Evan McAllister is the captain of our team. He’s been here for ages and is Blizzards’ royalty.
“Evan will still play center,” Coach says. “But now on the second line.” He glances at Luke. “You will play on the left wing now and Jason will continue to play right wing.”
Jason grins happily. The man recently fell in love and would smile at anything now.
“And Bellanti?” I ask.
“Bellanti will play left wing, and Finn will play right wing.”
“No.”
The others stare at me.
“No, no, no.” The words come out louder than I like, enhanced by the room’s perfect acoustics.
A few people exchange looks.
Strictly speaking, this doesn’t count as professionalism. In fact, if someone were filming an HR video on how to act unprofessional, they would get excited about all the content I’m giving them.
So be it.
Some things are more important than appearances. No one seems to understand how terrible Enzo is. Luckily, I do. I can warn them. “Enzo Bellanti can’t be trusted.”
“Oh, God,” Noah says.
“He’s a vile human being.”
“Vile hockey players can be useful,” Vinnie says.
“Axel,” Coach says. “This is beneath you. There has never been any drama about Bellanti.”
“He had dark circles under his eyes! He might be drinking or on drugs!”
Coach sighs. “This I doubt. When have you read about Bellanti in the tabloids?”
I frown. Bellanti has kept his private life private. Which is irritating when you’re trying to research what precisely that private life entails. For opposition research, naturally.
“Well, he can’t handle being on the first line,” I grumble. “He can’t even handle being on time for a team meeting!”
“Give your new teammate some grace,” Coach says. “His life… what do you know about it?”
“Because he doesn’t say anything!” I shout.
The others stare at me.
Okay, that was too loud.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Enzo Bellanti was LA’s top player. We are lucky he wants to be here. The owner is…” Coach frowns. “We need some wins.”
“We won’t have chemistry. It will throw the whole team off. We’re close to playoffs. We won’t even make it.”
Coach’s shoulders slump. “Obviously we would have preferred if Dmitri could have stayed in the U.S., but that was not possible. Sometimes things happen in life that we do not like. But we are lucky to have Bellanti. Besides, I’ve watched you two play at the Olympics together. You were excellent.”
I want to tell him that had been in the before-times, when Enzo hadn’t been cursed by some evil wizard or decided I’d been cursed one. In those days, he’d been my best friend.
“You also played together for years at Concord,” Coach adds. “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it again.”
