On Thin Ice by Julie Cross

Author:Julie Cross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Julie Cross; Juniper Falls; sports romance; sports; romance; hockey; ice hockey; Teen; teen romance; small town romance; small town; winter; contemporary; dance; high school; young adult; fiction; Sports and Recreation; Hockey; YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2018-12-12T20:25:59+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

–Brooke–

“Pass the puck, Allen!” Jake shouts at Kendra. “Keep your head up!”

I’m standing right beside him, the only extra player on the bench, so all his coaching during the first five minutes of the game has been shouted right at me, driving me to an even deeper level of anxiety. My helmet and stick rest right at my feet, but I’m hoping for a few more minutes before I need to grab them. I’m not ready. Not even a little.

“Ready to go in?” Jake prompts.

Out of instinct, I shake my head. That’s probably not the answer I’m supposed to give. Lucky for me, Jake is too focused on the game to have noticed.

“Mason, dig it out of the middle!” he yells to Sam.

Her response is too slow. A Longmeadow player gets the puck from Sam, takes a shot at the goal. And she scores.

I can hear Rosie’s string of swear words from all the way across the ice. Jake exhales then claps his hands together. “All right, get back in it.”

“Brooke,” Sheriff Hammond says. “Go in for Rosie.”

Jake and I both say, “No!” at the same time.

The sheriff shakes his head. “Right. That doesn’t make sense.”

Even I know that a team shouldn’t replace their best player with their least-experienced player even for a few minutes.

“Go in for Allen,” Jake orders.

When I don’t move right away, he reaches down, picks up my helmet, places it on my head, and then shoves a stick in my gloved hand. “Go! Now!”

I toss a shaky leg over the wall and skate to Kendra. She sees me and immediately heads off the ice just in time for our unofficial referee—Coach Ty, the boys’ JV team coach—to blow the whistle and send everyone in motion again.

Rosie manages to get the puck from the Longmeadow center and maneuvers right around her, heading straight for the goal. I try to remember all the situations Rosie walked me through last night via old game tape. I need to stay outside if she’s in the middle. A Longmeadow player who looks like she could crush me with one gentle shove is right on me, won’t let up. I try to get away from her while Rosie takes a shot at goal. She misses, it rebounds off the cross bar, and heads right to me.

I panic for a second, like the puck is a bomb nestled at the end of my stick. I attempt to pass back to Rosie, but it’s intercepted by Longmeadow, and soon all of us are skating toward the other end.

“It was wide open in front of you, Parker!” Jake shouts. “Take the shot!”

I give him a bewildered look. Did he actually expect me to try and score a goal in the first minute of the first game I’ve ever played? He is Jake Hammond, so maybe he did expect that. I don’t have time to think through answers to those questions. The game continues; the puck keeps moving. I follow the group back and forth

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