I turned to face him with a quizzical look. "Why Ridley?"

Josh looked at me briefly out of the corner of his eye. "He's captain. I thought you knew that."

Fox Ridley. He had been the reason for my misfortunes and the subject of my dreams for the past two months. That fateful night I shared with him had sparked the inspiration for me coming out to my mother, and that obviously hadn't turned out too well.

The first day of school had been like a scene out of a movie. It was slow motion as I made eye contact with Fox in the hall and I swore there was wind pushing his hair back and a spotlight shining over him. I remember he pulled me into a janitor's closet in the most cliche way and I thought I was ready for whatever was about to happen next. I clearly was not.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Fox hissed in my face, grasping my shirt tightly in his hands. His eyes were wide and wild, looking straight into mine. Maybe he didn't pull me in here for a quickie like I had hoped.

"I go to school here?" I told him, though it came out more like a confused question.

Fox rolled his eyes, though the distressed look stayed on his face. "Obviously. But why? I thought you were from a few towns over?"

"I moved in with my dad," I explained, trying to create some distance between us, but Fox didn't loosen his grip.

"Great," he spat sarcastically, sending me a look that could kill, his fierce brown eyes filling with fire. "If you tell anyone about what happened between us, I will end you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, shoving his shoulders so he would release me. "Chill, I'm not going to out you."

"As far as everyone in this school is concerned, we don't know each other," Fox asserted sternly, pointing at me. He didn't let me get another word out before he exited the janitor's closet, leaving me stunned and confused.

"I didn't know," I replied through clenched teeth.

My relationship with Fox Ridley was nothing short of strained. I couldn't walk by him without being sent a nasty glare, and whenever we shared any words at all his tone was clipped and rude. It was hard for me not to see him, considering he was good friends with Josh. Fox and other guys from the team had been over the house numerous times within the month I had been living there, not that I had ever spoken to him or the others.

"I know he seems like a hard-ass," Josh started, "but he has nothing against you."

I wasn't too sure about that, but I didn't say anything about it to Josh. He would only try to convince me otherwise, not knowing that Fox did, in fact, have something against me.

Josh and I didn't speak for the rest of the ride to school. Our rides to school were all similar. We would make small talk at the beginning and then stay silent for the remainder of our time in the car. The conversations we shared were never meaningful, but I didn't mind them. At least Josh wasn't cruel to me.

"See you at try-outs," Josh said as a goodbye as the two of us stepped out of his car. He quickly walked off toward the building where his friends were while I took my time walking through the parking lot.

Everyone at this school was a lot more tolerant than the people at my old Catholic school. After I came out, I was exiled by all of my friends and teammates. I was sure they were glad that I had changed schools so they would never have to be stuck in a locker room with me as they undressed, not that I was remotely attracted to any of my teammates.

There were actually quite a few other gay people at my new school, Pine Valley High School. I wouldn't say I was best friends with any of them, but I had acquainted myself with them since my first day arriving at Pine Valley. Since arriving, no one had been outwardly homophobic toward me, but I could tell by the way barely any straight guys spoke to me and the weird looks they gave me, that the people at this school weren't as tolerant as they seemed on the surface.

"Hey, Elijah!" Trevor, one of said gays, exclaimed as soon as I stepped foot inside the school.

"Hey, Trev," I greeted kindly with a small smile, continuing my walk to my locker as he followed me.

"Good luck at try-outs today, we're going to miss you at GSA," Trevor said sincerely as the two of us stopped at my locker.

Trevor was the president of the Gender-Sexuality Alliance club and was the first person, other than Josh and Fox, that I had met at this school. He practically attached himself to my hip and forced me to join the club, not that I minded much. It was nice to be around other LGBT people since I had never had the chance before. Since hockey was going to be almost every day after school, I wouldn't be able to continue going to the club meetings until after the season was over.

"Thanks," I replied, opening my locker. "I'll miss it there too."

Trevor smiled kindly. "You'll be back in March after you guys win the state championship."

I let out a breathy laugh. "If I even make it on the team."

Trevor touched my shoulder lightly. "You will," he assured me.

It was no secret that the hockey team was the best team this school had, having made it to the championship game last season and winning it two seasons ago. Unfortunately for Pine Valley High, they had lost the championship game last year to my old team over at Holy Trinity Catholic School.

The warning bell rang a few moments later and Trevor took his hand away from my shoulder, taking a step back.

"See you around Elijah," he said, waving goodbye before walking away.

I dragged my feel along the shiny hallway to my English class, a class that I dreaded every day. A few members of GSA were in that class to keep me company, but Fox Ridley and a bunch of the hockey team were also in that class. It wasn't that I had a problem with the hockey team, hopefully they would be my teammates in a few days, it was the nasty glares that Fox gave me every day. It felt like I was being scrutinized with every move I made.

When I got into the class, I immediately headed for my usual seat without looking up from the floor to see if Fox was already there. He was always there before me, I was sure that today was no different. Two of my GSA acquaintances, Lexa and Nadia, were already seated by the time I got there. They were an on-again, off-again couple and by the way they were looking at each other, I assumed now they were on-again.

"Sup, Elijah?" Nadia greeted, looking away from Lexa briefly.

"Did you do the reading?" Lexa asked before I could return the greeting.

I nodded. "I did."

"Can you show us the notes you took?" Lexa asked desperately. "Nadia and I didn't get around to it last night. We were... busy."

I didn't want to have to hear any details about their night together, so I wordlessly handed Lexa my notebook and the two of them began reading the page together.

