Theo woke with a gasp of pain, clutching his right leg.

This was a typical morning for him. It was nearly a year since his leg had been horrifically broken in the opening game of the hockey season. He sighed as he pulled the covers off of himself and stared at said leg. He supposed it was bound to be like this for some time yet. Not that he was going to allow it to stop him chasing his dream.

Today was the first day of school. Of course, that meant many things, but for Theo, his mind was on only one. The first day of school was also the first day to sign up for all after school activities. Naturally, he would be putting his name down for hockey tryouts. Pain or no pain, he was ready to take the ice again.

He stood up, wincing once more as he put weight on his leg, and then shuffled over to his closet to grab his school uniform, which was buried among his many Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys. Most schools in Canada didn't have uniforms, at least not public schools. But, ever since the small town of Loon's Lake was forced to send its students down the road to Moose Track Falls, it had become a requirement. Theo remembered hearing something about it supposedly bringing a sense of unity to the rival communities now forced together. He assumed it was just about money. It was cheaper for the low income families of the small towns to have a couple outfits for their kids to wear rather than different clothes every day.

It looked as though his uniform had been cleaned since he'd stuffed it in his closet a couple months before. No doubt his aunt had done it for him. It was probably the most adult-like thing about her, but she loved doing laundry. Any other kind of cleaning seemed to be off the table, but laundry was a real treat in her eyes. She was a strange woman.

"Theeeeoooo! Are you uuuupppp?"

And there she was with her groggy morning voice. Theo couldn't help but grin as he started pulling his uniform on, the bright blue material of the tie over the white shirt clashing with his dark eyes and hair. "I'm up!" he called back. "I'll be down in a minute!

His aunt, Whitney, was his only family remaining. If anything, she was more like a sister to him, only being eight years older than him. When his parents had passed away in a car accident five years before, she'd quickly taken him in despite being only eighteen. It was a miracle it had been allowed, but somehow they'd made it work. As she owned one of the few surviving businesses in Loon's Lake, she was able to financially care for him.

Once Theo was dressed, he quickly washed up in the bathroom and then headed downstairs. Whitney was asleep at the kitchen table, still in her underwear. It seemed she was waiting for Theo to make breakfast. He chuckled to himself and began preparing it, popping some bread into the toaster and turning on the pan to fry some eggs.

"G'morn...coff...ease..."

Theo understood what she'd mumbled in gibberish and greeted her back in English and started making the coffee as asked. Once everything was ready and the steaming cup was in front of her, Whitney came back to life. The woman desperately needed her caffeine in the morning. She was a wreck, otherwise.

"So, first day, huh?" she said brushing back her chestnut-coloured hair that was still spilling over her face. "WAHHH! Winter's coming soon. We're gonna be so busy at the lodge!"

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Only if you like work," Whitney pouted, poking at her eggs with a fork. She glanced back up at Theo with a sigh. "Anyway, are you still planning on being a dummy?"

Theo narrowed his eyes and focused on his breakfast. "I'm planning on signing up for tryouts if that's what you mean." He suddenly felt a searing pain in his leg and looked down, seeing Whitney's toe digging into it. "Agh! What was that for?!"

"Imagine if that was a hockey stick, dummy!"

"How old are you? Six?" Theo glared at her, only relenting when she sighed and smiled apologetically.

"I'll support you if you want to try again," Whitney finally said. "But be careful. I was a nervous wreck that day you got hurt. Everyone was calling me at the lodge, and I had to race down there to the hospital. It was crazy! You looked so teeny tiny in your hospital bed, too!"

Theo gave a hollow laugh, shaking his head. "It'll be fine. I'll be pain free soon enough, and I can still play. Mr. Cliff can tell you that."

Whitney rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking to him after he tried to set me up with that drunk Zamboni driver of his."

"Yeah, that wasn't his best moment," Theo admitted, smiling at the memory. "But that guy's long gone. Mr. Cliff doesn't trust anyone but himself to use the Zamboni now."

