Page 170 of Jaded

He understands the game in an instinct beyond teaching, beyond learning, beyond developing, and that makes him untouchable.

By the end of the game, the scoreboard reads 7 – 5. Our makeshift team piles in around me and Olli, smashing us into a massivemany-armed hug that has Olli muttering. “I want fresh air! I don’t want to die beneath a pile of stinking, sweaty pads and bodies!”

“Worse ways to go.” I wrap an arm around his neck to pull him close.

“Dude, that was fucking awesome!” Holls yelps, shaking my pads back and forth like he’s trying to collar me. I’m too busy smiling to care.

Even Coach looks mildly flabbergasted as we file back into the locker room, but he naturally tries to play it off with a sobering, “Well, you couldn't try half that shit in a real game.”

Chapter 43

Olli

Wewin.Ofcoursewe do.

We make our way back to the locker room, and I’m not entirely sure how Nat’s gonna handle his Avery-jersey deception, but I quickly forget when I spot Sydney Taylor waiting outside the door.

The grin covers Syd’s entire face as her eyes skate from me to Nat. “You’re wearing Avery’s number.”

“It was the least I could do,” Nat grunts. “Felt kinda good to be out there without having to be . . . out there. Where is Avery?”

“Still in the stands.” Syd nibbles her lower lip, but when she and Nat exchange a weighted glance, I hear the words she doesn't say.

He doesn’t want anyone to see what happened.

“Hiding out,” Nat murmurs. Syd merely nods . . . and moves on.

“The people are calling for an unmasking,” she says. “My phone’s been blowing up.”

“The people are just going to have to live with disappointment.” Nat shakes his head, but the white of his smile leaks out from behind the mask. “Avery’s not going public.”

“I’ll do it,” I say, poking at my mask. “The people want a story? Let’s give them a story.”

“Really?” Syd’s smile blooms all over again, and I think that even if this weren’t something I needed to do—to unmask, come clean, be honest in the eyes of the people—I’d do it anyway, just to make this girl’s day.

Or maybe her career.

“Yeah. But I want to do it in front of the team,” I say. “So lemme go make sure nobody’s naked yet.”

She laughs. “You know I play hockey on a boys’ team, right?”

“Please, don’t tell me any more,” Nat groans.

I give him a solid pat on the shoulder and dip into the locker room to address my team.

“Listen up!” I shout over the noise, the music, the flying pieces of equipment. “We got a lady reporter coming in, and I’m about to make some big tragic emo speech, so everybody shut up for five minutes.”

They laugh and mock-jeer and Everton tries to give me a noogie, but then they quiet down and Syd comes in and suddenly I’m standing in the middle of the room with every single person watching—

And I’m looking into the small black rectangle in Syd’s hand, knowing the whole world is watching too.

“Hey there,” I say, because I’ll be awkward as hell till my dying day. “So, um. Yeah. This is gonna be a weird speech, but let’s start with the thing you all really want.”

My fingers tangle into my mask, and I lift the cloth up. “Whoever guessed Olli James for Number Twenty-Three . . . You win!”

Everybody laughs. I don’t think anybody on this team would’ve been fooled, even if I hadn’t fessed up to it. They know me pretty well, I’m realizing.

“Anyway, on to more serious matters.” I soften into sobriety. “I came to Day River to play as captain for the Dingoes, and it’s my hope that I can help take this team to the playoffs. But more than that, mydreamis that I can help revive this team foryoutoo. Because every town deserves something to root for—win, lose, or draw.”

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