Chapter 10 Parker
Considering how bad our loss was on Friday night, I felt like quite the celebrity come Monday.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the attention.
The smiles, the giggles, the way girls went out of their way to brush past me in the corridor.
It was great. I’d only had a few classes so far today, and I already had five new numbers in my phone.
“Maybe I should walk around naked more often,” I said to Seth as I followed him onto the school bus. We had a science excursion to some museum, and I was lucky Seth had asked the bus to wait for me because art class had run way over.
“Please don’t,” he groaned. “I’ve seen enough videos of your ass this weekend to last me a lifetime.”
“I can’t help that my ass went viral.”
“No part of you should ever go viral. Your ego can’t handle it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about; my ego is loving it.” As I made my way down the aisle to find a seat, a girl wiggled her fingers at me flirtatiously. I couldn’t remember her name, but she was cute, so I flashed her a smile.
Seth groaned again and I glanced over my shoulder at him. “What?”
“You’re just proving my point,” he said. “But at least everyone’s distracted from the game.”
That knocked my ego down a few pegs. Did he really have to bring up the game?
With Reed and Grayson visiting, I’d also been forced to finally tell them I was yet to be named captain, and probably never would be.
I just wanted to forget the whole evening.
Hell, I’d even give up my ass’s new celebrity status if I could go back in time and get another shot at that terrible game.
Unfortunately, I had little reason to believe the next one would be any better.
“Did you see this?” Seth asked as we took a seat at the back of the bus.
I shook my head as he handed me a poster. It was enthusiastically advertising hockey tryouts for tomorrow night—Coach Foster was looking for an additional goaltender.
“I know it says additional,” Seth continued. “But I think we all know this means Coach won’t be letting us suffer another week with Anderson. He wants a new starter until Elliot is back.”
“I guess so,” I agreed, placing the poster on the empty seat next to me. The bus rumbled to life and took off from the curb.
“Who do you think they’ll pick?” Seth asked.
“No idea. We already had tryouts and apparently, other than Elliot, Anderson was the best we could find.” Coach Foster had missed the start of preseason, so I assumed he was hoping some hidden talent might have been overlooked during the previous tryouts.
Or maybe he was banking on someone who played another position stepping into the role. Neither felt likely to happen.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Seth said optimistically.
“It’s going to take more than luck to find someone good enough,” I replied. “These tryouts are really going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. We need a miracle or we’re screwed.”
“We’re not screwed yet. I’m sure Coach will figure something out.”
I pointed at the poster. “If this is his solution, then I’m quickly losing the little faith I had left in him. Maybe it’s up to us to do something.” I couldn’t just sit by and watch my senior year season go down the drain. Even if I wasn’t going to be named captain, I still wanted to win.
“If you’re about to suggest strapping on the pads and taking up the challenge, I don’t think losing our best offensive player is the answer here.”
“Obviously not. That would be stupid. We just need…” My voice trailed off, as some students started shouting and laughing from the seats in front of us. A few of them were cheering and pointing out the window of the bus.
“Mackenzie?” Seth suggested.
“What?” I turned to him to check I’d heard right.
“Mackenzie,” he repeated.
Had he lost his mind? “Uh, that’s not quite what I was thinking…”
“No,” he continued, nodding at the window. “That’s Mackenzie. Everyone’s heckling her. She missed the bus.”
Kids were streaming into the aisle to peer outside, and I leaned over to get a look too.
Mackenzie was sprinting down the sidewalk after the bus.
She was surprisingly fast, and I was impressed to see she was actually keeping up.
Most kids would have given up a long time ago or not bothered to run at all.
No surprise that Mackenzie was too stubborn to let our school bus get the better of her.
Finally the bus driver started to slow down, then pulled over. Disappointment rumbled through the crowd of students who’d been excitedly watching Mackenzie’s pursuit. The show was over though, and everyone started returning to their seats.
Mackenzie clambered onto the bus, her chest heaving. The way she was scowling at the bus driver, I half expected him to catch on fire. She muttered a few things to the science teacher at the front, then went in search of a seat.
As she started down the aisle, her gaze went straight to mine. Her expression only darkened, as though she had somehow decided this was all my fault. A part of me wished it was. I still owed her a little payback after Friday night. Unfortunately though, I couldn’t take credit for this one.
