Elijah's POV

Home.

Everyone had that one place where they felt the most peace, a place where they felt like they belonged, embraced with serenity and solace.

Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes. Growing up I thought that I would never find that place. That I would never feel that sense of belonging somewhere, and that I was destined to feel out of place for the rest of my life.

Even now, I still felt that way about most things.

But I found that place. A home where just for a couple of hours, I didn't have to feel so out of place in the world. Where I wasn't on the other side of the glass looking in. Where I could just feel warmth and relief.

And that place was the hockey rink.

The moment I stepped foot on the ice, the cool air hitting me, that's where I felt most at home. Surrounded by glowing lights and echoes, anxiety vanished from my bones and my head was clear, and I was at peace.

"Are you ready to kick some ass?" Mateo came up behind me, clasping his gloved hand on my shoulder as I was working on my stick handling. We were in the middle of warm-up before the game. I turned my head and smiled.

"You know I am," I said.

"That's what I like to hear." He grinned, pulling down the cage on his helmet. "I better see some good goals out of you tonight."

"It's Elijah, of course he's going to score." Leigh chimed in as she skated over, stealing the puck from under my stick. I snatched the puck right back from her with my stick almost instantly, and she pouted.

"Hey!"

"You're gonna have to do better than that," I said with a laugh. She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I wasn't even trying. You want to see me try?" She challenged, eyebrow raised.

"Is that a challenge?" I mimicked her eyebrow raise. She smirked.

"Duh."

"Fine, but you only have 30 seconds before the game starts," I gestured to the scoreboard on the opposite side of the rink with a tilt of my head. Just as she glanced up, I took the puck and sped off. I heard Leigh shout from behind me, followed by Mateo's boasting laughter, and she quickly skated after me.

I sped around our half of the rink, the puck gliding against the ice against the blade of my stick. Leigh quickly caught up to me. She shoved me against the boards and intercepted with her stick, gaining possession of the puck. She only had it for a few seconds before I recovered and lifted her stick with mine, grabbed the puck, and sped off again.

When the buzzer went off, signalling the end of warm-up, I stopped dead in my tracks and Leigh came crashing into me from behind, her arms wrapping around me. The two of us laughed when I nearly tumbled over but caught my balance.

We met up with the rest of our team over by the bench. The coach gave us a brief speech of encouragement. He had full confidence that we would win tonight. After his speech, we all put our sticks down in a circle, shouting our team cheer.

The referee blew his whistle, and I skated over to the centre of the rink. My line always started first. Leigh took my left, and Mateo took my right, and our two defensemen, Flynn and Ares, got into position behind us.

I watched as the opposing team's lineup got into their positions, their line's centre coming to stand face-to-face with me. He stood a couple of inches taller, strands of dark hair visible against his forehead through his helmet. He looked down at me through dark eyes with disdain, and although it sent a slight pang through my chest, I tried not to let it affect me.

The Kendall Knights were ranked fourth place in the league. While they were good, and they were rough, we hadn't lost a game to them yet, and I wasn't planning on breaking that streak tonight.

He could glare and sneer all he wanted. He could spit names at me, throw me against the boards like he's done before, but he wasn't going to take home the win tonight.

I pressed my stick down near the centre dot, knees bent, my body low and hunched over. My opposer did the same, his stick coming down next to mine, his head inches away from mine in challenge.

Adrenaline rushed through me, blood pulsing in my ears. Seconds later the ref blew his whistle once more and dropped the puck onto the rink between our sticks. In one fast reflex, I swiped the puck and passed it over to Mateo, and he sped off. 

Loud cheers echoed from the bleachers. There was a decently large audience for the game tonight—one side of the bleachers was completely filled up with people from both universities, dressed up in spirit wear colours. I noticed the striking amount in Leighton's spirit wear, an explosion of purples, golds, and blacks sparkling in the corner of my eye.

Mateo sped down the right side of the rink, heading towards the opposing team's goal. I sped down after him, sticking to the middle, but when he got shoved up against the boards by an opposing player, I skated over to help him.

I took the puck and skated around the back of the goal to the left side. I heard skates quickly coming up behind me, and before I could collide into the boards from a rough body check by the opposing centre player, I passed the puck over to Leigh, who took a shot at the net.

She hit the top corner of the goal and it bounced off, and Mateo jumped in for the rebound, sending the puck flying into the left corner of the goal.

The cheering from Leighton's side of the bleachers went wild, and our team on the benches started banging their hockey sticks against the side of the rink, shouting out their praises.

Leigh and I skated over to Mateo and crushed him into a group hug, as did Flynn and Ares when they came rushing over. Then, we headed back over to the centre of the rink for another face-off.

The game lasted an entire hour. By the end of the first period, I scored a goal on the opposing team's net, and by third period, I scored two more, Mateo and Leigh assisting me for all goals. When the buzzer sounded off, signalling the end of the game, our team had won 4-2.

Whistles and screams and applause echoed throughout the large arena, nearly deafening me. A wide smile tugged my lips, my chest heaving, sweat dotting my forehead.

And when the rest of our team skated onto the ice to gather us all into one giant group hug, crushing me in the dead centre and smacking their gloves on my helmet, there was nothing more satisfying, and more exhilarating, than this.

Absolutely nothing.