Rebel Power Play Read Free Page A

his bad side.
    He looked around for a familiar face. Things were a bit better at school lately, at least compared to a month ago when he didn’t know anyone. Lunch period had been torture then. Now he could hang with some of the guys from the tournament team. A loud voice caught his attention. Jake was talking to Liam and Thomas. His three least favourite people.
    There was also a new kid with them. He was huge, even bigger than Jake. There were a couple of girls too — including Julia Chow! That bugged him. Why would she be hanging out with Jake and his lame crew?
    “Whatever,” he muttered, and walked off to the side. He leaned against the wall. No big deal. He’d learned to be by himself since coming to this school. Then he spotted Pudge near the parking lot. He was talking to Mike Dunn, and another kid Charlie didn’t know. Mike didn’t have much time for Charlie — and frankly, thefeeling was mutual. Mike was a show-off, always bragging. But since his father was sponsoring the Hawks, it made sense to be friendly.
    “What’s up?” Charlie asked.
    Pudge pointed at Mike. “He’s filling me in on the Hawks.”
    “Rumour has it you’re thinking of trying out,” Mike said.
    “I’m pretty stoked. All the other teams are full — and I spoke to every coach about ten times. My season was about to go down the drain — until I heard about the Hawks.”
    “You’re kinda counting your chickens a bit early, aren’t you?” Mike said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Tryouts start tomorrow. No one’s made the team yet — except for a few key players.” He laughed and slapped his friend’s back. He stared at Charlie defiantly.
    His dad was the sponsor, so naturally Mike would be on the team. Charlie knew that. Still, he could tone it down. The guy was hard to take. He decided to ignore the diss. No point getting into it now.
    “Fair enough. I only meant I’m going to give it a shot, and if I make it, then cool.”
    Mike shrugged. “I should tell you that centre is taken, so don’t get your hopes up about playing there.”
    “You’ve got three centres who can outplay Charlie?” Pudge asked.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Charlie said. “We’ll see what happens at the tryouts. I don’t care where I play.”
    “Team’s going to be awesome,” Mike said. “And centre is spoken for — so deal.”
    “Centre’s not an issue. I just want to play — ”
    Mike cut him off. “You should count yourself lucky if you make the team. We’re going to build a powerhouse — keep the team together for a few years and rack up some trophies. The right players gotta be there from the start. There’s a major tournament in Boston we’re going to, and we may even train in Sweden next year.”
    “That’s going to cost a lot,” Charlie said.
    Mike laughed. “Don’t worry about money. You win by doing things right — that means first class, dude. The sponsor’s going to make sure of that.” He winked at his friend. “If any other guys from school are thinking of trying out, tell them there are no guarantees. Coach is looking for character — real hockey players. No room on the team for scared little boys.”
    Charlie fought to control his temper. Mike was way out of line, since he was only on the team because of his dad.
    “What about goalie?” Pudge said. “I bet the best goalies have already committed.”
    “Taken care of, dude.” Mike shook hands with his friend, adding a back slap for good measure. The boy grinned and puffed out his chest. “This is our goalie — Simon Godfrey.”
    Simon thrust his chin upwards. Charlie guessed that was his way of saying hi.
    “Where’d you play last year?” he asked.
    “Played for the Downsview Eagles,” he said.
    Charlie shot a concerned look at Pudge. The Eagles played in the A division. The jump to AAA would be huge.
    “The league was total garbage,” Simon said. “Myparents forced me to play because the coach was a family friend. I told them no