Chapter Text
Scott has never been one to give up easily on the things he wanted. But with each passing day, he was closer and closer to giving up on the thing he wanted the most. It was just a far away dream anyway, one of those things you know is far too outside of your league, but you want it anyway. And for him, that meant getting a scholarship to the University of Denver, Colorado. Specifically, a scholarship to play hockey in the University of Denver, Colorado.
His love for hockey had begun at a very early age. Being born into a family of skating rink owner’s (and really, just being born Canadian) meant skating was in his blood. His parents did it, his aunt did it, his brothers did it, and, as soon as he was able to wear a pair of blades on his feet, he did it too. But it wasn’t like it was a burden to him.
On the contrary, everything about it was fascinating. The balance people have to glide through the ice on those absurdly thin edges. The noise of the blades cutting deep as you gain speed and momentum. The flow passing through your body when you are skating, as if you could just start flying at one point. He remembers being nothing but a toddler, sitting on the stands of his family skating rink and being completely enthralled just to watch people on the ice.
When he started learning how to skate, his mother tried to bring him into the figure skating side of things. His first ice dance coach was his own aunt, Carol Moir, and alongside his mother, they did tons of tryouts for a skating partner that would fit. But it never seemed to be just right. Even as a child, Scott was already a talented skater and it was hard to find someone that could keep up at such a young age.
Eventually, the kids would give up skating or then move on to find another partner. Even when they could find a talented girl, it was as if something was still missing. As if that spark that needs to set between an ice dance team in order for it to work just wasn’t there. That meant he never settled with a partner. And Scott soon figured out that, although he really did love ice dancing, his heart truly belonged to hockey.
So at the tender age of 9 years old, his father enrolled him in London’s hockey school, a city neighbor to his very small but very proud community of Ilderton. From that moment on, he never stopped.
When high school was about to begin, he left his old school in Ilderton to study in London’s Collegiate Institute, mostly because they had the best hockey team in town, the Red Falcons. It didn’t take long for him to get picked for the team still as a freshman, and then to make captain right in the beginning of junior year.
He and his family knew that, with the start of senior year, he needed to begin tracing realistic and doable plans in order to get a hockey scholarship in one of Canada’s universities. Toronto, Queen’s, McGill or even British Columbia.
It was not only the best way to find himself good education, since there’s no way his parents could afford those stellar tuitions without a scholarship, but it was also the path every pro followed to get to the big leagues. First, you have to start at the university’s sports leagues.
However, his heart had another plan to follow altogether. Ever since his first year on the team, every single one of his teammates would take about how the Denver Pioneers were the best university team in the entire United States. And as much as he loved Canada, he also knew no team here could compete with the Pioneers.
If he were to set his feet on the ground, Scott knew that his chances to get to that team were as high as his mom’s chances at winning a singing competition. But unfortunately, he was never one to stop his mind from the wandering thoughts and wishful dreams that could never be. Every time he searched about the university’s hockey leagues, he could see himself as a Pioneer.
The thing was, with the team’s tryouts coming quickly and his parents’ current financial situation, it was getting harder and harder to be able to afford a trip and extended stay in Colorado. The family rink was struggling to stand on its feet nowadays, with fewer and fewer enrollments each year, and they were already paying for him to go to tryouts in some of Canada’s Universities.
Asking them to pay for a trip to the States because of a wannabe dream felt too much like a straining sacrifice that he really didn’t want them to make.
Scott tried to save enough money by himself with the earnings from a part-time job as a waiter at Keith’s Café, a small coffee shop that served as one of the main gathering locations in an even smaller town.
The place was nothing compared to those fancy and upcoming cafés in Toronto, but it was cozy and Keith, the owner, was really keen to him and would let him do extra shifts once he heard what the money was for.
There were only so many shifts a high school student and captain of the hockey team had time to do tho. And for all of his attempts, Scott was nowhere close to being able to afford it all by himself. Yet, his stubborn mind still seemed to hope that he would somehow be able to make the trip.
Perhaps that was his undoing.
''Come on, Scott, please, you know if there’s anyone who can do this, it’s you”. His teammate Paul also seems to have his mind set on an idea.
The guy had gone head over heels since the first time he met Jordan Virtue, a sophomore that started out on LCI’s cheerleader team earlier in april. They had been hanging out for a few months now, but her dad somehow found out about it and went full crazy mode on how Jordan could definitely not be dating yet.
According to Paul, she was only “still his 15 years old child”. And if there was one thing they knew about Jim Virtue, was that the man was strict. Not like a “be back on a 10 P.M. curfew” kind of strict, but more like a “you can sit on the couch and hold hands while I’m gonna be right here reading my book” kind of strict.
