Frozen in Ice

Chapter 12

Luke's POV

We had another away school game and it meant another trip on the bus. I made sure to take a seat towards the front of the bus since Mark and his friends were sitting at the back. I had headphones in but I wasn't really listening to the sound coming through them.

I was thinking about the upcoming game. I was probably going to be on a line with Kris and James again and we seemed to be working well so far. Justin was sitting beside me but he was talking to people around us.

I had my head resting against the window, deep in thought, as the scenery flashed by. I stayed quiet the whole trip and kept my headphones as we headed into the arena. I didn't pull them out until I was sitting in my stall.

Once it was stopped I realised just how loud everyone else was. I slowly got changed and as I was doing that I was thinking about what I had to do for the game. Justin slapped my back and it snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Ready for the game?" he asked.

I nodded and we headed out onto the ice. I felt more comfortable once I was on the ice and we seemed smooth as we worked. Soon enough we starting the game and I was watching the first line on the ice.

The other team looked good and I spent a bit of time watching the opposition to see how they worked. Coach called my line over the boards and it meant we were on the ice. Neither of the two teams really had a chance to do much while I was on the ice and it was a bit of a disappointing shift.

As I spent more time on the bench and more time watching the other team I could see more weaknesses in the way that they played and I shared some of what I was seeing to James and Kris. I could see that it helped the next time that we were on the ice.

We were able to moved me freely and we all a couple of shots at goal but none of them went in until right at the end of our shift. I could see that Kris was wide open on the other side of the ice and he got the puck past the goalie.

My next shift I was lined up against another centre. He was glaring at me and it didn't help when I won the faceoff. He came up to me the next time that the play was whistled dead he skated over to me.

"So you are the Next One?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes because that was not the first time that I had heard that. it wasn't original and I don't know why people think that it is funny.

"I think that you have confused me with someone else," I said.

He didn't have a chance to say anything else because the play started again. There were times that I wanted a different last name and this was one of them.

We ended up winning 2-1. I had the assist on Kris' goal and another on James' goal. We all headed back into the locker room together and I noticed that Coach and Mark were talking in hushed tones. I tried to listen to them but I was too far away and I couldn't get closer without it being suspicious.

Both of them had scowls on their faces and I would love to know what was said. I pulled my pads and skates off and slowly continued to change.

Coach silenced the room and quickly addressed us about the game before we felt. He had mostly positive comments but there were a few things that we wanted us to improve on before our next game. The locker room got louder once he was finished.

We headed out onto the bus and everyone was still talking. I took my seat and grabbed a notebook out. I started to write notes about the game, both about our team and the opposition. It was something that I only did for myself and it meant that I was brutally honest about me play and anyone else's.

"Look, Crosby is taking notes," someone called.

My head snapped out and tried to figure who had said it. Mark reached over and tried to grab my notebook off me. I quickly yanked it back away from him because no one else was supposed to read it.

"Fuck off," I snapped.

"That's not how you should talk to your teammates. What are you doing?" Coach asked.

"I'm just writing my own notes about the game," I said.

"Would you like to share them with everyone?" he asked.

"They are for me and not everyone else."

"It wasn't really a question. Please share with us since you are writing about these players," Coach smirked.

I groaned and flicked back to my first page of notes about this game. I started by talking about the opposition because I knew that wouldn't offend anyone on this bus. I couldn't see what Coach was thinking about my notes but I could see that Mark wasn't really listening.

I then had to start reading my noes about my teammates and they were the ones that I didn't want to read. I stalled for a second before Coach told me to hurry up and keep reading. I tried to gauge facial expressions as I read about each person but I couldn't see everyone's faces.

"I guess that Crosby doesn't have anything nice to say about his own teammates. He must think that he really is the Next One and so much better than us," Mark sneered.

Was he not listening to all the things that I said about my own game? All the things that I felt I should have done better.

"He is too busy criticizing everyone else," someone else said.

They all seemed to forget that I was still on the bus and could hear them because I had to listen to them criticize me. I grabbed my headphone out of my bag and started to listen to music but I could still here them talk.

I was glad when the bus got back because I grabbed my bag so that I didn't have to listen to my teammates anymore.

"Crosby, have we hurt your feelings? We are just doing what you were doing. Criticizing you," Mark smirked when he noticed that I was about to leave.

"I was talking about a fucking hockey game. You were pretty much telling me I am a horrible human being," I snapped.

I didn't say anything else and headed out of the parking lot before anyone else could say anything else. I did glance at Justin and he looked a little caught in the middle. I tried to keep the tears back from falling until I got home.

I found the apartment empty and I wished that someone was here that I could talk to. Instead all I could do was talk a long, hot shower and fall asleep so I could forget about it.

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The Wise One