Two days passed and USA was playing in the semi-finals tonight. If they beat Germany again, they would go on to play Iceland in the championship game.
Emma woke up that morning and moved to sit up, only to be brought right back down by a sharp pain in her ribs. She sucked in a sharp breath and swiftly swung her legs off of her bed, sitting up. She closed her eyes and held her head while she waited for the dizziness to pass. Her body was aching ridiculously and she knew it was just the actions of the past few days catching up to her.
"You might have fractured a rib or something." Connie said, walking out of the bathroom.
"Probably," she muttered.
When the dizziness subsided she got up and walked over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She brushed her teeth and washed her face before throwing on athletic shorts and a tank top. She looked in the mirror and sighed.
There were no bruises on her face, but she was pale and had dark bags under her eyes. She picked up her cover up and worked to fix the problem before gathering her stuff to go eat with the girls.
Connie and Julie turned away from her as she applied her makeup. They couldn't stand to see her put up this front. They knew they should tell someone, but Emma had begged them not to. She told them that if they told anyone, Blake would not only hurt her, but he would try to come after them too. So instead, they settled on keeping an eye on her and going through a daily morning routine where Emma would wake up to Advil and a glass of water on her nightstand, no words exchanged.
When they got to the cafeteria, they found the boys and went over to sit down. Emma was greeted with a table full of glares before they turned back to their own conversation. She rolled her eyes and silently ate her food. She was used to this by now.
"So, who's ready for the game tonight?" Connie asked, trying to bring everyone into one big conversation.
"I am. I'm ready to crush these kids so we can get on to beat the real assholes." Guy said, rubbing his hands together and grinning. Everyone laughed.
Emma's smile dropped the minute she felt a hand clutch her shoulder rather tightly. She breathed out an annoyed sigh and looked up at Blake standing above her, a serious look on his face. Her exterior remained calm, but she was shaking terribly on the inside.
"Speaking of assholes," Julie muttered.
"I need to talk to you," Blake said quietly.
She rolled her eyes and stood up to follow him. The two walked until they were on the other side of the cafeteria. She silently thanked god that they were still in public.
"We made the finals," he told her.
She nodded. "I know."
"Good, so then you know that it'd be in your best interest if you lost tonight," he told her roughly.
"What?"
"If you win, you have to face us again. This time, we will really do some damage not only to you, but to your whole team," he whispered, leaning closer to her ear, "especially your little lover boy over there."
Emma glanced over at Adam and realized that him and the rest of her teammates were watching their conversation. She felt Blake press a kiss to her temple for added effect, which made them even angrier. She turned back to him and raised her eyebrows, hinting for him to get to the point.
"So tonight I want you to do everything you can to make sure you lose. I'd rather face Germany since they don't have the heart that your team does."
Emma was speechless. She couldn't possibly throw the game. It'd make it an even bigger reason for them to hate her. But then you could go home. No. No way in hell.
"I can't. I mean, if Coach sees me doing bad he'll just bench me and then there's no way I could possibly make us lose."
Blake was not satisfied with her response. He reached out to grab her arm, squeezing it roughly.
"You make it happen, you hear me?" he whispered harshly. She swallowed and nodded. "Good. I'll see you later," he said before kissing her cheek and walking off.
Emma breathed out roughly and calmly walked back to the table. She grabbed her bag. "I'm going back to the room. I'm not hungry," she said angrily. The girls nodded in response and watched her leave, not before exchanging worried glances.
The team was in the locker room getting pumped for the game. Emma sat on the bench again trying to tie her skates and also trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do. She jumped when she felt two hands slam onto her shoulders.
"Ready?!" Connie yelled excitedly.
"Not exactly," Emma dragged out before standing up.
"Well whatever your problem is, you can sort it out on the ice tonight. We're gonna kick some ass. I can't-"
"Blake wants me to throw the game," she blurted out quickly.
Connie stopped talking immediately and looked at Selena in disbelief. "What," she deadpanned.
Emma nodded frantically. "What the hell do I do?!"
"Well, you're obviously not going to do that!"
"I know. But what the hell do I tell him?"
Connie closed her eyes and waved her hands, trying to think of something. "Okay, just play your heart out. We'll figure something out."
Emma nodded and took a deep breath, exiting the locker room with the rest of the team.
After the big win, everybody was getting ready to leave the locker room to celebrate with their newest teammate, Russ. His "Knucklepuck" won them the game.
Adam was throwing a shirt over his head when he heard Portman call his name. "I'll be right there!" he yelled back.
When he left the bathroom, the locker room was empty. He took this as an opportunity to check out his wrist. Over the last few days of practice and games, the pain had gotten significantly worse and so had his playing. He sighed and grabbed an ace bandage from his bag to wrap his wrist with.
"Just think of how you'd play if you had two good wrists."
He jumped when he heard Coach Bombay behind him.
"Coach! Hey, it's just a little sore, that's all," he lied, standing up to leave.
"I should have noticed sooner. I'm sorry man, I wasn't doing my job."