Actually, having a strict dad was one thing the Virtue sisters were known for. The other was really how different yet how alike Jordan and Tessa could be. On the looks, Jordan seemed just like a two-year younger Tessa look-alike. But if you’re talking about personality, there was a huge pond separating them.
While Jordan was this bubbly hyper-extrovert cheerleader that could dance around every single one of the school’s cliques, Tessa was much more closed off. As in, m-u-c-h more closed off. As in, she had her one close and loyal friend Kaitlyn Weaver and other than that it was even hard to talk to the girl in school, and she was in the same senior class he was. Tessa always seemed to be sitting in the back corner of the room or with her head stuck in a book. Every week a new one. Not that he was paying attention, by the way.
After Jim found out about Jordan and Paul, they were still able to sneak behind his back, but all it took was her asking to go to prom with him in a couple of months for hell to break lose once again.
Apparently, her dad’s new stance was that, yes, Jordan could attend prom, but only if Tessa went to prom. And Tessa Virtue was never a sight to be seen at any proms or school dances. And if Tessa wasn’t going to prom, then Jordan wasn’t going to prom. Touché, Mr. Virtue!
If only Paul could give up that easily. His mind is now set on the easiest way out of this crossroad: making Tessa Virtue decide to attend prom. And shocking, Scott was his chosen one for that mission.
“Are you out of your mind? I told you, I’m not doing that!” He glares up at Paul, trying to put emphasis on his voice when he said it.
“Why not? Tessa is one hot girl, it can’t be that bad”
“Don’t be stupid, Paul” He says, giving the guy a tap on the head. “I’m not going to trick someone into believing I like them, only to be a jerk about it afterwards. It’s not right.”
“You are such a girl, Scott. She doesn’t even need to know about it. You can just say you don’t feel like you two hit it off and let that be it. Come on, help me out here.” Now he was really getting pissed at Paul.
“Christ, did you never learn how to take no for an answer? I probably couldn’t even do it anyway, Tessa and I have barely exchanged 5 words in the whole of high school”.
“But you are a social butterfly, I know you could get anyone to be friends with you in just a couple of days” Paul said in a tone that was nearing a whining. It wasn’t exactly a lie, actually.
Scott has always been, indeed, the ultimate extrovert, over-the-top sociable guy. It just runned deep in his blood, this craving for human interaction and for some kind of connection.
“Paul, the answer is still no. And we’re over here” Scott finished gathering his things and got up to leave the locker room they were in after one of the trainings.
“Fine, I’ll pay you then. You are trying to save up money to go to Denver, right? I’ll give you money if you convince Tessa to go to prom with you”.
His voice came as slap in his face. And as much as he hated it and wished he had just continued walking towards the locker room exit, that sentence made him stop dead on his feet and turn back to Paul, narrowing his eyes.
“That was a low blow, even for you” Why did he make friends with these jerks anyway? Spoiled idiots who thought their families money could buy everything.
“Eight hundred bucks, Scott! What do you think? That would really help your plans to make the trip, wouldn’t it?” Paul seemed to never waver, now sporting a grin and knowing he had probably hit a weak spot.
“Eight hundred bucks??? Have you lost your mind?” He nearly screamed out of shock at that.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Dad has been really generous on the allowances now we’re almost making it to the university.” Idiot.
He would scold himself so much for that, but Scott couldn’t deny that his mind was racing with the proposition. Alongside the money he had already earned with the extra shifts and the one he would still gain in the next few weeks, eight hundred bucks was nearly enough to put an end on his money issue and get him to Denver.
And if he could get there, if he could just try getting into the Pioneers, even if it was only to fail, he would feel much better about any university he ended up attending.
Scott would rather be the guy that tried to achieve his dream and failed because it was far too high to reach, then the guy who never even tried anything, who never gave himself a shot, and, for that, would forever live not knowing what could’ve been.
“Come on man, what do you say? Do we have a deal?” Paul insisted after Scott spent a full minute just staring into the now empty showers.
Fuck.
He was not a very religious person, but could already feel his name burning in the seven grounds of hell for even considering that. Why did that offer had to come exactly at this time, when he was really scraping for money?
Would he even be able to live with himself after that? Knowing that he would sell himself for money and act like a complete headass to someone he barely even knew? Probably not.
Still.
“Yes, we have a deal.” Scott said as he turned his back once again and, this time, marched out the locker rooms for good.
What was he getting himself into?