The Life of a Hockey Sister: Welcome to Canada

Chapter Seven

The week went by super quick! I never got the chance to work on my promise to Allie. Between school and dry lands, I've been really busy. Not to mention I decided to work harder on convincing Brian that I'm happy to be here. I'm adjusting better to being here, so it's been getting easier to be convincing cuz I am happy to be here. Friday after school Brian walked me back to my room.

"So, are you excited?" Brian asks.

"About?"

"About tryouts!"

"Not really,"

"Ang why?"

"Dude I'm nervous! This is going to be my first high school tryout!" I tell him.

"Isn't this your first tryout overall?"

"No, I tried out for that Spring team, didn't I?"

"Doesn't count you couldn't get cut." We get to my dorm,

"Okay then yes this is my first legit tryout." I agree. "So, go away so I can get ready."

"I walked all the way over here can't I hang out for a little bit?" Brian asks.

"No, I'm not hanging out all weekend."

"Why?"

"Cuz the first tryouts are tonight, the second one is tomorrow, then on Sunday I'll either have practice or I'll be bawling my eyes out since I got cut."

"So, practice Sunday." Brian says.

"Not necessarily," I disagree.

"Whatever, see you at the rink." Brian says leaving.

I go into the room and find Katie's not here yet, but Makayla is.

"Hey Makayla," I say making an effort to be nice.

"Hey," Makayla says. I go to my dresser and pull out a cut off and shorts. "Do you have tryouts tonight?" Makayla asks.

"Um yeah the first set," I say surprised she cared enough to ask.

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

"Angie, I don't even like hockey or attempt to follow it, but I've even heard the news about the American chick who plays."

"What?" I ask shocked.

"Yeah you're the biggest buzz right now." Makayla tells me.

"Just cuz I'm from America or what?"

"No because apparently, you're the best Freshmen, and better than all the Sophomore's. Just don't let it go to your head Miller." Makayla warns. With that she leaves.

I go into the bathroom to change then double check to make sure all my gear's in my bag and throw a drink in. We've had very little on ice practice this week. We did dry lands Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and had ice time Wednesday. Today though I woke up early and skated to make sure I have a good feel for the new ice. Jon and Grant have been calling me all week assuring me I'll kill it at tryouts. Them constantly talking about it got a little annoying but the thought was nice.

I have nothing else to do to get ready. The boys have tryouts from 4:30-6:30 so our ice time is later from 7:00-9:00. Even if I wanted to catch a little bit of Brian's tryout, I have an hour until it starts. I'm an expert at killing time at the Ice Arena but one can only walk around the rink so many times until it becomes boring, and I don't need to burn off any energy. I decide to turn on the TV and turn it to NHL Network. They’re still talking about the drafts. I'm not gonna deny it this draft's been crazy.

What's gonna make this season more interesting is that the divisions all got switched up. Chicago will now be in the Central division. They will now verse Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, and Winnipeg. I'm so lost in watching that I don't even hear Katie and Derek walk in.

"Earth to Angie!" Katie says plopping down beside me.

"Oh, hey what's up?" I ask.

"I'm going to go watch the first part of the boys tryout and then grab a quick bite to eat before ours. Do you wanna come with?"

"Sure," I say turning off the TV and putting on my slides.

"Ang you need your gear." Katie says.

"Oh yeah," I say going to grab my sticks and bag.

"Angie you scare me sometimes." Derek says laughing.

"What you’re not gonna carry Katie's bag for her?" I tease. Katie glares at me but I just laugh.

Derek and Katie have been inseparable this week. I'm pretty sure that sometime in the near future Derek's gonna ask Katie out. Not that that's any of my business.

"Yeah I'm sure you let Brian carry your bag all the time." Derek shoots back. This makes Katie smile.

It's on going, the remarks about Brian liking me. Well it is as long as he isn't around to hear them.

"Ha ha very funny, but just for your information nobody ever carries my bag."

"Not even Jon?" Katie questions.

"Especially not Jon, although I've carried his bag before." Derek and Katie look at me quizzically. "He was injured and wasn't supposed to be practicing. He did it anyways and needed help getting home after." I explain.

"Oh yeah Brian said something about him getting his ankle shattered while playing up here." Derek says.

