Thin Ice - Book 1: Starting at the Beginning With You

Chapter Four

"But you've always been good enough. You've just been giving the best parts of you to the wrong people." - R.H. Sin

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Hockey season--the most dreaded time of the year for Lacey, but her best opportunity to show her support for Max.

It was the first pre-season scrimmage, a series of competitions leading up to the actual games. The Rockets always began scrimmaging toward the end of September, and on this particular night, their rival would be Eden Hall.

Fan-damn-tastic, Lacey thought. She especially disliked games against Eden Hall. Max would either spend the rest of the night gloating over his successful plays against them, or whining because the Rockets had lost. Eden Hall is his team's toughest rival, so this is probably to be expected.

Lacey was huddled in one of the seats at Eden Hall's rink, arms folded, shivering under Max's letter jacket, which was draped over her shoulders. She vowed to him she would try to make as many of his scrimmages and games as she could, even if she had to bring her homework with her. For all Max's faults, she knew his hockey playing had little support at home -- his dad had preferred he played football -- so she tried to encourage him.

Looking up every so often from America in the Twentieth Century, she would spot his number thirty-seven on the ice. He skated across the rink at a dizzying speed, skillfully guiding the puck toward the goal when it came to him. Hockey always looked so easy to play from this vantage point.

But as good of a player as Max is, there were two people who thwarted him when he played against Eden Hall: the Ducks' goalie, Julie "The Cat" Gaffney and, of course, Adam Banks. Adam was twice as fast as Max, and Lacey noticed the manner in which he sailed alongside her boyfriend menacingly, usually managing to finagle the puck away. He was deft at dodging defense and completely unafraid of checking guys that were bulkier than him.

However, something was different tonight. Adam skated more slowly than usual, and each check he took seemed to take him longer to recover from. Finally -- for the first time Lacey had ever seen -- Coach Orion benched him. She could tell Adam was not happy. He took off his gloves and slammed them down on the bench, pacing restlessly until Coach Orion came over and spoke, what looked to Lacey like, a few harsh words before placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. As little as Lacey knew about hockey, she had to admit, Coach Orion seemed good for the Ducks. Davy told her he had begun as their JV coach a few years ago, but the team's bond was unbreakable, and Coach Orion moved up to Varsity with the team he had become so proud of -- the Mighty Ducks.

Lacey felt a little guilty paying more attention to Adam than Max during the game, but she felt driven to figure him out. She knew that as an eleven-year-old, she'd probably been naive to put the boy on a pedestal simply because he'd offered his scarf to her when her nails were bleeding. But the way he had brought the kittens to the shelter instead of taking them to the pound, even staying long enough to help feed them, all showed he had a sense of compassion. It was an interesting thing to see in a guy who could show such aggression during gameplay.

Soon, the scrimmage ended without Adam ever getting a chance to go back out on the ice. Without his toughest competition, Max soared, his success hampered only by Gaffney. In the end, the Ducks won anyway, but Max was quite full of himself for the goals he had scored.

It usually took a while for him to take off all his padding and gear and then get a shower, and Lacey was tired of sitting on the bleachers to wait for him, so she made her way into the cool night air, tossed her history book into the back of Max's newly repaired car, and decided to walk around the campus of Eden Hall a while.