Page 395 of Faking the Goal

KENTARO

Summer training has never felt this fucking weird.

I've walked into this rink hundreds of times over the past three years. It's become so familiar that most days I barely think about it anymore—the cold, the smell of the ice, the sound of blades cutting across it before the sun is even fully up.

But this morning, I notice everything.

Because for the first time since I came to Ridgewater, this place doesn't feel quite the same.

Something's different.

Not bad.

Just... different.

For starters, I'm a senior now, which still sounds wrong in my head. Cody, Liam, Luke, and I are officially the old fuckers on the team, while half the locker room seems to have been invaded by freshmen who look suspiciously young enough to need parental supervision.

But that's not the strangest part.

It's who's missing.

There are empty spaces where familiar faces used to be. Guys we've practiced with, traveled with, fought with, celebrated with. Guys who were here when I first arrived at Ridgewater as a pissed-off freshman determined to prove myself to everyone.

And two absences are impossible not to notice.

Elijah and Zach.

Our captain and alternate captain.

Former captain and alternate captain now, I guess.

Fuck. That's going to take some getting used to.

For three years, Elijah's voice has been one of the loudest in this locker room, usually telling one of us to stop fucking around and get our asses onto the ice. Zach was normally right there beside him, either backing him up or being the reason Elijah was yelling in the first place.

Now both their stalls belong to somebody else.

It's bittersweet as hell.

The group doesn't feel quite right without them, and I doubt it will for a while. But every one of us knew this was coming. College hockey was never supposed to keep us together forever. If anything, this is exactly what we spent all those years working toward.

Those bastards made it.

They're starting their professional careers while the rest of us are back here preparing for our final season at Ridgewater, and I couldn't be fucking prouder of them.

Doesn't mean I'm not going to miss them.

Especially when I glance toward the center of the locker room and see Cody standing there wearing the C on his practice jersey for the first time.

I stare at it.

Then at him.

Then back at the C.

Cody notices. "What?"

"Nothing."