Portal - BK 1

by Imogen Rose

  I could feel Kellan’s grip stiffening as I playfully thumped David’s shoulder and told him that I would see him at tryouts.

  “Ready to walk to physics, ladies?” Kellan asked.

  We nodded as Ariele ineffectively tried to suppress her giggles.

  “Would you rather go to the Ball with him?” Kellan whispered annoyed.

  “Of course not!” I said surprised and elbowed his chest.

  We got to class and I noticed that Justin was already in his seat. Kellan gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and went over to the seat beside him. Maria waved and smiled as I sat down next to her.

  “Ready for this afternoon?”

  I nodded and got my books out of my bag. This was going to be a long day of “waiting.” I hoped not to run into Simla.

  I ran over to the Jeep with Ariele as soon as the final bell rang and took off to the ice rink. Maria and Ali were going to meet me there and I expected Kellan and Harry would be waiting for me in the parking lot as well. I spotted them standing by Kellan’s bike.

  “Ready, Shrimp?” Harry asked.

  My neck still felt a bit raw, but I nodded to assure Harry I’d be able to handle the tryouts. I walked in with the girls and they waited outside the restroom while I changed. It felt great putting my kit on. I wondered if David would be here. How strange that I had turned him down especially since it didn’t seem like I was interested in Kellan then, or was I? I must get to the bottom of this. I’d have to get Ariele to look into it. I looked at myself in the mirror once I was done and put my helmet on. I looked so different from before, I really looked like a Barbie trying to play hockey, except I didn’t have to try. I could actually play.

  Ariele, Ali and Maria performed some weird warrior dance as I exited the restroom.

  “Very funny,” I laughed. As we walked into the rink I could clearly see that there were a lot more players trying out today. Coach Stanislaw saw me and waved me over to talk to him.

  “Ok girls, wish me luck!”

  They did one better, a group hug.

  I walked down the bleachers to the box where the coach was standing. He looked at me and nodded.

  “Darley, you ok? I heard about your mishap. I’ve had a word with Justin. I let him know that if anything happens to you, I’ll hold him personally responsible. So, I don’t think you need to worry anymore. He’ll behave.”

  I nodded, “Thanks. Who told you about Justin?”

  “Harry. Do you feel up to trying out?”

  “I’m fine, can I continue to tryout? I missed Friday.”

  He pounded my shoulders and gave me the thumbs up so I got on the ice and started skating around to warm up. Kellan was by my side in a flash, but kept his distance as we warmed up. I noticed a big player waving at me from a distance. I could only guess that it was David by the size of him. The whistle sounded and we skated back to the coach who looked grim.

  “I’m going to push you hard today. This is going to have to be the last tryout as the ice rink won’t be available on Wednesday. I have to get a team ready to go for our first game next Monday. I notice that there are quite a few of you who have turned up for the first time today. Come and talk to me. If you don’t have mighty good reasons for missing the last two, you’re out.” He looked around and then focused his attention on someone at the back.

  “David, I see that you’ve decided to grace us with your presence. Did you decide against football? You can’t do both, you know,” he said sternly.

  David laughed, “I heard that you have the pretty girls trying out, so it was a no brainer.”

  Coach looked like he was going to explode and everyone tensed up. He turned bright crimson and then exploded in laughter, “Good one! Well, whatever reason makes you join us is good, thanks PH!”

  Everyone relaxed as Coach shouted out the first drill, up and down, doing dead stops and turns. Same as last time I remembered, at least he was consistent. We were split into two groups before we started, as there were too many of us to go at it together. The two groups would play each other at the end of the drills.

  Harry and Kellan called out the groups. I was called first, which made me feel a bit self-conscious. Harry had called his kid sister to his group and I could almost hear the smirking. Kellan called Justin and so it went. I skated off with my group and we started our drills. We didn’t spend much time on the dead stops but quickly moved on to skate, pass and shoot drills. I was comfortably keeping up with everyone else, in fact much better than some. Harry skated up to me half an hour into the drill and asked about my neck. I had completely forgotten about it, couldn’t feel a thing. He seemed pleased as he ordered up the next drill set, sprint point and shoots. I was really enjoying myself now. There were no surprise drills. I had done all these a million times before.

