Chapter Text
You woke up to your alarm clock blaring, you were on your stomach, trying to go back to sleep. You silence the alarm as you look at it, eyes halfway open, 9:00, you sighed loudly, it was the first day of freshman year in college. You roll onto your back and rub your face, then, grabbing your phone, you scroll on Instagram for a bit before looking at the clock, seeing the time pass, 9:12. You get up and sit down at your vanity, turning the mirror on and looking into it, you see yourself, in that golden dim lighting, your hair disheveled, face puffy. You always looked horrid in the mornings. You stumble your way to the bathroom, rubbing sleep from your eyes while doing so. After getting ready, you went to the closet to get dressed. You fully bundled yourself up before putting on your shoes. You give one look at the clock, 9:45, okay well it was a bit late, you just walk out and decide you'll get something at the coffee shop nearby, even though it'll probably make you later, but you don't mind.
As you get to the coffee shop, you step in as the bell for the door rings, "Welcome!" you heard a honeyed voice come from.. Abby? You nod as you come up to the counter.
You asked kindly for you coffee order, making a lot of changes. After she took your order, you sat down while she was making your drink. You scrolled on Instagram, looking for updates on the hockey team, and the ice skaters. Then you go onto your boyfriends contact, looking at the previous texts from last night, talking about how he was gonna come to see you practice, and maybe hang out before. Truth be told, he seemed a little off lately. Hopefully it was nothing though. But looking back at the post for the ice skaters and the hockey players, you refigured out that you had your first practice today. You sighed.
Then Abby called your name, "heres your drink, with all those.. modifications.." Abby teased. You rolled your eyes and said a quick 'thanks' before leaving. You couldn't tell if it was friendly teasing or non-friendly teasing. Either way, you didn't care. Okay well maybe you did a bit.
Your first day at college goes smoothly, you made a few new friends, such as Dina, she was sweet, pretty, and definitely extroverted. And then you made a friend named Sara, she was blonde, had green eyes, and was also pretty sweet. After meeting those two, the first two classes went pretty smooth. The third and final one was english, you made your way into the classroom and sat down. It was pretty peaceful, sunlight filtering through the blinds, and right outside the window you sat next to, there was piles of leaves. You get your computer out and start listening to the teacher. There was nothing that important, just the syllabus, and a tiny bit about the essay that's coming up. After a few minutes of boredom, you hear someone stumble into the classroom, you look back. And there you saw, Abby Anderson. That almost 6'0 girl with her long dirty blonde hair tied into a braid. And her huge muscles from hockey and all the time she spends in the gym. She's breathing hard. You sigh and turn back to your work, hoping she doesn't have to sit next to you, you'd prefer to just ignore her because she has a tendency to irritate you a bit ever since the incident. Truth is, ever since you left middle school, you haven't liked Abby. And it was sad, really, but it all started when she stopped talking to you for no reason, cutting contact. It hurt, a lot. She would talk to everyone but you. It was like you done something wrong, even though you weren't aware of it. You still kinda held a grudge against her for that. "Abby," The teachers loud, booming voice snapped you out of your thoughts, "Go sit next to her." she then pointed at you.
Your eyes widened "just my luck…" as you scooted your computer and pen closer to you with your forearm, then you take off your bag from the chair next to you, making room for her. After a few seconds of deep breaths and tapping your pen on the desk, you heard Abby sit down next to you. You awkwardly nodded towards her, not maintaining eye contact, then you started working on just focusing on yourself. Hoping to not make things awkward.
"Shit.." she sighed. As she sped-walked to the other building to get to english, thanks to her hockey coach, shes now late to english. Which is embarrassing because this is her first day. She stumbled into the classroom, looking at the teacher with a tiny smile, and she rubbed the back of her neck. The teacher then directed Abby right next to you. Abby's eyes widened and she shrugged while walking to her desk."Just my luck. Being sat next to the girl I haven't talked to since 9th grade is definitely awkward. It's a very long story. One most people don't get." She thought. Sitting at the desk right next to yours. And she wouldn't have to if she didn't come in late. But whatever, she'll live. She sighed and looked around the classroom. The sunlight was filtering in through the cheap blinds the classrooms had. Abby grabbed her things for her class out of her bag, then looked up at the clock, 12:33. Only an hour left before this class is over, which seemed pretty long, but she could survive as long as she or you doesn't make it awkward. She turns back and accidentally hits your arm, making your pencil fall to the floor. "Crap! I'm sorry." She whisper-yelled, struggling to maintain eye contact. Gosh, why is she acting like an awkward middle schooler? She bets money that she's completely red right now, which is especially embarrassing.
"Hey, it's fine, it's just a pencil." You give Abby an awkward smile and pick it back up, Abby nods and apologizes once more, then she looks away, rubbing her neck awkwardly. After the hour of english, she had about three hours to kill before going to practice. So she went back to her dorm.
You're now laying on your bed, scrolling yet again on Instagram, checking your friends stories. Liking a few, then tapping through the others. You sigh as you pull up your boyfriends contact, he was supposed to be there to hang out and then watch you practice, but he never showed up. You send him a text, "where are you?" Then you look up at the clock, 3:30. You had ice skating at 4, it's gonna be pretty awkward since you're gonna be sharing the rink with Abby Anderson and her team. Then back to your phone, he hasn't read any of your messages since last night. You sigh and roll off your bed, landing on the floor. You get up from the floor and you go to get dressed for practice. You then step out of your bathroom after a few minutes, you look up at the clock, 3:50. You then get your shoes and your bag and head out the door for the second time today. Locking it behind you.
You get to the skating rink and go to the locker rooms, you meet Sara and you guys get ready for practice together, after you guys get out of the locker rooms you sit on the bench by the ice rink to tie your skates. You see that on the ice there is a divider so you guys can practice in the same rink. And you finish with tying your first skate, you look up and see Abby already staring at you before she steps into the locker room. You finish tying your other skate and you start talking to Sara while waiting for them to call your team onto the ice. After you guys get called onto the ice, you started warming up. After a minute or two you saw the hockey players enter the rink. You watched Abby enter, your gaze lingering for a bit longer than necessary.
She entered the rink with confidence, the only place she could let out her emotions, while being herself. Shes been playing hockey ever since she was 9, so she's pretty familiar with how everything goes. After about 30 minutes, they're practicing snapshots and stick handling but then they hear a faint snap from the other side of the rink, followed by a blood-curdling scream. The hockey team looks over from the high pitched scream, Abby looked over and realized it was you. Frantically, Abby skated towards you, she started asking if you were alright, you brushed her off and reassured your partner that you're okay. Your coach skates over without urgency, "I've already called an ambulance, they'll be over in a few minutes." Your coach looked at you with disappointment. Then Abby's coach calls the team to part for the paramedics. After a few minutes Abby watches you get swarmed by paramedics as they carried you out. Then, just like that, Abby's coach told them to get back onto their side of the rink and start practicing again.
A few hours after the practice, Abby was laying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about you. "Gosh, I feel so guilty for some reason. Maybe I should go visit her? It would only be the right thing to do." She got ready for bed and decided to visit you that next morning.