A/N-Wow. This sure did turn into a long one. I don't know if that's a good
thing or a bad thing. Hmmmm. Anyway, lets get on with the story cuz that's
probably why your hear. Can I just say that I hate baby talk when it is not
in reference to cute babies and animals even though it has nothing to do
with this story. Sorry annoying people in my room.
1 Tryouts
The day I had been waiting for. Tryouts. I had to wait an entire month in this preppy hell hole without being able to get on the ice. It was torture. The only way I got through it without going insane was with Gavin's help. Him and I went on morning runs together and went to the gym together. It's great how he has the same coping mechanism as me, when stressed skate, if you can't skate run.
We met other hockey players, some are okay, most are snobs, especially to me. Gavin says my appearance is intimidating but we both now that the reason is my gender. We got to know the Ducks a little more. We were introduced to Varsity superiority. I can't think of them without rolling my eyes. But not all of them are horrendous.
My roomy and I have gotten along okay. I ignore her, she ignores me. To limit the confrontations I spend most of my time out of the room. Gavin and his roommate, Dana, allow me to monopolize their time. Dana isn't a hockey player, but I forgive him because he's a runner. So if Gav is busy I use Dana as a running partner. He's also a pretty cool guy. Intelligent, funny, and doesn't take crap from the bastard preps, although technically preps really aren't bastards because they're to high and mighty to have made a mistake like be born out of wedlock.
So it hasn't been that bad. I've survived so far and now that hockey is starting things will be so much better. We're having a week of tryouts. Each day we have a two hour session, thankfully in the afternoon so I can savor my sleeping in. There are almost 60 of us trying out so the sessions will probably move slowly.
The past week there had been free ice to get our hockey legs back. Gav and I went every chance we got. I was forced by Stephanie, my dear roomy (I tend to forget her name a lot too), to buy loads of Fabreeze and air fresheners or find somewhere else to put my bag. I can't wait till I can leave it in a locker room, it will be much cheaper and hockey equipment isn't supposed to smell like flowers. Why do all the fresheners have to smell like flowers. Anyway, sometimes we saw people but usually not. Gav and I both impressed each other. He's not half bad. The other guys out there treated me with amazement or scorn.
But now is not the time for those thoughts, time to get geared up for tryouts, literally and figuratively. We've been divided into three locker rooms, last year's Varsity in the Varsity locker room, last year's JV in the JV locker room, and us new kids in one of the visitor's locker rooms.
Gav and I walk into the newcomer locker room, immediately the room goes quiet. I ignore them and head for an empty spot that can fit the two of us.
"I'm not changing with a girl," someone says.
I look up. Scanning the faces, I see that many of the guys feel that way.
"What's so bad with changing with a girl?" I ask.
"Well," one guy starts, probably the original deterrent, but he can't come up with a concrete reason.
"Look guys," I say. "Unless you guys like to strip naked and run around the room it's no big deal, same as seeing you in a bathing suit. As for me I know I wont be running around naked and I'm perfectly comfortable in both wearing a bathing suit in public and changing in here."
A few of the guys chuckle, some shrug and go back to getting ready. A few still look indignant.
"What about showering?" Same guy.
"The shower is around a corner, I can't see it from here. Put your towel on over your boxers, take off your boxers, go around the corner, take off your towel, get in the shower, when you are done dry off before you come around the corner, wrap the towel back around your waist, put your boxers on under the towel, then take off your towel and get dressed.
"Of course, we could switch places but then you'd have to wait for the shower. And if you are really paranoid about me seeing you half-naked I'll leave before anyone takes a shower."
Put that way, that they couldn't handle a girl looking at them, along with the perfectly logical thinking I put forth, they couldn't argue and they commenced dressing or undressing whatever may be the case.
A few throw me glances when I take off my pants but only raise a curious eyebrow when they see my boxers. The boy next to me leans over and holds out his hand.
"Colin Reily." I shake his hand
"Rae Perrin."
"Your unique. I like that." He goes back to his dressing. I look at Gav. He grins. A few latecomers look at me oddly when they come in but since no one seems to be paying me any attention they shrug and sit down. I get a few more glances when my shirt comes off. I ignore them. Gavin, who's used to my immodesty, just looks amused. It's not like I don't have a bra on, and it's a sports bra at that. Some people are just too proper.
