Chapter 3
2378 Words
CHAPTER 3
I run down the steps to my parents,
"Hey, do you need to turn in your stat sheet?" Dad asks.
"Yeah let me go find Coach." I say walking away. I find Coach Benedict about to go into the locker room. "Coach!" I call after him.
"Oh, hey Miller,"
"Here's your stats." I say handing him the sheet.
"Oh thanks!"
"No problem," I say leaving.
"Hey Miller," he calls. I turn back,
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to do something on the team next year?" Coach asks.
"No clue,"
"Well you should. " I smile and go back to my family.
"Ready?" Mom asks.
"Totally,"
"What are you all smiley about?" Dad asks.
"Probably about dating a hockey player." Drew says.
"No not that it's Coach's remark." I say walking into the parking lot.
"Wait so you are dating a hockey player?" Mom asks.
"Yeah Jon asked me, and I said yes."
"Jon's a good kid." Dad says.
"Yeah anyhow Coach says I should do something with the team next year."
"Like what?" Drew asks confused.
"I don't know. Mike's a senior maybe he thinks I should be the student manager."
"Highly doubt it." Drew says.
"Well what do you think he wants me for? A player?" I ask teasingly.
"Well you do have a wicked slapshot." Drew says somewhat serious.
"Yeah right!" I say getting into the van.
"Just keep your options open Angie. You never know what could happen." Dad says.
"I highly doubt Coach wants an untrained girl hockey player." I say.
"But Angie you are trained you just don't have any playing experience." Drew says.
"If you're interested in going out for high school we'll sign you up for Spring and see how it goes." Dad says.
"Yeah okay I'll remember that." I say sarcastically.
"Angie I'm serious," Dad says, "If you want this we'll support you all the way.” I can tell that he’s being serious, so I just nod my head.
"Okay I'll think about it." I say as we start to drive. It doesn’t take long and we pull into our hotel’s parking lot.
We get to our hotel, we’re staying at this place called the Arrington. I see Coach Benedict and his Assistant Coach, Coach Benner walking into the hotel. I feel my phone vibrate. It's Grant,
You said yes? he asks. I'm assuming he's talking about me and Jon.
Yeah that an issue? I text back.
No, he responds immediately.
Good,
"Earth to Angie!" Drew says.
"Sorry what?" I ask.
"Help me get the luggage out of the trunk." he says getting out of the van. I follow him to the trunk.
"Do we take our hockey bags in?" I ask.
"No, we're supposed to leave hundreds of dollars of equipment in the car." Drew says sarcastically. I grab my suitcase and my hockey bag.
"Need help?"
"Whoa!" I say turning around and finding Grant, "Where did you come from?"
"The bus? I forgot a bag." he says reaching for his cinch bag. "Do you need help or not?" Grant asks.
"Yeah here," I say handing him my gear.
"Anything else?"
"No, I got everything else."
"What about the cooler?" Grant asks.
"Oh yeah,"
"Here take your gear and I'll get the cooler." he says.
"Okay,"
We grab everything and walk into the hotel lobby. The hotel has a very modern classy feeling to it. They have a nice dining area and a tech center with tons of computers. As we come in Dad's just walking away from the front desk.
"Oh, hey Grant! Good game!" Dad compliments as soon as he sees him.
"Thanks," Grant says smiling.
"You had an amazing snipe." I tell him.
"What room are we in?" Drew interrupts.
"308 on the second floor." Dad says handing me a room key. "I'm going to go get the laptop." he looks around, "And your Mother."
"She's on the phone." Drew says. I didn't even notice that. Dad leaves, and we walk towards the elevator.
"Hey, we got a conference room and we're playing floor hockey tonight. Coach said you can come and play if you want." Grant tells me. We get out of the elevator on the second floor.
"Um I don't know." I say as we find our room. I open the door and we go in, I set my stuff down. I walk in to see a room painted a burgundy color and looks just like your standard hotel room. There’s a bathroom off the hallway as soon as you walk in, then a small closet, after that it quickly opens up into a big room with a flat screen TV, two queen beds, and a desk.
