Page 14 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)
BEAR
ROUND UP THE PONIES
Rounding up the ponies turned out to be a sledgehammer to my sleep schedule. At four o’clock in the morning, before sane people were even alive, I checked the batteries in the flashlights and draped the whistle over my neck.
Time to shove our way into everybody's dorms.
“Rise and shine, assholes!” I shouted, my flashlight illuminating the paper in my hand. I didn’t even know whose room June and I burst into. I just kicked open the bedroom door to the right. “Sully! Get up!”
He scrambled out of bed, blonde hair sticking up. “What’s going on?!”
“You have to wake up.” I heard June from the other bedroom. “Everyone’s expected on the second floor.”
“Get your shit, second floor, now! ” I tossed Sully his new key and room assignment. “Get up!”
I found Sully’s roommate, Pickles, mid-argument with June. “You can’t break in, that’s against Marrs policy—that’s against any college’s policy. It’s a crime. This is a violation of privacy?—”
“Let me rephrase.” I pushed June aside. “If you don’t go downstairs with your shit, I’ll chase you through RV.”
Pickles gave me a sullen look and collected his things before we moved on to the next room.
“You don’t have to do that, I can do it myself,” June insisted.
“We don’t have all night for you to buff your nails and pick out a purse?—”
“Buff my nails? What am I, a dog?”
“—and nicely ask if they could pretty, pretty please leave their dorms.”
With the next room, June stopped me and fiddled with her phone.
“Pretty please,” she muttered and blocked me again when I tried to slip the key in the lock.
Music blared from her speaker as she took the key from me, shouldering the door herself before yelling, “MOVE YOUR ASS, WE’RE GOING TO THE SECOND FLOOR! ”
The two of us checked off rooms on the highest floors while Denali and Elijah worked from the bottom up. At our last assigned room, I found Fridge, snoring with a book on his face.
“Fridge!” I tried to wake him, but nothing worked. I hit the side of his bed. “Fridge, get up!”
“OH MY GOD!”
I jerked back as Fridge woke up, swiping away the book, screaming like a little girl when he saw me in the darkness.
“It’s me!” I snapped. “Get your shit, second floor!” After I threw his new room key at him, I left to find June, stumbling away from the other bedroom. I gestured towards it. “What’s wrong?”
“Nick’s fucking Charlie’s mom!”
“ What? ” I yanked open the door. There was Nick, with our teammate’s mom straddling him, both naked.
Nick’s frown twisted. “Bear, shut the door.”
“What are you doing?!”
Charlie’s mom blanched. “Are they hockey players?!”
“Val, don’t worry, keep going?—”
“No, Val, don’t keep going,” I interrupted.
“Nick, what’s your problem? His mom? ” When Nick tried to keep arguing, I walked out.
If he wanted an incentive to leave, I’d give him one.
In the kitchen, there was a popcorn bucket to the side of the sink.
I filled it to the brim before returning to the bedroom.
“She’s going through menopause, it doesn’t count!” Nick threw his hands up. “I can’t get her pregnant, he can’t get mad!”
Charlie’s mom scurried away, and I strode forward with the popcorn bucket.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” he threatened. “Bear, don’t you FUCKING DARE!”
I dumped the water on him.
“Goddammit, Bear!” he sputtered.
June gazed at me, stunned, as I came back, tossing the popcorn bucket to the sink. “Wow. You did that for Charlie?”
“Fuck no.” I pulled the door open. “I’m not doing mini quests and dragging hockey players out of their bed while Nick gets laid. Fuck him. And fuck Charlie too.” I scanned the paper in my hand. “Riley Townsend isn’t on the list.”
“He doesn’t live at RV.”
“What?” I balled up the paper between my hands. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. I just know he’s not here.”
We made it to the second floor to see hockey players straggling in, duffel bags over their shoulders. Denali and Elijah trudged out of the elevator, carrying an enormous mattress with Montoya asleep on it, his SpongeBob pajamas too short on his ankles.
We were tired, bloodshot, and in a haphazard circle. Elijah knelt down, Muppets’ Kokomo blasting from his phone and Montoya jerked awake.
“This clearly isn’t working,” Denali announced. “So, we’re changing things. We’re getting in the game.”
“And in Charlie’s mom,” Elijah added.
“What’d you say?” Charlie snapped, leaning over the line.
“Since Nick tagged her in?—”
Charlie’s mouth fell open, and he started to ask Nick what Elijah was talking about but stopped when he grabbed Nick by the shoulder. They crashed to the ground, grappling each other.
I swore, ducking into the fight until June blew so hard on her whistle, it rang my ears like a tornado warning.
“Stop killing each other!” Denali thundered. “You’re on the same team!”
“Yeah, sharing is caring,” Elijah quipped. “Like Charlie’s mom.”
Denali hauled him from the line. “Elijah, shut the fuck up . Now. ”
Elijah didn’t say anything, and that was the best thing that happened all night.
“He fucked my mom! ” Charlie snarled.
“Okay. Fair point,” Denali admitted. “ One more punch.”
June tried to argue but Charlie punched Nick so hard in the stomach, he crumpled to the ground, groaning.
“We’ll live on the same floor,” Denali continued, ignoring him. “We’ll eat together. We’ll have a way to get a hold of each other. We’ll go to practice as a team. You’ll log hours at the gym every week and I’ll personally sign off on them. Is that understood?”
Heads nodded.
Finally.
We were at some kind of understanding. Now, we could get into what made hockey important. Being good at hockey.
“There’s something we need to discuss. Our coach is…
I don’t want to say awful, but I can’t think of a nicer word.
I need an alternate captain.” Denali took a deep breath.
“I need someone who can take on the additional responsibilities, but I promise this will be a partnership. I know how intimidating I can be.”
I rolled my eyes so hard it gave me a headache.
“I’m searching for a volunteer.”
Everyone stayed silent.
“Anybody?” Denali paused. “Nobody?”
“Why would anyone be an alternate captain?” I muttered under my breath.
June peered at me, her green eyes contemplative. “Denali, would it be more work?”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’d keep someone out of their dorm?”
“Yeah.”
“Well…” She hummed, her fingers tapping her chin. “I’ve always thought of Bear as alternate captain material.”
Her words flew by from how tired I was, and it took a couple of seconds to realize she was talking about me . My eyes widened. “Huh?”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Fridge admitted.
“Yeah, it’s a terrible idea,” I interjected. “I don’t want to be an alternate captain. I don’t want the A on my gear.”
“Are you being modest, Bear?” Montoya asked.
“No! I don’t want to do it!”
“If I have a vote, he has mine,” June assured us solemnly, raising her hand. “It’ll keep him busy for sure.”
“I don’t want—” I jerked back. “Fridge, put your hand down.”
“My vote too!” Elijah’s hand shot to the air. “Because I know it’ll piss Bear off!”
Immediately, the rest of the hands shot up.
“You’re fucking kidding me.” I gazed around the hallway of backstabbers and traitors. “There’s no fucking way I’m doing this, I wouldn’t captain these dipshits with a revolver to my?—”
“Start clapping,” Denali told everyone. “Congratulations, Bear!”
The only one who looked genuinely excited for me was Montoya, everyone else hollered and applauded wildly, ignoring my scowl. Bunch of assholes.
I didn’t realize June stood next to me until I heard her above the cheers. “It’ll be good for you.”
“Like an ice pick to my brain,” I muttered and flipped her off when I saw her smug smile.