I've never been allowed to be there when Coach Cole gives his famous tournament play speech. If you could even call it that. I wouldn't know, I've never heard it.
"No, it's for players only," Coach Cole told ten-year-old me the first time I tried to follow Jace into one.
"But Dad," Jace started.
"Jace, you know it's for players only. She's not a player. So she'll have to sit this one out."
Anyway, Jace comes over after it, to show off his new Mighty Ducks jersey. Number 11, like always.
"So, maybe you will be happy with them?" I ask, noticing his smile. I wonder whether something happened between him and Sofi and that's why he's so happy.
"Yeah, maybe," Jace says, looking down at the jersey in his hands.
"Hey, honey, who is that?" Mom asks as she walks out of the kitchen. Her and Greg aren't working for once.
"Oh it's just Jace. He got his jersey at the thing tonight," I say.
She comes around the corner more to see out the door. "Oh, hey Jace!"
"Hi Mrs. Griffin," Jace says, smiling.
"We're about to eat, you want to stay for dinner? It's just pizza, nothing special."
"Uh, I should actually probably get back to my dad..." He trails off for a second, looking at me. "Uh, actually, I will stay."
I smile and step aside, letting him come in.
Greg is sitting at the dining room table when we get out there.
"Oh hello there Jace," Greg says, sticking his hand out.
Jace shakes his hand. "Mr. Griffin."
I sit across from Jace as Mom brings out the pizza from the dining room. We all dig in, and Greg starts talking to Jace about the teams this year and who's mostly likely to make it to the summer showcase.
"Greg," I say, smiling. "Let him eat in peace. He spends most of his time playing hockey, he probably doesn't want to talk about it over dinner."
"No, it's fine really," Jace says. "I really don't care."
"So, Jace, are you ready for tournament play?" Mom asks. "Feeling confident with the Mighty Ducks?"
"Uh yeah, I think they're a great group of kids. We could have a shot at least making it to the Finals."
Greg nods. "That Morrow kid, though. He was usually the leader for the Ducks, right? And now he's on your dad's team?"
"Um, well, yeah I guess. He told his mom that he didn't want her to pick him, like I told my dad."
"Why didn't you wanna play on your dad's team this year? You didn't think you could win with him or something?" Mom asks.
"Mom," I say. Jace is starting to look uncomfortable. He's saved by his dad calling him.
"Sorry, I have to take this," he says, standing up with his phone and walking into the kitchen.
"What's wrong with him?" Greg asks.
"Nothing's wrong with him. Him and his dad just aren't getting along that well lately. I think he blames his dad for the glitch or something. Whatever it is, just please stop bothering him about it," I say.
Jace comes back into the dining room and he doesn't look happy. "Um, sorry, but I have to go now. Thanks for the pizza."
"Oh, no problem. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," Jace says. "My dad just wants me to come home."
"Good luck with the games," Greg calls.
Jace smiles and nods. "Good seeing you guys."
I stand up and walk with him to the front door. "Are you sure everything is okay with your dad?"
"Yeah, he just wants me to come home. That's it. He said something about tournament play but I'm not worried about it."
"Oh okay. See you tomorrow then," I say, opening the door for him.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Tell your parents thanks for dinner again."
The first game the Mighty Ducks play in is against Intention. It's five to zero in the second period. Jace hasn't played at all.
I see Coach Alex turn to him on the bench and I can practically hear the snarky response he probably gave. Then he gets up and heads onto the ice. Sofi passes him the puck and he has the shot, but he misses.
"C'mon Jace," I mutter to myself.
Then the next game, against Hustle. Nine to zero. I walk with Jace and the Mighty Ducks out of the rink. Of course, we run into Dominate, who they play tomorrow. Coach Cole and Alex have this big talk about how things are going to turn out. Friendly war banter, am I right?
Dominate runs away, knocking into all of us purposely. We walk by the big screen next, which shows the results from today's game.
"I know we said we were a bad fit but it still hurts to see it," Sofi says.
"Yeah, I tried to warn you guys," Jace says.
I rest my head against his shoulder. "You guys will get better with time."
"Sorry we let you down," Koob says to Coach Alex.
"You guys didn't let me down," Alex says. "I have an idea."
I'm allowed to go with Jace to the camper again that night, and I remembered to tell Mom before I left. Coach Alex is a lot nicer than Coach Cole, he would only let me watch the practices on the ice, otherwise I was left alone to wander the camp by myself.
Her plan with the twigs is cute, but I can tell Jace isn't interested in it at all.
