Chapter 8 – J.V. Versus Varsity
The week leading up to the J.V.-Varsity exhibition match was an anxiety inducer. Many hockey fans were curious as to how it would be, having the J.V. Ducks and the Varsity Ducks play against each other, anticipating a brawl, while neglecting to acknowledge that Evan and those who got bumped up were still friends with the people on J.V. if the prank war that happened during the Fergus Falls away game had any indication.
Coach Chase and Coach Vargas were working their boys to the bone. Between Monday and Wednesday morning practices for J.V. coupled with their Tuesday and Thursday night practices and Varsity practicing Tuesday and Thursday mornings with their night practices happening on Monday and Wednesday, everyone on both teams was achy and exhausted both morning and night, but for Billy Banks, he had his own troubles to think about.
His advanced classes piled on a mountain of homework, which didn't help his anxiety levels. To top it all off, on the nights when he didn't have to practice with the team, he was practicing the music for the school's winter production in the music room. But tonight, Wednesday, two nights before the J.V.-Varsity showdown, he was sitting with his mom and dad at the OBGYN office for his mother's first doctor's appointment.
His mother had just recently found out she was pregnant with what would be her third child. It caused a list of numerous concerns – her age being one of them; there could be possible complications due to her having a baby well into her mid-forties. Granted, there were plenty of stories of women her age having successful pregnancies and births, but Julie was worried about the toll it would take on her. Adam was concerned, too – she was overwhelmed with having a son in high school and an eight-year-old, on top of having her own physical therapy practice where she oversaw at least ten employees. Billy remembered the years he'd been looked after by nannies while his mom had been trying to grow her business because his dad worked all the time and dealt with numerous cases, often coming home late for dinner. His friends had started jokingly calling him a "cake eater" when they learned that his parents were having nannies look after him – it started as a nickname given to him by his godfather; now, the whole team used it; for the Ducks, having nannies look after you made you the ultimate cake eater. Now, things were more flexible; his dad's workload was still demanding, but Julie had other people who could handle most of the appointments, and a lot of times, the appointments she did take were people who requested her specifically, which was an average of twenty a day. He wondered if his mom could handle having a third child.
"Julianne? Dr. Warner is ready to see you now," the receptionist said.
"Thank you." Julie rose from where she sat, flipping through some parenting magazine, and Adam followed her into the room like the dutiful husband, with Billy closely behind them – Violette had been picked up from school by his Grandpa Phillip and Grandma Allyson.
When Julie entered the room, she was greeted by her OBGYN, who'd helped deliver both Billy and Violette when they were born. Billy suddenly felt out of place, sitting in a room filled with diagrams of developing fetuses and posters that showed how to check for things like breast cancer. A nurse was present, who took her blood pressure, drew some blood for a sample, and took her temperature.
"So, Julie, you said you took the pregnancy test a week or so ago?" asked Dr. Warner.
"Yes," Julie said.
"And this would be your third baby; are you aware of the risks of pregnancy this late? Especially at your age?"
"Let's worry about possible complications and defects later on," said Julie bracingly, and Adam reached over, grabbing her hand.
"Okay, so, why don't you get changed into this, and we'll do an ultrasound to determine how far along you are?" The doctor handed her a hospital gown, and Julie took it, heading toward the bathroom to get changed. As Billy sat there in the plastic chair, waiting for his mother to get changed, he wrung his hands together nervously. He figured maybe he should take advantage of his time and do some homework. He opened up his trigonometry textbook.
"Are you okay?" He lifted his head to see his dad looking at him in concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. Just nervous for the game on Friday."
"It's just an exhibition," reasoned Adam. "It's not going to count for anything."
"I know that, but you don't know Coach Chase. He's worse than Jace's dad had been."
"Don't you remember I played for the Varsity Warriors? I know his kind – the type that is always out to win. But just do your best. Because guess what, bud? You're one of the best goalies in Minnesota, and I'm not just saying that because you're my son; I really think you could get asked to go to the Winter Olympics in 2026. Not many people have that talent. But I wouldn't be disappointed even if you don't. Nothing you do could ever disappoint me."
