Maya's POV
The pencil snapped in half.
Maya stared at the broken pieces in her hands, her heart pounding. She'd been pressing too hard again, trying to capture the exact curve of Jake's smile as he laughed with his teammates on the ice below. Now graphite smeared across her fingers like evidence of a crime.
"Please don't let anyone have heard that," she whispered, glancing around the empty bleachers.
The hockey rink echoed with the sound of skates scraping ice and sticks slapping pucks. Coach Morrison's whistle pierced the air. Maya had exactly twelve minutes left before practice ended, before she had to shove her sketchbook deep into her backpack and pretend she'd just been doing homework up here in the cold.
She grabbed another pencil and kept drawing, her fingers moving fast. Jake's number seventeen jersey. The way his dark hair stuck out from under his helmet. The—
"Oh. My. Gosh."
Maya's hand jerked across the page, leaving an ugly black line through Jake's face. She slammed the sketchbook shut and spun around.
Emma stood three rows up, her mouth hanging open, her eyes huge.
"How long have you been standing there?" Maya's voice came out squeaky.
"Long enough." Emma practically jumped down the bleacher steps, her blonde ponytail bouncing. "Maya Chen, are you seriously drawing Jake Harrison? Again?"
"Shhh!" Maya looked down at the ice. The hockey team was still practicing, thank goodness. Nobody had noticed them. Nobody ever noticed her. That was exactly how she liked it.
Except when it came to Jake. She noticed everything about him.
Emma plopped down next to her, grinning like she'd just discovered buried treasure. "Let me see."
"No way."
"Come on! I saw it already. He looked really good. You made his jawline all perfect and—"
"Emma!" Maya hugged the sketchbook to her chest. "Can you please just forget you saw anything?"
"Are you kidding? This is huge! You've been obsessed with Jake since, like, forever, and you've never done anything about it." Emma grabbed Maya's arm. "Wait. How many drawings are in there?"
Maya felt her face get hot. "I don't know. Maybe... thirty?"
"THIRTY?"
"You said you'd be quiet!"
Emma clapped both hands over her mouth. Her eyes were still enormous. When she finally took her hands away, she was practically vibrating with excitement. "Okay. Okay. This is actually perfect timing."
"What are you talking about?"
"The Christmas party! Tonight! At Jake's house!" Emma shook Maya's shoulder. "His parents throw that huge party every year, remember? The whole school goes. This is your chance!"
Maya's stomach twisted into a knot. "My chance to what? Stand in a corner while Jake talks to Sophie Martin all night? No thanks."
"Sophie Martin is dating Tyler Banks now. Everyone knows that."
"Then he'll talk to some other pretty, confident girl who actually knows how to flirt." Maya opened her sketchbook to a blank page, trying to ignore the way her chest felt tight. "I'm better at drawing people than talking to them."
"That's because you never try!" Emma wasn't giving up. She never gave up. It was one of the things Maya loved and hated about her best friend. "Look, you don't have to do anything crazy. Just... talk to him. Say hi. Make eye contact for more than half a second."
Maya bit her lip. Down on the ice, Jake scored a goal. His teammates cheered and slapped his back. He pulled off his helmet, and even from up here, Maya could see his smile.
Her fingers itched to draw it.
"I can't," she said quietly. "What if I say something stupid? What if he thinks I'm weird? What if—"
"What if he likes you back?"
Maya's heart stopped. "That's impossible."
"Why? You're smart, you're funny, you're talented—"
"I'm invisible." Maya looked at her friend. "Emma, be honest. Jake Harrison doesn't even know I exist."
Emma was quiet for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. "Okay. You want honesty? Fine. You're right. He probably doesn't know you exist. But that's only because you won't let him! You hide up here in the bleachers. You never raise your hand in English class even though you always know the answers. You literally run away whenever he's walking down the same hallway."
"I don't run—"
"You speed-walk. It's basically running."
Maya slumped forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Emma was right. She knew Emma was right. But knowing something and being brave enough to change it were two completely different things.
"What if I go to the party," Maya said slowly, "and I still can't talk to him?"
"Then at least you tried." Emma bumped her shoulder against Maya's. "Come on. What's the worst that could happen?"
Before Maya could answer, a voice shouted from the ice: "Harrison! Your mom's here!"
Maya looked down. A woman was standing by the rink entrance, waving at Jake. He skated over, and even though Maya couldn't hear their conversation, she could see his face change. The smile disappeared. His shoulders got tense.
"That's weird," Emma said. "Why does he look upset?"
Jake's mom put her hand on his shoulder. He shook his head hard, like he was arguing with her. Some of his teammates were watching now, whispering to each other.
Maya's artist brain automatically recorded details: the way Jake's hands gripped his hockey stick tighter, how his jaw clenched, the exact angle his mom tilted her head when she was trying to calm him down.
Something was wrong.
Then Jake ripped off his jersey—right there in front of everyone—threw it on the ground, and stormed toward the locker room.
The entire rink went silent.
"Did that just happen?" Emma whispered.
Maya stared at the crumpled jersey on the ice. Number seventeen. Jake's number. He never threw his jersey. He loved hockey more than anything.
Coach Morrison picked up the jersey, looking confused and angry. Jake's mom pressed her hands to her face. The other players stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
"Something's really wrong," Maya said. Her heart was pounding again, but for a completely different reason now. "Emma, Jake just quit the team."
"What? No way. He would never—"
"I just watched him do it!" Maya stood up, her sketchbook falling to the bleacher seat. "The Christmas party. Tonight. I have to go."
Emma blinked. "Wait, really? Why?"
Maya grabbed her backpack, her mind racing. Jake had just thrown away everything that mattered to him. And tonight, at that party, she was going to find out why.
Even if it meant finally making him see her.
Even if it meant everything changed.
"Because," Maya said, looking at her best friend, "I think Jake Harrison needs someone. And maybe... maybe that someone is supposed to be me."
She didn't know if she believed that. But she had to try.
The question was: what had just happened to make Jake walk away from hockey?
And why did Maya suddenly feel like this Christmas was about to become the most important—and most dangerous—of her entire life?