Overtime Read online

  “Ladies. You know you can count on the crew,” Scott said. “We bleed Terrence Falls High blood. As a natural centre, and the obvious choice for captain, probably coach too —”

  “What about general manager?” Nick said.

  “I figured that goes without saying,” Scott said, without skipping a beat.

  Julia laughed. “I didn’t know you were a forward.”

  “I didn’t know you played hockey?” Nick said.

  “You’re hurting my confidence,” Scott said.

  “We have a practice this Thursday after school,” Rebecca said seriously.

  “Your captain-coach-general manager will be there,” Scott said.

  That garnered a groan.

  “I’m glad you decided to play,” Julia said to Charlie.

  Trisha and Emily walked away.

  “We need to win that money,” he said, flustered.

  “We definitely do,” Julia said. She looked down at the floor. “Maybe we should meet to organize the skate-a-thon?”

  “Yeah. We should. Definitely,” Charlie said.

  “Sounds like you’ve practically got it done,” Alexandra said sarcastically.

  “Thanks for the encouragement,” Julia joked.

  “I gotta blow this place,” Alexandra said. “See you guys later.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Rebecca said.

  “I should probably just do my homework,” Zachary said, shooting a glance at the other guys. “I’ll catch you dudes later.”

  “Me too,” Matt said.

  “I keep hearing about this strange thing called homework,” Scott said to Nick. “Is that a kind of sandwich? I’m starving.”

  “It’s more like something you do between meals,” Nick said.

  “Okay, we could go to the library and plan things out,” Charlie said to Julia. “We can also get movie night going.”

  His friends were grinning from ear to ear.

  “See you guys,” he said, and he and Julia walked towards the staircase to the library, Charlie feeling his friends’ eyes on him the whole way.

  “You don’t really have to play if you’re too busy,” she said.

  “I said I’d play,” he said.

  “But you don’t have to. I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you.”

  “I don’t. It’ll be fun — and if we win, that’s a mess of money.”

  He hoped she didn’t notice the lack of conviction in his voice. He couldn’t understand exactly why, but for some reason playing with the girls made him uneasy.

  Julia stopped at the first step. “I kind of had another idea too … sort of didn’t want to talk about it in front of everyone. I was talking to Dalton earlier and he wondered if Bee-Bees would care that we want to use the prize money from the tournament for the roof. It’s supposed to go for athletic programming.”

  “Good question. We should probably find out before the practice.”

  She pulled him back from the stairs. “I gave them a call already, and I’m supposed to meet someone at the mall in an hour, and I thought, well, I could use the company … and we could talk about the skate-a-thon and movie night at the same time.” She paused. “That is, if you’re not doing anything …”

  Charlie tried his best to keep his voice casual. “Sure, I guess. I don’t have anything going on, and we can figure stuff out: movie night, and the skate-a-thon … and whatever.”

  “Awesome. Thanks.”

  “Yeah. Sure. No problem.”

  They looked at each other.

  “We should probably just get going then,” she said.

  Both slightly red in the face, they headed out of the school.

  * * *

  “Hey, they have the new BBs in,” Julia said, pointing at the black yoga pants displayed in the store window. She laughed when she saw his expression. “You should pick up a pair.”

  “I assume that’s your zany sense of humour,” Charlie said.

  “Okay. We’ll start you off with a sweatshirt.”

  They went to the front counter.

  “Is Joanne Bettencourt in?” Julia asked the girl behind the counter.

  “She’s in the back,” she said. “I’ll buzz her.”

  They did not have to wait long. “Are you the young lady that called me about the hockey tournament?”

  “Yes, Ms Bettencourt.”

  She laughed. “Call me Jo-Jo, please. Everyone does. Now, you said your school might close?”

  “We hope not. But the roof needs to be repaired, and if we can’t raise enough money, we will all have to go to different schools in November. So we thought entering your tournament would be a good idea, because it will be fun, but also because of the prize money,” Julia said.

  Jo-Jo nodded vigorously the entire time.

