Eye of the Beholder

Chap 2

Me, being stupid when it came to sports, thought that the inside of the hockey rink would be the slightest bit warmer than outside.

Ha. Ha.

So here I am, sitting on bleachers, huddling my arms over my chest, watching a bunch of sweaty guys skate back and fourth.

Did I mention I don't know a thing about sports?

"Here you go." My dad said as he sat to my left, setting a warm cup in my frosty hands. "Hot chocolate. Did they score anything?"

I took a glance at the players on the ice again. "Um...I think so...is a goal when the rock goes over the blue line?"

He chuckled deeply. "No. A goal is when the puck goes into the net. See?" He pointed to the thing that a guy with a face mask was standing in front of.

"Oh." I blushed, feeling embarassed. "Then no."

After a few minutes of watching players slam each other into walls, a loud buzzer rang throught the entire room. People sprang up, screaming and pumping fists, while I cowarded against my father.

"It's alright!" He shouted over the screams of other people. "They just scored a goal!" He smiled and did a mini-fist pump. I nodded and turned back to the ice.

Since Logan was playing, we got to sit right behind the area where the players for Portland sat. The guys started to stand as my half brother made his way past, patting his back and banging their helmets together.

He made his way to my dad, who gave him some kind of 'I'm so proud of my son' speech. I awkwardly stood there.

"Do you like it so far?" Logan asked me.

"Not really..." I nervously smiled.

The two boys on either side of Logan immedeately turned to face me. "What do you mean, 'not really'?" The brunette one asked.

"Hockey is sacred." The other boy, a latino, continued. "If you don't like it, you're not welcome."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Hey, Dumb and Dumber, be nice to my sister. She just got here."

There faces instantly softened. "OH!" They chorused.

"Yeah!" Logan sarcastically said.

The brunette raised his hand. "Would this be a bad time to call her hot and ask for her number?"

Logan simply let out a sigh before slapping the kid across the face with his hockey glove.

"I'll take that as a yes..." He rubbed his cheek.

"Juju, these are my..." Logan looked cautiously between the two guys. "Friends? This is Carlos," He pointed to the latino, who gave a cheeky smile and a wave. "And this is James." He pointed to the brunette.

"Can I just say, that compared to the sun, I have never seen anything so-"

Logan slapped him again.

James faced him. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH 'NO JAMES, YOU CANNOT DATE MY SISTER.'?!"

The coach, a chubby, bald, middle-aged man, came near the three guys. "Maslow, you're in."

"I just got out!" James countered.

"Well, you're back in. Schmidt didn't show."

Carlos looked at the coach in disbelief. "Again?! That's the fourth game! Just kick him off already!"

The man shrugged. "He an amazing player, Pena. His grades are high, he has a clean record, he can block pretty damn-"

"So?" James's voice got an octaive higher. "He hasn't been to one game all season! And when I was ten minutes late for practice, you almost cut off both of my-"

"Enough." Logan boomed. "Just leave it James."

"Are you serious, Logan? You're gonna take-"

"James." Logan warned. "Leave it."

And with that, James yanked his helmet over his head and stomped over to the ice.

Logan let out a deep sigh and sat down in James' place. Carlos took a gulp from a purple water bottle.

"You didn't have to be that harsh." He casually spoke to Logan, as if it was no big deal.

Logan ran a hand through his sweaty hair. "Yes I did. I mean, you know how subborn he can get."

"But did you really have to team up with coach? James had a point. The kid hasn't been to a single game, he's missed half the practices, and coach believes the terrible excuses he gives. As team captain, I think that if maybe you back James up, coach would-"

"As team captain I'm supposed to keep everyone in check and motivated." Logan interrupted. "Who gets kicked off has nothing to do with me. If Schmidt keeps this up and the coach wants to keep him, then so be it."

Carlos simply shook his head before diverting his eyes to the players. After a second of silence between the two, my lips started moving before my brain could shut it up.

"Who's Schmidt?"

Both boys turned to me, looks of surprise covering their faces.

"She can talk?" Carlos questioned.

Logan ignored him. "Schmidt's the new guy. Good kid, amazing defense. Never shows up."

"Why?" I heard myself say. Dammit, Juju!

"We don't know." My older brother shrugged. "Different reason everytime." Carlos rolled his eyes and shook his head.

I nodded and sank back in my seat, not even flinching at the sound of the buzzer which meant another goal. The mystery of this boy circled me, and it was all I thought about for that night.