Love, Hate and Hockey Skates.

I have hated the majority of my life I could remember. My mother died in a car accident when I was young, on the day of my 10th birthday. From that day my father had blamed me for her death, all because I had thrown a tantrum over not having ice cream with my cake, so she went to get some and was struck by a drunk driver.

That was the day the horrors of my childhood had begun. My father had become a recluse drunk who lost his job and claimed disability to sit at home and drink. He would have flashbacks of my mother and get into a drunken rage, which usually ended with me as his punching bag and anger release.

I tried several times to tell an adult about it, I showed them the bruises on my legs and arms, but my father was the world's greatest actor. Every time someone had come to the door under the suspicion something was happening to me in the house, he pretended to act like a sober and loving father, which in turn made me look like a liar.

So, I stopped telling people, and I waited for the day I could escape. I used to love dancing, my mother put me in ballet classes at the age of 5 and I fell in love with it, but that had to come to an end. It was nearly impossible to hide the bruises with a leotard on.

I had to give up all the things I loved and had become an entirely different person. It wasn't until my teen years that the drinking and beatings got worse. I was 14 when my father struck me in the face for the first time and left me with a black eye. I turned to heavy make-up and hoodies to hide my face.

This only turned me into the weirdo at school, and no one wanted to go near me. No one except one person.

Ace Huxley. Star captain of the hockey team and my biggest bully throughout high school. He always found me in the halls and made fun of the way I was dressed or the way I acted. He loved to target my heavy make-up and baggy hoodies, taunting me about being fat and ugly, so I tried and hide it. When in truth I had received tons of compliments before I began to hide my face and make myself look hideous.

He was the popular kid, the rich kid, every girl wanted him, and every guy wanted to be him unless they were gay, then they most likely wanted him too. It was infuriating how no one saw the true asshole that he was because I was the only person he blessed with his time of day to bully.

But during the last year of high school, I had found my calling, and my answer to escaping my father's wretched house. He never allowed me to get a job, the one time I did behind his back, he found the money hidden in my mattress and beat me until I confessed to where I had gotten it. I was given a curfew until 8 pm, even on weekends, and I wasn't allowed to go over to friends' houses or have any over, which basically meant I wasn't allowed to have friends.

That didn't mean I wasn't allowed to go out. I soon found that there was an underground club in our small town of Athens, one that hosted a lot of dance competitions. Since most of the contestants had come from the hip-hop style of dance, it was something new and refreshing when I entered with a mix of hip-hop and ballet.

I was winning competition after competition until I finally had enough money to get my own small place at the age of 18 and get the hell out of there. It was the most exhilarating and liberating feeling I had ever felt when I was handed the keys and walked into that empty apartment. I had only enough money to pay the first and last months' rent, and a group of guys from the club had come with me to get everything that was in my room.

But that was only a mattress and a dresser, it was all I was given in that room. But I didn't care, I was free and that was all that mattered. Now, I had the opportunity to go to school for dance, it was the first thing I did while I continued to compete in competitions and saved as much money as I could.

Then had come the disappointment. Rejection after rejection of all the top schools, despite my great grades in high school, I had no experience in dance since I was 12 years old. The only school that was willing to accept me was a private school for all kinds of talent, whether it was arts, sports, media etc., they seemed to have a course for everything.

Although it wasn't quite Julliard, it was better than a community college that would get me a job as a dance teacher at a rundown studio at best. That would barely keep me afloat, I might as well continue with the underground competitions. But I didn't want to be doing that for the rest of my life, I wanted to own my own studio, a glorious and magnificent one.

I wanted to teach all kinds of dance styles and have my own dance club, one that wasn't underground and could be out in the open. I already had a bunch of ideas for us to form dance groups and post on social media to get our name out there and compete in actual competitions, one that came with both wealth and fame.

It took about 6 months for all the bruises and burn marks to completely disappear from my body, I used all types of scarring creams and bruising lotions to get them down as much as possible and since my father had always used an open hand, there was never anything that broke or fractured in my body.

I was finally able to dress how I wanted and no longer had to hide my face, just in time for my first day of school. I made sure to keep my make-up light and wore my chestnut brown hair down in natural wavy curls, then threw on a simple pair of skinny jeans and an olive green tank top. I usually tried to avoid green colours as my eyes were also a light green colour, but an olive tone seemed to accent them nicely.

This was my first day and my first impression. Gone were the days when I suffocated myself in baggy hoodies and caked-on make-up. I could be free and who I wanted to be, a chant I had been telling myself since the day I got my apartment. Now, I was even more free to finally pursue a dance career and nothing was holding me back.

"Incoming!"

I turned and looked down the hallway just in time to see a hacky sac that was flying my way. Thanks to quick dance reflexes, I ducked but managed to catch it and went to throw it back to its owner but stopped cold in my tracks.

Stood in front of me was none other than my biggest nightmare.

