Portal (9 page)

I could feel his breath on my neck and felt strangely drawn to him. I nodded thankfully and squeezed his arm. He was sweet to make an effort to make me feel better. On the way to the computer lab, I asked Maria if she had seen the new girl in class.

“I didn’t notice, Arizona.
You
had my attention, the whole class’s attention!”

I nodded embarrassed, “Yes, I’m sorry about that. I’ll have to apologize to Kellan, again.”

“What on earth’s up with you two? Did you tell him about the hockey? Is he annoyed?”

“I didn’t. Why would he be annoyed anyway?”

She shrugged, “I guess he wouldn’t. I just don’t get it. There’s definitely something up with you two.”

I shook my head in disagreement but she rolled her eyes.

"Why does Dr. Lee want to see you?” she asked moving on.

“Oh, I’m just going to ask him about trying out, forms and all that stuff.”

“You could just get all that from Harry. Have you told him yet?” she asked.

“No, but I will, soon. This evening maybe.”

“Make sure you do. It won’t be pleasant if he finds out from anyone else. You can see that, can’t you?” she asked pointedly, obviously having lost all confidence in my judgment. I nodded and reassured her that I would take care of it.

I wandered over to Dr. Lee’s office after computer lab and knocked at the door.

“Come in,” sounded his surprisingly firm voice.

I went in and waited for him to ask me to sit. Dr. Lee is a very serious looking man. I hadn’t seen him smile yet. He is about five foot ten inches tall and slender. He appeared very formal in his gray slacks, navy blazer and red bow tie. He was a bit intimidating really, which was kind of weird as I was sure I could flatten him if I had to.

He waived me to a chair and asked, “Are you having any problems in physics, Arizona?”

I took a deep breath, “No, I am actually here to talk to you about ice hockey. You’re the coach?”

“I’m the director, not the coach. That would be Coach Stanislaw. Is there anything I can help you with?”

So, he was not the coach. That made sense. Maybe it would be better to make up a pretend physics issue to discuss with him and wait with the hockey stuff until I found Coach Stanislaw.

He continued, “Your brother is an amazing hockey player and we see a bright future for him in college hockey. I wasn’t aware that you had an interest in ice hockey, Arizona. My daughter plays hockey, for Princeton University now.”

I was surprised to hear that he had a hockey-playing daughter.

“Did she go to school here?” I asked with newfound respect for Dr. Lee.

“She did,” he replied with pride.

This was looking a bit more promising so I decided to throw myself into it.

“I was hoping to tryout for the varsity team. I guess I just need some information about the times and any forms I have to fill out. Do I need to fill out a medical form?”

He looked surprised, “Arizona, we don’t have a girl’s team. I wish we did. Tanya, my daughter, played for a local triple A team, The Mountain Cats. Have you heard of them?”

I shook my head as he continued.

“I know the coach fairly well and my wife was their manager for a few years. I’ll be happy to contact them for you,” he offered.

That did sound mildly interesting, and perhaps I would look into that at some point. It would be fun playing with girls. However, at the moment the priority was getting onto the varsity team.

“I understand that if there is no girl’s team available at the school, then the school is obliged to let me try out for whatever team is available. All boys or not,” I informed him firmly.

“That’s true, Arizona,” he agreed. “It will be hard though. We have a strong team. The boys are close and will not easily accept you. I was not even aware that you had played before?”

I ignored his comment, as I wasn’t prepared to delve into my other life as a star hockey girl. It would be too confusing to say the least! I did, however, wonder if I had played hockey with his daughter during summer hockey camps at Princeton University. Anyway, I asked him about the paper work and schedules instead. He went over to a filing cabinet and pulled out some forms and handed them to me.

“Arizona, I’ll let Coach Stanislaw know to expect you. The tryout times are on the top form.”

I nodded and thanked him. He kindly added that I was welcome to contact his wife for any support and advice as she had also played ice hockey.

“Arizona, best of luck tomorrow. I’ll be rooting for you.”

I gave him a thankful smile and left to find the girls. I was feeling much more hopeful and quite joyful by the time I got to the cafeteria. The cheer table beckoned to me and I went over and sat down.

