Chapter Text
"I'm so proud of you Shane"
Shane turns to his mom and thanks her and smiles to himself that he got into the junior varsity hockey team, he's been waiting all summer for the news. He knew he’d make it. Coach told him that back in sixth grade. So he was very confident he was gonna get in. And then he remembers…
Ilya
The guy that transferred to his school back in seventh grade. Shane doesn't hate him, but he is everything Shane ever wished to be besides the hockey part because he is obviously better than him. But he knows the he without a shadow of a doubt Ilya got in. He's just as good as Shane. It was still crazy to Shane how quickly he picked up english and got so cool and popular. And not only that he got into some on and off situationship with Svetlana (one of the most popular and prettiest girls in the grade) within two months of him transferring.
He's got the girl, charisma, money, everything Shane's awkward self could dream of. So Shane just feels a black pit of jealousy when he's around Ilya. But now its time to amp himself up he's going into high school for Christ's sake. He needs to shape up and school starts in a week. Shane races through thoughts on what to wear, his schedule and other miscellaneous things until his mom snaps him out of it.
"Hey are you okay? Stressed out?" She gives him a soft smile as she puts a plate of food down on the table for him. "Eat up that'll snap you out."
"Thanks Mom, sorry it's just you know J.V. and-"
"I know, don't worry I get it" She sighs, "My baby is going into high school" her voice starts to break and she tears up a bit.
"Oh Mom it's fine" Shane looks down at the pasta, it smells divine, but oddly twisted.
"I know, I know but whatever eat up! You need those carbs for the team!"
He stares at his food. It smells good, its not bad. But what if it affects him in the long run, what if his stomach acts up, will he gain weight faster-
"Shane?" Yuna looks at her son concerned
"Y-yea just nerves" His mom nods and starts to wash the dishes and he shoves a forkful of the pasta in his mouth.
"Junior? Why junior varsity and not varsity? Maybe its because you are slacking"
"No Papa, I'm just not old enough to be on the varsity team" Ilya rolls his eyes as his father is on the other side of the room blabbering and not understanding how the school systems work.
"Well, when you are old enough you better get into varsity, and if that Shane Hollander in on that team you are training even harder"
Oh yeah…that weird kid Ilya purses his lips, Shane's a good player, a really good player. He is just too quiet for his liking. If he's not playing like a beast he is just awkwardly sitting there in the locker room, not really talking to anyone other than his best friend Hayden. But Ilya could care less Shane seems boring any way he is just a good teammate on the ice.
Well Ilya's prepared, he doesn't have to dwell on too much, he just hopes he doesn't get any annoying teachers. So he just goes and scrolls through his notifications on his phone and then he gets a text.
S: I miss you
Ah just Svetlana, He doesn't really miss her in the way she misses him, but she's pretty and funny. Oh and a good kisser. The two have a mutual no strings attached relationship that just goes on and off. They don't fight, they just lose interest and then come back like nothing happened. And Ilya likes it this way, no commitment and Svetlana likes it too even if she's a bit clingy once in a while. But, now he doesn't want to leave her on read.
I: Wanna hang?
S: Sure! My place?
Ilya doesn't have to answer because she knows it's not a good idea at his place because of his father. So he gets ready to leave, he doesn't tell anyone other than his brother with a simple text saying he will be at a friends house. He puts on some cologne and fixes his hair. He might just be going over to a friend's place but he's not a slob. He leaves the house and hops on his bike and dashes off to Svetlana.
"Hey!" Svetlana opens the door and flashes a wide grin and jumps to hug Ilya. He hugs back. To Svetlana's parents the two are dating, official, but they aren't. Just makes things easier on their end to let them assume that. Then he enters the house and the two chat it up on the couch about hockey and their future ventures in high school which is within a week.
"You excited?" Ilya asks thinking the question is just stupid, Svetlana pokes at him saying that he's not excited because he's too cocky for that. Ilya laughs at the remark, he's just as nervous as anyone else he believes. New school, new people, new asshole teachers. But that's just normal jitters he believes. Whatever it is he's gonna get over it within the first week.
He grabs Svetlana's face and kisses her to distract himself from thinking about next week. Obsessing over the future is bad especially if there's the fact it hasn't even happened yet. She kisses back a bit more aggressively for a bit of extra fun. After a couple minutes they break away and laugh.
"I'm excited for the dances and prom. Wearing nice clothes and treating it like a fashion show" Svetlana places her hands on her hips, purses her lips, and lifts up her shoulders and sways them like she is on the catwalk, just not well walking. The two cackle at her catwalk impression.
After a couple hours he leaves, Ilya grabs his bike and bolts his way home.
Shane catches up on some late night reading in his room, on his way to complete 20 books by the end of summer. He found that a reasonable goal because of his training and practices during the season preparing for junior varsity. Shane reads a lot of kinds of books reading from YA to nonfiction to sci-fi. He has a list a recommendations from online and friends (mainly girls). And one of the ones he's reading is actually a recommendation from his ex turned girl best friend Rose. But he said if he were to read it he needs a book jacket that is from some non fiction book or something. He reminisces when Rose recommended him the book.
"No way I'm reading that, my mom will think I'm gay or something."
"Come on Shane, its a really good book, the romance isn't even the main plot"
"Then what is it about" Shane furrows his brows.
"Well, it's about a girl with a twin sister in college and she needs to finish a story before the last book comes out!" She smiles and looks over to the side.
"Rose, I can sense you're bullshitting somewhere in there is like half true half not" He chuckles.
"Okay fine!" She crosses her arms, "She writes a fanfic…"
"It's gay isn't it"
"Yes okay but its good you only get like samples of the fic in the story its not too crazy it's a good book trust me"
It in fact was (so far) a good book Rose got him a book jacket that was from some Maze Runner book. Shane was afraid to admit he was quite invested in not just the book but the fanfic elements in it as well, he found it quite entertaining. Might even be a top ten favorite.
He finishes the chapter and goes to his phone to do some late night scrolling before bed going through Instagram and Snapchat stories. Then he gets to Ilya's snap story, he only added him because it was some hockey group chat they were in with their other old teammates.
In the snap he's with Svetlana, one arm hugging her and the other holding the phone. Svetlana throwing up a peace sign smiling ear to ear compared to Ilya who only gives a half smirk to the camera. The two are obviously close, leaning into each other. He licks his teeth, jaw tightening, and the pool swirling in his stomach all over again almost every time when he is around Ilya off the ice. His eyes flicker between them, but stall on Ilya. Of course he wants to be the guy, he wishes he were him, right? Anyone would wanna be him? Then why does now he feels more jealous of Svetlana than Ilya? Maybe he has some sort of thing for her, whatever he doesn't dwell on it any longer.
He puts his phone to charge and glasses away and goes to sleep like he wasn't short circuiting earlier.