Slapshot

Chapter 2: Tryouts

"What? Taylor Delaney?" I say in surprise. There was no way she was our twentieth player.

"Yeah. You know her?" He asks.

"Everyone knows her, she's our class president." I mumble.

"Perfect." Coach says.

"Coach, has she ever even played hockey in her life?" I ask him.

"She can skate." He answers.

"WHAT! We're bringing a girl on our team who's never even played hockey?" I ask, clearly angered. By now she's made her way towards us, giving me a smug smile.

"I'm Taylor." She says.

"I know." I mumble.

"What's your name?" She asks, looking at me expectantly.

"Jonathan. It's Captain to you." I grunt.

"Jonathan." Coach Jamie says my name sternly.

"You've never even played hockey in your life!?" I yell at her.

"I've skated!" She says, like that makes up for it. As if.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I scoff.

"I have." She says.

"When? In your dreams?"

"Jonathan." Coach Jamie says my name again, but I ignore him.

"When I was younger." She says. Great!

"Why'd you let her on our team, Coach? She's just gonna embarrass us, she's never even played hockey!" I shout. How come I'm the only one who sees the problem?

"Because, Jonathan, without her, we wouldn't be able to have a team. You should be thankful to her."

"I don't owe her anything, Coach. She's never even played hockey! You've got to be kidding, right?" I say with a chuckle, but not a happy chuckle, more like a chuckle in disbelief.

"No, Jonathan. In fact, you're gonna be the one to help her out." He says calmly.

"WHAT!" I shout, running my hands through my hair. This was a nightmare.

"You're going to help Delaney learn." He says. I look over at her. She looks so innocent, playing with her hands. What an act.

"I have better things to do than to help a beginner learn how to play varsity hockey." I roll my eyes.

"It's not a question, Jonathan. It's an order. You're going to help her learn." Coach Jamie says, writing something down on his clipboard.

I shake my head, leaning against the board. "You can't get someone else to do it? Clearly I don't want to." I say, feeling annoyed. I've expressed the most anger to her joining my team, yet I'm the one who's supposed to help her? Give me a break.

"You are the captain, Jonathan. But you're clearly not acting like one. Smarten up, and play nice. She's one of us now." Coach Jamie says, now walking off to leave just me and her.

I stare at her, mentally scowling. "Nice to meet you, too." She says sarcastically. That was enough.

I groaned very loudly, opening the bench door and slamming it shut behind me as I skated to the other side. When I was about halfway across the ice, I heard her voice.

"Uh, Jonathan?" She called.

I rolled my eyes, turning around. She was standing on the ice right in front of the bench. One hand was holding onto the bench behind her, and her eyes were flickering between the ice and me. She didn't have skates on.