Ace Huxley.

"Hey, haven't seen you around here before," he said with a cocky grin. The same damned cocky grin he always used to pick up skanks, and now he was using it on me.

"Here's your sac back," I said and tossed it to him, then turned and walked away.

"Wha – wait, hold on!" He jogged after me and started walking backwards next to me to keep up. "What class are you headed to; I can maybe help you find it?"

I held up the school map I printed out this morning. "Thanks, I got it covered."

This stumped him and he had no choice but to stop and watch as I continued to walk away like he was never there. I kept walking until I saw the signs for the bathrooms and ducked into them, then let out a gasping breath.

It had been so long since I last saw him, all the memories of high school had come rushing back. Of all the people to run into on the first day, why did it have to be him?

I sat in the bathroom until I thought the coast was clear then snuck out and raced to my first class, which was the History of Dance. I was looking forward to learning all the different styles of dance throughout the years and interpreting the different styles into my own choreography.

The next class was Kinesiology, the study of body movement and function when dancing. It looks at the style of dance as a scientific study of the human body and the capabilities of movement and functions while dancing. Even for a minor University, this B. A course was still top-notch and was going to teach me hopefully all I needed to know about opening my own studio.

But, of course, I could barely concentrate despite how excited I was about this class, because my mind kept wandering as to how I was going to avoid Ace Huxley yet again. It's obvious he didn't recognize me, but he also made it clear that he had taken an interest in me, and I had seen the way he hunted girls back in high school.

He would chase after one girl for months, just to sleep with her then dump her. It was almost like a game to him, how many people could he sleep with before he graduated? I could only imagine what Uni life had been doing for him in that field.

Which gave me all the more reason to stay as far away from him. Thankfully, I was already a pro at that, and this school was a lot bigger than our high school, hopefully, it would be easy to avoid him for the entire time he had left at school.

The first morning went by great, I learned so much in my first two classes and had an hour break after lunch and to wander the campus a little. I wanted to know where the rink was so I could avoid it at all costs, but of course, the moment I found it was the exact moment Ace Huxley decided to walk out of the building.

"Hey, new girl!" he yelled out and ran over to me.

I turned around and pretended not to see him, but his long legs were capable of keeping up with me with no problem.

"Why do you keep running away? Am I that ugly?" he joked, but it reminded me of the taunts he used to throw at me about secretly being ugly.

"Why do you keep following me? Am I really that attractive?"

"Well, yeah, of course," he answered bluntly. "Come on, don't tell me you've never looked in a mirror?"

I wasn't expecting such blunt honesty, but I should've from him.

"Is that the reason you're following me because you want to get into my pants?" I scoffed and walked faster, but he still kept up with me.

"At first I thought I might know you; you seemed familiar." This almost made me stop dead in my tracks. The last thing I wanted was for him to remember who I was. "But now I'm just curious why you don't want to be around me."

"I'm just trying to make it through like everyone else," I muttered.

"All the more reason to have friends who can help you out if you need it. Campus life isn't easy, I'll tell you that."

"Well, lucky for me, I don't live on campus."

His eyes widened. "Really? Do you live with your parents in town?"

"Nope. I have a class to get to, excuse me."

"Wait!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Ugh, what?"

He grinned as if he found my attitude amusing. What the hell happened to this guy?

"We're having our first game of the season this Friday, you should come and support, maybe cheer me on a little." He wiggled his brows.

"Not interested, thanks." I tried to walk away but he wouldn't let go.

"Can I at least know your name, then?"

Shit. If I revealed my name, would that put everything together for him? Would he even remember me just by my name? I didn't want to tell him, but it wasn't like there wasn't way he could find out. But I remembered there was one thing he loved to do.

Gamble.

Ace and his buddies always liked to bet on their games and the other sports games that happened at our school, he would never turn down a friendly wager.

"I'll make a bet with you; win the game this Friday, and I'll tell you my name."

His eyes lit up and his grin widened.

"You got yourself a wager."

I stopped him before we shook hands. "Hold on, there has to be something I win if you lose. If you lose, you have to leave me alone, never bother me again. Is that fair?"

He slouched a little at this and seemed disappointed. "Not even as friends?"

"Why would you want to be friends with me? We have nothing in common."

"How would you know? Come on, don't be that cruel, think of something else. How about I won't hit on you, ever? If you really think I'm just trying to sleep with you, then if I lose, I'll never be allowed to make any sort of move on you ever."

This surprised me and hurt a little for some reason. That was what I wanted, but he made it sound so easy. Was I really not that attractive to him?

"Alright, fine."

His face lit up again. "You've got yourself a wager."

Weirdly enough, I didn't see Ace for the rest of the week, not even in the halls or the cafeteria, it was like he had disappeared. Only to return on Friday with the biggest grin on his face as he awaited the start of the game.

