CHAPTER ONE
Tessa’s room was a mess.
Her hockey kit was thrown open beside the bed, skates half-tucked into the corner, jerseys rolled into a growing pile near her duffel. A mess outside and inside—that’s what packing for a new life looked like.
She folded her last sports top when her phone buzzed across the desk.
MOM CALLING.
She sighed and answered.
“Hey.”
“Have you packed all your stuff?” her mom’s voice crackled through. Tessa looked around the disaster zone and exhaled.
“Still on it.”
From the background came her dad’s voice, calling out:
“All the best, my princess!”
She smiled softly, a rare crack in her armor. “Thanks,” she said, quietly. The call ended.
Music. Laughter. Beer bottles clinking.
The boys were gathered in one room, half-drunk and fully loud. A couple leaned over a game of cards. The rest shouted over a hockey match playing on mute in the background.
“Yo, tomorrow’s the big day,” one of them announced. “First-ever girls’ team arriving at Rinks High.”
The room laughed. Someone threw a chip at his head.
“Let’s see if they can even skate,” another said, snickering.
Leaning back in a corner chair, Keiran Rhodes sat half-drunk, a lazy smirk tugging at his lip. His messy hair shadowed sharp, tired eyes.
“Let them try,” he muttered. “But they’re not beating us. We’re the top team at Rinks. Have been for three years.”
No one argued. They knew it was true.
The gates of Rinks High – National Training School stood tall and gleaming, banners snapping in the breeze. Tessa walked through them, dragging her duffel behind her, chin high, eyes sharper than the wind around her.
The girls’ dorm smelled like fresh paint and ambition. Students walked by in team jackets, whispering, watching.
She found her assigned room and knocked. A voice from inside called out, “Come in.”
A girl stood at the dresser, adjusting her jacket over leggings, dark hair chopped into a clean wedge cut. Confident. Sharp.
“I’m Tessa James,” she offered, stepping in.
“Harper Lane,” the girl said without looking up. Just a nod. Cool, unreadable.
Tessa started unpacking, sorting her gear with some order. Then the door burst open.
“TESSA JAMES!”
She turned, heart skipping. Lila Hale stood in the doorway, arms open, hair in her signature bob, frame now athletic but still familiar.
They hugged like they hadn’t seen each other in years—because they hadn’t. Friends since home, partners in every local sports league until they’d been separated in secondary-level training. She hadn’t even known Lila was coming.
“Lila—what—how?!”
“I transferred!” she beamed. “I’m in the same program!”
Harper didn’t even blink. She just gave them a brief glance, then turned back to her notebook.
Tessa exchanged a look with Lila, already sensing Harper’s walls.
They invited Harper to come eat with them, but she declined with a flat, “I need to check out the rest of campus.”
Not rude. Not friendly either.
Tessa and Lila grabbed lunch and sat across from each other. As they ate, Lila giggled through bites of fries, eyes darting around.
“Okay, the guys here? Hot. Like, is this a hockey academy or a dating show?”
Tessa rolled her eyes, more focused on her plate than the parade of shirtless muscle in gym vests.
But then—her fork froze.
Across the room, behind Lila, a group of guys were staring. Laughing.
Not at a joke.
At them.
The one sitting on the table, not even bothering with a bench, had messy hair, a team jersey, and the kind of face you didn’t forget.
Keiran Rhodes.
He said something she couldn’t hear—but the way his friends burst out laughing made her stomach tighten.
Tessa set her spoon down on her plate. Hard. Lila jumped.
“Tes—?”
Tessa stood, walked toward the table with calm, controlled steps. The cafeteria air felt sharp and thick.
She slammed her hand on the table beside Keiran, making every head turn.
Keiran barely flinched. Just raised his eyes to meet hers.
“Let’s meet on the ice,” she said, voice calm but firm. “We’ll see who’s really top team here.”
Lila rushed over, grabbing her arm. “Sorry, sorry,” she told the guys, trying to pull Tessa away.
But Tessa didn’t break eye contact.
Keiran just smirked.
Back at the table, Lila hissed, “War? From day one?”
Tessa shrugged, picking up her spoon again.
“I’m just taking my stand.”
And she was.
