The Hockey Lie

Chapter 1

TY

August 16

"You suck," Cal pouted as my approach shot rolled within three feet of the hole.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game," I smirked in reply, sticking my tongue out.

Cal and I were at our local golf course playing one last round before Cal left for college the next day. Despite being hockey players, Cal and I enjoyed playing golf in the summer. We had been to the course, which we were members at, a lot this summer. It was a good way to bond before we spent the next year away from each other for the most part.

"All right, this one's in the hole," predicted Cal confidently. He took a deep breath, then lined up for his shot, which I might add was a good 150 yards from the pin. He swung at his white Nike golf ball and his shot landed to the right of the green.

"That doesn't look like it's in the hole," I laughed.

"Shut up. You know I'm having a bad round," pouted Cal.

"Cal, you say that you have a bad round every time we go golfing," I said pointedly.

"Shut up," grumbled Cal.

"You already said that," I pointed out.

"You're a jerk," muttered Cal.

"You walked yourself right into that one," I stated.

"I know," Cal sighed. "Oh well, at least we're having fun."

"Yeah, I just can't believe you're leaving for college tomorrow. What am I going to do without you?"

"Ty, you'll be going to college yourself three days after I leave. I'm sure you can find something to do for three days. And if not, then you're out of luck," smirked Cal.

"I suppose," I sighed. "I'm so excited for college, though. I hope my roommate isn't weird."

"You haven't met your roommate yet?" asked Cal.

"No, she wasn't there the day I signed up for classes," I told him.

"Ohhhhh. That stinks," replied Cal. "My roommate's pretty chill. He's an exercise science major. It's like the same thing you're doing."

"Yeah, exercise science and kinesiology are pretty similar," I agreed. "I just don't understand why I have to take psychology this year. I know it's a required class and all, but how will that help me with being a physical therapist?"

"I don't know, Ty, I have to take it, too, and I'm an engineering major."

"It's going to stink. I just hope my teacher isn't a total nutcase."

"Yeah, some psychology teachers are pretty weird," said Cal as we reached the green. He walked over to his ball and chipped it onto the green. It wasn't a pretty shot, but at least it was on the green.

All of a sudden, we heard from behind us, "Fore!"

Cal and I ducked only to see a ball land five feet away from us. We turned around to see who had almost hit us and saw a golf cart driving up to meet us.

"Steve!" I yelled when I saw who was driving the golf cart. "You i***t, you almost hit us!"

"That was the idea," laughed Steve. "I didn't want you guys leaving me. Do you mind if I join you?"

"How did you know where we were?" questioned Cal.

"Well, you guys said you were going golfing the other day at the pizza shop, and you always go golfing at the same time so I just asked the maintenance guy where you guys were when I got here. Simple as that," explained Steve.

"You're such a dork," I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, it's not just me that's here," said Steve.

"What do you mean?" asked Cal.

"Jeff, Jase, and Kevin are up there at the tee box," Steve said, pointing at the other guys. "I decided to come golf with you guys so there'd be equal groups. The guys and I decided that after this we should go for ice cream, too."

"You guys are dorks," I laughed.

"Yeah, but you love us all anyways," Steve replied with a cheesy grin.

"Yeah, I suppose I do. I'm glad you guys all came. I know you guys don't like golfing as much and Cal and I do, so that's why we didn't invite you."

"That's all right. We showed up anyway. One last hurrah before we all leave for college," Steve smiled.

"Sounds good to me. Now let's finish this hole," said Cal as he walked over to go putt his ball.

"He's an awful putter. This might take a while," I whispered to Steve.

"Shut up, I know you're talking about me," growled Cal.

"Just putt your stupid golf ball, you big baby!" I taunted.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" yelled Cal despite being on a golf course, where you're supposed to be quiet.

"It looks like you're about to four-putt," laughed Steve.

"I'm not going to four-putt," grumbled Cal. He hit his golf ball a little too hard, and it rolled to the right of the hole onto the fringe. Cal muttered something under his breath while Steve and I laughed.

"One," counted Steve.

Cal hit the ball again, only he hit it too soft this time. The ball was about twenty feet from the hole.

"Two," I counted.

Cal hit the ball a third time, and it looked like it was going to roll into the cup, but much to Cal's dismay, the ball stopped rolling just before it fell into the hole. The golf ball was perched on the edge of the hole.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Cal yelled. He angrily stomped up to the ball and tapped it into the hole.

