“Hey,” I heard Xavier shout through the locker room, “Turn the music down could you? I can’t even hear myself think!” I laughed aloud at my friend, he was right though, the music was absolutely blaring, just the way our captain – Tai – liked it.
“Suck it up Mr. Aleine, good for you that is.” Tai responded teasingly, with a rather playful grin on his face.
“Good for us?” Drew laughed. “More like guaranteed to make you deaf by twenty-two at the latest.” I glanced at Drew as he shouted over the roar of the music and noticed that he too was only teasing. Everyone on the team laughed, as we each put our shoes on and readied to walk from the team locker room. We’d just had a pretty good after school practise, with Coach Riviere drilling us. I had to admit that I was pretty tired. Having stayed up until one am this morning completing a history assignment probably didn’t help much.
“Hey, who’s up for a trip to the juice bar around the corner?” Riaz suggested, after he pressed pause on Tai’s iPod radio, causing Tai to frown.
“I’m up for it.” Came the automatic answer from Riaz’s twin brother Riordan. They were enforcers on our team, big, strong, capable and incredibly caring. They were great guys although completely intimidating before you got to know them. They weren’t identical twins and didn’t really look much alike aside from the height, build and hair. Both were over six foot, muscles standing out, but not to the point of overkill and had short brown mops for hair.
I heard a chorus of yes’ from the guys surrounding me in the locker room, but stayed silent, being more tired than I had expected.
“What about you Alara?” Nate questioned me, big smirk on his face. He was incredibly good looking. All of the boys on the ice hockey team were. But I thought of all of them as best friends, if not brothers. Except maybe for Nate, I’d always had a little crush on him. Not that I would ever tell anybody about it.
“Yeah,” I was shocked that even my voice sounded tired. “I got a ride to school with Vasic this morning though, so if he’s in, so am I.” I replied, smiling as well.
“Course I’m in.” Vas said, flicking his head in an attempt to move his mop of black hair out of his eyes.
“She’s just agreeing because she knows that even if she didn’t want to come along, we’d kidnap her anyway.” Lucas stated. He was right on one part, I did know that they would simply drag me along regardless, but wrong in thinking I didn’t want to go. I enjoyed hanging around with my best friends and these boys were them.
“Of course I want to go you big oaf.” I replied, shoving his shoulder lightly as he was sitting beside me. Riordan laughed heartily, walking over to where I sat.
“I’ll carry you to the car Princess Ali.” He thundered much louder than necessary as he picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder and began walking out of the school and to the parking lot.
The entire team laughed. I could hear Drew’s laugh in particular, he was in hysterics. I couldn’t quite determine why – as this occurred often. Both Riordan and Riaz did this, knowing that it annoyed me. I could never hold onto any anger for them though, they were like big brothers to me.
I slapped at Riordan’s back lightly, attempting to get him to put me down. “Ri... I’m finding it hard to breathe with your shoulder in my stomach.” I managed to get out as he walked through the doors that lead to the parking lot. I looked up from his back and saw the team behind us. “Help!” I pleaded to them. Joking of course, well mostly, I really was finding it hard to breathe.
“Good luck with that one Ali.” Vasic laughed and when he finished he wore a massive smirk. Some help he was.
“Oh come on Ali, I’m sure you’re enjoying the view.” Riordan teased, just as he hoisted me further over his shoulder, causing my face to end up quite close to his backside.
I laughed, having long ago become accustomed to his flirting ways. “I’m sure I would be, if it were a nice view in the first place. Your butt isn’t quite doing it for me.” I replied, hearing the guys behind us hoot with laughter at their insulted friend.
I could feel Riordan’s shoulder shake with laughter as well as he hoisted me off his shoulder and deposited me on the ground next to Vasic’s car.
“I’ll give you that one, Sweetie.” He tossed to me, knowing that I hated being called sweetie. People from opposite teams called me “Sweetie” in the rink during games all the time. I despised the term. I absolutely and irrevocably hated it.
I simply glared up at my friend, with him having an extra foot of height on my five five, I had to tilt my head back. He was a tall bugger, forever getting on my last nerve and hardly having to try to do so.
“Alright you two, stop bantering. How about we all head off and meet at BOOST?” Tai spoke. His voice was strong and deep.
Riordan smiled mischievously at me as he, his brother Riaz, Kaleb and Elias all climbed into his black jeep. I shot him a smirk back as I hopped into Vasic’s car. I watched in the rear-view mirror as the rest of the boys walked to their own cars or the rides they were sharing with friends.
