So big thanks to all of you who are still reading. Would really appreciate a review or some encouraging words since the last ones were over a year ago.
Anyway last time Lizzy and Kyle went to homecoming together, Kyle invited her out with his friends to play laser tag, and she got an answer from Wilson about playing in the next hockey game.
Chapter 31: Protest
When Lizzy returned to her room, she threw her bag on the floor next to her bed and plopped down on the bed, letting out a loud growl. "I can make myself scarce if you want," a voice came from her right.
Lizzy bolted up straight and looked to see her fiery-haired roommate. "Oh. Uh. No. It's alright. I apologize, I forgot I had a roommate. Not that you're forgettable, it's just … you're my first roommate ever and I keep—"
"I get it. I can still go if you want to be alone," Ashley said.
"No, it's alright. Just a rough practice. Think I'll paint a little if that's alright by you."
"Sure, it's fine."
Lizzy nodded and pulled her easel out of the closet and began to paint. When she finished she stepped back. "Not what I was going for."
"That's morbid," Ashley commented as she too observed the image.
"I think I was just that angry."
Ashley looked at her confused. She brushed some red hair out of her eyes and shook her head. "Angry enough to paint Coach Wilson getting dive-bombed by ducks and are those hawks?" She squinted at the painting.
"A few of them, yeah. He just made me so angry."
"Rumor has it he won't let you or Julie play."
"Mostly because we're girls." She put her pallet on her desk then set her brush in a cup to clean.
"I see." Ashley nodded. A moment later she shook her head. "No, I don't. What does you being a girl have anything to do with you playing hockey?"
"With the right coach, nothing. With a misogynistic coach, everything."
"Oh, I do see. What are you going to do about it?"
"First, I'm going to shred this, then second … Second, I'm going to call my family before I get dinner."
"You could just paint over the background," Ashley said.
"Could, but then I'd have a painting of Wilson that I don't really want. This is easier." Ashley nodded and Lizzy did just that. There was no one at her house when she called so Lizzy called Seth to see if he knew where her father was. She didn't want to interrupt the man if he was having dinner with a client so her brother was a better option.
"Hello?" Seth answered.
"Hey, it's me. You heard from Dad today? No one's at the house," Lizzy asked.
"We flew up earlier today."
"Flew up where?" Lizzy asked.
"Here. Staying with Grandma and we'll see you tomorrow."
"You're in Minnesota? Wish you would have asked first."
"Why? Can't I come see my kid sister kick butt?"
"I'm not playing tomorrow."
"Why not?" Seth sounded super disappointed and confused.
Lizzy sighed. "I'm a girl. Wilson already told me that I will never play a varsity game while he's coach."
"I never thought Wilson would sink that far. How many years have I been helping you? You get shots past me, you're better than half your team."
"Thanks, Seth, but you know Wilson."
"Thought I did. You want Dad to talk to Tom?"
"He already said he was going to. It's not just me though. Julie isn't playing either. Which she seems okay with–Harkins is good and a senior–but I know she doesn't like it."
"Liz, just hang in there. It has to get better."
"Unless he kicks us off the team."
"Don't think like that," he ordered. Then he softened. "You want to talk to Dad?"
"No. Could you just let him know? He can see the rest of the Ducks play and Charlie and Fulton tomorrow night, but not me."
"You're up to something."
"Me? Up to something? Of course not. My friends, maybe," Lizzy answered. "I have to go. It's dinner time."
"Okay, later," Seth told her. They hung up and Ashley walked to dinner with Lizzy.
First thing the following morning, Lizzy found Adam sitting outside the door to the girls' floor on the bench. For what seemed like the first time ever he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. "Adam Banks owns a pair of jeans? Someone call the Star Tribune," Lizzy mocked.
"You've seen me in jeans before." Adam deadpanned.
"Only about as often as you've seen me in a dress."
"More than that."
Lizzy shifted uncomfortably. "You ready to head back into the Hawk's nest?" Lizzy asked.
"We're all Ducks," Adam answered.
"They don't think like that." Lizzy scoffed as they headed for her car.
"Maybe you should show them how to. Isn't Kyle coming?" Adam asked. He looked around not seeing the other boy.
"He spends Friday nights at his parents. He'll meet us there."
Sure enough, Kyle and three of his friends were leaning against his car when they pulled up. Lizzy and Adam climbed out of her car and one of Kyle's friends stared at her. He let out a wolf whistle. "Nice car, how many butts did your daddy have to kiss to get you that?" he asked.
"None, he just happens to be part of the firm that takes down scumbags like your dad for a living," Lizzy answered.
"My dad is not a scumbag." He got defensive.