I stared down at my empty desk, feeling the heat of eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I willed myself to keep my head down, but I was not strong enough as I picked my head up and turned to the face of my torment. Fox Ridley's glare was piercing and intimidating. It was like with one look he could stop my breath and keep me quiet for as long as he wanted. Maybe that was what he was aiming to do.

***

Walking into the locker room at the rink was a surreal experience. After heading out to Josh's car to get our things, the two of us walked side-by-side into the rink on the other side of the school's parking lot where other hockey hopefuls stood around chatting as they got dressed into their gear.

I mindlessly followed Josh, keeping my head down as I got stares from everyone in the room. It didn't occur to me that Josh would be making his way toward Fox and his other friends, but at that point it didn't matter to me. Josh was the only one I knew and sticking with him would keep me from getting harassed.

When the two of us arrived at Josh's group of friends, all of their eyes turned to me. Fox's remained emotionless as if he didn't even know me which I assumed was better than his usual glare. The first one to greet me was a tall male with a bright smile. He was wearing a light top, which complemented his dark skin, and he held his practice jersey in his hand as if he was getting ready to change.

"Hey, I'm Ryan. You must be Elijah," he greeted me cheerfully with a wide smile, extending his hand for me to shake. A feeling of welcoming washed over me as I reached out to shake his hand. At least there were two guys on the hockey team that wouldn't give me a hard time, and to be honest that was all the reassurance I needed.

"Nice to meet you," I replied with a smile of my own, shaking his hand. I had seen Ryan and the other guys in the group over the house a few times, but I had never met any of them.

"Guys this is my step-brother, Elijah," Josh introduced me after clearing his throat. "That's Liam and Alex." Josh pointed out the other two boys, not even bothering to introduce me to Fox.

"Hey, man," Alex, the blond boy, said while Liam, the one with jet black hair just nodded at me in acknowledgement.

Fox continued to stare at me with an impassive look that should have made me feel unwelcome, but I didn't let it get to me. He wasn't as scary as he tried to be and I had dealt with much worse since coming out, so I there was no way I was going to let Fox Ridley bother me.

"I'm going to go get ready," I told the guys after a few moments of silence. They all nodded and went to do the same.

Since lockers weren't assigned yet, I just tossed my bag on the floor near a bench and started taking my things out. I quickly got dressed in my gear and pulled on my skates before taking out my stick and helmet from my bag.

Once I was done getting ready, Josh walked over to me and clapped his hand on my shoulder. I turned to him with raised eyebrows.

"Are you ready?" he asked me, nodding his head toward the door.

Ready as I would ever be. No matter how much I played hockey and how much I loved it, I was still quite nervous trying out with a new team. I had been playing with pretty much the same group of guys since I could skate. I knew how they played and I played well with them. We had on-ice chemistry that was hard to replicate. I didn't know if I would ever have that with this team. Instead of voicing my concerns to Josh, I stood straighter and held my head up high.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said confidently. Josh smiled slightly at me before clapping me on the shoulder again and motioning for me to follow him out of the locker room.

Once I stepped through the door, the cool air hit me, and I felt at home.

**

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think about the chapter/the characters!

As soon as I stepped on the ice, any nerves I had were thrown to the back of my mind as an after-thought. I looked around as other players made their way out to the ice. There appeared to be about fifty guys here and thirty of us would be cut by the end of the week. I would do everything I could so that I was not one of them.

I watched as Fox stepped onto the ice and glided over to where the coach stood, whispering something in his ear. When Fox skated through the crowd, it seemed to part for him like they knew of his importance.

After another minute, Coach blew his whistle and all conversation ceased. We gathered around and waited for him to speak.

"Good afternoon, boys," Coach began. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Coach Silva."

He paused for a moment, looking around at all the hopeful faces, before continuing.

"This is your captain, Fox Ridley," Coach Silva said, motioning to where Fox stood, leaning on his hockey stick. "Let's cut to the chase, boys. I can only keep twenty of you and I already have one," he continued, motioning toward Fox again.

After seeing Fox on the ice, it didn't surprise anymore that he was the captain with his powerful demeanor that could command a room.

"Those who don't make the team will be dropped to Junior Varsity," Coach explained. "With the potential to be pulled up to Varsity if we need you."

I had never played on a Junior Varsity team in my life. I wasn't going to start my senior year of high school.

Coach Silva looked to Fox as if he was waiting for him to say something. Fox stood up straight, no longer using his stick for support.

"Listen up," Fox said in a deep, commanding tone. "Forwards over there," he continued pointing to his right. "Defensemen over there and goal tenders over there." Fox pointed to his left and to the center respectively.

I felt Fox's eyes on me as I gracefully glided to the left side of the ice with the other defensemen. We briefly made eye contact and he was the first to look away. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me, not if hockey was on the line.

Fox skated over to the forwards while Coach Silva came over to the defensemen and goalies, holding a bag of pinnie jerseys in his right hand.

"After we do some drills, we are scrimmaging." Coach explained, starting to hand out the pinnies. "The color pinnie I give you determines the team you will be on and you're stuck with whatever you get."

I was handed a blue pinnie and let my eyes drift over to the forwards to see what color Josh had gotten. He got red. I didn't need Josh to be on my team, but it would have been nice to be with someone I already knew. My eyes snapped back to Coach as he began speaking again.

"Defense wear the inverse color of their pinnie so if you got blue, you wear the black side, if you got red, you wear the white side," Coach Silva said when he was done handing out the jerseys. "Understand?"

We all gave him verbal confirmation that we understood before he nodded and met Fox over at center ice. The two of them conversed for a few moments before Coach blew his shrill whistle, grabbing everyone's attention.