I turned over to face Vasic as he got into the car, “Are you alright Ali? You seem out of it today.” He asked, as he started the car and began to head toward the juice bar.
I simply shrugged at my best friend, the boy who was so much like a brother to me that I thought of him as being truly related to me. “I guess I’m just really tired is all.” I replied, resting my head against the window. I looked out the window and up into the sky. It was late Autumn here in Condor, Victoria, Australia. I loved the look of the clouds at the moment; it looked as if the heavens would soon open to unleash an unrivalled amount of rain down upon us. I didn’t mind in the slightest. I loved rain; it seemed to have an automatic calming effect on me. I sighed lightly and refocussed. The clock on the dash read five-thirty. I had no idea how it had become this late and I was more than a little bitterly disappointed that I was so tired.
“If you get too tired you can always fall asleep on my shoulder at the juice bar.” Vasic smirked, winked, and laughed after that comment. I could tell that his offer was serious though, I simply knew him too well by now.
I smiled and punched his muscular arm lightly, “Thanks Vas. I’ll see how I go.”
“Just don’t start snoring okay. ‘Cause you know if you do that, I’ll have to push you off me to wake you up.” He smiled mischievously.
I frowned up at the stupid, teasing, hockey player. He knew I did not snore. “Shut up Vas,” I laughed lightly. “You know full well that I don’t snore.” I told him, speaking my thought aloud.
He laughed; his laugh was deep, rough and very masculine. It was a one hundred percent pure Aussie laugh. I loved it.
I reached over to turn the cars’ stereo system online and was immediately caught up in a laugh as soon as I heard the song. It was a song by Cher. Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves if I wasn’t mistaken. I had great memories of Cher songs. Vasic’s mum loved Cher’s music; she’d blast it whenever she was cleaning up around the house.
Last time when I was over Vas’s, around sometime last week, we joined in on the strange obsession. Having heard all of the top hits from Cher many times over, we both knew all of the words entirely. We’d helped Mrs. D’Angelo clean that day, running around the house with feather dusters as microphones and screaming to this song in particular. It was the most fun I had had in a very long time. We ended up play ‘sword jousting’ with the dusters and not five minutes later were on the ground in hysterics, still singing.
I was brought out of my laughable memories by the atrocious sound of someone sing-screaming next to me. I realised quickly that Vasic had turned the volume right up and I smiled at the sound of his strange singing, as it was even louder than the music. I sang-screamed along happily to the music.
I was born in the wagon of a travelling show
My Momma used to dance for the money they'd throw
Poppa would do whatever he could
Preach a little gospel
Sell a couple bottles of doctor good
Gypsies, tramps and thieves
We'd hear it from the people of the town
They'd call us gypsies, tramps and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down
We sing-screamed along to the lyrics, I couldn’t help the hysteric laughter that came from me. It was just too much. The memories I had with Vas, I would take to my nursing home.
I reached over and turned the stereo down, “What on earth was that CD in there for Vas? Do you have a secret obsession with an old pop-star that you’re not admitting to?” I teased, not being able to stop the smirk that was written across my features.
He glared at me playfully, “No, Alara. The only pop-star I’ll ever obsess over is you.” I laughed outright at that comment. I couldn’t sing to save my life; I could probably endanger a few though. I smirked at him, “I’m just as good at you at singing, so there’s no hope for the either of us. Vas laughed good-naturedly. I love him for that; he could take just as much as he dished out.
“Nah, I had the CD in there the other day, trying to get into that happy Cher mood that we had the other week you know?” I nodded, grinning up at him, despite the fact that he couldn’t see my grin as he was concentrating on not crashing the car.
“Well it just wasn’t the same without you, so I guess I turned it off and forgot about it.” He shrugged and smiled lightly as we pulled into the BOOST car park. I glanced around and quickly noticed that we were the first to arrive from our group. I sighed, jumping out of the car.
“Do you want to go in or wait outsi-” I was cut off by a shoulder in my stomach and a quick movement that swept me off of my feet and over someone’s shoulder. Seriously, this again – twice in one day? I couldn’t only be so unlucky, I thought sarcastically.
I knew beyond a doubt that this time, Vasic was the culprit. Good old Vasic – annoying little bugger that he was. “Could you please Vasic, possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, consider letting me down. I really am tired and I promise you, I will not hesitate to bite your shoulder, arm or back if you do not let me down.”
Vas laughed heartily. “You really think that’s going to hurt me? You’re a feather my dear, you couldn’t hurt a fly.” He teased, knowing that it would irk me in less than seconds. He was right, it did. I hated being called weak, so I bit his lower arm. Not too roughly, light enough that it wouldn’t hurt too much, but enough to get my point across.
