Coach doesn’t appear happy about this. If she doesn’t think I’m catching the glances between her and Lana, she’s dead-ass wrong. It has all my spidey senses tingling, and my dad taught me to trust the hell out of those.
I try to have a silent conversation with Kory, but she’s only getting about half of what I’m putting down. I guess it’s only Georgia that can tap into silent conversation with me because she and I could have a full-on one without saying a word.
Thankfully, Coach tells us we’ll vote after practice. That might give Kory more time to make sure people are on the same page. Practice drags by, but it’s always nice to be on the ice. By the time practice is over, I’m pretty sure we’ve got it locked down.
The coach hands out the papers and pens. We all scribble down who we believe the captain should be and put them in a hat for the coach to read off.
“This is silly.” Lana rolls her eyes as the coach opens and counts them out. “I’m always the captain.”Not this year, bitch.I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.
“All right,” Coach says when she’s done. “As always, it’s Lana.”
Kory tries to keep the shocked expression off her face. Either people lied to her or the coach is lying. I can’t be sure.
“See,” Lana says with a smug smile. “Now moving on, let’s discuss who will be my co-captain.” She taps her finger against her lips as if she were in deep thought. The only deep thoughts she has are ones about inflicting torture on people.
“Madeline.” I force a smile. This bitch. I’ll give it to her; she got me.
“I’m really new, so maybe not me.”
“You seem really invested in how the team operates” She levels me with a stare, letting me know she’s got my number.Ring ring, bitch. I’ve got yours too. “Besides—” She gives me her best smile, showing off her perfect teeth. “This will help you catch up to everyone.”
“Thanks,” I say dryly.
“Careful what you wish for.” Lana hits me with a wink.
“That’s it for today,” the coach calls out. “You’ll wear your uniforms to classes tomorrow,” she reminds us before we break.
Lana follows after the coach, and a couple of her groupies go with them.
“The fuck?” I say when I get Kory alone.
“I don’t know.” Kory’s brows are pulled together, and I can see this has stressed her. “Someone had to have told her.”
“I know,” I agree. Why else would she have made the comment to me? She knew what was going down. “You thinkeveryone still voted for her or what?” Kory knows them better than I do.
“I know for sure a few that would never. I have an idea about the other two, but I can’t be sure.”
“Let me see what I can find out,” I tell her.
“How are you going to find out?” She laughs, like that’s impossible.
“I might not, but I’ll try.”
“If you say so, but don’t put your ass too far out there. Last year around here. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be, even if it would have been nice to knock Lana on her ass.”
“Thanks,” I tell her. I wish I could let it go, but I can’t stand people who push others around.
I take my sweet-ass time taking my skates off, making sure I’m one of the last lingering around. I even make a show of going down one of the tunnels but stall. The hockey players are gone, and so is most of the ice team. A few people are lingering on the ice.
I make my way to Coach Murphy’s office. I smile when I see that the light under her door is off. I peek around to make sure no one is around. My sister will murder me if I get caught. I shouldn’t do this. Kory’s right; it’s not worth it, but hell, I need to know.
The lock clicks over with a little maneuvering, and I slip inside. I pull out my phone to use the flashlight. I go for the trash can, thinking that’s where she would have dumped the papers we filled out.
“Yes!” I whisper too loudly and quickly press my lips together to shut myself up. I grab all the little papers I see and shove them into my bag. I’ll inspect them when I’m back in my room.
When I slip back out of the office, Luke is standing right there. What the hell? How does he keep popping up on me? I swear I can’t turn around and not run into him. If I didn’t knowfor a fact that he can’t stand me, I’d start to believe he’s stalking me. Right, pretty sure all the girls in this school are stalking him with the whole bad boy thing he has going on.
It’s stupid and pathetic, and I might be into it too. Damn it.