Billy felt his face burn hotly. It was moments like these where Billy wished his dad could find something to pick apart, yet his parents told him he was perfect, at least in their eyes, even though he knew he wasn't – he knew that was only a matter of opinion, but of course, his dad would say that; both his parents felt that there was no finer boy in the world other than Billy, their firstborn, the Ducks' goalie, an A student, the one who was most likely to be made a prefect next year.
"Sorry, Dad, but that's unrealistic," Billy said, feeling his vision blur mistily. "I'm not perfect. So, stop acting like it."
"I'm not suggesting you're perfect – none of us can be perfect. What I'm saying is that Mom and I are proud of you because you always do your best. We talked about this years ago."
Billy nodded, pretending to flip a page in his textbook, only to wipe his tears away. Somehow, that made him feel worse rather than better, but he swallowed his tears back for his dad's sake as his mom returned, wearing the medical gown and climbing onto the examination table. Dr. Warner squirted the strange, jelly-like substance onto Julie's stomach, and Billy could see the slight bulge that indicated his baby sister or brother was inside her.
He watched, awestruck, as Dr. Warner placed the scanner over his mother's stomach, and the image came up on the screen, black and white and fuzzy, but indicating the little baby slowly growing larger day by day.
"Well, from the looks of it, Julie, you're about four weeks along," the doctor said, and Billy watched as tears streamed down Julie's face as she watched the image on the screen.
"We made that," she breathed to Adam, who leaned down and kissed her lovingly.
"Yeah, we sure did." Adam grinned at her, winding an arm around his son, and Billy felt his own eyes tearing up, absorbing the fact that Violette was going to be a big sister soon, and that the baby would most likely be born sometime after his sixteenth birthday, meaning there was a possibility he and this baby would either share a birthday or have the same birth month. It made him want nothing more than to try and be the best big brother he could be.
That night, Teddi lay in her four-poster bed in her dormitory, wide awake. The J.V.-Varsity showdown was going to be on Friday, and although she wasn't playing, it stirred up memories for her that were far less than pleasant.
She still recalled how her grandfather ended up in the hospital a week before the J.V.-Varsity showdown. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him kneeling over, coughing up blood. She could still picture him in the hospital, pale with tubes down his nose, wires and needles poking out of him every which way. For some reason, getting close to the exhibition match made the realization settle in even more as her breath suddenly caught in her throat, and she could feel the beginnings of another anxiety attack coming as she closed her eyes, being greeted with the images that haunted her ever since Gordon had that health scare.
She shivered, feeling the icy sweat on the back of her neck as she turned over, burying her face into her pillow as she gripped onto one of her stuffed otters, Gretsky, the softness of the fur underneath her fingers as she tightened her hold on the stuffed animal, gasping as Sofi came over, sitting on the edge of her bed and rubbing her back.
"Teddi, breathe, okay?" Sofi whispered. "Come on. In through your nose, out through your mouth."
Teddi nodded into her pillow, gasping and panting as she struggled to do as Sofi said, but when she finally caught her breath, she sat up, shaking, suddenly feeling an urgent need to call Gordon; while the logical part of her knew that he was all right, she just needed that security.
"Get me my phone," she mumbled to Sofi, who passed it over to her. Shakily, she selected Gordon's number from her contacts and pressed the phone to her ear, sniffling. Her heart rate calmed significantly as she heard his voice on the other end.
"Teddi? What's up?"
Sniffling, she whispered, "Nothing."
"What's the matter?" Gordon pressed.
She shook her head. She wondered if he would think she was overreacting. But she couldn't help it as she whispered huskily, "I just wanted to hear your voice right now."
"Okay, well, why don't you tell me how school was? How was hockey practice?"
