Author's note: I'm not too satisfied with this chapter, but having set up this question I feel like I have to address it. Maybe I'll come back later and improve this part. I'm writing chapter 38 now, and am pretty sure I'm past the halfway point; so this story won't go on forever. I hope you're enjoying it so far!
We were back on the school field for my first practice today. I went over to my friends, who were already discussing teams, while Harper vanished to park up her bike and get her skates on. I wondered if I should have asked her about Lindy's new drugs on the way here, but we'd been rushing a little because I was late out of the house. It would be better chatting later, I was sure.
"Glad to see you could join us," Nadine said, and I wondered if I could detect a little bitterness in her voice. "Not playing basketball today?"
"N...no?" I answered, surprised and not sure how I was supposed to respond to that. "I mean, yes, but that's later. Between this and quads. I bet I'll be exhausted. Sorry I missed last time. Was that a problem for you all?"
"No, it's fine. It's just..." she trailed off, like there was something else she wanted to say, but she knew I wouldn't like it. "Anyway, you guys won't have the energy to do anything else after you've been working out on the court so much," she smirked, and my eyes widened. I remembered when she'd been theoretically learning to play basketball, but making very little progress. She'd spent hours leaning against our mailbox while waiting for Hugo to come out, and they would head down to the park to 'practice', she said with a knowing wink. I'd never known how much time they actually spent bouncing a ball around, and how much was spent on other things. Just that her overprotective mother would never have tolerated her actually dating a boy at that age. It had been an open secret, and the subject of many jokes at school. Did she assume that I was doing the same now?
"It's not like that," I started to say, but she was already dashing away to see what our captain had in mind for today's practice.
We ended up playing a game between two halves of the team. Harper stood in as the referee this time, nominating two of us as captains. There were enough of us, if we didn't have any substitutes, and she'd always said that we should all have a good grasp of strategy. I was surprised that she picked Nadine as one of the team captains, given that she was the only serious rival for the full-time position. Nadine had been bitter for a few days when someone who treated inline hockey as a second choice sport was selected over her; but any animosity must be in the past by now. I was just as surprised when I was put in charge of the other team. Playing against my best friend, I was sure it would be a challenge.
The game started off pretty slowly; we both chose to start playing defensively, and we finished the first period with no score. I discussed strategy with Maggie and Jules, and we came up with something that might surprise the other side. We barely had any substitutes because we'd split the team, so we needed to make the most of this brief opportunity to rest. But I could never just sit down, so I coasted in lazy circles around the edge of the rink.
"You going to make it more exciting this time?" Nadine taunted, and I had a perfect riposte lined up until she continued: "You'll not impress your boyfriend if you're playing like that later."
"I... what? I haven't got a boyfriend, I'm just learning a sport."
"Yeah, you just keep–" but the rest of her words were drowned out by the referee's whistle as Harper called for us to resume play. I turned to ask Nadine what she was talking about, but she was already heading back to her own position, all business. I felt that I must have offended my best friend somehow, but I had no idea what I had said or done. Was she still not over Hugo? I knew their breakup had been rough, but it was about the only thing she had never wanted to talk about.
The second period started well. Maggie and Jules raced forward aggressively, a long bluff to put off the moment Nadine's team noticed that I still had the puck. Then her defenders were charging into our half of the rink, surrounding me. I tapped back quickly, and Cassidy belted it with all her strength. Nobody was in a position to intercept, and the puck was travelling fast enough that their goaltender couldn't keep control of it, only knock it away. That left Jules in a perfect position to take a proper shot, close enough to aim properly, and then Maggie was standing by on the other side to catch the redound. And it would have worked perfectly, had Maggie just managed not to trip over her own stick and landed sprawled out on the ground.
Nobody objected to stopping play then. This was only practice, and we were all friends. We were all worried if she'd managed to injure herself this time, although Maggie's ability to bounce back from almost any injury seemed almost supernatural. We were doing today's practice on the proper rink at our school, so Harper sent me to the front office, where there would always be someone on duty, and ask for the nurse. Proper protocol said that in the absence of a teacher coaching us – a privilege that most of the sports clubs hadn't earned – it was supposed to be the team captain running to fetch help. But that was rarely the case for us, both because Harper was the one with the first aid certificates, and because I could keep my skates on and cover the distance to the main school building in less than half the time.
