Slapshots {BOYXBOY}✔

Chapter Seven {Lester Lightings}

I felt like a total moron. Henry and I had studied for an hour, and an extra ten minutes because Henry was being extra nice while I was getting extra frustrated.

But the worst part about it was that as I was sitting in class the next day I couldn't tell you what I learned with Henry. Sure, there were a few things here and there. Like how to ask a man for gas, and how to tell somebody I had too much to eat. But that was only a small bit of what he had tried to teach me yesterday, and I felt completely stupid about not knowing more.

I was always like this. Just sliding through school not really understanding what was going on but thanks to my parents I never had to repeat a grade, not that the schools really did that anymore.

I sat in the back of the class, dressed in a dress shirt and tie like the team had to do every time we had a game, while my science teacher played Vsause videos on the whiteboard as he graded late papers.

Most of the class was talking, that or on their phones watching God knows that. But, here I was staring at my French worksheet like it was going to grow legs and walk away. Henry had given me the sheet to work on for the day so he and I could go over it tomorrow. The only problem was after I got home and sat down at the desk in my room to look at it, my mind went blank.

What was wrong with me? Why was I like this?

I got the first few right, like the first sentence being "Hello, sir I would like a table for two." And then the second one is "We would like water please."

But three through ten were all lost to me. It was like a static in my head. I looked up as my science teacher started to actually teach the class.

I sat there, staring at him, telling myself that I was listening to his words but because I had to keep telling myself that I wasn't actually listening to a word he was saying and I was missing out on everything he was saying.

"Alright, you guys. Test next Friday so be sure to study those ten pages. And I hope you were all paying attention to the video because he gave you some answers." Just as he finished speaking the bell chimed in and everybody around me stood up. But I stayed sitting looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

A test? About what? I stood up as fast as I could and raced out of the room. "Yo, Night!" I ran up beside Anthony Night, a left wing on the team and lucky for me also on my hockey team.

"Sup Chandlers?" Night stopped in front of a row of lockers opening one and putting his books away. Night didn't go by Anthony since we hit grade ten. Instead of going by his last name because, well it was a lot cooler. Plus the name fit him well, Anthony was dark, his parents coming from Zimbabwe before Anthony and his older sister were even born. He wore his hair in short dreadlocks that stuck out on every side.

"Did you happen to get the chapter we're supposed to study for Mr. Dalton test? And that video, do you know the title, so I can watch it later."

Night chuckles, a low but happy sound as he dug back into his locker and to his notebook out, writing something down before ripping out a page and handing it to me. "Here man, next time pay attention yeah?" He laughed again, fixing his tie in his locker mirror before shutting it. "See you tonight bro." He clapped me on the back and walked off with his girlfriend, who I didn't notice standing at the locker beside us.

I was so fucked. How the fuck was I going to finish this worksheet, concentrate in all my other classes, be pumped for the game tonight?

Words failed me as I skated onto the ice for the first time of the day. A crowd had formed in the bleacher as students, teachers, and friends alike gathered for the game. The Lester Lightings and theBenningtonBroncos. Dad was yelling out drills as we warmed out across from the other team that dressed in dark blue and red jerseys, ours being white and gold. In the locker room, we had blasted the best music we could find to pump us up for this game. This was a big game for us. If we won this we moved up to the next rounds of finals, with only five games to go before tournaments, if we won this we could go big, and have a longer season, travel around the country until we either win or lose.

When the ref blew the whistle my mind went blank. Totally focused on the game at hand as I skated to the center of the rink standing across from the captain of the Broncos who grinned at me and narrowed his eyes. He spat out his mouth guard before speaking as he lowered out sticks to the ice.

"You're going down."