Page 43 of Snowballed

Jeffers gives me a thumbs-up and leaves. Then Rocky returns from putting on her makeup. “You ready to go to class?”

“Sure. Am I done here, Helen?”

“Yes. But don’t forget there’s a meeting tomorrow at 5:00 to get everything organized for the auction. Tell all the guys to attend.”

“I’m not going to see all the guys. Message them yourself,” I say. By all the guys, she means Noah. But Noah and I can’t both go to an evening meeting because who would do the chores? We can do a coin flip, and the loser has to go to the meeting.

“Helen drives me nuts,” I tell Rocky once we’re out of the athletic complex.

“Then you’re going to love what I have to tell you,” she says.

“What is it?”

Rocky leans closer. “I found out why Helen is in charge of fundraising.”

“She was in Coach Cray’s office at the wrong time?”

“No, no. Remember when we won the championship last year? We celebrated at that restaurant, but some people went to Helen and Jeanette’s hotel room afterwards.” Jeanette is a forward who graduated last year. Rocky’s eyes widen. “They trashed the room. I don’t know if it was them or some random guys they invited in.”

“Are you serious?” Rocky and I went straight to bed after the restaurant party.

She nods. “Well, their parents ended up paying for the damage, but the school had legal and administrative costs that came out of our budget. So Helen was assigned to run the fundraising event as a way of teaching her responsibility.”

“I cannot believe this. How did you even find out?”

Rocky’s smile is prim. “I have my secret sources. But it’s 100% true.”

“Wow,” I say.

“Now you owe Noah a big apology. You’ll have to do something extra nice for him.” She gives me an exaggerated wink and makes the universal hand job motion.

“Anything sexual I can do would be more of a punishment for him.” Besides, it’s not like I confronted him. I only disliked him more because of my suspicions. And as far as I know, Noah hasn’t asked anyone out yet, because that’s gossip that would travel at light speed. Maybe he’s too tired after all the farm chores.

The next day, not only do I lose the coin toss with Noah, but most of my teammates ask me to update them later so they can skip the Helen show. There are lots of empty seats in the large room that Helen has booked, so I slide into one beside my brother.

“She’s even bossier then you,” Derek tells me.

Right now, Helen is going on about entertainment, which I’m not involved in. She’s turning this fundraiser into a party. I really hate to admit this, but Helen is doing a far better job than I ever did. Score one point for forced community service.

“I’m shocked we got Goody to agree to do this,” Derek says.

“Why?” I ask.

“I dunno. When I met him, you know, the way he looks and dresses, I thought the guy’d be party central. But he’s serious.”

“Serious about what?”

Derek sighs. “Hockey. School. The guys on the team invite him out all the time, but he never comes.”

“So, he’s a snob?”

My brother shoots me a look, likedon’t you know?

“Honestly, he doesn’t talk much at home either.”

“He’s not a snob,” says Derek. “Because he’s really nice at practice and games. That’s the reason we keep inviting him to stuff, because he’s a good guy. And he always has a legit excuse.”

“What’s he like at hockey?” Noah is a mystery to me in so many ways, even though I see him all the time. Everything I know about his history doesn’t line up with the guy who puts his head down and gets things done at the farm.

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