"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
After swallowing her pride and apologizing for her surliness, peace was restored for a while. They won their first game against Team Trinidad and Tobago. They gave their first interview, which ended in a confrontation instigated by the coach of Team Iceland. Maurae noticed Gunnar smirking at them from beside his coach and shook her head.
"That guy's a dentist?" Ken asked Charlie, indicating the scary man addressed as Wolf 'The Dentist' Stansson.
"Nah, it's a nickname. Played one year of pros. Punched more teeth than goals. I hear he even punched out his own coach!"
"I hear they ran him out of the league and the country," Julie offered helpfully.
"THAT'S his team? Those guys are huge!" Poor Ken was the smallest kid on the team. Maurae shook her head and followed him off the platform. She was glad, that night, when she could fall into bed. Julie and Connie were out almost instantly and so neither of them heard the knock on the door. Groaning, Maurae threw off her blankets and walked over, unlocking it and opening it a crack.
With a sigh, she grabbed her key from its ring next to the door and slipped out. "What's up?" she asked. Dean and Fulton grinned at her.
"Want to ditch curfew with us?"
"We have class in the morning, morons," she replied, yawning. "Maybe some other time, when we don't have class or a game. Besides, what would you do?"
"Midnight game. A bunch of individuals from other teams slipped flyers under everybody's door, to see if we would brave the coaches and meet them all on the ice for a little friendly game of puck." Shaking her head, Maurae allowed them to lead her down to the rink. Fulton gave her his sweater to wear over her sleep cami and she smiled then. They were the only three to show up from Team USA, and the entire turnout was at least ten pounds heavier and six inches taller than her.
They slipped into their pads and skates and then met at center ice to pick teams. As per her expectations, she was the last to be picked, sitting nonchalantly on the ice smugly smiling. Fulton and Portman slapped each other high fives when she was reluctantly chosen for their team.
The captain was the team captain of Team UK. Since there were enough players for each team to have three lines and a goalie, Maurae waited in the bench with a bunch of leering boys, whom she staunchly ignored. Her attention was focused entirely on the game and her two teammates, who were tearing up the ice.
Cheering for Fulton after he scored twice, she slapped him a high five when he took the bench. Knowing she wouldn't see ice time tonight, but not really caring, she waited until Dean also came back to the bench and took off his helmet.
"So, why am I here, again?" she asked, eyes never leaving the ice. Dean shrugged.
"Thought it might be fun."
"Oh, it is. Fortunately, I have no studying to do tonight. Otherwise, I might kill you in the morning," she said. "I'm not going to get to play. I'm the smallest person here, and the only girl. They think I'm a decoration, here to represent the diversity of America but not to be actually in the game."
"She's got a point, man," Fulton agreed.
"She's our secret weapon, then," Dean shrugged.
"I'm going to bed," she said. Leaping over the boards, she interrupted the game, skating smoothly across the rink to the exit, where she slipped on skate guards and yanked off the borrowed pads. Felling as though she should play the part of the silly fool they seemed to see her as, she turned back. "Fulton, what should I do with your sweater?"
"I'll get it later!" he shouted back, reddening slightly. She pulled it off, revealing her cami, and folded it, leaving it on the bench before pulling on her slippers again, waving, and trotting out. "I'm so embarrassed," he muttered to Dean after she'd left.
"Why?" asked his grinning friend. "She was playing her part, fooling them. When we play Iceland, we're going to need that element of surprise."
"I suppose..."
* * * *
Maurae was rudely awakened by Britney Spears the next morning. "Urgh, whoever set it on the pop station should be shot. Immediately." Julie buried her head in her pillow, and Connie burrowed deeper into the blankets. Maurae sat up with a grunt, slapped the off switch, and flopped back down, rolling over and curling herself around her extra pillow.
An hour later, the three girls raced out of their room and down the halls of the dorms, practically shoving people aside in their hurry to get to their classroom. They were already ten minutes late for their first class.
Racing in out of breath, they flushed, taking their seats without saying anything. "So nice of you to join us," Miss McKay remarked, raising an eyebrow. "We were just discussing the first history lesson."
The day went rather well, despite their late start. During lunch, the team ate together outside, enjoying the sunshine. Then came more classes, and finally, practice. Practices were always closed to everyone but the team themselves, to prevent cheating in the form of spying. After two hours of practice, it was time to relinquish the ice to another team, and they were given the rest of the night off. Only Adam and Maurae seemed to want to study; Adam because he was a firm believer that procrastination was a silent killer of dreams, and Maurae because she was paranoid about getting a bad grade in math or science and getting benched. Or worse, brought home. She harassed Adam until he agreed to help her with her math homework.
