From Trailer to Ice

Chapter 12

                I stood on the cliff where Angela and I spent nights as the wind blew through my straightened hair and made my dress flow beautifully. I sat down emotionless. Not a tear left my eye. I felt as though I had cried out all of my tears. I had experienced more heart shattering things than someone should be able to handle. “You have everything you’ve ever wanted. You have a good life. You should be happy.” I whispered to myself.

                My phone went off and it was an alarm. I had to get to my first hockey practice. I stripped my heels and ran as fast as I could back to the house. I ran upstairs changed and put my hair in a braid before running down the stairs. I was halfway out the door when Tyson stopped me. “Max, we need to talk.” He told me. “No time. I have practice.” I responded pushing him aside.

                I got into the car and tried to start it. The battery was dead. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted. I hit the steering wheel before getting out of the car. “Let me give you a ride.” Tyson offered. I nodded and got into his car. “I’m going to be late.” I said angrily. “As long as you and I are in the same car we can talk.” Tyson told me.

“Not now, Tyson.”

“Yes, now.”

“Just get me to practice and I’ll talk to you tonight.”

“We need to talk now.”

“What is there to talk about? Honestly. We don’t need to talk about anything. Friends don’t last. We didn’t last. That’s all there is to it.”

“W-We aren’t friends?”

“What do you think? We don’t talk and if we do, we’re fighting.”

                Tyson stopped the car and told me to get out. “Are you kidding?” I inquired. He shook his head and I got out of the car slamming the door behind me. I ran the rest of the way to practice. When I got there practice was about five minutes away from starting. “I am so sorry I’m late. My car wouldn’t start and I had a friend take me but they dropped me off half way so I had to run the rest of the way here and sorry.” I panted.

                The coach didn’t mind and got me some hockey gear. “You don’t have to pay for this… Think of you being on the Chargers as a scholarship.” He explained. I nodded and got out on the ice with the others. We skated two laps around the rink and I was surprised I didn’t fall. “Maxine, Alexis, Taylor, you are forwards. Go up and let me see how you do. Jennifer will be in net and there won’t be any defenseman. Once you score three times in a row, we will add defenseman. I want to see how well you are as forwards.” He explained.

                Alexis was right wing, I was left wing, and Taylor was center. Coach dropped the puck and Taylor began to skate with it. “When you are open and want her to pass to you tap your stick on the ice twice. Make sure she can hear you.” He shouted after us. Alexis tapped her stick and got the puck and I stopped and made sure I was behind them when I got it. I skated and got a goal. Top shelf.

                “Clever move, Maxine, but be careful not to go offside whenever you do that.” Coach explained. I nodded and we went back to our positions. I switched places with Alexis and after we scored on that I moved to center. We scored again. We did the scored every round but one. Taylor had the puck and shot it right into Jennifer’s glove.

                We went back to the locker room and changed into our regular clothes. Taylor was angry and threw her stick. I jumped and Alexis leaned closer to me. “Don’t worry, she’ll cool down.” “Why is she so upset?” “Game or not, we do our best. The coach for the Denver Devils watches our games and practices to see if any of us are good enough to join the boys’ team.” She explained. I nodded and thanked her for telling me.