  An hour into drills the coach’s whistle sounded. I looked at Harry, he nodded at me, and it was time for a scrimmage. He skated up to me and asked “What position?”

  “Left defense.”

  He looked surprised but placed me in the starting line up. I noticed that I was playing against Kellan. Too bad, I didn’t want to hurt him. I noticed that Harry had chosen to play defense too. Now that was strange, he usually started the game for the team.

  The scrimmage was really fun. I even managed to check Kellan a few times. He didn’t seem to try that hard though. I never came up against any of the competitive players or Justin, even David. This had been so rigged by Harry and Kellan, I should be furious. I took out the little fury I had during my encounters with Kellan. Boy, did he seem surprised when he was jammed into the boards! All in all though, I was a little grateful. I didn’t need any unnecessary drama today. I just needed to show the coach that I could hold my own and play a good game, which I was more than doing. My team narrowly won and we headed back to Coach Stanislaw on the bleachers.

  “Good work, kids. Coach Pickett, Harry and I are now going to go through our lists and discuss the possible lineups. We may have enough players for a JV team, but we can discuss that once the varsity team has been picked. We’ll be picking eighteen players and two reserves. Our decision will be final and based on both tryout performance and history. So, Kellan, you’re in though you got whooped by a girl,” he laughed.

  With that the three of them left and I watched the boys head to the changing room. Kellan stayed behind.

  “Shrimp, you did good! I’ll be very surprised if you’re not on the team.”

  “Thanks for babying me out there. It was sweet of you but no need in the future.”

  He laughed, “You don’t have to tell me, I’m red and sore!”

  I skated close up to him, removed my helmet and met his lips full on. It felt so good. The day was pretty much over. I had done my best without ruffling any feathers. Just then, Ariele, Ali and Maria arrived and I left Kellan to go and change, as I needed to get out of my kit and clean up a bit. I really stank, but had come prepared with baby wipes this time.

  “Arizona, I’ve got to say, you’re pretty amazing out there,” gushed Ali. Maria nodded and Ariele gave me her knowing gaze. I stopped and got a soda on the way to the restroom and, as before, the girls waited for me outside. I changed back into a skirt and t-shirt, combed my hair through and added some lip gloss. I looked in the mirror, looking good, but the bruises were still visible so I covered them up with a scarf and went out to meet the girls.

  “Kellan called me to ask us to join them in the cafeteria for pizza while we wait for the decisions,” said Ali.

  Pizza sounded perfect, I was starving. We headed over to the cafeteria and walked over to Kellan and he immediately handed us slices. I sat down and gobbled mine up and looked at him for another one. He laughed and brought another slice over to me and sat down with us.

  Ariele looked over to him with mock concern and asked, “Are you ok, Kellan? You took quite a beating out there.”

  Kellan laughed, “Yeah, she can be mean, all right! She did good. I hope she gets on the team, I’m so proud of her.
”

  “You should be! Poppet, wow, way to go!”

  I looked up into David’s delighted eyes.

  “Thanks, David, I did my best. I guess it’s up to the coaches now….”

  “And here they are,” said David as Harry walked towards the center of the cafeteria. Harry got up on a table and announced, “It was hard but we’ve reached a decision. We’ll have two teams this year. Please line up outside the dressing room. We’ll see each of you individually and discuss your options. Kellan will be the assistant captain of the varsity team….”

  There was applause through the crowd; I beamed at him proudly.

  Harry continued, “And Mike will captain the JV team. So I need both of you to come with me to the changing room. Ok, so line up everyone and lets get started!”

  I rushed over, wanting to be as near the start as possible so I could head out soon. We’d been here long enough. I was ninth. I could see Justin up ahead, number one. Ariele had to head home so Ali and Maria stayed in line with me. It took forever. The coaches certainly took the “discussing your options” bit to heart!