"I'm sure he'd trust you," Whitney murmured, sighing contentedly as she sipped her coffee. "You can drive the Zamboni on the ice instead of skating on it."

"Right..."

They finished their breakfast with no more talk of hockey, Whitney merely making sure that Theo had his various school supplies all prepared. There wasn't much he needed to have for the first day, however, so his bag was fairly light as he picked it up and headed towards the door. He turned around once more as he opened it, waving to his aunt.

"All right, I'm off. See you later."

"Have a good day. And make sure to take the bus!" she shouted, with one last look at Theo's leg.

He grinned and nodded, before finally heading out. Of course he wouldn't take the bus. Whitney wanted him to be careful of his leg, but he needed the workout. A nice long walk to school would do him good. Maybe it would even loosen things up in his leg and help it improve.

As he stepped outside, Theo looked up at the grey sky. It was often like this around Loon's Lake at this time of year, but it was a shame since there were so few days left of the summer. Theo noticed the neighbours looking up as well and gave them a wave as he set off.

There wasn't too much in Loon's Lake, but Theo lived in the busiest area near the main road that led up to the ski hills where Whitney's lodge was located. Another larger road led into the downtown area with the few shops around the lake. Theo headed in the opposite direction which led down towards Moose Track Falls, the nearby town where the high school was located. On the outskirts of town there were a few small farms. Theo enjoyed passing by some of them on the way to school.

The walk down to Moose Track High wasn't too bad for the students that had to head in from Loon's Lake. Many drove anyway, since most of their parents worked in town, and there was a bus that took some students. But for those who opted to walk, it was only about twenty to twenty-five minutes. On the way back it tended to be longer, having to go uphill, but Theo never minded it.

With a sore leg, the trip wasn't quite as pleasant, of course, but Theo refused to admit that to himself. As he reached the end of the line of houses that led to the road into town, he paused, taking a deep breath and looking back towards his house. This was where he would be able to catch the bus if he so chose. His leg was already feeling worse.

I can take the bus with the team to our first road game, Theo told himself stubbornly, setting off once more. He even picked up his pace a little, pleased with the effort he was making. This was what it meant to be a hockey player. Work hard and fight through the pain! It was a man's game after all. Theo wasn't going to let a little sting in his leg get in his way.

About five minutes later, he was breathing hard and limping noticeably. A car had passed him about a minute earlier, the driver watching him a little nervously. Theo had given them a friendly wave, trying his best to look like he had just finished a jog, but he wasn't sure how the driver had interpreted that. Fortunately, they'd continued on their way, though. Theo didn't want the stares of pity. He'd had enough of that the year before.

Beep!

Theo glanced up as another car slowed down, pulling up next to where he'd been walking. The window on the passenger side rolled down immediately, and Theo couldn't help but grin at the face staring back at him. "Angela! Hey! And Mrs. Smythe, hi!"

"Stubbornly walking to school, huh?" Angela said back, disregarding a greeting and glaring with her bright green eyes.. Her mother waved awkwardly behind her. They were stunningly similar looking with their bright red hair, although Angela was looking a little more intimidating.

Theo looked away uneasily. "It's fine, Angela. I can handle a little walk."

"Oh but Theo," Angela's mom called out, "we can give you a lift! Please, hop on in!"

The Smythes had always been good to Theo. Despite Angela being a year younger, she'd been his best friend growing up, and their families had always been close. He and Angela had lost touch a little bit the last few years, but the Smythes had been there for him in the toughest moments of his life regardless. First when his parents had died, and also when he'd been injured the year before.

Theo shuffled his feet awkwardly. "It's all right. I don't want to be..."

"Please, you'd be doing me a favour," Mrs. Smythe said. "Angela needs a pep talk before her first day of high school!"

"Mom!"

Theo smiled uneasily, feeling another stinging sensation in his leg as he glanced down the road. Oh well, he thought, I can walk later.