"I need your help carrying my stuff in." Grant says.
"Okay, Drew stay here I'll be back."
"Okay," he says flopping onto the bed. We walk out of the room,
"What's going on? Why don't you want to play floor hockey?" Grant asks.
"Never said I didn't." I say pressing the elevator button.
"Your boyfriend's going to be there." he says.
"Yeah I know." That's the whole reason I'm unsure about going in the first place, I think as we exit the elevator.
"What's wrong?" Grant asks.
"Won't I just be getting teased the whole time about being Jon's girlfriend?" I ask thinking back to how Mike and Alex acted at the rink.
"Who cares? They always tease you, you never care." I don't respond, "Wait is this about dating Jon?"
"No, it's just going to be different or awkward."
"You'll be fine. You won’t get as many comments as you think. The whole entire team knows Jon likes you. No one will be surprised to hear you’re together." Grant says.
“Wait, so I’m the only one who didn’t know Jon likes me?” Grant takes a breath,
“Not anyone else’s fault that you’re clueless.” Grant teases. "So, will you come tonight?" he asks as we walk out of the hotel.
"Of course,"
"Alright come down around 7:00 and we should be ready to play." Grant says tossing me a bag. I catch it,
"Whoa! What in the world do you have in here?"
"Probably all his hair products to maintain his flow." Jon says walking up.
I laugh, flow is the brushed back kind of hairstyle hockey players have. My brother tries to have perfect flow and he pretty much does.
"Need help?" Jon offers.
"I got it it's not that heavy." I say. I think of the conversation I had with Dad about playing hockey. "Hey Grant, what would you think of me playing hockey this Spring?" He goes bug eyed,
"You would be my teammate." Grant says.
"And that makes you feel?"
"Speechless," he says keeping it short.
"What about you Jon?"
"I think that would be amazing." Jon responds. I roll my eyes, sounds like a typical answer, trying to keep me happy.
"Really?" I ask.
"Yeah if you want to play I think you should go for it."
"Angie where's this coming from?" Grant asks walking into the hotel, "You always say you prefer being a sidelines sister."
"Chill Grant nothing's set in stone, I'm just brainstorming." I say walking to his room which look identical to the one I’m staying in except for the fact that they also have a sleeper sofa. He opens the door, I set down his bag.
"Conference Room B, 7:00." Grant reminds me.
"I'll be there." I tell him.
"Bye Angie!" Jon says
"See ya!" I go to my room and find everyone there. "Hey, can I play floor hockey at 7:00?" I ask.
"Sure," Dad agrees.
"I think I might want to try to play Spring too" I say still a little unsure. I see my Dad’s eyes light up with excitement.
"Really? I can email the Coach right now and get you on the list” Dad offers. I laugh happy to see his enthusiasm.
“Go for it.” I tell him. Even if I still feel a little unsure, the thrill that my Dad has at the idea makes it worth it.
"Can I go play floor hockey?" Drew asks.
"You weren't invited, so no." Mom says. She looks at me, "I want you back here by 11:00. Got it?"
"Totally," I say knowing that if I'm late I'll be staying by her side the rest of the trip.
I go and grab the shorts and tank top I brought for chilling at the hotel. I go into the bathroom and change. I pull back my shoulder length strawberry blonde hair. I do it a couple of times before I decide it looks good. Am I trying to impress Jon? I think about it, who cares? He's my boyfriend if I am it doesn't matter. I come out of the bathroom and grab an apple out of our snack bag. I quickly eat it and grab my stick.
"Alright I'm leaving!" I tell my parents.
"Grab a room key so you can get back in when you're done." Mom tells me.
"Got it!" I say grabbing it, "Bye!" I say shutting the door.
