CHAPTER SIX
JULIUS
This summer couldn’t have gone any slower, but maybe that’s just how it felt living in a house with a woman who witnessed me getting scolded by my mum on the phone, which ended with her getting exactly what she wanted from me.
I’m sure she goes out of her way to avoid me as much as I do her, but that smirk on her face when we bumped into each other in the kitchen the other day was telling.
I’m just glad it’s not just the two of us here anymore.
Although I don’t think the alternative is any better, seeing as the house is also now being occupied by the two most unbearable guys on the Hockey team last year, Nathan and Daniel.
I find everyone annoying, so it’s not hard to fit that category.
But somehow they managed to surpass that.
I’m sure at this point Kaylah must be wishing it was just me and my music she still had to contend with, but now we’ve got these guys who come as a pair, and who are incapable of having conversations below a specific decibel. Maybe I understand her about the loud noise thing, after all.
The guys are good at the Hockey thing, though.
Maybe it’s me wishing time away, but their addition to the house somehow sped it up for me and I can finally feel productive now that term, and more importantly Practice has started.
I hate not knowing what’s going on, and that’s all I’m thinking about right now. Coach said things are going to be a little different this year in the email he sent out to us the other day.
It sounds ominous as fuck, and if I had any doubts about my skills I would think I’m in trouble.
But everyone else can worry about their fate on the team and I’ll just continue chilling like I always do.
Coach Campbell walks and takes a scan around the room. He’s looking carefully enough that he eventually nods when I’m sure he’s satisfied that everyone from the team we had last year is here.
I wouldn’t mind him bringing in some new additions since I’m still planning on talking to him about swapping some of these people out anyway. If we’re going to be winning the League, we can’t have players who are stuck at a lower level than they should be. It’s the harsh truth, but it is the truth.
“Should be any minute now,” he says out loud, but I don’t know who he’s talking to.
What should be any minute?
“Coach, can I —“ someone begins but his voice is drowned out by the door opening and the next thing I know, a group of women are making their way towards us.
“There,” is all Coach says and yeah, none of this is making any sense right now.
But as they slow down and I catch glimpses of their faces it doesn’t take me long to realise that this Wildern’s Women’s Hockey Team.
I’ve never yet gone to any of their games in person, but I’ve always been impressed with most of the performances I’ve seen in the ones I caught online. I can’t deny that they have some talented players on the team and like us, they’ll be able to play in the Women’s League this year.
But why are they here?
It seems as if it’s the full team, who have now stopped and are standing on the other side of us while Coach stands in the middle. At least I know I’m not alone in questioning what’s going on, everyone looks confused as fuck right now. I need to just be on the ice doing my thing instead of this.
“What’s going on, Coach?” Nathan asks.
I guess sometimes he has useful stuff to say.
“We’re just waiting on one more.”
I’m just about taking in his words when the door opens once again and my gaze instantly locks with a set of deep eyes that have been piercing daggers into me from the moment we met.
I could try to convince myself it’s not her, but that familiar walk coupled with that tall, slender body are laughing that argument away from me.
I would recognise them, recognise her, anywhere as much as I hate to admit it.
What the fuck is Kaylah doing here?