This is proven by the fact that when it's his turn he says, "I'm feeling that this is pointless."
"Okay. So, your twig is that it's pointless," Alex says. "Here, take it."
"No, I'm gonna keep it," Jace says. "I don't think that going around a fire and sharing our feelings is gonna make us any better."
"Maybe not, but this is about you. Just trying to help. You're part of this team."
"Why do you wanna fix me?" Jace asks. "Like, do you want to fix my shot so tomorrow we'll beat my dad?"
"No, that's not what it's about at all. If you don't want to play tomorrow, don't play. If you don't want to be part of this team, don't be. I'm trying to help you find a little happiness. It's summer camp."
"Why do you keep saying that? What's so great about summer camp?"
Alex goes on about how her parents got divorced when she was little and summer camp was her escape.
Jace stands when she finishes. "Yeah, well, not for me. I'm from LA, it's summer all year round."
He leaves and I get up to follow.
I turn to Coach Alex. "I'm sorry. He's just... different this summer."
Alex shakes her head. "It's not your fault. Go ahead."
I give them a sad smile and run off after Jace.
I find him sitting on the dock by the lake.
"Jace," I say quietly, coming up behind him.
"I don't want to talk about it Evelyn," He says, not looking at me. "So if you came here to scold me, don't waste your time and just leave."
I sit down next to him. "We don't have to talk. I just don't want you to have to be alone."
"I really thought this summer could be different when I got drafted to the Ducks. Alex may not be pressuring me as much, but I can still feel it."
"I thought you didn't want to talk about it," I joke.
He smiles. "Yeah, right."
I rest my head on his shoulder. "It's okay. Like Alex said, you don't have to play tomorrow. It might be good for you, but it's really your choice."
"Yeah, I know."
The next morning, I wake to the sound of my phone ringing. I open my eyes and am blinded by the sun. I have at least 20 missed calls from Mom.
Jace and I fell asleep on the dock last night. He's still sleeping next to me. We didn't talk anymore about hockey, just all the stuff we missed since last summer. I guess we fell asleep at some point.
I answer my phone. "Hey Mom."
"Again, may I ask where the heck are you?"
"I'm with Jace, at the lake. Something happened at the camper last night and I followed him to the lake. We were just talking and I guess we fell asleep. I'm sorry. But I'm okay."
"Is Jace?"
"Yeah, we're both fine."
"Alright. Well, you know the game starts in ten minutes right?"
I have to check the time to see that she's right. "Yeah. Um, I don't know if Jace is playing today but we'll try to get down there soon."
"Okay, stay safe."
"Yeah. Bye Mom."
"Bye sweetie."
I hang up the phone and nudge Jace. His eyes flutter open and he groans at the sudden light.
"Where am I?" He asks, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"At the lake. We fell asleep last night," I say.
He looks over at me and blinks. "Oh?"
"Yeah, it's whatever. Except my mom's mad and I may be grounded when I get home, but that's not important. What's important is that your game starts in less than ten minutes." I check my phone. "Almost five minutes now."
Jace groans again and lays back down. "Do I have to play?"
I roll my eyes. "Gosh, you are not a morning person."
"Yeah, I know."
"Anyway, we talked about this last night, you only have to play if you want to."
"I don't want to."
"Are you saying that because you're tired or you seriously don't?"
"Both."
I shake my head and stand up. "Well, then I guess you don't have to. But I need to go because I told my mom I would be there soon."
Jace stands up too. "Yeah, okay, I'll come too. But I'm seriously not playing in the game."
"I know," I say. "I understand. You don't have to."
I stand outside the locker room while he walks inside. We never went to the game, but we heard about Dominate playing with their opposite hands and Jace decided he wanted to talk to the Mighty Ducks. So we walked to the rink and towards the locker room.
I can hear Sofi talking inside when we arrive.
"Hey," Jace says, walking in. I hear him and Sofi talking about something. Then louder, from Jace, "Look guys, I heard what my dad and his team did. And that's messed up. I don't think we're gonna stand for that."
"We?" Alex asks.
Jace pulls out his twig from the other night. "I wanna be part of this team. I wanna be a Duck."
"Welcome to the team," Alex says, taking the stick. I smile.
"Although, I'm still not really sure how I can help. I still can't shoot or anything, so..."
A few minutes later, they all walk out together. They smile as they pass me and Jace hugs me.
"Thank you for the advice, Evelyn," Jace whispers in my ear.
"No problem. I'm proud of you for taking it," I whisper back.
He pulls away and smiles at me. We start walking away with the rest of them.