Maria slid over a plate with fruit and asked, “Well, how did it go?”

“Better than I thought it would. I’ll fill you in later, but please don’t mention anything to Harry yet. I’ll try to break it to him this evening.”

“The new girl from physics came over earlier and asked me to hand you this note,” Maria said as she slid a piece of paper over to me. It was brief.

May I copy your physics notes?

I’ll come find you later.

Thanks, Ariele

I guess it was time to deal with Ariele, after all she was my BFF from Princeton. I looked around and spotted her alone at one of the corner tables. Walking over to her, I wondered if she recognized me from Princeton or if she only knew me as Barbie Arizona, like Simla and Justin seemed to.

“Hey, Ariele, I’ve got my notes right here. We can photocopy them in the office if you like.”

She looked up at me carefully studying my face. I smiled at her. She hadn’t changed a bit. Same beautiful Ariele, gorgeous chestnut curls that barely touched her shoulders and green eyes. I’ve never seen more perfect brows, and I knew they were natural, never touched by tweezers. I could see her trying to read me, but she was not brave enough to blurt anything out. Not yet anyway. She stood up, towering about a foot above me. She nodded silently and we headed out of the cafeteria toward the office.

“I heard you moved here from New Jersey?” I asked gently.

She turned around and looked at me tentatively, “It’s complicated. We were supposed to have moved here next June, but we seem to have arrived earlier than expected. It’s a bit of a strange story. I’m still trying to work it out.
A
?” Ariele said looking at me hopefully.

“Yes?”

“I knew it! You are
A
! This is beyond bizarre. You are
A
aren’t you?” she asked pleadingly.

I nodded; Ariele and Monica had always called me “A” back in Princeton.

“I wanted to ask you ever since I saw you at physics, but I was scared to make an idiot of myself again,” she said. She told me that she had run into both Justin and Simla and that neither had recognized her, and both were now treating her like a nut job. Simla had been spreading mean rumors about her.

“Have you got any idea what’s going on?” she asked looking me over with a smile. “I’m not even going to start going on about your new
look
,” she giggled.

I punched her fondly.

“The last time we saw each other was after the SAT’s at Princeton High. And here we were. I am the new girl and you seem to have been here forever. How can that be?” Ariele mused.

“I have no idea, Ariele. This is totally bizarre!”

“No kidding! I’ve been play stalking you for the last few days. I was trying to work out if it was really
you
or if you were like Simla and Justin. I got to say, I nearly gave up when I found out that you were the vice captain of the cheer squad!” She guffawed. “Gosh and on the debate team! The blonde hair and designer gear threw me completely. Have you totally lost your mind?” She chuckled, “It would have been priceless seeing you cheer! I came along to the basketball game hoping to see you in action. I was so looking forward to it! How did you get out of that?”

“Long story, Ariele! We really have to get to the bottom of this. What are you doing after school? Can you come over and hang out later this evening?”

She was hesitant. Her parents had her on a strict curfew. We decided that I would go along to her place with the pretense that we had to work on a physics project together. I programmed her new address into my iPhone.

“
A
, I am so glad you are
you
. Cool Jeep by the way! But guess who is driving the Dodge Charger?” she smirked.

I rolled my eyes at her. It felt so good to connect with Ariele. Turning toward her, I grabbed her in my arms and hugged her. It was so good to see her. There were so many questions we both needed answers to but they would have to wait until this evening.

“Oh,
A
, nice going this morning in physics. That’s when I was fairly certain that it was
you
!”

“You saw that? Great. I made a real idiot of myself.”

She chuckled and said, “Apparently, you have a debate team meeting at two, don’t forget! Lily was looking for you earlier.”

“Come with me, Ariele? Share my pain!”

“Ok, goose, I’ll meet you outside the dork room.”

Two o’clock came way too soon. I walked over to the “dork” room and found Ariele waiting for me.

She took my hand and whispered, “Strength in numbers, sister from the future,” and winked at me.