He headed over and hopped into the backseat, ignoring Angela's pointed stare. "Thanks," he murmured, nodding to Mrs. Smythe. She simply smiled and began driving once more. "So," Theo spoke again, looking at Angela, "looking forward to school?"

She seemed a little more at ease now that Theo was in the car, glancing back to answer him. "I guess so. It'll be weird going to school with the Moose Track kids, though."

"They're not too bad," Theo told her. "They welcomed me to the hockey team pretty quickly. And we've still got some Loonies with us, too." Loonies was a common name for the people of Loon's Lake. Theo had heard that it had started out as an insult, but the people of the town had made it their own affectionate nickname.

"Easy enough to be accepted when you're the best player they've ever seen," Angela muttered, glancing out the window. "I'm not like that…"

"Oh don't be so modest, Angela!" Mrs. Smythe said, patting her daughter's shoulder. "You were the star-"

"Mom." Angela didn't yell, but her tone was enough to stop her mother's praise. She glanced back at Theo uneasily, clearly feeling awkward about something.

Theo guessed what it was. "I'm sorry I haven't seen you play in awhile," he said. "It's just..." He didn't have an answer ready. He and Angela used to go to each other's games all the time. They'd even watched each other's practices and gone skating together. At some point that had changed. Whether it was because of his parents or his advancing hockey career prospects, Theo wasn't sure. It had just...fizzled out.

"It's okay," Angela said. "Maybe you can come this season."

"I'll try," he said with a grin. "We had some skates with the girls' team last year, so I'm sure we'll even see each other then."

Angela looked away as he said that, and he knew what she was thinking, despite her murmuring agreement. "Looks like we're there," she then said, bringing Theo's attention to the building up ahead.

The school was at the edge of the border between the two towns, almost as though there had been the expectation the Loon's Lake students would transfer there from the beginning. It wasn't a particularly flashy building. The most impressive thing about it in Theo's eyes was the fairly new arena next door where the hockey teams played. It was a fairly dull brown and spread out like a long rectangle, with the centre and each end being a little bulkier for the gymnasium, auditorium and cafeteria. Only one side had multiple floors, where most of the classes were held. The field was fairly large, and Theo could already see some of the soccer-loving students playing a game, already getting their uniforms dirty. Other students were milling around the parking lot, greeting each other after their summer breaks.

As Angela's mom drove into the parking lot, Theo couldn't help but keep an eye out for his teammates from the hockey team. It didn't appear that any of them were nearby, though. Although, perhaps they'd been lost in the sea of blue and white uniforms. That thought brought his attention back to Angela, and he noticed her fiddling with the yellow ribbon on the collar of her white shirt and shuffling uncomfortably under the suspenders attached to the blue skirt.

"Must be kind of weird wearing a uniform now, huh?" Theo asked her.

"I prefer hockey equipment."

"Agreed."

They shared a laugh at that, and Theo could feel some of the tension that had been between them lessening. Maybe there was a chance of rekindling that old friendship. He made a promise to himself to go to Angela's tryouts. He hadn't seen her play in a long time. He really was interested to see how she'd improved.

As Mrs. Smythe pulled to a stop in front of the school, Theo opened the door and began to step out. "Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Smythe. And Angela, I'll see you around. I think the freshman orientation is beginning in the auditorium. It's just past the office right down the middle hallway there." He pointed ahead to the main entrance, which the office would be just behind.

With a wave, he headed off, leaving Angela to say her goodbyes to her mom. He was sure she was nervous and would want a private word with her. He sighed at the thought, remembering how nervous he'd been the year before on his first day. Whitney, of course, had sapped that away fairly quickly by embarrassing him immediately and getting his worst fears out of the way…

He headed inside and found a table set up with a couple volunteers handing out locker assignments. This was one thing Theo had been looking forward to. First year students had to share lockers, but all the older students got their own. It was a nice enough way to make a friend on the first day, but the lack of space was a struggle throughout the first year. But now, finally, he would have his own.

