Who Do You Think You Are?
chapter dix
Alyssa whipped around to face Tyler and the rest of Team USA, “I swear to god, that we win against you guys. And then, you’ll lose against the next team.”
“Wow, we’re so scared,” one of the boys said sarcastically.
“You better be,” Alyssa spat and then turned to catch up to John.
“John!” Alyssa bellowed, hoping to catch up to John, “JOHN!” Alyssa screamed. She spotted him up ahead of her, hobbling away as fast as he could. Alyssa was easily able to catch up to him, grabbing his arm, whipping him around to face her.
“Did you not hear me calling you?”
“Sorry, I don’t talk to whores,” John spat.
Alyssa felt the tear welling up, but she fought them back. She then boldly slapped John square in the face, “I am not a whore. And if you knew anything about me, you’d know that.”
John just stared at Alyssa, wide-eyed and mouth agape; not knowing want to say. He had never been slapped by a girl before, but this made him want Alyssa even more.
“And how am I supposed to believe that?”
“If you were there earlier, you would have seen me wanting to get away from Team USA. Also, Tyler kissed me. He kissed me. I tried pushing him off, but he’s too strong. John…I care about you.”
John smiled, “That’s all I wanted to hear.”
“No,” Alyssa said, placing a hand on John’s shoulder, “Don’t take that the wrong way.” She paused, she had to do this. “I care about you as a friend. There’s nothing you can do change that, okay?”
“Nothing?” John said, with pleading eyes.
“If you score a hat-trick, I might give you a chance,” Alyssa said jokingly. Half of her wanted him to score the hat-trick and the other half wanted him to fail.
“Great,” John said, before placing a kiss on Alyssa’s cheek and running into the change room.
Alyssa was about to bark something back at John, but the tingling sensation on her cheek distracted her. Zack sent her an all-knowing smile from the doorway of the dressing room. “I think you just gave John the ultimate goal,” Zack said, with a beaming smile.
“I know.”
“You do know he’ll die to get that hat-trick.”
“I know,” Alyssa said, with a slight frown. She sneaked off to the dressing room, motioning to her father that she was going to the bench. Pat was about to go after his daughter, but decided against it. The first period started soon after and Alyssa was able to sneak onto the bench. Within the first 8 minutes, the US had scored 3 goals.
Alyssa was pondering the thought of pulling Dustin Tokarski, but she knew that he was used to pressure filled games; he had won the Memorial Cup last spring. Then two minutes later, Canada was on the powerplay; John was left open on the side of the goal. Within a blink of the eye, he had scored and was celebrating with the rest of the team. The team skated past the US’ bench, when a stick came out and hit Chris DiDomenico square in the fast.
“WHAT THE HELL!?!?” Alyssa screamed, the whole team was up in arms. James Van Riemsdyk was checked into the space between the benches, hitting his head off the camera. “He deserves it,” Alyssa muttered.
Not even a minute later, John intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, making a break for the net.
“And John Tavares…SCORES! HIS SECOND OF THE GAME!” the announcer boomed.
John skated back to the bench, scooting over to Alyssa, “Two down, one to go.”
Alyssa chuckled, “Focus on the game; they’re still up one goal on us.” But that deficient, didn’t last for long, as Jordan Eberle score on the powerplay for Canada. The first period ended soon after and Team Canada cheered and hollered the whole way back to the dressing room.
The noise in the dressing room was deafening, the team needed to keep their emotions in check right now. Alyssa whistled, catching everyone’s attention, “Everyone, just be quiet! If you want to win this game, control your emotions; play with your heart on the ice.”
The second period started off with a bang, as Zack scored another powerplay goal for Canada, they had their first lead of the game! But what came next would send a tremor through the team; Zack was forechecking when he was slammed into the boards, awkwardly on his ankle. He stayed down.