"We're starting with a skating drill!" he announced. "Blue team take a seat for now, red team line up on the goal line."

I took a seat on the bench and watched as the red team lined up. Coach blew his whistle and everyone skated to the other side of the ice. I looked at Coach and Fox as the two of them watched the skaters. They were looking at their feet, evaluating their foot work and skating technique. I had done this drill plenty of times to know what was expected of me.

After a few of those, he had the red team line up at the center line and sent two skaters at a time to skate to the blue line and across and then round one of the face-off circles. Again, they looked at the feet to see the footwork of the skaters, this time adding in crossovers, pivots, and backwards skating.

Coach Silva spoke to a few of the guys individually before telling the red and blue teams to switch. I lined up with the rest of the blue team on the goal line and dashed off as soon as I heard Coach's whistle. I kept my feet moving fast when I side stepped to turn the other way, making sure my movements were precise.

We did the same drills he had the red team do, with him and Fox watching us with their scrutinizing gazes. These drills were nothing to me. I would pretty sure I could do these in my sleep, but it was obvious some of the other guys were struggling. When doing skating drills like this, it is easy to see who the skilled skaters are and who aren't. It was all in the technique and it was obvious to see who wasn't using any.

Coach skated over to me as he sent the blue team on a water break after we were done with our skating drills.

"What's your name, son?" he asked, looking at me quizzically with Fox standing right being him, a sullen look on his face.

"Elijah Ellis, sir," I answered respectfully.

Coach nodded. "Good footwork. You must have been skating for a while."

I smiled and nodded. "Since I was three."

"Good job," Coach complimented with a clap on my shoulder. "Keep up the good work."

I thanked him, not bothering to spare Fox a glance, before skating away to get a drink of water. My smile seemed to be permanently etched onto my face for a few moments. Coach didn't single out everyone to tell them they were doing good, but he singled out me. Hopefully, that meant good things for my future on this team.

The next drill, Coach called for everyone to be on the ice. He decided we would be doing a shoot and pass drill. Essentially, the drill would consist of three players in the attacking zone, with a goalie in net, skating around cones while also passing the puck to each other and one player shooting the puck. It was a simple drill used for forwards and defensemen to see how each player handles the puck. Coach set the blue team up on one side of the ice and the red team on the other with Fox looking over them.

When it was my turn to do the drill, I made sure my passes were accurate and on the tape of the other player's stick. Eventually it was my turn to shoot and, since I was a defenseman, I shot from the blue line, making sure to keep the puck low. The puck flew into the back of the net, passing the goalie's left pad.

"Good shot, Ellis!" Coach yelled out to me as I made my way to the back of the line. I smiled to myself, my confidence growing pretty much every second. I was in my zone now, and there was no stopping me.

We did a goal scoring drill after that which was also fairly simple. We shot from the blue line and he also had us come up the middle as if on a break-away. I got both of my shots in, my confidence soaring as I saw a look of approval from Coach Silva.

The last drill we did before the scrimmage was a one-on-one drill where a forward was paired with a defenseman. I was paired with Ryan, the boy I met earlier. My job was to keep him from scoring while his job was to get around me and shoot the puck. My golden rule for playing one-on-one was to never play head-to-head. That would give the other player too much freedom to get around me. It was important to give him room on one side so I could force him in the direction I wanted him to go. I was able to take the puck away from Ryan and skate it away from him before Coach blew his whistle for us to stop, giving me a nod of approval.

When it was time for the scrimmage, Coach Silva had each team sit on their respective bench, with Fox coaching the red team along with our assistant coach. Coach Silva assigned the forwards to lines and the defensemen to pairings. I was paired with a boy named Tim, who looked like he was a freshman. I hadn't paid much attention to how anyone else did during tryouts, but I was sure Tim didn't match my playing ability. Coach sent the first line and Tim and I out first for the start of the game. Josh and his friend Alex stood across from each other at the center dot, ready to take the face-off.

Tim and I stood in front of our blue line, ready if the play came our way, with Tim on the left and me on the right. Fox dropped the puck on the center dot and Josh cleanly won the face-off, taking the puck down to our end. I instantly sprang into action, moving to block his way and force him toward the boards. When he saw that I gave him nowhere to go, he sent the puck off in a clever pass to one of this teammates and I went toward the net, prepared to block a shot if I needed to.

The player from the red team went to make a pass, but I was able to intercept it on its way, taking it into the neutral zone. I passed the puck to Alex before we got into the attacking zone and stayed at the right point to keep the puck from leaving the zone. After having to keep the puck in a few times, it was eventually cleared, but we were quick to clear it out of our zone and Coach Silva called for a line change.

The red team ended up winning 3-2, but I wasn't too discouraged by it. I knew I played some great hockey, even scoring one of the goals for my team. I just hoped I would be able to keep it up for the rest of the week.

***

"How were tryouts today boys?" Dad asked as we all sat down at the dinner table. I was in my usual spot beside Josh and across from Mindy.

"Good," I replied blandly, twirling my pasta on my fork before taking a bite.

"Elijah was really good today," Josh added, looking toward Dad. "Even Fox said so."

My eyes went wide at that statement. The same Fox who would only look at me with a glare or a blank expression? The same Fox who pulled me into a closet and threatened me had something nice to say about me? Needless to say, I was shocked.

"He did?" I asked, not even trying to hide my surprise.

Josh nodded, though he didn't elaborate.

"That's great," Dad said with a smile to which Mindy kindly agreed. "It'll be nice to have both of my boys on the same team this year."

"I haven't made the team yet," I reminded him with a pointed look.

"But you will," Mindy assured me, mimicking my tone.

