Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
I threw my arms around Lily as everyone cheered and celebrated with each other, riding high on excitement. I hadn’t ever left the country before, much less play in an international tournament. We would get so much coverage from even attending. Even more for winning, but that would be a long, hard road.
We were going to play our best, though. No matter what.
“Now, the only issue is this is a big trip. That’s a lot of money going into traveling and transporting all the gear. We either have to take some funding from the men’s team or figure out a way to raise the money ourselves if we want to afford getting there,” Coach Clinton added, wincing slightly.
Of course, there was a catch. There was always a catch.
We went from fighting with the men’s team over sharing press to me having to crawl to them and ask them to share their funding. That was even worse! That put me and my team in an even more stressful predicament because I had to go to them. It wasn’t our fault that the press came to us, which Colm understood, but it made what I had to do now ten times harder.
“I can talk to their captain,” I told Coach Clinton. I doubted that would do anything, but I had to try. As captain of my team, I had to take the lead on this and make sure that we got enough funding to make it to the tournament. I couldn’t let us miss out on this opportunity, even if that meant having a tough conversation with Hugo.
Coach Clinton nodded.
“We’ll get there,” she assured us. “Congratulations, ladies. You’re the ones who did this!”
Clapping filled the locker room, but the sound was faint as wary thoughts filled my mind. I had no idea how I was going to convince Hugo to share some of his team’s funding, but I had to figure it out. My team was relying on me.
After getting dressed, I checked the time, knowing that the guys would come to the arena for practice soon. I headed out and waited on the sidewalk, soon seeing Hugo walking my way. He always arrived at practice first. Like any captain.
“Hugo,” I spoke up to catch his attention.
Hugo paused and pulled off his headphones.
“What?” he asked, tension crackling between us. We hadn’t exactly left things on the best terms last time we spoke, but I was willing to put that aside and reach a middle point.
“Look, I don’t want to keep fighting,” I told him. “We actually got along in Denver. Can’t we at least be civil with each other?”
Hugo’s jaw tensed as he glanced away for a moment.
“My team can’t be shoved to the background. We just can’t,” he said. “Too much is riding on how well we do.”
I nodded.
“I know. There’s been a lot of sacrifice, but we can relate. At the end of the day, we both love this sport. We both want to represent Yale well. We shouldn’t be treating each other like enemies,” I replied. It was exhausting, especially since we had actual rivals to deal with.
Hugo rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed.
“Yeah, I get that. It’s just complicated,” he told me.
I stepped closer to him.
“I know. I just… I want a truce. I want to put it behind us because we both have a tough season ahead,” I replied with a hopeful look on my face.
Hugo narrowed his eyes slightly.
“You want a truce? Even after our fight just yesterday?” he asked.
I joined my hands together, nervousness making my stomach twist as I heard the pure suspicion in his voice. Now, I had to drop the news on him because he knew something was up, and I had a feeling that he wouldn’t be happy because the men’s team didn’t have an international tournament on their schedule like we did.
“There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” I admitted.
Hugo’s eyebrows immediately furrowed.
“What?” he asked.
“My team was invited to play at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship in Germany,” I revealed, watching a shocked look take over his face.
“Really?” he asked.
I nodded.
“But the problem is… we don’t have enough funding on our end. To be able to go, we’d need more funding, and we wanted to see if you would be willing to share some of your funding with us,” I told him, my heartbeat speeding up as the words left me. I didn’t expect anything good to come out of it.
Hugo let out a laugh of disbelief.
“Wow. That’s why you want a truce. You want money,” he said as he shook his head at me.
“We both represent Yale. This is a huge opportunity for not only us but the university’s athletic department! We’ve earned the funding just as much as you,” I stated in a firm voice, refusing to back down. I needed that money.