Kyle

"Guys- this is Nathan". Jared announces and pats the new guy's shoulder. "He moved here from Winchester. Right?"

"Manchester, " Nathan replies super serious with an exaggerated accent. We all laugh and I can't help but think he seems like a really cool guy.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"No worries. Even I forget where I am or where I come from sometimes."

I heard Christina talking about the two new guys the other day, so that must be Jeremy's brother.

"Do you play hockey too?" I ask.

"No. I'm not a very good team player. I do some kickboxing, though. I mean I did back home. But yeah, not much anyway. "

"Well, it explains the tattoos. Is that even legal?" someone asks.

"How does that explain tatts, man?"

"I don't know, kinda part of the style."

"What style? You're so dumb, Mike."

"Wanna try my uppercut, Tylor?'

"What? Go fuck yourself, Jazz" "Why don't you..."

My teammates keep fooling around and I look at Nathan's arms. He's wearing a plain white T-shirt which allows me to see they are mostly covered in ink. Different sizes, themes. Some letters, but overall they look random and not connected in any way. I wonder if his brother has tattoos too? My mind wanders and I stop listening to whatever they're talking about. My eyes search the room and I see him.

Jeremy's talking to Eva and she's outright laughing at something he's saying. He's funny? He didn't really strike me as the funny type. is he, actually? I've tried to talk to him a few times, the usual hi, what's up, but he simply ignores me. I look away then but I can't help looking back at him. He's wearing a band hoodie. I think the name under the print says Tool or something similar.

He wore a similar one yesterday, another band though. I checked it when I got home - the music he listens to is a bit weird, mostly stuff from the 90-ies grunge stage. It's kinda cool I don't know- it suits him. I can't really imagine him listening to something else, like pop. That's a no for sure.

His dark hair's a bit overgrown, almost shaggy and from the little I've seen so far he never bothers to put it in order. It's like he's been outside and the wind's muffled his strands, so when he came back inside the locks just stayed that way.

I wonder if it'll be soft if I run my hands through it. He sometimes puts it behind his ear but it quickly falls back in his eyes and when that happens he seems to be pissed off. Weird, but the first time I saw him doing it I thought it was a really cool gesture; I hadn't seen anyone do it until later I realized girls did it all the time. My sisters included, I'd just never noticed it before.

Wow, wtf Kyle. What the hell are you thinking, man? I quickly avert my eyes, afraid someone's heard my thoughts. I have to say something. "What about the girls here, Nathan? " I ask and the boys start booing and calling for more drinks.

"I can't believe it "Jared's saying loudly "Kyle McDavid's talking about girls. Y'all, something's in the air. I was starting to get worried the ice's frozen your balls, dude."

The others keep talking after the usual jokes about more balls and girls, but what Jared said kind of makes me wonder if I have really never spoken about girls before. No, that's not possible. Right? I mean, I've never really thought about that, anyway. I tried dating a girl I met last year during camp training, but that was for like-what- a week? We never did anything beyond kissing. And honestly- it was kind of unpleasant, so I didn't really want to go on. She wasn't very impressed with my skills either, or it was way too obvious to her I'm not much into it and we just left it at that. We decided to remain friends after, but she lives in Ontario, so we can't really be that either.

****

When I get home later I go straight to the garage. Someone's brought a black 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500 . It's insane –I've never seen that car anywhere except for in the movies. I have no clue whose it is but I really wanna try helping Dad fix it. We don't have the spare parts he's got to change, so while waiting for delivery I'll go check the tires. Anything, I just need an excuse to go stay with it for a while.

"I don't need another man in the house spending most of his time in the company of cars when they should be sleeping." My mom's standing at the entrance, leaning on the door frame and smiling.

"Oh, hey Mom. " I look up at her "I just wanted to check a few things. I can't go to sleep yet." I'm still checking the heat exchangers but I don't have experience with those, I gotta ask Dad tomorrow.

"I thought you were having a party tonight- I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Well, we did but I left." I pause, wondering whether to go on. " We have a new classmate, by the way." When she doesn't say anything I go on "Moved here from England. He's a bit different but I don't know. " I'm frowning at the intercooler when I add " He's constantly scowling at stuff but I don't think he hates everything that much. It's probably because he hasn't found anything to smile at. "

Did I really say something so lame out loud?

"Is he on the team as well?"

"Nah, I don't think he cares about any sport at all. Besides, he's too small for hockey. Probably chess, although he doesn't seem to be the type to be bothered to sit through all that. " I imagine Jeremy sitting across his opponent, getting pissed at how slow the other player is, eventually dumping everything and leaving. There's a pause and when I look up at my mom again I see she's tilted her head, her brown eyes -same as mine- regarding me.

"What is it?"

"You've never mentioned anyone outside the team, or your friends from the neighborhood before."

"Uhh, " I'm wiping my hands in a towel, harder now. " Yeah? Maybe. I don't know why I said it, forget it. Sorry." Am I trying to rip that towel apart?

She comes closer and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"You know you can always talk to me if there's something troubling you, right Kyle? And never apologize for the way you feel."

"I know, Mom. Thanks. "

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself about the games. You are doing wonderful, way more than that. Your Father just sometimes forgets you get tired too, but I make sure to remind him you do."

"Oh, Mom, I'm fine. Really. " I kiss her on the cheek " I'm going to bed. Don't tell anyone I'm still kissing my Mom goodnight, it'll ruin my image. "

"I would never. "

"And if you agree to make us pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, I promise to pick up Stela after practice ."

" You have to pick her up anyway because I'll have to be in the office at least until seven." she laughs but agrees to the breakfast menu.