Breakaway Read online

  Breanne yawns repeatedly and moves to her dad’s lap, which apparently is more comfortable than mine.

  Once Indian Head Guy learns I play hockey, he starts asking about my team. The basketball game is well into the second quarter before I notice Courtney and Gia aren’t back from their licorice expedition.

  As I reach for my phone to text Gia, I remember I don’t have her number. Courtney doesn’t have a phone, so I have no choice but to go look for them. I excuse myself and head for the concession, but I don’t see them.

  I comb the building. No sign of them anywhere.

  On a hunch, I check outside.

  They’re shivering in their hoodies, talking to two guys who are clearly high school age and who are also smoking. As I approach, Gia appears to be doing most of the talking when she’s not sucking on a cancer stick of her own.

  I barge right into the midst of them. “Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you guys! I see you got the licorice!” I grab the bag with one hand and Courtney’s elbow with the other. “You’re missing a great game. Let’s go back inside.”

  Gia checks her phone and takes a drag of her cigarette. “My auntie’s going to be here right away. There’s no point.”

  “Okay.” I take a bite of licorice. “I’ll just hang out until she gets here.”

  Gia is pissed, but she doesn’t say anything while I quiz the guys about their high school basketball team.

  Eventually they go back inside.

  I hold out my hand. “Gia, give me your cell number. That way I can text you if I need to get hold of Courtney.”

  “Sure.” Gia’s eyes measure me. “Give me your phone, and I’ll program it in.”

  I hand it to her. “Need me to hold your cigarette?”

  She gives me her smoke, and I drop it on the cement and crush it under my heel.

  “Hey!” she exclaims.

  “I don’t appreciate you smoking around my little sister,” I tell her.

  Courtney smacks my arm. “Jessie! Quit trying to be Mom!”

  “Were you planning to leave without saying goodbye?” I ask. “The Gedaks were thoughtful enough to let you come along, and this is how you repay them?”

  “I thanked them on the way up,” Gia says defensively. “Didn’t you hear me thank them?”

  We stand there and bicker with each other until Gia’s auntie finally gets there. By the time I get back to the gym, there’s only two minutes left in the fourth quarter. When I look down at the court, Evan is lined up at the free throw line, readying himself for a foul shot.

  I’m going to kill Gia and Courtney.

  – Chapter Fifteen –

  I stand still long enough to watch Evan score two points. I check the clock. 85–79 for the Cougars.

  I apologize like crazy to Mrs. Gedak as I slide into my seat. No sign of Indian Head Guy and his friends. Rev. Gedak is so engrossed he doesn’t seem aware of Breanne, who’s fast asleep in his arms.

  Evan’s bringing the ball up the court, dribbling with his left hand and directing his teammates with the other.

  “When did Evan sub in?” I ask his mom.

  “A long time ago,” she says pointedly. “Where have you been?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  Evan sinks a three-pointer, and his parents go crazy. Rev. Gedak shifts Breanne to his shoulder, and she doesn’t even wake up.

  The Dinos are in the midst of mounting a last minute rally, when my cellphone begins vibrating again.

  It’s a text from Gia.

  The noise around me is growing in volume and intensity as the Cougar fans rally their team to hold off a Dino come-from-behind victory.

  Sorry, Gia says.

  I look up just in time to see Evan’s teammates mobbing him. The Gedaks and the other Calgary parents are on their feet, cheering. Breanne is slumped over her dad’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “Evan just sank another three-pointer!” Mrs. Gedak shouts. “Didn’t you see?”

  The buzzer sounds to end the game. I take a quick look at the scoreboard again.

  The Dinos lost by one point.

  And Evan – with 22 points – is named Game MVP.

  It’s mortifying I wasn’t at least a spectator.

  His parents are bursting with pride as we wait for him to come out of the dressing room.

  “That boy is going to be a CIS All-Star,” a Dino dad tells me. “Too bad the coach is a train wreck.”

  “Are you serious?” I ask. “What’s wrong with him?”