Adam tried to play it off. "Coach I'm fine. I can play I swear."
Bombay nodded, grabbing a hockey stick. He held it out in front of Adam, prompting him to take it with his bad hand. "Rotate it."
Adam stared at the stick, willing his wrist to move. He knew it was impossible. No matter how hard he tried, his wrist wouldn't turn. Frustrated, he threw the stick on the ground.
"I'm gonna have to bench you," Bombay said sadly. Adam looked up in disbelief.
"What? No! You can't do that," he pleaded.
"Adam you could injure yourself permanently."
"I have to play! All the scouts are here watching me. This is my shot."
"You're young. You're going to have plenty of shots, believe me," Bombay tried to reason.
Adam knew it was final and sat down with his head in his hands. "But my dad's counting on me," he murmured.
After losing Emma he was able to distract himself by throwing everything into hockey. Now what was he supposed to do?
Bombay sighed and sat down across from him. "My dad worked a lot when I was a kid. So when he made it to a game, I wanted to score 100 goals for him. I spent the game a nervous wreck, my stomach was in knots."
Sounds familiar. "That's how I feel," Adam said honestly. Bombay nodded, already knowing that.
"Before my dad died, he told me that his happiest times were watching me skate around the pond behind our house. That was when I realized I didn't need to score 100 goals for him. He was proud of me because I was his son and I did my best. I know that's how your dad feels."
Adam felt a tear escape. He knew his dad was different, but he still had hope that that was how his dad saw him. "Thanks Coach."
Happy with the way the conversation went, the two left the arena to get his wrist x-rayed.
Emma didn't throw the game, however, she made sure not to score any goals. Team USA won easily, and everybody was currently in the lounge celebrating. The room was filled with excited chatter and laughter. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, except for Emma.
She sat on the couch, playing with the cup in her hands distractedly. She had on jeans and a red off the shoulder shirt with her golden hair cascading in waves down her back. On the outside she looked stunning, but on the inside she couldn't feel more hideous.
She felt like she didn't belong here anymore. Everyone else was close with each other and she just sat on the side. She felt like an outsider.
She glanced over at Adam, taking him in. The team had found out an hour ago that he had a sprained wrist and was out indefinitely. At first, he was clearly very upset, but his friends were gong a good job of taking his mind off of it. He had a bright smile on his face and was laughing at something Averman was doing.
He looked so happy. It made her head spin and tears come to her eyes. He doesn't give a damn about you. She dropped her head and looked at her cup.
Blake hadn't even come looking for her and that freaked her out to no extent. What if he was figuring out a plan to get her alone? Obviously he's going to be furious with her. That thought scared her to no end. What if he's waiting for the game just to take it out on the whole team? Then they would all suffer on her part. She was freaking the hell out and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't calm down. She tried to take a sip out of her drink, but her shaking hands didn't make it easy for her. God, maybe she should've thrown the game so she could just go home and forget about all of this. Frustrated, she slammed the cup on the table in front of her and left the room.
Across the room, Adam was in a conversation with Charlie and Jesse. Well, they thought he was listening but his mind was elsewhere, thinking about a certain blonde that was sitting across the room.
Even though he was extremely pissed off at her, he couldn't deny that she looked absolutely beautiful tonight. He was fighting the urge to just go over there and kiss her. Sure, he beyond pissed at her, but he knew he still had feelings for her and that they weren't going anywhere any time soon. He forced himself to shake the thought, because he knew that they were over. She moved on and so should he.
He looked over at her and noticed the glum expression on her face, the one that's been pretty permanent lately. He realized that she's been conservative. She's not the outgoing, fun person that she was and he's curious as to why. Then his mind traveled back to the bruise he saw on her cheek a few days ago. Was something bad happening? No. She's a strong girl. She could protect herself.
"Adam have you even listened to a word we've said?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, that girl sounds hot man," he said. He didn't have to listen to know that Charlie and Jesse were talking about girls. They always talked about girls. He turned his head one more time to find Emma only to see that she wasn't sitting there anymore. Brushing it off, he turned back to his friends.
Emma walked into her dorm room and sat on her bed.
"What did I tell you about going anywhere alone?" Connie questioned, leaning against the door frame.
"Sorry. You were having fun, I didn't want to ruin it," she answered quietly.
"Oh Em," Connie started, moving to sit next to her, "You're way more important. I'd rather my best friend be safe."
Emma got angry with her response and tears began to well up in her eyes. "That's the problem Con. You're not supposed to have to worry about my safety. You're supposed to be having fun here, not taking care of me. From here on out, you and Julie are going to stay out of this. It's my problem and I have to deal with it," she said with finality.
"No. You don't get to make that decision for us Emma. I know you like to push people away, but that's not going to happen with us. We're here, whether you like it or not," Connie said with determination.
With that, Emma felt the tears spilling out. Connie wrapped her arms around her and tried to soothe her.
"I'm so scared," Emma whispered.
"I know. You only have four more days though. Four more days and you're out of here."
Four days too long.