Dare You to Catfish the Hockey Player (Rock Valley High Book 6)

by Lacy Andersen

  “Well, I didn’t laugh.”

  “Yeah.” He really looked at me then, his gaze taking in my face with an intensity that made my heart pump a little harder. “Thanks for that.”

  “No problem.” I gulped, feeling slightly unnerved by the changing emotions in his eyes. “Um...what about Michael? What does he think?”

  He blinked hard and then his face reddened. “Michael doesn’t know yet.”

  “What? You gonna wait until move-in day to hit him with the bad news?” I joked.

  We both carried our tanks over to the large sink and began to hose them out. These were the last two in a long line we’d cleaned since detention started. I was hoping Mr. Hart was nearly finished with us. He’d promised to pop in his head randomly whenever he could step away from hockey practice, but we’d spent the entire two hours alone scrubbing every tank in the place until it was shining.

  “Not move-in day,” Gabriel said, spraying the inside of his tank with a hose. He bit his bottom lip and then looked up at me. “Maybe the day before?”

  I threw my head back and laughed. That would be something to see—Michael going off to school himself. I wondered what he’d do without the other half of his muscle. He wasn’t going to be nearly as intimidating on the ice with just one of the Corrigan twins. Or off the ice.

  “You really can’t stand up to him, can you?” I asked with a laugh, turning off the water and wiping a strand of wet hair out of my face.

  I’d meant it as a joke. We’d been getting along so well, I hadn’t felt the need to prod him where it hurt. But when I glanced up at his face, I could see my jab had landed hard.

  “You know, it’s not that easy,” he said, clouds forming in his eyes. His shoulders were thrown back and tense, as if he were readying himself for a fight. “Ever since we were kids, Michael’s always known what he wanted and went after it. It didn’t matter who he had to bulldoze over to get it, he found a way. I’m not like that. It takes me a long time to carefully think through my options. I don’t make a move until I’m certain it’s the one I want. It was always easier to just go along with him. At least, that’s how it always was...until now.”

  “Why now?”

  I stood poised with the hose shooting cold water into the sink, curiosity getting the better of me. Why had things changed now? Was it the college thing? Or was it something else?

  Gabriel looked at me, the muscles in his jaw working. He raked a hand through his messy hair and grimaced. “Let’s just say, there’s a solid reason we decided not to be partners for the gaming tournament.”

  Now I was really curious. I’d wondered why Battlescar13 wasn’t playing with his brother. Gabriel hadn’t really answered the question, but it did give me a little insight into their relationship. Was there trouble in twin paradise?

  “I’m really sorry you didn’t get to play, by the way.” Gabriel tilted his head toward me. There was something sincere in his expression. A hopeful curve of his full lips. It was kind of hard to look away. “If I’d known you wouldn’t find a partner, maybe I could’ve helped you out...” He turned his head, his voice trailing off.

  A sudden burst of nervous energy hit me hard. I shut off the water and carried my quarter-filled tank back to its home at the back of the classroom. There was no way I could look Gabriel in the eyes. Not right now. He would see right through me. My guilt was heavier than this twenty-gallon fish tank. Keeping my back toward Gabriel, I clung to the tank and forced my diaphragm to pump air in and out of my lungs.

  I’d been way too tempted to come clean at that moment. To confess that he already was helping me out. But that wasn’t part of the plan. And trusting one of the Corrigans had never gotten me anywhere, even if Gabriel had looked totally sincere in that moment.

  He’d said it himself: he had years of going along with whatever Michael wanted. And the one thing Michael wanted to do was ban me from anything that had to do with gaming. What was going to stop Gabriel from turning around tomorrow and deciding that siding with Michael was the easier thing to do? He couldn’t be trusted.

  No, there was no way I was going to let a handsome face make me think otherwise.

  Even if it was really nice to look at.

  By the time I’d gotten the piranha back into his freshly cleaned tank, Gabriel was finishing up with the cichlids. We looked around, admiring our job. We’d done everything Mr. Hart had asked. He couldn’t possibly make us stay any longer.