"Trust me," Josh started, taking a sip of his water before continuing, "We are in dire need of good defense and you were the best one out there today. I'm sure your spot is guaranteed at this point."

While that was good to hear, I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself. I knew I was good and had made an impression on Coach Silva, but there were four more days of tryouts and anything could happen. Especially if I did anything to upset Fox Ridley. I wouldn't be surprised if I made one wrong move, Fox would decide I wasn't good enough and convince Coach Silva of it too.

Once dinner was over, I headed up to my room to finish up some homework. After about an hour of that, my phone went off, signaling I had an incoming FaceTime from Trevor. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion before I answered the call.

"Hey!" Trevor greeted me with a wide smile on his face. He looked like he was in bed, sitting against his headboard. His usually gelled and styled hair was in its natural state, which I had never seen it in before.

"What's up?" I asked, not bothering to hide my confusion as to why he was calling me. Trevor and I had only talked outside of school a few times in the month I had been here. And those times were gatherings with other members of the GSA club, like Lexa and Nadia and a few others.

"Just wanted to see how tryouts went today," he answered casually, the smile never leaving his face. It seemed like Trevor was always smiling. He was definitely the friendliest person I met at Pine Valley.

"Oh," I said, clearing my throat and sitting up on my bed. "They were good."

"Do you think you'll make the team?" Trevor asked, adjusting the position of his phone slightly.

"Josh seems to think so," I told him with a slight laugh, looking at myself in the phone. My hair was a mess due to raking my hands through it and pulling the ends in frustration at my homework. There was a red mark on my cheek from where I had my head resting in my hand. Overall, I looked rough.

"That's good!" Trevor cheered enthusiastically, his eyes widening in excitement. I just nodded in agreement, not knowing what else to say. "There's another reason I wanted to call you," Trevor admitted after my silence.

"Hm?" I hummed.

"A few of us from GSA are getting together at my house Friday night," he told me. "Do you want to come?"

It wasn't the first time Trevor had invited me to a GSA gathering. In fact, he had invited me to one my first week here. I used to think it was just out of obligation to invite the new gay kid, but I wasn't technically in the club anymore, so I was confused as to why he was inviting me now.

"Uh," I started, my confusion evident, "sure. What time?"

"Great! Everyone's coming around seven," he answered happily. "We'll have food and movies and stuff. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, fun," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but probably failing.

"Anyway, I gotta go. I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Trevor bid me a goodbye. I sent him a wave before he hung up.

I sighed, tossing my phone down on my bed before turning back to my frustrating math homework.

**

Hello! Thank you for reading.

So, I'm still not sure when I'm going to start updating this regularly, but I figured it was about time I put a new chapter out for you guys.

Please let me know what you think! What did you think of the try outs? Do you like Elijah? What about his family and the coach?

I'll let you know the update day once I decide on it!

The next few days of tryouts blurred together and it was finally Friday, the day I would find out if I made the team. Tryouts went well throughout the week. I didn't think I had done anything to hurt my chances for getting on the team, though I did have to suffer through glares from Fox the entire week.

Trevor was standing at my locker by the time I had showed up. He leaned his right shoulder against it, looking down at his phone in his hand.

"What's up?" I asked as I approached him. Trevor instantly looked up from his phone when he heard me.

"Hey, Elijah," he greeted me kindly. "I was just wondering if you needed a ride to my house tonight."

I shrugged, opening my locker. "I can probably get my dad or Josh to drive me."

I saw Trevor nod out of the corner of my eye. "Okay, just let me know if you need me to pick you up. See you at lunch!"

With that, Trevor walked away, greeting people he passed in the hall. Trevor seemed to know everybody at this school, and everyone seemed to like him. He was just one of those people that was impossible to hate.

Soon after, the warning bell rang and I scurried down the hall to my English class. I kept my head down as I found my seat beside Nadia, who was texting on her phone and completely ignoring her pouting girlfriend beside her.

"What are you two fighting about now?" I dared to ask. I wasn't usually interested in their drama at all, but for some reason, I was intrigued.

"Nothing," Nadia replied, not bothering to look up from her phone. "Lex is just being a bitch."

I turned to Lexa to see her roll her eyes, the pout momentarily leaving her face. I raised my eyebrows at her, waiting to hear her side of the story.

"She's mad at me because she asked for my opinion on a dress she wanted to buy, and I told her it made her look frumpy," Lexa explained, her eyes traveling to her girlfriend as she spoke.

"Frumpy?" I asked confusedly. What the hell was frumpy?

"It was too baggy! It didn't show off her body! I was being honest," Lexa defended herself, placing a hand on her chest. Nadia just ignored her, continuing to stare down at her phone.

Instead of worsening the situation, I decided to pull out my notebook and pencil for English and leave the two girls alone to deal with their problem. Nadia would be over it by lunch time. The two of them fought about unimportant things so often, I grew accustomed to how their fights tended to pan out.

With about twenty minutes left in class, our teacher had us start doing our homework and even allowing us to work in groups. However, I wasn't excited to be working in a group with Nadia and Lexa while they weren't getting along. I hoped I would be able to just work by myself.

"Hey, Ellis!" a voice from behind me called out. I turned to look and see that the voice was Ryan, who was sitting with some other guys from the hockey team, including Fox Ridley.

Fox's glare was set on Ryan as he waved me over to their group. I looked over at Nadia and Lexa and the three of us shared confused expressions.

"I won't get mad at you for leaving us if you send me a picture of the homework later," Nadia told me and that was enough for me to get up and head to the back of the classroom where I was being summoned. Anything was better than dealing with the feuding girlfriends, even being glared at by Fox.

