Just My Puck // Harry Styles

Chapter 18

V e r o n i k a ' s    P o i n t    o f     V i e w

Thinking I could manage to skate after months off the ice while controlling a stick and looking out for a puck with very large people coming at me all at the same time made realize I was a fool.

The skating part I could do. But it was nearly impossible to keep control over everything else, which ended up affected my skating.

People were beginning to notice too. The crowd was booing me, coach kept screaming at me every time I skated by, and even a couple of guys on the team were shaking their heads at me in disappointment.

Not liking all of the negative attention, I decided I needed a new plan. I was a fast skater, even Harry had said so, so maybe it was time I used that to my advantage. If I focused less on trying to manage the puck myself, and more on getting it to other people, then maybe things would work out better.

This plan was put into action as soon as Harry got the puck. He was skating down the ice with it, but was about to face three players coming at him. He needed someone to pass it to, and I was going to make sure that person was me.

I took off towards the side we would be scoring on, flying by members on the opposite team that tried blocking me. Once I was at a good position, I waited for Harry to pass the puck.

He looked around quickly, debating on if he should pass it to me - probably because both me and Ben had been having a rough night on the ice until now. 

Luckily, he decided to give me, well Ben, a chance and passed the puck my way. It glided smoothly across the ice, landing right in front of me.

I stopped it with my stick and looked around for someone else to pass it too. Luke had managed to skate closer in the time that the puck was traveling to me, so I went with my gut instinct and tried my best to pass it to him a few seconds later.

He managed the puck easily and before I knew it a buzzer was going off because we had scored.

The shock on my face was real and I wanted to squeal so badly, but I knew a high pitched squeal coming from 'Ben' would be questionable to everyone else around me, so I kept quiet and just threw a fist in the air. I assisted a goal!

The rest of the game worked out well with this plan of mine. I kept assisting goals, to the point where we were now tied.

There was ten seconds left and Harry was fighting for the puck again at the opposite end of the rink. He finally got a hold of it about three seconds later, and quickly sent it towards me.

A few of the other teams' members came charging at me, knowing that I was going to try and pass the puck to someone else because I had done it so many times now.

I panicked and looked for Luke or any other teammate, but they were all being blocked or were too far away.

The clock was ticking down, and more of the opposite teams' members were getting closer to me, so without thinking I aimed the puck towards the net and took my best shot.

It happened in slow motion.

My puck slid not as powerfully as everyone else's towards the net. It was a pretty weak shot, and the aim was nearly terrible. I closed my eyes because I had a horrible feeling it was going to miss. 

However, to my surprise, I heard shouting a second later and began getting tackled right away. 

"He shoots, he scores! The North Valley Tigers take their first win of the season!" the teen announcer stated through his microphone.

I scored?!

People kept jumping on my body that was now laying flat on the ice and it hurt like hell. Why on earth were they doing this to me if I scored? Was it meant to be a congratulatory type of thing? If so, I didn't understand it.