Alyssa muffled a cry, as she felt the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She resisted the urge to jump over the boards to come to her friend’s aid, she kept mumbling to herself, “Get up Zack, get up Zack, get up Zack!” But he stayed down. The medical team went to Zack; it looked like he had sprained his right ankle. He was helped off the ice; Alyssa opened the door, engulfing Zack in a hug, whispering, “Stay strong.”
The period continued, Cody Hodgson scored another powerplay goal for Canada; its fourth of the night. The score stood at 5 – 4, in favour of Canada when the period ended. The team was back in the dressing room, surprisingly calm. Although some were worried about Zack, including Alyssa. The team was back out on the ice; this period they were stressing to distance themselves from the Americans.
The third period stayed deadlocked; Dustin Tokarski made an incredible save on Colin Wilson that probably gave Canada the win. The Americans pulled their goalie with just over a minute to go in the period, a bad idea with John on the ice. He muscled the puck into the net, holding off one defender as he did it. The arena went wild, as hats were thrown onto the ice. Alyssa screamed, but then realized what that meant.
John came back to the bench, mouthing ‘you owe me.’ Tyler Ennis added another empty netter with ten seconds left in the period. CANADA WAS GOING TO THE SEMI’S!! John was awarded the Best Player of the Game for his hat-trick, the Americans looked crushed. The team wouldn’t stop cheering as they headed back to the dressing room.
Alyssa went straight to the bus, not wanting to deal with the interviews and such. She sat in her seat, attempting to figure out how she was going to get out of her deal with John; she didn’t have any ideas. The team started piling back onto the bus, and soon the seat beside Alyssa was filled, by John.
“You owe me big time,” he said, confidently.
“That’s true.”
“Then I want my prize right now.”
Alyssa faced John, “If you want my prize, you have to play by my rules. And that means no public displays of –”
But John had cut Alyssa off with a kiss, Alyssa responded immediately pulling John closer by the collar of his shirt. John pulled back with a huge smile, “You talk way too much.” Alyssa was speechless; her heart was beating at a thousand miles per minute, while her head why telling her to slap John silly. The team was too busy celebrating their win to notice, except one person.
The team was back at the hotel, getting ready to bring in the New Year; the hallway was filled to the brim, as one of the room’s wouldn’t fit the entire team. None of the team could drink, so instead they had sparkling apple cider that someone had found in one of the mini-fridges. Alyssa was having a blast, staying at John’s side the entire night, but then someone pulled her into a room.
“What do you think –” Alyssa started to say only to see it was Evander. “What’s up Ev?”
“I don’t like you and John together,” he said coldly.
Alyssa frowned, “I felt the same way before I got to know him, but I think it might work.”
“Oh really? You live in Vancouver Als, he lives in Oshawa. Opposite sides of the country.”
“Distance doesn’t matter, at least I don’t think it does,” she said, looking down at her watch. “Look Ev, it’s almost midnight; I need to get back to John.”
“Why don’t you find somebody back in Vancouver,” Evander said, trying to stall Alyssa. “Like me,” he whispered.
“What?” Alyssa said laughing.
“Alyssa, I’ve liked you, even loved you since the moment I saw you.”
Alyssa stood wide-eyed, “I-I can’t do this, not now. Ev, there could be no us; you’re a year younger than me.”
“Why does that matter?” Evander barked, grabbing Alyssa’s arms.
“Get your hands off of me, if you want to play in the semi-final,” Alyssa growled.
Evander dropped his hands, deafeated. Alyssa forced a smile and left the room to go find John, it was less than a minute to midnight. The hallway was crowded, weaving through the massive amounts of bodies, the group starting counting down, “10…9…8…7…6…5.”
Five seconds to find John, Alyssa though to herself. She could see him up in front of her, less than 3 seconds now. She picked up her pace to a run, pushing everyone in front of her aside; she wasn’t looking who it was. As soon as the countdown reached 1, Alyssa launched herself into John’s arms.
“Hey there –” John said, but was cut off.
