Skate the Line (Blue Devils Hockey, #2)

by S.J. Sylvis

Ellie looks out the window. “Does my daddy know you call him Oscar?” I pause. “Not yet.” I’m sure the more I’m around him, the more comfortable I’ll be, and it’ll accidentally slip. “Sometimes I call Peter a name that he doesn’t know.” “Who is Peter?” Marco asks. I’m wondering the same. Ellie shrugs. “A boy in my class.” I shift toward her, ignoring my vibrating phone so she has my full attention. I’ve learned that she doesn’t like when someone doesn’t meet her eye or talk to her directly—something most kids probably wouldn’t notice. Ellie is different, though. “What do you call him?” I ask. “Mudak,” she says fluently. Is that…Russian? “And that means?” The tiniest dimple appears on her cheek. “It means asshole.” I slap my hand over my mouth to hide a laugh. “Ellie Volkova,” I mutter after pulling myself together. “You aren’t supposed to say curse words.” She gawks at me. “That’s why I say it in Russian. No one knows what it means.”