Chapter 13

When I rolled over the clock was shining 5:58 back at me. I let out a sigh and rolled back over, pulling the sheets up over my head. Mattie was softly snoring beside me, taking up much more than his half of the bed; sleeping like a baby. I lay there a few more minutes before giving up on sleep all together, opting for an early morning workout instead. Pulling the covers back off my head and getting off the bed I saw Consti sprawled out across his bed fully dressed, over the covers. Looks like someone had a good night anyway... Grabbing some gym change out of my suitcase, I made my way into the bathroom and changed out of my PJs.

I jogged the whole way down to the gym; although it was still fairly dark out I could see everything clearly in the dawning light. I let myself in through the front doors, happy to find them already unlocked. The girl sitting behind the front desk smiled at me as I walked by and I nodded in return before turning the corner and heading into the cardio room.

I was sweating heavily by the time I felt someone else in the room. I turned around to see Dean walking up behind me, he was smiling. "Awful early for the suits to be up isn't it?" I laughed over my shoulder as he stopped behind the bike.

"Awful early to be killing yourself on a bike, isn't it?" I retorted, his smile widening.

I chuckled and turned back around, slowing the pedals down. He let me finish my cool down before he spoke again. "You heading over to the dinning hall now?"

"Yah... I'll be there for 8."

"Listen Carlie, I need to talk to you about something..."

I let out a sigh and gave Dean my full attention. I'm sure he was probably trying to save me some embarrassment, maybe he was going to tell me that I didn't make the team now and offer to let me leave before the actual cuts were posted. It was the best I could hope for now.

"It's about last night, you can't keep doing that, ok?"

"Umm... what?" I bit my lip in consideration, this conversation was starting of strange.

"Going on defence like that. Carlie, if you make Team USA you're a forward for Team USA. You can't just decide that you're going to play defence and force your team to change position accordingly. You said to me, that you didn't want special treatment, and this is me telling you that you won't get it. You're a good player, we know that; play the game you know, let the defence play theirs." He reached out and gave me a fatherly pat on the shoulder before heading out the door. I leaned up against the stationary bike I had just been riding. What did this mean? He was giving me advice for 'if you make Team USA', not, 'when you get home and go back to Junior'. Did this mean I wasn't cut? I headed off to the shower.

Not really concious of my actions I somehow showered and dressed, heading off at a brisk pace to the dinning hall. I saw Consti point at me when I got closer and Mattie appeared on the otherside of him, relief flooding his face. "Where did you get off to this morning?" He asked pulling me into a tight hug.

"I couldn't sleep, just decided to go on the bike for a bit... we should probably get in there." I said nodded over towards the door people were now passing through. Mattie took my hand and lead me in, Consti, Carrol and Marty in tow.

"You seem in a much better mood?" Mattie suggested, a question more than a statement.

"Ummm yah, I talked to Dean for a sec this morning. I'm not sure but... I don't think I'm heading home." I was afraid to get into more detail as we took our seats, it would be just my luck to jinx it.

"Oh... that's awesome."

"Mattie, you have to know you're not going home." I laughed at his worried expression, "You're a shoe-in babe!" I gave his hand a squeeze as the rest of the guys sat down.

"How do you think he's gonna tell us?" Carrol asked, glancing around the room, searching for Dean.

"Announcement maybe?" Marty said, his head down on the table, clearly more hungover than Consti, who was playing the 'drums' on the table.

"Dude, she's hott!" He announced loudly, motioning towards a server in the near-by corner.

"Consti, we're about to find out who got cut... we could be going home..." Carrol spat, outraged at Constis' lack of concern.

"Yah man, I'd like to take her home..." He laughed, finally catching her eye and smiling. She blushed and turned back to her work. "Al-right..."

We groaned in unison, leave it to Consti. "There's Dean!" Mattie said, we all turned to see Dean taking the stage. The dinning hall fell silent immediatly.

"Alright everyone, we're posting the names on the wall there," he pointed over to the back wall, "of all the people who are going to be staying with us for another week. If you're name isn't on that list, you will not be playing for Team USA. So enjoy your breakfast and check the sheets on your way out. If you are on the list, then please meet us in the ampitheater at 10am."

