Slapshot

"No!" I cried in frustration. "A goalie with the reflexes of a slug could block a shot like that. Even worse, I could have seen it coming fifteen feet away."

"What'd I do wrong?" Zac skated to a stop, frowning.

"Easy," I counted off on my fingers. "You hunched up your shoulders too high back at the blue line and let it glide untouched by your stick practically all the way down the ice to the goal box. A defense man would've easily stolen it from you. Remember, keep it close to your body and try to keep your stick on it as much as possible. Try it again, and this time pretend to fake out the goalie."

"Well, it would be easier to fake out the goalie if a goalie was really there!" He exclaimed bitterly. Zac was never one to take criticism very well, even constructive forms of it. The pains of being a perfectionist, I suppose. That would be one of the things I'd miss most about him. On day number one out of seven left, I was spending my afternoon coaching Zac on his hockey shots. Always stuck on defense, where there wasn't enough action for Zac, he hoped to switch to a forward this season. Since I had nothing better to do after school, we'd walked over to the rec. center together.

"Well, don't look at me." I said firmly, crossing my arms across my chest. "I'm not going to do it."

"Please Lindsey?" He skated toward me. I noticed several beads of sweat had formed across the top of his forehead, near his hairline. Of course, I was just standing on the ice, not skating around like a maniac. His brown eyes looked ploringly at me.

"No way! I'm not going to stand there while you fire hockey pucks at me a hundred miles an hour." I grinned.

"But it would help me out so much." He put his arm around my shoulder and rested his head on my shoulder. Not an easy thing to do while standing on two strips of metal on ice- we found ourselves loosing our balance and landing on our backsides. It took one glance out of the corner of my eye at the surprised look on his face to make me burst out laughing. After a few seconds, he recovered from shock and joined in.

"Smooth move, Ex-lax." I said, watching him struggle to stand up. "You might need to take some ballet lessons to work on that balance problem of yours."

"No way!" He made a face, but offered his hand to help me up. I graciously accepted and found myself staring into his warm brown eyes. A thousand memories flashed through my head. I swallowed, feeling a lump developing in my throat as I thought today would soon turn into just a memory. I slowly released his hand.

"I don't have a balance problem." He continued to pour on his characteristic charm, knowing full-well I'd give in to it. "The only problem I have is not having a goalie right now."

"Do I have 'stupid' written across my forehead?" I forced a smile at him.

"Let me check." He slipped off his glove and pretended to scrawl the word above my eyebrows with his index finger. "Yep, Mmm-hmm. Sure, looks like it to me."

"All right, fine!" I threw up my hands.

Smart ass.

"I don't want to stand here arguing all day."

"Thanks, Linds." He grinned, putting his glove back on.

"Yeah, yeah, you owe me big for this." I grumbled, skating toward the exit of the ice.

"I'll treat you to pizza. Where are you going?" He called after me.

"To get some padding. I'm not that stupid."

"Oh, God please don't let him kill me." I whispered, pushing the goalie mask down in front of my face. Although I'd been a fanatic of the sport for years, I'd never actually played it before. I also had no idea how heavy and bulky goalie equipment was until I was wearing it, and could barely move. The stick also felt awkward between my gloved fingers, like I was grasping it with marshmallows. I tried to position myself like I'd seen goalies do on television and in live games, bending my knees and leaning forward, only to almost fall flat over on my face. While I stumbled getting used to my new sense of discomfort, Zac was practicing his puck handling in the middle of the rink.

"You ready yet?" He called to me, boredom ringing out in his voice.

"No. But, given the circumstances, I'm as close as I'll ever be." I replied. My heart beat loudly in anticipation of his attack as he skated toward me in what seemed like slow motion. My eyes watched his movements like a hawk and I shifted my weight slightly onto each foot as he skated left widely, then right. I gritted my teeth when I saw him bear down and raise his stick when-

"Zac!" A voice interrupted. He lost his sense of concentration and merely tapped the puck towards me. I easily stopped it and leaned over to pick it up. Both of us looked around to see where the voice had come from; it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Meredith appeared on the ice, skating towards us. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"Don't worry you're not." I replied quickly, pushing my mask back up so she could see it was me. Boy was she ever surprised. I couldn't blame her, I'm not the first person I'd think of when it comes to sports if given the chance.

"Lindsey?" She laughed a little.

"Yeah, it's me." I admitted sheepishly.

"I didn't know you were a goalie."

"I'm not. Just a really good friend." I looked over at Zac.

"The best," he assured me. "She's just helping me out today."

"Ok!" She replied. "We have the ice for practice in thirty-five minutes. I just came to warm up early, but I don't want to bug you guys. Is it ok if I just warm up skating on the other end?"

"Fine with me." I called from my place in front of the net.

"Yeah, go ahead." Zac agreed. I threw the hockey puck back to him and he carried it back to the center of the ice.

