chapter 2: Thin Ice
"Hey, Spark. Why didn't you show me this paper?" Casey asked walking into the kitchen. Sparky was doing the dishes because she cussed at the table. "Sparky!" Casey said louder. The young girl couldn't hear due to the walkman blasting in her ear. She took one out and looked at her mother.
"What paper?" Sparky asked looking up and then at the paper.
"It says there's a dance for girls. You should go." Casey said and Sparky shrugged her shoulders and put the plate in the drying rack.
"Dad said he couldn't go. He's with his girlfriend in Boston that week." Sparky said and Casey furrowed her eyebrows and questioned her daughter.
"What?" Casey asked her daughter confused.
"It's a daddy daughter dance. Read it again." Sparky said and then Casey read the paper again. "I mean I don't wanna wear a dress either so it's okay." Sparky said and Casey put the paper down and then went up behind her daughter. She kissed the young girl on the cheek and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Spark." Casey said and Sparky shrugged her shoulders.
"It's fine. Dad said he's going to the game tomorrow. He'll see me play." Sparky said and Casey shook her head. Sparky always wanted to have a relationship with her dad. Charlie gave up on it a long time ago. Sparky just couldn't. She was longing for a dad all of her life.
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Sparky looked in the crowd as she warmed up her goalie. Not dad, Not dad, not dad. Sparky looked down and then scored on goal which wasn't surprising for her. Goldberg cleared the puck to her and Sparky shot and the puck went in. Sparky sighed. "Goldberg, it is not your fault the puck keeps coming to you, but you have to try to save it. Stop running away from the puck." Sparky said and then shot again. Goldberg ducked, well he tried to duck. He fell on the ice. Sparky sighed and then skated away.
"Sparky!" Sparky turned her head to see Coach Riley. The man had a liking to the girl. He only wished she could be on his team, her and Banks would be unstoppable. He kept in touch and he's been hoping to have her on his team for awhile now. "Good luck today!" Coach Riley said and Sparky smiled.
"You to, Coach Riley." Sparky said then skated to her bench. Her smile went to a frown and she saw Gordon.
"How do you know Coach Riley?" Gordon asked her as she leaned on the wall. Sparky looked in the crowd again for her dad. Still nobody. "Hey, quit looking out there, shows up front." Gordon said and Sparky looked back at him. She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders.
"I see him training Adam Banks a lot when I sneak in here." Sparky said and Gordon didn't even notice how she said she snuck into this gym. It was easy for her to do. She just had to use the back door where nobody looked.
"Alright, guys, gather round. Come on, come on." Gordon said and everyone circled around him. "Win! Win! Win!" Gordon had tried to chant. Everyone stared at him blankly and Sparky smiled on the other side of the wall.
"That's not a word in our vocabulary, Coach." Sparky said and Gordon sighed. Then everyone went on the ice. After the ref blew his whistle.
"Let's go! Come on in." The ref exclaimed and Sparky skated over to the bench next to her coach.
"Tell them to quit arguing and you take the draw." Gordon said and Sparky nodded her head. She skated to the middle and got in front of the three boys.
"You three stop arguing and play." Sparky said bossing then around. She felt bad whenever she did this, but someone had to stop them.
"Coming from you, Penalty girl." McGill said and Sparky scoffed.
"If you ran as much as you ran your mouth I think you'd be in a lot better shape." Sparky said and the ref looked at the arguing kids. McGill looked embarrassed and Sparky sighed.
"Let's get this show on the road." Sparky muttered and the ref dropped the puck between McGill and Sparky. Sparky passed the puck over and a Hawk stole it. That Hawk was Adam Banks.
Adam ended up scoring and Sparky sighed.
The score went to 5-0 very, very quickly. Gordon never took Sparky out and let's just say she was in constant getting slammed. With that, her being the hot headed kid she is, she was getting angrier.
Sparky stole the puck from a kid named Larson and she started to skate down the ice. "All right!" Gordon exclaimed and Sparky started to skate down the ice as she cradled her puck. She looked to pass but Gordon didn't want her to, he wanted the girl to score. "Sparky keep going, kid!" Gordon yelled and Sparky sighed.
Sparky got picked up by Adam Banks and Gordon sighed. She sped up her skating and then used a spin move to get past him. She got the lead on him and she sped to the goal. She scored the puck and she cheered.
"Lucky shot." Adam muttered he pushed her shoulder as Gordon cheered.
"You're on thin ice, Banks." Sparky said pushing him back.
"You two, quit the fighting." The ref said and Adam skated away. Sparky rolled her eyes and skated back to the middle for the face off.
"Yes, Sparky!" Gordon yelled as Coach Riley nodded and slowly clapped his hands.