It's almost time to go on the ice. A guy comes in and hands out jerseys. Half of us get white, half get red. I'm white. Gav's red. I hope that means I get to face off against him.
We exit the locker room and head out to the ice, I guess we're the most eager because no one from the other locker rooms is out yet. We all look at each other. Should we go out yet? Gav and I look at each other and shrug.
"Couldn't hurt," Gav says and steps out onto the ice, I follow suit and the others come on after us. We skate around and do some stretches. Just as we start to get restless the JV come on followed by their coach. The JV looks unhappy. I don't really pay attention to them though because their coach has hockey player candy, pucks. We shoot around, it's kind of crowded. The Varsity finally come on. I've never seen such mass exodus for practices. You usually got sporadic clumps of two or three, and occasionally only one player that comes out at a time. They must want to make a statement. The Varsity looks haughty as always.
The head coach comes on and calls us into a group at center ice. We all kneel down. He looks us over then starts his speech.
"All right guys." He stops and glances at Julie and Connie. "And girls." I roll my eyes. "These tryouts aren't going to be easy. There are 57 of you, there's room for 28 on Varsity and 19 on JV, that leaves 10 to be cut. And those of you from last year don't feel secure in your spots, because they can be taken away. You can move either down or up.
"Now, the setup for the tryouts. We'll have four days of tryouts followed by a red v white game. After the second day of tryouts we will hold the first cuts, those cut that day will have to try again next year. The second cuts will be held after the fourth session, those cut that day will be on the JV team. We will make our final decisions after the red v white game.
"Any question?" There were none.
"All right. We'll start with a little warm up. Start skating the loop, when you hear the first whistle sprint, at the second whistle slow down to half speed. On a double whistle stop and turn back the other way."
He blew his whistle and we start our laps. After the first few I notice that some of the guys are already lagging. (I use guys because when there is a male majority, and to save time, I use guys). I lap a few, Mendoza right next to me.
The first half of practice is all skating drills. Crossovers, starts and stops, pivots, that kind of stuff. The second half we get to use pucks. These drills are slower and a lot of guys look relieved when coach announces that it's puck time. This is my first time to check out the goalies. They're pretty good, except for that Goldberg kid. Ha, he's older than me and I'm calling him kid. I don't think he's been practicing much, he doesn't suck, he's just not as polished as the others. He also looks kind of scared when I approach him.
We finally get to one on one's I love this part. I like to take people out, beat their butts. Heh heh. A few of the guys are tough, but I beat them anyway. This Luke Smith guy almost got me but I broke away just at the end, I didn't get a goal that time though. When I face Gav we both smile, we've been doing this for a week so we both know each others moves. He is my most difficult opponent, but I have a new move and he doesn't. My winning streak probably would end if I had the chance to go against the boys again, now that they are used to me, but we have too many people and we move on to the next drill.
The end of practice comes pretty quickly to me. We again do the warm up drill. Then the coach calls us over to the center again.
"Good job everyone. I can see picking the teams won't be that easy. Same time tomorrow. Bernard, Curtis, lead them in a cool down stretch."
We circle up around the two. I look around at everyone, we're all flushed with exertion, some are still breathing hard, quite a few look relieved, some even have a smug look on their face—they've seen the competition and believe they are better. Yeah, then one day they have a bad day and someone else has a good day and they lose their spot. Tryouts are tricky like that.
Back in the locker room some of the guys start to get nervous again and look my way. I ignore them.
Gavin turns to me. "I almost had you."
I bark a laugh. "Yeah right, you weren't even close."
He smiles. "Next time then."
I smile back. "Next time."
The first guy finishes undressing. He pauses for a moment, glances at me, shrugs, and wraps his towel around his waist. Others follow suit. A hint of a smile crosses my face, first victory.
The boy next to me, Colin I believe it was, speaks up again. "Your good. That's not good." I quirk an eyebrow. "I want to be on Varsity. I missed out last year and ended up going to a different school."
His brows are together, he's no longer looking at me but at his bag. He looks frustrated.
"Hey, just because I'm good doesn't' mean that you won't make Varsity. Just play hard and you'll get the spot you deserve."
He smiles at me. "And if my spot is on JV?"
"Then we'll just have to work on your game."
He cocks his eyebrow. "We?"
"I'll help anyone who needs it."
