Page 37 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
Was he really? Would he still be glad if he found out the reason she'd come was because the principal made her?
"I'm not sure exactly what you guys want me to do here." She was so far out of her element she didn't know where to begin.
Jesse nudged her shoulder. "Skate a few laps first. Get used to the hockey skates."
"Then what? You want me to show them how to keep their edges? Tricks for remaining balanced and fluid?"
"They've all taken skating lessons before." Jesse waved her questions away. "If they don't know that stuff now, they'll never learn it."
"Then why am I here?"
He met her gaze. "Because, Charlie, I have never seen anyone on this team move the puck up the ice like you. I don't only want you for your skating skills. I want you because—whether you believe it or not—you have kick-butt hockey skills."
"Oh." She looked from Jesse to her dad who looked just as surprised by that revelation. For years, people were only interested in her because she could land a triple axel or perform a tight death spiral.
She'd never considered she had anything else to give.
"Go do a few laps," her dad said softly.
She started forward, glancing back over her shoulder to where her dad was in a very heated discussion with Jesse. He probably didn't want her showing anyone she could be more than what her mother planned for her.
Her parents had always been a dual unit, making decisions together and never questioning each other. Her dad's kindness sometimes softened her mom's harsh tones, but it was the things he didn't say that spoke volumes.
The times he didn't tell his wife to stop berating their daughter, or the discussions he never had about what she wanted to do in life. Not to mention all the time he didn't make for his daughter because he was too busy being a father figure to his hockey players.
She got the rhythm of the skates easily, her muscles remembered what to do while her mind worked on the problem at hand. This team... Jesse... expected her to be able to help them, but how was she supposed to do that?
She finished skating and stopped in front of the bench. "What now?" She directed the question to Jesse, but it was her dad that answered.
"Now, we run drills." He blew his whistle to get the attention of the team.
"Oh." Charlotte hung back as they followed her dad's instructions and skated onto the ice. A few of them didn't look so bad, but others seemed to wish they could have stayed on that bench.
She wasn't sure what to do, so she stayed near the half wall and watched the team practice, feeling like she shouldn't be there. There was no point.
Only a few of the guys could keep the puck on their sticks as they skated. She never imagined they had this many problems.
Even Hadley could beat two-thirds of them.
Hadley... the friend who thought she was a spoiled girl who didn't appreciate what she had.
Shaking those thoughts from her mind, she focused back on the team as they transitioned into a shooting drill.
Their accuracy was even worse than their skating.
What was she doing here?
Jesse broke from the team and skated toward her. "Now you see what I'm working with here?"
A small smile spread her lips. "Well..."
"I can't convince your dad to let you run drills with the team."
Her shoulders dropped. She should have known. "Yeah... he's like that."
"Does he know?"
"Know what?"
