Hat Trick by W. C. Mack Read Free Book Online Page A

my tracks.
    Wait a second.
    “I have new socks?”
    “Two pairs,” she said, like I hadn’t just freaked out about not having any. “I bought them at the end of last season.”
    Man, was she tricky! I spun around to race up the stairs, and remembered halfway up to shout, “Thanks, Mum!”
    “Shut up, Nugget!” Wendy shouted from her room.
    “J.T.” I muttered.
    I grabbed my socks, which were still in their packaging, and raced back downstairs to shove them into my hockey bag.
    “Ready?” Mum asked as she opened the door for me.
    “Yup,” I told her, hoisting the huge bag onto my back. The weight almost knocked me over.
    “What happened to your hair?” Dad asked.
    “Nothing,” I said, turning toward the door.
    “It has bubbles in it.”
    The shampoo! “Someone flushed the toilet when I was in the shower,” I sighed.
    Mum lifted her coffee cup toward her mouth, but not before I heard her chuckle.
    “It’s not funny.”
    “You’re right,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m the one who flushed it. I’m sorry honey, I just wasn’t thinking.”
    “Good luck at practice,” Dad said, then started singing some weird song about tiny bubbles.
    I thought he was making it up until Mum started in as well. I scowled at no one in particular as I pulled the doorclosed behind me. Just as it clicked shut, I heard Wendy yell, “Are you kidding me with the singing? Seriously! I’m trying to sleep!”
    Mum was pretty quiet for the first few minutes of the drive, and I hoped she wasn’t mad at me.
    “Thanks again for getting the socks, Mum,” I told her.
    “No problem.”
    I looked out the window and thought for a moment or two. It wasn’t like buying me new socks was the only nice thing she’d done for me lately. I’d just finished eating a peanut butter sandwich she got up early to make for me. “And for all the other stuff you do, too,” I added.
    “It’s all part of being a mum,” she said, reaching over to give my knee a squeeze.
    “Kenny’s mum doesn’t do all that stuff,” I told her.
    That’s when it hit me.
    Kenny!
    “Nuts!”
    “What?” Mum asked, hitting the brakes.
    “Kenny needs a ride to practice!” I couldn’t believe I forgot!
    “Today?” Mum gasped.
    “Yes. Uh, right now.”
    “Good grief,” she groaned, pulling off the road and turning around so we could go back for him. “Why didn’t I know anything about this?”
    “He only asked me yesterday.”
    “You’re not answering the question,” she said, shooting me a look out of the corner of her eye.
    “Because I forgot to ask you,” I sighed.
    “There’s been an awful lot of forgetting lately, Jonathan. Please tell me you remembered to do your Math homework.”
    “I did,” I told her, with a nod.
    Well, the regular work, anyway. That extra assignment was a stupid idea. Why had I even asked for it? And could I honestly finish it during a fifteen minute recess? If I didn’t, would it count as missed homework, or just a missed opportunity to win Mr. Holloway over?
    Before I had time to really think about it, we were at Kenny’s house. Luckily, the Cavanaughs’ kitchen light was on and I could see my buddy standing at the window, waiting for us. I helped him load his bag into the back of the van, and when he climbed in next to me, he looked like someone had glued his eyelids together, too.
    “Thanks for the ride, Mrs. McDonald,” Kenny said, buckling his seatbelt.
    “No problem,” she told him, but she caught my eye in the rear-view mirror and I had a feeling she’d have more to say about it later on.
    * * *
    Practice was insane, and I’m not just saying that because I did a faceplant when we were skating drills and ended up with a bloody nose. I’m saying it because Coach O’Neal told us it was time to start taking the game seriously, and that meant skating hard and fast for what seemed like forever.
    I’d thought my workouts during the summer would give me a serious edge over the rest of the guys