  Finally, it was my turn. David tapped on my shoulders from the back and shot me a thumbs up. I smiled and went in. We had not been able to watch the players exit as another door was being used for that. So, I had no idea how many were already on the team.

  “Sit down, PH,” said Coach.

  I sat down on an uncomfortable metal chair. Facing me were Kellan, Mike, Coach Stanislaw, Coach Pickett and Harry. They all looked grim.

  “You are an enigma,” Coach said taking a deep breath and studying me thoughtfully.

  “You are so ‘petite’ for the lack of a better word, but you surprised us all on the ice. I know that Kellan and Harry protected you today, however, they assure me that they didn’t need to in hindsight. I tend to agree, you’re sharp and strong on the ice. You tackle like someone twice your size. It’s hard to believe that you haven’t done this before. Your only ‘sport’ experience seems to be cheerleading,” he guffawed. “You’re in. Get out of here now and we’ll see you at practice Sunday morning.”

  I so wanted to hug him but resisted. I threw a big grin at the beaming Harry and Kellan and floated out of the room. Ali and Maria were waiting outside the exit door.

  “Well?”

  “I made it!”

  The delight on their faces filled me with warmth. They were happy for me even though it meant that they would lose me from the cheer squad. Although it wouldn’t be any loss at all if they saw me cheer. I shuddered at the thought.

  “This calls for a celebration!” Ali proclaimed.

  Maria coughed, “Small issue. Your mom called me, Arizona, while you were in there. She needs you back home to look after Ella. She has to head back to work and Rupert wants to go in with her.”

  “Wow, she really seems to live at work,” I thought to myself. Oh well, spending some time with Ella would be nice. I needed to get to know her some more.

  “That’s ok, we can celebrate tomorrow. Or even better, fly to NYC with us on Thursday and we can hit the stores there!”

  Ali and Maria looked at each other, carefully at first, but then with excitement pouring from their faces.

  “That sounds like a plan! We’ve got to convince our parents but….,” shrugged Ali jumping up and down.

  “Great! It will be a blast. Ella is auditioning, so we should have plenty of free time for shopping and fun!”

  They walked me out to my Jeep full of delight at our upcoming trip.

  Olivia and Rupert watched Ella perform her audition piece with pride. She was belting out “Good morning, Baltimore” from Hairspray with gusto, her face alive with expression. Her pal, Jonas, was sitting watching her in awe. She finished and took a bow looking expectantly at Jonas as he clapped his hands enthusiastically.

  “Awesome, Ella!” He shrieked with delight.

  Rupert and Olivia clapped their hands with pride as Olivia got up and walked to her little daughter, picking her up for a major bear hug. “What a star you are, Ella! That was amazing! I’m so upset that I’m going to miss your auditions, I wish I could come.”

  Ella looked at her mother, “Mom, maybe you should think about giving up working and staying at home again?”

  Olivia nodded, “Well, as soon as this month’s out, I’ll only be going to work a few days a week and I’ll always be back in time to get you from school. It’s just October. Busy, busy! I’m sure you’re going to have a great time in Manhattan. Who’s going, Rupert?”

  “Not totally sure yet, but definitely Harry, Arizona, Kellan, Ariele and young Jonas here.”

  Olivia looked at Rupert thoughtfully, wondering about the wisdom of taking Arizona so close to Princeton, especially with Ariele going. She would have to carefully consider the possibilities of that and talk to him about it later.

  As soon as Arizona got home to watch Ella, Olivia and Rupert would head off to Glenda’s. They were going to pick up Larry on the way. Kellan had been told to join them as soon as he was done at the tryouts.

  Olivia wondered how the tryouts had gone. She wished that she could’ve been there. Arizona was always amazing to watch. She decided to take time off work on Monday and head over to watch their first game. Even if Arizona hadn’t made it, Harry would definitely be playing and he was awesome as well.

