The Cocky Hockey Captain

Chapter 6 ● How To Belong

"That's the wildest thing I've ever heard in my life," my brother said after I ranted at him for a solid hour about the comings and goings of the last three days. I didn't know exactly what he referred to, so I immediately took offense.

"I thought you'd be on my side!"

He laughed. "Whoa. I am, don't get me wrong. I'm just in awe at the sheer dumbassery of you two."

I huffed once he paused and looked at myself in the mirror. This whole thing had been so badly planned that we didn't even order my uniform in time. Why a school of only boys needed uniforms eluded me. It wasn't like boys were known for being obedient and following strict dress codes. I was told to wear muted colors and no prints to start school until the uniform arrived, so I had to borrow some of dad's clothes to try to make this work. I put my hair in a low pony tail, figuring that was the manliest do I could whip up.

I turned this way and that, flexing my muscles in an attempt to look like a man's man.

This was going to be a disaster and I already knew it.

"At us two?" I asked over the phone's loudspeaker. "It wasn't me who uprooted us to a different country without much of a plan."

I heard him sigh on the line. "Try to understand dad, he's got a lot going on."

"So do I." My arms flailed and I stomped my foot like a petulant child. "He couldn't even figure out living arrangements beforehand. Now we're stuck trying to repair a crumbling house in town just so that he can get in the people's good graces and meanwhile we're living in the tiniest, dingiest hotel I've ever seen. There isn't a single Starbucks or whatever the hell the Canadian equivalent is, and I already Googled it up, but there's no boxing gym in a 200 miles range. This sucks."

"You'll survive. You've survived worse."

I sobered at that, hating it for the truth it was. I wished he hadn't brought it up.

I saw myself in the mirror again. A girl whose circumstances had made her more times than they'd broken her. Why was I acting like a brat now? I had to grab these lemons and make tequila shots with them. I had no choice but to make this work.

"You're right," I said. "I'm going to take this town by storm."

"Pobrecitos, they won't know what hit them," he said. "Hey, I gotta go. My class is starting soon."

School was about to start soon for me, too, so I grabbed my backpack and room key and took a deep breath.

"Any further advice for me?" I asked.

"Try not to kill dad."

I rolled my eyes. "I make no promises."

We hung up and I switched to the maps app, so that I could follow the route to school. I had to snort at the simplicity of Silver Grove's layout. It was a straight shot from anywhere A to anywhere B. I put my phone back in my pocket and walked to the front of the little inn we were staying in, where they were serving the usual breakfast that could be found at a gas station convenience store. Sugar packed instant oatmeal. Cereals. Fruit. I grabbed a couple of bananas and an apple, wondering how I was going to survive until lunch. Today dad was meeting with a contractor who would tell us how long it'd take to renovate the house enough so that we could move in, and I really hoped he'd say a week at minimum, because I needed my arepas for breakfast.

I was thinking of a good desayuno criollo by the time I hit the sidewalk, peeling the banana. I stopped at a corner to let a car through when I found myself in the company of somebody. I looked up and groaned.

"It's you," I said with as much surliness as I felt while eating the fruit.

"Good morning to you, too," Dean said. He looked up and down the road one last time before crossing it ahead of me. He carried a backpack and the massive duffel, no doubt filled with hockey stuff. He'd strapped the stick to the side of the bag and it bounced as he walked. I couldn't help but trail my eyes down his frame and be impressed with what I saw.