Lizzy shrugged. "Guess that depends on your definition. Like: high up, rich guy who would be absolutely nowhere without the hard work and dedication of his employees and doesn't realize it. Tell me honestly he hasn't committed some kind of white collar crime or acted like an utter jerk to one of his employees and I might just believe it."
"Okay," Kyle stepped in, "before we miss our reservation completely, why don't we take this inside?" Kyle said, trying to soothe everyone.
"Yeah, come on, Liz, save the hostility for the game," Adam added.
"Fine," Lizzy agreed.
"Zach," Kyle prompted. "Don't make me choose sides."
"Yeah, whatever," Zach answered. He headed for the door and everyone slowly followed.
"Billy, why don't you join Banks and Jacobs then it'll be even, three on three," Kyle prompted.
"Sure," Billy agreed.
They got to the counter and Kyle paid for two hours before the two teams split up. It was well into the second hour with Lizzy's team being up by six points when Kyle cornered her with no back up for either of them.
"I will admit, you're pretty good at this," Kyle said.
"Well, at least two of my brothers had birthday parties at laser tag places. You're just lucky I didn't see you coming, which is weird because I always see them coming." Lizzy stared up at him a bit angry at him.
"Maybe you didn't want to see me coming."
"Maybe. So are you going to shoot and run or are we just going to have a conversation?"
"Haven't decided yet."
"Can I convince you to just run?"
"But then I couldn't do this." Kyle cupped her face with one hand then kissed her softly. It started as a gentle press of his lips against hers before turning hungrier. They broke apart when his vest lit up and a siren sounded. "Really?" he asked stunned.
Lizzy licked her lips, still reveling in the taste of him. "Wasn't me," she answered. He looked her over to see one of her hands wrapped around his laser tag vest strap and the other holding her gun, pointed at the ground. "Thanks, Banksie. You might want to run before the shot clears." Though she didn't direct it at either of them, she let go of Kyle and he got the idea.
"Yeah, got it," Kyle answered. He took off and Lizzy grinned. She nodded to Adam and he followed her advice as well.
The game came to an end a few minutes later and they met at the exit where they found out Lizzy's team had won by three points. "Way to close the gap," she told Kyle's team. "Anyone up for lunch?"
"Only if we grab and go. Game time in three hours," Kyle answered.
"What do you feel up for?" Lizzy asked.
"Do you remember when you came over to Adam's a few weeks ago and we watched that Twins' game?" Kyle asked. Lizzy nodded. "Where did you get those sandwiches? I've never had a sandwich that good and I grew up with the best of everything," Kyle answered.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Lizzy answered. She smirked as his eyebrows rose. There was no way he'd believe her or that he'd accept it.
"Did you make them? I won't be angry." He reached out and took her hand as he jerked his head to the side causing his hair to shake out of his eyes.
"No, I bought them. Follow me and I'll show you but no looking down on it because of the name of the place or where it's located. It's even on the way back to school," Lizzy explained. Kyle nodded.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Adam asked as they drove.
"No, but if we want them to think like Ducks, maybe we should start treating them like Ducks," Lizzy answered.
"I guess that makes some sense."
"If it backfires and brings more heat on the team … well, they don't call them the Bash Brothers without reason." Lizzy grinned and Adam laughed.
"They'll handle it, I'm sure."
"I feel a little guilty using them but I know they thrive on it and it's good for them."
"Yeah," Adam agreed.
Kyle could help but do a double take when he saw the name on the window. "Here? Isn't that the name of the goalie turned defenseman? I thought he was Jewish?" Kyle asked.
"He is, so is his dad but they have a non-Jewish butcher who handles the non-kosher food, like pig and meat salads."
"Meat salads?" Billy asked.
"Ham salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad. Most of them include mayonnaise and that involves something to do with some long speech I didn't listen to the first time Goldberg brought the team food from his parents including ham salad for Charlie. Anyway, he's not here. It's Saturday and they don't work here on Saturdays," Lizzy explained. "Now, can we eat? I'm starving."
After getting their lunch, they went back to the school. The boys considered and discussed forfeiting the game but reluctantly let Julie and Lizzy talk them out of it and the game ended with their win. She had just exited the locker room to head to the stands for the jv game, when she saw her dad having words with both Tom Riley and Dean Buckley both of who looked worried. "Everything alright?" Portman asked, appearing behind her.
"I don't know. It's worrying that my dad has to help out but I don't like not getting to play and I know Julie hates sitting out too," Lizzy answered.
"You think your dad is going to kill the school's rep?"
"He's an Alum and a father of a State winning hockey captain from said school, so he'd hate to do it, but this is going to kill the school's reputation anyway if it gets out."
"You think Wilson doesn't have support?"
