Page 58 of Like a Power Play
Bailey nods. “Yeah, that tracks.”
The team floods into the main cabin of Pineview Resort, and Bailey and I exchange a look which I read as:
What in the fresh hell is this?
I’d been hoping the retreat would be at a hotel, maybe somewhere in the city. Somewhere with air conditioning, Wi-Fi. At the very least, I was hoping for a place not half a mile deep in the woods. Actually, I was hoping to skip the retreat altogether after I tried to resign. But my academic adviser made it clear I’d have no chance of getting the credit elsewhere, and the look on my mom’s face when I told her? Yeah, I was better off suffering in the wilderness.
It’s been a week since the fight on the ice, and neither my mom nor I have been in the best of moods. She recovered from the silent treatment quickly. I’ll never forget the wide-eyed terror on Indie’s face when my mom stomped across the locker room that first practice back, yelling about what anembarrassment they all were. Poor kid looked like she was about to shit herself.
“I hope I get you for my room assignment,” Bailey whispers, surveying the mounted animal heads on the wall like they might come to life. “If I get stuck with Harlowe or Peyton, the only time I’ll see the hot tub is from the top of a cliff.” She shudders at the thought, visibly recoiling.
“Wait, room assignments?” I frown. Bailey looks at me earnestly, patting Mr. Bubbles on the head.
“Two to a room. Didn’t you hear Coach say that on the bus?”
The entire bus ride, Peyton had been sitting in front of me, turning around every few seconds like she was trying to get my attention. I avoided her gaze like the plague. Since that night in the locker room, we’ve hardly spoken.
Or, I guess,I’vehardly spoken.
Part of me is still pissed—fuming, really—that she’d been so reckless. Another part of me feels this annoying, inconvenient pity. And of course, there’s the…yeah. We don’t need to talk about that.
So no, I wasn’t paying attention to my mom on the bus. I was too busy convincing myself that avoiding Peyton was the right thing to do.
“I kinda zoned out,” I mutter, and Bailey shoots me a proud gleam.
“Look at you,Coach,” she teases, jutting her elbow into my side. “Doing something rebellious for once. Good for you.”
I roll my eyes, but a smile tugs at the corners of my lips. “Is thatgood?”
Bailey grins wider, her pale cheeks glowing under the orange light. “I’m a firm believer that rules are meant to be broken,” she says with a wink. “Though, Imightspend a little too much time with Peyton.”
My lips purse into a telling line.
Mom claps her hands together, cutting off the murmurs of conversation. The crease in her brow—the one that’s been there since that fight on the ice—still hasn’t budged. I can’t help but wonder if it’s become a permanent feature on her face.
“Listen up!” she commands, her tone domineering. “I’ll be calling out room assignments. No bitching, no moaning, no swapping.”
Harlowe raises her hand, grinning like a villain. My mom doesn’t even look up from her clipboard.
“What, Ayers?”
Harlowe clears her throat. “Is moaning allowed if I’m fuc—”
“Don’t. Say. It.” My mom’s voice is ice-cold, and Harlowe shrinks back dramatically, but not before winking at me.
I glance at Bailey, startled. “Did she just—”
“She does that to everyone,” Bailey says, waving a hand dismissively. “Ignore her. She acts like a top, but—” she lowers her voice to a whisper, “she really isn’t.”
Harlowe glares at Bailey, who just shrugs, unfazed. My mom continues, refusing to acknowledge the stupidity of the conversation.
“Because this is ateamretreat, and you all want tofightlike a team—” She pauses dramatically, the corner of her mouth twitching, reveling in her own cleverness. “I’ve paired you allstrategically,with people I think you need to spend more time with. This person will be your buddy the entire weekend. Where they go, you go, until I say otherwise.”
Oh. She’s not pairing them with who they want to room with. She’s playing some twisted matchmaker game to fuel her own agenda.
I can’t say it’s a terrible strategy. Tension has been building in the team since the Glacier game. Caydence and Harlowe can’t stop butting heads, Lena is mad at Bailey for tripping her by accident.
I’m lucky. At least the coach is my mom, so I get to room with her and avoid the chaos.
