Thanks to my beta Sally for making this chapter better.
Clarke sat on the sofa in her living room, head back, and eyes closed, listening to the music pulsing through her earbuds. Her mind wasn't on the music, however, but on her upcoming hockey game. It's a regular season game like any other, but for some reason, this one felt different. Clarke sighed and shut down the music on her phone, checking the time as she did so. She heard her parents in the kitchen, so she stood up and made her way into the other room.
"Hey kiddo," her father said as he smiled at her. "Ready for the game? The last one of the winter break, then you'll have a bit of rest until after the New Year," he added.
Clarke smiled back as she nodded her head, but then her brow creased slightly, and her smile dropped for a moment. It was only a brief lapse, but her father noticed anyway.
"What's up Clarke?" he asked softly, watching her carefully as she lifted herself up to sit on the counter.
Clarke raised her eyes and looked at her father curiously. "What do you mean?"
"Well, usually you're bouncing around before a game, nervous energy and all that," he said while waving a hand in the air. "You seem preoccupied today. So, what's up?"
Clarke sighed. "I don't know, Dad. I am looking forward to the break." She shrugs, "Maybe it's what Octavia said yesterday about this team."
"The Grounders, right?" her Mom asked, joining the conversation and smacking her daughter on the behind while shooting her a very pointed look to get off the counter. Clarke rolled her eyes, but acquiesced and sat on one of the stools in front of the counter instead. Abby placed a thermos and some sandwiches on the counter and started packing them into a bag. "What about them? You haven't played them yet this year, but most of the teams stay pretty consistent from year to year, don't they?"
"Yeah," Clarke replied distractedly, before pulling her face into a frown again thinking about the stability of the teams in the league and all the girls she has gotten to know over the years. She usually knew what kind of game to expect from each of the teams; a bit rough, or dirty, or if the girls were just out to have some fun and get some exercise.
Clarke looked at her parents and continued, "Octavia went and watched their last game and said that they have a new player this year. Apparently, she's really good and has changed the dynamic of the team a lot. They're rougher, more driven, and more intense than she's ever seen them." Clarke paused, thinking about what was bugging her and tried to articulate it for her parents.
She sighed and with a shrug of her shoulders said, "I guess I just don't know what to expect today. Octavia said they made this new girl the captain already, and the rest of the girls pretty much do everything she says. Even though most of the girls are the same, they are not the same team they were last year."
Her dad eyed her narrowly. "Are you worried about it, or just nervous?" he asked.
I don't know, she thought.
Clarke shook her head and bit back her first response. She made an effort to shake off her disquiet and to project her usual pre-hockey bravado. She grinned at her parents.
"You guys know I don't worry about hockey. I play to have fun, see my friends and get some exercise."
Abby rolled her eyes at her daughter and lightly slapped her on the shoulder. "Right. And you don't enjoy winning at all," she teases grinning at her daughter.
Clarke smirked as she got up from the counter. "Winning is always a bonus," she said as she walked out of the room. Despite her tone, though, she was still trying to sort out her nagging unrest about the upcoming game.
Fifteen minutes later her parents were waiting patiently by the door as Clarke struggled with her giant gear bag containing pants, shoulder pads, shin guards, gloves, skates, helmet and other assorted protective gear. She huffed as she dropped it by the door and leaned her sticks against the wall. Pulling on her coat and her shoes Clarke bent down to pick up her bag again and stopped half way through the motion. Straightening, she bolted back down the hall towards the bathroom, yelling "I'll be right back" over her shoulder at her parents.
A few minutes later she came back to see amused expressions on her parent's faces.
"What?" Clarke scowled at them as she wiped her hands on her pants. "You know I get nervous butterflies before a game."
"Sure, but three times Clarke?" her mother smirked. "That's a record. You must really be nervous for this one."
Clarke rolled her eyes, picked up her gear and glared at them. "Can we just go please?" she growled.
"Aye-aye, Captain." Her dad saluted, and took Clarke's bag from her and walked out to the car.