"Think Brian's a little obsessive over Jon?" I ask laughing.

"Yeah cuz as long as Jon has you, he can't." Katie says.

All this talk about Jon is actually making me miss my klutz of a boyfriend.

"You two will actually be able to meet him in 2 weeks." I say reminding myself that I'll see him soon. We head out the door.

"Good I'll finally see the guy you freak out over whenever he calls." Katie teases. I blush,

"I do not freak out."

"I bet you do, I bet your all like I love you Jon!" Derek jokes.

"Shut up Derek! I am not!" I say seriously.

"I always thought it was cute." Katie admits.

"It's not cute cuz I don't do it." I say getting annoyed.

"Alright just drop it, we're not going to win anyways." Derek says smiling.

"All I'm asking!" I agree.

We get to the rink and Derek goes directly to his locker room. Katie sets down her bag.

"You think our locker room's open?" Katie asks me.

"I'll go check," I offer.

"Okay,"

I go over to the locker room and find it's unlocked. I go in and find 3 seniors in there. One of them has short brown hair, the other has long curly blond hair, and the other has blond short hair. All 3 are about the same height at 5'9, they have to be giants on skates.

"Wow Miller you're here already?" One asks.

"Uh yeah,"

"Girls why don't you actually introduce yourself? Like me, I'm Tara." The long-haired blond says smiling.

"Angie," I say.

"We already know who you are, I'm Sarah by the way." The girl with the brown hair adds.

"I'm Rebecca," The last Senior says.

"Good to know," I say setting down my gear.

"So, word is you're from America?" Sarah asks.

"Yup, born and raised."

"So, was there a girls’ team for you to play on back home?" Rebecca asks.

"No, I had to keep up with our local boys’ team." I tell them.

"So, are you excited to get to play with all girls then?" Tara asks. I force a smile,

"I'll wait until I make the team to worry about making that decision."

"Smart but not cocky," Sarah notices.

"Yeah well I gotta run, I'm here to watch the boy's tryout." I say leaving. As I leave the locker room Katie comes towards me.

"Where'd you go? I thought you died." Katie says.

"Sorry there's Seniors in the locker room who made me stop to talk."

"Ooo fun I'll be back." Katie says taking her gear in.

I roll my eyes and climb to the top of the bleachers. The boys are already starting to take the ice, their tryouts might start early. Katie's quick to return and it surprises me.

"What they didn't question you?" I ask her.

"No, they all said hi I set my stuff down and I left." Katie says sitting.

"Why'd they make me stop to talk?" I ask.

"Cuz you're you, you're an incredibly talented player and no one gets it."

"What'd you mean no one gets it?"

"We've all played our whole lives. You obviously played before too, but no one gets how you're way more advanced." I laugh,

"I haven't played since I was little."

"What? When did you start?" Katie asks amused.

"Well take that back I've played since I was little but just started playing competitively this Spring."

"You're lying! There's no way!"

"Apparently there is cuz it happened. Now let's go,"

"Tryouts haven't even started yet!" Katie complains.

"Exactly let's go get something to eat and bring it back here and watch."

"Why don't we just wait a bit?"

"Cuz I'm hungry and want to eat well before tryouts." I say getting up to leave. As we go to get food, Katie starts questioning me about Jon.

"Who asked who out, did you ask Jon or did he ask you?" Katie questions.

"He asked me,"

"That’s a man,"

"I didn't think of Jon that way until he brought it up. I then thought why shouldn't I give the guy a chance? Then I figured out he was actually pretty cool. My point is he had to do it cuz I never would have given it a thought otherwise."

"So, if you and Jon broke up would you ask him out later?"

"Probably not, cuz if there was a reason for him to break up with me it probably wouldn't get fixed and it would be an ongoing issue." I tell her.

"Will you two ever break up?" Katie asks. I laugh,

"Um not exactly planning on it."

"He seems nice but whenever we talk about him you just get all sad and depressed."

"That's cuz I miss him like crazy!" I say looking at the ground.

"Whoa hold up did you actually just admit that you miss him?"

"We are not discussing this before tryouts." I say as we walk into the sub shop. To my surprise, Katie actually drops it. She keeps the conversation light, avoiding any topic that could spark any emotion in either of us.