By Alyssa kissing him fiercely and passionately.
Maybe this year would be different. Maybe this world juniors would be too.
“Wow, we’re so scared,” one of the boys said sarcastically.
“You better be,” Alyssa spat and then turned to catch up to John.
“John!” Alyssa bellowed, hoping to catch up to John, “JOHN!” Alyssa screamed. She spotted him up ahead of her, hobbling away as fast as he could. Alyssa was easily able to catch up to him, grabbing his arm, whipping him around to face her.
“Did you not hear me calling you?”
“Sorry, I don’t talk to whores,” John spat.
Alyssa felt the tear welling up, but she fought them back. She then boldly slapped John square in the face, “I am not a whore. And if you knew anything about me, you’d know that.”
John just stared at Alyssa, wide-eyed and mouth agape; not knowing want to say. He had never been slapped by a girl before, but this made him want Alyssa even more.
“And how am I supposed to believe that?”
“If you were there earlier, you would have seen me wanting to get away from Team USA. Also, Tyler kissed me. He kissed me. I tried pushing him off, but he’s too strong. John…I care about you.”
John smiled, “That’s all I wanted to hear.”
“No,” Alyssa said, placing a hand on John’s shoulder, “Don’t take that the wrong way.” She paused, she had to do this. “I care about you as a friend. There’s nothing you can do change that, okay?”
“Nothing?” John said, with pleading eyes.
“If you score a hat-trick, I might give you a chance,” Alyssa said jokingly. Half of her wanted him to score the hat-trick and the other half wanted him to fail.
“Great,” John said, before placing a kiss on Alyssa’s cheek and running into the change room.
Alyssa was about to bark something back at John, but the tingling sensation on her cheek distracted her. Zack sent her an all-knowing smile from the doorway of the dressing room. “I think you just gave John the ultimate goal,” Zack said, with a beaming smile.
“I know.”
“You do know he’ll die to get that hat-trick.”
“I know,” Alyssa said, with a slight frown. She sneaked off to the dressing room, motioning to her father that she was going to the bench. Pat was about to go after his daughter, but decided against it. The first period started soon after and Alyssa was able to sneak onto the bench. Within the first 8 minutes, the US had scored 3 goals.
Alyssa was pondering the thought of pulling Dustin Tokarski, but she knew that he was used to pressure filled games; he had won the Memorial Cup last spring. Then two minutes later, Canada was on the powerplay; John was left open on the side of the goal. Within a blink of the eye, he had scored and was celebrating with the rest of the team. The team skated past the US’ bench, when a stick came out and hit Chris DiDomenico square in the fast.
“WHAT THE HELL!?!?” Alyssa screamed, the whole team was up in arms. James Van Riemsdyk was checked into the space between the benches, hitting his head off the camera. “He deserves it,” Alyssa muttered.
Not even a minute later, John intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, making a break for the net.
“And John Tavares…SCORES! HIS SECOND OF THE GAME!” the announcer boomed.
John skated back to the bench, scooting over to Alyssa, “Two down, one to go.”
Alyssa chuckled, “Focus on the game; they’re still up one goal on us.” But that deficient, didn’t last for long, as Jordan Eberle score on the powerplay for Canada. The first period ended soon after and Team Canada cheered and hollered the whole way back to the dressing room.
The noise in the dressing room was deafening, the team needed to keep their emotions in check right now. Alyssa whistled, catching everyone’s attention, “Everyone, just be quiet! If you want to win this game, control your emotions; play with your heart on the ice.”
The second period started off with a bang, as Zack scored another powerplay goal for Canada, they had their first lead of the game! But what came next would send a tremor through the team; Zack was forechecking when he was slammed into the boards, awkwardly on his ankle. He stayed down.
Alyssa muffled a cry, as she felt the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She resisted the urge to jump over the boards to come to her friend’s aid, she kept mumbling to herself, “Get up Zack, get up Zack, get up Zack!” But he stayed down. The medical team went to Zack; it looked like he had sprained his right ankle. He was helped off the ice; Alyssa opened the door, engulfing Zack in a hug, whispering, “Stay strong.”