  He doesn’t have a chance to tell me because Evan arrives at that moment. He’s wearing a bad-fitting suit and a tie that appears to be choking him.

  He smiles when he sees me and hugs me hard. His mom has to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Evan turns around and hugs her too and shakes hands with his dad. Breanne’s standing there, rubbing her eyes and looking like she has no idea where she is. Evan reaches down and picks her up, and she snuggles her head against his neck.

  Mrs. Gedak says, “Good game,” and a dark cloud rolls over Evan’s face. I hope it’s not because of me.

  “Your little sister and her friend found their ride?” Rev. Gedak asks me as we leave the complex. He’s got Breanne bundled in his jacket to protect her from the raw northwest wind.

  “Yes.” I extract my hand from Evan’s grasp to pull my hood up. “That’s why I was gone so long in the second half. I was just making sure Court and Gia got picked up.” I sneak a quick look at Evan’s face. “Sorry I didn’t see more of your game. I’ll make it up to you.”

  He leans over and murmurs in my ear. “You sure can.”

  The remark takes me off guard.

  He laughs and grabs my hand again. “I’m kidding! I have an eleven o’clock curfew. We’ll have just enough time to eat.”

  We have supper at a nearby restaurant. Evan and his parents spend most of it picking apart and replaying every second of the game. My eyelids get droopy, and I fight to stay awake. I envy Breanne, who falls asleep with her head on the table, still clutching a quarter of her grilled cheese sandwich.

  I hold hands with Evan in the back seat all the way to the hotel, even though he’s got his little sister sprawled across him. Once we’re there his parents take Breanne upstairs to our room. Evan and I sit down on the comfy couches in the hotel lobby, so we can talk. It’s 10:45, so we only have a few minutes.

  “I’m sorry about tonight,” I tell him.

  He leans towards me. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just so glad to see you – for real.”

  A couple of his teammates sweep in through the automatic doors. “Hey Preacher, get a room!” one of them shouts.

  Evan blushes, but he looks pleased. He introduces me to them, and they hang around to make small talk. Before we know it, it’s curfew. He walks me to the room and kisses me gently before heading off to his own. As I watch him lumber away, I feel inexplicably sad.

  I will make it up to him tomorrow, I think.

  I really am going to kill Gia and Courtney.

  – Chapter Sixteen –

  Evan meets us downstairs for continental breakfast, but since his mom and dad and Breanne are there the whole time, we don’t get to talk much. He manages to squeeze in a few questions about my hockey team.

  At 9:45, Evan looks at his phone. “I have a team meeting in fifteen minutes. I should get changed.” He stands up. “Want to walk me to my room, Jessie?”

  “Sure.”

  Breanne stands up too.

  “Not this time, Squirt,” Evan says.

  Breanne sinks, crestfallen.

  We take the stairs, instead of the elevator. At the second floor landing, he holds out an arm to stop me, checks above and below, then pulls me into his arms and kisses me.

  I try to concentrate on him and forget about details like – is there bran muffin caught in my teeth and what does yogurt taste like on his end?

  A door above us opens, and three of Evan
’s teammates come barreling down the stairs. I start to pull away, but Evan won’t let me go, so they catch us red-handed.

  “Hey, Preacher, didn’t we tell you to get a room?”

  “Got any friends in town, Flatlander?”

  “We’ll tell Coach you’re gonna be late!”

  Fortunately they keep moving, and we’re alone again.

  “I don’t want you to get in trouble with your coach,” I tell Evan.

  “I don’t want to talk about him. That guy’s got too many issues. I want to talk about us.” He pulls me closer. “Do you miss me?”

  “Of course I miss you.” The intensity of his gaze is making me uncomfortable.

  “Jessie, I think about you all the time. You’re the only thing in my life that makes sense. I don’t call you as often as I’d like to, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care about you, okay?”

  “Okay.” He calls and texts me all the time. How could I get the impression he doesn’t care about me? “How are your classes going?”

  “What am I doing, killing myself to get good grades, when the person I care about most is back home.”

  An alarm starts ringing inside my head. This guy is way too serious, Jessie. You’re not anywhere near as serious as he is.

