Cinderella in Skates (17 page)

"Yeah, I think you can," he says, and I finally look at him.

"I don't know."
 

"What's with all this?" he asks. "You never said you didn't think you could before."
 

I shrug. "It just seems ridiculous, that's all. She's been a goalie forever and I've been one for, what, two months?"

"Talent is talent," he replies.
 

"She might have more."
 

"Yeah, or she might not."

"I don't even have any allies on the team. They're all on her side."
 

"You don't know that," he says. "And you'll make friends."
 

"Yeah, or maybe not," I shoot back, and he grins.
 

"Who wouldn't love you, Nat?"
 

I blush and look down at my hands. "This is all so different to me," I say quietly. "I just don't want to blow it."
 

"Look, remember when I told you what happened to me that night at the draft?"
 

"For the pros?"
 

He nods. "Yeah, that one. That was the worst night of my life. I can't think of failing at something more than I failed at hockey then."
 

I open my mouth to protest but he shakes his head and holds up his hand.

"Wait," he says. "Just hear me out on this, okay?"
 

"Yeah. Okay."

"When you play hockey the way that I did, you play it to make it the pros. That's just the way it was for me. And then I didn't do it. So if there's anyone that knows what it's like to work for something and then fail at it in the worst way possible, it's me. For days after that, the talk wasn't about who went with the first pick or why the Blue Lizards had a terrible draft. It was all about why Shane Stanford didn't get selected. What did he do wrong? Is he not the goal-scoring threat we thought he was? Did the media get wrong? Why didn't someone just take a chance on this kid? It was everywhere, Nat."
 

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath but I keep quiet.
 

"So," he continues. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that it does no good to beat yourself up and constantly wonder whether you're good enough because someone will always tell you differently. It took me a long time to realize it after that draft, but now I
know
I'm good enough to play in the pros. If those thirty general managers don't see it, well, that's their problem. But I believe in me, and that's the best that I can do."
 

 
"But aren't you scared you won't make it?"
 

"Of course," he replies. "I'd have to be crazy not to be. This is my last shot at my dream. When I was a baby, the mobile that hung over my crib had hockey sticks and pucks and goals. By the time I was in kindergarten, I had posters of all the greats on my walls. Hockey was never not an option for me."

"What if it doesn't work out?"
 

"Then I come up with a new dream," he replies. "Or figure out a new way to keep this one." He shrugs. "There are lots of professional leagues overseas. Maybe I could go play in Europe for a couple seasons and then sign a contract here." He shrugs. "I'll still have a history degree from Wisconsin. Maybe I do something with that and coach hockey. I kind of just found out that I love doing it." I can't help but smile at that. "I guess what I'm saying is that I know now that I've done everything I can to make this part of my dream happen, and if it doesn't, that isn't on me."
 

I nod. "Yeah, that makes sense."
 

"Didn't mean to get all cheesy on you."

I smile at him as he scoots closer to me on the couch to slip under the blanket that I definitely hadn't been sharing.
 

"I like it," I say. "I like knowing about things like this with you."
 

"I don't think you need to worry much about starting," he tells me. "You're good enough but you never know how loyal a coach is to her returning players. You made the team. I hope you're proud of that, at least."
 

"I know," I say. "And I am. But I want a new challenge."
 

"We've still got time to get you there. But for right now, we're still on vacation. No need to go back to the real world just yet, right?"
 

I bite the bottom of my lip. "No, I guess there isn't."
 

"Glad you agree," he says before he leans in to kiss me, one hand mixing up in my hair, the other resting lightly on my knee beneath the blanket.
 

And suddenly, I'm not sure if I'm hotter because of the fire burning next to me or because of the feeling of Shane's lips pressing down onto mine.
 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Shane and I mostly slept through the car ride home from the mountains yesterday, and I'm okay with that. I didn't expect much private time with his parents sitting less than twelve inches in front of us the whole time.

A way-too-short weekend ended with a way-too-short evening in front of the fire last night. Once he'd started kissing me, Shane hadn't stopped until the flames had died down to nothing more than embers and it was hard for me to keep my teeth from chattering.
 

I'm bummed that we have real practice after class today with the team and Coach Dobrov, and I won't be seeing Shane. He's got too much going on downtown to come to the suburbs for a special practice session with me after my official one.

I'm sitting at the very end of one of the wooden benches lining the rink, my teammates scattered around me. I still don't really know any of them, but it's clear from the constant buzz of conversation and occasional peal of laughter that they all know each other.

Great.

The door to the rink opens and another girl dressed in goalie pads walks in.

There she is.

Erica Wunders.

Otherwise known as the only thing that can stop me from starting this season.
 

Erica clomps -- seriously, have you ever tried to move around in goalie pads? There's no way to make
that
graceful -- in my direction and drops down onto the bench next to me.
 

"Hey," she says, brushing some of her black hair off her forehead. "Welcome aboard, Natalie."

I smile at her, but I'm immediately suspicious. "Thank you."
 

"Get ready for this. Suicides are definitely going to be on tap first," she says, and now I'm wondering if maybe I'd been wrong about Erica the whole time. Maybe she'd just been super focused on the tryout that day and hadn't realized she was coming across so, well, rudely.

"Uh oh," I say, trying to keep things light and friendly. "Those are my least favorite drills."

"You'll get better at them once you play hockey longer."
 

"Yeah, I guess you'd know. It definitely shows you've been doing this forever and I'm pretty sure it's obvious I've only been at it for a couple of months."
 