He greeted one of the girls at the desk that he knew. "Hey Kelsey. Got my locker assignment?"

She smiled up at him. "Hey Theo. Should have it here somewhere." She shuffled through the papers and pulled one out. "Here ya go."

He thanked her and had a peek. It looked like he was on the first floor. No need to go up and down stairs. He wondered if that was intentional. Ignoring that for the moment, though, he looked to Kelsey.

"Hey, could you do me a favour?" he asked. "There's a first year girl coming in. Red hair, easy to spot. If you could just…make her feel welcome?"

Kelsey grinned. "Of course. See ya around, Theo."

He thanked her and set off. The rivalry between towns wasn't what it had been in the old days, but nonetheless, he wanted to help Angela where he could. There were still some kids who liked to try to ignite it. It was fortunate Kelsey was stationed at the entrance.

With that taken care of, Theo made his way to the row of lockers where his would be located. Locker 1A - 77. His hockey number of course. Yes, being on the first floor was intentional. He appreciated the thought, but he didn't like what it implied.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

He sighed as he reached it and pulled it open. It seemed the cleaning staff had made sure all the lockers were spotless. A number of students were poking their heads inside and sighing in relief. After a long school year, it could be pretty nasty in some of these lockers.

As he was putting some of his items inside, Theo felt a thump on his shoulder and turned around, seeing a grinning face staring back. He grinned, too, bumping fists with the person standing there. It was his friend, Dylan.

"Hey man, long time no see," Theo said. "Good summer?"

Dylan smirked, pulling out his phone with one swift movement, almost like some kind of magician. "Hehe, I thought you'd never ask dear Theo. For I have graced the lands of the Parisians with my presence. I stormed the beaches of Normandy as our forefathers once did. I sailed the open seas-"

"Yeah, so how was France?" Theo interrupted, deciding to stop Dylan's antics before he started performing an act in front of the entire hallway of students.

Dylan laughed mysteriously. "What if I told you…I met many beautiful women?"

"I wouldn't believe a word."

"Eh?"

"Okay, so you saw some pretty girls, but you just imagined some scenario in your head about actually meeting or talking to them."

"Tch! Alas, I have evidence!" Dylan spun his phone in his hand and then started tapping away at it, glancing up at Theo every few seconds to make sure he wasn't seeing something. Finally, he stopped, holding the phone to his chest and grinning. "Behold!" he shouted proudly, holding it up to Theo's eyes.

Theo stared at it for a moment, expression unchanged. Of course he wasn't serious, he thought with a sigh. "Okay, very funny."

"Ack! You don't believe the evidence in front of you? Why not?!"

"Because," Theo said, pointing at the picture, "I don't believe you hung out with a dozen anime girls outside the Eiffel Tower."

"Agh! Wrong picture!" He quickly tapped at his phone again, revealing another photo a moment later, this one with him seemingly surrounded by real life girls. They were all models by the looks of it.

"So did you actually go to France, or did you photoshop all summer?" Theo asked.

Dylan didn't let his defeat bother him, stuffing his phone away and grinning once more. "I did go indeed! And the women were beautiful…from a distance!"

"Right. Well I guess they kept it that way," Theo said, stuffing one last thing in his locker before closing it. He led the way to the class, knowing Dylan was in the same one. "Anything else happen?"

"Well I did arrive at school incognito today," Dylan whispered, pulling out a fake beard from his bag. "We have some fine first years with us this year! There was one redhead-"

Theo stopped Dylan with a glare. "That was Angela. Don't leer at her. Well…don't leer at anyone. Especially with a fake beard. You'll get arrested."

