Coach Curtis looked at Fran and Tyler, smiling. For some reason he’d called the two of them into the kitchen from their one-on-one game and didn’t waste any time. "We were in a middle of a game," Tyler whined. "Hurry up or we’ll end up forgetting who’s winning."
Coach Curtis smiled wider. "I think after I tell you what’s going on, you’ll forget all about your game." Fran and Tyler exchanged looks. "There’s this thing going on in Tampa, I know you’ve heard of it. It’s the skill shots thing. Since Tulsa doesn’t have a pro hockey team, and they’re rusty on their younger leaguers, the owners of the team called me up and asked if you two would like to go over there."
Fran’s mouth dropped. Play with the pros? "Well what the hell do you think I’m going to say? Yes! But…why would they call you?"
"Fran, you’re national news. Everyone knows who you are and have heard legends about what you can do. It just so happens that the owner of the team has heard of you and wants you to come over. It’s most likely just to see what you can really do and if you can really do it." Coach Curtis paused. "But…"
"They think you’re a guy."
"You didn’t tell them?"
"Well I figured that you would want to. Considering that in know how much you enjoy dishing people out like that if they’d ever mistake you for a guy, and how much you enjoy proving to others that you’re better than everyone, I wanted you to do it." Fran just shrugged. It didn’t matter, she enjoyed yelling at people twice her size anyway. She did it everyday…well she used to do it everyday with Kyle. Playing with the pros. That was a dream come true. Even if it just did consist of a lap around the rink and an escort to center ice, it was her dream. She couldn’t wait.
Tyler only stared at Fran, upset.
The trio, consisting of Fran, Tyler, and Coach Curtis, arrived in Tampa, Florida the next day. For some reason Tyler wasn’t speaking to Fran, and she didn’t know why. Of course she had tried to spark conversation, but it wasn’t happening. He ignored her every word and snubbed her off, much to her displeasure. She figured she’d give him until the actual program to speak. If he didn’t, she’d approach him for a reason why.
There was a practice skate and an official meeting that morning. The trio stopped off at the hotel and headed over to the rink almost immediately. The first to speak with them, after the introduction to the players, of course, was the local radio announcer, Bobby "the chief" Taylor. It reminded Fran of Taylor and she had to fight back all her tears. The first question he asked was about Fran, as in the fourteen year old boy he was expecting.
"Where is the star player?" Bobby asked Coach Curtis. Coach Curtis pushed Fran forward, her long hair framing her face and tousling over her shoulders.
"Right here." Bobby looked at Fran. She smiled sweetly and waved to him. "Were you expecting someone else?" Fran had to keep her laugh in. Bobby laughed slightly. A female star was unheard of; purely absurd.
"To tell you the truth, I was expecting a male. But let’s see what you can do, honey." Fran looked back to Coach Curtis. Honey? Her face said. Coach Curtis only shrugged.
"What do you want me to do?" Fran asked sweetly. She wanted to get on his good side and make a false impression before she started to beat the shit out of people on the ice. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, revealing a large bruise from a game not that long beforehand.
"What happened to you?" Bobby asked. She figured he was talking about her face, even though he made no gesture or indication that he was.
"Oh, I just got tripped last game. Those boys back in Tulsa are tough! Don’t worry, though, I’m fine. It happens all the time." Coach Curtis told Tyler and Fran to go back to the locker room and get ready. In the mean time, he explained to Bobby all about Fran’s leg injury.
Fran walked back to the locker room with Tyler, in silence. It was just for the two of them, mostly because no one else had gotten there yet. There were some Lightning players there, walking around, but they didn’t pay much attention to the two kids. Fran closed the door and turned to Tyler just as Chris Gratton, the team captain, walked by.
"What the fuck do you think you’re pulling with me?" she asked. Outside, Chris stopped and had to listen in. He gestured for the other player to come over. It wasn’t every day a sweet little girl they had just met starts swearing. "You haven’t talked to me at all lately. What got shoved up your ass, Tyler?"
"I’m sick of you," Tyler said. "I’m sick of your popularity, I’m sick of everyone looking at you and overshadowing me. I know I’m not the great Frenchie Carlston but God, don’t hog the limelight."
"Who the fuck said you could call me Frenchie?" Fran yelled. "That’s Taylor’s name for me and you are not to use it!" Tyler tried to maneuver to the door, at the same time sending Fran to the other side of the room. It worked, and he was by the door. Outside, Chris had become widely interested in snooping in on the fight. He had wondered since they’d gotten there how strong she really was.