  I have no idea what to say. All I know is that he better not be late for his team meeting. Not if he’s already having a personality conflict with his coach.

  “Evan, you should go. We’ll talk later.”

  “When?” He still hasn’t let go of me.

  “After my game. I’ll get my parents to bring me back to the hotel. We’ll go for supper, and we’ll talk then.”

  “Okay.” He rests his chin on top of my head. “You smell so good.”

  After he leaves for his meeting, I go shopping with Mrs. Gedak and Breanne because I don’t have to be at the rink until two o’clock. Breanne natters away to me, excited to have me all to herself, but all I can think about is Evan. He’s put himself under so much pressure to excel at everything, at school and at basketball, and his parents seem to be oblivious to it. What happens if he snaps?

  He’s too sensible, I tell myself. That’s not going to happen.

  Part of me is also worried about Courtney and the direction her life seems to be taking. I text Gia a couple of times, but she doesn’t answer.

  Just before two o’clock, the Gedaks drop me off at the Co-operators Centre. I’m not sure where the dressing rooms are, but as I walk through the main entrance, I see Kathy’s dad standing near Tim Horton’s.

  “Right in there, Jessie,” Mr. Parker says, pointing.

  “Have a great game,” Amy’s dad says. “And don’t be afraid to jump into the play. Take some chances.”

  “I’ll try,” I tell him.

  Most of the girls are already in the dressing room. I sit down next to Jodi, who’s by herself, as usual.

  “How was Evan’s basketball game?” Jodi asks.

  I tell her about it, sticking to the details of the game. I don’t feel like talking about Courtney and Gia.

  “Sue’s not coming today,” Whitney announces.

  “She told us that last practice,” says Kathy. “Do you think we’re deaf?”

  “I just wanted to make sure everybody knew. Is that a crime?” Whitney snaps.

  “So who’s behind the bench – besides Mr. Johnstone?” I ask.

  “Mr. Parker,” Kathy says. “But I’ll just call him Dad, if that’s all right.”

  “And I’ll call him Loverboy,” Carla says.

  Kathy wings a roll of sock tape at her head, but Carla ducks and laughs.

  “So, Jessie, what’s the deal between you and Liam?” Amy asks, pulling her Under Armor over her head. “You were plain nasty to him at lunch yesterday.”

  “Do ya think?” Kathy asks.

  “I wasn’t nasty,” I tell her. “I was in a hurry.”

  All the girls are looking at me now.

  “He was rude to me first.” I sound like I’m whining. “The other day, at Sarcan, he implied I’m mentally handicapped.”

  “Liam wouldn’t do that,” Amy says.

  “How would you know? You weren’t there.” I turn to Kathy. “He was rude to me, wasn’t he?”

  Kathy flings one of her shoes into her hockey bag. “No, he wasn’t. He was just trying to make conversation, and you twisted his meaning. You’ve been mad at him ever since the talent show.”

  I open my mouth to argue with her.

  She’s right and you know it, my little voice says. Dead right.

  “You think every guy in this school is a loser because some of them said sick things to you,” Kathy continues. “Well, Liam’s not one of them.”

  “Liam would never make a crack about you being mentally handicapped,” Amy says. “His brother Russell works at Sarcan. He lives in a group home.”

  Oh damn.

  “His brother is...?”

  “Yes,” Amy says.

  “I’ll be nicer to him from now on,” I promise. “I didn’t realize...I never thought I was being like that.”

  I go for a run in the stands for my off-ice warm-up. A little oxygen goes a long way to clear my head. The main arena is brightly lit, and the metallic bleachers clang and clunk as I do the stairs. Hockey is where you need to be right now, I keep telling myself.

  Afterwards, I quickly suit up, avoiding eye contact or conversation. I’m good now, I tell myself. I’m going to have a great game. I head into the hallway to make my way to the ice surface. But when I stop to put my extra stick in the rack by the door, Kathy’s right behind me.