Dylan merely grinned in amusement. "Ah, Angela. So she's…"

"A friend. A Loonie." Dylan was from Moose Track Falls. Given his oddities, though, he was somewhat of an outcast among them, so he'd never been bothered with associating with Loon's Lake kids. He and Theo had become friends before Theo had made the hockey team, so he hadn't been attracted by the popularity. Theo was willing to forgive his odd behaviour because he knew Dylan was a real friend.

"Hm, well hopefully none of us nasty Mooseheads give her a problem." He grimaced, looking apologetically at Theo. "One problem, though."

Theo narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I may have permanently entered her nightmares with my beard."

----------------------------------------

Angela watched Theo head inside, frowning as she noticed his limp. Thankfully it wasn't too bad right now, but she shuddered to think what state he might've been in if they hadn't given him a lift. She felt her mother's hand on her shoulder, clearly sensing her worry.

"He'll be okay."

"Yeah...I hope so," Angela murmured, fingers tightening around her bag as she prepared to step out of the car herself. "Well, I guess I should head in, too."

Her mom smiled, eyes twinkling as she looked at Angela. "You're growing up so fast."

Angela raised an eyebrow. "It's just high school, mom. I'm not getting married or anything."

"Oh, right! Yes! Well, have a good day, honey! Make lots of friends!"

"I'll try," Angela said with a laugh, and then she stepped outside. She waved her mom off and then made her way to the entrance Theo had gone into earlier. It was time for her first day of high school.

The first thing Angela noticed as she stepped through the front doors was how big the other students were. She was small, even for a girl, so it was fairly alarming when a couple of boys who looked like they were about ten feet tall suddenly ran past her, laughing like maniacs. As she recovered from that, she glanced to her left, and, staring at her strangely as he leaned against the wall, was a guy with a full grown beard. And as if that wasn't enough, Mr. Beard Guy was distracted a moment later by three girls walking by looking as though they had melons stuffed in their shirts.

Angela gulped nervously, wondering for a moment if she'd walked into a university rather than a high school. Fortunately, up ahead at a desk, there were a couple of girls that seemed to be helping direct students. One of them noticed her and smiled reassuringly, waving her over.

"You look like a deer in headlights," she said, letting her partner take over in handing out some slips of paper as a couple other students walked over. It appeared to be locker assignments.

"I...It's my first day," Angela said nervously. "I'm a Loon's Lake student."

"Ah," the girl said, nodding. "Yeah, your elementary and middle schools are much smaller, huh?" She absentmindedly played with her blonde hair and smiled. "Don't worry. Us Moose Track Falls kids aren't too bad. Not…all of us. You'll get into things quick enough. Maybe join a club and meet some new people?"

"I'm going to try out for hockey," Angela said automatically. She hadn't intended to blurt it out like that, but tryouts had been on her mind.

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Hockey, huh?" She drummed her fingers on the table in front of her. "Well, I'll look forward to seeing you there. I'm Kelsey. Played on the wing last year, but I sometimes play centre, too."

Angela's eyes widened, a surge of excitement rushing through her. "Really?! That's so cool! I played centre for the Loonie Girls."

"Mm, we get a few Loonie Girls every season," Kelsey said with a nod. "I think most of the girls in this town are more into figure skating if they try anything on the ice, so we definitely need them. How do you girls even play enough games to be so good, though?"

Angela smiled shyly, unaware of the reputation of the program she'd been a part of. "Oh, well, we usually have a fundraiser every year at the Farmers' Market and then get a bus to take us in to play down in Deer Valley's league. Moose Track goes over to Timmins, right?"

"Ah, you know your stuff!" Kelsey laughed. "Yeah, a few more teams to play over there, I guess. The boys know Deer Valley well, though. But high school is where it's at for girls like us! The competition is way more fierce!"

"Is it really that good?" Angela said, eyes wide.

"Well, we play in a low division, but it's pretty good. It'd be really cool if we could get ourselves a club team for the town, but we're not quite ready for that." She shrugged. "But enough about that. You need to meet the other new kids for orientation." She turned and pointed down the hall. "Auditorium is just down there. You'll get paired with a locker buddy there. Hopefully you hit it off, because they'll be with you throughout orientation."

