Overtime (12 page)

Julia did not answer. She threw her stick on the ground and went to sit next to Alexandra and Rebecca.

“Joyce, I admit your girl packs a mean punch,” Jake said, rubbing his chest. “I think I’m going to have a bad ouchy here.” He showed his chest to Liam. “Not sure how hard I can go. This might even turn out to be a boo-boo.”

“Okay, everyone,” Dalton said. “We need to cool down a bit. If this game is going to get out of hand, we might have to forfeit you both. We’re just trying to have fun and raise money for the school.”

“We didn’t do anything,” Jake said. “Chow turned psycho. Give her the lecture.”

“Your team will have to play one short, unfortunately,” he said to Zachary. “It’s still first to two goals. We need to hurry. The next game is supposed to start in ten minutes.”

Charlie glanced over at Julia. She was staring straight ahead, arms crossed over her knees, talking to Alexandra and Rebecca.

“Hold on a sec, Dalton,” Charlie said. “Huddle up, guys.”

Zachary, Pudge and Michelle came over.

“I’m not all that stoked to play these guys, and especially not a player short, and I’m also thinking we don’t need a fight over ball hockey,” Charlie said.

“If you’re suggesting we bail on this, I’m okay with that,” Pudge said. “The less I see of those guys the better.”

“We’ll look like we’re quitting,” Michelle said. “I don’t care … but are you sure?”

Charlie didn’t know her very well. She obviously understood the situation. If they forfeited, Jake would never let him live it down. But all the same … He looked over at Julia. She had gotten up and was walking away with her friends.

“Wait up,” he called to her.

Charlie waved at Dalton to come over. “Sorry, but, what with Jake and all that, we basically don’t feel like getting into a fight. Anyway, we forfeit. Let them advance.”

“I could talk to them,” Dalton said. He sounded truly concerned. “I’m sure they’re here to play, and are not interested in a fight either.” He lowered his voice, “And
to be honest, Julia was the aggressor …”

After Dalton’s help with the roof, Charlie wasn’t going to give him a hard time; and he obviously didn’t know Jake very well. “Forget it. There’s not enough time before the next game anyway, and it’ll slow down the entire tourney. We’re good with it. They can win.”

“Okay, Charlie. I’m … um … tell Julia I’m sorry about having to send her off.”

He really did sound upset.

Charlie tapped the ground with his stick. “Between you and me, I think she knew what she was doing. It’s not your fault.”

“Thanks, Charlie. I’ll tell them.”

Charlie dropped to his knees and began undoing his straps. Then he heard Liam say in a loud voice, “You don’t have to pray to our greatness, Joyce. You can get up.”

“You’ve hit a new low, Joyce,” Jake said.

Charlie got the pads off. He stood up. “I’ve told you before, Jake. I’m not interested in anything you have to say. Irritate someone else.”

Jake didn’t say anything right away. But as Charlie left, he called out, “Tell your girlfriend she hits like a girl.”

He could picture Jake’s face exactly — the cocky grin, eyes closed slightly, laughing a bit. It took every bit of his self-control not to turn back around.

Then he heard, “I have to go to Kennedy with that clown.”

As they left the pad, Zachary said, “That was pleasant. Suddenly, Beaverton doesn’t seem like such a bad place. I need a holiday.”

“With my luck, he’ll be in my classes,” Charlie said.

They caught up with the girls.

“Sorry,” Julia blurted. “I totally lost it.”

“Jake can have that effect on people,” Pudge said. Charlie and Zachary laughed.

“I shouldn’t have done it, though. It just gave them more ammunition.” She was upset. “What are Emily and Trisha doing hanging out with those guys? I guess I overestimated them.”

“Trisha didn’t look too impressed,” Charlie said, and immediately got the feeling he hadn’t said the right thing. “Anyway, are you … um … okay?” he said to Julia.

“I’m fine,” she said. “We’ll see you guys later.”

The girls walked away. Scott and Nick ran up behind them.

“We had to exchange cupcake recipes with Jake and Liam,” Scott said. “Is everything cool?”

Everything was definitely not cool.

