Page 125 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
I sent Gwen a text thanking her. It was sweet that she kept making us lasagna, especially since she was a struggling student. After this, I should buy her some tacos or something.
“Noneof the EBUGs are coming in. Game can’t start without an EBUG signing off.” JP looked at his phone.
Really, anyone not currently a professional goalie could be an EBUG. Even Coach Kirov could do it. Someone in the Ice Crew was probably a goalie and could do it, too.
My phone buzzed. Ellie, who I’d played with on the Aces before she was traded to the Sasquatches, texted.
Ellie
I got you and Grif Graf. The haters can suck my hairy balls.
I looked up. “Ellie from the Sasquatches sent me a link to a live feed.”
While I’d reached out to all the hidden omegas I knew of in the PHL to make sure they were okay, Ellie wasn’t one of them.
“Oh, fuck.” Jonas grabbed the remote. “Put it on the TV? Because if this is what I think it is…”
Yeah. Ellie said she was a kappa. I was pretty sure she was a gamma.
I put the live feed up on the TV.Ellie got behind a podium in her Sasquatches uniform.
“Hi, I’m Ellie Porter, enforcer for the Sasquatches. First off, I stand with Grif Graf. If you have a problem with that, you can fuck off. Anyone who thinks he isn’t a good person for hiding his designation can suck it.” Her eyes rolled. “He’s the fucking highest scorer in the league right now. Higher even thanme.So that says a lot for the oldonly certain designations can play hockeybullshit. Also, people who think omegas and gammas can’t play hockey can suck my dick.”
Yeah, I knew what was coming. I hadn’t asked her to do this.
“Anyhow, I love you all, and I’m fucking tired of hiding. If you pity me, I’ll punch you. I don’t want your fucking pity. What I want is to play some fucking good hockey. I’m not a kappa, I’m a gamma. I hid my designation for the usual reasons. Apologies to all the little kappas out there. Please don’t be mad at me. Instead send your love to the other PHL kappas, like Carlos Rodriguez of the Knights. No apologies to any alpha egos that were hurt by me kicking your ass. I’m not my fucking designation and this changes fucking nada. Gamma power. Love you, Grif. Hey Spencer Thanukos, if I’m fired, put me on your team. Can you imagine the line Grif and I would make? Anyhow, not taking your fucking questions. BTW, asking people how they became a gamma is rude as fuck. Kids, kick names and take ass. Peace.” She flashed the peace sign and left the podium.
The signal went black. I turned the TV back to the pre-game broadcast we had on.
“Ellie just came out as a gamma. Fuck.” I texted her back, thanking her for the love.
“Ellie Porter gave me a shout out?” Carlos beamed and got on his phone. “I knew I loved her.”
A gamma hiding as a kappa was an interesting choice. But Ellie was chaotic as fuck–and had been a drama major at university and did community theatre during the off-season.
The TV commentators kept cutting to the protests outside the arena. There were a lot of people out there, especially considering it was snowing.
The Bantams, in Knights jerseys, came out for warmups. I knew some of them, like Marlin, one of their goalies. Sometimes players from the Bantams played with us, subbing for someone who was sick or injured, or got moved up to the Knights. Carlos had started off as a Bantam.
“This will be an interesting game. Never have we seen an entire minor league team being called up for a game like this. Not even when the workers of Deloitte Automotive struck during a wage dispute and picketed Gears games because the Deloitte’s own the Gears,” one commentator said.
They cut to a segment that must have been shot earlier with Coach Deloitte. “I don’t care who’s on the ice tonight. We won’t play any differently,” he told the reporter.
No, they’d play the same as always–average. The coach was the owner’s son and a good chunk of the starting line were his grandkids.
I sucked in a breath. “It’s going to be a bloodbath. The Gears are assholes.”
You didn’t lose to the Gears because they played better. You lost because they injured your players or got their tricks past the refs.
Clark looked thoughtful. “I know some Bantams and they’re beasts. It might not be that bad.”
“I agree.” Carlos took a swig of beer.
The cameras panned over the fans up against the glass for warmups. Many held signs supporting Grif. There was also lots of pink–the color used to support omegas during omega history month and for omega cancer awareness.
“Oh shit, let’s cut live from Venice, Italy,” one of the reports said.
They cut to Maria Barilla, outspoken queen of the goalies, first beta goalie in the PHL. There was gray in her dark wavy hair and fury on her face.
