Frozen in Ice

Chapter 33

Luke's POV

We had an important game for our school hockey and it involved a long bus trip. I don't mind the travelling but the whole idea of being stuck on the bus for hours with this team was not great. We had a tournament soon that was also really important so Coach was working us even harder.

He still wouldn't let me and Mark swap lines and I had just given up now. I took one of the windows seat and put my headphones in even though Justin was sitting beside me. I preferred to prepare for a game in silence rather than talking even if it was a long trip.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the game as the bus travelled down the road. I had my music playing but it wasn't quite loud enough to drown out a lot of teenage boys in a small space. I could still hear half of conversations and I just wanted them to be quiet.

I think that I drifted off to sleep for a while before we got there and I was glad to get off the bus and to get into the rink. We didn't have much time before the game and so we rushed through changing and warm ups.

Mark's line was on the ice first and I found it hard to watch. It was pleased when I got to slide over the boards and onto the ice. The game was tough and I liked it. The first period was scoreless but Mark's line was on the ice when they gave up a goal.

Mark made a terrible defensive play and the opposition player didn't miss the gaping hole in the net behind Patrick. The bench became quieter for a minute and the dejected players skated over to the bench.

In the end the game wasn't even close. I got a goal but by that point Mark's line had given up another three and the final score was 4-1. We all walked into the locker room with our heads down after getting well and truly beaten.

Coach had a couple of things to say but there wasn't much to say after that game. Our lone goal was a bit of a fluke really and we didn't have many scoring chances. I wanted to say something about Mark's play but this wasn't the time.

We had another long bus trip ahead of us and I took the same seat. Everyone was silent but I knew that that would change in a while. I grabbed my notebook out and started to write notes about the game. I made sure to not let anyone see it because I knew how they would react.

As I predicted I wasn't finished writing when the noise started to pick up again. I noticed Mark looking around at everyone and I tucked my notebook back into my bag so that he wouldn't notice. I was lucky that he didn't because I didn't want to have that discussion.

I didn't put my headphones in, instead listened to the conversations going on around me.

Justin started talking to me about school and it was a safe conversation to have. He was telling me about some project and I could go along with the conversation without much thought.

I heard my name mentioned in one of the other conversations and I sat up straighter in my seat and had a look around to see who was talking about me. It took me a minute but I realised that it was Coach and Mark talking a few rows behind me.

"How come you are talking about me?" I asked.

They both looked up at me and tried to look like they weren't.

"I know that you are. So, why are you talking about me?" I asked again.

"We were just talking about the game. How you didn't play well," Mark smirked.

I looked at both of them for a minute before shaking my head.

"I didn't play well?" I asked.

"No, I could point out a lot of mistakes about your game," Coach said.

"So could I but that's because I'm very critical of my own game. At least I didn't give up four goals today."

"Crosby, you shouldn't talk about your teammates like that."

"Like he didn't just do it to me. I've told you a hundred times and I'll tell you again. Mark doesn't deserve to be on the top line."

"Mark deserves to be there. You on the other hand, I'm not even sure that you deserve to be on the team."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked him.

"You aren't a good team member, you are hard to coach and you aren't a good player," he listed.

I looked at him in complete shock. I didn't know what to say. I was lucky that the bus was just pulling into the school parking lot so that I could escape this.

"You say that I'm not a good player then I'll make this easier for you. I'm sick of dealing with you. You are a shitty coach and I'm not doing this anymore. I'm quitting the team," I snapped.

The whole bus was silent and I grabbed my bag off the floor and stormed off. I knew that it was a rash decision but I couldn't deal with this anymore. I ran out of the parking lot and took a seat on the sidewalk just down the street.

I love playing hockey but I couldn't do this anymore.

I had to deal with my own Coach telling me that I was a terrible player and hard to coach and I couldn't do it anymore. I could see exactly why Dylan quit because it made it hard to love the game when this was happening.

After sitting there for a couple of minutes and calming my breathing I stood up and took a deep breath. It wasn't a long walk back to Jamie's house and I opened the door to find that the pair was in the kitchen.

Jamie looked up at me and could see that something wasn't right.

"I quit the team," I said plainly.

They both asked what happened and I told them. I could see that they were kind of glad that I stopped and I could tell how much it had been wearing on me. I needed to stop but I'm not sure I made the right decision.

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The Wise One