Angela felt a little uneasy about that, but nodded. "Thanks. Nice to meet you, Kelsey."

"Likewise. See ya at tryouts!"

Angela felt a little better after talking with Kelsey, and managed to get down the now crowded hallway without too much trouble. Still, it was a relief when she reached the auditorium and headed inside, seeing the seats occupied by kids her age and much closer to her in size. Of course, she was still one of the shorter ones, but it wasn't quite so suffocating.

It seemed most students had already assembled, and a couple of teachers and student volunteers were looking ready to take the stage to do some kind of presentation, so Angela quickly looked around for an open seat. Fortunately, there was one quite close by at the end of a row. She scurried over to claim it and sat down with a sigh of relief, exchanging the customary shy, awkward smile with the blonde girl next to her.

Almost as soon as Angela sat down, though, a bell rang, and an announcement called for the students to stand for the national anthem. She quickly stood up, the rest of the kids around her doing so as well. A moment later, the music began to play, and most of the talking students quieted down.

Angela didn't often sing when the anthem came on, but it seemed as though the teachers running the orientation were encouraging students to do so. After a few moments, there was an awkward mumbling of the lyrics around her and she felt compelled to join in. Angela could never understand the teachers that forced this kind of thing, but there was no point in complaining about it. She was in for this kind of thing all day long it seemed.

But as the awkward singing continued, Angela noticed something a little strange. Someone was singing different lyrics, although they were still somewhat familiar. With a glance to her left, Angela realized it was the blonde girl next to her. The bright light of the auditorium reflected off her large glasses, but Angela could see her blue eyes darting around awkwardly, clearly hearing the different version of the anthem being sung around her.

Angela was thoroughly impressed, though. Most kids sang "O Canada" in English quite poorly. However, this girl was doing quite an admirable job of singing it in French. It was a little strange that she was doing so in this setting of all places, but it was kind of cool in her mind.

As the anthem ended and kids began sitting down again, Angela couldn't help herself and she tapped the girl's shoulder. When she turned, Angela smiled. "Your French is really impressive. That was so cool!"

The girl appeared surprised, her eyes looking large behind her glasses. "Oh...merci...er...thank you."

Angela blinked in equal surprise, realizing just why the girl had been singing in French. Her accent gave it away if nothing else. "Oh wow, are you from France?!"

The girl laughed at that, smiling cutely. "No, Quebec. Just outside of Quebec City."

Angela slapped herself in the forehead. "Oh, right! Duh! Quebec should've been my first guess."

The girl laughed once more and opened her mouth to answer, but just then, the announcements started blaring out from the speakers. It didn't sound as though there was much information relevant to the new students other than welcoming them all to the school and directing any lost kids to the auditorium. The only relevant thing to Angela was the brief message about sign up sheets for the extracurricular activities going up before the end of the day.

Once the announcements were finished, the orientation crew finally got started. They gave a fairly standard welcome to the new students and went over some of what would be done throughout the day. As Angela had expected, they would be touring the school earlier in the day, before doing a few activities to get to know the other students. At the end of the day they would be meeting with the club leaders and seeing what kinds of activities they might like to sign up for before sign up sheets were posted afterwards.

But before all that began, the students were going to need to put away some of the things they were carrying. For that, they were going to need lockers. Realizing this, one of the teachers brought everyone's attention to her and began explaining about the locker buddy system and how first year students would be sharing with someone for the year. Most didn't like this idea, but Angela didn't really mind. She just hoped she wasn't paired with someone who left old food in there or something.

"Now, would everyone please pay attention as their homeroom teachers announce the locker buddies for the year," the current speaker finished, gesturing to another teacher to step forward.

