The Hockey Boy

Chapter 8

TY

November 20

"You ready for Osseo tonight?" Cal asked me during lunch.

"Is that even a legit question, Hampton? Of course I'm ready. I've been ready since school started," I said confidently.

"Sorry I asked," grumbled Cal. "I didn't mean to accidentally awaken Ty Brady's confident side."

"So are you still going on that date with Molly after the game?" I asked as I peeled open my banana, changing the subject. Bananas are my favorite fruit, and I usually eat five or six on a game day for energy. It's kind-of like my pre-game ritual.

"Yup," replied Cal as he shoved a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth. Spaghetti was to Cal like bananas were to me on gamedays. Cal ate spaghetti for breakfast, lunch, and as a pre-game snack on gamedays. I personally thought that was a little overboard, but then again, I'm the one that eats six bananas on gamedays.

"Cool," I replied as I took a bite of my banana. "Where are you taking her?"

"I'm thinking about taking her to the pizza place downtown, you know, the place everyone goes for a first date?"

"Yeah, I know the place, Cal. Everyone in Blaine knows the place," I said sarcastically. "That sounds like a good plan. I hope you two work out. I totally ship you guys."

"What the heck does that mean?" asked Cal confusedly.

"You're so clueless sometimes, Cal," I laughed. "It just means that I support your relationship if it happens."

"You and your girly words," Cal huffed. "Why can't you just talk like a guy?"

"Cal, I may be on the guys hockey team, but I'm still a girl and I'll talk like one if I want to. You should know this by now," I said pointedly.

"Well, you know who I ship?" said Cal evilly.

"Who?" I groaned, wondering what i***t Cal was going to try to set me up with this time. Cal and the rest of the hockey guys have tried to set me up on dates with guys at our school, but I've never agreed to go on a date with anyone. I keep telling the guys that I'll find a boyfriend when I want one, but they just don't listen.

"You and Easton," smirked Cal.

"What the heck is wrong with you!" I yelled. Cal was still smirking, so I decided to teach him a lesson. I grabbed the edge of his plate of spaghetti with one hand and flipped it over onto his face. With my other hand, I grabbed my backpack and turned to leave the cafeteria. "That'll teach you," I smirked like Cal had been moments before.

"Brady, I'm gonna get you back, I swear! Just you wait until you and Easton are a thing! Then you'll be thanking me!" Cal shouted after me.

"In both of your dreams," I muttered to myself as I headed towards my locker to get my books for the second half of the school day.

***

The girls locker room was completely empty except for me, just how I liked it before a game. I liked to be alone so I'd have time to clear my head of everything except hockey.

"Hey, Ty, are you alone in there?" called someone from outside the locker room.

"Yeah, come on in, Cal," I replied. It was pregame tradition for Cal to come talk to me in the girls locker room, only when it was empty, of course.

"You know, this tradition is really weird," said Cal uncomfortably as he looked around the locker room.

"You just realized this now?" I asked skeptically. "We've been doing this since sophomore year."

"No, I guess not. It's weird, but that means it's only our tradition, no one else's."

"That's kind-of the point, Cal. So are you ready for Osseo? I hear they're supposed to be pretty good this year," I speculated.

"Ty, I hear that we're supposed to be pretty good this year. Of course I'm ready," replied Cal fearlessly.

"I'm a little worried. Their center, Brock Jenson, is supposed to be really good this year. Since he's a senior like us, I'm sure he'll be out for blood."

"Ty, we'll be fine. I know you're worried, but seriously, we'll be fine. I know Osseo likes to play dirty, but I've got your back, remember? I always have your back."

"Thanks, Cal, that means a lot. Should we go see if the other guys are ready? I'm sure Coach is busy practicing his annual pre-first-game speech," I laughed.

"You mean the same speech he repeats year after year before our first game?" asked Cal.