Lily arrived with the rest of the team and we went inside. I looked over to Ariele and rolled my eyes. I felt really bad for this enthusiastic bunch. They really didn’t deserve to have me here. I recognized a few kids from my other classes.

“You’re the new girl… Ariele? Have you been on a debate team before?” Lily asked.

Ariele sighed and said, “No, but I am trying to get a feel for the activities here so Arizona suggested I come along to see if this is for me.”

“Well, I hope it is. We would love for you to join.”

The meeting was beyond painful. Strategy, competition dates, speaker sequence. I tried to nod and make the right sounds at the right time. Lily tried to corner me for dates, but I managed to avoid that by saying that the cheer squad schedule had not been finalized yet, so I couldn’t commit to anything. It would be best to use me as a reserve (I had absorbed this concept during the speaker sequence bit of the meeting). Lily seemed to accept this unquestioningly. I guess my priority in this life was cheerleading. Ariele was asked if she would like to sit in on a few of the debates. She nodded, but looked relieved when the bell rang. The meeting was over and we all dispersed.

I nodded a “later” to Ariele and went to find Harry. I walked around the corridor and was stopped by Simla. She looked decidedly unhappy.

“Why are you hanging out with that weirdo?”

“Who, Simla?” I asked, knowing full well that she meant Ariele.

“Ariele, the new girl. You need to stay away from her. She’s really strange. Her parents are nuts too. They told the staff in the hospital that they’re from the future!”

I tried suppressing my laughter, “I’ll be careful Simla, but Ariele and I have a physics project to do together.”

She looked at me unhappily.

“I have to go and find Harry, Simla. I’ll try to catch up with you later. Bye,” I murmured as I hurried off. I walked over to the weight room where I had arranged to meet Harry. I spotted him by the door. Oh yuck, he was basically eating Maria.

“Cut it out you two!”

Harry laughed (Maria looked mortified) and let go of her.

“Come on then, Shrimp. See you later, Maria!”

We waved goodbye.

“So what do you want to do, Shrimp?” Harry asked.

“Can we go skating?” I suggested carefully.

He looked surprised but pleased. “That sounds great. I need some ice time before the tryouts,” he added.

I laughed to myself. Like they were going to cut the captain? I suggested that we get some sticks so we could practice his hockey.

He shook his head amused and patted my head, “You are funny! The best! Let’s do it!”

He went off to get some sticks for us from the locker room. I smiled at the thought of my hidden U+ stick in the garage. When he got back, we put on a couple of helmets, I took the sticks and we roared off on his bike. This bike thing was such fun, a real thrill! I was desperately trying to hold on to Harry as I balanced the sticks between us on the seat, my legs over them.

We rode over to the same rink I had been at yesterday. It was so much busier; I guess everyone was trying to get a little practice in before the tryouts. I spotted the lady who lent me the skates yesterday and smiled at her. She brought over a pair of hockey skates this time, as it was open hockey practice only. I put them on; they felt so much more comfortable than the figure skates from yesterday.

Harry took my hand and we walked on to the ice and skated to the center. He carefully positioned the stick in my hand (as I tried my very best not to giggle) and we started passing the puck to one another. I felt like a four year old, but decided to take things slowly with Harry. Some guys from the hockey team came over and asked Harry if he wanted to train with them for a while. He started to say no but I interrupted and told him to go, I would skate around for a while. He patted my helmet and skated off. I watched him for a while – he was amazing. Perhaps even better than me!

I started skating around. This was so much fun, especially with the stick in my hand. I spotted a lone puck on the ice and scooped it up with my stick and then let my stick guide it around the ice. I skated faster and faster and then had to skid to a dead stop as someone skated in front of me. It was Harry.

“You’re not half bad with that stick, Shrimp!” He said excitedly. “Show me what else you can do.”

“I’m not really sure, Harry. I was skating about without thinking,” I said truthfully. I showed him my backward skating and goal shots. I could tell that he was beyond amazed.

“When did you learn to do all this?” he asked amazed.

“I don’t really know. I guess I picked it up watching you?”

He seemed to buy it, typical boy! I was glad that I didn’t have to make up anything more elaborate. He looked at me thoughtfully.