  “We were wondering if Bee-Bees Boutique would allow us to use the money for our Save-The-Roof fund — assuming we win, of course.”

  “I’ll need to call head office,” Jo-Jo said. “We’ve been doing these tournaments to promote sports and healthy living. This is a bit different. I’ll get back to you. I’d like to help.”

  “We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t so important,” Julia said.

  Jo-Jo laughed. “You’re such a serious girl,” she said. “I like you, and I like that you’re taking the initiative.” She pointed at Charlie. “And who’s your boyfriend?”

  Charlie could only imagine how deeply he was blushing. Julia did not seem that bothered.

  “This is Charlie. He’s helping with the fundraising, and he’ll be on the team too.”

  Jo-Jo took a step back and looked them both over. “Wait here a second.” She went to the back of the store.

  Moments later, she came back holding some clothes. “Julia, you simply must have a pair of the new BBs. I got you ones with the red waistband. I thought they’d suit you.”

  Julia’s eyes got big. “Thanks, Jo-Jo. That’s so awesome of you.”

  Jo-Jo handed Charlie a blue sweatshirt. “We actually sell men’s clothing too. We’ve come out with a whole new boys and men’s line. Everyone thinks we only sell to girls.”

  “Try it,” Julia said to him.

  Charlie slipped it on.

  “Check it out in the mirror,” Jo-Jo said. “It looks great.”

  He had to admit it was a nice-looking sweatshirt. “Thanks. I … needed a new sweatshirt. Thanks.”

  “Making people look good is what we do,” Jo-Jo said. “You two take care. I’ll call you when I hear back about the tournament — and blue is a great colour on you, Charlie. We also have some awesome pants and T-shirts. Come back any time.”

  They walked out.

  “I guess I should go this way,” he said, pointing to the left. “I’m supposed to meet my mom at her café for dinner.”

  “So you’ll ask Pudge if he wants to come with us on Thursday after school to check out ice times for the skate-a-thon?” Julia said.

  “I’ll talk to him tonight.”

  “So I’ll see you later. Thanks for coming with me. It made it easier.”

  “You did all the talking. You didn’t need me.”

  “I enjoyed the company,” Julia said.

  His embarrassment level rose. “Me too. Hopefully, they’ll let us use the money for the roof.”

  “We have to win first.”

  He grinned. “That’s the easy part.”

  She laughed. “See you, Charlie.” She waved and left.

  He went the other way, trying to imagine what his friends would say if they saw him in a Bee-Bees sweatshirt.

  12

  HEADS UP

  The whistle blew as the boys filed onto the ice. The girls were kneeling at centre, crowded around Ms Cummings.

  Julia had told him Cummings was a great coach. Charlie had never been coached by a woman, and he was interested in hearing what she had to say.

  “Why isn’t Hilton coaching?” Scott said, as they skated over.

  “I bet he can’t be bothered,” Nick
said.

  “Neither can I,” Scott said, “but I’m still here.”

  “Hurry up,” Cummings called out. “You’re a bit late, boys.”

  Charlie knelt down.

  “The great ones have arrived,” Alexandra said.

  Next to her Trisha and Emily snickered.

  “We didn’t hear the Zamboni,” Charlie said.

  “I was just welcoming everyone to the team,” Cummings continued. “I hope we all have fun and enjoy the tournament. I know we have some excellent players. Many of you played on the Champions Cup teams, right?”

  Most of the players nodded.

  “Let’s try to be punctual for practice, please. A friend of mine was kind enough to donate some ice to help our fundraising efforts, and out of respect for that we should try not to waste any time. Now, why don’t we line up at the far end and start with a few skating drills.”

  As if an invisible hand divided them, the girls all went to the right of the net and the boys to the left.

  “We don’t need to be quite so gender-sensitive,” Cummings said. She began pointing at them and counting, one, two, one, two, all the way down the line. “Okay. The ones go first. Skate to the red line, back to the blue, all the way to the far end, and then back here.”

