Puck'd

Chapter 2

Marlowe

Why did he have to be a hockey player? And maybe even the better question: Why did he have to be a hockey player that was now enrolled in my school?

Two years ago, I thought I had it all figured out.

I was sick of boys flirting with me. None of them wanted to date me because they liked me, they all just seemed to develop an interest in me when I joined the cheerleading team. Especially the jocks. And leading them? The hockey players.

I caved and said yes to a couple, but neither of them could hold an engaging conversation with me and yet they still both assumed I would drop my pants for them.

And then, something happened.

A hockey player was staying at my Uncle Jack's house for his second year on the Icedogs. He caught wind that I wouldn't put out for anyone and decided to approach me.

At first, I thought he was just like every other horny hockey player that I had dealt with. He also had already graduated high school, which made me think he was kind of creepy for trying to get with me. But then he presented me with an idea.

He told me I could claim I was dating him and that way every other guy would leave me alone.

When I asked him what he got out of it, he said that he was doing it as a favour for my Uncle Jack. He didn't elaborate, but he told me that he owed him one, and he knew he'd never be able to personally repay him so he wanted to do something for his niece instead.

Of course, Uncle Jack knew nothing about it. I doubt he would have approved of the plan if he did know! But Chris was able to feel like he had somehow made things a little even, and I was able to get through the year with a fake, older boyfriend to claim as my own.

No one dared to hit on me anymore. I was free to focus on schoolwork and cheering. It was the perfect solution.

But then Chris got traded. My fake boyfriend moved away and I started my junior year as once again an open target for all the jocks at my school. Only now, I was the girl who dated an Icedogs player, which I guess made the chase even more appealing.

I found myself wishing that another Chris-type would step in to play pretend, but I knew the odds of that happening were extremely low. So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I went to a house party with my cheer squad-similar to the one I'm at now- and scouted out the hockey players that showed up. The criteria were simple: attractive, to make it believable and to keep up with appearances, not looking for a serious relationship, because I didn't want to have to actually date someone, and preferably someone who was older or who at least didn't go to my school... that way I could avoid having to hang out with them during the day without raising suspicions.

It should have been simple. And when I found Damian, it seemed as though it would be.

But Damian was not a Chris-type.

He played the friendly gentleman until he got me alone in a room and then he got handsy. I got him to back off long enough to ask him my favour, to which he readily agreed. Only, he hadn't quite understood what I was asking, and he wasn't ready to pretend to date me without getting something in return.