Erica nods. "Yeah, it is."
 

I blink twice. I hadn't expected her to agree with me. I'm scrambling to come up with some kind of response to that when she goes on.
 

"That's not to say you can't get better or anything, Natalie. It's just hard when you're so new to the game."

"Well, I think I'm doing alright."
 

Erica nods enthusiastically. "Oh, for sure! For sure! Oh, my gosh, I didn't mean to say you're not," she says, but I'm not buying the sugary sweetness in her tone this time. "I guess I'm just trying to tell you not to be too discouraged if you don't get a lot of playing time, that's all. It's hard to beat out someone like me."
 

"I guess we'll see, right?"

A quick frown flashes across her face but before she can say anything, Coach Dobrov blows her whistle, cutting off the rest of the conversation.
 

"Ladies!" the coach bellows out. "Welcome to the new season. Congratulations on making it this far. You're all about to be part of something very special as long as you're willing to work for it."
 

I try not to smile. After my little chat with Erica, I'm more willing to work to get this than ever before.
 

Coach Dobrov explains how practices will run, and from the sound of things, today is about to be chock full of all sorts of conditioning drills, or, as I like to call them, torture.

She has us all line up on one of the blue lines, and I'm instantly envious of the girls who aren't about to have to do all these sprints in full goalie padding.
 

And sure enough, sprints are exactly what Coach Dobrov has in mind, the same ones we had to do to start tryouts.

Coach Dobrov blows her whistle and I begin skating. It's easy at first -- Shane's insistence on conditioning drills might actually pay off one more time -- but by the I'm on my way back from the last blue line, my legs feel heavy and a thick braid of sweat prickles on my hairline.

I'm almost to the finish line when I realize she hasn't blown the whistle yet, but already two girls have given up. One lies flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling, arms at her side and the other is bent over on one knee, gagging in the corner.
 

But Erica is still skating with ease.

I force myself to keep going. She won't beat me. I won't let that happen. I can't. I reach the blue line and turn around to go back to the first red line. As long as it takes. Even if the blades fall off my skates.

Four more girls have dropped out by the time I'm on my way back from the far goal. Erica isn't one of them, and I already know we're going to be the last two standing, and Coach Dobrov's not going to show us any mercy.
 

My legs wobble, the skates feeling more foreign on my feet now than they had the very first day I'd put them on, but I'm not stopping. There are just three of us left standing, and as I start another round of the drill, I see the only other person separating me from Erica stumble and hit the ice.
 

Coach Dobrov stands inside the bench, arms folded across her chest, whistle dangling around her neck, and it doesn't look like she has plans to blow it any time soon.

Erica and I keep skating -- we're neck-and-neck, really -- and I'm looking at her out of the corner of my eye when the front of the blade of her skate digs awkwardly into the ice and she trips and falls.

The whistle blows then and even though Erica hadn't really quit, I don't care.

I'm the last one standing.
 

"Nice job, ladies," Coach Dobrov says, shooting a quick glance in my direction. "Let's move into position drills for the rest of the afternoon."
 

I skate over to where Coach King waits by one of the nets, not at all excited when I realize that I'm essentially going to have to spend every practice with Erica Wunders.
 

Great.
 

I can hardly wait.
 

***
 

I'm in the locker room changing into non-sweaty yoga pants and a sweatshirt to head home in when Ivy drops down onto the bench next to me.

"Boy, do I feel bad for you," she says, tipping her head back and taking a sip from her water bottle.
 

I raise my eyebrows. "What?"
 

"You're the sucker who gets to be Erica's back-up. That's not somethin' I'd wish on my worst enemy."
 

"So you mean it's
not
all in my head?" I ask with a smile, happy to hear maybe I'm not the only one Erica isn't super fond of.
 

She definitely had not been happy to lose out to me during the suicide drill and she wasn't shy about making it known that she'd tripped -- not quit -- all through the rest of practice. Even Coach King eventually had to remind her that goalies are supposed to have short memories.
 

"Erica thinks she the best player in Wisconsin," Ivy says with a roll of her eyes. "You'll get tired of it really fast."
 

"Who says I'm not already?"
 

"Welcome aboard," she says. "You're the best back-up goalie we've had on the team in all my years playing here so far. And this is my fourth."
 

"Doesn't seem to matter much with Erica in net," I grumble. "I didn't know you were on the team. I didn't see you at tryouts."
 

"I was sick," she says. "Coach D cut me a break because I've played for her for the last three years. Still made me do individual conditioning drills when I was better to make sure I didn't turn into a lazy slug during the offseason, though."
 

I laugh. "That sounds about right."
 

"Hey, what are you doing Friday night?"
 

I hesitate for a second, not sure how much I want to tell her right away. I'd been planning on surprising Shane at his hockey game this weekend. "Actually, I'm thinking of going to the Badger game."
 

"The hockey game?" Ivy asks.

I nod.

"Cool!" she says. "Those are really fun. Who are you going with?"
 

"Oh, it was, um --"

"Just you, huh?" Ivy cuts in, and I can't help but smile. I like her blunt style.
 

"Yep. Just me."
 

"Want some company?"

"Oh, you don't have to."
 

"Yeah, I know, but it'd be fun. And you should get to know your teammates."
 

"You're probably right. Let's do it."
 

"Great!" she says, clapping her hands together. "We can head downtown after practice Friday."
 

"Sounds like a plan."
 

She smiles at me and bounces off to the back of the locker room and all I can really think about is how excited I am to surprise Shane.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

January