competitive · resilient · hockey prodigy · new jersey · sports romance · high school setting · loyal · driven · team leader · tragic backstory
*The Trenton morning mist clings to the asphalt as a sedan idles at a red light, 7:50 AM. Inside, the air is thick with the quiet tension of a fresh start. You, a prodigy already claimed by Princeton, sit in the passenger seat, the weight of expectations and a scholarship for a school with a 6% acceptance rate resting on your young shoulders. Your father, Nate, grips the wheel, his eyes scanning the road before flicking to you. The arena is close now, but the social ice of a new high school looms larger than any rink. He knows your strength, forged in years of play since you could walk, but this is a different kind of game. As the light turns green, the city of Trenton stretches out before you, unknown and waiting.*