Page 1 of Rise Above

CHAPTER 1: THE CHAOS COLISEUM

AIFE

Soccer was a sport I fully understood because I’d

played it since I was four years old. It was my own private escape from some of the strange realities that were my world. Soccer was one of my main loves. Soccer, I understood; soccer, I appreciated. It was in my comfort zone. Football was also in my wheelhouse because it was the family pastime in my house. Sunday and Monday nights were like their own separate religion in our home.

My dad had drilled the positions, names, and teams

into my head. Had I been born a boy, Dad undoubtedly

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would have made me play. Track and swimming were also sports I could follow; I’d played them for nearly as long as I had soccer. Hell, I even understood baseball and basketball to some degree. Sports were important to my family. Mom lived and breathed baseball in the same way Dad lived for football. Basketball was the seeming outlier, but we still watched it.

But this? Hockey? This was a sport so far out of my

wheelhouse, it almost left me breathless. In Texas, football was ubiquitous; football was king. We had nearly every professional sports team you could think of, but we only had one hockey team. And hockey? Not a sport I understood. What I did know about hockey was that it involved more hits than football, ice, and skates. I couldn’t believe I had been dragged to this stadium… arena… sports center. I didn’t even know what to call it. I just knew I was here.

Rubbing my fingers against my temples, I looked at

my friends. A smile brighter than any fluorescent light graced my friend’s beautiful face. Andrea was gorgeous— dark, curly hair that she always wore in puffs and the most rich, beautiful dark skin. She did not strike me as a hockey fan, mainly because I had no idea what even made someone a hockey fan, but apparently growing up in Illinois had converted her. Next to her was my other friend, Davis. If it wasn’t for him, we would never have had these seats. He knew the players, and I had yet to weasel it out of him how he knew them. At one point, Davis had even introduced Dre and me to some of the players. It was weird, but the two of them convinced me it was finally time to come and watch a game.

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Dre had decided that she felt the best welcome to

her home was a national hockey league game, hence why Davis got us tickets. She’d been trying since I came, but this was the first time she was able to. Something I never once pictured myself at, especially considering my natural-born Texan ass, was at a hockey game. I did not handle cold well. Heat, humidity—these were my bread and butter, all things I could handle. A freezing cold rink with thousands of screaming fans? I was so far out of my comfort zone, I felt like I would explode… or freeze to death.

Andrea turned to me, grabbing my gray sweater and

pulling me to our seats. The energy in this place felt like any Friday night high school football game. That was one amazing thing about sports—the energy in a sports arena was always bizarrely the same. It did send a slight jolt through me. Sports were my first love, and if hockey made Andrea and Davis happy, I might be able to add another sport to my roster.

“What are you thinking?” Andrea plopped down

into her seat. “Do you love it, or do you love it?”

Shrugging, I tried to hide my smile. “The game

hasn’t even begun, Dre. I’ll let you know once I actually see the sport.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve never seen hockey in

the damn near three years you’ve been here.” Davis cracked his neck and shot me a dirty look. “Three years, I’ve spent trying to convince you to come.”

“You’re going to love it,” Dre said, eyes flickering

to the ice. “Trust me. There’s something about the vibe and chaos that just crashes into you and draws you in.” Her grin

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widened. “It’s going to be beyond fucking amazing, especially with these seats Sweaty Davis got us.”