I hop on the elevator and head to the first floor. I quickly find Conference Room B. I walk into a huge room. There’s a big table with plush chairs off in the corner that has food and sports drinks covering it. There’s also a TV in the same side of the room that has a game system hooked up capturing a lot of the boys’ attention. Taking up the rest of the room is a massive space with two knee hockey goals set up and I find that the boys have already started. Jon catches my eye and smiles. He walks over to me,
"You look cute," he says. I blush,
"Thanks," Grant looks at us and smiles,
"Are you guys playing or what?" he asks with some attitude. I glare at him,
"That's what we're here for." Jon says.
"We're playing 4 on 4 with goalies. We have 2 lines running, you're on Jon’s team and line." Grant says quickly. I follow Jon.
"Cool do I get to go play videogames now?" Blake asks as I walk up.
"Yeah, Angie's here to take her spot." Jeremy one of our Sophomores says. He looks at me, "I'm your offensive partner. Alex and Jon have our back on defense. We're doing 5-minute shifts." He tells me.
"Sweet!" I say then naturally go towards Jon.
"Hey Angel," He says as I walk up to him and Alex.
"Hey,"
"I was just telling Alex about how you're thinking about playing Spring this year." Jon says.
"Change that to playing Spring, my Dad emailed the Coach."
"Dude Grant is going flip out!" Alex says.
"What?" I ask confused.
"You should've heard him complaining back in the room. He was going on about how you shouldn't be playing and how you're not a serious opponent." Jon says. All of a sudden, I lose all of my momentum,
"He said that?"
"Yeah he was pretty ticked." Alex says.
"Time for our shift." Jon says walking into the playing area.
"Want the faceoff?" Jeremy asks.
"No take it." I say taking wing. Grant looks shocked,
"Really?" he asks. I ignore him. I don't play very well. 5 minutes seems like eternity when you lose your edge. Finally, it's time to switch and Grant comes over.
"You okay Angie?" he asks.
"Yeah just tired. I think I'm going to leave." Grant looks around.
"Someone double shift for me and Angie." Grant says dragging me out of the room.
"What was that?" I ask.
"What's your issue? You never pass up a chance to play floor hockey, especially with the boys." Grant says.
"I feel sick okay?" I say trying to get him off my back.
"You were perfectly fine 10 minutes ago. Is this about Jon?" he asks. I roll my eyes,
"I like where I'm at with Jon, live with it."
"What is your issue?"
"I'm tired I want to go back to my room. Why can't I just go?"
"Because you said you would play!" he yells. Jon walks up,
"Time for our shift." Jon says. Seeing there is no way of getting out of this I follow him in. Grant walks behind me,
"You are unbelievable!" he whispers.
I ignore him grabbing my stick and take my position. Jeremy wins the faceoff and passes it back to Jon. Jon passes is back to Jeremy who passes it to me and I one time it. It soars past the goalie.
"Whoa what a snipe!" Alex says in awe.
"Yeah for a girl." I say. Jon looks confused,
"Um no by any standard." he assures me. We play until about 10:30 then the boys are fried. I go sit with Jon.
"Hey," I say quietly walking up.
"Hey Angie," I don't know what to say so I just sit there. "What's bugging you?" he asks.
"Nothing," I say not wanting to talk about it.
"Really? Then why did Grant start yelling at you?"
"Oh that? I just wanted to go back to my room instead of playing."
"Really? Why?" Jon asks surprised.
"Because a boy’s hockey team is no place for a girl." I say quietly.
"Since when?"
"Since always,"
"But this is your place here with us." he says.
"Jon be real! I'm not even a real opponent."
"So that’s what the issue is." Jon says laughing.
"What?" I ask confused.
"You’re ticked at Grant for saying you're not a serious opponent." I smile weakly,
"You're right, but it doesn't matter, he's right." Jon laughs,
"Angie you’re the one that needs to be real! You're one of the best hockey players I know."
"For a girl,"
"Angie by any standard!" I glance at the clock,
"Oh crud I gotta be in my room in 2 minutes." I say standing up, "Bye Jon,"
"See ya Angie." I quickly run to the elevator head upstairs and run into our room.
- Writer
