Page 6 of On His Mind

1. No falling in love before the draft.

2. No serious girlfriends in the house.

3. No teammates’ sisters.

4. No locker room romances.

5. What happens at Hawthorne stays at Hawthorne.

I slow without meaning to.

Stanley notices and doubles back. “Ah. Sacred text.”

Benson keeps walking up the stairs with my gear. “Don’t start, Ermington.”

“Don’t worry,” Stanley smirks. “You’re going to swear on your life not to break those rules. Just like the rest of us did when we moved in.”

I look at the whiteboard again.

No falling in love before thedraft.

It feels like a joke. It probably is a joke. The guys who live or have lived in this house have gone pro? I haven’t even thought past next week.

Stanley claps a hand on my shoulder, shaking me from my daydream. I go still. He either doesn’t notice or pretends not to.

“I have vowed my life to these rules.”

I stare at him.

He grins. “You break these rules, and we’ll twist your balls.”

“Stanley,” Benson says from the stairs.

“What?”

“Stop scaring the freshman before he finds his room.”

Stanley drops his hand and raises both palms. “Fine. Break the house rules, and you’ll find out, freshman.”

I follow them upstairs.Before the draft.Josh walks behind me with my duffel, slower than usual. When we reach the second floor, Benson pushes open a door at the end of the hall.

“Here.”

The room is small. A bed on the far end. A desk and dresser. One window looking out over the side yard and the narrow street beyond it.

Benson sets my gear bag down against the wall. Stanley drops the stick bag beside it, breathing hard like he just carried a body up three flights instead of one bag of goalie equipment.

“Room’s all yours,” Benson says. “Stanley’s right next to you. I’m on the other side. Rowan’s downstairs. And across is Blue Golding’s room.” He looks at Stanley. “Blue came yesterday, so he’s at the rink right now. Freshman like you. He’s a forward. Quiet guy.”

Stanley snorts. “All the freshmen are quiet this year.”

Benson ignores him again. “It’s a good room. Gavin Carroll was in this one last year. He’s playing in the league now.”

I look at the walls.

They’re just walls. Off-white, a nail hole up near the ceiling where somebody hung something. Pinholes in the walls above the desk. The fan has years of dust on it.

Some guy slept here and then went pro.