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Declan

The low ruuys smile We didn’t mind the attention out on the ice or even in the hallways of Rittenhouse Prep, but having the entire student body clapping and cheering made the tips of my ears heat up Ford sat beside me and looked ready to crawl under the bleachers and never co bounced up and down so fast the entire bottom bleacher shook

Soh school was the best years of their lives, but there was no way in hell I was letting that happen! High school was a pit stop on the way to the real shit To the stuff that most people only dreamed about and would never achieve, except I would and I wasn’t going to let anyone stand in round, and not let go until I wrung every drop out of it

I threw my arms in the air and cheered for every other sports teayotten to the tea for My team

“And now thefor, after four back-to-back state cha streak for any teaive you all, your Rittenhouse Kings,” he boo his best Oprah voice

The entire student body lost their minds like they weren’t shoulder to shoulder with us every day—well some of us Colm was pretty tall We stood fro as the thunderous applause and feet staym

With our plastic crowns perched on our heads, we turned to wave to everyone behind us A sea of waving hands, flapping pennants, and cardboard cutouts of croam in the sea of people

“Did they really have to get us crowns?” Ford gruher on his head

“Co fans!” I shouted over the noise, grabbing hi hi their minds When Rittenhouse Prep crushed the Malvern Mavericks, we’d put a nail in the coffin of our long-standing rivalry between our schools Everyone loved a winner

Ford raised his hand slightly to wave back to everyone A few of the girls in the front row beamed at him, but he was completely oblivious, which was fine I was more than happy to soak up their attention He spent way tooback, and not enough ti up the fruits of our labors

Everyone winced when the principal’severyone’s ear drums as they turned it up even louder to be heard over the building-shaking noise “I’ll introduce the seniors one by one, and you can come up and take a picture with them and the trophy But first” He introduced the sophoht them up to stand behind him

“And now for your seniors! We have your tea, Colm Frost He has helmed this team since junior year and was voted Best Brolanced down at the card he was reading froure out what the kids were talking about these days

“Voted Best Brooals all season Ford Carlisle” He announced theay to the crowd They’d been joined at the hip since Col fresh side of the tracks and all that, but he’d been on the straight and narrow ever since Col back then

Colm’s little sister, Olivia, jumped up and down in her seat She’d co brother’s shining h I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was hi for Grant, Elares frooing to make a move on his little sister His overprotectiveness knew no bounds Man, I was glad I was an only child And Alyson, Avery’s little sister sat next to him on the front row

“Our bruiser defensehed as Emmett scratched his hand over his facial hair and waved to everyone He gave his special signal, tapping his two fingers over his lips and shooting theht his gesture and rubbed it to her chest

Those tere vo sometimes Ever since he helped her open her locker sophomore year, they were inseparable She had his letter Even with the sleeves rolled up, her fingertips barely peeked out of the sleeves

“Your left wing, Heath Taylor, voted Most Likely to Go to the Olympics Come on up here, Heath”

He took his tiot to his spot beside Vander Looking at hiuy on the team On the ice he was an unstoppable force hat seey

“Way to get the crowd puhing at the look on my face

“And now, for the person you’ve all been waiting for The leading scorer for the past two seasons with over eighty goals this season, Declan McAvoy!” He drew y the floor, and stood beside the rest of the guys and Vander He gave his sappy education and sports speech, but he had to cut it short when the crowd got too rowdy For prep-school kids, they were pretty into the sports teams

We stood in a roup pictures with everyone anted the in this kind of croas a hell of a lot different than it was after our games

It uys in the NHL Rittenhouse had a pretty good track record when it caone on to play in the NHL This year Rittenhouse was likely to produce five NHL players

Eht-lipped about his plans, but if he wanted a spot on a development teaone straight into the draft A lot of guys fro to college My o, and she’d already been through enough I’d do whatever I could to raduate froe