On Thin Ice

20

Josh didn't say anything else to me until the two of us were alone in his car. He turned the radio down and looked at me briefly as he stopped at a red light.

"What happened to your face?" he asked me, sounding calmer than he did earlier.

"Don't worry about it."

Josh scoffed and shook his head at me.

"Did you and Fox get in a fight or something?" he questioned as he continued driving toward school.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "No. Drop it, Josh."

I could tell I annoyed him by not telling him what happened, but he let it go anyway. I didn't want to have to tell him about it anyway.

When we got to school, I kept my head down and stared at the floor as I walked in hopes of keeping my face hidden from everyone in the hall. I focused on my feet shuffling on the floor and ended up bumping into someone when I reached my locker. I moved my eyes up while keeping my head down to see that Trevor was staring back at me.

"Elijah?" he said, trying to level his face with mine.

I sighed and looked up at him just in time to see his shocked expression as his eyes zeroed in on my face. His hand cupped over his mouth in a surprised gesture.

"Are you okay? What happened? Who did that to you?" Trevor asked in a quick succession.

I didn't want to deal with him or anyone else who was going to be asking me the same exact questions. All I wanted was to keep my head low and avoid contact with everyone.

"I'm fine, Trev," I replied with a sigh, opening my locker. "I really don't want to talk about it."

Trevor nodded. "As long as you're okay."

I sent him a small, grateful smile as I rifled through my locker for my things.

"Anyway, I just wanted to come over here and apologize for being so stand-offish with you," he said with a sheepish smile. "I guess I just got kinda awkward after what happened, but I feel bad about it."

"It's fine," I assured him. "Really."

"You should come back to sitting with us at lunch," he offered kindly. "Everyone was asking about you last week and I had no idea what to say to them."

"I'll sit with you guys today," I promised, shutting my locker once I had all that I needed.

"Perfect," he replied, his smile widening.

Trevor and I went our separate ways after the bell rang. The day went by without too many people asking me about my injuries until hockey practice after school ended.

When I entered the locker room, I received stares from everyone I passed. Some of the guys looked around at others in the room, probably thinking one of them was the person who had done it.

After getting onto the ice, Coach Silva's eyes widened when he caught sight of me. While everyone was warming up, he pulled me aside.

"Did someone on the team do that to you?" Coach Silva asked in a low tone.

I shook my head. "No, sir."

"Okay. Did someone at home do that to you?"

I shook my head again. "My dad knows about it and it's been taken care of."

Coach Silva nodded. "Good."

He looked over to where the others were warming up and then looked back to me, placing his hand on my shoulder.