Page 49 of The Friend Zone

He busies himself by wiping his bloody mouth with an equally bloody knuckle.

I feel a perverse satisfaction at the thought that I made the motherfucker bleed. I hope he got the message that if he even so much makes Bay frown, I’m going to end his pathetic existence.

But right now, we have one problem in common. Coach is livid and deep down, I can’t say that I blame him.

“The spectacle you just offered as a team is even worse than your performance on the ice as of late. I thought we nipped that crap in the bud last year, but what do you know? We’re back to square one. As it is, Mumford, you’re the common denominator in every fight I’ve ever seen breaking out within this team.”

Topher opens his mouth to respond, but closes it again when Coach levels him with a pointed glare.

“I would suspend you again or kick you out, but I have no doubt that you’d pull the same strings you did during summer break to force my hand into letting you back on the team again. The truth is that it doesn’t really matter. It takes two to tango, or in this case the entire team. If I wasn’t bound by contract to play this season to the bitter end, I would kick you all out. None of you deserves to be on my ice right now.”

Another stretch of loaded silence follows, as Coach sets his displeased gaze on each of us.

“The fact that you were running drills as a punishment for the abysmal performance you offered last night makes the situation even worse.”

I brace myself for a worse punishment than the suicide drills Coach was planning on.

I’m pretty sure each of my teammates is wondering how else Coach could punish us.

“You’re all dismissed.” Coach finally says. “Go home and think long and hard about your attitudes and what the fuck you’re doing here. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning for practice at the usual time. We’re going to Bridgeport next weekend and I promise you all that if by then if you haven't at least learned to respect each other, I’ll let the school administration deal with y’all. Even if that ended up costing me my job, I guarantee you that my head won’t be the only one to roll. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Now get out of my sight.”

CHAPTER 11

JEALOUSY

COLE

I’ve never been thrown out of the rink in my entire hockey career.

Bay and Ryker are dating.

These two thoughts swirl in my head in a vicious loop, over and over again. It’s like a fucked up hamster wheel and I’m the poor hamster running around and around.

I take an extra long shower, letting the hot spray work on my tense muscles, but it doesn’t help ease the turmoil in my head.

The reality is that I don’t want to see any of my teammates. For the first time since I can remember, I’ve had enough of them.

My Sports Psychology professor would say that this is what forced proximity can do to a group of athletes. Until a few weeks ago, I would have called bullshit on it, but now I have to agree with this theory.

It’s sad really, because living with my teammates has always been the highlight of my college career.

I’ve never missed the dorms since I moved into the Gamma house sophomore year.

Now I’d kill to have some space and distance from my teammates and frat brothers.

It seems that no matter how hard I try, the atmosphere within the team is toxic and fraught with tension. As team captain, I take this as a personal failure. The problem is even bigger though.

Coach Harrison is absolutely correct that if we continue on this course, our NHL teams could reevaluate their choices.

The fact that I have a contract doesn’t make me feel safer than the guys who have just been drafted. The Heroes can’t drop me per se, but they could send me to a farm team or trade me before my skate even touch the ice in Hartford.

Summer training was awesome and the head coach assured me that I have a spot on their roster, but things can change in the blink of an eye.

I should keep my head in the game and work harder than ever, it’s imperative to keep my performance where it should be; I need to rally my teammates into finding the team spirit we seem to have lost.

It’s easier said than done however.

Because my head is as far from the game as humanly possible. Since the second I picked up Bay from the airport, my mind has been focused on my best friend.

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