Love For A Game

Chapter 27

Exam season always brings stress to high school students. My school is no different. Exams start in two weeks, and studying has begun.

Game six against the Crusaders is on Saturday afternoon at four. At practice on Thursday, we work on strength, and conditioning. Coach Bennington also has us work on defence, and giving us forwards tips on defensive techniques.

At school on Friday I am given practice exams in my English and History classes. I find them relatively easy, so I have no problem completing them in the allotted time period.

Finally, our lunch period rolls around. Forty-five minutes to relax. Our school has a really nice courtyard, that lots of kids take advantage of. It has picnic tables with umbrellas on top, and they are perfect to sit at on a nice day.

Nic and I meet up with Noel and Melanie at my locker. The two of them are still going strong after five months. It's hard to believe that Noel had doubts at one point.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey," I reply.

He playfully punches me on the arm. I feign pain and grimace. "You know, Noel, I knew that was you walking down the hall."

"Why do you say that?"

"'Cause of that cocky ass walk you got goin' on."

He bursts out laughing. "You know, Jordan, I knew it was you standing there."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"Because of that big nose you got there." He bursts out laughing again, and I cannot help but join in. Even Nic and Melanie join in too.

"Hey, Devlin!" I hear a voice yell. I turn, a smile still on my face, until I realize that it's Darren. I see that he brought four or five friends with him. My smile is quickly replaced by anger.

"Look what we have here," he sneers.

"What, Darren?" I say. "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything, other than to tell you that your ass is mine tomorrow. Count your blessings, Devlin, 'cause you're gonna need every last one of 'em."

"Is that so?" I shoot back. "Explain the last two games then."

He frowns. "Those were flukes. Why don't you explain why you lost the first three games?"

"Because you're a coward, Darren, that's why. What did your teammates think when they heard about what you did? Do you think they thought, 'Hey, that's the kind of guy I'd like as my captain'? Because you're dreaming if you actually think that."

His face turns red. "You shut the fuck up, Devlin. Or we'll have a go right here and now."

"Do your parents know yet, Darren? What would they think if they knew? Would they still let you live with them? 'Cause I sure as hell wouldn't."

That makes him snap. He charges at me and grabs me by the shirt. I respond by punching him in the jaw, which causes him to lose focus and let me go. I then grab his shirt, and we get into a headlock contest.

Before we know it, a full on fight has ensued. Noel is fighting one of Darren's cronies, and is holding his own quite well. Darren and I are practically wrestling on the floor by this point.

Out of nowhere, we hear a loud whistle. I look up to see Principal Robson standing there, with his eyes wide and jaw hanging open. "What the hell is going on here?" He yells. Darren and I stop fighting immediately and we both stand.

"This is despicable!" Robson yells. "I can't believe that this would happen! In my school! How?"

"Jordan started picking on me, Mr. Robson," Darren whines.

"You know what, Reynolds? I think I want all of you in my office. Now!"

***

"Unbelievable!" Mr. Robson yells at us just a few short minutes later. "The captains of two very respectable hockey teams, fighting! I demand that you explain yourselves at once!"

No one says a word. After a minute, Robson looks at us quizzically. "Anyone?"

Finally Darren speaks up. "I was just minding my own business, when Jordan and his friends came out of nowhere, attacking us. I didn't know what to do, so I just defended myself."

Robson laughs. I can't help but snort in derision at his story. Apparently Robson agrees with me.

"That's the best load of shit I've ever heard out of you, Reynolds," he says. "Really, a nice try. Jordan, why don't you attempt to tell me what actually happened?"

"Ok," I reply. "Nicole, Melanie, Noel, and myself were planning to eat lunch in the courtyard. As we were on our way there, Darren and his group stopped us. He started to say some things, so I said some stuff back, to defend myself. He grabbed me by the shirt, I punched him to get him off, then I imagine that you saw the rest."

Robson smiles at me. I'm not sure if I should be happy about that, or terrified. I'm unsettled, to say the least.

"Now there's a story that's believable," he says. "So here's what I'm going to do."

He turns to the four of us. "You four, you just defended yourselves. That's easy to understand. So you guys can leave. Don't get in any more fights. I might not be so generous next time."

He turns to Darren and his group. "You five started all of this. For that, you each get a detention. Tomorrow morning, nine o'clock. Don't be late, or next Saturday you'll be here too."

"But Mr. Robson, the game is tomorrow!" Darren whines. "It's the fin-"

"I don't give a rats ass if you make that game or not," Robson says. "That's your fault. Jordan. You guys can leave. Don't let me see you fighting again."

The four of us leave Robson's office. We all slap hands once we are out of earshot. "That's their top five players, out of the game tomorrow!" Noel says. "It couldn't get any better!"

"This is awesome," I say. "But we won't let our guard down. We still need to play hard."

"Obviously," Nicole says. "But it's in Colbert, which means game seven is at home! We have the advantage in that regard, anyway."

"But you can bet your ass that Darren is gonna have quite the mean streak for game seven. Especially with him not playing game six. He'll play his heart out, and so will his teammates."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Nic replies.

***

The rest of the day, we see Darren lurking the halls with an angry look on his face. It's amazing to see, because I have something over him.

I hope he has fun during his detention. By that, I mean that I hope Robson gives him lots of hell.

____

The song on the side is "Pinball Wizard", by The Who.