Stolen Jerseys / ✓

1.06: chapter fifteen

S C O T T

There were five more practices until we found out who made the team.

Five.

Currently, it was a half-hour into practice. My legs already ached and I was drenched in sweat; with only a few more practices left, I had to work as hard as I could. Even though part of me kept wondering why Elle hadn't shown up to this pratice. (Thinking about her caused me to get checked into the wall a few times).

Jay skated up to me, an easy smile on his face. I grinned back and leaned on my stick, seeing Coach Monroe trying to get everyone's attentions from the bleachers. No one was paying attention, though, and I figured I had a couple of minutes before I actually had to skate over towards him.

"Where's Elle?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. I chocked and quirked my eyebrow; why was he asking me where she was?

I shrugged, glad my helmet covered the flush that undoubtedly covered my cheeks, "No idea," I mumbled, meeting Jay's brown eyes. His grin widened and I flushed even darker, "she's probably, like, busy."

"Busy," Jay nodded, eyes twinkling. I glared and slapped the side of his helmet, making him bust out in laughter, "you'll know why she wasn't here by tomorrow, though, won't you?"

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. I slowly started skating over towards Coach Monroe, who was waving his arms and beckoning everyone towards him. Jay skated beside me and I turned towards him, cocking my head to the side, "Why would I know by tomorrow?"

"Because you guys hang out everyday, dumbass."

I didn't get a chance to say anything to Jay after that, because he skated off. I scoffed under my breath and stopped, watching as everyone skated into a circle. Jay was wrong - Elle and I didn't hang out everyday. Only when we were practicing, or the occasional day when we went golfing or out to eat.

I shook my head and sighed, trying to focus on what Coach Monroe was saying. I blinked and looked up, but he was already backing up. I cursed, realizing I had missed whatever short speech he had said. Cursing Jay for getting my so distracted, I turned and slowly followed everyone as they skated towards the middle.

Everyone stood around and I bit my lip, looking at everyone's faces. Nobody said anything for a minute, and then Jay skated towards the middle, clapping despite the gloves on his hands. I snickered but leaned forward, wanting to know what we were doing.

"All right, teams of four!" Jay stated, and I nodded - Coach Monroe wanted to see how we played together, but in smaller teams. That way he could analyze us better, "Eight go on for seven minutes at a time."

Everyone turned to each other, seeing who they wanted on their teams. I looked at Jay and he raised an eyebrow; he just grinned in response, and I knew that, at least, I'd have one person I trusted on my team. (Not that I didn't trust the other guys, though).

Fifteen minutes later the whole team had split into teams of four each. I had gotten Jay, Jake (who, of course, coincidentally asked if we knew where Elle was), and another guy named Edi. I hadn't talked to him that much, but he was a really great defenseman. Plus, he didn't seem that fond of Jake, so that was a plus to me.

Jay skated towards the middle, signifying that our team would be the first to compete. No one questioned, though. Jay was a natural leader, and everyone knew he was going to make the team. He was practically already the captain.

Greg - the guy on the other team we were going against - skated up to the middle and shot Jay a questioning look, "No goalies?"

"Guess not," I piped up, standing next to Jay. I shot Greg a cocky smile, my blood pumping with adrenaline at the thought of playing a game - even if it wasn't a real, proper one, "think you guys will be okay?"