It took her several hours to work through the algebra problems and the science questions. Once they started English, however, she was done with the reading a good twenty minutes before him and she finished answering the questions before he started. Her history work was moderately paced, enough so that they actually worked on it together, and not one before the other.
They had taken a break for dinner at six, and now, at nine, they were ready to go out. None of the homework was due until the end of the week, but they now had free afternoons all week. Lacing on their rollerblades, the two of them set out towards the training fields where the street rinks and courts and fields were located.
Maurae found the team grouped around a street rink, watching Team UK and Team France fool around. "Oh, there you losers are," Fulton teased when he saw them.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you," she shot back good- naturedly. She and Adam joined them at the fence and smiled. "They're good."
"We're better," Adam replied in a whisper. She agreed silently.
"So, what have you been doing since we left you to your own devices?" she asked instead. "You can't have been watching Europeans beat each other up for four hours."
"Why not?" Jesse retorted.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. You should have just gotten your homework out of the way. Then you'd have free afternoons all week." She shook her head and pushed back from the chain link. "I'm going to go for a skate, if anybody wants to come with."
Dwayne volunteered, as did Luis. So the three hockey players left the training areas and skated a bit around UCLA before heading out to Anaheim itself, exploring the various streets and shops, looking at parks and playgrounds and street rinks.
Luis and Dwayne insisted she skate between them, so they could 'protect' her from muggers or bullies, or other players. She relented only because she knew it would be easier than arguing with them. So she threaded her arms through theirs and the trio skated around the city. Once, Maurae started to hum randomly, and Luis caught on. In the end, they sang a song that they only remembered half the words to and had to stop, they were laughing so hard.
It was ten-thirty before they finally got back to the dorms, and eleven- thirty before Maurae stumbled back into her room for curfew at midnight. She and Julie gossiped until Connie wandered in at five til midnight and then joined in. When Bombay knocked and checked at twelve-thirty, he told them to turn off the lights and go to bed. They had a game at noon the next day, and classes after, so they needed their rest. Especially since he'd called for a wake-up and breakfast for them.
And that's how it went for the first two weeks. Two games a week, one on Wednesday, one on Saturday. Practices every other day, after a day's worth of classes. No classes or practice on Sundays, and no classes after games on Saturdays.
Then they played Iceland.
After swallowing her pride and apologizing for her surliness, peace was restored for a while. They won their first game against Team Trinidad and Tobago. They gave their first interview, which ended in a confrontation instigated by the coach of Team Iceland. Maurae noticed Gunnar smirking at them from beside his coach and shook her head.
"That guy's a dentist?" Ken asked Charlie, indicating the scary man addressed as Wolf 'The Dentist' Stansson.
"Nah, it's a nickname. Played one year of pros. Punched more teeth than goals. I hear he even punched out his own coach!"
"I hear they ran him out of the league and the country," Julie offered helpfully.
"THAT'S his team? Those guys are huge!" Poor Ken was the smallest kid on the team. Maurae shook her head and followed him off the platform. She was glad, that night, when she could fall into bed. Julie and Connie were out almost instantly and so neither of them heard the knock on the door. Groaning, Maurae threw off her blankets and walked over, unlocking it and opening it a crack.
With a sigh, she grabbed her key from its ring next to the door and slipped out. "What's up?" she asked. Dean and Fulton grinned at her.
"Want to ditch curfew with us?"
"We have class in the morning, morons," she replied, yawning. "Maybe some other time, when we don't have class or a game. Besides, what would you do?"
"Midnight game. A bunch of individuals from other teams slipped flyers under everybody's door, to see if we would brave the coaches and meet them all on the ice for a little friendly game of puck." Shaking her head, Maurae allowed them to lead her down to the rink. Fulton gave her his sweater to wear over her sleep cami and she smiled then. They were the only three to show up from Team USA, and the entire turnout was at least ten pounds heavier and six inches taller than her.
They slipped into their pads and skates and then met at center ice to pick teams. As per her expectations, she was the last to be picked, sitting nonchalantly on the ice smugly smiling. Fulton and Portman slapped each other high fives when she was reluctantly chosen for their team.
The captain was the team captain of Team UK. Since there were enough players for each team to have three lines and a goalie, Maurae waited in the bench with a bunch of leering boys, whom she staunchly ignored. Her attention was focused entirely on the game and her two teammates, who were tearing up the ice.
Cheering for Fulton after he scored twice, she slapped him a high five when he took the bench. Knowing she wouldn't see ice time tonight, but not really caring, she waited until Dean also came back to the bench and took off his helmet.