Charlie’s shoes squeaked with each step. They were still wet from the soaking they had gotten last night coming home from Pudge’s. He was supposed to meet Pudge early this morning and sneak into school to check on the plastic, but he had forgotten to reset his alarm. Breakfast had been a banana and a piece of untoasted bread, followed by a mad sprint. He was also supposed to speak to the committee about getting the deposit for the ice time. They were already late and the rink manager had sent him a stern email.

He knocked twice, waited three seconds, and knocked once more. The door opened, and Pudge poked his head out.

“I knew you’d be late. I’m surprised you actually remembered the secret knock.”

Charlie flicked his eyebrows and held out his hand where he had written the knocking pattern with a pen. Pudge pushed open the door.

“I came in with the janitors,” Pudge whispered. “I told them I was presenting to the committee and must have got the time wrong.”

“That’s not a total lie,” Charlie whispered back. “You
are presenting later.”

They began their way up the stairs to the roof. At the first landing, Pudge glared and pointed at Charlie’s feet. Charlie held his hands out apologetically. He knew his shoes were ridiculous. Then he got an inspiration. He took the shoes off. Pudge flashed a thumbs-up.

When they reached the door, Charlie put his shoes back on. He opened it with the key Dalton had given him, and they went outside. The sun had just begun to peek out from behind the clouds. The warmth felt good.

“I almost forgot what the sun looked like,” Charlie said, holding his face up to it.

“Let’s tan after. Matt told me what to do after school yesterday.”

“When did he get sick?”

“Not sure. I called last night, and his mom said he was down for the count. Anyway, check the edges and see if any water is running under the plastic, or if there are any holes. We can move the sandbags or adjust the plastic around if we need to.”

“I’m on it, Sergeant.”

They exchanged salutes.

Charlie inspected the plastic for any signs of leakage. He felt underneath the plastic and, with great satisfaction, found the roof was dry. The plastic sheeting was doing its job.

“All good at my end,” Charlie said.

“Other than some bird poop, we’re good here too,” Pudge said.

Charlie looked around. “They should set up a roof-top patio where we could hang out. The view is killer.”

“Not sure it’s in the school’s best interests to have
Scott and Nick up here on a regular basis.”

“Wise words, Sergeant.”

“Speaking of wise words, we should probably skedaddle before we’re spotted.”

“Sergeant, Phase I of the mission is complete,” Charlie said, once they’d made it back to the main floor. “Phase II is far tougher, however. In fact, it’s a suicide mission. Our objective is to convince Melissa and A.J. and the rest of the committee to front us the money for the ice deposit.”

“Can’t live forever,” Pudge said. “Onward.”

Charlie opened the door to the cafeteria. The committee members sat at the far end behind two tables pushed together, and two students were presenting to them. A few others were sitting off to the side, waiting for their turn. As they walked down the stairs, Julia rose slightly from her seat and waved. There was one spot next to her. Charlie felt his throat tighten.

“I’ll go around to the other side,” Pudge said.

“Hi, Julia. How’s it going?” Charlie said, trying to sound relaxed.

She looked up at the clock. “Don’t tell me you forgot the time.”

“We had to check on the leakage situation,” Charlie whispered.

“And?” she asked.

“So far so good.”

“Not so good here. Melissa and A.J. are on the warpath. I’ve picked up that the fundraising is not going well. The parents had a meeting here last night, and apparently a bunch of them don’t want to waste money on temporary repairs.” She paused and smiled. “Anyway,
thanks for coming.”

“I said I would.”

“Next is the skate-a-thon. Who’s presenting for that?” Melissa asked.

“I guess we’re up,” Charlie said.

“I have Julia Chow and Charlie Joyce and … Anthony Moretti,” A.J. read.

Charlie almost laughed. It was weird to hear Pudge’s real name.

“So what’s the status?” Melissa asked.

“We have rented the ice,” Julia said. “We do need some help from the committee for the deposit, though. We’ll get it back once we collect the pledges. The manager is asking for it up front. It’s two hundred and fifty dollars.”

A.J. had been chewing on her pen. She tossed it to the table and said, “We are trying to raise money, not give it away.”

“It’s just a deposit,” Charlie jumped in. “In a week, we’ll have it.”

“Maybe,” A.J. said.

Melissa was shaking her head. “Every group is asking for money to buy this or that. You guys need to get with the program. We get money, not give it. No wonder this is turning out to be a disaster. People think it’s a fundraiser for everyone else …”

“How is the skate-a-thon looking?” Dalton interrupted.