He smiles and shakes his head. "Definitely unique." He heads for the showers.
A/N-I know I haven't talked much about the Ducks but I'll get to tem so just hold your horses. And review!
1 Tryouts
The day I had been waiting for. Tryouts. I had to wait an entire month in this preppy hell hole without being able to get on the ice. It was torture. The only way I got through it without going insane was with Gavin's help. Him and I went on morning runs together and went to the gym together. It's great how he has the same coping mechanism as me, when stressed skate, if you can't skate run.
We met other hockey players, some are okay, most are snobs, especially to me. Gavin says my appearance is intimidating but we both now that the reason is my gender. We got to know the Ducks a little more. We were introduced to Varsity superiority. I can't think of them without rolling my eyes. But not all of them are horrendous.
My roomy and I have gotten along okay. I ignore her, she ignores me. To limit the confrontations I spend most of my time out of the room. Gavin and his roommate, Dana, allow me to monopolize their time. Dana isn't a hockey player, but I forgive him because he's a runner. So if Gav is busy I use Dana as a running partner. He's also a pretty cool guy. Intelligent, funny, and doesn't take crap from the bastard preps, although technically preps really aren't bastards because they're to high and mighty to have made a mistake like be born out of wedlock.
So it hasn't been that bad. I've survived so far and now that hockey is starting things will be so much better. We're having a week of tryouts. Each day we have a two hour session, thankfully in the afternoon so I can savor my sleeping in. There are almost 60 of us trying out so the sessions will probably move slowly.
The past week there had been free ice to get our hockey legs back. Gav and I went every chance we got. I was forced by Stephanie, my dear roomy (I tend to forget her name a lot too), to buy loads of Fabreeze and air fresheners or find somewhere else to put my bag. I can't wait till I can leave it in a locker room, it will be much cheaper and hockey equipment isn't supposed to smell like flowers. Why do all the fresheners have to smell like flowers. Anyway, sometimes we saw people but usually not. Gav and I both impressed each other. He's not half bad. The other guys out there treated me with amazement or scorn.
But now is not the time for those thoughts, time to get geared up for tryouts, literally and figuratively. We've been divided into three locker rooms, last year's Varsity in the Varsity locker room, last year's JV in the JV locker room, and us new kids in one of the visitor's locker rooms.
Gav and I walk into the newcomer locker room, immediately the room goes quiet. I ignore them and head for an empty spot that can fit the two of us.
"I'm not changing with a girl," someone says.
I look up. Scanning the faces, I see that many of the guys feel that way.
"What's so bad with changing with a girl?" I ask.
"Well," one guy starts, probably the original deterrent, but he can't come up with a concrete reason.
"Look guys," I say. "Unless you guys like to strip naked and run around the room it's no big deal, same as seeing you in a bathing suit. As for me I know I wont be running around naked and I'm perfectly comfortable in both wearing a bathing suit in public and changing in here."
A few of the guys chuckle, some shrug and go back to getting ready. A few still look indignant.
"What about showering?" Same guy.
"The shower is around a corner, I can't see it from here. Put your towel on over your boxers, take off your boxers, go around the corner, take off your towel, get in the shower, when you are done dry off before you come around the corner, wrap the towel back around your waist, put your boxers on under the towel, then take off your towel and get dressed.
"Of course, we could switch places but then you'd have to wait for the shower. And if you are really paranoid about me seeing you half-naked I'll leave before anyone takes a shower."
Put that way, that they couldn't handle a girl looking at them, along with the perfectly logical thinking I put forth, they couldn't argue and they commenced dressing or undressing whatever may be the case.
A few throw me glances when I take off my pants but only raise a curious eyebrow when they see my boxers. The boy next to me leans over and holds out his hand.
"Colin Reily." I shake his hand
"Rae Perrin."
"Your unique. I like that." He goes back to his dressing. I look at Gav. He grins. A few latecomers look at me oddly when they come in but since no one seems to be paying me any attention they shrug and sit down. I get a few more glances when my shirt comes off. I ignore them. Gavin, who's used to my immodesty, just looks amused. It's not like I don't have a bra on, and it's a sports bra at that. Some people are just too proper.
It's almost time to go on the ice. A guy comes in and hands out jerseys. Half of us get white, half get red. I'm white. Gav's red. I hope that means I get to face off against him.
