And it's hard to hate someone

once you understand them

—Lucy Christopher

____________________________________

JAKE

FEBRUARY // WEEK 11

"Another stupid paper? Are you kidding me?" Derek threw his hands up. "It's always a paper! Why can't we just take a test?"

"At least that way, we'd get a fair chance," I said, wanting to cross my arms, but didn't want to risk looking like a five-year-old. Temper tantrums were never really my thing.

Derek and I were both heated after leaving Mr. Douglas's class with another major history report to do. We would have changed partners, but Mr. Douglas refused. It was as if he enjoyed watching our grades fall lower than Calum's pants. If we had known Mr. Douglas hated hockey players more than argyle socks, we never would have partnered up in the first place. And it wasn't even the fact that he hated hockey players; it was the fact that he hated our Coach, and was therefore, going to take it out on his players. Stupid schools merging. Stupid Northie teachers.

"What's this paper even on, anyways?" Derek and I walked down to the locker room to get dressed for the semifinal game against Mansfield. They were literally the definition of scrubs.

"Dude, I don't know. Native Americans or something." Derek rolled his eyes as we walked into Coach's office. Ever since we had gotten our last report back—the one with the tire mark on it—Coach had ordered that Derek and I show him all new assignments from Mr. Douglas' class.

"Got a new assignment from your favorite person, Coach." I tossed the handout onto his desk. It was a rubric and what Douglas expected to see in our reports.

"Just bench us now." Derek sighed.

"Funny you should mention that," Coach trailed off as he picked up his reading glasses and read through the assignment. He handed the rubric back to us and took his glasses off. "Roswell, Leighton, have a seat."

Derek and I dropped into the chairs, and my hands instinctively curled around the arm rests. Coach looked nervous.

"You boys know that we are playing Mansfield tonight in the semifinals." He stated the obvious.

"Yeah. We beat them. We go to state. We know," Derek said, trying to get this conversation over with so we could get dressed.

Coach dismissed Derek's comment with a nod. "The Head of the History department and I have had a chance to review your grades," Coach began. I did not like where this conversation was going one bit.

"Wait, we have a Head of the History department?" Derek blurted out.

"There's a Head for every department, Leighton," Coach said sympathetically, as if one of us had lost our grandmothers.

"Don't worry, Coach. Calum and I are cool, we worked it out," I said, jumping in.

"That's not what I'm worried about." That threw me for a loop. If Coach wasn't worried about Calum and I killing each other, then what was he worried about?

"The Head of the History department thinks it wold be in your best academic interest if you sat out the game tonight and focused on your schoolwork." Coach sighed.

"Like hell he does!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting. "What am I supposed to do? My Calculus homework in between shifts tonight?" I gripped the armrests tighter.

"Boys, I have to bench you."

"What? Why?" I asked, heated.

"Those are the rules and we adhere to the rules at this school," Coach said.

"You're benching us..." Derek trailed off, and I swear he almost cried.

"I'll adhere to the damn rules when our asshat of a history teacher gives us a fair shot." I stood up from my seat. "Coach, you can't bench us! We need to play in that game tonight." I put my hands on his pristine wooden desk as I leaned forward.

Derek hung his head low. He stared at his hands in his lap like they were a foreign object to him. "I've never been benched in my life..." Derek's words rung true.

"Boys, it's one game." Coach said.

"Yeah, but it's a damn important one though." I lashed out.

Coach was on his feet before I could even get the words out. "You think I don't know that?" He challenged me through gritted teeth, grabbing my tie and pulling me closer to him, till our faces were inches apart. "You think I want two of my best players riding the bench for the semifinals?" He turned red, letting go of my tie. "I fought this decision as hard as I could. I didn't have a choice!" Coach slammed his hand down. Hard. "Dammit, Boys!" And then he got real quiet.

