With Me | Sequel to Be There ✔️

Shut-out or Sellout?

Walking out of the locker room, we enter the rink, filled with fans cheering loudly. Most are wearing red with face paint, while a few supporting the opposing team, the Bears, are scattered throughout. It's a bit overwhelming, all these kids our age here. At the Goodwill Games, it was mostly adults, but now we're representing a school, that expects us to win.

As I skate around, warming up, a voice calls my name. I turn to see the sophomore who announces all our games, Josh, waving me over. "Meg," he says, motioning to me with his pencil.

"Hey," I answer with a smile. "What do you need?"

"I'm here with Meghan Portman, one of Eden Halls' JV hockey players. Meg, tell me, what's it like playing hockey for Eden Hall now, instead of just a recreational team?" Josh asks.

Ugh, great. An interview, yay. "Um," I pause, trying to piece together something that won't get me kicked off the team. I hold my tongue of all the shit I want to say about Orion and this dumbass school, and I continue. "It's definitely different. Being from Chicago, we couldn't practice individually or in our spare time, since the rink was a skating rink, not a hockey rink. It's nice here at Eden, since I can come and practice whenever, as long as it's not booked or anything."

Josh smiles and nods. "Alright, the game's about to start, so get ready for some Warrior action!" I head towards the bench, but he calls to me again. "Meg," he looks relieved. "Thanks for cooperating. I tried talking to Goldberg and Averman before this, and, well, you know how they are."

I grin and raise my eyebrows. "Yeah, trust me, I know. No problem, Josh. See you later," I quickly skate over to the bench, where Orion is motioning us into a huddle.

"Gather around! Let's go, let's go, c'mon! Alright, think defense. Alright? Hands in," he says, putting his fist in the center of us. Charlie starts us off with a 'QUACK', but Orion ends that immediately. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! What the hell is that? Knock that off! Alright, 'Go Team!' on three. Here we go, one, two, three!"

In sync, we all mumble "Go Team!", the most typical and unoriginal chant ever. This guy's a nitwit, a total nitwit along with everything else he is. I plop onto the bench, my punishment for not showing at practice. I'll still play, I just don't get to start.

The game starts, Charlie winning the faceoff, and he passes it to Fulton, who pushes the puck up the ice before returning it to Charlie. Our 'captain' dodges a Bear, and he shoots the puck, earning us a very early goal. We all cheer for him, but Orion is not having any of it. "Okay! Knock off the celebration! Act like you've scored before."

"Yeesh, he must be a hoot at the bar," I whisper to Dwayne, who snorts, receiving glares from the coach to both of us. I roll my eyes, focusing once again at the game.

Russ, who has the puck, shoots his famous knuckle puck, and it hits the goalie in the face. Ken gets the rebound, scoring another point, making the score 3 to 0. I must've missed the second one when I was chuckling with my boyfriend, who is now on the ice, oh well.

For what seems like the first time this whole game, the other team has the puck, and is skating down the ice. Averman blocks a shot by diving down and hitting the puck with his stick, and he passes it to Luis. The speedster breaks away down the ice, but he can't stop. He shoots and scores, jumping over the goal and slamming into the wall right after.

"Portman!" Orion shouts. "Go on for Luis! Give him a blow, since he just took one." I nod and jump onto the ice as Luis is helped over to the bench. His eyes are wandering around the rink and he has a goofy smile plastered on his face. He looks hilarious, but poor guy.

Dwayne gets the puck as bounces it on his stick, his famous puck-handling. He manages to dodge the opponents with the puck balanced on his hockey stick until he throws it into the goal. We surround him in a group hug, cheering for him. I can't help but smile as I think He's my boyfriend!