  “Do you think...?” Gabriel looked up at the clock. I knew what he was thinking. Half hour until showtime. We were both itching to get out of here. “Do you think Coach would mind if we just left?”

  I took an unsure step toward Mr. Hart’s desk. My cell phone was in one of those drawers, calling out to me. This was the longest I’d gone without checking my messages. What if the sword deal hadn’t gone through? What if the time for the big match had changed? Surely, I could get it now. We’d done the time for the crime. Now, it was time to dominate.

  But we didn’t have long to wait for our warden to make a reappearance.

  “Ah, there’s my troublesome duo,” Mr. Hart said as he strolled through the door a second later. I automatically took a step backwards, my cheeks burning as if I’d been caught rifling through his desk. He went to inspect the fish tanks, running his finger over the glass. “Very nice, very nice. I think we’re almost through here.”

  “Almost?” I glanced hopefully at Gabriel and our eyes met. We were probably both thinking the same thing. “Are we free to leave?”

  “Sure.” Mr. Hart leaned down to admire his cichlids and tapped gently on the glass. “Just as soon as you clean out Hank and Tank’s home.”

  I suppressed a groan as I turned to look at the small blue kiddie pool in the front that had been fashioned into a habitat for two painted turtles the size of my hands. We’d completely forgotten about them. If we didn’t hurry, neither of us were going to make it home in time for the battle.

  And everything we’d worked for would be over.

  “Come on,” Gabriel said firmly, striding forward and handing me a bucket. “You corral the turtles, I’ll start bailing out the pool.”

  Usually, I wasn’t a fan of a man jumping forward to take charge of me, but in this case, I wasn’t going to complain. We had to work together if we were going to get out of here in time. So as Mr. Hart went to sit behind his desk, we hurried to complete our tasks.

  After the turtles were out, I hurried to help Gabriel as he emptied the pool. We scrubbed, rinsed, and carried it back to its place. If Mr. Hart noticed our rush, he didn’t say anything. The clock was ticking down and our time was almost out. Gabriel and I each loaded two huge buckets of water into the pool before putting the turtles back. And as we watched Hank and Tank scuttle back onto their limestone rocks, I sagged a little against the kiddie pool, letting myself breathe for just a second.

  “Thanks for helping. I know you didn’t have to rush for me.” Gabriel grabbed the edge of the pool, just centimeters from where my hand was. It was strange, but I almost felt like a current went through the blue plastic between us, shooting up my arm. He looked over at me, his hooded eyes blinking slowly as he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. “And for the record, I do wish you could’ve been in the tournament. It would’ve been cool to see you win and beat my brother.”

  Did he really mean that, or was this another line? My mind desperately searched for a snarky or witty comeback, anything to push off this weird sensation that I got when Gabriel looked at me, but I couldn’t find the words. Instead, I felt myself trapped by his stare, and returned it with a soft smile.

  “I guess...I guess you should get going.”

  The seconds were ticking away, and yet I couldn’t make myself look away. He still stared at me, a whole series of unnamed emotions flitting in his eyes. His gaze flicked back and forth between my eyes, and then down to my mouth for the briefest of moments. It gave me the strangest tickling sensation in my stomach that felt both pleasant and unn
erving at once.

  “The first round,” I blurted out. “Of the game. It’s starting soon.”

  He lifted his chin just an inch, blinking in shock. “Right. The first round. I should get going.” And suddenly, whatever was happening between us, was gone in an instant. Gabriel hopped up to his feet, made a motion to turn away, but then paused before extending his hand to me. “Here, let me help you up.”

  I could’ve brushed him off. I couldn’t laughed in his face and then proved to him that I didn’t need anyone’s help to get off the floor. But I didn’t. I put my hand in his and allowed him to pull me up. It was so strange, having my hand in his. Normally, I felt like such a giant around guys. I wasn’t petite, like my friends. Tiny hands and feet didn’t come standard with this nearly six-foot tall package. But Gabriel’s large hand dwarfed even my own. And the heat coming off of his skin went right up my arm and straight to my cheeks.