"Oh shut up, Fran. You act like he’s still interested. You haven’t talked to him in a whole six months, probably longer. Face it, he’s famous now. Don’t bother with him anymore. It’s not going to be you and him forever cause it doesn’t work like that."
"You shut up about Taylor."
"Oh, what are you going to do? Throw something at me?" Fran grabbed the nearest item, which happened to be a puck, and threw it as hard as she could at Tyler. He ducked and it hit the door, causing the hinges to break and the door to fall over. Tyler looked over and Chris was standing there, amazed. The puck was pretty much cemented into the door.
Fran looked at Chris and then at Tyler, and walked out of the room. She grabbed her skates on the way out and put them on, pretty much ignoring every one else. She went out onto the ice and looked over the rink. It was the same size as the one back in Tulsa. Coach had heard the door fall over and realized that Fran had done it. He was still talking to Bobby when she walked by and went onto the ice.
Chris came out, wondering what was going on. "Where’s she going?"
"It’s her way off cooling off. Just let her skate around for a bit, then she’ll be alright. Tyler’s been snubbing her for the past two days, for whatever reason, and she got pissed. I didn’t think she’d actually break the door down. She’s done it before, but this one is worse cause it wasn’t her door to break."
"And I thought she was a sweet little girl," Chris said. Coach Curtis had to laugh. Fran, he thought, a sweet little girl? The thought only made him laugh harder, but he realized where he was and what he was doing, so he needed to stop.
"I’m sorry, it’s just that she gave off that impression to you and she is everything but a sweet little girl. I saw some of those kids you’re have around here, they’re shrimps! Don’t suggest a scrimmage or every single one of them will end up dead. She picks on everyone. The only people she doesn’t hurt is Tyler, and her other friend back home, Taylor."
"I heard them talking about Taylor when they were fighting," Chris said. "She’s rather protected of him."
"That’s just her thing. She’s known him for a whole five years, compared to the eleven that she’s known Tyler, and yet she snubs Tyler often to do things with him. He can’t even ice skate!" Coach Curtis shook his head and saw Tyler walk past him and onto the ice. "I suggest we move, she might throw something else at him."
The three moved to the stands and watched Fran try her best to ignore Tyler. She was doing laps around the rink, practicing for the speed contest later on in the night. She would be demonstrating the speed, the strength, and the agility for later on that night, so she figured she would practice. Tyler wasn’t as nearly as fast as her, so he had to stop and stand in front of her to stop her. It didn’t work that way.
Fran ran into Tyler, sending him flying onto the ice. She didn’t even trip, as she continued to do laps. "She’s fast," Chris mentioned. "I think we should time her." The record for the lap around the rink was 13.8 seconds, and Chris had a feeling she was faster than that.
"Wait until she demonstrates it later on," Coach Curtis said. "Right now I’m more worried about the fact that my son hasn’t gotten up yet." He saw Fran stop in front of Tyler.
"Tyler?" she said, and kneeled next to him. He looked knocked out. She’d never knocked him out before. "Tyler, wake up." She smacked him. He didn’t budge. Fran noticed that Coach Curtis was in the stands. "Coach! I think I hurt him!" she yelled.
Coach went onto the ice and looked over his son. "I didn’t mean it, I swear," she said. "I just tried to get him out of my way."
"Fran, don’t you see what happens when you get mad? You’ll never forgive anyone until someone gets hurt, now will you?" Fran looked away. "Come on, let’s take him back to the locker room. I hope you didn’t hurt him." Just as Coach Curtis bent over to pick him up, Tyler opened his eyes. He put a hand in front of his eyes to block out the light. He wasn’t out for very long, so Fran didn’t completely understand why he was doing that.
"Oh God my head hurts," Tyler said. He looked over at Fran. "Wait, you did this, didn’t you?" Tyler sat up. Fran didn’t want to look at him. "Fran, since when do you hurt me?"
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I was mad at you, and you were in my way." She helped him up and the two went back to the locker room. She sat him down on the bench and looked him over. He had a nasty gash over his left eye. It would of freaked anybody out but her. She’d seen blood and gashes everywhere so many times before that it stopped affecting her. It even stopped hurting as much lately.
"You know I didn’t mean to hurt you."
"Yeah, but it still surprises me what you can do." Tyler paused as she cleaned up his wound. "I’m sorry about what I said earlier…"
"That’s alright."
