The Goalie Bet novel · Chapter 28 of 32

Chapter 28: The Vote

The bus didn't leave for twenty minutes.

I stood in the loading area with my kit bag while the team argued inside it.

The windows were fogged. Every few seconds a shape moved past one.

The doctor stood next to me with his hands in his pockets.

"You don't have to stand here for this," he said.

"I'm not leaving."

"It's a bus full of twenty-year-olds."

"I know what it is."

The door opened and the coach came down the steps.

"Kline."

"Coach."

"Get on the bus."

"Why."

"Because they voted."

"On what."

"On whether you go to the Frozen Four."

"And."

"And it's a tie."

I stood there.

"Eleven to eleven," he said. "That's never happened."

"So what happens now."

"Wade's vote is the tiebreak. He's the captain. He's been sitting in the back with his headphones on the whole time."

"And."

"And he won't vote in the bus. He says he'll vote out here."

The door opened again and Wade came down the steps.

He was in street clothes with his hair wet.

He stopped on the bottom step and looked at me.

"Captain," the coach said.

"I know."

"Vote."

Wade stood there for a second.

"You want me to say it in front of everybody."

"I want you to say it in front of me."

"I'll say it in front of her."

He came down onto the pavement and crossed to where I was standing.

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he turned around and faced the bus.

"She stays," he said.

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