We head back to the Ice Arena and watch a bit of the boy’s tryout as we eat. It’s not long though and we have to go get ready. There's a bunch of senseless talk in the locker room. Plans for the rest of the weekend, what's up with school, guys. I just zone out and get ready for what's ahead. I'm nice enough though to wait for Katie and Brianna to join me before going out to the ice.

"Okay even I like to talk about my weekend plans, but before tryouts? C'mon we at least have to have a little focus." Katie complains. I must say that I'm impressed I never knew that Katie had actual focus.

We take the ice first and wait for the other girls to join us. Everyone comes out and Coach Jackson, who I met down in Sylvania, talks to us. He introduces himself and his assistant Coach, Coach Cameron. After that he just goes over how tryouts will be ran. We're gonna do random drills over the next two days and Saturday night he'll email us the roster. If you’re on the roster, any part of it, you better be at practice on Sunday. So, we do as we're told and start to run drills.

We start with zones, which if I've never mentioned before I hate with a passion. You start at the first goal line or blue line, then go to the next blue line, back to the goal line, up to center ice, back, and keep going until you've hit every line on the ice. Zones is definitely a conditioning drill. You know just so you can build up endurance? Did I mention that I hate zones? After that we run a couple more skating drills along with passing and shooting. We don't even get to end with a scrimmage. Coach asks for the Seniors to hang back, so they do. The rest of us go get changed.

I wait on Katie to get changed and we say bye to Bri. We get to store our gear in the locker room for tryouts tomorrow, so we leave empty handed. I notice Derek and Brian come up behind us as we walk out. Derek comes up behind Katie picking her up and spinning her around, Katie lets out a squeal. Brian glances at me and I roll my eyes.

"You played great tonight!" Derek compliments Katie.

"Thanks, you too." Katie says smiling. Brian looks at me,

"C'mon Ang let's give these two some space."

"Gladly," I say following Brian out of the Ice Arena.

"You wanna hang out at my room for a little bit?" Brian asks.

"I don't know Brian, I'm tired and it's almost 9:30."

"You can sleep in tomorrow you don't have tryouts until 2:00, just for a little bit please?"

"Fine," I say following him to his dorm.

When we walk in, I check out his room. It's the first time I've seen it. It's the same thing as my room but done in dark blue opposed to the pink in mine. Considering everyone who lives here plays hockey the room has been brightened up my posters of their favorite hockey players and teams.

"This looks sweet." I tell Brian.

"About time you came and saw where we live." Jared says from a couch they must have added.

"Hey Jared," I say smiling, "You rocked at the tryout tonight, you'll definitely make the team."

"Of course, I will, I'm one of the three goalies. That's why I chose that position I'm guaranteed a spot."

"Wow you're a genius." I compliment him. Brian pulls me down onto the couch and I grab the TV remote.

"No, you don't," Brian says taking the remote away.

"What?" I whine.

"I invited you over here to hang out not to watch TV." Brian says.

"Brian, I haven't been home all day." I complain.

"Shut up and stop whining." Jared says. "I don't like ever see you. We have no classes together."

"Aw miss me Jared?" I ask him.

"Yeah I never hear from you, you're always at school or hockey." Jared says.

"Sorry, well what do you wanna know?" I ask him.

"Just tell me what's new." Jared tells me

"You named it hockey and school. Jon will be coming up here in two weeks to see me play." I say happily.

"No way, so we won't see you all weekend?" Jared teases.

"You probably will, I'll be showing Jon all around campus." I tell them. "Oh um and my family too." I add quickly.

"You don't have to act like you’re not excited for him to come, we know you're thrilled." Brian teases.

"Yeah yeah I know cuz I act so bitter when he isn't around." I mutter.

"Actually, you don't really do that anymore." Brian says.

We continue to just goof around until Derek comes home.

"Hey boys and Angie." Derek says walking in.

"Are you done hanging with my roomie?" I ask getting up.

"I just walked her home." Derek says innocently.

"There's no way it took you almost an hour and a half to walk her home." Brian says.

"Yeah what'd you do Derek?" I ask teasing him.

"None of your business." Derek says grabbing a drink.

"Whatever, I'll just go home and ask Katie. Bye boys." I say leaving.