Page 22 of Slapshot Obsession
Just the thought that Nash could be behind those threats makes me feel sick to my stomach. Is it possible?
When I think about it, I can’t exclude it. Nash knew me from school, and he was convinced he had seen me at the party the night of Tim’s death. He also made no mystery of his jealousy toward Tucker and Colsen.
I told you to break it off with them.
Could he be saying that because he wants me to himself?
It doesn’t make sense because if that were the case, he would have fought for me. Right?
But then why taunt me with anonymous texts? If Nash doesn’t want me, he could either ignore me or tell the cops what he thinks he remembers about that night at the party.
A shudder works its way up my spine at the thought that maybe he just enjoys messing with me.
This is it. Whoever is sending those texts is taking pleasure in scaring me. I don’t think Nash would do that.
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that Genevieve is somehow behind all this.
I’ve seen so distracted, wrapped up in my own thoughts, that when Mack scores his third goal of the night, the entire arena jumps to their feet to celebrate except for me.
“Tar, you ok?” Jodie gives me a quizzical look.
“Yeah, babes. Sorry, I’m just… tired.”
It’s true. The last couple of weeks have been good but exhausting. That’s if I don’t think about those texts.
After the game, we file back into the locker room.
Carole and Lexi are there to address the entire team, as everyone was required to attend the game tonight, even the dancers who weren’t selected to perform.
“Girls,” Carole’s eyes glitter with pride. “That was a great performance. There are a few things we can still work on, but I’m nitpicking. The eighteen dancers who performed tonight did a fantastic job and put the Shooting Stars Cheerleaders on the map.”
Lexi nods in agreement. “Social media is ablaze with videos of your performance. We’re trending. Well done.”
“But,” Carole makes eye contact with pretty much everyone in the room. “We still have eight cuts to make before we get to our final roster of thirty-two. Tonight will definitely give me and Lexi a good indication about some of you, but anything could still happen. We still have many routines to learn, and every day counts. If you want to be in the final thirty-two, we want to see bring in your A gameevery single day.”
“And in that spirit,” Lexi says. “Practice is tomorrow morning at eight a.m. as usual.”
A collective groan sounds in the locker room.
“We know it’s tough.” Carole’s tone is sympathetic. “But doing training camp in eight weeks is a challenge, and we can’t afford to waste any time. Have a good night, and I’ll see you all in the morning. Well done again to those who performed tonight.”
I know there were vague plans to hit the town tonight, but getting dressed to go out to a bar or a club is the last thing I want right now. Especially when we have practice tomorrow morning.
Several of the girls are debating exactly whether we should go out or have an early night.
“I say let’s go,” Hillary says. “You only live once, and I bet the guys are going to Joe’s. Surely Carole and Lexi can’t get mad if we bumped into them, right? Star Cove is a small town; there are only so many places to go on a night out.”
“Actually,” Talia argues. “They can get mad at us for bumping into the hockey team. If you read the updated rules for our stay at camp, that’s included in the no fraternization clause. If you walk into a bar and you spot even one of the players, you’re supposed to leave.”
Hillary rolls her eyes. “Whatever. What they don’t know can’t hurt us, right? It’s a Friday night and all the bars and clubs downtown are gonna be packed.”
“All it takes is one photo of one of us with one of the players in the background to cause trouble.”
Several other people chime in. Some are in favor of going out; some think it’s a risk they aren’t willing to take.
“We aren’t going out,” Gen says.
Even though Talia was against going to Joe’s, she turns to glare at our roommate. “Oh yeah? Who made youcaptain? Last time I checked, you don’t have any authority over us and you can’t tell us what to do.”
