Thin Ice

Yeah, I'm a girl, and yeah, I'm changing in a locker room full of dudes...

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Once again, I'm updating on an iPad, so the formatting and mistakes might be bad... Sorry

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"Kelsey!"

I turned around only to be jumped on by a loud, excited Penny. She grabbed my hands and started jumping up and down, and she was laughing happily. In contrast to Penny's bright, happy demeanor, I was dead tired and ready to drop. Tryouts yesterday had murdered my limbs, but I was still looking forward to practice today.

"Hey there, Penny," I said slowly, and I put my hand gently on her shoulder to get her to stop bouncing, "It's only 7:45 in the morning. Why are you so hyper?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Penny replied, her eyes sparkling, "You made the team!"

I started to ask how she knew that, but then I remembered that Penny was Coach Hannover's daughter, and I felt a bit dumb. Hey, I'm still asleep on the inside, so don't judge me.

"I may have made it," I said, slamming my locker shut, "But your dad clearly doesn't want me on the team. If it wasn't for Dane, I wouldn't have made it."

"What did Dane do?" Penny asked as we started walking towards homeroom.

"I'm not sure to be honest," I admitted, shrugging, "All I know is that your dad told me no after I tried out, and then a couple hours later, Dane showed up at my house with a bag of jerseys and the news that I'd made it. Five minutes later, I had the team schedule in my email inbox."

"That was so awesome of him," Penny replied, grinning. I nodded in agreement, but something was bothering me. Dane had dismissed a girl ever being on the Ice Devils, and he'd said that I had to prove myself to the team at the tryout. I was almost one-hundred percent sure that I was done proving myself.

I thought crossed my mind about something Penny had said the first day we met, and I turned to look at her. "Hey," I said, "Didn't you say that you really wished you could play hockey?"

"Yeah," Penny answered slowly, "Why?"

"Well, if your dad is a coach, shouldn't he pull enough weight to help you get on a team?" I asked as we came to a stop in front of the homeroom.

"Kels, you and I have both had to deal with my dad," Penny stated frankly, and we entered homeroom and waved to Ms. Brown. "We both know how sexist he can be, so it shouldn't come as a shock to you to know that he pretty much refused to let me try. He firmly believes that ice hockey is a men's sport."

"That's awful!" I declared, "I mean, as someone who lives for the sport, shouldn't he be encouraging anyone who shows interest to try the sport?"

"That's my thinking as well," Penny said with a reserved sigh, "But, I didn't get the chance, and I found other things that I love to do to fill my free time. And, I can still enjoy watching hockey and talking about it with friends."

I frowned but decided not to press the matter any further because Penny seemed to have gotten a bit sad at me mentioning it. Obviously, she had some problems with Coach Hannover, and though they were similar to mine, I didn't really want to dive into them this early in the morning.

Penny and I sat down at our usual desks in the back of the room, and I kicked my feet up as I leaned back. I had that wonderful feeling where you had finished all of your homework the night before, so you didn't have to be stressed about getting it done before class. I was just going to make myself feel comfortable during the fifteen minutes spent in homeroom.

As the announcements started to come through the speakers and over the televisions as text, and I had a yawning fit, the door to the classroom opened. Dane appeared, followed by that Tony guy and another boy I didn't recognize.