"It’s just that, well…" he stopped. She looked at him. "I love you, Fran. I love you more than you think. I don’t want to see you get hurt." She smiled. The comment went over her head.
"I love you too, Tyler. Now shut up or you’re going to end up yelling." He bit his lip and twirled a piece of her hair around his fingers as she put a bit of iodine on his gash. He winced and she stopped.
"Well it’s not going to get done if you keep stopping, Fran." She gave him an evil look before laughing. "Ow!"
"Bit your lip, loser." He bit his lip to keep from saying anything else. Chris walked in.
"Do you know what you’re doing?" he asked. "You’re not trying to kill him, are you?"
"Oh of course I am. I just don’t want him to know that," Fran joked. Tyler gave her a shocked look, playing along. "Oh, you weren’t supposed to hear that. Sorry, it’s too late. You’re going to die." Fran thought about what she said. "Nevermind." Tyler saw the pain of remembrance in her eyes. She was thinking about Kyle.
"Stop thinking about him." Fran nodded and finished up. Chris knew what was going on. He’d heard the story about Kyle and figured she was still hurting about the entire thing. Fran stood up and put the iodine away, but broke down crying in the middle of it. Chris left and Tyler comforted her.
"Demonstrating the speed event is fourteen year old Fran Carlston, coming all the way from Tulsa, Oklahoma," said Bobby Taylor, into a microphone. There was maybe 500 people there, but still it was more than Fran had ever seen in one sitting. "Tell me, Fran, do you think you can beat the record of 13.8 seconds?"
"Oh of course," Fran said, smiling. She was serious, but for some reason, he didn’t realize that. 13.8 seconds was considered slow to Fran, for once around the rink. She stood at the starting point, her beat up stick in her hand. Old reliable, she called it. It’d been with her for years.
She waited for the signal and sped off down the rink. Everyone watched in silence until she crossed the finish line at 11.6 seconds. The crowd remained silent. Everything was quiet until the players began to applaud. Then suddenly everyone began to cheer. Fran smiled.
She didn’t get anymore glory until the strength competition. She’d overheard a few people speaking beforehand. "Okay, she’s fast, but she’ll get killed in the strength. She’s a girl, and everyone knows that girls suck at this." The object of this was to hit the puck into the net as hard as possible. The highest speed after two tries was the final score. The record was 105.5 miles per hour.
"And again is Fran Carlston," said Bobby. "So Fran, you beat everyone out in the speed contest. How hard do you think you can hit?"
"I don’t know, I’ve never tried before. Maybe 75 miles an hour?" she guessed. Tyler started laughing, only to receive looks. "I get two tries, right?" Bobby nodded. "Great." She skated out to the blue line and waited for the signal. She skated up and hit the puck, sending it flying into the net. 74.8 miles per hour. Tyler shook his head. She didn’t even try.
Fran waited for the signal on her second try. She skated up to the puck and hit it as hard as she could. The speed sent the net flying backward. Once again the crowd went silent as the speed of 125.9 entered the scoreboard. Fran turned to Coach Curtis and Tyler for approval, but found only shock. Tyler got up and walked to the back room.
Fran was applauded and cheered for, but her gaze followed Tyler. Ignoring everyone else, she got of the ice and slipped off her skates. She ran back to the locker room. Tyler was lightly pushing a puck back and forth through his stick. "What did I do?" Fran asked.
"It’s just you being you, Fran. I have no control over what you do and what you accomplish. It’s all you, Fran. It’s always been you. No surprise Coach favors you over his only son."
"You know that isn’t true."
"How come I’ve just been sitting on my ass doing nothing? How come you’re out there doing your thing, beating everyone else because you know you have to. For once, Fran, put yourself in my shoes. Coach’s been favoring you ever since Tracy died. He never once asked me if I’d like to come and do something special. He never once offered to take me to New York while everyone else stayed at home. Dammit, Fran, he’s not even your father."
"And he never will be," Fran said. "No one can replace my father. I don’t know why he’s like this. You are just as good as I am. You taught me everything I know. You know more than I know. I don’t know what to do. I think it has to do with the fact that I’m a girl. There has not been one girl out there who can do what I can. That’s why everything is so overrated. It’s the long blonde hair and the beautiful, sweet, blue eyes that throws everyone off."
"You are beautiful, Fran," Tyler said. "But I never said that." Fran hugged him. "I’ll play a game with you when this thing’s over."
"Oh of course."