Lines in the Ice

Chapter 5

I moved a little so that I could continue eating Dan’s sandwich. I should make Dan get me one of these and Pringles next time. It’s good. I should start calling Dan the Sandwich Guru or something.

“I think Dan’s cleaning the ice,” Tod said.

“Okay, we’ll wait.”

So they sat there and waited. I was stuck underneath a counter feeling cramped and uncomfortable. The door to the office opened and Dan’s boots came into view. I couldn’t see his face but I’m pretty sure he was wondering why I was underneath the counter.

“Hello sir, I’m from Wetchtale High school. We reserved the rink today.”

“Yep, just cleaned the ice for you. I’ll get some skates, just have your students tell me their sizes.”

Students walked up one by one to the counter. Dan walked back to the racks and got the skates they needed. Then he’d walk back. I got bored one time so I tripped him. I had to keep myself from laughing but Tod didn’t.

“Dan, I didn’t know you were so clumsy,” Tod managed to say.

“I’m usually not. Must’ve had something caught on me feet,” Dan said knowingly. He subtly gave me a glare.

“Tod, it’s not very nice to yell at people.” Bianca, a friend of my sisters. She has the most annoying voice ever, and a thing for Tod. If she’s here that must mean that my sisters are too. They share P.E at the end of the day.

Wait a minute. Why is the last period so lucky to go skating? Why not all the other classes?

“Dan doesn’t mind, do you, Dan?”

“Nope, it wasn’t really my fault,” Dan told him.

“Oh?” Tod questioned.

“Yeah it was gravity’s fault. Dang that gravity,” he said and kicked me at the same time.

Ouch, that hurt. He has a mean kick. I punched him in the shin but it didn’t seem to bother him at all. Just please get done handing out skates so that I can get my revenge on you, Dan.

“Hey where’d my sandwich go?” Dan asked, I gave a small laugh. Crap! I hope no one heard.

“It’s just not your day. First you fall and now you lost your sandwich. Bye, Dan.”

“You can come out now, they’re all skating away.”

I crawled out from underneath the counter. Dan helped me stand up but he didn’t let go of my arm when I tried to walk away from him. I pulled harder but I got nowhere.

“What do you want, Dan?” I asked him with an annoyed tone.

“I need someone to be like a skate guard. There’s a lot of teenagers out there and I don’t particularly feel safe with their only supervision being their P.E teacher…” he trailed off.

“No! They’ll know something’s up.”

“Just sneak in and say you came in late, someone told you that you were supposed to come here and that I helped you.”

“Fine, but if you didn’t buy me Pringles and I hadn’t eaten half of your sandwich I wouldn't be doing this.” He gave me a brief hug before pushing me out the door.

When I thought that just the last period for P.E was skating I was wrong. It’s the whole school just about. There must be some trip or something going on. Maybe I can pull this off after all.

I found Mr. Bendall and skated over to him. He looked surprised to see me. “I was a little late today, the office told me to come here.”

“Okay, have fun I guess.”

The ice was kind of smooth when I got on, but not fully. It took awhile to get skates to everyone and then I got out here later than everyone else. With so many people and the time elapsed I would’ve imagined the ice would be a lot worse.

I started to skate around when I ran into someone. Today is just not my day. When I looked up at who I had ran into I noticed it was Will. Great, perfect, this day just keeps getting better and better.

He helped me up and I tried to skate away from him but he followed me. He’s like a fly that you just can’t get rid of. Yesterday was a perfect example. I glanced over at him, he looked like he wanted to say something.

“Why were you skating after hockey practice? The rink was closed." His voice was low so that only I could hear.

“It’s none of your business,” I snapped.

“You don’t have to be rude, it’s a harmless question,” he teased.

“Maybe it is harmful and you just don’t know what you’re putting your foot in.”

“Fine, I’ll leave you alonem, but I will figure out what it’s all about.”

“Don’t tell anyone, please,” I begged him.

“Maybe I won’t, maybe I will,” he teased again. Then he skated away and I went in the other direction.

I don’t really see why these people need watching over, they are perfectly fine at handling themselves. Only two people have fallen and they got right back up. Mr. Bendall could handle it.

My wrist was grabbed, pulling me out of my thoughts. Someone was pulling me to the side and out of the way. Some of the guys were at one end getting ready. I noticed that they were all hockey players. They must be racing, that sounds really fun.

I don’t know what possessed me but I had a crazy idea. I skated to the end where the guys were and stopped right in front of Tod. He was the captain of the hockey team, he should have most of the say over the race too. They all looked at me and a few told me to get out of the way.

“Can I race too?” I asked sweetly.

“Hell no!” someone screamed.

“Guys calm down, it’s just a race. She’s just a girl, it’s not like you can’t beat her. Sure you can join.”

I gave a grin and found a spot next to Will. He was looking at me with wonder, I didn't show any effort to explain anything to him. I waited for everyone to calm down. As soon as everyone shut up Tod counted down. When he got to zero I was off.

The wind whipped gently through my hair as I took off. I passed a lot of the guys before I was tied for the lead. It was Tod, Will, and I all for first. Should I play dirty? I think I should.

When we were close enough to the end I knelt down and pushed myself forwards. I slid to the edge of the rink and hit the side with a bang. It didn’t hurt at all. I came in first but I could tell the guys weren’t happy.

“That’s cheating,” Will said.

“No, it was strategic thinking,” I retorted.

“I guess I should’ve clarified the rules a little more,” Tod sighed. “No sliding like that, you must be on your feet to count. We’ll go back, get ready.”

It was just us this time and we got ready. Again Tod said zero and we took off. We were all tied again, this time I won’t cheat. I can tell Will and Tod are really trying to beat me. I’m not that good, I don’t play hockey like they do.

I slowed up a bit. Tod won, Will came in second, and I skidded to a stop at third. Then Dan’s voice came on over the intercom.

“Phone call for a Brenna Hastings,” he said.

I skated quickly to the other side and left the ice. I practically ran through the lobby doors and jumped over the counter to get to the phone. Only one person calls the rink to talk to me. Michael!