Page 6 of Charm on the Rocks

How security hadn’t forced them off the property thirty seconds after they appeared, Madison had no clue.

Her eyes drifted from Alec over to Thorpe. The more she watched him, the more she realized just how good he was. Stopping saves she couldn’t even see, bending his body in ways she thought were impossible. Yet, he had to deal with people, predominantly Gulls fans, booing him, even though he was doing incredible.

She couldn’t deny it; even though Thorpe was a possible suspect in Ken Brown’s death, Madison couldn’t help but feel sort of bad that he was being treated like this. Weren’t fans supposed to stand behind their players, no matter what? Didn’t that make them fans? What amazed her the most was the fact that Thorpe looked calm out there, not allowing the hecklers to get to him.

Soon enough, the whistle blew and play stopped, calling for the Girls to go out there for a second time. Fourteen minutes into the game, Madison skated out to the same section she had been assigned to, expecting to be excited and energized as it was before. However, it was a tad different than the first time. When she went out – smile already on her face so she wouldn’t forget – there were catcalls and whistles. It was hard to keep that smile on her face and she didn’t even bother to attempt flirting with her eyes, whatever that meant, when all she could hear were the suggestiveness.

By the time she was finished and off the ice, Madison was furious.

Amanda turned to her, smiling, as though she expected Madison to be as happy as she had been the first time. But the red head’s smile slipped off of her face when she noticed Madison’s scowl.

“What?” she asked Madison. “What’s wrong?”

“Does this happen at every game?” she asked in a hushed voice, hoping the Girls wouldn’t overhear. “The derogatory whistles and statements and all that other bullshit?”

“Hey,” Faye snapped, narrowing her brown eyes in Madison’s direction. “You’re in uniform. Watch your language.”

“Sorry,” Madison said, feeling admonished. She knew better, but she couldn’t help her outburst. She turned back to Amanda, trying to control her breathing so slips of the tongues wouldn’t happen again. “I just don’t get it. Why are they doing this?”

“Look at what we’re wearing, Madison,” Amanda said, gesturing at the outfit. “You can’t tell me that you really believed we wouldn’t hear something from a couple of people here and there. I mean, look at how vocal they are about Brandon Thorpe.”

“Yeah, but don’t they know we have to have at least a 3.0 GPA?” Madison asked. “Don’t they know we’re more than good looking ice maids?”

“Madison, people don’t care,” Amanda said, her voice brusque. It sounded almost foreign coming from a girl who was normally peppy and enthusiastic about practically everything. “Come on. At the end of the day, our job is supposed to scrape the ice and look pretty. Oh, and keeping our mouth shut unless we’re cheering for our Gulls. No one gives a darn about our brain.”

It was six tense minutes before the buzzer sounded, indicating the end of the first period. People started booing, and both girls turned to see Brandon Thorpe – helmet off with brown hair sticking up in various places but those grey-green eyes straight ahead of them, cold, resigned, as though nothing phased him, as though he didn’t notice or didn’t care – walking off the ice, past the Girls without a word, without a glance. Other tired, sweaty Gulls players trickled behind him.

“Henry should seriously take Thorpe off the ice,” Amanda whispered in order to ensure none of the players overheard her. “People are going to start a riot or something.”

“Jeez, he hasn’t even been named as a suspect yet,” Madison said. In all honesty, Madison couldn’t say why she was defending Brandon, especially when she didn’t know him and he was a logical choice for killing Ken if all the money rumors were true. But she didn’t like seeing someone being prosecuted when it wasn’t clear whether yet if they did it or not. “People are brutal. I just don’t get it.”

Amanda shrugged, giving her a tight smile. “That’s life, sweetie,” she replied. “Come on. We have to get these skates off.”

Apparently, a few Girls were required to participate in the intermission activity, some had to run their own merchandise stand, while others filtered through the crowd with Gil the Gull. Madison was part of the crowd-detail and therefore needed shoes rather than skates. Before she could follow the Girls down the hall, a sweaty hand wrapped around her arm, stopping her. She turned, only to find Alec Schumacher, his cheeks red, his hair matted to his face. He didn’t look perfect, but that didn’t deter from his good looks.

“So have you been watching me?” he asked.

Madison still couldn’t believe that the cocky words spewing out of his mouth could sound nice, but Alec somehow made that happen. She quickly glanced around, knowing she shouldn’t be interacting with him during a game. “I’ve been watching you not score,” she retorted despite the fact that it was true. She saw something flash across Alec’s eyes, and before she could stop herself, said, “Sorry. That was mean.”

He half-smiled and a dimple popped in his right cheek making the smile even more disarming. “Did you just apologize to me?” he asked.

Madison rolled her eyes and turned, heading off to get shoes on. Again, she didn’t look back but somehow she knew that Alec was watching her the entire way.

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