“We have about twenty commitments,” Julia said, “and I think we can easily triple that once word gets out.”

“How much did the ice cost?” Dalton asked. “The Ice Palace is expensive.”

“We didn’t exactly get the Ice Palace,” Charlie said. “It turned out to be booked. We were able to get cheap ice at Humberside Arena.”

“Humberside?” A.J. barked. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s not that far,” Charlie said. “We took a bus and it didn’t take too long … an hour or so …” His voiced trailed off.

“We could use a school bus for everyone,” Dalton said. “That would make things easier.”

“I don’t want to waste a bus on this,” A.J. said.

“It would be helpful. Humberside is quite a distance,” Dalton said.

Charlie loved the idea of a school bus. “How much would a bus cost?” he said.

“The local bus company is contributing free bus trips for the fundraising. But we only get ten, so we have to be careful when we use them,” Dalton said.

“We might need two buses,” Julia said tentatively.

“This is becoming too much,” A.J. said.

“How about we take care of the deposit,” Charlie said. “Then could it work?”

Melissa and A.J. exchanged a glance. A.J. shrugged. “I don’t love this idea, but if they take responsibility for the cost of the ice, then okay.”

“That means you cover the deposit and the full cost of the ice,” Melissa said. “If you lose money, we’re not responsible.”

“We won’t lose money,” Charlie responded. “I mean, the entire cost is about eight hundred dollars, and if each kid raises only fifty dollars we’ll be fine.”

“And if you only get ten kids raising ten dollars each, you won’t be,” A.J. said.

“I think it’s a good compromise,” Dalton said.

The other members nodded.

“Then we can have the buses?” Charlie said.

“Yes,” A.J. said sharply.

“When is the skate-a-thon scheduled?” Melissa said.

“This Friday,” Julia said. “Charlie spoke to the vice-principal and she said the participants could have the day off school. We just need parent/guardian permission forms.”

“Okay. Arrange with Dalton about the buses,” Melissa said.

“We can talk after,” Dalton said to them.

“Thank you,” Julia said.

A.J. was scanning a list of names. “I think we have the bake sale report next. Are you guys here?”

A few kids stood up.

“I guess we should go,” Charlie said to Julia and Pudge.

They left the cafeteria.

“That A.J. is no skate-a-thon lover,” Charlie said, when they were outside. “What luck to get those buses, though. I didn’t think we had a prayer.”

“The buses?” Julia snapped. “What about the money? We need two hundred fifty by tonight or we lose the ice, and then we’re on the hook if we don’t get enough pledges.”

“I can cover the deposit,” Charlie said. “I was saving money for a new long board. The roofing supplies took a chunk, but I still have about one hundred and fifty. If you guys can cover the rest … ?”

“We’ll go halves,” Pudge said. “I have money from working at my dad’s restaurant.”

Julia sighed. “I have some money too,” she said. “Alex, Rebecca and I ran a day camp this summer for some neighbourhood kids. We’ll go thirds.”

“Then it’s a deal,” Charlie said. “Humberside skate-a-thon, or bust.”

“I like the first option,” Pudge said.

Charlie laughed, but without enthusiasm. If this was a bust, not only would they look dumb, but it might cost them a lot of money — and it would be goodbye long board. But there probably wasn’t anything to worry about, he thought. They had twenty kids already, and a day off school was sure to be a draw. He’d personally already raised seventy-five dollars in pledges, and Pudge told him he was up to a hundred. That was almost the entire deposit already. He was worrying about nothing.

But a nagging feeling kept the butterflies in his stomach going. The fundraising seemed like a mouse running on a wheel — lots of activity, but it wasn’t going anywhere.

Charlie bent over and stickhandled rapidly for a few metres, and then from the blue line launched a floating wrist shot at the net, caught easily by Cassie. Charlie looked fretfully at the dressing room door. It remained unopened. Where were they?

Cummings blew her whistle from centre, and Charlie joined the group of girls who had surrounded her; and it did not take the girls long to make it clear they were definitely not impressed with his friends’ tardiness.

“Is your crew busy fundraising?” Alexandra asked.

He knew sarcasm when he heard it.

“I’m sure they’re doing something wonderful for the school,” she continued.