Olympic Fire [Miracle on Ice]

CHAPTER 12: What Have I Done?!

~KIMBERLY'S POV~

To say Herb is pissed would be an understatement. A huge one in fact. Wordlessly, he points on a wooden chair and as soon as I sit down, he starts pacing back and forth through the small office. When he finally turns to face me, my blood freezes: "Care to explain what happened?"

"Coach, he said I have nothing to do here and called me weak, it's his fault."
"I know this is hockey and I know it has not been easy for you. But going after your teammates..."
"Possible teammates," I interrupt and immediately regret that decision when Herb leans his head to the side. He taps his fingertips together as he continues looking at me with no words. That makes me even more nervous and I start babbling: "I-I am sorry, uh, that...uhm, it just slipped out of my mouth and I...shouldn't uh have done that. It's just, I really don't want to go home and uh, um..."
"You are on a good way to return to Brown, I hope you realize that. And I am warning you for the last time. If anything like that happens again... you will not see the Olympics."

"Yes, coach, I am sorry," I look down, my hands resting on my lap while my head is occupied with thoughts how screwed I am right now.

"I hope you did not expect me to make things easier for you because you are a girl. You wanna make men's team, then you better learn to deal with them."
"Understood, coach."
As I get a feeling there is nothing left he has to say to me, I stand up and turn around to leave the office when his voice interrupts.

"I am not sending you home just yet, but you are not allowed to practice with us for a week. I will talk to coach Patrick to take over coaching you, but I do not want to see you on the ice with the rest of the guys."
In that moment I realize he won't hesitate a second to send me back home if anything happens again. That means I will have to contain myself until the final roster is announced...

"Coach....can you do that?"
"I can do whatever the hell I want and if I want to separate you from the rest of the team, I can do it. Any questions?"
"No, coach, no questions," I say quietly while slowly backing out of the room. As soon as the door to the office close, I feel the adrenaline rush decreasing which makes my legs weak in knees and I have a feeling like I am about to throw up. How is that possible? I know I am not the nicest person around, I have my flaws, but I have never, and I mean never, not even in my craziest moments, talk back to the coach like that. I have never interrupted his talking to be a smart ass. And certainly, I have not been on a verge of being thrown out of the team. Guess it's time to change the way I play the game and adapt to the rules, at least for a bit.

~ JACK'S POV~

Coach Brooks comes back for the last thirty minutes of the practices, but the Brown girl doesn't come back. That triggers a wave of quiet murmuring and questions what happened to her.

"Coach, where is Kim?" McClanahan asks and I roll my eyes. It's pathetic how much they care for her, all of the Minnesotans are the same.

"None of your concern, McClanahan. If I hear one more question about that or anything unrelated to practice, you will have to skate sprints again."

That shuts McClanahan and the rest of us down until the practice ends. Even in the locker room the debate doesn't spread however, we discuss the possibilities in smaller groups. I look over at Coxy, Silky, Rizzo and Jimmy exchanging quiet questioning glances. Even though I don't like her or the idea of any girl being in our locker room, I am curious what happened to her behind the closed door. I wait for fellow Bostonians to change and we leave the locker room with quiet "see you later"s. As soon as we are out of the complex, Silky asks: "What do you guys think happened to her? I spoke to Rob and he said she could had been sent home."
"McClanahan, right? Yeah, I remember he said he had played for Brooks for four years."
"And few other guys from the U said the same thing. There is a possibility Herb sent her home."
"What 'bout you, OC? What do you think?"