Ryan stood up and pulled a chair for me and placed it beside him. I thanked him and sat down, feeling the stares of the rest of the group.

"I figured since we're teammates now, we should get to know each other," Ryan said, though he seemed to be addressing the whole group.

"I don't even know if I'm on the team yet," I replied, looking across the desk at Fox who was leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed on his chest, looking at me through hooded eyes.

Even though he was looking at me like he wanted me to evaporate into thin air, I couldn't take my eyes off of him for a moment. Fox was insanely handsome, and he knew it. That was why I hooked up with him over the summer. His brown hair was tastefully messy on top of his head, complemented by his tan skin. He wore a charcoal grey champion crew neck with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. Fox's face was void of any noticeable blemishes and his eyelashes were long enough for any girl to be jealous of them.

That man was all sorts of good looking, and I hated him for it.

"Coach put the final roster on his door this morning. You didn't see it?" Ryan said, tearing me from my thoughts and causing my gaze to travel to him.

"Oh, no I didn't," I answered in a surprised voice. I tried my best to hide my excitement, but I couldn't tell how well it worked. It felt good to not have to worry about making the team anymore. I guess Fox didn't hate me enough to keep me off the team.

Ryan introduced me to the other guys in the group, Ian and Jude, who were also on the hockey team. Ian barely spared me a glance, but Jude was about as friendly as Ryan. I found out that Ian was another defenseman on the team.

Great, I thought. The guy seemed to hate me as much as Fox did and there was a possibility he would be my defensive partner on the ice.

"You got plans tonight, Elijah?" Jude asked me, nudging my arm with his elbow.

"You should come hang out with us tonight," Ryan added to which Fox sent him daggers. Fox hadn't said a word since I sat down.

"I have plans," I said, looking straight at Fox. His eyes immediately softened when he heard me and he turned his gaze to me.

"You're already so popular," Jude joked with a laugh. "What're you doin'?"

At first I didn't know if I should tell him the truth. My sexuality was obviously more accepted here than it was at Holy Trinity, but these were jocks. Jocks always had something to say about gay people. They definitely knew I was gay, but I didn't know if it was such a good idea to bring attention to it, especially around Fox. When I looked to Fox to see his glare transfixed on me, I decided I didn't care. I was done hiding who I was.

"I'm hangin' with some of the GSA kids at Trevor's," I answered, turning to face Jude.

"Nice," Jude replied. "Trevor's a cool guy." It didn't surprise me that he had something nice to say about Trevor. I was sure everyone did.

"He saved my ass in chemistry last year," Ryan said with a laugh. "I was failing and he offered to tutor me. I passed with a B."

"You'll have to hang with us some other time then," Jude said to me.

I nodded in agreement. "Sure."

Soon after, the bell signaling the end of class sounded. The five of us immediately packed up our things and headed toward the classroom door.

"See you at practice, Ellis," Ryan said with a wave, walking off with Fox.

By the time lunch rolled around, Nadia and Lexa were obviously done with their fight considering the two of them were making out at the table. I wanted to look away from them, but for some reason my eyes stayed glued to the girls, watching them with a look of disgust and hoping for the rest of the group to get to the table so I wouldn't be left alone with them.

"They done fighting?" Trevor asked as he made his way to the table and sat down across from me, his friend, Johnny, sitting beside him.

"Guess so," I mumbled, looking away from the girls to face Trevor.

Ryan, Jude, and few other guys from the hockey team walked by our table as I turned to look at Trevor. Ryan and Jude greeted me with a wave to which I returned before they made their way to their table where Fox and Josh were already sitting with a few girls.

"The hockey team treating you well?" Trevor asked, taking his sandwich out of his lunchbox. Trevor always brought his lunch with him, arguing that school lunch was disgusting.

I nodded. "They didn't really pay much attention to me until I was officially on the roster."

"You made the team?" Trevor asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I just found out in first period," I explained.

"Congratulations!" Trevor exclaimed, causing Nadia and Lexa to break apart. The girls glared at Trevor, though he paid them no mind, before returning to their previous activity.

"Thanks," I said, shaking my head at the girls.

I couldn't help but let my eyes wander over to the table where the hockey players sat. They seemed like a group of tight-knit friends that had been playing together for years, just like I had been with my old team. I didn't know if I would ever be able to fit in with them.

As I stared, Fox turned away from the girl beside him and looked up, meeting my eyes. We stared at each other for a few moments as if challenging the other to look away. Fox seemed to have mastered the art of staring because he won the battle. I looked down at the table and then back up at him in time to see a slight smirk on his face before he turned away, back to the girl he was talking to before.

***

After a tiring first official hockey practice, I went home with Josh and hopped in the shower. When I was done washing off, I dried and got dressed, looking at the clock to realize it was just about seven.

I bounded down the steps and met my dad in the living room where he was watching the news by himself.

"Dad, can you give me a ride?" I asked, walking from the steps to stand beside the couch.

Dad looked up at me from where he sat, remote in hand. "Where are you going?"

"Trevor's," I answered just as Josh made his way down the stairs.

"Trevor?" Dad asked. "Are you uh... are you with this boy?"

My eyes widened at the words that came out of his mouth and I even heard Josh chuckle slightly as he walked behind me toward the door.

"Dad!" I yelled. "Oh my God... No!"

"It's okay if you are!" Dad said quickly. "I just want you to be safe."

"Oh my God," I muttered, rubbing my hand down my face.

Josh laughed again from the doorway. "I can give you a ride."

I immediately looked to Josh, sending him a look of thanks, before turning back to my dad.

