Chapter 1 It's Medicine. Not Hockey!

I was sitting on my bed when I heard her footsteps on the stairs. I already knew what was coming. My mother never walked that slow unless she had something heavy on her mind. The kind of heavy that made the whole house feel smaller.

She knocked once, then opened the door without waiting.

“I want a conversation,” she said.

That was all. No hello. No smile. Just those four words, quiet but sharp, like she had been holding them in her mouth all day.

I closed the book on my lap even though I wasn’t really reading it. My skates were under the bed. I had been looking at them again. The black leather was scuffed and the laces were frayed, but they still fit like they remembered my feet.

“Okay,” I said.

She didn’t sit. She stood by the door with her arms crossed, wearing that white cardigan she always put on when she wanted to look calm. It never worked. Her eyes gave her away every time.

“You’re leaving in tomorrow,” she said. “I need to know you’re not going to do anything foolish.”

I already knew what “foolish” meant.

“I’m going to Frostwood for pre-med,” I answered. “Just like we planned.”

She looked at me for a long time. The kind of look that used to make me confess things when I was little. Now it just made my chest tight.

“Don’t lie to me, Ava.”

My name always sounded different when she was angry. Harder. Like she was reminding me who I belonged to.

I stared at the floor. The carpet had a small burn mark from the time my dad let me practice stickhandling in the living room. Mom had been furious. Dad had just laughed and said the carpet could take it.

I missed that laugh so much it hurt.

“I’m not lying,” I said.

“Then look at me.”

I forced my eyes up. Hers were the same dark brown as mine, but colder right now.

“You’re packing those skates, aren’t you?”

My heart jumped. I hadn’t told her. I thought I had hidden them well enough.

“They’re just… old,” I said. “I wasn’t going to…”

“Don’t.” She held up one hand. “I’ve watched you for years. You think I don’t know when you’re planning something?”

The room felt smaller. I could hear the old clock in the hallway ticking too loud.

“I love hockey,” I said. The words came out quieter than I wanted. “I always have.”

“I know.” Her voice cracked a little, then hardened again. “And I watched that love take your father. I will not watch it take you too.”

There it was. The thing we never said out loud for years. The car crash. The black ice. The phone call that changed everything when I was twelve.

I swallowed. “Hockey didn’t kill him. The road did.”

“He was driving home from a game,” she snapped. “He was tired. He was always tired because of that sport. And now you want to throw yourself into the same thing?”

“It’s not the same.”

“It’s exactly the same.” She took a step closer. “You think I don’t see it? Every time you come home with bruises. Every time you skip studying to go to the rink. You look just like him when you’re on the ice. And it scares me to death.”

My throat burned. I hated when she used his memory like a weapon.

“I’m good at it,” I said. “Really good. Dad always said…”

“Your father is not here.”

The words hit harder than she probably meant. Or maybe she did mean them. I never knew what was with her anymore.

Silence filled the room. I could hear my own breathing.

“I want to try out for the team,” I finally said. My voice shook but I didn’t stop. “At Frostwood. They have open tryouts. I just want a chance.”

She stared at me like I had spoken another language.

“A men’s team.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Just one word. Flat and final.

“Mom…”

“No, Ava. Absolutely not.”

I stood up. My legs felt unsteady. “You can’t just decide for me.”

“I am your mother. While you live under this roof and while I pay for your education, I can.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“And still my daughter.” Her eyes flashed. “Do you have any idea how people will look at you? A girl trying to force her way onto a boys’ hockey team? They will laugh at you. They will tear you apart. And when you get hurt because you will get hurt, who do you think will have to pick up the pieces?”

“I can handle it.”

“You think you can. That’s what every young person says before the world shows them otherwise.”

I clenched my fists. “You never even watched me play. Not really. You always left early or stayed in the car. Dad was the only one who stayed.”

Her face changed. Something raw moved behind her eyes.

“I stayed away because it hurt,” she said, quieter now. “Watching you out there… it was like watching him all over again. I couldn’t do it.”

For a second I almost felt sorry for her. Then the anger came back.

“So you rather I become a doctor and be miserable for the rest of my life?”

“I rather you being alive and safe.”

“Safe isn’t living!” The words burst out of me. “I feel empty when I’m not on the ice. Do you understand that? It’s the only place I still feel close to him. When I’m skating, it’s like he’s right there. Telling me to keep my head up. Telling me to fight for the puck. If you take that away, you’re taking the last piece of him I have left.”

Tears were running down my face now. I hated crying in front of her. It always made me feel small.

She looked away, toward the window. Snow was falling again outside, soft and quiet.

“I lost him,” she said. “I will not lose you too. Not to the same thing.”

“You’re not losing me. You’re pushing me away.”

She turned back. Her face was set. The soft moment was gone.

“You are going to Frostwood to study medicine. That is the agreement. That is what your scholarship is for. You will not try out for any team. You will not step on that ice. Do you hear me?”

“Please,” I whispered. “Just let me try. One tryout. If I don’t make it, I’ll never ask again.”

“No.”

“Mom…”

“I said no!”

Her voice rose so suddenly that I stepped back. She almost never yelled. When she did, it felt like the walls shook.

“You are going to study medicine whether you like it or not,” she said, each word sharp and cold. “I will not discuss this again.”

She turned and walked out.

The door slammed so hard the picture frame on my wall rattled. The photo of me and Dad at the rink when I was ten tilted sideways.

I stood there in the middle of my room, tears still wet on my cheeks, listening to her footsteps go down the stairs.

The house felt too quiet after that.

I sat back down on the bed and pulled my skates out from underneath. I held them in my lap like they were the only solid thing left.

Outside, the snow kept falling. Few hours left for me to go to Frostwood. And I already knew I was going to break my promise.