At that, Angela pulled out her phone and checked the class schedule that had been sent to her the week before school had started. It listed the classes she had for the semester and her homeroom teacher. It seemed he wasn't the one who was speaking currently, so she leaned back and waited patiently as the names were listed pair by pair. Another teacher that wasn't hers went next, but after that it was finally her class' turn, and Angela leaned forward in interest.

"Hi there, kids!" the teacher greeted them. "I'm Mr. Ferris, the grade nine science teacher here at Moose Track High. For those of you in my homeroom, I hope we all have a fun year together. Please pay attention for the locker buddy pairings."

Angela heard an eager sounding gasp next to her and saw the French girl staring intently at Mr. Ferris. It seemed she was in the same homeroom and was excitedly awaiting her locker buddy. Angela supposed whoever was paired with this girl would be fortunate if they needed help with French class. She wasn't sure why the other girl looked so eager herself, though.

A couple of the names Mr. Ferris listed off were ones Angela recognized from Loon's Lake. She even saw one of her friends from her class the year before get called, but unfortunately they weren't paired together. Most were unknown to her, though. Towards the end of the list, Mr. Ferris finally called her name, and she leaned forward in interest.

"Angela Smythe, you will be paired with...Chloé Gagnon."

"Chloé, huh? Where..."

"Hm...Angela? Is she...?"

"Wha...?"

"Eek!"

Angela turned to her left, shocked at hearing her name being whispered. Of course, it seemed like the other girl was just as surprised, as her own name had just been said by Angela. They both laughed a moment later, though. They didn't need to go very far to find their partners it seemed.

"So your name's Chloé, is it?"

"Oui! And you're Angela?"

"Yup!" Angela held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. Glad we get to properly introduce ourselves."

"Yes...I was hoping I would be paired with you," Chloé admitted, gently shaking Angela's hand. At Angela's surprised look, Chloé smiled sheepishly. "I haven't had a chance to meet anyone around here since moving. And..you were nice about my singing..."

Angela grinned, giving Chloé's hand a gentle squeeze. "I wanted to be paired with you, too." She wasn't going to admit that her mind had wandered to Chloé's potential ability in improving her French marks.

Mr. Ferris finished off the pairings with a girl named Eden Lavigne and a girl named Leah valentine, before allowing the final teacher to call out their pairings. Angela noticed a girl a couple rows ahead of her looking around curiously, before catching the eye of a mischievous looking girl near the back of the gathered group of students. Angela was pretty sure she recognized the first girl, but couldn't remember where they may have met before.

Before too long, the students were herded out of the auditorium, the tour of the school beginning. Angela stuck with Chloé, happy to have hit it off so far. Chloé seemed pleased as well, smiling brightly as they followed after the other students.

"So why'd you move from Quebec?" Angela asked as they walked to their first destination, which seemed to be the gymnasium, which would likely be where most of their lockers were nearby.

"My dad was hired as a teacher here," Chloé answered. "He's the new French teacher."

"Did he have an interest in Moose Track Falls?" Angela asked, surprised someone would move to this area, especially from that far away.

Chloé shook her head, though. "Non, he wanted to move to Loon's Lake. My mom visited with him many years ago and they fell in love with it."

"You moved to Loon's Lake?!" Angela was shocked. There had been a house up for sale for quite some time, but there had been little interest. Chloé's family must've completed the process quite quickly.

"Mhm. Do you live there?" she asked.

"My whole life," Angela said, grinning. "This is great! We can see each other all the time!"

Chloé's eyes gleamed with excitement upon hearing that and she nodded eagerly. "I was a little bit nervous coming to school today," she admitted. "My dad has visited a couple of times to prepare for the job, but we only moved in over the weekend."

"So that's why I didn't notice you before," Angela murmured. "Well, at least we've got each other now! Locker buddies for life!"

They gave each other a double high five, which earned some curious looks from some of the other students. They had fallen behind a bit during their conversation, too, and a teacher quickly scolded them. After a quick amused glance between them, they hurried after the others.