"I promise you I am not with anyone," I told him seriously. "I'm going to go now and forget this ever happened."

"I'm just looking out for you, Elijah!" Dad yelled after me as Josh and I left through the front door.

I shook my head and let out a heavy sigh as I walked behind Josh to his car. The two of us were silent for a few minutes before Josh decided to speak up.

"So..." he started. "You and Trevor?"

I groaned loudly, throwing my head back while Josh let out a loud laugh.

"I think he likes you," Josh told me with a smirk on his face. "I've seen the looks he gives you."

"No," I said in an annoyed tone.

Josh scoffed. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"He doesn't like me like that," I said, shooting Josh a glare.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because he only talks to me because I'm new and gay," I told him as if stating the obvious.

Josh smiled, shaking his head playfully. "Whatever. Don't make plans for tomorrow. We're going out with some of the guys from the team."

"We are?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Josh nodded. "Ryan's idea. I've learned to stop questioning him and just go with what he says."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Josh shrugged. "Probably going to get food and then hang out at Ryan's. Dude's got a killer finished basement."

Part of me wanted to bail on Josh and the team, knowing I would feel out of place there. However, I knew I would only continue to feel out of place on the team if I didn't at least try to befriend them. Ryan and Jude were nice, but if I never accepted their invitations, they would probably stop talking to me.

Soon after, Josh pulled up to the curb in front of Trevor's house.

"Let me know if you need a ride home," Josh said as I opened the door to leave. "Unless you're staying the night..."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not, I'll call you."

I slowly made my way up to the house before reaching the front door. Before I could even knock, the door swung open, revealing an annoyed looking Nadia.

"Thank God you're here," Nadia said, pulling me by my arm into the house.

I could only imagine what had Nadia upset this time.

"Why?" I asked slowly, hoping the reason wouldn't be that her and Lexa were fighting again. I didn't feel like dealing with that tonight.

"Johnny is getting on my last nerve," she answered through gritted teeth.

I knew that Johnny and Nadia didn't really get along. I had found that out pretty early on. It seemed as though everything Johnny did annoyed her.

"What'd he do?" I mumbled as Nadia dragged me through the house, into the den.

"Just being his know-it-all self, like always," she said in a low tone.

When the two of us entered the den, I saw Trevor, Johnny, Lexa, and a few other kids from GSA lounging around and talking animatedly with each other.

"Elijah's here," Nadia announced, causing everyone to turn toward us.

"I thought you were getting us drinks?" Lexa asked her.

"I was, but Elijah was at the door," she answered, going to sit by her girlfriend.

"Elijah," Trevor greeted with a smile, waving me over. "Come sit."

I obliged, walking over to sit beside him and Johnny, along with another GSA kid named Austin.

"What's up?" Austin asked kindly, taking a sip of his water.

"Elijah made the hockey team," Trevor answered for me with a wide smile.

Austin gave me an impressed look. "Wow, congrats man."

"Thanks," I replied with a small, awkward smile.

"Lucky you getting to see the hockey boys all hot and sweaty," Austin teased, a devilish smirk on his face.

My face flushed, looking toward Trevor to see that he was shooting Austin a scowl and shaking his head.

"I guess," I said awkwardly.

"Come on," Austin continued. "You can't tell me you don't find any of them attractive. Not even Fox?"

I scoffed. "I'm not blind."

Austin let out a loud laugh at my words, slapping me on the shoulder and giving me a look of approval.

"I'm more into your brother, myself," Austin admitted jokingly.

I gave him a strange look. "Josh isn't my actual brother."

Austin shrugged. "He's hot."

I decided not to comment on that. Josh had been my step-brother for so long, I could never look at him in that way.

"Anyway," Trevor cut in, causing Austin and I to look at him. "We were just about to put in a movie. Do you have any requests, Elijah?"

I shrugged, shaking my head. "I'm good with whatever."

"We want a lesbian movie!" I heard Lexa exclaim from the other side of the room. The girl beside her, Holly, nodded in agreement.

"I agree with Lex," Nadia said, sitting down on her girlfriend's lap.

Trevor tossed them the remote. "Then you pick it."

Nadia caught the remote with ease, giving Trevor an arrogant expression, before using the remote to navigate Netflix on his TV.

The night hadn't been as awkward as I anticipated. We watched a movie that Nadia had picked out on Netflix and made joking commentary throughout it. Overall, it was a good night, though I still didn't know if I could ever see myself fully fitting in with this crowd.

**

Okay, welcome to On Thin Ice! Thank you for reading.

Please let me know what you think about the characters so far! Who do you think you'll end up liking? End up hating?

So, I've decided that with my new school schedule, it will be best for me to update on Fridays. Sometimes this won't be possible. I have a lot more work this semester than I anticipated, so I'm just hoping as the semester progresses I will get into a routine and get all of my school work done by Thursday so I can update here on Friday. So please bear with me.

Before I came out, going out with my hockey team was an every weekend occurrence. We would spend Friday and Saturday night together and then go out together again after church on Sundays. At the time it was great, since they were all my close friends, but once I was cast out I didn't know if I would ever feel that sense of belonging again.

Sitting in the burger shop with my new hockey team wasn't exactly a comfortable experience. These guys had been friends since they had been on the team together, and all of a sudden and new comer was intruding on their get together.

I was that new comer. And I definitely felt like an outcast.

Ryan and Jude did their best to help me feel included, but I was practically being ignored by the rest of them. Part of me wondered if Fox told them to keep away from me. That would explain why his friend, Ian, was already being so cold to me without even knowing me. Either that, or he was a homophobe.