Despite the lethal look in her eyes, I smiled and lifted a hand to wave. Not for the first time in my life, I wondered if I’d been born without any proper defensive instincts. When someone looked at you that way you were supposed to freeze, hide, or flee. I just smiled and waved.
She scowled at me before slumping into the nearest seat.
The girl had serious issues with me—clearly.
Yet I was still smiling. And now, I was thinking, which was even more dangerous.
I knew Seth hadn’t genuinely been suggesting Mackenzie was the answer to our goalie problem.
But what if that idea wasn’t as crazy as I’d initially thought?
She was a loose cannon. She couldn’t be trusted.
She’d likely torch the entire school just to see me burn.
But that wasn’t what I was thinking about right now.
Instead, I was remembering how she’d played at her dad’s summer camp.
She’d been incredibly fast, fiercely competitive, and she knew how to guard the net.
“We need to find someone who hasn’t already tried out,” I said, turning to Seth once more.
“Yeah, except hasn’t every guy who can play already tried out?”
“Every guy who can play…” I nodded over to where Mackenzie was sitting. “We haven’t tried out every girl.”
Seth looked confused. “You know I wasn’t suggesting we recruit her for the team, right?”
“I know, but it’s not the worst idea. I’ve seen her play. She’s good.”
“You’re serious?”
“Maybe.”
“You want the girl who stole your clothes playing alongside you?” He spoke slowly, as if he was worried I wouldn’t be able to fully grasp the concept.
“Well, I’m hoping that won’t happen during a game,” I joked, though Seth didn’t laugh. No, he was still staring at me like I’d been slammed into the boards a little too hard.
“She’ll never go for it. She’d say no just to spite you.”
“Then we convince her. She already told me she wouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines if she had a choice.”
I was suddenly wishing she’d told me more about why she didn’t play anymore when she’d brought it up in the locker room.
“Perhaps,” Seth continued. “But even if she agrees, you know she’ll have to try out. And it’s her dad, not you, who decides who joins the team.”
I waved his concern away. “If she’s the best person for the job, there’s no way her dad will say no.”
“Because Coach Foster is such an open-minded guy. You don’t even know if she’s still a good player. That camp was three years ago.”
His arguments were starting to stack up, but I didn’t let it derail me. It felt like I was onto something. “She just managed to chase down a bus. She’s clearly fit. And determined.”
“Okay…”
“And we know she doesn’t back away from a fight. I’m still recovering from her killer right hook.”
“Yeah, but can she still stop a puck?”
That was the million-dollar question. And the only one that truly mattered. “No idea. Guess we’ll just have to find out.”
“You’re going to get yourself punched again, aren’t you?”
“No. Well, maybe. But if my instincts are right, it’ll be worth it.”
When we arrived at the museum and everyone filed off the bus, my mind was still racing.
I couldn’t shake the idea that Mackenzie, the girl I thought was my biggest problem, suddenly seemed like my only solution.
Once we were off the bus, everyone gathered in front of the museum entrance, and a teacher started rattling off instructions.
I wasn’t listening though. My eyes were on Mackenzie.
I needed to put her goalie skills to the test; needed to know if she still had the lightning-fast reflexes I’d seen three years ago.
I could hardly ask her to strap on a pair of skates and let me shoot pucks at her.
I was going to have to be more covert. But how could I test her skills without her realizing?
And even if that succeeded, how the hell was I going to convince her to try out for the team?
When she turned and caught me watching, she grimaced in disgust. Not a great start.
The teacher stopped talking and everyone started for the museum entrance. I pushed through the crowd toward where Mackenzie was walking next to Jaz.
“Hey, Parker.” Vanessa’s alluring voice sounded beside me, and I turned to find her and Britt smiling brightly.
“Ness. Britt.”
The two girls giggled and batted their eyelashes up at me.
Now this was how girls were supposed to respond to me.
I wasn’t used to them turning their nose up like I was something that got stuck on the bottom of their shoe.
Still, I kept making my way toward Mackenzie. When I reached her, she sighed.
“Jaz,” I said. “Melancholy.”
“That’s not even a name,” Mackenzie hissed.