Great, here we go again, I thought, putting down my mask again. Predictable Zac: after circling the center a few times to pick up speed, he went left, then right again. I cringed once again as he raised his stick behind his back and slammed it down behind the hockey puck. In a matter of milliseconds, I did the only thing possible: squeezed my eyes together tightly and stuck out my own stick to block. I was surprised as all get out to feel a slam against it, tugging my arm. Opening my eyes, I caught one surprised expression on Zac's face.

"You-you blocked it?" He asked incredulously.

"Great save Lindsey!" Meredith called from her side of the ice. With all my concentration on not getting my kneecaps or something else broken, I hadn't noticed her watching us. She gave me a thumb up sign.

"I.. guess I did." I was as amazed as they were. "Don't worry, it was pure luck. Try it again."

I watched as he recovered the puck and came after me again, with more determination and confidence in his stride. Also, this time, he tried skating right before left. This time, I inched my way slowly over to the right-hand side of the net, and leaned more weight on my stick. I clenched my mouth together tightly as he quickly advanced upon me, his skates making tiny swooshing sounds as he pushed forward on them. About two feet before the net, he faked left on me. By some miracle, I immediately pushed myself with my right foot to the left side. A loud thump sound was heard as the puck bounced off my stick. This time, it didn't wobble so much in my hand as I held on tighter. Still, I was just as surprised. So was my opponent and our audience- they both stared at me with open mouths once more.

"You did it again!" Zac cried out, breaking the silence. He stopped in his tracks and stared at me. After thinking for a moment, he called to Meredith:

"Hey, did you see that?"

"I sure did." She laughed outloud. "You looked like a natural Lindsey."

"You're better than our goalie!" Zac exclaimed. "I even faked and you blocked it. Unbelievable."

"Beginner's luck Zac." I replied, my cheeks growing warm from his praise. "I have no idea what I'm doing over here, I can assure you. Besides, I know you too well. You're too damn predictable."

"Maybe, maybe not. Meredith, you come over and take a shot."

"Zac, that's really ok. She's busy warming up." I interrupted. It was one thing for me to embarrass myself in front of Zac. I didn't need to do it in front of her too.

"Nah, it's all right. I'd love to take you down, Williams." She spoke in a fake tough voice, using my last name. (Don't ask how we ended up with lockers next to each other with our names so far apart in the alphabet.)

"Give me your best shot, Silva!" I called back, laughing a little. Inside, I was trembling with excitement. It raced through my entire body as I squeezed my hand over my stick and the other into a fist inside my glove. My feet grew warmer as I leaned forward and put more pressure on them. I was starting to see the reasons Zac liked this sport as much as I did.

Meredith started off like Zac, casually guiding the puck in circles around the center of the ice, but she sure didn't skate like him when she took off. It was a little more confusing to follow her aggressive, zig-zag pattern in a diagonal across the ice. As she neared me, I tensed up again and tried to keep moving with her, only to feel one step behind.

Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! My mind commanded me, my legs responding slowly. I fell for her first fake to the left side, expecting her to shoot, but she surprised me by skating behind the net before trying to hook the puck in on my right. Knowing I was still over on the left, I used what felt like a last resort: I threw my body onto the ice and stuck out my stick. Miraculously, it was all a split second before she made her shot.

Clang! Glancing up from my sprawled out position, I watched as Zac's stick fell from his fingers and rattled when hitting the ice. I looked down at my hands and found that the puck had bounced into the scoop-shaped glove on my left hand. I looked up and Meredith and found her staring down at me too. I slowly struggled to pick myself up, blushing profusely behind my mask at the thick silence that filled the rink. I slowly skated over to Meredith and handed her the puck.

"H-here." I didn't know what else to say.

"Woah.." she replied in a low voice, staring at me. "That was-woah."

"You're incredible!" Zac came to life and sped toward me. He opened his arms and wrapped me in a huge bear hug. I suddenly found myself awestruck and without a voice.

"How did you do that!?" Meredith asked. I opened my mouth, but still unable to speak, couldn't get any words to come out. Instead, I shrugged my shoulders roughly.

"Please say you'll stay for our practice." She urged. I found something to say about that.

"Oh, no. I'm just here to help out Zac. Which I wasn't much of, I'm afraid." I smiled sheepishly at him, slipping off my mask. The first thing I noticed was my hair sticking to the sides of my neck because of sweat.

Great, in about ten minutes it will be sticking straight out after drying. Talk about frizz city.

"Don't be sorry! Damn, I knew you could skate, but why didn't you tell me you could play like that?" he replied.

"Because I can't. Beginner's luck." I repeated firmly.

Goalie schmolie, I wasn't about to let myself believe I had it in me. I glanced at my watch to check the time, only to discover that ours was up.

"Besides, we both have homework to do tonight. Remember Metzner?" I reminded Zac. "You have a date with derivatives."

"Arg.." He groaned.

"You're still going to help me, right?" I nodded in response.

"Of course."

"Well, let's grab pizza before we study. I'm starving."

"You're always starving." I teased. "But all right. See ya later Meredith."

"Yeah." she replied. "You were awesome today Lindsey."