"So Elijah," Ryan started as I took a sip of my shake. All eyes were on me for the first time this afternoon and I didn't know whether I was happy with the attention, or if it made me want to crawl in a hole and die.

"How was your night with Trevor?" Ryan asked suggestively, moving his eyebrows.

My face heat up as I hear Josh chuckle from beside me. I didn't dare look at Fox, knowing there was a scowl being directed at me.

"It was, uh, it was fine," I stammered, looking down at my plate.

"Just fine?" Jude asked smugly, sharing a look with Ryan.

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. Quite frankly, I didn't want to say anything else at all.

"I'm confused," Alex stated with his mouth full of veggie burger. "Are you and Trevor goin' out or somethin'?"

I groaned aloud to which Josh started laughing at my expense along with Ryan and Jude. Alex continued looking as confused as ever, looking to Ian and Fox as if they would explain the situation to him.

"We're just messing with you, Ellis," Ryan laughed, shaking his head playfully. "Lighten up a bit."

I sent him a closed lip smile and looked back down at my plate. I knew I should take Ryan's advice and lighten up a bit, but I couldn't help but struggle with feeling like I didn't belong anywhere at my new school. Not only did I feel out of place with the GSA kids, but I felt like an outsider on my own hockey team. My team was supposed to be my family, but it felt as though I connected with no one at this school, despite being welcomed by quite a few people.

"I'm still confused," Alex interjected, his face looking lost.

I looked over to Fox and noticed him roll his eyes out of annoyance before taking a small sip of his shake in front of him.

"You're an idiot," Fox told Alex pointedly.

Alex just waved him off and took a bite of his veggie burger, completely unbothered by Fox's insult.

"You ready for real practice to start next week, Ellis?" Jude asked, changing the subject, which I was grateful for.

I nodded. "I'm sure I'll manage."

My response elicited a scoff from Fox and I shot him an offended look. Surely he wouldn't have let me on the team if he thought I couldn't handle it, but at this moment he was acting as if he knew I couldn't. Maybe he was just hoping I would fail.

"What?" I asked, directing my offense at Fox. "You think I can't handle it?"

Fox looked surprised that I had called him out, but he quickly recovered and sent me a cold look with his eyes dark and stormy, void of any recognizable emotion.

"I think you're about to see just how hard it's going to be," he told me in an arrogant tone. "It's not the same as prep school hockey, Ellis."

I rolled my eyes at that. He obviously had no idea what "prep school" hockey entailed. I was sure it was just as difficult as any other highly competitive team. This team would be no different and I would prove Fox wrong. He thought so low of me, but I wouldn't let him think lowly of my skills on the ice. That was what I took most pride in about myself.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Fox," Josh defended me, shrugging toward his friend, though Fox never took his eyes off of me.

The two of us were caught in a stare down, making it obvious that there was some bad blood between us. If the other guys didn't know we didn't like each other before, they sure knew about it now. I could practically feel Josh's eyes burning holes in the side of my face, wondering what exactly was going on with Fox and me.

I was the first to look away, cursing myself as I glanced down at my plate once again. When I briefly looked back up, I saw Fox with a snide smirk on his face as if he had just won a game. I suppose he had, if he considered our brief argument a game.

"It'll be all good," Ryan agreed with Josh, looking between Fox and I. "Kid's got mad skills, I know you saw it, Fox."

I couldn't help but send a snide smirk of my own toward Fox while he fumed quietly in his seat. As long as I had a few guys on the team on my side, Fox wouldn't be able to get to me. At least someone thought good enough of me to compliment me on my hockey skills.

"Whatever," Fox finally responded after sharing his glare with Ryan. "I'm just saying, don't think it's going to be all fun and games. We're serious about winning this year. Don't make me regret putting you on the team."

The look on Fox's face as he spoke to me in a condescending irritated me beyond belief. He thought he was so much better than I was, but the truth was, the two of us were more similar than either of us would be proud to admit.

"I think you're forgetting that I won last year," I shot back in an angry tone. "As in, I beat you. I have that championship ring and you don't."

The guys all looked at me with shocked expressions, even Fox for a few moments before his normal, stoic face was back in order. He crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrows at me. I couldn't tell if he was impressed that I had held my own against him, or if he was plotting some way to sabotage me. Either way, I mirrored his expression and the two of us were stuck in a stare off once again.

"He kinda got you there, bro," Ian spoke up for the first time, nudging Fox with his elbow.

"Here's to hoping you play like a champion then," Fox replied with an almost sinister expression.

Without letting my strong front falter, I replied, "I do."

Before any other words could be said, I let my eyes trail past Fox and toward the door of the burger shop. The last people I ever wanted to see came into my vision and I instantly pressed my head to the table, hoping to shield myself from them.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Fox asked, turning around to try and figure out what I had seen.

I didn't say anything as all of the guys followed Fox's eyes and looked toward the front of the shop at my old teammates. I was sure they would be able to put two and two together to figure out who they were.

"You think we could hurry up and get out of here?" I asked desperately, keeping my head down.

Fox nodded and the other guys followed, not even hesitating. I was grateful that none of them had asked questions about my sudden wish for departure. Ryan and Josh even walked beside me to keep me shielded as we made our way out of the shop, being sure I wouldn't be spotted.

I didn't feel secure until I was in Josh's car and he had pulled out of the parking lot of the burger shop. He didn't say anything as he drove behind Fox to get to Ryan's house, and for that I was thankful. I didn't have anything to say about my old teammates, and there was no use rehashing old wounds. They were nothing to me, but competitors, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Josh messed with the radio a bit when we were stopped at a traffic light, but still didn't say anything. I could tell he was curious, but Josh was perceptive enough to know how I felt about the situation. He knew I didn't want to talk about it, and therefore, he wouldn't say anything. Not that Josh would say anything even if I did want to talk about it. We had been stepbrothers for years, but we were never close enough to have a heart-to-heart and I didn't want to start that now.