"I think quietly a lot of the people would support him but publicly the board can't think like that. Tom might try to convince my father to quietly make this go away, but I'm not sure there's an easy solution that everyone's going to accept."
"Best outcome?" Portman asked. Lizzy looked over her shoulder at him before looking back at her father.
"Wilson gets over it and lets us play the way Orion would."
"Worst?"
"Either Wilson gets fired and we get a new coach who still doesn't like us or resents the situation and how he got the job or Julie and I get kicked off the team."
"We wouldn't let that happen."
"You may not get that choice."
"Come on; let's go see the other Ducks play." Portman wrapped his arm around Lizzy's shoulders and led her to the stands.
Before Lizzy could make it to the doors of the arena after jv's game, her dad wrapped her in a hug. "How's my superstar?" her dad asked.
Lizzy relished the hug for a moment then pulled back. "Matt's your superstar. You never had a specific nickname for me. However, I'm trying not to be angry," Lizzy answered. She sighed as she looked up at him.
"I understand. Not this coming Tuesday but the one after it, there is a board meeting. If you don't play in next week's game, the board will be presented with its options."
"Options like firing Wilson?"
"I don't want it to come to that but if that's what they choose it's probably better. Another option is a lawsuit. If they back him, they'll see a lawsuit begin to move forward. Kristen Taylor, one of the paralegals for one of the partners at the Minnesota branch of my firm is already working on it. Bud Baxter is standing by to handle the lawsuit if they continue to support Wilson's pigheaded stance. I don't want to do this. My son went to this school and won state on their hockey team for that coach. The same son whose godfather is president of the school board. You're also dating the son of said school board president. I don't want to do this, but I know that your future will look a whole lot better if you're not sitting on the bench for every hockey game."
Lizzy nodded considering all this. Then an idea struck her. "Pop, what if they fight the lawsuit?"
"Then I have to bury a school I believed to be the best in the state. Liz, I'm doing this not just for you, but also for Julie, for Connie if she plays next year, and any other girl that is discouraged because of Wilson or any other man."
"Thanks Dad."
On Monday, Wilson popped into practice and the boys on the team instantly took a knee. Wilson took it as a sign of respect but it was definitely not the way they meant it. Wilson came to realize this over the next several days leading up to Thursday when on that day the team took a knee and refused to move no matter what he said. It had been close to 15 minutes since Wilson had walked in and the boys were still kneeling on the ice. Lizzy and Julie on the other hand were practicing at one end of the ice as per the agreement. "Sir," Assistant Coach Deacon said, "I believe they're protesting. Er, rather, I know they're protesting."
"Protesting? What could you possibly protesting?" Wilson snapped. He turned his attention from the coach to the boys on the ice. None of those boys would look at him. All were staring at the ice beneath them.
When Wilson turned back to Deacon for answers, he looked towards the girls. Wilson sighed. He knew having girls on the team was trouble and now he was going to face even more of it. He hated that to his very core. Then Kyle stood. "Coach, we appreciate everything you can teach us. We know that hard work and dedication means a lot and that girls are not built the same way but these two girls right here," Kyle motioned behind him, "these girls, are smart and what they lack in raw power, they make up for in skill. Power is only part of what it takes to play this level of hockey. We're not going to put up with discrimination anymore. It's time you treat them like they're on the team," Kyle said. When Wilson only stared at him he continued after glancing at his team for a moment. "We are—" Kyle swallowed. "We are prepared to forfeit every game between now and state if you don't include them. We are well aware of what that means for the school and our reputations, but standing up for what's right is better."
Lizzy and Julie both skated towards them and watched. "So you're giving me an ultimatum? And what does your father think of your plan?" Wilson demanded.
"He thinks it's a lot cheaper than a discrimination lawsuit," Kyle answered. Wilson looked around the rink and stormed out.
"I think that went well," Coach Deacon said.
"Yeah, maybe. Thanks for standing up for us," Lizzy said to Kyle.
"Of course. You guys ... uh, ladies, deserve to play," Kyle answered.
"Yeah, but making waves could be bad for your career," Lizzy said.
"That doesn't mean we don't appreciate it," Julie said very quickly.
"Don't worry about it," Kyle reassured them.
"Back to work. We got a game tomorrow," Deacon called. Everyone got up and got back to work. If asked, the assistant coach wouldn't say that he would encourage the protest, but he would say that he understood where the protest was coming from. He also didn't agree for one second with Wilson's stance that girls shouldn't play hockey with the boys. Especially since the more he coached practices, the more he realized these girls were good and deserved to show their stuff on the ice. However, he knew that he couldn't do anything about it when he was a young, assistant coach and he was going up against a 12-year, state-winning coach. One that had high powered friends who would have his back. All Deacon could do was silently approve the protest and keep coaching practice.