"Nah.. but thanks." I felt my cheeks getting warm again. I smiled and waved good-bye to her.

"I still can't get over that," Zac patted me on the back as we skated towards the exit. I smiled as he offered to let me walk through the door first. Seeing his familiar lopsided grin, one that could cheer up any one of my most miserable days, I felt incredibly sad inside. I sighed softly and glanced at the ground.

Only six more days left, was all I could think about.

"So if you have something in the form x raised to the nth power-" Zac mumbled, scribbling profusely in his notebook. The two of us had camped out at the kitchen table at my house after coming back from Pizza Palace, our favorite hang-out place.

"You multiply x by n and raise x to the n minus one power." I answered.

"Give me an example."

"X cubed. Changes to.." I looked expectedly at him. As he thought for a moment, looking down at his notes, I examined every detail of his scrunched up expression. That cheery, sand-colored blonde hair of his, his firm jaw and thoughtful expression in his eyes made my smile disappear. I sat silently, math no where in my mind as I tried to memorize every detail of his face, every line, every bend, every shadow as if I'd never see them again. The harder I looked, the more I was able to see Samantha's motivations. Funny, I'd never actually noticed how attractive my best friend had grown. Seemed like the other day when his ears were too big for his head- about time he grew into them.

"Two times x squared?" He finally answered.

"Close. Three times x squared. The coefficient in front of x doesn't change- it's the power that you had before."

"So.. x to the fourth would be.." I nodded in encouragement. "Four times x cubed?"

"Yup."

"And... Six x to the sixth would be.." he tapped his pencil on the wire that coiled through his notebook as he mentally calculated the answer. ".. Thirty x to the fifth?"

"Exactly!"

"That's it?" He asked, looking up at me for the first time.

"See, it's easy."

"Man, the way Metzner was talking today, I was completely lost! But you've made me see the light, Linds." He leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. I forced a small smile at his accomplishment.

"Nah, you did it yourself. The homework should take you about fifteen minutes to do now."

"Great!" He closed his notebook with a snap. I frowned at him.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You're not going to do it now?" Didn't make any sense to me for him not to do it, especially since it had just clicked.

"Nah.. I'll do it later. Like you said, shouldn't take me too long."

"Whatever you say Zac. It's your funeral." I meant the comment as a joke, but it came out bitterly.

"What do you mean?" he asked defensively.

"I just meant you should do it now while it's fresh in that warped little brain of yours." I reached over and tapped his forehead with the tip of my pencil. He completely took it the wrong way.

"God, you sound just like my mom. 'You need to improve your study skills, Zachary.' " He mimicked in a feminine voice.

"That's what you get for transferring from home to a public school. They actually expect you to do the homework." I rolled my eyes.

"Geez, what crawled up your ass and died?" He stared at me. I stared right back at him for a moment, disbelieving his bluntness.

"Nothing," I finally replied, my turn to feel defensive.

"Yeah, right. I can read you like a book." He looked directly in my eyes. I couldn't take it, so I dropped mine and absently ran my fingers around the worn corners of my math book. It gave me a good idea for a conversation switcher though.

"Let's just hope it's not a math book." I giggled.

"Forget math. Something's been bothering you recently, ever since last week. Weren't you going to tell me something the day Samantha gave me a ride in her car? Speaking of which, man, you should've seen the inside of that Camero, Linds. And it's engine! Oh, purred like a kitten, I tell ya-"

"Zac." I looked pointedly at him.

"Of which none of that's important." He quickly finished. "What's on your mind?"

"Well.." I didn't know quite how to word this without telling him the entire story. I could just see my butt getting roasted by Samantha the next morning at school if I told Zac all about her plan.

You're already giving into her, a little nagging voice told me.

"Give me some time to think it over first." I finally said. He seemed to understand, for he nodded and started gathering his things together.

"All right. It's your funeral." He joked, quoting me from earlier. "I've gotta run. It's my turn to help get dinner ready tonight. And with our family, that's no easy task."

"But you just ate three quarters of a pizza Zac." I stared at his thin frame.

How on earth does everyone do that!? This was getting highly annoying.

"Yeah, but that was almost an hour ago. I'm starting to feel hungry again." He stood up and threw his backpack over his shoulder.

"You make me sick." I smiled anyway, following behind him to the front door. "Go home Zac."

"Thanks a million, Linds." He reached over and hugged me gently before leaving.

"Not a problem.." I suddenly wished I could sit down and talk to him for hours, pour my heart out and tell him everything. Zac would understand, he always did no matter what other people had thought about or done to me. As I opened my mouth to speak, his next words hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Great job again on the ice today. Who knows? Maybe hockey could help get you in better shape."

I gasped at the back of his head.

Did he just say- ? I stared again at him walking down the sidewalk to the driveway. This was the first time Zac had ever mentioned my weight, whether in casual conversation or not. As I remembered the look on his face from Samantha's attention, I suddenly began to wonder if Zac was also influenced by appearance.

But he's different.. isn't he?