The period continued, Cody Hodgson scored another powerplay goal for Canada; its fourth of the night. The score stood at 5 – 4, in favour of Canada when the period ended. The team was back in the dressing room, surprisingly calm. Although some were worried about Zack, including Alyssa. The team was back out on the ice; this period they were stressing to distance themselves from the Americans.
The third period stayed deadlocked; Dustin Tokarski made an incredible save on Colin Wilson that probably gave Canada the win. The Americans pulled their goalie with just over a minute to go in the period, a bad idea with John on the ice. He muscled the puck into the net, holding off one defender as he did it. The arena went wild, as hats were thrown onto the ice. Alyssa screamed, but then realized what that meant.
John came back to the bench, mouthing ‘you owe me.’ Tyler Ennis added another empty netter with ten seconds left in the period. CANADA WAS GOING TO THE SEMI’S!! John was awarded the Best Player of the Game for his hat-trick, the Americans looked crushed. The team wouldn’t stop cheering as they headed back to the dressing room.
Alyssa went straight to the bus, not wanting to deal with the interviews and such. She sat in her seat, attempting to figure out how she was going to get out of her deal with John; she didn’t have any ideas. The team started piling back onto the bus, and soon the seat beside Alyssa was filled, by John.
“You owe me big time,” he said, confidently.
“That’s true.”
“Then I want my prize right now.”
Alyssa faced John, “If you want my prize, you have to play by my rules. And that means no public displays of –”
But John had cut Alyssa off with a kiss, Alyssa responded immediately pulling John closer by the collar of his shirt. John pulled back with a huge smile, “You talk way too much.” Alyssa was speechless; her heart was beating at a thousand miles per minute, while her head why telling her to slap John silly. The team was too busy celebrating their win to notice, except one person.
The team was back at the hotel, getting ready to bring in the New Year; the hallway was filled to the brim, as one of the room’s wouldn’t fit the entire team. None of the team could drink, so instead they had sparkling apple cider that someone had found in one of the mini-fridges. Alyssa was having a blast, staying at John’s side the entire night, but then someone pulled her into a room.
“What do you think –” Alyssa started to say only to see it was Evander. “What’s up Ev?”
“I don’t like you and John together,” he said coldly.
Alyssa frowned, “I felt the same way before I got to know him, but I think it might work.”
“Oh really? You live in Vancouver Als, he lives in Oshawa. Opposite sides of the country.”
“Distance doesn’t matter, at least I don’t think it does,” she said, looking down at her watch. “Look Ev, it’s almost midnight; I need to get back to John.”
“Why don’t you find somebody back in Vancouver,” Evander said, trying to stall Alyssa. “Like me,” he whispered.
“What?” Alyssa said laughing.
“Alyssa, I’ve liked you, even loved you since the moment I saw you.”
Alyssa stood wide-eyed, “I-I can’t do this, not now. Ev, there could be no us; you’re a year younger than me.”
“Why does that matter?” Evander barked, grabbing Alyssa’s arms.
“Get your hands off of me, if you want to play in the semi-final,” Alyssa growled.
Evander dropped his hands, deafeated. Alyssa forced a smile and left the room to go find John, it was less than a minute to midnight. The hallway was crowded, weaving through the massive amounts of bodies, the group starting counting down, “10…9…8…7…6…5.”
Five seconds to find John, Alyssa though to herself. She could see him up in front of her, less than 3 seconds now. She picked up her pace to a run, pushing everyone in front of her aside; she wasn’t looking who it was. As soon as the countdown reached 1, Alyssa launched herself into John’s arms.
“Hey there –” John said, but was cut off.
By Alyssa kissing him fiercely and passionately.
Maybe this year would be different. Maybe this world juniors would be too.