So, Teddi filled him in, talking about the play, how her hockey practice went that afternoon, her various homework assignments, the drama transpiring with the school paper, how things at school were a lot more peaceful ever since Izzah and Hart's suspensions, how Evan and the Varsity were struggling in practices with the other senior Varsity members. She just told him anything she could think of until finally, she felt herself calming down, and Gordon listened, humming in between, providing his own thoughts and commentary, telling her about his days at the Ice Palace, watching the D5 Ducks squirts, mites, and peewees practices that Alex, Charlie, and Ted oversaw, how they were looking to find newer coaches and how Julie was assistant coaching since little Violette starting playing recently. He also told her about the little date nights he'd been having with Casey, how he would be watching all the pre-season games for Minnesota and Anaheim, how he promised he'd take her to see Maple Leefs at the Wild on November third; hearing all of this from him made her feel significantly better, however, she could tell that Gordon was worried – it made her wonder if Connie was catching on and if she was letting it slip to Charlie and Gordon about Teddi's latest episodes, though it had probably been obvious to her dad – he'd seen her during those final moments in their first game against the Warriors; he knew that something was wrong, he just wasn't certain how he was going to confront her about it. Still, she hoped and prayed with everything within her that her father wouldn't try making her talk about it, that they could simply bury it and leave it.
She finally felt her chest hurt a lot less as she said, "Okay, well, I'm going to go shower and go to bed. I have a history test tomorrow."
"All right, good night, honey. If you ever need anything, call me. I don't care about the time."
"All right." She felt more tears mist in her eyes as Gordon hung up, but she quickly wiped them away.
Sofi didn't say anything at first. But after five minutes of tense silence, she said, "Teddi, this is becoming too much. You need help."
"I'm fine," Teddi replied stubbornly.
"But, I really think it would help you to talk to someone; I'm sure the school's counselors could –"
"I said I'm fine, Sofi!" Teddi snapped, walking toward her drawers and grabbing her pajamas – a Minnesota Wild crewneck and Anaheim Ducks tie-dye leggings, as well as her shower caddy with all of her essentials before heading to the showers that were located on her floor. She turned the water in the shower on to the hottest it could be – although she'd showered after practice, she knew the hot water would help her relax after the panic attack. She felt the water hit her face, relaxing her muscles as she blindly reached for her Philosophy Purity Made Simple face wash; she squirted some out and massaged it into her face, the fresh, flowery scent hitting her and clearing her senses. After rinsing her face off, she reached over for Philosophy's lemon custard-scented body wash. As she scrubbed the sweet, citrusy body wash into her skin, though, she felt the sudden guilt flood her for snapping at Sofi, knowing that the other girl was simply trying to help – Sofi was more than just her roommate; she was her alternate captain and best friend. She didn't deserve Teddi's anger and bad attitude.
She sighed as she stepped out of the steaming shower. After brushing her teeth, she tugged her hairbrush through her chin-length hair – she'd gotten it cut over the summer and was experimenting with bobbed haircuts, feeling it made her look more mature and womanly compared to having such long hair that got tangled when she washed it. Plus, it was much faster to dry, too.
She put her pajamas on and went back into the dorm, where Sofi lay awake, reading City of Bones. Sighing, Teddi said, "I'm sorry, Sofi. I know you're just trying to help. I was acting like a bitch."
Sofi peered up from her book. "Yeah, you were."
"I just hate talking about it." She sat down on her bed, plopping back onto her pillows.
"It would help if you did. You've gotta tell the other Hens and the Ducks, maybe Coach Germaine, too. It would help you to have more love and support in your life. You've got lots of people who care about you and don't want to see you suffer."
"I'm not ready yet," Teddi admitted. "I'm not even sure if I have PTSD or whatever – I'm just scared if I do go to therapy, they'll diagnose me as something, and it'll put a label on everything. And I don't want that. It's humiliating."
"Well, when you are ready, you know we'll all be there for you."
Teddi sighed, reaching over to turn the light off. "I'm gonna try and go to sleep now."
"Okay."
The room went black, and Teddi closed her eyes, her arms reaching for Gretsky. She squeezed the stuffed otter tightly, hoping it would provide her the security to sleep through the night. She'd never admit it to anyone but Sofi – she'd been sleeping with her stuffed otters more often than ever before, ever since the start of the school term; Gretsky had been a gift from Gordon for her seventh birthday, and it always made her feel safe, feeling something soft cuddling into her, no matter how old she got.