  Harry, her son. A son she didn’t think possible, should not have been possible. She had in fact never wanted a son, but that changed the second Harry was born. She had been totally smitten, just like when she had first laid eyes upon his father. He was the calming influence that Ella and Arizona had needed, the protection they had craved. She thought back to the afternoon in Manhattan when Rupert and she had confirmed that they were going to have a baby. They had both been overjoyed, it was a dream that they had not even dared to dream. They lay in bed for ages studying each other’s faces wondering how they would translate into a new being.

  The confirmation of the pregnancy presented complications though. This meant that they definitely couldn’t stay here. This baby couldn’t be born here, not in this time. They’d have to go back. It meant having to leave Larry in charge of getting Arizona and Ella back to her at the right time interval. This would mean almost a decade of separation from the girls, which would be unbearable for her. It wouldn’t mean a lengthy separation for them, though. They’d be with her in a matter of days. But it would be ten long years for her.

  She had to learn to cope. Rupert and she went back through the portal and they returned to London leaving Larry to readjust it.

  She had gone back and dissolved her painful marriage to Dillard who was nonplussed when she left him. She wondered if he even noticed. She had moved into the small cozy house with Rupert and they had spent their carefree pre baby months working and enjoying each other’s company. She completed her PhD again and sent off job applications to various places, including Ames in Mountain View.

  They had decided to let the sex of the baby be a surprise. When Rupert gently put their warm bundle in her arms after the C-section at St Mary’s Hospital, she was more surprised at the striking eyes that stared back at her than the sex. She had never expected the clear blue eyes even though they were identical to Rupert’s. Both her girls had her hazel eyes. She had looked at the alert, tiny face in amazement.

  “Chip off the old block, isn’t he, Ollie?” Rupert said proudly.

  She looked up into his loving eyes and smiled, “Welcome, Harry Darley?”

  Rupert laughed, “Yup, he looks like a Harry to me!”

  Like Arizona and Ella before him, Harry slept in his parents’ bed until he was two and then moved to his own big-boy bed. It was funny listening to him talk in his posh little English accent. Arizona had lost hers soon after moving to the U.S. Olivia hoped that Harry would hold on to his, although it was probably unlikely.

  Just before Harry’s third birthday, a position opened up for Olivia at Ames. Their new department head, Larry Fox, contacted her. He was setting u
p a new research program. She flew over to Mountain View with Rupert and Harry, wondering how this first meeting with Larry would go. It seemed so strange to be introduced to him in this dimension. Would he know her?

  She walked into the interview at Ames with some trepidation. How did this fit in with the big picture? Was she being brought in to run the portal? She wondered what young Larry would be like. She was surprised when she saw him. He looked exactly the same.

  “Hi, Ollie! I thought I would come through and give you an update. How have you been? How long has it been for you? Three years, just yesterday for me.”

  Olivia was completely taken aback, “Larry, I thought this was for real, that I was going to get to see young Larry!”

  He laughed, “I don’t think I’ve ever been young Larry. It was a fun prank and I also had to test the portal. It seems to be working. I need you based here at Ames to run the portal at this end. The current staff will stay and work for you. When’s the soonest you can relocate? I’ll need you here by next October at the very latest, sooner preferably. The logistics are only going to allow us to keep the portal open for a limited amount of time so we’ve kept October, as that’s when you requested the opening initially.”

  Olivia nodded carefully, “That sounds workable. Have you seen my girls? How are the plans proceeding?”

  “I’ve not seen them yet, but will head to Princeton to pick them up tomorrow. Dillard took off with his girlfriend for the week so they are staying with your mother.”

  “Slow down, Larry! You’re going to have to elaborate here, it’s all going over my head!” Olivia took a deep breath as she suddenly realized that she might be able to get her mother back.

  “It’s all fairly simple,” laughed Larry. “I’ve already reset the portal. I’m going back to the other end, which is now set up at the time when Arizona is eight. Ella is a baby and your mother is alive and well.”

  “This is blowing my mind Larry, wow! And you said Dillard is with his girl friend. Interesting,” Olivia mused.