Page 96 of Redeeming Heart

I couldn’t stop the smile from forming. “Do you like him, dad?” I asked.

He nodded. “He’s a good kid and he cares a lot about you. I owe him so much for taking care of you when I didn’t. He brought life back into your soul.”

I couldn’t disagree because it was the truth. At first, I didn’t notice it until he showed up during my hardest times and gave me a day that I will remember for a long time.

I heard the bus starting up and the girls calling me over. “Dad, I have to go. I will call you when we arrive safely and keep you updated.” I kissed him on the cheek.

“I’ll be waiting for that call.” He called when I jogged over to the bus.

I waved at him before getting on the bus. I took a seat beside Clarissa when all the other seats were taken.

“I haven’t seen your dad since your last game.” She noted, offering me a snack.

“Yeah, we weren’t best of friends after my mother passed away,” I explained, accepting the snack and getting comfortable as it was going to be a long drive.

I informed her that my father didn’t know at the beginning that I re-joined hockey until a few weeks later. We talked about a lot of stuff and later were joined by the rest of the team who was handing out snacks.

When we finally arrived at your destination, the coaches made sure that we know how everything was going down. We first headed over to our accommodation which wasn’t too bad and we had to share a room with at least four girls. Not like it bothered any of us.

After getting settled in we headed towards the Indoor hockey facility to be in time for the introductions. There were eighteen U-19 girls and boys hockey teams who showed up for try-outs. In the end, only eight teams will qualify and move on to the championship.

We had to be at least one of those eight teams.

“Whoa, talk about pressure,” Megan muttered from beside me as we were seated in our teams on the benches after we signed in.

I gave her a questioning look until I noticed the looks, we were receiving from other teams. “Yeah, it’s because of me,” I informed her already aware that this was going to happen.

“They should focus on their own lives instead of giving you shit for something that was out of your reach,” Briana grumbled.

“Let them think what they want. Our skills and hockey sticks will do the talking.” I said, wanting all of them to stay focused.

The organization that was in charge of arranging this meeting finally made their way out and its spokesperson welcomed everyone before getting to the schedule. Explaining what was going to be expected of us and how everything worked.

Our team was one of the very first teams who were having a chance to face another team. The pressure was on for real now.

Without alerting anyone of my anxiety, I reached for the bracelet Brandon handed me a couple of weeks ago and started playing with it as he instructed.

“Come on, let’s go kick some hinny!” Megan exclaimed loud enough that everyone could hear her.

I grabbed my things and followed my team down to the court where the opposing team was already waiting for us. We got a five-minute break for the coaches to give their pep talk and to get the teams hyped for the match.

“This is what we’ve been working for and we finally got our chance.” Coach Peterson began. “Today marks the first day of many to come. I know many doubts us, but we’ve got to prove them wrong because that what exactly what Rebels do.”

The girls smiled at the coach and teased him with smiles and laughter.

“We don’t have to prove anything to anybody. We owe to ourselves to make a difference.” He held his hand out and we brought our hands in.

“The coach is right.” I started. “We showed up every day for this and we only have one shot. Let’s go have fun, but at the same time we kick some ass.”

“Go, Rebels!” We cheered together, breaking up the huddle and jogging over to our positions.

Clarissa joined me to meet the opposing team's captain for the coin toss.

“Let’s give them the opening. It will give them confidence but it will give us time to observe their strength and weaknesses.” I whispered to her.

“You want to learn the pace of their game?” She asked.

I nodded.

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