Clarke grabbed her sticks and headed out after him while her mom locked up the house and followed behind.
Clarke's parents left her in the lobby of the DC Ice Arena and headed in to find some seats from which to cheer and potentially embarrass their daughter. Clarke watched them go with affection, shaking her head. The next thing she knew strong arms were wrapping her up from behind and lifting her off the ground. Clarke squealed in surprise, before a voice she instantly recognized whispered in her ear "Go get em' Princess."
The arms put her down, and she spun on her heel to slap Bellamy Blake on the arm. "You scared me, jerk face!" she said with a smile. "Hi, O," Clarke said still smiling, looking behind Bellamy to his sister - and Clarke's best friend.
Octavia stepped up with her own smile and hugged Clarke. "Hiya, Griff," she said, and added "Ready for the game?"
"Haven't I told you before that I was born ready?" Clarke sassed back with raised brows.
Octavia laughed and pulled Clarke toward the locker room. "See you later, Bell!" she yelled over her shoulder at her brother, who waved in return before giving them both a thumbs up.
"Have you seen Raven yet?" Clarke asked Octavia as they walked down the hall.
"No, not yet. Just you. They're probably all in the dressing room already."
No sooner were the words out of Octavia's mouth, than they were pushing open the door to their team's locker room, the noise from within washing over them with comfortable familiarity. As they entered, they were greeted by a chorus of shouts of welcome and some slight teasing about being the last ones there.
"Well, well, well. Our fearless leaders have finally graced us with their presence," Clarke's other best friend stated with a smile. Raven, dark eyes twinkling, half dressed in her sports bra and hockey pants stood up and walked over to Clarke throwing an arm around her shoulders.
"I was beginning to think we were going to have to handle the Grounders without our Captain and her lovely Assistant," Raven said as she winked at Octavia.
Clarke groaned and elbowed the dark haired girl lightly in the side, saying "Get off me and finish getting dressed, will ya."
"Sure thing mone Capitan," Raven shot back, as she released Clarke and headed back to her spot on the bench to tape up her hockey socks to hold them in place over her shin guards.
Clarke and Octavia found some space and began to dress for the game. Someone, Clarke wasn't sure who, plugged in their phone to some portable speakers and music began to pulse around them, pumping them up for the contest ahead. They pulled on their Arker jerseys; sky blue with white shoulders. The Arker's logo printed on the front - a silver ring imprinted on a starburst of silver and gold, representing their sponsor, Ark Technology – incidentally, the company her father founded and runs. Silver numbers on the back round out the uniform and Clarke ran her hand over the number 3 screened on her jersey before lifting her jersey over her head. It had been Clarke's number forever, ever since she strapped on her first pair of skates when she was three years old. Hockey had become her favourite thing, so the year she became a hockey player became her number for life.
The girls were excited and ready to go. Clarke looked around at them and smiled with genuine affection – they really were a fantastic bunch of girls, and they had a great team dynamic; all of them got along and worked well together, which was to be expected since most of the team had been together since the team started over four years ago. They had lost a few girls over the years as they left for schools out of the city, but new players were always willing to move up from lower divisions to play with the two -time, Division 1 champions, so they always managed to maintain a high level of skill and great personalities over the years.
Octavia noticed Clarke's glance around the room and nudged her shoulder, startling her out of her reverie. "What's up?"
"Nothing," she replied. "Just thinking about what a great group we have here."
"Yeah. They're all pretty cool," Octavia stated as she looked around. Then she added softly, "We wouldn't be the team we are without you, though."
Clarke looked up and saw the sincerity shining in Octavia's bright blue eyes, and felt warmth blossom in her chest. Octavia wasn't given to emotional displays or statements, which made her comment all the more meaningful and Clarke blushed slightly. "Thanks, O" she replied just as softly, bumping shoulders with the girl again.
The two girls finished dressing in silence, the music pumped around them, and a sense of anticipation filled the air. Clarke felt as though this feeling of anticipation was different than previous contests - she felt like she had been here before, done this before. She shook her head to clear the deja vu – of course, she had been here and done this before she thought to herself – once a week through the fall and winter, for years. She gave her head another shake, not able to put her finger on what was different tonight and focused instead on tightening her skates.
