[𝟏] 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐓 | adam banks

C H A P T E R 1

We finally arrived at Edina Minnesota, our trip was so long that I just wanted to rest today and start unpacking tomorrow.

"Your room is upstairs, rest while I cook our dinner and I'll call you when the food is ready," I thanked her as she went to the kitchen before going upstairs to where my room was.

I played the song on the radio while I was reading to keep myself company. While I was reading my book I heard something from the outside. I stood up on my bed and peeked out my window then I saw a boy about my age playing hockey in his garage

'Who plays hockey this time' I thought and checked the time it was already 8:30 pm and he was still playing outside in his garage.

I watched him as he plays hockey, not in a creepy way I was just intrigued by his moves on hockey. I watched him score the goal and cheered for himself. 'Wow he's good' I thought again, while he was cheering he saw me and we looked at each other, I can't see much of what he looked like because it was dark outside.

"El, dinner is ready!" I looked away from the boy and turned around as Aunt Tessie called me. "I'll be down in a moment!" I exclaimed, glancing out my window again to check on the boy but he was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess I scared him off and went inside his house" I mumbled before going downstairs to eat dinner.

I sat at the dinner table. "So tomorrow is your first-day practice" Aunt Tessie spoke up while sitting across from me at the dinner table. "Yeah I know and I'm nervous about it," I mumbled.

"Don't be, we both know you're good at playing hockey, and besides who wouldn't like you, you're like the coolest kid I've ever seen," she reassured me.

"And you're the coolest aunt I've ever seen." we both laughed before she spoke up again. "What can I say people can't hate us because we're both too cool" we both laughed again before eating our food.

After we ate dinner I went to my room, change into my pajamas, and went to lie down on my bed, even though I'm tired I still can't sleep thinking about what might happen tomorrow, will they like me? What if I'm not good enough to be on their team? I decided to push my thoughts aside and went to sleep.

****

I woke up from Aunt Tessie knocking on my door. "Get up el, your practice starts at 10:00 am and it's already 9:30" her voice was muffled as she spoke through the door, I got up immediately and went to the bathroom to do my routine.

After I did my routine I went back to my room to put on my clothes and brush my hair, as soon as I'm done I grab my duffel bag which contained my hockey gear, and my hockey stick, before rushing downstairs.

I immediately took a toasted bread from the bread toaster and an apple juice box from the refrigerator when I got downstairs. I checked the time and it was already 9:45 am "come on el, we gotta go now or else you'll miss your first practice" Aunt Tessie spoke up before we got out of the house and got in the car.

As soon as we arrived I rushed out of the car, bid Aunt Tessie goodbye, and immediately rushed inside. I entered the locker room and went to find my locker, as I found it I saw a Hawk black jersey hanging on it.

8 Cromwell

I stared at it for a second before grabbing it. As I'm done wearing my hockey gear I wore my jersey, grabbed my hockey stick, and exited the locker room. I entered the ice rink and saw a man talking to the team, they were all wearing Hawk jerseys.

"Sorry, I'm late," I said while I awkwardly approached them, the man that was talking to the team looked at me. "You must be Adelaide Cromwell?" 

I nodded at him. "Well I'm Coach Jack Reilly, you can call me Coach Reilly," he said, shaking my hand.

"Ok everyone this is Adelaide Cromwell, your new teammate" as Coach Reilly introduces me to the team I saw a blond-haired boy looking at me I smiled at him but instead of smiling back, he rolled his eyes at me. My smile faltered and rolled my eyes at him as well. When I looked at the team again I noticed that I was the only girl.

"You guys can practice now since Cromwell is already here" Coach Reilly announced before blowing his whistle we all skated toward the ice and started practicing.

While we were practicing, Larson, McGill, and Banks the blond-haired boy from earlier approached me.

"What are you doing here?" McGill asked me, I furrowed my eyebrows at his question. "What do you mean what am I doing here?"

"Well, you shouldn't be here."

"And why is that?" I asked him in a challenging tone.

"Because hockey is for boys only, you should be at home playing Barbie dolls" this time Larson spoke up.

"Yeah, girls are just gonna cry after getting checked by the other players" McGill spoke again before laughing, I rolled my eyes at them.

"If you guys don't leave me alone I swear to g-" my sentence was cut off as Banks spoke up. "Or what, you gonna go home and cry to your mommy and daddy?" he said while making a fake sad face, Larson and McGill laughed.

I glared at him and approached him slowly "I was gonna say, I wouldn't hesitate to shove the puck in your mouth so you can shut up" he gulped, I gave him a fake smile before skating away while he glared harshly at me.

We went to the locker room after we practiced, as I was taking my skates off Coach Reilly entered the locker room announcing that there is a game tomorrow.

While the coach was announcing, I looked at the person who was calling my name it was Banks. "What" I whispered-yelled at him.

"I bet you're gonna quit hockey tomorrow after the game and stick to playing Barbie" he snickered.

"And what if I didn't quit? What are you gonna do, go home and cry to your mommy and daddy?" I mocked him, and I guess Larson and McGill heard it because they were saying 'ooooh' which annoyed me while Banks only scoffed and focused his attention on what Coach Reilly was saying.

After Coach Reilly's announcement, we all took off our hockey equipment on our bodies and changed into normal clothes before grabbing our things and exiting the ice rink. I'll just walk home since Aunt Tessie is at work.

While I was walking home I heard footsteps behind me, I turned around and saw Banks with his head down.

"So what, you're stalking me now?" I spoke up, he stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at me. "I'm not stalking you, this is the way to my house" he scrunched his face, I narrowed my eyes at him and turned away to continue walking making sure to keep my distance from him.

We just kept silent while walking, only our footsteps could be heard. When I got close to my house I saw Banks going his way next to my house, I looked at him surprised.

"Wait so you're the boy from last night who was playing hockey at his garage?" he glanced at me, surprised as well.

"And you're the girl from last night who was watching me play hockey like a creep? No wonder why you look so familiar" he rolled his eyes at me.

"I was not being a creep!" I exclaimed in a defensive tone while scrunching my face. "I was just curious how you played hockey."

"Sure, creep" he scoffed before walking into his house.

"Out of all people, why did fate choose this jerk to be my neighbor" I groaned in annoyance while glancing at the sky before walking into my house as well.