The hall stayed silent, everyone glancing around at each other, wondering what to do. Consti got up and headed over towards the female server, grabbing a plate off the counter and approaching her. Mattie gave a faultered laugh and looked back at me, fear evident in his eyes. The assistant trainers were now posting sheets on the wall, there wasn't alot of them. The courage I had been given by Dean this morning evaporated as I looked over at the 6 sheets on the wall.
A chair scraping on the floor brought my attention away from the wall and back to my table, Marty was getting up and making his way over to the wall. His fingers ran over 5 of the 6 sheets, before he turned and walked back to us. He paused for a minute at the table, looking at each one of us and then over at Consti. "We're all on there... we're all staying." His face changed into a grin as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, his fingers punching out a text as he made his way over to Consti.

I couldn't help but smile as relief flooded through me. Mattie stood up and pulled me up beside him, wrapping me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and looked down at Carrol, he was smiling towards the wall. Slowly other people in the hall began to get up and make their way over to the list. "Mattie," I whispered, still wrapped around him, "I don't think I wanna stay here for this..." He nodded before turning to Carrol.

"We're gonna head back to the room, you wanna come?"

"Naw, I'm gonna grab some food I think, I'll meet you there after."

I waved goodbye and followed Mattie out of the hall, afraid to meet anyone's eyes on the way out. Now that I was sure I had made it through the cut I could afford to feel bad for other people; and watching other people get their dreams crushed wasn't my ideal start to the day.
I felt like singing, I felt like dancing. I was sure that the worse had to be over. Now we would play a tournament, something I was accustomed too, and even though the stakes were higher I felt confident in my abilities. There had been well over a hundred people in the camp, and we had been cut in half. I was better than half of the people that had been here.
Mattie was walking with a bounce in his step too, he smiled over at me and took my hand in his as we made our way up the steps into the dorms.



Sitting in the ampitheater with the remaining players was such a rush. Everyone was jubilent with the results, and although there was a bittersweet side to the day, we were all pumped to be here. I smiled over at Jake and Aaron, a few rows away, and continued to glance around at the people left. Althought there was about 70 people left, and even though there were a few faces I couldn't find, I was too thrilled that my friends were still with me to let anything break my spirit. As Dean took to the stage again, the hall errupted into cheers. He allowed us to continue our roudiness for a minute longer before holding up his hands in a command of silence. "Congradulations on making it this far! Now, the fun part! All of you will be divided into 6 teams, 11 players per team. You will each have 1 goalie and 2 full lines. Each team will elect a captain and an alternate captain, and it will be up to your elected teammates to make the decisions for the games; you will not have mock coaches this time. Amanda, one of our medical interns for the World Juniors is handing out the team lists. The teams have been selected to be as fair and equal as possible, each list has the room number and names of the people you will spend the next week with, please don't loose it! On next 2 sheets you will notice game times and practice times, I suggest you use them wisely. If you have any questions come see me. You're free to go!"

We waited quietly in the back row as Amanda made her way up the isles, handing out packs of paper as she went. When she reached us she passed the last of her stack to Carrol and headed back down the steps. As the sheets made their way down to us, my nerves began to act up again, Please let me have a good team! I sighed to myself. I knew better than to hope for Mattie on the same team, they wouldn't put two of the best players together.
Sure enough I was right. My team consisted of only 1 person I knew. I read over each name... trying to put a face to it:

Allen, Kris (RW)
Anderson, Anderw (D)
Butler, Jeremy (D)
Doiron, Jonathan (D)
Donnelly, Tommy (RW)
Jones, Chris (G)
Simone, Carlie (C)
Stanley, Ethan (LW)
Stewart, Peter (LW)
Tucker, Eddie (D)
Turner, Aaron (C)

Aaron, Jake's roommate would be on my team, but not on my line. I tried not to let this bother me, I had been playing games with random people all week, no big deal.
I felt Mattie shift beside me and sigh as he gazed down at the last piece of paper in our bundle. "What is it?" I asked leaning over the arm-rest to see his sheet.

"The games start tomorrow, my first game is against you..."