I sat at the top of the bleachers, as far away from the ice as possible and hoped he wouldn't see me up there, but to my luck, he scanned the crowd and spotted me right away. He gave a huge wave which only attracted all the female attention to me.

'Oh, great. I haven't even been here hardly a week, and I'm already the target of envy.'

I could feel all the jealous stares as the game started. At first, I didn't find myself very interested, until I heard the horn go off, which I guessed signalled a goal as the players celebrated on the ice. I looked and realized it wasn't our team, and it was only the first 5 minutes out of 20 minutes.

Maybe this was going to be a lot easier than I thought. I started to pay a little more attention to the game, even though I didn't understand any of it, but it seemed easy enough to understand after you watched for a little while.

If you scored in the net, it was one point and the team with the most points by the end of the 3rd period was the winner. Each period was 20 minutes, but if a fight broke out it was often paused or what was called a power play would be given to the team that lost a member to the penalty box because the ice was now uneven with players, the opposite team having a bigger advantage with one more player.

Penalties could be given for other things, like something called icing, much like carrying on a basketball court, you could not hug the puck. This was the most I could understand from the single game, and I was so invested I had no idea the game ended until the final horn blared, and our school's team started to jump in the air.

I looked at the board and saw that they had won by one point. Which meant Ace won the wager. What was going to happen as soon as he found out my name? Would he remember and then embarrass me in front of all these people? I was already the target of envy at the moment, it wouldn't take much for that crowd to turn on me just like before.

I started to hyperventilate just thinking about that time, when I had no one and nothing, when I was completely isolated from the world. I couldn't go back to that; I had come so far already to go back.

Ace skated off the ice and right up the stairs to where I was. My heart thumped in my ears the closer he got, until he was right in front of me, covered in sweat and grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm glad you made it; did you see us win?" he asked, looking like a kid on Christmas.

"Yeah, it was pretty interesting. My first hockey game, too."

He sat down and took off his gloves, then wiped his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes.

"I'm honoured my game was your first, just makes it better that we won, then." He stopped and took a swig of water from his bottle. "So, I believe we had a deal?"

I looked around at all the girls who were waiting for his attention and decided this wasn't the best place for this.

"Why don't I meet you outside? I don't feel like getting attacked the moment you disappear," I said and gestured to the girls.

He scoffed and waved them off. "Don't worry, they're harmless. Besides, we're just friends, for now." He winked. "I'll get changed, meet me outside and don't you dare you anywhere." He pointed a finger at me and then rushed off. As soon as he was gone I too rushed out the door before anyone else had the chance to approach me.

I stood on the side of the ice rink and contemplated just leaving, but I knew even if I succeeded in escaping him today, there was no guarantee for the future. He would most likely hunt me down harder the more I avoid him, so I might as well show him that nothing is interesting about me.

"There you are, I thought for sure you would run off on me." Ace chuckled. "Would you be interested in grabbing something to eat? I'm starving after that game."

I didn't see the harm, I had skipped lunch because of how nervous I was to show up at the game, but it was a lot better than I thought it was. If it wasn't for Ace being on the team, I would probably watch more games in the future.

He walked us over to the campus cafeteria and grabbed a large slice of pizza. It was ridiculously cheap for a slice of pizza that was practically the size of a small pizza at any regular restaurant, but their dip options were ten times better.

We grabbed our pizza and salad, then walked outside where there were fewer people.

"So, what did you think of your first hockey game?" he asked.

I expected him to jump right into it and ask what my name was.

"Uh, it wasn't bad, pretty entertaining at least."

"Were you able to understand most of it? If there is anything you're confused about, I could explain it to you, so it makes better sense next time."

I scoffed. "What makes you think I'll be showing up to another game?"

"Because I saw how interested you were in the first place. You looked really into it by the second period, and you even looked disappointed when the other team got a power play."

He could see all of that from the ice, and while he was playing? How could was his vision? I was envious as hell. I had to pay for myself to get Lasik eye surgery just so I didn't have to wear glasses while I danced, it was impossible.

"If I ever pick up the interest, I'll let you know," I said, and he shrugged before he took a huge bite of his pizza. "You really know how to impress a woman," I added.

"I never said I was trying to impress you, and besides look at me. Do I really need to?" he asked with his usual cocky grin. It's unbelievable that it has been 3 years since I last saw him, and he still looked and acted the same.

"Anyway, a bet is a bet. If I tell you my name, will you leave me alone?"

He looked offended. "Why don't you want to be friends with me?"

I almost felt bad.

Almost.

"I'm just not interested in getting distracted. I worked too long and too hard for this opportunity, and I won't let anyone or anything take it away from me, especially not myself. Thanks for lunch, see you around." I got up from the table.

"Wait, you still haven't told me your name."

I chuckled. Well, as soon as he finds out, maybe then he will realize why and avoid me himself instead.

"It's Isla. Isla Thatcher."