"Some fights," he paused to take a breath, "you just can't win." He shook his head. "But that's life." Coach looked up at us through cynical eyes. "So, you boys are going to keep your shirts and ties on, and you're going to sit on the bench tonight, and you're gonna coach your teammates." He said through ragged breaths. "Cause they can't do this without you." Coach's eyes softened as he sat back down in his chair. "And maybe, just maybe, we'll see State." Coach gathered his clipboard and a few papers before he got up and walked towards the door.

He left us with the classic phrase he always said to the defense, which meant, 'find a guy, get back, mark up..." you name it. He patted Derek's chest. "D-Up, Boys."

△

"Yo, Jake, Man, why aren't you dressed?" A-Mart asked me as Coach entered the locker room.

"Douglas benched me." I glared at the floor.

"Your history teacher?" A-Mart asked.

"Yeah, something along those lines." Derek answered.

"Alright, Boys, listen up!" Coach hollered and my dad whistled, grabbing everyone's attention. "As I'm sure most of you have noticed, Roswell and Leighton aren't dressed." Coach waited, trying to think of how to tell his team that we were benched. "Due to circumstances beyond my control, they have both been banned from playing in tonight's game against Mansfield." Coach looked up from his clipboard.

"They're benched?" Ryder asked, clearly confused.

"Yes, that's their consequence."

"Says who?" Ryder demanded answers.

"It doesn't matter," Coach replied. "What matters," he raised his voice to draw everyone back in. "And what we all need to be focusing on right now, is the game. Jake and Derek have only been benched for one game, so if we can't get our shit together, then there won't be a next game." Coach paused. "Two players do not make a team," he said quietly.

"Yeah, but two players can lead a team." A-Mart murmured and most of the guys, even some Northies, banged their sticks in agreement.

"You are absolutely right," Coach told A-Mart, and his eyes brightened in hopes that we would be able to play tonight. "They are perfectly capable of leading from the bench." Coach tried to sound optimistic. I watched as the light in A-Mart's eyes dimmed to dull hatred. "Alright, here's how we're gonna start tonight." Coach pulled out his whiteboard.

△

"Dammit!" I slammed my hand down on the boards as Georgie O'Sullivan stripped the puck off one of the freshman. He wound up and then fired a rocket of a shot towards A-Mart. Thank God A-Mart's head wasn't in LaLa Land today. He sidestepped gracefully, and caught the puck in his glove before playing it over to Ava. "No, no, this is all wrong." I shook my head. Beta Bro Line was getting killed out there.

"We're watching Mansfield play this game. We've been watching them play since the puck dropped in the first period," Calum said. "Cross! Behind! Cross!" Calum called over to Ryder using his last name. He had a Mansfield player sneaking around his backside to get open for a pass from Georgie.

"They need to reset. That kid isn't in position, Cross has been letting that one guy, #2, hang out behind him all game, and I haven't seen one, solid pass this period." I said to Calum.

"The thing!" He blurted out.

"Huh?" I looked over at him, totally caught off guard.

"The—the thing. That thing we used to do at Pond when we were little." Calum snapped his fingers as if he was trying to pull a memory out of thin air. "What was it?"

"The partner thing?" I asked him.

"Yeah, with the puck," he said slowly. "Ping pong!" he shouted.

"No, pin ball!" I hit his arm.

"Ping Puck!" Calum and I said in unison, causing some of the guys who were waiting for their shift to look at us.

"You and Rossy playing footsies over there?" Dougie asked, leaning forwards from his seat a few players down.

"Don't be jealous or anything, but it's personal." Calum responded, and I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Tell Ryder, he'll know what to do, right?" Calum asked me.

"Yeah, I think so. You and Ryder can do it." I nodded, glancing at the scoreboard that read, Mansfield: 1, King High: 0.

"I'll jump in with C-Line and do a double shift," Calum told me. "That way, Ryder and I can get things set up."

I continued to nod, liking where this play was going. "I'll fill the other line in while you're out there." I told Calum before he walked off towards Coach.

"Coach, let me jump in with C-Line." Calum said.