  “You’d better run,” I mumbled, ducking my head to cover the blushing. What was this? “Don’t want to miss it.”

  “Yeah, right.” He dropped my hand quicker than I would’ve liked and jogged over to get his backpack. “See you tomorrow, Coach?”

  “Be prepared to do lots of laps to make up for missing practice,” Mr. Hart called out with a grin.

  Gabriel groaned and then was gone, leaving me to stare at the empty doorway for several seconds. I swallowed hard, shaking the hand that he’d released. Whatever that reaction was, it was lingering like a bad cold. I was pretty sure I’d lost feeling in my fingers. I’d be lucky to be able to hit the right keys for the battle tonight.

  The battle!

  Snapping out of my haze, I rushed to pick up my backpack. Gabriel wasn’t the only one who had to rush home. There were twelve minutes left until the battle and it usually took me at least ten minutes to drive home. I’d better book it.

  “Beth, wait,” Mr. Hart called out as I was about to dart out the door.

  I bit my bottom lip hard, feeling the urgency of the moment. What did he want now? Did a lecture come included with your first detention? I wouldn’t know. But as I turned around to face him, I saw him holding out my cell phone. With a sheepish smile, I ran back to him and grabbed it.

  “Don’t let it happen again,” he said in a low voice, but I could see the humor twinkling in his eyes. “Or next time, I’ll have you clean out the snake tank.”

  I shivered from my head to my toes. “No problem. Won’t happen again.”

  “Good.” He winked at me. “Now, get out of my sight.”

  I was out of the door before he could say another word. The parking lot was nearly empty. Most of the sporting teams had already finished up practice and gone home. I jumped in my little Chevy and floored it before I even had the seatbelt buckled. Every minute seemed to tick by with unnatural speed. I bounced my left foot on the floor board as I waited at a red light. And when it finally turned green, I was out of there like a shot.

  By the time I pulled into my drive, there were two minutes left to spare. Mom and Dad were already home and had a frozen pizza in the oven as I ran through. I shouted my greetings, probably scaring the crap out of them, and ran straight for my room. Tossing my backpack on the floor, I dove for my laptop and pulled up Battlegrounds to login.

  Forty seconds to spare! The other team was already in position in the landscape, their characters shifting uselessly on the other side of the arena, waiting for the countdown to begin. I glanced at Battlescar13’s darkened name at the bottom, praying that he would sign in on time. There was no way I could take these two on alone. I needed my partner. He was the only way I was going to be able to get to the final round.

  With only ten seconds to spare, Battlescar13’s name lit up. He was here! His avatar appeared next to mine on the screen, his impressive battle ax held aloft.

  Battlescar13: Sorry I’m late.

  CurrerBFighting: About time. What took you so long?

  I couldn’t help it. I was just so happy he was here, the teasing side of me was coming out. He deserved a little prodding before the battle began.

  Battlescar13: Let’s just say I was doing hard time.

  CurrerBFighting: Prison?

  Battlescar13: Worse. Detention.

  I laughed aloud. It was kind of great, imagining the expression on Gabriel’s face as he typed in those words. The round was just about to begin. I typed in one last message.

  CurrerBFighting: Hope whatever landed you there was worth it.

  Battlescar13: She definitely was.

  My heart palpitated violently when I read those words. She? Was he talking about me? And what did he mean by saying I was worth it? A million questions went through my mind at once, but I didn’t get time to dwell on them. The first round of the tournament had begun and we both jumped into action, swinging our weapons like mad. My newly acquired weapon at my side, there was no way we were going to lose this battle.

  We had to win.

  Chapter Ten

  I couldn’t get Gabriel’s words out of my head all throughout school on Friday. Was it worth it to go to detention?

  She definitely was.

  Of course, those were the words he’d sent to CurrerBFighting, not me. He didn’t mean anything. Not really. I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions. And besides that, I had more important things to think about.

