On the Ice (Stick Side, #1)

by Amy Aislin

Mitch hated parties. So much, in fact, that he’d rather work at a bee farm surrounded by hundreds of bees plotting his death, one bee sting at a time. A headache pulsed at his temples. He hid in a bathroom stall at Mama Jean’s and massaged his temples with the thumb and middle finger of one hand. The other hand held a beer he didn’t want, bought for him by someone older. Mama Jean’s was packed for tonight’s party, whoever it was for. He had to be on a bus tomorrow morning at seven. Mitch checked his watch: nine-fifteen. He had a biomechanics lab on Tuesday and a musculoskeletal tutorial on Wednesday he needed to do the readings for. His weekly written assignment for his human growth, motor development, and physical activity class was due Thursday, not to mention all the reading he still needed to do for his electives. Tomorrow was a write-off unless he could get some reading done on the bus ride to and from Hamilton. On Sunday, he had a full shift at his part-time job at the long-term care facility in Montpelier, then a two-hour session tutoring a couple of freshmen in college Algebra 101. It was brainless work for Mitch that provided him with some much-needed cash. His partial scholarship helped, but it covered only about sixty percent of his expenses. He still needed to pay his bills, and for gas, food, rent, and a portion of next semester’s tuition and textbooks. He had some cash left over from his full-time job at a café in Montpelier last summer, but if an emergency c...