"So, why am I here, again?" she asked, eyes never leaving the ice. Dean shrugged.
"Thought it might be fun."
"Oh, it is. Fortunately, I have no studying to do tonight. Otherwise, I might kill you in the morning," she said. "I'm not going to get to play. I'm the smallest person here, and the only girl. They think I'm a decoration, here to represent the diversity of America but not to be actually in the game."
"She's got a point, man," Fulton agreed.
"She's our secret weapon, then," Dean shrugged.
"I'm going to bed," she said. Leaping over the boards, she interrupted the game, skating smoothly across the rink to the exit, where she slipped on skate guards and yanked off the borrowed pads. Felling as though she should play the part of the silly fool they seemed to see her as, she turned back. "Fulton, what should I do with your sweater?"
"I'll get it later!" he shouted back, reddening slightly. She pulled it off, revealing her cami, and folded it, leaving it on the bench before pulling on her slippers again, waving, and trotting out. "I'm so embarrassed," he muttered to Dean after she'd left.
"Why?" asked his grinning friend. "She was playing her part, fooling them. When we play Iceland, we're going to need that element of surprise."
"I suppose..."
* * * *
Maurae was rudely awakened by Britney Spears the next morning. "Urgh, whoever set it on the pop station should be shot. Immediately." Julie buried her head in her pillow, and Connie burrowed deeper into the blankets. Maurae sat up with a grunt, slapped the off switch, and flopped back down, rolling over and curling herself around her extra pillow.
An hour later, the three girls raced out of their room and down the halls of the dorms, practically shoving people aside in their hurry to get to their classroom. They were already ten minutes late for their first class.
Racing in out of breath, they flushed, taking their seats without saying anything. "So nice of you to join us," Miss McKay remarked, raising an eyebrow. "We were just discussing the first history lesson."
The day went rather well, despite their late start. During lunch, the team ate together outside, enjoying the sunshine. Then came more classes, and finally, practice. Practices were always closed to everyone but the team themselves, to prevent cheating in the form of spying. After two hours of practice, it was time to relinquish the ice to another team, and they were given the rest of the night off. Only Adam and Maurae seemed to want to study; Adam because he was a firm believer that procrastination was a silent killer of dreams, and Maurae because she was paranoid about getting a bad grade in math or science and getting benched. Or worse, brought home. She harassed Adam until he agreed to help her with her math homework.
It took her several hours to work through the algebra problems and the science questions. Once they started English, however, she was done with the reading a good twenty minutes before him and she finished answering the questions before he started. Her history work was moderately paced, enough so that they actually worked on it together, and not one before the other.
They had taken a break for dinner at six, and now, at nine, they were ready to go out. None of the homework was due until the end of the week, but they now had free afternoons all week. Lacing on their rollerblades, the two of them set out towards the training fields where the street rinks and courts and fields were located.
Maurae found the team grouped around a street rink, watching Team UK and Team France fool around. "Oh, there you losers are," Fulton teased when he saw them.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you," she shot back good- naturedly. She and Adam joined them at the fence and smiled. "They're good."
"We're better," Adam replied in a whisper. She agreed silently.
"So, what have you been doing since we left you to your own devices?" she asked instead. "You can't have been watching Europeans beat each other up for four hours."
"Why not?" Jesse retorted.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. You should have just gotten your homework out of the way. Then you'd have free afternoons all week." She shook her head and pushed back from the chain link. "I'm going to go for a skate, if anybody wants to come with."
Dwayne volunteered, as did Luis. So the three hockey players left the training areas and skated a bit around UCLA before heading out to Anaheim itself, exploring the various streets and shops, looking at parks and playgrounds and street rinks.
Luis and Dwayne insisted she skate between them, so they could 'protect' her from muggers or bullies, or other players. She relented only because she knew it would be easier than arguing with them. So she threaded her arms through theirs and the trio skated around the city. Once, Maurae started to hum randomly, and Luis caught on. In the end, they sang a song that they only remembered half the words to and had to stop, they were laughing so hard.
It was ten-thirty before they finally got back to the dorms, and eleven- thirty before Maurae stumbled back into her room for curfew at midnight. She and Julie gossiped until Connie wandered in at five til midnight and then joined in. When Bombay knocked and checked at twelve-thirty, he told them to turn off the lights and go to bed. They had a game at noon the next day, and classes after, so they needed their rest. Especially since he'd called for a wake-up and breakfast for them.
And that's how it went for the first two weeks. Two games a week, one on Wednesday, one on Saturday. Practices every other day, after a day's worth of classes. No classes or practice on Sundays, and no classes after games on Saturdays.
Then they played Iceland.