The Hockey Girl

Chapter 9

“Alright kids!” Coach Riviere shouted from the door of the locker room. We were all sitting on the wooden benches, breathing heavily. Coach had given us a hard practise and he seemed quite proud of our efforts. “You did well tonight but remember that it’s Wednesday afternoon and the game is on Friday. I won’t be at school tomorrow to supervise your training so Tai, I’m leaving you in charge.”

A mix of laughter and groans sounded throughout the team. I simply grimaced. Tai’s training sessions – even the sessions that were meant to be light ones – varied depending on the guy’s mood. The hardest training session I’d ever been through was at the hands of Tai on a bad day. I couldn’t walk afterward. Vas was able to crawl and I think Riordan managed to stand for about twenty seconds before falling flat on his arse.

Coach faced Tai who was sporting a smirk, “I expect a light practise Tai. Don’t kill my A-team.” Coach warned.

Tai laughed in the strong, deep timbre that belonged solely to him. “They’ll be fine, Coach.”

Coach Riviere shot Tai a ‘sure they will’ stare before dismissing us all; leaving the locker room full of tired, sweaty hockey players.

“Who’s ready to kick some Monarch arse?” Luke called from his seat to my left. The response to his question came swift and loud in the form of many variations of, ‘yeah!’

“They’ll be hard to beat. Frankston have always been tough but we’re tougher.” Tai said as he made his way over to the stereo system that Riaz had brought in yesterday. He’d claimed that he’d bought a new one for his room – an upgraded stereo. He brought his old not-even-a-year-old system into the locker room and installed it. Riaz had said that he wanted to replace Tai’s iPod radio as he was sick of the music ‘not being loud enough’; this of course, we all scoffed at. The music was plenty loud.

“Frankston has that high-and-mighty attitude about them; I hate that!” Adam declared.

I smirked at his comment, “Adam, name one hockey player who doesn’t think they’re the shit.”

Vasic smirked as he walked over to stand in front of me. Leaning down so that we reached level height, he placed his hands on my short clad thighs, “I don’t think I’m the shit thank you very much Alara.” I smirked at my best friend and raised a single eyebrow.

“Bullshit.”

Vas laughed, “Okay, so I have a small ego but none of us are anywhere near as bad as those Frankston Monarchs.”

“True!” Xavier shouted

I shrugged, “You’re right. You guys are nowhere near as egotistical as they are.” I conceded.

Drew laughed as he approached me, “That’s because we’ve had your influence Ari. You’ve kept us from becoming complete arses.” He explained.

I smiled at the rugged boy in front of me, “Thanks Drew.”

He nodded as he removed his shirt and turned to walk into the large shower room.

Originally, when the ice rink had been built, female players hadn’t been expected so there was only one locker room and a communal shower. When my team advanced into high school, Coach Riviere fought tooth and nail for an extra room to be added specifically for me and any other female who wanted in on the team. Coach had an old storage room converted into a shower. The room consisted of a shower, mirror and wooden benches skirting the walls of the room. There was more than enough room for me to change. It was perfect and I was so grateful to Coach.  

I stood from my seat and opened my locker, taking out my gym bag with my clothes and towel inside, just as music started blaring from the newly added stereo. I turned to see Tai flicking through the song lists on his iPod, trying to find a song… He settled on Addicted by Bliss n Eso and turned the stereo up as loud as it would go.