"Three, four," counted Steve with a smirk. "By my count, that was a four-putt."

"You guys are so mean," Cal muttered before stomping his way back to the golf cart.

"Is he like this all the time when you guys golf?" asked Steve.

"Pretty much," I replied nonchalantly. Steve just shook his head in reply.

"Okay, who's ready for the next hole?" Steve asked Cal and me. Cal just glared at him.

***

"What kind of ice cream did you get this time?" Cal asked me as we sat down at a table in the ice cream shop.

"Java chip," I replied, taking a bite of my delicious coffee ice cream.

"Nasty, coffee," gagged Jeff.

"Yeah, coffee is gross," agreed Jase.

"You guys don't know what you're missing," I told them.

"Ty, I don't know if you realize this, but coffee is nasty. Now, cake batter ice cream, on the other hand, is delicious," Cal said, taking a bite of his ice cream. While he was distracted, I took the opportunity to steal a bit of his ice cream.

"Yeah, it is pretty good," I agreed with a smirk.

"Hey! That's my ice cream!" protested Cal.

"You can have a bite of mine," I offered.

"No way. Yuck," spat Cal.

"I'm gonna miss this," said Steve thoughtfully. "How did we all manage to choose to go to different colleges? Well, other than the twins."

"I don't know," I replied. "It is kind of crazy."

"Yeah, I leave tomorrow," Cal said.

"I go to Iowa State Tuesday," stated Steve.

"We leave for NDSU tomorrow," Jase said, gesturing to Jeff and himself.

"I go to Michigan State on Wednesday," Kevin told us.

"And I go to the U on Thursday," I added. "It's going to be weird not being together at all times. I suppose that I'll actually have to make friends that are girls this year."

"Yeah, I just hope you can keep your secret up," said Steve.

"It's going to be tough, but I think I can keep up with my lie," I replied confidently.

"You'd better hope so. The NCAA won't go easy on you if they find out, that's for sure," emphasized Kevin.

"No, they won't. If I get caught, I'll probably get banned from playing college hockey," I sighed.

"Hopefully they won't ever find out. Well, not until the draft, that is," Steve said, nudging my shoulder.

"Steve, if I do end up going into the draft, it probably won't be right after my freshman year. I'm not good enough for that," I scoffed.

"Easton West was," Cal stated.

"Yeah, and you're better than he was when he entered college," added Jeff.

"I don't know, guys. As much as I would like to go into the draft right after freshman year, I don't think it's very likely."

"Well, you never know. You'll just have to work your butt off and show up all those other college guys," Cal smiled.

"I will, with pleasure," I smirked.

A few hours later, we were still in the ice cream shop. We may or may not have gone back up to the counter for seconds...

"Man, it's getting late," stated Steve.

"Yeah, I should probably be getting home. I haven't finished packing yet," said Cal sheepishly.

"Cal, that's terrible," I scolded.

"Shut up, Mom," Cal taunted.

"Jerk," I muttered, standing up along with everyone else. "Well, guys, I hope we can all get together again sometime."

"Maybe during Christmas break," suggested Jase.

"Yeah, that'd probably work," agreed Kevin.

"I'm going to miss you all," I said, hugging my friends.

"We'll all miss you, too, Ty," replied Jeff.

"Go kick some college boy ass," smiled Steve as he clapped me on the back.

"Yeah, and don't take crap from anyone. You're big enough that you can beat 'em up," said Jase.

I laughed, "Okay, guys, I'll do that. I'll see you later. Don't forget to text me regularly or I'll beat you up the next time I see you."

"She isn't kidding," Cal added.

"That includes you," I told him seriously.

"I wouldn't dream of not talking to you. I'd miss you too much."

"Good. All right then. I'll see you guys soon," I said, finally turning to leave.

"But not soon enough," Cal replied.

"True," I said, tearing up as I went to hug each one of them one last time. I'm not normally an emotional person, but this was a sad time in my life. My friends and I were separating after being together almost daily for years.

"Bye, Ty," everyone called as I turned to leave again.

"Bye, guys," I replied sadly, finally leaving my friends.

It wouldn't be forever, but I knew I wouldn't be seeing my friends in person for a long, long time. A new part of my life was beginning, and I realized then that I was officially ready for college.