"Are there rocks in your helmet tonight? You are not on C-Line, Brooks!" I thought Coach was going to hit Calum over the head with his clipboard.

"I know I'd be pulling a double shift, but there's six minutes left in the third period and Mansfield is winning." He stated the obvious.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Jake and I have an idea." Calum said, rocking back and fourth on his skates.

"Like, the sky is blue, or when it's hot out, ice melts?" Coach continued rambling, ignoring Calum.

"I can tie it up." Those five words were enough to convince Coach to let Calum pull a double shift.

I watched as Calum pulled Ryder and the rest of the C-Line aside before their shift started, no doubt, explaining what Ping-Puck was. Ping Puck was a play that Calum and I used to run with the older guys at Pond a lot. If it was done correctly the ice turned into a pin ball machine, with the puck pinging from player to player. I had to admit, it was a fun play and looked wicked cool.

"It's just a matter of time before one of my shots go in, Jake. You know it and I know it." He shrugged before leaning closer to me. "And I think your entire team knows it too." Georgie had such a smug look on his face, that I wanted to smash his head into the ice.

"What's just a matter of time?" Calum asked, jumping into the conversation, or whatever it was that Georgie and I were having. Georgie opened his mouth to reply, but Calum beat him to it. "Excuse me, it's rude to interrupt." Calum held his finger up. "Jake and I were in the middle of a very important discussion on how we're going to beat your sorry ass all the way back to Mansfield."

"Scoreboard," was all Georgie said, giving us a slight smirk and skating away. My hands gripped the boards so hard, that I wanted to break off a few chunks and use Georgie for target practice.

"I hate that kid." I said slowly. I could feel my insides burning up.

"I'll take care of him, Jake." Calum glared at Georgie, who was just finishing up his shift.

"You don't have to," I said, even though I wanted nothing more than to see Georgie O'Sullivan and the boards spend a little quality time together.

Calum looked at me with somber eyes and said, "I owe you, J," before he opened the door and hopped out onto the ice with the rest of C-Line.

△

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" Everyone chanted at Ryder, who scored the game winning goal in overtime tonight. Derek climbed onto the conference room table and reached down to pull Ryder up, who had a big grin on his face. Derek slung his arm across the younger boy's shoulders and lifted his beer, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

"I never thought little Ryder over here would score... ever." Derek said, getting a few laughs. "And even if he did score, I never thought it would the game fucking winning goal against Mansfield. The goal that got us to States." He mussed up Ryder's hair. "So, RyRy," Derek handed him a beer. "Let's hear that speech." Derek hopped off the table, giving the sophomore his moment.

Ryder nodded, gathering his thoughts. "Alright, alright." He said quieting down the crowd again. "It was a tough game, Boys." Many of the guys on the team whooped in agreement. "I didn't think we were gonna be able to pull through with one of our Captains—"

"Dang-gle Mas-ter!" A-Mart shouted cutting Ryder off.

"And my bro—" he laughed but continued before I jumped into the speech.

"DL-Easy!" I called out, bumping fists with Derek.

"And if Calum hadn't scored that goal to tie it up, I wouldn't even be up on this table right now." Ryder shook his head. "Okay, so maybe I would, but it would be under totally different circumstances." He laughed along with everyone.

"But we did. Because we always do. We started off this season as Northies and Creeks," Ryder said pulling Calum and me up onto the table. "But now we're Kings, and we took State from Evert last week,

"And from Mansfield tonight," I said.

"And we're gonna take State from Topsford next week." Calum informed everyone.

"State is ours because we're Kings." Ryder finished his speech and raised his cup. Everyone cheered before downing the remaining contents of their drinks.

"KINGS! KINGS! KINGS! KINGS!" The crowd cheered.

We all hopped off the table, and as soon as Calum's feet touched the ground, Ava was there, jumping into his arms. Everyone watched as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss or two.

"It's kinda hot when you score goals, Charlie." I heard her say to him in between kisses. She was one of the only people who called him by his middle name, but then again, she was his basically girlfriend.

