Page 103 of Redeeming Heart

Everyone just chuckled at her silliness and continued hanging out outside.

“Where is that sister of yours?” Jake asked Clarissa.

“At home. Studying. So, If I was you, I wouldn’t mess with a calculus major.” She warned him.

“She is also a chemist major and knows stuff that can make your body vanish into thin air.”

I chuckled when Jake just smiled at her. “She sounds like my dream woman.”

Brandon shook his head at Jake in despair making me snicker when he grumbled a few curse words, calling him dumb for not listening to Clarissa’s warning.

“Don’t come running to me when I told you so.” Clarissa got up and made her way inside.

Everyone soon went inside to dance or do whatever they wanted, leaving Brandon and me alone outside. I was resting my head on his shoulder with my right leg curled underneath me as we looked up at the stars calling out the forms and star signs. Arguing now and then when we didn’t agree.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

This was it.

This is what nerves were made out of.

The National Indoor/Outdoor championships.

Eight teams of each age and gender group fight it out until there are only two teams left standing.

Our mission was to win and we were going to give it our everything.

Invitations were already open for the regionals and we were planning on receiving one of those invites.

Friday morning, we met up at the airport taking a flight to Pennsylvania where we will be staying for the following two months. Meredith and Jonah joined my father when he drove me over to the airport where we met up with my team.

We were saying our goodbyes after checking in our luggage and were called to board the plane. I was making my way after saying my goodbyes to my dad, Meredith, and Jonah when I just felt someone grabbing me by my shoulders and whirling me around. I gave Clarissa a death glare before noticing that she was looking at something with her mouth hanging open.

I chuckled when I followed her stare and saw that the whole Gladiator ice hockey team showed up, holding a “good luck rebels” banner.

My team followed me when I made my way over to them. “We couldn’t let you girls leave without some motivation,” Jake said.

“Did you guys make this by yourselves?” I asked, gesturing to the banner where the letters were written in paint. There were a few drawn hockey sticks, a few rebel signs, and hockey balls.

They nodded. “It’s a shame we can’t do the same for you guys,” Tammy noted and I agreed.

“It’s your first year and while you are heading to a facility where you will be judged for who you are, we wanted all of you to remember that you have fans back home cheering for you,” Brandon explained, bringing a few happy tears to our eyes.

“It worked,” I assured them.

Brandon came out behind the banner to give me a proper goodbye which was a high five that turned into a hug. “You’ve got this, Adams. We’ll see you the second week of your competition.” He said to me when we pulled apart.

“Thank you,” I glanced over my shoulder when Isabelle blew her whistle to get our attention.

“We have to go,” I said to him and got the girls to say their final goodbyes.

We started to walk away when they started cheering for us and we haven’t even won the championship yet. A few bystanders looked at us, not understanding what was going on. We just raised our fists in the air as we took the escalator up to where we will be waiting to board the plane.

The girls were still wiping away tears from their eyes when we finally boarded the plane. We never thought we were ever going to receive a chance to follow our ambitions and all the pressure we were receiving from the people who were doubting us was unbelievably high.

Next year we will be competing for the women’s FIH pro league if we played our cards right. We had to work hard this year to qualify. We have to move onto regionals to stand a chance.

The Olympics were also happening next year and there hasn’t been a team from the USA since 2007 who got a shot at the Olympics.

---