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Five
The first month of school was uneventful as hell, but the hockey season was off to a freaking phenomenal start. I lived for Fridays during the school year. Lived for the games that would help put me on the map for who I was as a player, not for who my family was.
Four games in and we had won all four by at least two points.
There were forty-two seconds left on the clock and we were up by one.
And the puck was in our possession.
Milwaukee was getting nervous. They were playing badly and doing stupid things, things like high-sticking and putting themselves on the penalty kill. That wasn’t how you tied the score this close to the end.
We were in a face-off, myself and the one of the two D-men they had on the ice near their crease. Being a strong forward, my location was to ensure that these guys would think I was the scorer, I was the person that, if we won the face-off—and we would—would get the puck and drive it home.
Really, I was just a decoy at this very moment. If Alex got the puck to me, cool, great. But it wasn’t going to be his intention.
I rocked my head from side to side, stretching out my neck as I got into position. The zebra manning this game stood in the center of the face-off circle, waiting for Alex and Milwaukee’s guy, a kid named Ferreksson, to get into position.
The kid by me—Black was his last name, I thought—he was silent and his eyes hadn’t left the zebra for a moment since we rounded one another here.
“You really think you’re going to win this face-off, Black?” I asked, my own eyes on the puck as it was getting ready to be put into play. “Look at your guys. A bunch of D-men who can’t properly defend the puck. What are you going to do if your guy magically manages to get possession, hmm? Try to drive it down to the other side? Oh that’s right, you did that earlier in the game, Black. That was the icing call where we scored our first goal.”
In my peripheral, I could see Black shift in his spot. He was getting antsy.
I loved antsy.
I slid my stick just slightly, just enough that my blade bounced against his. “Oops. My mistake.”
Black cleared his throat.
“You’re real good at this silent thing. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were the silent and deadly type but…man,” the puck dropped and I pushed back, quickly moving behind Black, “you’re just not that good.”
Alex cleared the puck just enough for Ty to retrieve it. His stick moves were fucking amazing, and he skated around the guy defending against him, shouldering around the next guy, all while looking for either an open slot or an open man. He was also really good at wasting the clock. I glanced up quickly, noting that we were down to ten seconds.
This goal wasn’t important to us. We could fuck around with the puck the rest of the game.
But it was the prerogative of the situation. We were going to score.
I moved into position, finding an open spot, and sure as shit, the dumb-asses all moved to try and defend the goal. The only problem with that was it put their three piranhas on my ass, leaving just enough room, just enough of an opening, for Ty to rocket the puck over their goaltender’s shoulder.
And when the buzzer sounded, East erupted in cheers.
***
Emotions were running high in the locker room. The start of our season couldn’t be going any better, but then again, this was what East was known for in the high school hockey world. However we started the season, we were sure to dominate throughout.
After our mandatory post game chat with Coach, where he awarded MVP of the game to Ty, the team got ready to leave. Showers were running, music was playing, and there was chatter among the sounds.
Some guys were talking about the game. Others, namely a senior named Mack Prie, was literally tutoring one of the younger kids on varsity, Jason Reed, on algebra as they got dressed.
Mack was like fucking Clark Kent. Nerdy as all get out one moment, but a superhero when he took off his glasses.
Another senior on the team, Wes Mistral, was talking out of his ass like he always did. He was the guy who had no problem talking about who he slept with and which ‘good girl’ in school was next on his list to ‘chase down and pin down.’
Today’s girl was his summer hook-up, a girl who didn’t even go to our school, let alone live in Wisconsin. “She was so fucking hot. Get this, she was a junior in college. She knew what she was doing, if you know what I mean. Yeah?” I glanced over at him after pulling my tee over my head, just as Wes snapped his towel toward one of the guys he called a friend, soaking him up like he was the be-all end-all.
Wes’s locker was a few down from mine, so I had no choice but to listen to his conquests. Frankly, I thought he was an ass and couldn’t figure out what all the girls saw in him, but to each her own I guess.
I tried to turn my attention to a conversation Alex and Ty were having, but Wes’s loud, obnoxious voice pulled my attention back toward him.
