The Girl Next Door Chapter 38

The next day, Kate walked into the lobby at the rink, and waited for the rest of her team to get there. When all of them were there, they went to their respective locker rooms, and got ready. When Kate was ready, she went into the other locker room, and sat with her team, nervously, until it was time for warm-ups.
When they got onto the ice, they did their usual warm-up routine, and got ready to play. There were a good number of people in the stands, mainly just family and friends, along with a few others. Kate’s friend Carly was there, in addition to everyone staying at Kate’s house.
The game started with Kate’s line out on the ice. They had a shot on goal, but did not score. There was no score until about fifteen minutes into the game, when the team from Philadelphia scored. But, Kate’s team rallied right back, and Andrew scored on a pass from Kate with about thirty seconds left in the period.
The next period, there was no score at all, but there was a lot of action. Kate got pretty banged up, and so did a lot of the other players; the Philly team was filled with some pretty big players.
Early in the third period, Philly scored, making the game 1-2, but Kate’s team came right back and scored, tying it up. Everyone was thinking the game was going to go into overtime, but with five seconds left, Kate had a breakaway, and the defenseman hooked and shoved Kate as she shot.
“What the fuck’s your problem, asshole?” she asked as she got up and skated towards the player who hooked her.
“Get the fuck back in the kitchen, bitch,” he told her.
The ref then skated over to the player that hooked Kate, just as she was about to shove him, and separated the two of them (who were about two feet apart), and awarded Kate a penalty shot.
She was out there, alone on the ice, with just the goalie. She circled around the puck once, and then skated with it. She took her shot, and it went to the upper right corner, and went in.
Kate screamed at the top of her lungs, and skated over towards her bench, but never made it, because she was bombarded by her team and knocked down onto the ice, her team yelling at the top of their lungs. She got up, and jumped up and down, cheering, hugging her teammates. The Philadelphia goalie just stood there, in the crease, looking like he was about to cry.
After their celebration died down a little bit, Kate’s team took off their gloves and helmets, and lined up to shake hands. The whole time, everyone on Kate’s team had smiles going from ear to ear, and they lined up to get their medals, and the champions trophy. After that, the team skated over to the big entrance to the ice, where their families and friends were. Kate immediately found hers, and they circled around her, looking at her medal, and telling her congratulations.
“You guys!” Kate yelled above the chatter, while her team was all still together. “Party at my house, starting at six! Food, Penguins game, everything! Oh, and the ‘rents can come if they want to!”
All of them said they’d be there, and then Andrew (he had become one of Kate’s best friends throughout high school) announced that it was picture time.
“Everyone, line up!” a dad said. “Two rows, one standing, one kneeling, show off those medals and that trophy!”
They lined up, and Kate kneeled in the center, since she was a captain, and was squished between Andrew and James, Kate’s co-captains. Andrew wrapped his left arm around Kate’s back, and held up his medal with his right hand, and Kate did the same, but with the opposite hands. They smiled big, and the camera snapped away. Tom got some good pictures of the team together, and then had Andrew, James, and Kate get together for a picture, the lone seniors and captains. Then they went to their locker rooms, got ready to be presentable again, and Kate walked out to her family and friends. Carly had left, so Kate was free and clear to call Sidney.
“We won!!!!” Kate screamed into the phone.
“That’s great! I’m so proud of you,” he told her.
“Thanks! And you’re not gonna believe how we won.”
“How?” he asked.
“On a penalty shot, when time expired, by yours truly!”
“That’s great! Wow! Did you go upper right corner?”
“How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess,” he told her. “That’s the best spot to put a penalty shot!”
“That’s what I thought, and I guess I was right!”
They talked on the way home, and then he had to get ready for his game, and Kate for her party. They said good-bye, and Kate and her family ran around the house, cleaning it up for the party.