The Exchange

Chapter 13: Rafe

Like my parents said, Tyler is benched when I'm playing and vice versa. Thankfully my dad hasn't benched me at all.

The game is tomorrow so the ice rink is booked for us for the day before the figure skaters can take it.

Coach has been pushing us to our limits but it's all in our favour. We're more than ready for tomorrow's game.

Coach Hartley blows the whistle and we stop our practice.

'That's enough boys.' He claps his hands. 'Take a break and be here bright and early for tomorrow.'

'Hartley.' He says. 'You stay behind.'
We all cheer and Archer claps my shoulders.

'Yeah dad?' I ask. He looks at me and puts an arm on my shoulder.

'I'm proud of you son.' He says. 'With the way you're going, you're going to be a star.'

'Thank you.' I say and I make my way back to the locker room.

'Why are you in such a rush?' Archer asks.

'I have a surprise for Gigi.' I explain. 'I felt like a dick for missing her birthday.'

'Who knew that Rafe Hartley could actually care about a girl.' Bill buts into our conversation. He checks out his buzzed, bleach blonde hair in the mirror of his locker.

'Who's the lucky girl?' Connor teases, running a hand through his brown hair to fluff it up. 'I bet it's that new figure skater chick.'

'Oh she is just so fine.' Bill replies.

'Hey that's enough of that.' I say.

'So it is her?' Connor smirks, crossing his arms.
Tyler glares at me and I ignore him.

'Ice Puck pact!' Archer yells and the other guys cheer. 'Giselle and Rafe!'

The Ice Puck pact is a pact that whenever a guy on the team has an eye on or has a thing for one of the girls in the school, she's hands off for anyone else on the team.
Archer just so happened to call one for me and Giselle. Deep down I'm more than pleased that not one of them is allowed to touch her.

No one has ever called an Ice Puck pact for me before.

'Guys It's not like that.' I sigh.

'Sure, Rafe, Sure.' Bill pats my back.

'We've all seen the way that you look at her.' Archer smirks and shrugs.

'Shut up.' I grumble as I lace up my trainers.

I say goodbye to Archer and the boys and watch as Tyler glares at me silently as I leave.

When I'm walking back to my dorm, I pass my literature classroom and Mrs Jonae calls me in.

She hands me back my latest essay and I see a red B+ on the top.

'Well done, Giselle seems to have a good influence on you.' She smiles.

'Yea she does.' I reply. 'Thank you miss.'

I can't wait to show Giselle my new grade. With her help and a hurdle of insults I've gone from an F to E- to a B+.

I go to the dorm and find Anya sitting on the couch with another girl. I think her name was Beatrix.

'Have you seen Gigi?' I ask.

'I think she's at the ice rink.' She replies.

I run back to the ice rink and when I enter I see Giselle in the middle, spinning on the top of her skate.

She moves gracefully, like a swan floating through water, she looks like she's at peace. Giselle leaps into the air and does a triple spin, perfectly landing it. I call out to her but notice she's wearing earphones so I patiently wait until she's done.

Giselle skates off the ice and starts to go back to the changing room. I quietly creep up behind her and wrap my arms around her shoulders, letting her get a clear view of my essay mark.

'Oh my god!' She exclaims, taking it off me. Gigi takes out one of her earphones and turns to me.

'That's amazing.' She smiles and it's a genuine smile, no dimples yet but we're getting there.

'I have a wonderful teacher.' Without thinking, I pick her up and spin her around, hugging her tightly. I'm engulfed in her floral perfume that happens to drive me crazy.

We both realise what we're doing before letting go and clearing our throats.

'Get changed and I'll wait here for you.' I say.

'Are you serious?' She asks.

'Yeah, I made a promise didnt it?' I smirk. She nods her head and goes to get changed.

I still have one more promise left to fulfil as part of our bargain. She gets my grade up and her family get a free ticket here and to all of my games.

I quickly book them a flight and pay for two tickets for my game.

I catch myself smiling like an idiot before I shake my head. Me and her we're just friends, roommates, classmates. Nothing more nothing less and it never will be.

I don't have time to be distracting myself with other stuff. I don't have the patience for it.

Giselle comes out of the changing room smiling and we go to our dorm to drop of our things before we get into the car.

I look at her and realise that she's the first girl I've let into my car. I quickly shake the thought away.

Pull yourself together Rafe.

'Where are we going?' She asks.

'I booked us a table somewhere.' I reply.

'Where?' She raises an eyebrow.

'Cream & Dreams.' I reply. 'The biggest dessert place in all of America. At that place, you eat until you can barely breathe.

*AUTHORS NOTE*
Is Rafe changing for her? Is he catching feelings? You'll never know until you keep reading so don't stop!
Have a nice day!