“Ow!” He muttered. “Okay, okay, letting you down now.” I laughed at him as he let me down, unable to help it. I seemed unable to help laughing a lot lately.
“Who’s unable to hurt a fly again Vas?” I questioned, smirk on my face and one raised eyebrow.
“I may not be able to hurt a fly Alara, but I reckon I could make that beautifully long dark brown hair of yours turn grey pretty quickly.” He smirked.
I nodded, he probably could at that. I wasn’t quite sure I agreed with his ‘beautiful hair’ comment however. I was average, end of.
“Thanks, I think.” I muttered, turning to walk into the juice bar. “I’ll meet you inside; I’ll grab a booth and wait for the rest of the guys to show up. Do you want to wait for ‘em out here?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah, sure thing.” He said smiling. “Be careful Princess Alara. Try not to break a nail without the protection of one of your knights.” I laughed at his attempt to tease me. I was simply too tired to be baited at this point.
I left Vasic standing in the car park as I sauntered over to the door of the juice bar. I quickly opened the door and suck into a booth, not bothering to look at my surroundings, simply grateful for the moment of rest that it allowed me.
I sat there for what I believed was a full thirty seconds of uninterrupted rest until I sensed people slide into the both opposite and beside me. I didn’t bother opening my eyes, assuming it was simply the boys finally arriving. But when someone began to stroke my hand that rested on the table, my eyes opened in alarm. In front of me sat a familiar rival and the same to the side of me. I recognised these two boys as Asshat One and Asshat Two. I didn’t know their real names; just that they liked to pick on me as I was the only girl on my team and any team that we played for that matter.
“Hey Beautiful.” The one next to me said as he put an arm over my shoulder. I attempted to get away from him, but he held me in place firmly. “I just wanted to come over here and tell you how pretty you look in that green dress of yours.” He smiled, but it in no way looked genuine. “I love your hair too, dark and very long. My kind of thing.” He smirked and winked at me, causing me to grimace. “Perfect to grab onto if you know what I mean.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively and I sighed. I hated it when guys from teams other than my own did this. It was really and truly getting old. They used it as a way to intimidate me, as I was the only girl and they saw me as the weakest link. I never let it work though.
“Okay well you’ve said your piece and I’m sorry but I’m not even the slightest bit interested. So could you and your buddy please leave me alone now?” I said in the most polite voice that I possessed.
The guy with his arm around me – let’s call him ‘Asshat One’ – eyebrows shot up in surprise to my rejection. Obviously the boy wasn’t used to hearing no as an answer, which shocked me entirely.
“Look, we know you’re the only chick in the team we play next and obviously because they let a girl in their team they’ll be easy to beat. So we just wanted to offer for you to have some fun with us,” He smirked, “Because number one; the guys in your team are all ugly idiots who can’t play hockey and number two, we thought you should enjoy something thoroughly before we rough you up too bad at our game.” He smirked broadly and I almost gagged. Did he seriously just call my team ugly? That had to be one of the most unintelligent things I’d ever heard. All of those boys were handsome, absolutely and completely. Certainly better looking than this idiot. Maybe more importantly however was the fact that he had threatened me. That might be a slight issue. I frowned.
“Look, I’m really not interested. I’m really tired and I’m actually waiting for those guys that you just insulted to join me. So could you please just leave me alone, now?” I spoke, rather annoyed. I just wanted these guys to leave; they were a waste of time. Even to my own mind, that thought sounded harsh, but I quickly reminded myself that they had just insulted my friends and threatened my safety. Ice hockey was a dangerous sport, that was inevitable, but I really didn’t like it when people gunned for me just because of my gender.
“Oh come on Baby! We’re just playing around. I like you, you obviously like me and I’m interested in a good time! You do the math Sugar.” He said, still smirking. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. What, did this guy honestly think he was God’s personal gift to women everywhere or something? How ridiculous! He was a pompous moron!
I was really starting to get annoyed and even a little on edge as he slid his other hand under the table to rest it high on the inside of my thigh. I couldn’t believe his complete arrogance and rude behaviour.
“Get your hand of my leg now.” I said harshly. I looked up at him only to see him laughing silently and I could easily hear his friends’ booming laugh from across from us.
“No, I think I’ll leave it there,” he said. “I rather like this position. In fact, I think I could even improve upon it.” I tried to move away, but there was nowhere for me to move to, I was lodged between ‘Asshat One’ and a wall. I flinched as his head leaned in towards my own. Where was the tough girl, I couldn’t help but think later on. Where had my usual rough persona gone? Why had I sat there, I could have shouted, hit him, something. But the thoughts never crossed my mind.