"Yeah, that one. I'm sure he's as nervous as ever," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, Coach needs to just calm down. He's got a good team, and it's not like he's the one that's actually playing," pointed out Cal.

"Yeah, but he's the one that looks bad if we lose."

"Well, we're not going to lose, so we don't have to worry about that, do we?" said Cal confidently.

"I hope you're right," I sighed. "Let's go talk to the other guys. I suppose they're expecting me to say something really inspirational, right?"

"Pretty much," affirmed Cal.

"Well, I guess I'll have to wing it," I stated.

"Ha, wing it, get it? Like a winger in hockey?" said Cal, trying to be funny.

"I'm a center, you dork," I snapped jokingly. "Let's just go, all right?"

"You're no fun," moped Cal.

"Oh, get your head in the game," I said as I lightly smacked him.

"You gotta get 'cha, get 'cha head in the game," sang Cal.

"Oh shut up, Troy. We've got a game to win," I said with a confident as I walked out of the locker room, Bauer hockey stick in my hand. I headed around the corner to the guys locker room and banged on the door. "Hey, are you guys decent?"

"Yeah, we're good. Come on in, Ty," yelled one of the guys.

"Okay, guys, you know I'm awful at these things, so I'm going to keep it short. I know Osseo is supposed to be pretty good this year, and Brock Jenson is supposed to be really aggressive this year, but we're supposed to be good, too. Osseo's gonna play rough, but we can play rough, too. If we work hard and play as a team, this game is going to be easy. We can do this, guys, we just have to believe," I finished.

"Nice job, Ty," Cal whispered to me as he slapped my back once.

"Thanks, Cal," I whispered back as we went to take the last two empty seats on the benches in the locker room. Just at that moment, Coach walked in, ready to give his annual pre-game speech.

"Okay, guys," Coach started and I coughed. Coach rolled his eyes and continued, "And Ty. I know you're all expecting me to give the same speech I've given the last ten years or so, but this year it's going to be different. This year I believe that we have a real shot at winning the state title. There, I said it. We have a chance to win state. I don't have much to say, but if we work hard and work as a team, that's all we'll need to win this game. Now let's go out there and win!"

"Yeah!" we all cheered.

"That speech kinda sucked," Cal whispered to me.

"My thoughts exactly," I replied as I walked out of the locker room and onto the ice. I pulled my helmet over my head and said, "Now let's get this done."

***

Easton

November 20, 2014

I walked into Blaine's hockey arena wearing a Minnesota Wild pullover hoodie, jeans, my favorite pair of black Nikes, and a Wild baseball cap that I placed on my head backwards.

The arena was pretty packed on both sides, but the Blaine side had a few more people. After looking at their schedule, I knew that this was Blaine's first game of the season. I thought that they were lucky to have their first game be home. Since most seats at center ice were taken, I decided to sit behind a goal two rows up. I thought that I would have a pretty good view of all the players from my seat.

I heard a lot of cheering from my left side and saw the orange and black of Osseo's jerseys hit the ice. Then I heard tons of screaming from the right side and saw the blue and white of Blaine's jerseys while the school song played in the background. I knew that song well. When I was in high school, I always hated hearing it because it reminded me that we were playing a game against our rivals at their own high school. I hated this arena. I hated the fans, and I especially hated the players. I found it ironic that I was now back at this place I used to hate to see someone that I used to hate when I was in high school.

I scanned the ice in hope of seeing her. I didn't know what number Ty was, and I was hoping that she would be the only one on Blaine's team with long hair. I kept looking at the ice until I finally caught sight of her deep blue eyes beneath her cage. She aimed a wrist shot at the goal and it hit the net. She skated around the goal and I caught sight of her number. It was the same as mine, 55.

She went over to talk to another guy on the team, I thought maybe it was the guy that was with her at the game the other night. The guy said something to Ty before pointing at the stands. He was pointing at me. Ty saw me and dropped her stick in shock.

Well this should be interesting, I smirked to myself.