Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

Today was one of my favorite days, if not the best. It was Halloween, and I loved dressing up and thinking about how to make costumes the best and most creative.

Plus, there was an extra day off today, mandated by our principal.

One of the positives of having a hockey team at college.

I deliberately tried to avoid Weston since Wednesday night because I was afraid he would call me on it.

Even before that, I tried not to run into him too often, which proved problematic when you live in the same house and have to talk to sort out who went to the bathroom first.

But he always let me go first to the bathroom for the past few days.

Wednesday evening, after we arrived at his house, I would have loved to go straight to bed and never leave it again, but then there was home-cooked soup from Camilla, which was terrible. Seeing how everyone tried not to show that the soup was extremely salty made the evening a little nicer. I ate some leftover pasta because I was allergic to pumpkins, and it was a pumpkin soup.

Mr. Sinclair’s behavior was particularly spectacular.

From what I observed, he drank half a glass of water after every spoonful of soup.

I didn’t give Weston a single glance.

When the renovations in the house are finally done, which will, unfortunately, take a few more weeks, Weston and I will be nothing more than two people who attended the same university, and our friend groups will cross over.

Ignoring was something I was good at.

The sun was just beginning to become visible between the thick clouds, light mist hovered in the air, and a few birds could be heard chirping.

It was just the time in the morning when the moon and the sun appeared simultaneously in the sky. Shortly after seven o’clock, I was on my way to the sports field, where Ethan was already waiting for me.

I had imagined the day off differently and not like I had to walk across campus in the morning because Ethan’s roommate Charles had hooked up with some girl at night and slept at her place.

He hadn’t told me much on the phone when he chased me out of bed a little before six in the morning and was waiting for me on the athletic field to time him.

This guy had no respect for me or my sleep.

‘You’re late,’ my brother greeted me with these overly kind and motivating words before we hugged, and I placed my bag next to his.

‘Good morning to you too. Thank you, Luna, for helping me so early and sacrificing your precious time. I even brought you cocoa. A sentence like that would have done but is fine.’ I stood before him, my hands resting on my hip, and with raised eyebrows, I waited for his instructions.

‘I brought you some cocoa,’ Ethan repeated my words, pointing to the coffee mug next to his bag on the bench.

‘Thank God.’

I reached for the porcelain coffee mug, and as I took a small sip of the hot liquid, I immediately tasted that it came from his coffee maker.

Charles and Ethan’s coffee maker had magical powers.

This cocoa tasted so good that I would do anything to drink one every hour.

Ethan was studying exercise science and was on the college athletics team, and they had a practical test every few weeks as the Coach tested their endurance, speed, and strength.

I sat cross-legged on the bench, the warm cup with the liquid gold inside in one hand and a stopwatch that Ethan had brought in the other hand.

‘What are your plans for today?’ I asked him as he stretched and warmed up on the running track before me.

‘I got invited to a party, and you?’

‘Who are you going with?’

‘With Jude,’ he said dreamily.

‘Aha! I finally have a name. Thanks to someone in heaven,’ I stretched my arms upward and rejoiced like a child. Without even realizing it, Ethan ran off down the track of the athletic field.

‘I haven’t even started timing yet,’ I yelled after him in confusion.

Figuring anything out of Ethan was harder than some math problems. Over time, I’ve noticed that I’ll find something out of him if I ask a simple, not-so-obvious question to get a name.

‘Two minutes and forty seconds, Mr. Flash.’ I stopped the time and held the stopwatch out for him to look at.

‘Fuck, I already had that in the last test, and besides, you started the stopwatch too late,’ Ethan grumbled, squirting water into his mouth with his water bottle.

‘I can’t do anything for that now in principle,’ I defended myself and sipped my cocoa.

‘Okay, one more round, and if you don’t stop properly this time, you’ll run with me.’

My answer to his stupid suggestion was a middle finger as he started running. I would never run with my brother around the sports field, which was almost as big as half a soccer field.

After another three laps and breaks in between, Ethan had finally reached his desired time, and I was finally released from my torment because, with time to sit on the bench and empty cocoa, it was getting pretty cold.

Although I wore several layers of clothes and used Ethan’s sweater as a blanket, I was pretty happy when I arrived at the campus café where Aria was already waiting for me.

Even though there were no classes today, she opened the store.

My brother and I said goodbye, this time without a hug because I certainly didn’t want his sweat on me.

‘Do you know a girl named Jude?’ with this sentence, I greeted Aria, who was preparing a coffee behind the counter, and with a short wave, I greeted Henry and Charles.

‘Sure, Jude Collins, if you mean her. She lives here in one of the dorms on campus.’

‘I think my brother is in a relationship with her.’

‘Excuse me? Ethan Montgomery? Your picky brother?’ she looked at me with wide eyes and open mouth, ‘Ethan just told you that? That’s hard to believe,’ Aria continued.

‘Well, he didn’t tell me that willingly,’ I explained to her why I suspected she was his girlfriend.

‘And you think it’s Jude Collins?’ she asked me aghast as she put the coffee on a tray with a glass of grape juice.

‘I don’t know, but it would all kind of make sense,’ I wrinkled my nose as I thought about it and put together all the little information I had from Ethan.

I was sure he would tell me something sooner or later, but until then, I tried to avoid being so nosy. Aria prepared another fruit salad, and I ran into the storage room to hang up my jacket and bag. I was still knotting the two ties of my apron together when I came out of the storage room and took the tray from her when two students wanted to pay.

‘Here are your drinks,’ I set the two saucers with the coffee and the full glass of grape juice on the table.

Just as I was clearing the three unoccupied tables by the large window, the door banged against the bell hanging from the ceiling, and Weston entered the café.

Behind him was Carter with two other boys, but they quickly pushed past Weston to greet Charles and Henry, who were sitting at the table talking with Aria.

I saw Weston stop out of the corner of my eye, but I pretended he was air and wiped down the tables after clearing the dishes onto my tray.

‘Can we talk?’ he murmured so softly you’d think Weston would be uncomfortable having uttered those three words to me.