  I was officially flying on cloud nine today. After that panicky beginning, Battlescar13 and I had dominated round one of the tournament. We’d beat those seniors into the ground so bad that they’d feel that spanking for days. Unfortunately, I’d found out this morning that Michael and his gaming partner had also won their first round. We were all still in the game. Round two was on Tuesday evening, four days from now. After that, the finale.

  And my big chance to show them all what I had.

  But that happy thought was violently interrupted by the sudden collision of two hockey players into the plexiglass in front of me. I nearly jumped out of my thick puffer coat and knocked over my dad’s camera tripod. This was why I didn’t play sports. A mumbled line of curses left my mouth as I fixed it and squared the shot.

  “You know, I wasn’t sure anyone could focus enough to daydream at a hockey game, but then I saw you,” Lexi said, coming up beside me. She handed me a hot chocolate and grinned. “What ya dreaming about? Gold and glory?”

  “Always.” I took the steaming cup from her and sipped gratefully. She and Charlotte had both already heard the news about my big win yesterday. They were my secret cheerleaders, pushing me on toward the finish line “But also, I’m freezing, so what you might have taken for daydreaming was me slowly slipping into hypothermia.”

  “I’m not sure how you could freeze when you’ve got such delicious eye candy.” She nodded toward the ice rink where the hockey game was getting underway. We were five minutes into the second period. “It’s a shame they have to wear all those pads and helmets, though.”

  “Oh, really?” Zane came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lexi’s boyfriend had movie star good looks with a chiseled jawline, side-swept dirty blond hair, and a smile that made most girls swoon. He’d moved into town just at the start of the year to film a movie and never left. I was sure my best friend was a big part of that and I couldn’t blame him. She was pretty awesome.

  Lexi grinned happily in Zane’s arms, her cheeks pink. “That’s why I like soccer more.”

  “You’d better.” He nuzzled his face into her curls and then glanced up at the rink. “But then again, hockey is pretty great. I didn’t realize what I was missing out on until I moved to Rock Valley.”

  “You were missing out on a lot of great things before you moved here,” Lexi shot back with a quirk of her eyebrows.

  He grinned and wrapped his arms even tighter around her. “Sure was.”

  I grimaced and turned my attention back to the ice. As happy as I was for my friend, that was enough PDA for me. I had work to do. Adjusting the tripod, I tried to make sure the sight through the len
s was getting all of the action on the rink. This was the only chance we had to film what we needed for our anatomy project.

  It was a brutal game. Silver Lake was one of our biggest rivals—both in size and enthusiasm. They had a few hockey players that looked like they ate a bucket of protein powder for breakfast every morning. But none of them had anything on Gabriel. He was tougher than steel. Nothing could take him down. Still, I winced when Gabriel got pinned between two of the Silver Lake players on the other side of the ice. Reviewing this footage was going to be tough.

  Gabriel would be lucky to make it through this game without adding a few more scars.

  I chewed my bottom lip as I watched him reclaim the puck and make a run for the goal. There was still something there in my belly, like a deep-seeded live wire, that jolted every time I thought about him and our strange moment in detention yesterday. It would’ve been easier to bury, had he acted like the jerk I’d always painted him as.

  But no, he had to go and try to be valiant and get me out of detention. And then, he had to be all...nice about it. Did he really mean it when he said he would’ve liked to see me beat his brother in the tournament? Or was that just something he said? A toss-away comment meant to lower my defenses around him. I was having a heck of a time deciding what was what. My bull crap meter was running haywire.

  Gabriel just wasn’t who I thought he was.

  “How was your time in detention?” Lexi moved beside me. Zane had left to go find their seats again. She eyed me over her cup of hot chocolate, as if she could read my mind. “You didn’t say much about it. Did you and Gabriel play nice?”

  I made a move to adjust the camera, although it was already perfectly set and the recording light blinking. For some reason, I couldn’t look her in the eye. “Yeah. It was fine.”

  “I’m surprised you guys could last that long in the same room together.” She giggled and blew some steam off of her drink. “You know, they say there’s a fine line between love and hate.”