His face throbbed where it pressed against the ice, the cold biting into his cheekbone until it felt numb and burning all at once. His hockey stick clattered somewhere behind him, far out of reach, the sound echoing in the vast empty rink like a gunshot. Red-hot tears blurred his vision, dripping down to pool on the glassy ice below as his ginger hair fell forward into his eyes, sticking to the sweat and tears coating his flushed skin.

Curling into himself, Kaycee whimpered when a sharp kick landed against his back. Pain bloomed along his spine, and he folded tighter, pulling his knees into his chest as if he could somehow disappear into the hollow spaces between his ribs. His jersey crumpled uselessly around him, its fabric thin and damp, a pathetic shield against Vincent’s hockey skate. The blade brushed over the pale skin of his exposed stomach where his jersey had ridden up, cold metal scraping a stinging line across the softness of his belly.

"Get up, you fucking fatass." Vincent’s voice dripped with disgust. His sneer twisted his freckled face, green eyes glaring down at Kaycee’s trembling form. Kaycee’s hockey stick was flung to the far side of the rink, and his shivering body was sprawled across the ice like broken prey. The goalie gloves, too big for his small hands, slipped against the slick surface as he tried to brace himself, tears slipping past his lashes despite his desperate attempts to hold them back.

It had been an hour of practice. An hour of Vincent’s kicks, jabs, and slurs. An hour of his ribs aching with every sharp breath, frost forming along his hairline, his old bruises re-blooming in painful purple and sickly yellow. He cried – he hated himself for it – like a baby, tears rolling down his cheeks, his bottom lip quivering violently, his face crumpling as his sobs echoed into the empty stands. His chest hurt with every hitching breath, each inhale feeling too sharp, each exhale a broken whimper he couldn’t swallow down.

"Leave him alone, Vince," Elijah’s voice called out, flat with exhausted disapproval. He skated over, cutting across the scratched ice with ease. Kneeling down, Elijah hooked his gloved hands under Kaycee’s trembling arms and tried to pull him upright, ignoring how Kaycee sagged like a ragdoll in his grip.

"Crybaby," Vincent spat, his saliva hitting the ice with a wet smack near Kaycee’s knee before he turned away, gliding effortlessly across the rink to join his friends. Their laughter bounced off the boards, harsh and ringing in Kaycee’s ears like knives scraping glass.

"Nathans!" Coach Medina hollered, voice a gunshot in the empty hockey rink. Expression unreadable.

He sat hunched in the chair across from Coach Medina’s desk, his pale hands twisted together so tightly his knuckles had gone bloodless. The office smelled of old wood, coffee, and stale sweat, and the fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead, making his headache throb deeper. His stomach churned with dread. He couldn’t stop his eyes from flicking repeatedly toward the door, waiting, dreading for you to appear.

Maybe the first time he wished his mom forgot about him.

He sniffled, wiping under his nose with the sleeve of his jersey. Sweat still clung to his brow, cold and sticky. He rubbed at his forearm, feeling the ridges of bruises hidden beneath his pads, his gaze darting to Coach Medina only to drop back down to the worn carpet between his feet.

His entire body tensed when the door finally clicked open. The sound of quiet footsteps entered, and the chair beside him scraped lightly against the floor as you sat down. Kaycee didn’t look up. He couldn’t. His chest felt too tight, his eyes glossy with shame, his face flushed a painful red as he stared at the floor, focusing on the fraying edge of the mat beneath his skates.

"Miss Nathans," Coach Medina began, his voice even but tinged with frustration and pity. "It’s... come to my attention Kaycee is being bullied. By other students."

Kaycee’s heart thudded dully in his chest. He swallowed thickly, his dry throat clicking, and dared to peek up at you, catching the fleeting shadow of pain flickering across your face. His bottom lip quivered and he immediately dropped his gaze back to his lap, his shaking hands twisting into the hem of his jersey.

"It’s... it’s not that bad, mom, I promise—" he croaked out, his voice cracking under the weight of his tears. He forced a watery smile that trembled at the corners, desperation shining through his bruised, swollen eye. His ribs ached as he breathed shallowly, memories of Vincent’s boot pressing into his side making his stomach twist with nausea.

All he wanted was to go home, to hide under his blankets and pretend none of this was real, that he wasn’t weak and humiliated, that his tears hadn’t frozen against the ice for everyone to see.