"Maggie Whalley fell down again," I told the blue-haired lady behind the desk, doing whatever a school administrator had to do on a holiday weekend. "Think we need the nurse down there, just to check her over."
"Okay, I'll send somebody. You keep us busy. Are we likely to need an ambulance?"
"I doubt it. If we do, the captain will have told somebody to call them."
"I guess you know what you're doing," she mumbled. That was an attitude that seemed common among the staff at school. They were always surprised when our team leaders knew what they were doing and followed all the right procedures, despite our captain being one of the youngest out of any sports clubs. "You seem pretty mature for your age, don't you?"
I didn't think I could respond to that. Maybe I was; I'd always seen something that needed doing and just done it. Maybe that was why it felt so good not to have all the responsibility on my shoulders once in a while, and be forced to not act my age again.
I rushed back to the rest of the team, and Maggie was sitting on a bench with a can of Coke in her hand. Harper stood up as I approached, and raised an eyebrow.
"Nice strategy," she said. "Quick thinking there. Guess you were unlucky when it came to it."
"Yeah. The nurse is on the way. She okay?"
"Bruises, same as always. Don't think there's any chance of a concussion, but better have a professional look it over. If I'd tried that, I would have put you on the wing. Better chance of success."
"Jules is good. You could push her more. And I needed to be somewhere I could see where the puck is, so I can shout if they get possession and switch it up."
"True. Being captain shuts down a lot of your potential. That's why you turned it down, right?" She paused, and looked at me again. For a moment, I felt like I was an auction lot being assessed, someone looking for flaws. "Is something wrong? You and Nadine have been pretty cold all morning. Did I do something wrong?"
"It's not you. I think I upset her somehow, I can't figure it out." I paused for a second, and realised she had said Nadine's name. She was asking as a friend, not a team captain. And I knew that she could probably figure out a lot more than anyone would expect of her. But there was still another question lurking at the back of my mind, and thinking about Nadine's sudden animosity had almost pushed it out of my mind. "I mean, I was going to ask you. It's not a big deal, but what's Lindy experimenting with now?"
"She's still trying? I told Mum, I thought she would have passed it on to Willow and got that prank shut down completely."
"I..." I realised too late that I'd dropped myself in it. "I felt really bad over something I said to her. Like, if she hadn't gone into my allergies, I figure I've done enough to deserve it. I told her if she's going to try that stuff again I'll be on guard, but so long as she checks the final recipe with you to make sure she's not doing something dangerous without realising, I promise not to tell Mum. Wait, you didn't suggest something?"
"You're expecting it and she still got you to drink something she made?"
"I don't know. She brought me a bottle of lemonade and a glass. Still sealed, I didn't even think about it. But... you could put something in the glass, couldn't you? I thought it was a neat trick from the genius prankster. That's got to be you, right?"
"Not mine. Everything I got is herbal, no way you'd miss ground leaves in the bottom of a glass. You sure there was something there? Wait... you didn't...?"
"No!" I protested, possibly a little too loud. But I knew she saw right through me. "Maybe a little. I couldn't believe it, I thought you said that stuff didn't really work. But you came up with something new..."
"Not me," she said, and for once I could almost believe she was sincere. "Look, I'll ask her. Whatever it is, I want to know it's safe. And if it's worked, I have so many other uses for that. But... Okay, I need to tell you. Ask Nadine what happened. I mean it. And then ask Hugo. Neither of them said anything to me, but I'm good at reading people. I'd bet anything that neither of them will tell you the truth, but the differences might help you understand why she's being so weird now."
I nodded, and I was feeling a lot better as we went back to the game. The school nurse had appeared and said that Maggie should take the rest of the match off; but even with the team split down the middle we could manage with a substitute. The game would be a little harder, but we would get the practice we needed. And perhaps I'd get a chance to talk to Nadine at some point as well.