Where Do I Begin?

Chapter 3

Courtney

The next day, the team had practice. Practice didn't even start yet and I already know it's gonna be hell.

"Man, Coach kinda scares me." Charlie admitted out of the blue. But, I nodded in agreement as I got wide eyed.

"I know, right? Then he starts to talk about how he hates kids and hockey. What kind of coach does that?" I asked with frustration. We walked inside the ice rink. We saw Goldberg and Guy. "Hey, y'all."

"Hey, love birds." Guy said teasingly. I looked at Charlie and he started to blush as he shot Guy a dirty look.

"Hey! She's just a friend. That's all!" Charlie yelled quickly. Guy rolled his eyes while laughing.

"Okay, sure." Guy said sarcastically.

"Hi, guys." We looked behind us and saw Connie walk in.

"And hello, Connie." Guy said in a flirty way. He walked up to her. I rolled my eyes.

Your typical Guy.

"Let's go to the locker room and get ready. We have a game tomorrow, so we need to get a lot of practice in." I stated, changing the subject.

"How do you know?" Goldberg asked.

"I checked. We play The Hawks tomorrow. They are one of the best. I used to watch them with my dad. That's how he taught me how to play hockey." I explained. Guy and Connie walked over to us.

"Okay, let's go then."Charlie said cheerfully. We all started to walk to locker room.

"I'm scared of what Coach is gonna do to us." Goldberg admitted.

"Goldberg, you are scared of the puck for crying out loud, and you're goalie!" Guy snapped. We all started to laugh, except for Goldberg.

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Practice was harder then I expected.

"Come on, guys! You can't keep falling like this! We are going to lose to the Hawks of you keep falling and losing the puck! Get up and try it again!" Coach yelled at us. We all sighed and started to skate again. I caught up with Charlie.

"I'm not feelin' to good about this game tomorrow." I admitted. Charlie looked at me and smiled.

"You shouldn't feel like that. You are the best skater on this team." Charlie stated. I shrugged.

"I don't know. The Hawks just make me nervous." We stopped in the back of the line so we can go around the cones.

"Jane! Get over here!" Coach yelled from the bench area. I looked at Charlie with fear.

"Oh no." I whispered to Charlie nervously.

"Good luck." I nodded. I skated to Coach quickly. My heart rate when higher the closer I got to him. He was standing on the ice, leaning against the wall for the bench with his arms crossed on his chest. Once I finally got to him, I slid to a stop and took off my helmet. "Yes, Coach?"

"Right now, Jane, you're the best player I got. I need you to be on the ice a lot more in games. When you played on the lake, you passed the puck to Conway nice, but fast. I need you to stay in the position for a little while until the other players get better." Coach explained. I nodded. My heart rate was slowing down, and I could finally take a deep breath.

"Okay, Coach. I'll do that." I put my helmet back on and turned around. I took another deep breath in, and skated back to Charlie. Charlie looked at me with a little worried look on his face.

"What did he say?" Charlie asked. I skidded to a stop next to him.

"He said that he wanted me to play center." I answered. Charlie sighed.

"You're lucky. I thought he was gonna yell at you." Charlie stated with a little laugh. I nodded softly.

"Yeah, me too."