Chapter 9
CALEB
The days pass quickly after that night the guys invited me to the bar—the same night I came home and had my mind blown by the cute waitress upstairs.
Between replaying Liv’s words to me in my head and trying not to destroy the tenuous peace I’m making with my teammates, I’m plenty busy whenever I’m not with Daisy.
Before I know it, we’re in the locker room, gearing up for our first preseason game.
In Philly, everyone got quiet and intense before a game, but there’s a party atmosphere here today that’s honestly kind of refreshing. Of course, I’m keeping to myself, as usual, but it’s nice to see the guys horsing around. And at least no one is being outright hostile to me anymore.
Coach makes a speech, but I can barely focus on his words because of the familiar hum of the crowd out in the arena.
I’m playing again.
Maybe it’s not in the big show anymore. Maybe my team kind of hates me and maybe the fans really do.
But hockey is my life. It’s all I know. And it’s not over for me. Not as long as I hold it together today.
I count my breaths as I pray for a win.
Then suddenly, we’re all lumbering down the hall and the sound of the crowd is as loud as any I’ve ever heard. This place must be full to the rafters. My heart squeezes with excitement.
But the minute my skates hit the ice the crowd starts booing.
At first it’s just a couple of voices. Then more and more join in until it almost sounds like the audience singing along at a concert.
Getting the fans that excited would be amazing, except that they’re screaming their hatred at me.
“Focus, fifty-eight,” Jake says, skating to my side.
We do some lunges and then skate a lap or two. I loosen up a little as we go.
Jake Rivers is a good guy and a true leader. It takes guts to stand by my side when the whole place is screaming for my blood like we’re in a gladiator arena instead of a hockey rink.
When the warmup is done, we skate off, and I have the entrance to look forward to.
The New Jersey Nitro come out, and the crowd makes noises of disapproval. I can’t even imagine how furious they’ll be when I make my official debut.
But the Rocky theme is already playing and there’s nothing to do but slide out onto the ice and pretend I can’t hear the booing, which is way louder than the noises they made for the Nitro. And now it’s peppered with shouted curses.
I don’t like hearing that kind of language in the arena. Hockey is a family sport. My own daughter is here tonight.
Our mascot, Winny the stallion, pretends to put his hooves in his ears and gallops around.
I guess he’s trying to make the crowd laugh, but they clearly don’t feel like laughing.
Neither do I.
Some of the other guys follow me out, and the boos melt into cheers. I steal a glance up at where my parents and Daisy are supposed to be.
Mom waves to me when I spot them. Daisy doesn’t see me yet, and I’m not sure if Dad is pretending not to see me, or if he’s really that interested in his phone.
Either way, I can’t think about them right now. My pulse is pounding in my ears too hard to think about much of anything.
Time somehow stretches out and speeds up all at once.
The next thing I know, I’m in the face-off with the center from the Nitro. He’s got this sneer on his face that says he’s ready to take his best shot at me.
I set my jaw and try to look right through him.
“Don’t go getting your panties in a bunch, Stone,” he chirps. “Or we’ll have you playing in the beer leagues by Halloween.”
I try to do my breathing exercises to calm myself, but I lose count before I get through a single breath.
What happens next is kind of a blur, but when the puck drops, I don’t even go for it.
I go right for him instead. And about three seconds later, the opposing center is laid out on the ice and I’m standing over him, telling him how he’s only going to get to watch me play if the stadium is wheelchair accessible.
So much for a family sport.
The whistles blow, and then I’m on my way to the box.
“Stone,” Jake moans as I skate past him.
At the line change, Jake hangs his head as he skates back to the bench, where Beaumont sits with a big smile on his face, like an over-sized kid on Christmas morning. He’s delighted to see me in the penalty box, even though it means his team is starting the game short-handed.
I steal another glance up at my family as the crowd screams its displeasure with me.
Dad is frowning and Mom looks a little sad. But it’s Daisy who breaks my heart. She’s looking right at me, her head titled slightly, like she can’t understand why her daddy isn’t playing.
A pang of grief twists my heart.
“Go home, Stone,” a man sitting nearby yells. “You suck.”
“You’re the worst,” a woman yells. Her voice is weirdly familiar, and I look up. “Shame on you, number fifty-eight.”
It’s my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Baker.
I’ve really hit a new low. The years haven’t been kind to Mrs. Baker, but even though she’s smaller and grayer than I remember, she still looks madder than she was when Brandon Wheeler left the cage open and we lost the class guinea pig.
Her eyes are flashing with fury and I feel like I’m ten again.
“Go home, fifty-eight,” another guy shouts from like five feet away. “You’re a phony f—ahhhh!”
The undoubtedly inappropriate insult he’s crafted is cut off with a squawk as the woman sitting behind him dumps a full drink over his head. It’s so unexpected that it takes my mind a second to even register who it is.
Liv?
“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry,” she says in such an upset way that I start to wonder if maybe it really was an accident.
Then she glances up at me and winks.
I just stare at her like an idiot.
She scowls at me and goes back to ineffectively brushing soda off the guy with the single napkin she’s holding.
“Be careful, lady,” the man says, his tone annoyed.
Fury starts to bubble up again and I’m ready to climb the box and beat him up for speaking to her that way.
But Liv gives me a stern look that’s so out of place on her sweet face that I find myself chuckling.
Her eyebrows fly up, which only makes me laugh harder.
The locked-up muscles in my chest loosen up a little and I suddenly feel a lot more like myself.
Maybe I’ll get through this game after all.