  She blew her whistle, and the ones took off. It was a fast group: Nick, Zachary and Matt, along with Julia, Rebecca and Emily. It was close, but Charlie thought Nick was first and —

  Cummings blew her whistle.

  Charlie wasn’t paying attention, and most of the twos got a jump on him. He put his head down and took a few short, choppy steps, then lengthened his stride and caught up to the slower girls. Pudge and Scott were still ahead, but he didn’t worry about that. Both were great players, but they were not fast skaters and he knew he’d get them on the way back. Alexandra and Trisha posed more of a challenge. They were a good four metres ahead. If he came in behind them, Alexandra would never let him live it down; and Trisha worried him too.

  Charlie timed his sliding stop perfectly, tapped the back boards with his stick, and powered back to the blue line. At the top of the circle he looked up. Alexandra was two metres away, and Trisha was well past the blue line. That was impossible. She must have cheated on the turn. He put his head down and lengthened his stride. He was gaining on Alexandra, but it was over for Trisha. She was already coasting to the goal line. At the blue line he was almost even with Alexandra. He expected her to slow down — only she did the opposite and got to the goal line ahead of him.

  Charlie was in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d lost a race. Breathing heavily and dreading what was coming, he leaned his stick across his knees and turned away from Alexandra.

  There was no avoiding it, though. “You need to bend those knees a bit, Joyce. You skate like a ninety-year-old granny,” Alexandra chortled.

  “You should start with the cheese cutter skates,” Trisha said. “They give you more balance.”

  Even his friends laughed. He knew he’d sound like a doofus if he got mad — even though he was. “I didn’t know it was a race,” he said, in between breaths.

  Thankfully, the whistle blew, and the first group took off again. This time Charlie paid attention, and when it was his turn he sprang off the line like a tightly wound coil. The three of them were in a dead heat at the red line. All three hit the boards with their sticks together, and when he crossed the goal line, Charlie honestly did not know who had won. Stick resting across the tops of his shin pads again, he tried not to look too tired, but he was seriously winded. Those girls could flat out skate!

  “Give it up, Joyce, before they kill you,” Scott said, and his friends broke up.

  They did a few different skating drills, but none of the racing variety: gliding on one foot, dropping to the knees and up, rounding the faceoff circles. Soon Charlie had worked up a good sweat. Cummings sure knew her stuff.

  The whistle went.

  “Bring it in,” Cummings said, waving her stick over her head.

  Charlie followed everyone over.

  “That was great,” she enthused. “Lots of energy and I see we’ll have a fast team. Obviously we have to put Charlie, Trisha and Alexandra on a line together.”

  The kids all whistled and oooh’d and ahh’d, much to Charlie’s embarrassment.

  Alexandra thought it was hysterical. “I need Julia as my centre,” she said, still laughing. “No old men on my line.”

  Cummings laughed. “It was just a joke. We’ll worry about lines later. Now I want to split into defence and forwards. We’ll do some one-on-ones and then two-on-twos. We only have the ice for forty minutes: they’re doing some maintenance. We were lucky to get this time. The upshot is, we won’t be able to scrimmage.”

  Most of the kids booed.

  “Give me all the defencemen at this blue line and the rest of you in the left corner at the far end. We only have Cassie in net, so we’ll only go one way. The forward passes to me at the blue line, and then takes a return pass in on the defenceman. Curl back to your lines after the shot. Remember, boys; there’s no contact.”

  She blew her whistle. “Let’s do this, people.”

  Charlie drifted slowly to the far end with the other forwards. Alexandra was already lined up.

  “Behind me, Joyce,” she said. “Watch how it’s done.”

  What did she have against him, anyway?

  On the whistle she snapped a pass to Cummings, took the return without breaking stride, and rocketed into the neutral zone. Michelle was on defence, and Alexandra took the puck outside. With one hand on the stick she brought it back across, stopped it halfway, and bounced back outside. Michelle stumbled slightly and that was all the fleet-footed Alexandra needed to break in alone. She glided on one foot, faked a wrist shot, and deked to the stick side. Cassie proved her worth, and got her right pad down to take away the bottom of the net. Alexandra tried to raise it, but Cassie used her blocker to knock the puck to the corner.