The crowd roared as the J.V. and Varsity teams touched the ice, skating around and warming up the crowd. Teddi, Sofi, Lauren, Maya, Katie, and Finley sat with Ted Orion, her dad, step-grandfather, grandmother, godparents, and Alex Morrow. She watched on intently as the boys prepared to face each other, and her heart ached slightly – she was glad not to have to be any of them out there because for the Ducks to need to play against each other, there was something about it that didn't sit the right way. Looking at her dad and Connie, they agreed with her as they listened to Milton Ryerson's commentary.
"Welcome, welcome, everyone, to the first annual J.V.-Varsity showdown! As everyone recalls, last year, several of our men stepped down and gave their slots to the current members of the Mighty Hens. Now that the girls have their own rightfully-earned hockey team, our boys can fully compete in this exhibition, and we get to see how J.V. captain Gordy Germaine fairs against his own friends from the Varsity. Though word on the Varsity team – Abraham Izzah and Harry Hart are suspended from playing for a month due to disciplinary problems."
Teddi wanted to scoff. That was an understatement. She listened as J.V. did their traditional quacking chant, pumping up the crowd and getting everyone warmed up. She quacked along with everybody else, her spirits heightening significantly.
"Anyway, our starting lineup for J.V. is the Blackout Cake line of Sam 'Daredevil' Samitar and the Hall brothers, Percy and Jimmy."
Teddi gritted her teeth – could Milton Ryerson be any more racist? She could see from the looks on Sam, Percy, and Jimmy's faces that they didn't like it either; in fact, Percy flipped Milton off on his way to the ice.
"On the defense, we have the Grinder, Jaden Koobler, followed by Matty 'M ' Maywood. And in the goalpost, we've got Anthony Herondale! Now for Varsity, we've got Spencer Vargas, Jace Cole, and Andrew Mizrahi as the starting line, followed by Oliver Underwood and Travis Bowman on the defense. And, of course, Billy 'The Cheetah' Banks is the starting goalie! This means we will be in for quite a fight tonight. The teams line up at center ice, the ref drops the puck . . . The Daredevil and Cole face off, and Samitar steals the puck! He gets the breakaway, ooh, checked into the boards by Bowman; that's gotta hurt! Bowman clears the puck out of the zone, Spencer Vargas catches it . . . Vargas skates into the J.V.'s zone and passes the puck to Jace Cole; Cole skates underneath Matty Maywood's arm, dodges The Grinder, wraps around the goalpost, he shoots . . . big save by Herondale, the puck rebounds, it's caught by Koobler who goes to clear it out of the zone, but Cole slips right in and steals it back, he shoots again, he scores! The score is one for the Varsity, zero for J.V.! Looks like the tides are turning to Varsity's favor; that means J.V. is really gonna have a lot to prove, and it looks like Coach Hal Vargas isn't willing to go down without a fight, oh no, he's calling for a line change and sending out Lorenzo Mendoza at center ice along with Shane Stevens and Johnny Tyler; yeah, J.V. is really gonna need Tyler's knucklepuck right about now, and Mendoza's speed is much faster than Samitar's, he's proven to inherit all of his father, Luis Mendoza's speed, which would be really beneficial to the boys on J.V. right about now.
"However, J.V. does have somewhat of an advantage since the Varsity team has proven to be lacking communication; apparently, a lot of this supposed tension stems from Harry Hart and Abraham Izzah, who hate the thought of boys from the previous J.V. team being interwoven. But Jace is proving to be a very effective scorer, one of the only ones who can get past Banks during practices, and that's a big part of Coach Chase's practices; he's emphasizing speed and agility and making sure that the Varsity boys attack any loose pucks they can find, and he's really relying on Banks. But everyone also knows that it can be a disadvantage, sticking with what you're comfortable with . . . Okay! Mendoza, Tyler, and Stevens line up. Mendoza is now at center ice, it looks like Varsity is sticking with their starting line-up; the puck is dropped, and Mendoza and Cole fight for the puck. Oh man, Cole is really borrowing from his father, Colin Cole's playboy; he's just shouldered past Mendoza and shoved him away, he skates up to the goalpost, Mendoza comes along, races up, slips right in front of the net, nice defensive work there! He and Koobler clear the puck, and it lands near the boards! It looks like Coach Chase is calling for a line change and ordering Evan Morrow, Nick Ganz, and Logan 'The Beautifier' LaRue out there."