The tour of the school was fairly boring otherwise. The day was largely spent helping the students build a mental map of the school, with some activities done to help them memorize it better and get better associated with the other students. Angela was able to introduce Chloé to a couple of other Loon's Lake students, however, including a couple of her closest friends from middle school, a quiet girl named Brooke and her complete opposite in Victoria.

The four of them ate their lunch together in the cafeteria, which fortunately had been scheduled to be empty for when the new students were eating. Chloé had been fascinated to hear about some of the childhood stories the other three girls had about Loon's Lake. It seemed her father's wistful memories had only been the tip of the iceberg for what she knew about the small town.

"So is it true that there is a rivalry between Moose Track Falls and Loon's Lake?" Chloé eventually asked, after Victoria, who had done most of the talking, had finished telling the story about how a group of students had led a cow into their middle school on the last day the year before.

"Oh yeah," Victoria answered once again, her light brown hair bouncing with excitement. "I mean…not so much lately since Loon's Lake started moving students down here and everyone was on guard for it, but there used to be a rivalry between our hockey teams. We played in different leagues, but we had a pair of games every year that riled everyone up."

"Theodore Byers kind of finished that rivalry last year, though," Brooke murmured, appearing as though she was nodding off, her long black hair drooping over her eyes.

Angela nodded, turning to a confused Chloé. "Theo's the best hockey player anyone's ever seen in either Loon's Lake or Moose Track Falls. Some people even thought he had a chance to make the NHL someday. He made the high school team last year as a freshman."

"Oh wow," Chloé said excitedly. "I love hockey! My dad said that there were a lot of hockey fans here. Is it true?"

"Angela was the captain of the Loonie Girls," Brooke said, head lifting up a little. "Vicky and I played a little bit as well. Lots of Loon's Lake kids play."

"The Loonie Girls is the Loon's Lake girls hockey program," Angela explained. "It's pretty small of course, but we bus over to Deer Valley to play. It's only an under fourteen program, though. And ever since students moved over to Moose Track High, it's the only place for us to get a chance to play at this age. Moose Track Falls doesn't have a big program for older girls either from what I know. I think they lose interest. An older girl here said girls tend to choose figure skating."

"Well it's cool to have the hockey interest that you do have," Chloé said. "I want to be a hockey journalist someday!"

"Oh, that would be so cool!" Angela said enthusiastically.

"Maybe you can write for the school paper," Victoria suggested. "You can write about one of the hockey teams."

As she said that, Angela heard footsteps behind her, noticing one of the volunteers for the orientation walking by. She seemed one of those busy body types. She stopped, hearing what Victoria had just said.

"What's this I hear about the school paper?" There was something off about her tone. With no teachers around, she didn't seem to have the same peppiness the volunteers were exuding during the orientation. "Is one of you interested in joining?"

"Oui…er…yes," Chloé answered. "I'm interested."

The older girl smirked, eyes gleaming with something unpleasant. "I don't think any frogs will do too well on our team."

Angela tensed immediately, starting to stand up. "Hey watch-"

"It's okay, Angela," Chloé said with a smile, before turning to the older girl. "I will try to fit in. I know a lot about hockey so I think I can help!"

The older girl leaned in, narrowing her eyes as she surveyed the group of girls. "Just because Loonies are allowed in this school doesn't mean I'm gonna accept it. Especially Loonies that croak." She stepped back a moment later, putting on her peppy volunteer mask. "Okay! Well I'll see you girls around!"

As she skipped away, Angela seethed with rage. She hated girls like that. "I wish I had my hockey stick with me…" she muttered.

"So about what you were saying about the rivalry between the towns…?" Chloé whispered.

Victoria shrugged, glaring at the rude girl as she joined the other volunteers. "Maybe I was wrong. Something still seems to be there…"

Brooke nodded. "Some still feel it. I suppose one school, or one hockey team, can't unite two towns completely."

"Two small towns and a hockey team. What could go wrong?"