Page 134 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
He blinked, obviously not getting it. Poor guy. It was probably time for him to retire. Despite the requests for him and Cal Daughtry to step down, that hadn’t happened.
At least Grif was reinstated – and Chet was in jail.
“Oh. Are you new? What do you do here?” He eyed my backpack and my outfit, which was seafoam green pants and a matching polka dot blouse. They flickered to my credentials. “Chaperone?”
“I’m the chaperone for the Maimers’ underage rookie,” I told him.
“Oh. Right. They did that. I don’t know what those kids were thinking. This is why you don’t give children a sports team. Next thing you know, they’ll be hiring omega skate smashers.” He shook his head in disbelief.
I hoped they did. Rusty had an eye on one she’d seen in Hawai’i.
Also,kids? The Daughtry ‘kids’ that owned the Maimers were all older than me. They weren’t given it, either. They pooled their money and brought a franchise to New York. They were around more than the hockey Daughtrys and I’d met them all a few times.
Mr. Longfellow’s phone rang. He looked at it, sighed, and turned down the hall as he answered it without another glance at me.
Well then.
“I’m here to pick up the package,” I told Rusty as I entered their dining room.
Rusty laughed as she played air hockey with Liv. “Are you sure about that?”
Mercy gave us the side-eye as she closed her laptop. “You two will never get bored with all that, will you?”
“Never.” I grinned. “How’s the schoolwork going?”
“Essays are stupid and math can die. I don’t need this to skate fast.” Kaiko dramatically slumped over her own sticker-covered laptop.
“Stay in school, kids,” Liv joked as she hit the plastic puck across the table. Rusty leaned over the table and hit back.
“Thanks again for your support,” I told them.
“Anytime. No one messes with one of ours. It’s nice that Grif is back, though no one would have blamed him if he went elsewhere,” Rusty told me as she smacked the plastic puck into Liv’s goal.
“I’m glad he’s back, too,” I told her. Things were hard enough for him right now as they were.
Mercy got her stuff, and we left the training center. None of the hockey players were around because there was a home game tonight. Grif wasn’t cleared to play yet, though Jonas, Dean, and all the Knights would be there and the Bantams could resume their regular schedule.
Grif, AJ, Mercy, and I would catch the game in the family section.
But first manicures.
As we took the metro, Mercy told me all about her day and the new dance battle choreography she was learning.
“This place is adorable. I can see why you like it,” Mercy told me as we walked inside Margarita Mani’s. “We’ll have to get some pictures.”
We were escorted into the main room. It was cute and pastel. We weren’t the only ones here for late afternoon pampering. I’d limit myself toonedrink this time.
“Are you all caught up with your research?” Mercy asked as her feet soaked in pink bubbly water.
“Sadly, no.” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. I shouldn’t be mad at myself for not recreating years of research in a few days.
But I was.
“Boo. How can I help?” She took a sip of her mocktail, which had gummy snakes in it.
“So, I might need to go to Greece during spring break.” I took a drink of mine, which had a cloud of cotton candy on it. I’d made a very remarkable breakthrough with my other research.
The alpha subduing properties of omega lilies were much easier to access on specific Grecian strains. I should’ve seen it earlier. Myths often had roots in reality. Fortunately, I was now officially funded by Compass BioTek, so I could afford such a trip.