Teddi bit her lower lip as Logan skated off to be on Evan's left side. So far, Varsity was in the lead, but Teddi also knew that Coach Chase was just content with putting in the people he thought were "winners." It was a horrible way to approach everything – if Coach Chase kept being comfortable like this, then Varsity was going to be in for quite a losing streak. But she was glad to see the team seemed to be playing better since Izzah and Hart had been suspended; without their toxicity, the team seemed to work together a little more smoothly, but there were still a few rotten apples, namely Aarod Goldstein, Joshua Finnegan, Ian Sheen, Devon Derrington, Colton Walters, and Alex Nolan. But they weren't on the ice, thank God. Teddi felt that if they were, they'd refuse to do their jobs out of spite for the underclassmen, as well as Tommy, Quinn Jordan, and Spencer.
"The puck drops; Morrow wins the face-off and passes the puck to Logan LaRue! LaRue races up to the goalpost – oof, knocked over by Koobler! Looks like Koobler is really hauling ass, which is surprising given how huge he is . . ."
Teddi felt her cheeks flare hotly, and she watched in satisfaction as Koobler angrily dropped his stick and skated up to the commentator's table; she could've sworn Koob had tears in his eyes as he grabbed Milton's bottle of soda and poured it over the soundboard, causing sparks to fly off of it and Milton's microphone to die instantly; while she was thankful they'd have a moment of peace without Milton's scathing fat-shaming, she also knew that Koobler was going to be in big trouble for that. The ref blew his whistle and ordered Koobler to a break in the penalty box for the rest of the first period, which forced Coach Vargas to have to substitute Koobler with George Johnson, the first-line right-side defenseman, which for Koobler was a major diss.
She sighed in sympathy as Koobler sat there, and the game was paused in order for the AV club to scramble to find Milton a new soundboard.
"They punish Koob, but let Milton keep commentating!" sneered Maya.
"But that's not like Koob," pointed out Charlie. "He's never acted out like that in the past."
"You can only insult somebody so much until they can't take it anymore," said Lauren.
"Yeah, Dad, besides, weren't you the one who told Koobler years ago that he should start standing up for himself?" pointed out Teddi.
"Not like that, though," Charlie said irritably as Ian Sheen yelled something from where he sat on the bench.
"HEY KOOBLER! NICE TO KNOW WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE WHALE BLOCKING US FROM THE NET FOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES!"
Koobler jumped from where he sat and slammed his hands against the plexiglass, his whole face burning. "OH YEAH?" he roared at Sheen. "WELL . . ." Unfortunately, unlike Goldberg or Russ, Koobler wasn't very witty when talking trash. Sheen roared with laughter as Koobler stammered, trying to come up with a witty comeback. She turned to glance at Gordon, who looked over at Koob with nothing but sympathy; he, of all people, knew how sensitive Koobler was to being fat-shamed. It led to him nearly developing anorexia when they went to Camp EPIC that one summer, Coach Cole's harsh comments about his weight driving him to want to lose as much weight as possible. If it hadn't been for Gordon, Koobler would've starved himself to death. Looking at Alex, Teddi knew Alex was feeling especially sympathetic – she'd been the assistant coach during that summer Koobler had been shamed for his weight and had been the one to stay by his side until an ambulance got there, as Koobler had fainted on the ice because he hadn't been eating.
"Can't the refs do something about that?" Alex asked shrilly.
"Unfortunately, it's off the ice, and nothing really can be done," said Gordon, and they all watched as Coach Vargas got into a shouting match with Coach Chase.