I was beyond thankful when ‘Asshat One’ was forcefully dragged away from me. I didn’t occur to me who could be doing the dragging at first, I felt only relief. When I glanced up, I saw Nate holding the guy who had been forcing himself upon me in an ironclad grip. He looked absolutely murderous. The rest of the boys were around him, and I noticed that Alexei held the other boy who I had accurately named ‘Asshat Two’.
“Stay the hell away from her!” Nate bellowed. The clear danger in his voice probably would have put me on edge if I didn’t know the guy. I sat back in the booth and observed as the scene took place, merely endeavouring to compose myself. I had been tired before, but I was now alert.
I looked around the booth to see that my entire team was there and they all looked murderous. I knew why, they hated it when people messed with me. Most of them thought of me as a younger sister, someone to protect. I was always completely adamant about not needing their protection, but in the present situation I was grateful for it. I would not argue that I needed their help now.
Asshat One looked around at the boys who surrounded him. It was obvious when he realised that he and his friend were highly outnumbered when his face turned a shade paler. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.
Vasic moved through the group to slide into the booth at my side. He placed an arm around my shoulders and in his most concerned voice asked, “Are you alright Alara?”
I gave a curt nod in response. “I’m perfectly fine Vas, thanks.” I smiled easily, acting up my ‘fine’ state just a little. I was still a little shaken, but would be fine.
Vasic gave me a look that clearly said, ‘you’re so full of crap,’ but he didn’t say a word to negate what I had told him. He only squeezed my shoulder tighter as I turned to face the other boys. My team gave me looks of reassurance before refocussing all of their attention on the two asshats.
Nate and Alexei were still holding the two boys by their arms and Drew stood by Nate looking just as angry as he. “What the hell do you think you were doing?” Drew demanded of the boy I’d named Asshat One.
The guy simply shrugged in response, which was one of the stupidest things he could have done. All of these boys were ice hockey players for goodness sakes. They were all tough, sometimes stubbornly so. I mentally flinched at thinking of what the outcome of this could be.
“Don’t worry about it guys, calm down.” I said and all of them turned to look at me. “I’m fine, they didn’t get anywhere. Everything’s okay.” I didn’t necessarily believe the crap that I was spouting, but it sounded calming enough, so I ran with it.
“Okay?” Nate, Alexei, Drew, and many others asked at the one time. In fact I think the only guys not to ask were Vasic and Asshat One and Two.
“Everything is not okay Alara!” Nate spoke, still evidently fuming. “He was all over you and forcing you into a situation you obviously were not interested in!”
I slid away from Vasic and stood up, approaching Nate, Drew and the moronic guy they were staring down. The other team members moved out of my way quickly and most put a hand to my shoulder to symbolise their willingness to help me.
“I’m fine Nate.” I told him, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling it away from the guy he held. He didn’t respond for a few long seconds, but soon he allowed me to remove his arm slowly.
“Don’t you ever, ever think you can touch or even talk to her again do you understand me asswipe?” Nate questioned Asshat One. In my peripheral vision I could see Alexei and Elias Reed shoving the Asshat’s friend around lightly, but decided to ignore their actions.
I turned my gaze from a wound up Nate to see that the idiot who had tried it with me was now smiling. The nerve. “I won’t ever touch her again, unless she asks me to.” He said and I laughed bitterly. Like that would ever happen.
“And I guarantee you that after the ass-whooping my team give you next game; she’ll come begging to me.” I couldn’t help my reaction at this point, I slapped the guy.
“I will never, ever, in a million years ask for anything from you.” I stated, containing laughter at his purely shocked expression. I could hear that most of the team couldn’t hold in their laughter and as I looked around I noticed that even Asshat Two was laughing at his friend. “Oh, and by the way,” I said, turning to face the guy again, “The only ass-whooping to occur, will be with us beating your team senseless. You have no chance.”
I felt a large warm hand touch my shoulder and looked up to see it was Nate, offering his support.
“Scram idiots.” He said, “And if we ever catch you trying anything with Alara again, things will start to get painful.” Nate wasn’t usually this rude, even to people such as this. I couldn’t understand the utter anger he was demonstrating, but didn’t question it. He was, after all, helping me out.
The team let go of the Asshats and the leading guy pointed a finger at me. “Remember what I said Alara.” He said, spitting my name. “I’ll be gunning for you.” He finished and walked out of the juice bar.
I sighed, bloody brilliant, I thought.