We exit the locker room and head out to the ice, I guess we're the most eager because no one from the other locker rooms is out yet. We all look at each other. Should we go out yet? Gav and I look at each other and shrug.
"Couldn't hurt," Gav says and steps out onto the ice, I follow suit and the others come on after us. We skate around and do some stretches. Just as we start to get restless the JV come on followed by their coach. The JV looks unhappy. I don't really pay attention to them though because their coach has hockey player candy, pucks. We shoot around, it's kind of crowded. The Varsity finally come on. I've never seen such mass exodus for practices. You usually got sporadic clumps of two or three, and occasionally only one player that comes out at a time. They must want to make a statement. The Varsity looks haughty as always.
The head coach comes on and calls us into a group at center ice. We all kneel down. He looks us over then starts his speech.
"All right guys." He stops and glances at Julie and Connie. "And girls." I roll my eyes. "These tryouts aren't going to be easy. There are 57 of you, there's room for 28 on Varsity and 19 on JV, that leaves 10 to be cut. And those of you from last year don't feel secure in your spots, because they can be taken away. You can move either down or up.
"Now, the setup for the tryouts. We'll have four days of tryouts followed by a red v white game. After the second day of tryouts we will hold the first cuts, those cut that day will have to try again next year. The second cuts will be held after the fourth session, those cut that day will be on the JV team. We will make our final decisions after the red v white game.
"Any question?" There were none.
"All right. We'll start with a little warm up. Start skating the loop, when you hear the first whistle sprint, at the second whistle slow down to half speed. On a double whistle stop and turn back the other way."
He blew his whistle and we start our laps. After the first few I notice that some of the guys are already lagging. (I use guys because when there is a male majority, and to save time, I use guys). I lap a few, Mendoza right next to me.
The first half of practice is all skating drills. Crossovers, starts and stops, pivots, that kind of stuff. The second half we get to use pucks. These drills are slower and a lot of guys look relieved when coach announces that it's puck time. This is my first time to check out the goalies. They're pretty good, except for that Goldberg kid. Ha, he's older than me and I'm calling him kid. I don't think he's been practicing much, he doesn't suck, he's just not as polished as the others. He also looks kind of scared when I approach him.
We finally get to one on one's I love this part. I like to take people out, beat their butts. Heh heh. A few of the guys are tough, but I beat them anyway. This Luke Smith guy almost got me but I broke away just at the end, I didn't get a goal that time though. When I face Gav we both smile, we've been doing this for a week so we both know each others moves. He is my most difficult opponent, but I have a new move and he doesn't. My winning streak probably would end if I had the chance to go against the boys again, now that they are used to me, but we have too many people and we move on to the next drill.
The end of practice comes pretty quickly to me. We again do the warm up drill. Then the coach calls us over to the center again.
"Good job everyone. I can see picking the teams won't be that easy. Same time tomorrow. Bernard, Curtis, lead them in a cool down stretch."
We circle up around the two. I look around at everyone, we're all flushed with exertion, some are still breathing hard, quite a few look relieved, some even have a smug look on their face—they've seen the competition and believe they are better. Yeah, then one day they have a bad day and someone else has a good day and they lose their spot. Tryouts are tricky like that.
Back in the locker room some of the guys start to get nervous again and look my way. I ignore them.
Gavin turns to me. "I almost had you."
I bark a laugh. "Yeah right, you weren't even close."
He smiles. "Next time then."
I smile back. "Next time."
The first guy finishes undressing. He pauses for a moment, glances at me, shrugs, and wraps his towel around his waist. Others follow suit. A hint of a smile crosses my face, first victory.
The boy next to me, Colin I believe it was, speaks up again. "Your good. That's not good." I quirk an eyebrow. "I want to be on Varsity. I missed out last year and ended up going to a different school."
His brows are together, he's no longer looking at me but at his bag. He looks frustrated.
"Hey, just because I'm good doesn't' mean that you won't make Varsity. Just play hard and you'll get the spot you deserve."
He smiles at me. "And if my spot is on JV?"
"Then we'll just have to work on your game."
He cocks his eyebrow. "We?"
"I'll help anyone who needs it."
He smiles and shakes his head. "Definitely unique." He heads for the showers.
A/N-I know I haven't talked much about the Ducks but I'll get to tem so just hold your horses. And review!