"KEEP YOUR BOYS ON A LEASH, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" It had been the first time Teddi had ever heard Coach Vargas use such explicit language, and she flinched as Coach Vargas got angrier than she'd ever seen him, and she suddenly remembered why Coach Vargas had been nicknamed "The Hammer" in the NHL; when he'd played for the North Stars as Ted Orion's partner and even when he played for the Wild after they were formed, Vargas had been a complete menace; the closest that came to him was the Devils' new defenseman, Brenden Dillon. Still, hearing him curse so wildly in front of everyone, a crowd filled with teenagers and parents, she knew he had to be really pissed.
Coach Chase turned to Vargas and yelled back at him, "WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN TEAM AND QUIT OBSESSING OVER MINE!"
That seemed to set Vargas off, who leaped over the guardrail and stalked in front of the Varsity team's bench; the umpires had to restrain him physically; even Gordy, Conner Underwood, and Matty Maywood joined in holding Coach Vargas back to prevent him from nearly jumping on Chase as he stood there, seething angrily, yelling an onslaught of curses as he was pulled back, with Matty and Conner keeping their hands on his chest, trying to calm him down.
"Come on, Coach, walk it off," they heard one of the umpires telling him. "Go outside and get some air."
Katie and Finley both rose from their seats. "We're gonna go see if he's all right," said Katie, climbing down from the stands so she and her sister could follow their dad out of the arena.
Milton's soundboard was replaced in a record time of twenty minutes. The game continued after that brief intermission, and it appeared that the Varsity players who hated Evan and the other newcomers were determined to play filthier than ever. Several tripping and high-sticking penalties from Alex Nolan and Colton Walters went unaccounted for, and the icing on the cake was Devon Derrington wailing on Teddi's little brother with a flying elbow, which sent Henry crashing into the boards, dazed, as he slumped against the boards.
"REF! BLOW YOUR WHISTLE! HE JUST CHICKEN WINGED HIM, FOR CHRIST SAKE!" Coach Vargas snarled as he leaped over the guardrail, signaling for a medic.
"HEY! DO YOUR JOB!" Charlie yelled furiously, looking as though he were about to jump onto the ice and get into the umpire's face. "DO YOUR GODDAMN JOB!"
Teddi bit her lower lip as the medic, the J.V. trainer and Coach Vargas helped her brother off the ice. It reminded her of how Matt Rempe did that flying elbow on Jonas Seigenthaler, and she watched as Koobler dropped his gloves and stick, skating up to Derrington to give him the absolute beating of his life; Derrington also dropped his stick and gloves, and the two were going at it, with Koobler using his massive size to slam into Derrington, and he threw in a couple of uppercuts before grabbing hold of Derrington's jersey, yanking it over his head.
The ref blew the whistle and declared that Koobler got five minutes for fighting, and Derrington got ten minutes for intent to injure, which wasn't long enough for Teddi. Still, J.V. was crushing Varsity so far with a two-to-one lead; somewhere along the way in the first period, the J.V. boys got their heads screwed on straight, but the second period ended with a tie of two-to-two.
The third period was even more of a fiasco than the first or the second. Minutes into the third period, Derrick Derrington and Ian Sheen had the brilliant idea of grabbing J.V.'s fourth-line left winger, Nolan McKnight, and ramming him into their own goalpost, where Billy was currently playing as a goalie. Teddi watched, alarmed, as Billy's face went white as the ice as Derrington, Sheen, and McKnight came slamming into him, with Nolan's skate inches away from Billy's neck. Julie and Adam leaped up, their eyes bulging.
"NO! NO!" Julie screeched; luckily, Billy rolled away in time to prevent himself from getting cut, but it soon became a fight between the McKnight twins and Derrington and Sheen, and Billy was so badly shaken they needed to replace him with Quinn Jordon, and Derrington and Sheen got kicked out, leaving it as Tommy Phillips as right-side defense along with Brandon Davis as left-side defense and Hector Morales as the left-side winger; they couldn't substitute a new center, let alone a right wing, because they just substituted Billy with Quinn. The McKnight twins got thrown in the penalty box for fighting and were substituted with the Hall brothers.
Even through all that filthy play and half the Varsity team refusing to cooperate with their own teammates, Varsity somehow managed to score within the final minutes of the third period, giving Varsity the win of three-to-two.
