Just My Puck // Harry Styles

Chapter 19

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

"Harry Styles is making his way towards the net with just a few seconds left of the game. Can he make it? He swerves past O'Riley, passes to Hemmings, gets the puck back, he shoots.....and he misses! The North Valley Tigers lose 10 to 4. Better luck next time for these guys."

I looked at my blocked shot and sighed. Dad's going to kill me.

My eyes then avert to the crowd and look for the one person they always seem to naturally look for; Ronnie. I don't know why I'm always looking at her, I just can't help it. Something about her draws me in.

She looks disappointed and seems as if she feels bad the team lost. She should have been out here tonight, but because of me and my stupid mouth she wasn't. I took out all of my anger from my dad's disappointment from last game on her. Even though we won last time, it still wasn't good enough for my dad. He wanted me to do better, to score the most points, to get the winning shot, to be the best. Having to live with such high standards and the pressure from him makes me crazy sometimes, and unfortunately Ronnie fell victim to that.

I was an ass to her, and I felt terrible about it, but I didn't know how to make it up to her. She didn't want to talk to me, and I didn't blame her. I'm such a mess I wouldn't want to talk to me either. 

She's right about Aiden being better for her than me, at least the guy's nice to her unlike me. All I do is hurt her when I'm around her.

"Nice game man." Luke stated as we entered the locker room.

"We lost." I stated in a hard tone.

He shrugged, "It was still a nice game, you made some pretty incredible shots."

He was always so optimistic.

I nodded, "Thanks, you too."

After quickly changing into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, I exited the room, ready to just face my dad's ridicule then get home so I could sleep.

I made my way through the crowd of people in the lobby until I spotted my dad near the exit. My head hung low as I approached him.

"Nice game, son." He said, which caused my head to fly right up. Nice game? He never thought any game was nice.

It was quiet until I spoke up. "Um...thanks?"

He smiled, like actually smiled, which was a rare thing for him. "It really helped make things clear. You should start looking at colleges."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What? I have been looking at colleges. Boston College, UW-Madison.."

He shook his head, "No, I meant colleges without a great hockey program since it's obvious you're not going to be playing."

Ah, so that's where he was going with this. I looked back down. "I tried my best, dad."

He laughed, "Your best? That was your best? What a disappointment. That makes things even more clear now, then. Hockey isn't for you."

I bit my lip to hold in my anger. It only made things worse when I talked back to him. "I'll do better next time."

"If there is a next time. You need to learn to play more like your brothers. Now they were made for hockey."

I rolled my eyes. It was typical for him to bring up my brothers, he always did. They won the championship every year they played, while my team has yet to win it once.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

Yes. "No, I was just thinking about how to improve my game."