Chased by The Hockey Stars

Chapter Five

Even I shifted my gaze to the front of the group, watching in wonder as Cameron came strolling off the ice with a thin glistening of sweat on his forehead. It was clear that for him, practice had already begun long before everyone else.

“We have a big game to win this weekend, so enough of this nonsense and get your asses out there. Some of you need the practice so badly you should have already been on the ice an hour ago,” Cameron added, and just like that my awkward introduction to the team had ended. I couldn’t help but notice how once again, Cameron’s gaze lingered over mine even after he had finished speaking. It was as if he were analyzing me in the same way that Leon had, only his interpretation was much harder to read. A flat emotionless gaze was all I got before he turned and headed towards his own little cubby area.

Cameron hated me, or at the very least, he certainly didn’t seem to like me. Maybe it was to do with the fact that I was completely unqualified for this position, or maybe it had even started before that.

I thought back to that lunch, when Benno had brought me up to the rooftop and introduced me to the hockey boys. Even the way Cameron had looked at me then, certainly didn’t send positive thoughts my way.

He’s the captain of the hockey team though, which meant getting myself on his good side was going to be one of the most important steps of making sure I succeeded at my new job.

There had been a few hiccups on the first day, but nothing I couldn’t handle. So, on my second day, I made a point of introducing myself to each of the team players. I’d never been good at winning people over, but I know that if I could at least make some connections with the players on the team, then my job would be more secure.

One by one I had introduced myself to each of the players that I hadn’t already met. In particular, I carefully avoided Leon after our already awkward encounter on day 1.

There was still one person I was dreading making an official introduction to, Cam. Being the coach of the hockey team, he was probably the most important for me to make a relationship with, but that also made him the most intimidating.

So, with no one else left to introduce myself to; I headed to the front of the ice where I found Cam kicking his skates gently against the baseboards to clean off the blades.

“Hey, good practice today?” I asked as I slowly approached him. Cams eyes darted upwards, for a moment glaring at me before he answered.

“Aren’t you supposed to be memorizing the plays?” He asked, quickly reminding me of the job that I was supposed to be doing.

I blinked back at him for a moment, surprised that he’d paid any attention to my role at all. Little did he know, I’d already gone over the playbook last night and probably knew the plays just as well as he did at this point.

“I just wanted to introduce myself to you everyone on the team first,” I tried to explain myself but Cameron still didn’t seem overly interested in the conversation.

“Do you like being the captain of the team?” I asked, making a separate attempt at livening up the conversation, but in response I only got another grunt. Maybe someday if I spent more time around this man, I’d get to know which grunts meant yes and which meant no.

“We’ve already met,” Cameron said, suddenly returning to my original point of conversation. Before I had the chance to answer though, he was gone again, skating off on the ice and leaving me in his wake.

I waited a few moments, before another player came skirting to a halt beside me. The snow kicking up off the ice and hitting my ankles, but my eyes were still focused on the players running their laps in front of me. Particularly, my eyes watched Cameron’s gentle movements of his hockey stick, firing the pucks into the net one by one and not missing a single one. He made this game look so easy, while the other players struggled in comparison.

“I don’t get it, why does he seem to hate me so much,” I spoke the question out loud before I had the chance to regret it. I wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, truly I had meant to keep it to myself, but there was only one person in ear shot of my quiet voice.

“Don’t sweat it, it’s just the way Cam is.” Damian shrugged it off so casually, as if he and I engaged in conversation on a regular basis.

“But why?” I asked, peering up at Damian.

He looked back down at me curiously, my question catching him by surprise. Maybe it was an unusual question. Maybe we are all just expected to accept people with whatever they showed up as, but I still wanted an answer. Cameron was the type of person that I looked at and recognized something in. He’d been through something deeper, something other people might not notice, something that changed him.

Damian shrugged once again then leaned forwards over the ice. He thought on it for a moment, running the question over in his mind before finally coming up with an answer.

“I don’t know, I guess he’s just never been allowed to be anyone else. You know who his dad is right?” he asked, and I nodded.

Everyone who was anyone knew who Cameron was basically heir to the hockey kingdom. How father had been a hockey prodigy, scouted since he was old enough to play until eventually becoming captain of a hockey team and taking on the NHL.

“Cam’s been forced into ice skate since he was old enough to walk. Hockey is his whole life. There’s no time for anything else,” Damian explained.

I struggled to imagine what that pressure must feel like. It wasn’t lost to me, the sharp contrast between Cameron and I, but how similarly I connected with him. His parents pushed him so hard towards big goals that he had turned cold and standoffish. Meanwhile my father demanded so little of me, but I had somehow become the same way.

Damian didn’t wait for me to answer again, choosing that moment to glide away from me and join the rest of the players in the centre of the ice. I was grateful for that, because truly I had no idea what I was supposed to say next. Instead, I smiled silently to myself and refocused myself on the schedule in my hands, determined to get through the rest of this practice without any more drama.

At the end of my shift, I glided towards the edge of the ice, a small smile actually playing on my lips. This new job of mine had gotten off to a rough start, but today I was actually feeling a little more optimistic. After the few hiccups this morning when I first got here, everything else passed more smoothly.

Wait. Where are my shoes?

The panic bubbled up in my chest as I scanned the empty mat. I’d left them here, I was certain of it.

I glanced down to my own feet, my ice shoes still fastened on, then looked up around the empty room. An anxious shiver ran down my spine as I slowly put the pieces together.

Second day of work and I’d already made a target of myself.

Someone had stolen my shoes and I was about to be late for class yet again.