In what seemed like no time at all, the team was done their routine pre-game stretch to loosen their major muscle groups and were ready to go. Their coach, Marcus Kane, came into the room to give them their pep talk. He said all the same things about teamwork and effort that he has said before every game, but this time, he seems even more intense, less likely to throw his team a smile. Clarke wondered whether she was projecting her nervousness onto Kane and reading things into his speech that weren't there. She's quickly brought out of her contemplation by Kane's wrap up of "Heads up – eyes open! Play hard!"
The girls cheered and strapped on their helmets. Clarke quickly tied her wavy blond locks back into a low-hanging ponytail before she popped in her mouth guard and fastened up her helmet. Her team all look to her before heading out, and she gave them a feral grin while simultaneously fighting down the unease she couldn't identify and yelled "Let's do this!"
The girls all cheered again, and they stormed out of the locker room and out onto the ice.
Kane had already dumped the pucks onto the ice, and Clarke quickly put her spare stick against the wall with all the others near the team bench and jumped out onto the frozen sheet. The other team had yet to arrive on the ice surface so for the time being the Arkers had the whole rink to themselves. Clarke took advantage and led her team in a few quick laps of the full ice sheet before settling into the warmup drills in their end. As Harper, their goalie, got her net ready by putting the pegs in and then banging it up and down to set the pegs in the ice, Clarke yelled out to her team to set up for the St. Louis drill.
The St. Louis drill was designed to help skaters warm up their legs and practice their communication, passing, and timing. It was also meant to help the goalie warm up and get her moving from side to side to help her stretch and get used to seeing shots. It was a standard drill and one that most teams used as a warm up, and Clarke knew that her team loved to start with it as it got their blood going and helped pump them up.
Immediately the team split in half, everyone taking a puck with them. Clarke gave Harper a moment to prep her crease. She watched as Harper scuffed up the area by pushing hard into the ice in a back and forth motion in order to create a rougher surface in the area (which would theoretically help slow down any pucks entering the area) and then hollered out "Let's get moving!" With that Clarke took off towards the blue line, accepted a pass from Octavia just inside and streaked towards Harper. She made sure to make the goalie move a little with the shot, but not too much – the point wasn't to score, after all, it was to make sure their goalie got warm, so she didn't get hurt. Octavia was right behind her having accepted another pass from Fox, and she made sure to move Harper a bit as well. Clarke returned to the end of the line and watched her team as they methodically moved through the drill, everyone loosening up and getting warm through the simple action.
As Clarke took off for her second turn, after making a pass to Monroe, the Grounders made their appearance. Clarke was approaching the blue line as they came out of the hallway and onto the ice, and the first thing she noticed was that their uniforms had changed. Gone were the teal and gold uniforms of last year. Now they're a midnight black with a red left shoulder and a flowing red stripe down the left side of their jerseys. They're all wearing one red sock and one black. The red sock aligned perfectly with the red stripe along the left side of their tops.
The numbers on the back are also in red, as is the Grounders logo on the front, both graphics looking as though they had been ripped into the material, creating the illusion that the material of the jersey was torn. Clarke faltered for a moment, missed a step and fumbled the pass that Octavia had shot from the corner. Cursing silently, she chased it down and missed the rest of the Grounder team as they stepped onto the ice.
Once back in line, Octavia skated up behind her and whispered in her ear. "What was up with that, Clarke? You never miss those passes."
"Shut it, O. I guess I was just surprised by the uniform change. Why didn't you mention that when you told me about the game, you went to?" Clarke said with a hint of accusation in her tone.
"I didn't know" Octavia replied evenly, totally ignoring her best friend's tone. "This is the first time I've seen them. They were still wearing their jerseys from last year when I saw them. Maybe they decided they needed to step up their look before playing the defending champions" she said with a tight smile. "They are pretty intimidating…if you are the sort to be intimidated…which we are not." She stated emphatically before lightly smacking Clarke on the helmet and skating back to her spot in line.