By the time of the second half, Sparky was sitting at the half. "How lazy can you be? They're killing is out there! And how many times do I have to tell you: Get those rebounds, get your heads up, get those loose pucks. Get...just...Just get the hell out of here." Gordon said and then looked at Sparky. The ref blew his whistle and the team started to stand up.
Gordon grabbed Sparky by her chest protector and practically picked her up from the bench. "Go, Sparky please for the love of god do something because they won't." He said pressuring the kid. Sparky nodded and got off the sidelines and onto the ice.
During the 3rd quarter Charlie got a loose puck and started to go down the ice. Gordon stood up and noticed this. He nodded his head.
"Come on, Char!" Sparky exclaimed as she skated up the ice. Charlie got in a position the score. Then he fanned it. Sparky sighed as Charlie went in tumbling into the board.
Banks checked into him and Charlie fell down. Sparky rolled her eyes and skated over to her brother. "Come on what was the point of that, man. Don't be a jerk." Sparky said and Adam laughed.
"It's called hockey, princess. Get used to it." Adam said skating away from her. Sparky stood up and skated next to him.
"Shut it, rich boy."
"I'd rather be a rich boy than a bad hockey player." Adam said and Sparky pushed him into the boards. Adam pushed himself off the boards and flew at Sparky.
"Let's go, Spark! Beat that cake eater up!" Jesse exclaimed as Sparky pushed him down.
"You suck, rich boy!" Sparky exclaimed as the ref grabbed her as Adam tried to get another go at her.
"Whatever, princess." Adam said and the ref took Sparky over to the penalty box.
"2 minutes for unsportsmanlike contact." The ref said as Sparky threw her stick in the box.
"Yeah, whatever. He started it!" Sparky exclaimed as the ref shut the door. Sparky sat back and rolled her eyes. "This is rigged." Sparky said rolling her eyes.
Gordon looked at the box and shook his head. Of course his best player had to get herself into trouble.
Sparky looked at Gordon who was having aspirins every five minutes. "Why are you having those like they're candy?" Sparky asked with a laugh. Gordon looked at her and shook his head. Sparky was benched for the rest of the game for having a crappy attitude.
When the game ended everyone on D5 was arguing. Sparky was just sitting there drinking her water. "Hey, shut up!" Gordon yelled making everyone jump. "You guys stink! I thought we came here to play hockey." Gordon said as Sparky looked down. The only time Sparky ever stayed quiet was when she didn't play, and that was never. So being benched for a whole third quarter sucked for her.
"You know, I knew we forgot something." Peter said and everyone except for Sparky laughed.
"Oh, you think it's funny? You think losing is funny?" Gordon asked and Sparky shook her head no. She was the only kid who cared. Everyone knew that.
"Well, not at first, but once you get the hang of it." Averman said making everyone give a small smirk.
"We're the ones out there gettin' our butts kicked." Jesse said and Sparky looked over to her mom. Next to her mom was nobody, because her dad didn't come. Sparky looked down and fought back the tears that tried to go into her eyes.
"Yeah, it's not like you coach us or anything. At least we tried."
"You tried? The only one I saw giving any effort was Sparky! I couldn't see you give half of what she gave! You didn't listen to a word I said. I said keep your heads up. You put your heads down. I said hustle. You went slower! That was the sloppiest playing I've ever seen. Why the hell don't you just listen to me?" Gordon asked all of them and Sparky looked at the floor. She rocked her skate and Jesse stood up.
"Why the hell should we?" Jesse asked and then walked away.
"I don't care. You want to lose, fine. You're the ones who look like idiots out there." Gordon said and then walked away. Sparky bounced her knee and then looked at everyone. They all looked at her to say something. She shrugged her shoulders and took her gear off.
"We got the annual be like Sparky talk, Sparky what do you gotta say?" Peter asked and Sparky shrugged her shoulders.
"Do better?" She said as she took her gear off.
"She's never been that quiet."
"She's also never been benched for more than 5 seconds."
Sparky walked out last as usual. There was a frown on her face as she did. As she walked out she saw Connie hugging her dad, the Halls with their dad, everyone else worth their dad but Sparky and Charlie. She grabbed her walkman and put her headphones on. She started the music and walked away. She looked away and saw Hans. Hans was the guy who gave her a free gear. They were hand-me downs but they were worth it. He said she had talent, and talented kids need stuff to play in to show that talent.
He put an arm around her shoulders and she put one headphone on the side of her head. "You played good, you're attitude, not so much." Hans said and Sparky nodded. "Why are you so down, hm?" Hans asked, Sparky shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
"My dad said he'd show but he never did. I mean it's not like he'd see anything if I was benched for a whole freakin quarter." Sparky said then walked away. Hans sighed as he watched the young girl walk to her mothers car alone.