Soon enough, we pulled up to what I could only assume was Ryan's house. The house was big, bigger than any I had seen around here, but not as big as the houses of my old friends. Most of the Catholic School kids, especially the ones on the hockey team, were children of rich parents, meaning they basically lived in mansions.

Although it wasn't a mansion, Ryan's house was nice. It was an eggshell color with a porch that wrapped around. It appeared to have a nice, well kept yard and the driveway was big enough for about ten cars.

"This is Ryan's place?" I asked Josh as we stepped out of his car onto the driveway.

Josh nodded. "His dad's a contractor, he built it."

I didn't say anything else as we walked toward the house behind the rest of the guys. Again, I felt oddly out of place. This was the place they hung out together on the weekends and here I was, intruding on their time together. Part of me felt like I should have just stuck with the GSA kids, but I knew I needed to have some type of relationship with my team if we even had a chance of playing well together on the ice.

When we got inside, I followed Josh along with the rest of the guys through the hallway, into the kitchen, and to a set of descending stairs that I assumed led to the basement. Josh wasn't kidding when he told me that Ryan had a killer finished basement. There was a giant flat screen TV hanging on the wall in front of a large, leather sectional. Beyond that, there was a pool table, an air hockey table, and a foosball table over in an open area of the basement. Tall glass doors led out to a stone patio with a fire pit and in ground pool. Needless to say, I was impressed.

"So, Ellis," Ryan started, walking closer to me, "This is where the magic happens."

Alex let out a disgusted scoff. "You're makin' it sound like we have gay orgies down here."

Ryan shot him a dirty look and Alex's eyes immediately widened as he looked over at me with a panicked expression.

"Not that there's anything wrong with gay!" he exclaimed quickly. "We just definitely don't do gay orgies down here."

I laughed at his words and shook my head playfully.

"Yeah, so don't get your hopes up, Ellis," Ian muttered, walking past me to take a seat on the sectional.

I just ignored him. Ian, along with Fox, was someone I decided I would never get to like me, so I wasn't even going to try. He wasn't worth the energy.

Alex scoffed aloud at Ian. "Please, he wouldn't want to have a gay orgy if you were involved. I'm obviously the most attractive one to gay guys. Right Elijah?"

Alex looked at me expectantly along with the rest of the guys and I had no idea what to say. It wasn't that Alex was unattractive, but I had a feeling if I said that he was, I would only be giving more ammunition to Ian to try and insult me with.

"Alex, stop," Josh said after looking at me briefly. I must have looked uncomfortable because that was definitely how I felt at that moment.

"He can't get girls to call him attractive so he's trying the other team," Ian snickered, elbowing Fox to get him to laugh along. Fox let out one forced laugh before pulling a straight face and looking over at me.

"You can't get called attractive by either," Alex shot back.

"Apparently neither can you," Ian retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Fox rolled his eyes and made his way over to the couches in front of the TV. Josh was soon to follow and I trailer behind him like a lost puppy. At that point, I would do anything to get away from the awkward conversation between Alex and Ian.

Ryan and Jude also left the other two to bicker by the stairs and joined the rest of us at the couches. Ryan picked up the remote for the TV and began scrolling through his Netflix to find something to watch.

"You watch Queer Eye?" I asked him quizzically after seeing it in his recently watched section.

"I was watching it with my sister," he explained with a smile. "She loves it. Jonathan is her favorite."

My mood instantly brightened. "I love Jonathan."

"I'm more of a Karamo guy," Ryan admitted with a shrug. "He's cool but he's also one handsome dude."

I laughed. "He is."

"Put on Big Mouth," Ian interrupted, sitting beside me on the couch.

Ryan rolled his eyes but complied anyway and no one objected. I had never seen the show, but I found it hard to even pay attention to it so I didn't. Instead of watching with the rest of the guys, I pulled out my phone to see that I had a text from Trevor.

Hope your day with the team is going well :)

I never understood where I stood with Trevor. Most of the time I felt as though he only talked to me because he was being nice, but then sometimes he would go out of his way to speak to me and that confused me. He was never necessarily flirty with me, but Josh and my dad seemed to think that he had a crush on me or something. I felt as the the two of us were in this sort of in-between friendship that didn't seem like it was going to amount to anything more than that.

I decided I should reply to him, considering I was bored out of my mind.

It's goin good

His reply was almost instant.

I'm glad! I hope they're making you feel included

I pondered on that for a moment. The only reason I didn't feel included was because of my own insecurities, not because the hockey guys were doing anything to exclude me. I couldn't blame them for that, it was my own fault.

They are mostly. still feel a little out of place

That'll get better with time :)

Ya, i'm sure it will

I spent the rest of the night casually texting back and forth with Trevor until Josh decided he was ready to head home. When we bid goodbye to the rest of the guys, I let my eyes linger on Fox for an extra second. He stared back, but this time it wasn't a look of hatred.

I couldn't tell what it was, but it was an improvement and I would take what I could get.

**

Hello everyone! Thank you for reading. And thank you for 10k reads!

I decided to update a day early because I decided to write instead of doing my school work lmao. Also, I'm trying to get the reads up on this so there might be an update sooner than next Friday so look out for that.

What do you think about the group of hockey guys? Who's your favorite of the group besides Elijah?

Comment! Vote! Let me know what you think!