  Charlie was still impressed by the move. He reached to the boards and snagged a puck, kicking it between his feet as he shuffled forward waiting for his turn.

  “Have you played much hockey before?”

  He turned around. Trisha smiled back. She had to be joking. Might as well play along.

  “This is my first time,” he said. “What about you?”

  “My first time also,” she said. “Could you explain the rules to me?”

  “I’m not sure I know them. I think the game has to do with this little round thingy.”

  “It’s called a pluck,” she said.

  “Not sure that’s right.”

  “It is. I saw it on the Internet.”

  “Then it has to be true.”

  “Hey. You should be careful. Your skate lace is undone.”

  He looked down. They were done up. “Very funn—”

  Trisha passed to Cummings and took the return pass without slowing down. The girl was crazed. She had done that just to butt in front of him.

  “I guess she got you,” Julia said dryly. She was behind him.

  He shuffled his feet a few times and took a deep breath. He couldn’t think of anything to say. At least Trisha had to go against Scott, who never got beat one-on-one, and had the deadliest poke check in the league. Trisha went directly at him, holding the puck in front of her. That was child’s play for Scott, and a metre inside the red line he lunged at the puck. A right-handed shot, Trisha pulled it back with the tip of her stick, brought it even to Scott’s right shoulder, and then back to his forehand side. One hand on the stick, she cut hard around him at the blue line.

  The only way he could stop her was to haul her down. For a second, Charlie thought he would; and no doubt he would have in a game. But he let her go, and Trisha roared in on Cassie. Unlike Alexandra, she did not bother being fancy. She teed it up and slapped it from the slot. The puck was in the net before Cassie could react. Trisha banged her stick on the ice a few times and then held it over her head. Sc
ott lowered his head and skated to the boards. Charlie could only imagine what Nick was saying to him now.

  “You’re up, Charlie,” Julia said.

  Cummings banged her stick on the ice. “Charlie, let’s keep the drill active,” she called out.

  Cummings took his pass and slid it back along the blue line. Charlie curled slightly to take it on his forehand, and only then did he look up. Emily was three metres away, which caught him by surprise. That was aggressive defensive play. She carved deeply on her left leg and then pushed back on her right to gain momentum, stick forward, her left hand in the air — the classic defensive posture. Charlie felt a bit silly — as if it was so serious.

  “Stuff him, Em,” he heard from behind. It sounded like Trisha.

  He didn’t want to show Emily up, but Trisha’s tone was too much. He decided to put a move on Emily, but then let her get back into the play so as not to rub her nose in it. As he crossed the red line, he figured it was time. Emily was in a good position, though. He needed to confuse her. Charlie increased his pace, faked a double move to his left, did a half-stutter and brought the puck right, then backhanded a soft chip past Emily’s left leg.

  She remained facing him. It was all he could do not to laugh out loud. He had her. Charlie crossed over to his left and carved around her, reaching for the puck spinning two metres behind her. He pushed off once with his outside foot.

  The next second he was flat on his back. Emily had smoked him with a bodycheck.

  Trisha began whooping it up. “Woo hoo! Emily The Destroyer!” she yelled, and repeated that a few times.

  Most of the girls were laughing and banging their sticks on the ice.

  Charlie fought to control his temper. He couldn’t believe she had plowed him.

  “Keep your head up, young man,” Emily said. “Those house league moves don’t play with me.”

  “House league!” he sputtered, as he got to his knees. “There’s no hitting!”

  “Sorry. Forgot. I’ll be nicer next time.” She curled her arms into a bodybuilder pose, and the rest of the defence cracked up.

  “That’s enough of that, Emily,” Cummings said. “There’s absolutely no body contact allowed. You know that’s a penalty.”