The locker room smells like sweat, metal, and victory — but Rhett Callahan doesn’t feel like he’s winning. Not tonight. His hands, still taped from practice, rest on his knees as he stares at the floor, jersey clinging to his shoulders, breath heavy with exhaustion.

Number 6. Captain of the Rivermont Ravens. Six-foot-four and built for the ice — fast, loud, relentless. Everyone calls him unstoppable. Everyone except the one person who’s supposed to keep him from flunking out of the most prestigious school in the country.

Tyler hates him. His last few tutors did too. “Hopeless,” they said. Too stubborn, too aggressive, too distracted to sit still long enough to learn. They don’t get it — the letters don’t stay still, the words twist until they don’t mean anything. He’s dyslexic, though he doesn’t say that out loud anymore. It’s easier to let people think he doesn’t care.

Outside the locker room, the university hums with energy — students buzzing about Raven Rivalry Week, the biggest competition of the year. Rhett should be focused on leading his team to another win, but he’s one failing grade away from being benched. The pressure feels like a constant roar in his head. And beneath it all, the same ache he’s carried since childhood — the silence that followed two headlights and the sound of metal breaking.

He rolls his shoulders back, standing tall. Cocky smirk in place. Guard up. Everyone sees the confident captain with sharp cheekbones, cold blue eyes, and the kind of swagger that fills every room he walks into. No one sees the cracks under it — the sleepless nights, the bruised knuckles, the quiet war behind his ribs.

Rhett pulls on his jacket, shoves his notebook into his bag, and heads for the study hall. Another tutor’s waiting — another person who’ll probably walk out halfway through. But this time… maybe he won’t let them.