Chapter Twenty-Four #2
She’d climb on her bike and pedal the five miles each way for the promise of a bag of penny candy.
Walking through the doors, she was transported by the smell to those years when she would spend most of her lawn mowing money on sugar.
She and Tommy would buy candy by the paper bagful before Little League and then eat enough to power them through practice.
Her pregame meals had gotten considerably healthier, but she kept the routine of eating a handful of candy before warm-ups.
Ali said hi to everyone she saw as they walked in.
People said hi to JT, but it was a different vibe because Ali was one of them.
An old friend, teacher, staple of the area, and JT was someone they claimed because she’d won a gold medal.
At least that’s how it felt as people told her how proud they were of watching her put Hart’s Landing on a map.
She took her spot at a table while Ali talked to a woman around her age near the Red Hots.
JT fought the urge to pull out her phone to kill the time.
Two teens came to her table. One was taller than the other and in that gangly stage where she’d gotten taller but didn’t look at home in her body yet.
Her friend was shorter with a mouthful of braces.
“Are you the Olympian?”
JT smiled, oddly charmed by only being semi-recognized. “Depends. Who do you think I am?”
The taller girl nudged the other with her elbow. “I told you it was her.” She shoved her hands deep into her pockets and rounded her shoulders forward. “Don’t mind Emma, she never believes me. I’m Margot. We play on the Wreckers.”
JT didn’t know what she was talking about.
The smaller one pointed to her sweatshirt. “Hart’s Wreckers. It’s our last year before we can try out for the high school team. Would you come to one of our games sometime?”
“I’d love to if it works with my schedule. Do you have any coming up?”
Margot handed her a little magnetic schedule. “Here. But don’t tell my mom I took it off the fridge.”
JT laughed. “How about I take a picture of it and then you can put it back without getting in trouble. I’d hate for you to get grounded and miss a game.” She snapped a picture with her phone and handed it back.
“You were awesome in the Olympics,” Emma said, seemingly overcoming her skepticism. “Those Canucks never stood a chance.”
JT laughed. “We were lucky to get the win. Thanks for watching.”
The girls left as Ali arrived at the table. “Fan club?”
“Something like that. You know them?”
“Of course. There aren’t many kids in town who I don’t know.
Emma and Margot are the little sisters of my students.
I’ve seen a few of their games. They’re pretty good.
” Ali shrugged out of her coat and hung it on the chair behind their table.
“You better watch out, they’re coming for your job one of these days. ”
“I don’t doubt it. Margot’s tall. If she grows into her height, she’ll be able to hold her own. The other one better be fast.”
Ali shook her head. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about a couple kids.”
“I had to take someone’s job to make the Olympic team. Someone will try to take it from me next time. Someday it might be one of those kids. You never know.”
Ali scanned the table. “This says there should be a set of rules for us. Do you see it?”
JT pulled a piece of paper out from under jars of candies. “Will you check to see if there are rules against me eating all of this? Because I swear they picked all my favorites.” She made a face. “Except for those. I hate gum drops. They’re all weirdly spiced. They taste like old people.”
Ali gave her a quizzical look. “Spend a lot of time nibbling on old people?”
JT rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Don’t tell me you’re one of those weirdos who likes the black licorice ones.”
Ali read the rules. “I do not like black licorice but lots of people do. It says here we don’t have to take taste into account. All that matters is that it looks good. So we can mix any flavors together.”
JT lifted the jars and gave a few full of candies she didn’t recognize a sniff.
She could feel herself getting more anxious about the competition.
This was the first event where a team would be eliminated, and she would rather eat a pound of black licorice than get bounced from the contest at this early stage.
Hating to lose was an asset on the ice. Her inability to phone it in when it came to sports and competition worked in her favor most of the time.
But when it came to competitions she knew she wasn’t going to dominate, it made her anxious and cranky.
She needed to get some perspective, but when her parents walked in, beaming at her siblings, it made her anxiety spike and her feeling of doom a thousand times worse.
Ali placed her hand on JT’s arm. “You okay?”
JT nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
“You are an atrocious liar. What’s going on?”
JT gritted her teeth. “I suck at this stuff.” She sounded like a petulant teenager. She could hear it, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Okay,” Ali said, drawing the word out. “So what?” She followed JT’s eyes to the rest of her family.
“Oh my god, are you this worked up over competing against them? Who cares? They’re the ones who should be nervous.
They’re the professional artists. We’re a couple amateurs at best. If they don’t win it’s embarrassing for them. We have nothing to lose.”
JT grunted. “Tell that to my parents. I promise you they’ll be fawning all over them and talking about how brilliant and gifted they are.”
“So? Neither of them has a gold medal the last I checked. And Holden’s Candy Emporium isn’t handing out Olympic medals for gingerbread decorating.”
JT forced herself to look at Ali. “Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say.
The only thing her family valued was art.
Her inability to do what they did with paint and clay left her feeling like an outsider.
She was never going to measure up, but she was too stupid and too stubborn to stop trying to beat them at their game.
Ali squeezed JT’s hand. “Let’s have some fun, okay? And if they kick our asses, who cares? It’s just a candy house.”