"Well, then I'll have to do it more often," he gave Ava a grin before letting her lead him back into the crowd.

Calum let out an audible groan. "She still mad at you?" I asked him on the way by.

"Ava? I don't know." He raked his fingers through his hair.

"You gonna go fix it?" I asked.

"How? Tell her that I didn't mean it when I asked her to be my girlfriend?" Calum asked me. "Cause I'm pretty sure that girls don't like that."

"Nah, just convince her that you're the guy she should be with." I told him. "She already thinks you're like totally hot." I put on my girl voice and pretended to flip my hair and wave my hand around like Jules did whenever her and Ava were talking.

Calum laughed. "Alright, I'll try. Wish me luck."

"Luck, C," I said to him, making him stop and turn around.

I hadn't called him that since Pond when we were little, and I had to admit, it felt kinda good. Calum just smiled and was about to say something when there was a loud crash. But not the kind of crash that happened when someone dropped a bottle, or broke one of Ava's coffee tables. This was the kind of crash that made everyone freeze. Like someone kicking in a door, or breaking a window. That kind of crash.

The crowd parted as Georgie appeared in front of Calum and I. "Aw, did you two kiss and make up?" Georgie asked us.

"Lone wolf!" Derek called out.

"Georgie, you're at the wrong fucking party, man." I shook my head. There was one thing I hated more than Northies, and it was Mansies, AKA anyone who went to Mansfield, but more specifically, though not limited to, Georgie O'Sullivan.

"I don't even know why he'd be at a party in the first place. You lost, remember? They don't throw parties for losers." Calum said before taking a sip of his beer. Georgie, being about as cocky and arrogant as a goat, smacked the cup out of Calum's hand. "I really wish you hadn't done that." Calum wiped the beer off his chin before winding up.

I caught his hand just in time, though I wouldn't have minded beating the shit out of Georgie O'Sullivan. "Hey now, let's hear him out before we send him home with his tail between his legs." I said to Calum, giving him a little pat on the chest.

"You're right, what was I thinking?" he shrugged.

"You were thinking that you didn't care about ruining a perfectly good shirt. C'mon, now." I laughed as Calum smoothed out his shirt. I saw Ava out of the corner of my eye, staring at us. A-Mart had his arm around her, trying to prevent her from coming over here and giving Georgie a piece of her mind. He broke one of her hockey sticks too. Therefore, eternal hatred.

"C," I said, grabbing Calum's attention. "Don't do this. Not here."

"Why not?" he asked me.

"Not in front of Ava," I nodded my head in her direction. "Don't let her see you like this." Calum stared at Ava for a long time before focusing his attention on Georgie again.

"You're right, J. He's not worth it. He's just not."

"Charlie," Ava called out and he looked back toward her. "Do it." She narrowed her eyes and that was all he needed to forcibly punch Georgie square in the mouth. A smirk made it's way onto Ava's face.

That's what you get for breaking our hockey sticks.

I don't think Ava, nor me, would ever let that one go.

"I'm gonna give you five seconds to get out of my girlfriend's house before I forcibly remove you." Calum said to Georgie.

"I think he should get out, what do you think?" I asked Calum.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." he nodded.

"Hear that? You're not welcome here," I said.

"Really?" Cause you're girlfriend welcomed me with open arms." Georgie smirked at me. And just then, I noticed that he was slurring his words.

"Dude, I already played the girlfriend card. Try and keep up." Calum let out a low chuckle.

"Been there, done that." I rolled my eyes.

"More like, been there, banged that." Georgie stumbled forwards a little bit. I let out a low growl and clenched my fists. "By the way," Georgie spoke up. "I heard she's pregnant. Congratulations, Dad!" Georgie stuck his hand out. After he said that, I was really regretting my decision on not letting Calum shut him up when he had the chance.

Calum and I looked at each other before we both said, "Fucking, Mansy."