2. the buzzer

Kitt sat in class but couldn't concentrate on anything the professor was saying. Her mind wasn't on ligaments or the injuries they could sustain.

Her mind was on the game the following day. Her team had come together more for this game than any other. They wanted to prove their value to themselves rather than to the rest of the world.

They had taken on early morning practices voluntarily and talked about nothing else.

"Miss McCoy?" The older lady at the front of the room. Said breaking into Kitt's thoughts.

Kitt looked around and noticed she was alone in the room.

"Oh sorry." She grabbed her open notebook with the date on the top of an otherwise blank page. She walked out of the room not paying attention to anything or anyone.

"Kitty! Hey!" A voice called loudly. Kitt felt her veins run cold. Trevor. Her lab partner was waving at her from the other end of the hall. She looked right at him so she couldn't pretend she hadn't seen him.

"Hey." She said hitching her back pack up on her shoulder.

"So um the lab, um, we have to, like, get some research..." He stumbled over his words. He was super tall and skinny. He was shy and always seemed nervous.

"Yeah, I know sorry I just have a lot on my plate right now. How about I email you Sunday?" Kitt wanted to escape but she knew she owed it to him to at least talk to him for a minute.

"Um yeah sure, do you um have the topic sheet? I could uh send it over to you. Like an email?" He offered.

"I do have it, but if you want to include some notes or something that would be great. Thanks." She smiled at him while he looked away.

They made their way out of the building onto the courtyard of the main campus. It was a windy blustery day and Kitt immediately pulled her hood up and waved at Trevor before taking of at a sprint towards the Library.

The tall old building looked like something out of a historic romance novel. Xavinn Olitor University was built on an estate that housed a large family at one point in time. Each of the children had their own plot on the family estate which is why it was divided in such an odd way. The main campus held the oldest original buildings including the massive stone library.

Kitt loved the Library, it wasn't like in the movies where people shushed you for breathing too loud. There were lecture halls and meeting rooms, a small theater, study pods, a maker space and a 'things' library of items you could check out with your regular library card. Not to mention the four floors of books.

She checked her phone, an hour and twenty minutes until Josie was done her class, meant she could probably get some of the notes sorted for her lab before Sunday. Kitt positioned herself in front of the large windows on the second floor that over looked the frozen-ish lake. It was late March so, much of the ice and snow that marked every Canadian winter was still present, but the ice on the lake would last much longer.

Kitt pulled up her syllabus for her kinesiology lab, that had her pared with Trevor. Their research project was on the effects of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome in exercise. She started to read a medical journal article

A group of genetic disorders effecting connective tissue, making it weaker than usual. This disease includes thirteen rare genetic disorders effecting the whole body through skin, joint, and blood vessel tissues...

An hour later Kitt had a solid outline of her plan and she felt less guilty for avoiding Trevor all week.

Sunday was going to be a long day of fleshing out her notes and developing her part of their presentation.

The day after the big charity game.

Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered how close the game actually was. Her head began to spin a little as she felt a slight bit of panic at the thought of the next day. She had been so focused on catching up that she had actually managed to push the game completely from her mind for that hour. The only hour that wasn't completely consumed by hockey or the thoughts of hockey all week.

Kitt grabbed her bag and decided to head over to the practice arena and see if she could squeeze in a skate before dinner.

The big arena would be filled with people, either the Knights monopolizing the ice time or one of the other groups of athletes, like the ice dancers, or the ringette team maybe.

The practice building was old and small, used for leisure skating or individual practice, and some private lessons. She knew that it was usually pretty empty on a Friday afternoon, so her hopes were high that she could sneak in with out an appointment.

The dressing rooms separated the old building from the new shiny fancy facility. She changed into a warm up suit donned her skates and helmet and quietly peeked out the back door of the large dressing room. If you didn't know better it looked like the door to a janitorial closet.

She was in the clear. The place looked abandoned. The lights were on the lowest setting over the ice surface and the hall lights were off completely. She smiled at her fortune.

Kitt walked over the burgundy rubber mats to the door to the ice. She let herself in with a loud klink of the large metal door latch. Not bothering to close it behind her she jumped onto the ice and started skating around the edge of the surface. She liked the freedom of it. No expectations and no stress, just her sharp blades gliding along the fresh smooth surface.

"I don't care! I mean how does that even matter?... I said I would... but I already told him I would be there, why is he being such a dick about it?... fine! YOU can tell him I will be there... it's just a stupid party, who even cares?" A loud deep voice interupted her joy. She looked over to see a broad shouldered man step onto the ice holding a phone to his ear. He was dressed like her but his helmet was in his hand rather than on his head.

She stopped to stare at him wondering if he was interrupting her peaceful skate or if he was booked into this time slot.

"I'm just going to do a few laps, no one is here so I will come meet you after... no, do not come to the arena... I want to sneak out as soon as I am done, if you come we will be here half the night!... yeah, yeah, the pains of a hockey player." The guy laughed before hanging up the phone and putting on his helmet.

Kitt stood on the blue line opposite him staring in disbelief that he would interupt her reprieve that way, with no reguard for her privacy.

He turned to start to skate and stopped dead when he saw her standing there staring at him.

"Oh, um, sorry. I didn't realize anyone was out here." He flashed her a bright white smile.

"Yep. Looks like the ice is taken" She said nodding trying to get him to leave.

"You having a private lesson? No instructor though, huh? I could probably show you some things." He offered again flashing his perfect teeth in a smile oozing with charm.

