Page 120 of What Are the Chances
Coward.
All eyes shot to me. Coach. The rest of the coaching staff. The training team. And all of the guys. Even Riley, from where she stood with the social media girls and the other two student PTs.
I took an encouraging breath. “The team would like to skip dryland today.”
I didn’t bother sugarcoating it. That was the truth.
Coach straightened to his full height, which was still fairly sketchy despite having years on me.
“Do they? And why is that?”
“Because it’s the weekend.”
And they had better plans than death by burpees. AndIhad a girlfriend to wine and dine.
Coach fell silent, which was unnerving. The entire barn was quiet. I could literally hear Levi breathing beside me.
“Come on, Coach,” Levi chimed in after an awkward extension of silence. “We’ve put in the yards this week. Let the guys enjoy an afternoon off.”
This was a gamble. If Coach didn’t agree, he’d punish us for even asking, and the already unbearable conditioning practice would become un-fucking-bearable. He’d probably crank the heat and shut off all fans so we slowly died.
“Do you think it’s as easy as asking for an afternoon off?” Coach finally returned.
Neither Levi or I answered the rhetorical question. One of the freshmen wasn’t as smart though.
“Well, yeah,” he mumbled.
“Hell no,” Coach snapped. “If you want the afternoon off, you’ve got to prove to me you deserve it.” His menacing eyes narrowed. “Pick your best five guys. If four of them can beat me in a one-on-one, you get your early minute.”
And there was the catch. While Coach headed towards the bench to prep, the rest of the team skated over to Levi and me.
“Let’s start with the obvious,” Morrison began. “Holloway and Caufield.”
Great.
“And O’Connor,” Maxwell added.
Tripp nodded his head in confirmation. He had the best penalty shootout stats in the team, and he’d mastered plenty of trick shots.
“I think Hilly’s got something to prove given this was his idea,” Levi chirped up. “What do you think, Will?”
“Sounds fair to me,” I answered.
Hilly’s face paled, but he was actually a smart pick. The guy was fast as hell and speed was one of the only things that’d faded for Coach.
After locking in Nelson, a junior centre and the guy most likely to take over the captaincy reins next year, we geared up.
Levi was up first to give our guys some confidence. He sailed past Coach easily, cementing the first win. The team erupted into a loud cheer.
Coach cracked his neck. “I was just warming up.”
“Uh-huh,” Levi smugly mocked as he skated off the ice.
Nelson was up next. He started well, but when he botched a direction change and Coach stole the puck away, the team collectively groaned. That didn’t leave any room for error for the rest of us.
Hilly headed onto the ice next. As he passed, both Levi and I mumbledspeed. He nodded in response, but the poor guy looked spooked.
Rather than attempting to out manoeuvre Coach, Hilly simply skated straight past him. It was ugly to watch, but it gave us the next win.