"Right," Clarke softly said as she watched the Grounders begin their warm up. She found herself looking for the new player, the one Octavia said was the Captain of the Grounders team. It didn't take her long to find her. The woman skated with confidence and a fluidity that Clarke envied. Clarke shook her head and mentally scolded herself before focusing back on the task at hand.
The drill changed and the Arkers lined up around Harper and started peppering her with shots. At the other end of the ice, the Grounders were doing the same thing. As Clarke and her teammates continued to fire shot after shot at their goaltender, they were startled as one into stillness by the loud splintering of glass at the other end of the rink. They whipped around as a team to see that the glass directly behind the net had indeed shattered in spectacular fashion.
"Holy shit," Raven mummered. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" Octavia and Clarke asked in unison. "What happened?"
"That one – I think she's the Captain…she's wearing your number Clarke," Raven stated, pointing at the player Clarke had been watching minutes before, before continuing in a hushed voice. "She fired a slap shot that went high, and it demolished the glass."
Octavia's jaw dropped, and Clarke's eyes went wide simultaneously. Clarke hadn't noticed that the opposing Captain was also wearing the number 3, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. However, the rest of the team was standing around muttering, and Harper had a frown on her face, so Clarke pushed her unease aside, knowing she had to get hold of the worry that was starting to flow through her team.
She skated quickly over to Harper and whistled for her team to huddle up. "Listen up, you guys" she started, trying to exude confidence. "I don't want you to worry about this. This glass gets hit all the time, and it was probably just a weak spot. I've seen the glass break in games when it's just a deflection off the goalie's blocker – it's nothing to worry about. Let's get back to our warm up. I need to go shake hands; we get started in a few minutes."
Clarke slapped the closest of her teammates on the butt as they smiled at her, and she made her way towards her team bench. Along the way, she made eye contact with Octavia and Raven, who both shot her a glance with eyebrows raised. Clarke just shook her head at them and continued on her way.
Once she reached the bench, she took a look at her coach, noticing the way his forehead furrowed and that he looked lost in thought. "Coach?" Clarke prompted.
Kane straightened and focused on Clarke. "Clarke," he responded curtly.
"Um, I'm just going to go shake hands, the girls are ready to go, I guess we just have to wait until they replace the glass."
"Fine," Kane stated, turning his back to the ice and digging through his bag to find his clipboard.
Clarke watched him for a moment before shrugging and headed to the opposing team's bench. It was not mandatory that she shake hands with the opposing team's coach, but she felt it set a good example for her team. Besides, she liked Coach Gustus; he had been the Grounders coach for as long as Clarke could remember.
As she skated up to the bench, Gustus saw her coming and stepped down to meet her, his hand outstretched. "Hello Clarke" he boomed as he shook her hand. "How are you? I see your parents are here as usual…they didn't bring the horn this time, did they?" he said with a twinkle in his eye and an exaggerated grimace on his face.
Clarke laughed as she shook his hand. "I'm good, thank you, and no. I won't let them bring that thing ever again."
Clarke let go of his hand and then nodded in the direction of the rink workers quickly replacing the broken glass behind the net. "So, that was something," she commented, still smiling.
Gustus turned to look in the direction of her nod and gave a small nod in return. "Yes," he offered slowly. "I'm sure it was just bad luck – a weak spot in the glass perhaps."
Clarke eyed him closely and responded with her own quiet "perhaps." Then a more forceful "Well, have a great game, Gustus."
He responded in kind and then his eyes shifted to behind Clarke and he smiled again. "Ah, there you are Lexa," he said. "This is Clarke Griffin, Captain of the Arkers," he said motioning to Clarke. "Clarke, this is my niece, Lexa Woods, Captain of the Grounders."
Clarke turned around, hand already outstretched and ready to meet the new captain. No sooner did she complete her turn and look at the slightly taller girl, then she froze. Her breath caught in her throat and her mouth went dry as she found herself looking into the most intense green eyes she had ever seen.