Shooting Star

Chapter 21

I was breathing heavily as I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the scoreboard. Well, tried to. The glass was in my way.

20 minutes left. One period to go. Then it was over. For the rest of the season.

Without Alyssa in the lineup, we were being smothered by the other team. Seriously, it was like, 5-2 right now and we were in dire need of her assistance. Don't get me wrong, having Kylie back in the lineup was a huge confidence booster for everyone, but we were waiting on our star playmaker. Kylie and I were snipers, but neither of us made plays like Alyssa did.

The whistle blew, the puck dropped, and was quickly scooped out of my reach by the other player, who shot it down the ice to her teammate, who skated off with it.

I glared at the player and sped off, sneaking my stick in front of hers and curving the puck the other way. Making my way long the boards, I deked out one forward, one defenseman, and slid the puck to Kylie, who dodged the other defenseman but lost the puck when it ricocheted off the defenseman's skate.

Shit, I thought. I skated as fast as I could and grabbed it, only to have it poke checked from me by another player. DAMN IT.

The shift was over and I skated over to the bench and hopped over.

"Nice try," I told Kylie dejectedly as she sat down next to me.

Kylie winced. She reached behind her into her bag and pulled out her cell phone.

"Seriously?" I hissed. "We're losing, and you're texting?"

"Alyssa," she said, her eyes widening as she read the text. "Is in the arena?" she sounded totally confused.

So was I. "What?" I demanded. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yeah," Kylie said. "Because she's right there!"

Kylie pointed and I swivelled around in shock. Alyssa hurdled over the bench and onto the ice, stole the puck from the opposing player and took off down the ice. Lucky for us, Emily was near the boards because as soon as she saw Alyssa hit the ice, she was on the bench, narrowly avoiding a 'too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty call'.

"We're saved!" the entire bench sang.

Alyssa deked the defence out and slapped a shot on net.

"GOAL!" we all shrieked. Kylie hugged me as Alyssa stepped back onto the bench and next to me.

"Sorry I was late," she said, smiling. "I heard you were in need of assistance, and I was in the area anyways."

"You're a genius!" I hugged her, forgetting what she'd done and why.

Alyssa stiffened slightly, so I pulled back.

"Why'd you come?" Kylie asked.

"I felt bad," Alyssa admitted. She looked me in the eye. "I'm really sorry."

I bit my lip and was about to say 'It's okay' when it was our turn to get back on the ice. The face-off was in our end of the neutral zone, so I let Kylie take it. Once she'd won the faceoff she flicked the puck to Alyssa, who took off. I matched her, stride for stride.

Man, the Bears were a lot tougher than when we'd played them in October, I mean, they weren't afraid to pick a fight.

I felt the puck land on my stick and I lifted it into the air and snapped my wrist. The puck went sailing straight into the goalie's chest. It fell to the ice and she tried to cover it but with a quick poke-check from none other than Ms. Kylie Morris, who'd miraculously made it in front of the goaltender after being pummeled into the boards by a player, the puck slid through the goalie's five hole and into the net!

I cheered as Kylie did her celebration dance and bumped into the boards, me, Alyssa, Michelle, and Ruby following her and hugging her.

"That was amazing!" Ruby yelled.

"I know," Kylie said. "I can't believe we only have to score two more times!"

"With a few more plays like that, I know we can do it," I said, grinning.

We skated back to the bench as the next line went on. I glanced at the scoreboard. "There are only 10 minutes left," I murmured to Kylie and Alyssa. "We need a special play."

"Spinorama?" Kylie asked.

"The Orr-Charge?" Alyssa asked.

"Deke the D's?" Ruby suggested.

The crowd roared as the buzzer went off. Kelsey, one of the seniors on our team, had just scored!

"GO KELSEY!" We all screamed, excited.

"One more!" Michelle said.

"I've got one," I said. I glanced at Ruby. "Ready to Rock?" I asked her.

Ruby's face was set. "You got it."

I glanced to the other girls on our line. "Just get Ruby the puck. Then drop back to defense. She and Michelle will take it from there."

Alyssa and Kylie nodded, determination on their faces.

We hopped back onto the ice. Alyssa took center-ice face-off and slid the puck backwards to Ruby, who picked it up. Alyssa and Kylie dropped back as Michelle and Ruby took off. I stayed hovering near the edge of the neutral zone.

Ruby drove up to the front of the net, stick-handled so many times that I got dizzy, and while the other team was confused, slid the puck to Michelle, who fired a one-timer at me.

The goalie dived to save the puck, fear on her face as she realized the puck didn't go anywhere near the net and she'd left the net wide open.

As the puck sailed across the ice toward me, I lifted my stick and fired it home.

GOAL!

The entire crowd erupted. The bench exploded. My ears were ringing.

When we got back to the bench, Coach Hiller beamed. "Nice play, ladies. Now, we have 6 minutes to increase or hold our lead. Let's get to it!"

And so began the rush to the finish.

6 minutes later, the buzzer sounded.

10 minutes later, I was running out of the arena, my hair dripping with sweat and my bag banging on the asphalt behind me.

15 minutes later we were on the road back to St. Catharines.

It felt good to be a winner.

I sent a group text to Kylie, Alyssa, and Ruby:

Bree<3sHockey: Heyyy gurls!!! congrats on r big winnn!!!

StylieKylie: aww yeah buddy! #ADMIRALSFTW!

Rulin'Ruby14: omg, that was SUCH AN EPIC WIN! thnx for that awesome GWG, @Bree<3sHockey!

Bree<3sHockey: ahahaha lol @Rulin'Ruby14, np. btw, i think we all have @AlyssaDaDissa 2 thank for that. any1 ever heard of deux ex machina?

AlyssaDaDissa: lol @Bree<3sHockey, i have. ur surprise saviour @ ur service

StylieKylie: @AlyssaDaDissa u totes kicked @$$ tonite! so proud 2b ur friend! XOXOXO

Rulin'Ruby14: ikr, when u jumped onto the ice and scored, that was AMAZING!

Bree<3sHockey: ya totes agree w/ @StylieKylie & @Rulin'Ruby14 u totes saved us @AlyssaDaDissa! <3 u 4eva!

AlyssaDaDissa: aww, that was np guys. always here!

StylieKylie: btw, @Bree<3sHockey, GL @ the competition!

Bree<3sHockey: thnx so much, @StylieKylie means the world 2 moi. i'll b MIA for the next day, but i'll try 2 get back 2 TOR ASAP for the game on Mon! g2g luv y'all congrats c ya!

I exited the group chat and turned my phone off, slipping it into my jacket pocket. I glanced at the clock: 12:04. I had two hours before I needed to be dolled up again.

I let my eyes flutter shut as I sighed and a smile spread across my face.