  “Somebody might get the idea you’re afraid of Liam,” she says. “Maybe you like him more than you want to admit. Maybe you think it was a mistake to start going out with Evan.”

  “Like Liam?” I scoff. “I hardly know him! And believe me, this has nothing to do with Evan. It has to do with all the loser guys at school.”

  “I don’t buy it.” Her blue eyes are measuring me. “You better look yourself long and hard in the mirror and ask yourself why you hooked up with Evan in the first place. The guy lives in another province, conveniently out of the picture, and in reality, you don’t think about him much, do you?”

  “You’re wrong,” I tell her.

  “Well, you’re stupid,” Kathy says.

  “I don’t care what you think,” I whisper.

  A door closes down the hall. The other girls are coming.

  Kathy leans closer. “You’re stupid and you’re dangerous.” She disappears through the door to the players’ box, so I don’t have a chance to defend myself.

  I’m in a blind rage when I step on the ice, and I can’t concentrate on any of the drills. How could she say that? She’s supposed to be my friend.

  On-ice warm-up is a total blur.

  But one thing is abundantly clear.

  I’m going to play like shit.

  – Chapter Seventeen –

  We crash and burn against Regina on the road to a 9–1 loss.

  I take two penalties in the first period, and the Rebels score on both power plays. I’m on the ice for the next three Regina goals. On the first one, I get undressed by Number 22, who snipes one past Miranda’s outstretched glove. Another time I attempt a saucer pass to Jennifer in our end, and the Rebel centre picks it, then fires low blocker. A Regina winger pounces on Miranda’s juicy rebound and pokes it in. On my next shift, I put the puck in all by myself when I’m trying to clear the trash around the net.

  Miranda snaps at me when I apologize. “McIntyre, keep your ass outta my face!”

  I’d bench myself if I had any choice in the matter.

  It’s a brutal game. The worst.

  We are outplayed, outshot and outscored.

  With three minutes left, Jodi scores on a breakaway, but it’s not enough to lift our spirits.

  After the game we start picking at each other as soon as Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Parker leave the dressing room. The offence blames the defence. The defence blames the
offence. No one blames Miranda, but this notion is etched on everybody’s face: if Amy had been playing net, the score would have been a lot closer.

  Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.

  I do the only thing I can do.

  “Look,” I say, “I know I could have played better today. I’m sorry for letting you all down.”

  Most of the girls jump on the “Oh, it’s okay. We’re all at fault” bandwagon right away.

  Except for Whitney, Jodi and Kathy.

  On the way back to Estevan, Mom and Dad thankfully do not grill me about the game. Courtney’s puffy around the eyes while Gia’s sunglasses conceal hers. Gia falls asleep with her head on my shoulder.

  “So Evan got to play lots?” Courtney asks out of the blue.

  “Quit sucking up,” I tell her. “You girls have a late night?”

  “We stayed up and talked,” Courtney says.

  “Get any shopping done?”

  Courtney shakes her head. “We were too tired.”

  “I thought that was the whole point of going to Regina in the first place,” I persist.

  Courtney leans around Gia so she’s looking right at me. “Mom already talked to Gia and me about taking off on you last night, and we’re sorry, okay? Enough with the inquisition.”

  “Such a big word,” I reply sarcastically. “How about this one? Do you know what manipulation means?”

  “Yes,” she says.

  “You manipulated me and the Gedaks so you could go to Regina, and then you tried to dump us without any explanation. I missed watching Evan play because of you.”

  “Give it a rest, Jessie,” Mom says. “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

  “Yeah, Jessie.” Courtney yawns and curls up against the window.

  I put on my iPod, pull my hoodie over my head, and pretend I’ve fallen asleep too.

  But I’m definitely not.

  Sleeping, that is.

  My head is swarming with images of my bad choices on – and off – the ice. I’m still not talking to Kathy.

  Not after what she said to me about Liam and Evan.

  Evan.

  My stomach drops to my shoes.

  I was supposed to go for supper with him tonight, after my game. I was supposed to get a ride home with his parents. I dig in my purse for my phone and discover it’s shut off. It’s been shut off for hours.