AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Our transitions are slow. Our footwork is slow-”
“Speak for them,” Novek said, pointing at the rest of our team. “My footwork is perfect.” The tension in the room hit the ceiling. Skalsberg growled, like a Viking.
“Hello Novek,” Coach said, deadpan. “Everyone in this room can improve. Guys like Oshie make us look like we’re standing still.”
No one could argue that T.J. Oshie made everyone look like they were standing still. But that was an excellent red flag to wave in front of a room of elite competitors.
“We’ve hired a preseason skating coach who is going to help us get our speed up.”
“What happened to Anton?” Ron asked.
Anton was our old skating coach. A former NHL forward who’d had his career cut short by an eye injury during practice.
“Anton didn’t agree with our change in direction,” Coach McKay said.
Oh. Shit. Everyone in the room sat forward. Whatever this was, it was going to be…different.
Coach held up his hands to get us all to calm down. “Olivia Tyler-Branch is a pro. You’ll listen to her.”
“A girl?” Novek sneered. I could feel a few other guys in the room echoing that sentiment.
“A professional,” Coach corrected him, his gaze sweeping all thirty of us sitting there. “I don’t think I have to tell you respect is expected for any member of the team. From me to the towel kid. Understood?”
“I’ve never heard of her,” Ron said. “Why are you bringing in some unknown?”
“Girl,” Novek sneered again.
“I know her,” the rookie said. “I mean of her. She was a world class figure skater a few years back. Pairs.”
“Oh shit. Her!” Someone said from the back of the room. I wasn’t really paying attention because I had this weird buzzing going on inside my head. “She wiped out at the last Olympics. Like splat.”
“It was bad,” rookie said, with palpable sympathy. “Ended her career.”
“To answer your question, she is not unknown,” Coach said. “She comes highly recommended by legendary skating coach Don Bruno. And she’s been revolutionary for the US Junior National team.”
“You meanboys,” Novek said.
“You guys need to get in this century. Lots of teams are hiring figure skaters as skating coaches,” rookie said.
“No. Hockey isnotfigure skating,” Novek snorted. “If she steps on the ice with us, she will get hurt.”
Was that a threat? It sounded like a threat but I couldn’t do anything about it right now because my brain was still short-circuiting.
I thought of Liv. Daring me to go faster. Liv, beating me over the course of time.
Liv.
“I wasn’t just a figure skating competitor. I actually won a few times.”
“It messes with my brain. I had a bad accident a while back.”
“You and I are going to pretend we never met. Do you understand?”
Now I was listening. To everything she ever said to me. Because it felt like one of those movie reveals, where all the clues are shown together at the same time so the audience could come up with the answer just a few seconds before it was all revealed for the idiot main character.
I was the idiot main character.
“Come on in, Coach,” McKay called out.