It was astounding. Teddi couldn't believe how, even with cheating and dirty play, Varsity managed to win. She supposed Coach Chase was thrilled about this, but looking at Coach Vargas, he was infuriated. Luckily, the boys had another chance at the end of the season to go at it again. Still, that didn't negate that this was completely unfair.
Looking over at Adam and Julie, she saw they were white-faced and infuriated. Gordon and Ted looked just as pissed off. Even Alex looked like she'd commit bloody murder. She could only imagine what the coaches would say to the locker room players.
"All right, boys," Coach Vargas said, his voice filled with unmistakable heat as he addressed his team, but the heat wasn't toward them by any means. He knew that they did their very best and that had Varsity not been going for so many cheap shots, they would've had it. "We all know what that was out there. Quite frankly? We know what we need to work on; I don't think I need to tell you what that is, but you really hung tough out there, and you gave it all you had. I'm proud of you all. Really."
"But they were cheap-shotting us to death out there. We got our butts kicked!" voiced Dakota Presley, their third-line goalie.
"And I understand," Coach Vargas said firmly. "And it was unfair – that I know. We had a lot of opportunities for power plays that were overlooked. And Coach Chase's elitism didn't help matters, either. However, this game doesn't count for anything. Bear that in mind. All right? There's always a second chance; we can get them again at the end of the season. Okay? Don't let this defeat define you guys – we still have a two-and-zero winning streak under our belt, and you guys did really good teamwork out there. However –" He turned to Koobler, who was looking down at his skates in shame – Koob's behavior was juvenile, to say the least. But the boys who'd been part of the Ducks with him when they went to Camp EPIC understood that Milton's commentary hit a sore spot for him. In fact, as they walked to the locker room after the game, Koob had been desperately trying to hold back tears.
"Koob, we can't have you reacting that way again," Coach Vargas said. "What you did out there cost us great defense – you're invaluable to us, Jaden; you shouldn't let bullies like Milton Ryerson get you down because you are one of our best. You may not be the fastest skater, but you protect everyone out there, and we can't do this without you."
"I know. I'm sorry, Coach." Koob kept his head ducked low as Johnny wrapped an arm around the Grinder's shoulders.
"Don't apologize," Coach Vargas said gently. "All right? None of you owe me an apology because I know that this would've been a much more fair game had Varsity behaved themselves. Still, you boys worked really hard out there. So, I won't make you practice tomorrow morning. You can all go home and enjoy your weekend, but when we come back to school Monday morning, be ready to work hard and prepare for our homecoming game against the Stillwater Panthers, okay?"
"Yes, Coach," the team chorused solemnly, happy that Vargas wasn't being harsh on them and giving them a break.
After everyone from the Varsity team cleared out of the locker room, Adam, Julie, Ted, Gordon, Charlie, and Teddi came rushing into the room. They spotted Billy still sitting on the bench, panting hard. His face was still white as a sheet and slick with sweat, meaning he hadn't showered yet. He was still dressed in his pads and looked like he was going to be sick.
"Billy!" Julie and Adam ran over to their son, already smothering him, Adam examining his throat and Julie placing a worried kiss on her son's head.
"Are you okay?" Adam demanded.
"I'm fine," Billy sniffled, tears glazing in his eyes as Charlie knelt near his godson, with Ted and Gordon hovering closely.
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah." Billy kept looking down, though, trying to quit his crying, but Charlie couldn't be fooled. He saw what that looked like, and it gave him flashbacks of Billy getting hurt at Camp EPIC, his throat slit open by the ice skate that caught his jugular. He watched as Billy fought not to sob; if there was one thing Billy hated more than anything, it was pity.
In relief, Adam sighed, kissing his son on the top of his head. "I'm just glad you're not hurt. If anything like that ever happened again . . ."
"Don't remind me," Billy choked out, and everyone shuddered in agreement. They all could still visualize Billy lying on the ice at the EPIC arena, bleeding and pale, while Adam sobbed hysterically over his son, who would've died had Ted not taken steps to save Billy's life.
Julie sighed, brushing Billy's blond hair off his forehead. "Go wash up, okay? Daddy and I will drive you home."