"Nah, I think I will just wing it." She said shaking her head.

"Look, I need to practice for an exhibition. Planned for this weekend. I'm on the XOU Knights hockey team." He tried to charm her.

"Mind if I join you, I promise not to bump into you while you practice." He smoothly glided closer.

"Oh wow, I didn't know I was talking to a real hockey player! You are one of the REAL XOU Knights eh? Why don't you show me some of your moves? Maybe I can learn something." She said sweetly.

"Leo Gordon. Do you want me to pull you around a couple times before I practice?" He introduced himself and then offered with a slick grin.

"You would do that?" She feigned flattery.

"Sure. It could be fun." He turned and put her behind him. "Hang on to my jacket."

Kitt obliged.

"So what kind of game do you have?" She asked as he slowly made his way around the perimeter of the ice.

"A charity game. Should be a laugh." He smirked over his shoulder.

"Why are you playing against clowns?" She played dumb.

"Nah, we are playing the girls." He let out a soft chuckle.

"You are playing against little kids?" She asked with a slight gasp. She hated being told she was on a 'girl's team' like it meant she was on a joke of a team that her and the other women were not real players.

"No! The 'Ladies' hockey team." He laughed. Under different circumstances she might have liked the sound, but listening to him basically laugh at her right to her face made her want to shove her stick in places that the sun don't shine.

"Oh! The girls I skate with sometimes, are on the team!" Kitt said excitedly to see what he would say to that. She wasn't lying, she just wasn't filling in all the holes.

"So does that mean you are going to come watch them tomorrow?" He asked slowly bringing them to a stop by the door to the ice.

"Not sure I will be watching." She shrugged.

"You're not going?" He asked offering his arm to help her off the ice.

"Oh I will definitely be there." She said with a small smile.

"I'm glad I wouldn't mind seeing you there." His flirting was almost enough to make her laugh.

"I bet you would. What position do you play?" She asked keeping his attention for another few minutes.

"Left defense." He grinned that slick grin again.

"Oh," She pouted dramatically.

"Something wrong with the defenseman?" He said leaning against the boards and crossing his arms. She was sure she saw him flexing as he leaned slightly towards her.

"If you are on the defense, does that mean you can't score a goal for me?" She asked putting her hand on his flexed arm. She wanted to see if he would try to keep his arms flexed in the classic move to impress her. He did.

"I protect the home team, I'm a protective type guy." He licked his lip. She wanted to burst out laughing. His attempt at being sexy was just sounding juvenile to her in that moment.

She had to cover her mouth, but she tipped her head to hopefully make it look to him like she was being shy.

"Look, since we are playing the campus princesses, anything is possible. I mean even our goalie has a chance." He joked.

She saw red. It took every ounce of self control to bring her eyes back up to his with out being filled with pure hatred.

"They are really that bad?" She asked batting her lashes at him.

"The worst." He threw his head back and laughed.

"Oh no!" She said shaking her head like what he had said was Hilarious.

"I mean the only reason we are playing the pampered princesses is tradition. The AD doesn't even want us to play them, but the game has been played for like fifty years or something." He said.

"What is an AD?" She was getting good at playing dumb.

"The Athletics Director. He over sees all the school's teams and sports scholarships and stuff." He explained.

"Cool, maybe if I get good enough I can play hockey for the women's team. Then I can get a scholarship and save on tuition!" She gushed.

"Not likely. Only one of the girls has one of our scholarships." He said smirking at her nieve comment.

"So if the boys get all the scholarships, you guys must be good huh? Like champions or something." She egged him on.

"This year was a bit tougher than most. A lot of NHL prospects." He didn't answer her question but he didn't have to.

"Oh I thought the NHL scouted out of high school, my dad once said you only get to play in college if you can't get to the big show. I bet that doesn't apply to you though." She pressed.

"Some players get called up earlier than others, for sure, but I really wanted an education." He shrugged.

"Smart." She nodded.

"Yeah, and now we go out on the season playing the pampered princesses." He scoffed.

"Were you going to practice your moves?" She needed to change the subject.

"Yeah, not that I will need my big moves in tomorrow's game." He chuckled.

"Would you show me some? Like your best ones?" She batted her eyes at him again.

"Yeah babe, totally." He grinned and pushed off from the boards.

He skated around showing off for a few minutes building a good sweat. By the time he came back to her he pulled his helmet off and shook his damp hair out of his eyes.

He was an attractive guy, in spite of being a major douche.

"You are so talented! I bet you are good at everything." She sighed gently pretending to be in thought.

"Nah, I have a tendency to get flustered when we are loosing, and we have to kill a power play. My head says one thing but my body does another. It can be so frustrating." He shook his head.

"Oh that sounds awful." She nodded. Looking down to cover the grin tugging at her lips.

"Yeah some times." He sighed.

"Ok well, I better let you go practice." She said backing up slowly.

"Why don't I take you out to dinner after we win tomorrow? You know, to celebrate. " He said leaning in the door to the ice.

"Sure, if you win you can take me to dinner." She said with a grin and started to walk away.

"Hey!" He called after her.

"Yeah?" She half turned to look at him holding the dressing room door with one hand.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"Tell you what, I will tell you tomorrow at the game." She winked and let the heavy dressing room door close between them.

He would learn her name, and then never forget it as she wiped the smug smile off his face with a 100 km/hr slap shot.