Chapter 1

April. The very last skate night at Ben Cash's high school. It was a very emotional experience for the 16 year old teen, known for having a 'squad', aka a group of friends. Ben was ice-skating on the ice rink one last time with his closest friends, Jillian Musco and Serena Dalo.


"This is really fun, really wish we can do this forever," said Serena, as she tried to balance herself with her skates. "You can say that again," replied Jillian. Ben was busy looking at the atmosphere, what was around him, one more time.


Skate night was a two hour event where friends can hangout and skate, while eating snacks and probably making out on the bleachers. But now it was coming to an end, since it was also the end of the school year.


Ben, Jill, and Serena headed off the rink to meet up with more friends. Sarah Morin was Ben's "boo partner" and they shared a lot of memories hanging outside of school, she gave Ben a hug as soon as she saw him. Melanie Silverthorne was a longtime friend of Ben's, who also loved receiving hugs. Then there was Alex Cash, Ben's younger brother. Alex was sitting alone at the bleachers, fidgeting with a nickel with his fingers.


"Well, this is it" said Ben to his friends. They all nodded in agreement, this may be the last time they all see each other for a while. "Unless we find a way to hangout during the summer," suggested Jillian to the group. They nodded again, nobody really speaking a word.


After a brief moment of silence, the staff started to force the partygoers out of the ice rink. The squad was saying their last goodbyes to each other. Alex hugged Serena, who clearly didn't want to be hugged, and Ben hugged Sarah and Jillian, while Melanie waited for her hug as well.


"SERENA!!" shouted a familiar voice from nearby. After hugging Ben, Serena turned around to see Angie Musco, Jill's younger sister, marching towards her, fists clenched. "You bitch, you broke the girl codes!" she started shouting at Serena.


Serena forced herself to not get defensive. "What do you mean?" she asked her, hoping for a reason. "Uh, let's see, you're stealing my crush from me, Colby's mine, Serena, find someone else to go screw," Angie angrily explained. She pointed at a boy named Colby, who was waving at Serena in a flirty way.


Ben noticed Serena was now pissed at Angie. He stopped Serena's raising arm, and blocked Angie's incoming punch. "Stop, both of you! It's the last skate night, we should be happy and treating each other well!" said Ben to them both, especially Angie.


In her head, Ben was only defending Serena, not her. "Okay," said Angie. "How do we solve this then?" asked Serena through clenched teeth. "We apologize, Angie quits being sassy and you, Serena, don't break whatever the girl code is" warned Ben to the two girls.


Alex stared at them, rolling his eyes at his brother trying to show off, at least that's what he was thinking. Angie scoffed and walked off, grabbing her sister by the hand.


Ben and Alex met up, waiting for their car ride by their trusting and kind Grandpa Charlie. "How was skate night?" he asked Ben and Alex. "Oh it was good" said Ben. Alex stayed silent.


"Serena broke up with me," he said under his breath, only Ben heard. They drove off from the ice rink and arrived home, Grandpa dropping them off at their father's new house.


"Goodnight" Ben said to his quiet brother.

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