"Why don't we all go to Goldberg's for dinner on me tonight?" Gordon suggested, and Charlie had to nod in agreement. Billy looked like he could use one of Goldberg's turkey bacon-wrapped hotdogs and several thick pieces of halva (Goldberg made two varieties: one that was nut-free with dried cranberries and golden raisins and another the traditional way with pistachios and almonds). Upon Billy hearing that, Charlie watched as the tears magically seemed to dry from his eyes. Still, Charlie knew it would take a lot more than Goldberg's best Kosher food to give Billy any cheering up; even though Varsity had won, Charlie could tell that for Billy, Logan, Evan, and many of the others that it was unsatisfactory because the game hadn't been the least bit fun at all.
It was bittersweet, but Charlie had peace of mind knowing his godson was going to be all right physically. However, he couldn't imagine how Billy was feeling mentally, especially as they stepped out of the locker room to give him some privacy to shower and change.
"That game was a shit show," commented Adam, running a hand through his hair.
"Just be glad it's over. That was uglier than your first match against the Varsity at Eden Hall," Ted said.
"Let's hope that this serves as a wake-up call to parents. I doubt anyone is going to want Chase coaching their kids next year," Gordon said.
"I think you're right," Charlie said. "That reminds me, I gotta take Henry to a doctor so he can get looked at. I'll meet you guys at 33 Sports Pub afterward."
After the doctor cleared Henry, saying he didn't have a concussion, Charlie, Teddi, and Henry drove to 33 Sports Pub for dinner. It was nearly eight thirty at night, but no one cared. They were all famished.
But as they exited the car and walked toward the sports bar, he saw Linda again, this time leaving the restaurant. Sighing, he turned to his kids.
"Head inside and find Grandpa and the others, all right?"
Teddi nodded, grabbing her brother's hand and leading him inside. Linda stopped in front of him once he was sure the kids were out of sight and earshot.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he replied.
They stood there awkwardly for a moment. Linda finally broke the silence.
"Goldberg told me you were at the J.V.-Varsity game at Minnetonka. How did it go?"
"It was a fiasco," Charlie sighed. "One of the Varsity players elbowed my son in the head. And Adam and Julie's son nearly had the Clint Malarachuk incident reenacted."
"What does that mean?" Linda asked, and Charlie forgot that her hockey knowledge was minimal.
"His own teammates grabbed someone from the J.V. team and collided into the goalpost – Varsity's goalpost. The J.V. player nearly skated over Billy's neck. Billy was just lucky that he rolled away in time. Otherwise, it would've been the second time something like that happened to him."
"Wait, he had that happen before?" Linda looked shocked, her blue eyes widening.
Charlie nodded. "We were at a hockey training camp five years ago – someone from the opposing team we were scrimmaging against did that, and Billy lost a lot of blood; he was cut so bad, we all thought he was gonna die. Thank God Ted knew what he was doing; he ended up saving Billy's life that day."
"Well, thank God that didn't happen again," Linda commented.
"Yeah."
More silence followed between them. Finally, Linda said, "Well, I guess I should . . ."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Um, I'll see you around?"
Charlie nodded, his whole face turning bright red as he watched Linda walk away toward her Jeep. As she walked away, he noticed how her long, thick, dark hair danced behind her, bouncing slightly, and the cold breeze of late September made him catch the flowery scent of the perfume she wore. That night, she wore a long, sapphire trench coat, which made her blue eyes stand out even more.
He shook himself. Why couldn't he stop staring at her? He was supposed to be over her. They broke up years ago. He shouldn't still be feeling anything for her. But a quiet longing filled him as he watched Linda drive away into the night, and part of him felt like jumping in his car and following her to wherever she was headed. But he also knew he couldn't because his kids were waiting for him inside, and they would question where he'd gone, and if he told them, they'd ask why he was following his old high school girlfriend around like some obsessed, creepy stalker.
He decided then and there that the next time he saw Linda, he might give her a chance and let her in a little bit. But he didn't know how he would tell his kids that. That thought tormented him as he sat with his family in 33 Sports Pub, preventing him from fully enjoying his roasted brisket and potato latkes.