cool kids , fulton reed

sixteen

"Hope this is good," Sloane said and craned her neck with narrowed eyes when she heard the click of cameras outside the open locker room door.

"I told him no visitors, but he wanted to congratulate you anyway," Bombay said as he reentering the locker room with Wayne Gretzky following closely behind. Sloane gasped loudly and grabbed Julie's arm as her mouth fell open and her eyes widened.

"That's Wayne Gretzky!" Jesse said as the team rushed to surround the man.

"Can I shake your hand?" Connie asked and grasped his hand when he nodded. Sloane slid between Connie and Jesse and slipped her hand into his after Connie pulled away.

"Sloane Anderson. I'm a big fan," Sloane introduced herself while shaking his hand firmly.

"So, you're the famous Sloane Anderson, huh? A few colleagues of mine have said you've got a dirty glove side shot so I had to come see for myself and I've got to say, kid, I'm impressed," Wayne said, shaking her hand once before pulling away.

"Hey," Sloane said as she turned to Jesse. "Wayne Gretzky came to watch me because his friends said I was really good. And he was impressed," she said and shook his arms excitedly as she bit her bottom lip despite a wide smile.

"You're ego's going to be insanely huge from now on, isn't it?" Jesse asked and pressed his lips together.

"Oh, you won't be able to stand me," she said, nodding as her smile widened.

"Guys, this is The Great One!" Charlie said as he moved around the huddle to stand beside Wayne.

"Wayne's fine," he answered and held up a hand, causing the team to laugh loudly.

"Get over there, guys," a photograph said and ushered Jan, Bombay, Tibbles, and Miss MacKay toward the huddled team with his camera lifted in his hand. "We need a picture." 

The four adults hurried toward the group as they backed farther into the locker room to fit everyone in the picture. Sloane and Connie slid in front of Wayne and bent their knees to keep from blocking him from view. Sloane quickly pulled her braids over her shoulders and smiled widely at the camera as Wayne sat one hand on her shoulder and the other on Connie's.

"Say 'hockey'," the photographer said as everyone settled into their position.

"Hockey!" they repeated as the photographer snapped the picture.

✩

Sloane skated between Connie and Dean as Bombay led the team onto the ice of the empty arena. She retucked her white tank top into her light wash jeans after pulling her jeans up over her stomach. She reached up to tighten the small butterfly patterned white ribbon holding back a small portion of her hair and pushed the rest over her shoulders before dropping her arms at her sides. She slid a couple fingers under the gold bracelet Fulton got her, lifted it off her wrist, and ran her fingers against the chain.

"Wonder why we're on the ice," Connie said, slipping one of her hands into one of her pockets.

"The return of Captain Blood," Sloane responded dramatically.