Bad Calls: Sam the Hockey Player (Pee Wee), #2

By Frank Scalise

Sam the Hockey Player (Peewee #2)

 

Eleven-year-old Sam Parker is a hockey player who has always had fun playing the game. But that was before a bully at school starts hounding him. To make matters worse, even the refs seem to have it in for him, making a series of bad calls that costs his team a game.

 

Flustered by the constant hassle from the bully and his gang. and frustrated with the way things are going on the ice, Sam decides to take things into his own hands to solve both problems. His choices only make things worse, and his troubles seem to pile up. Worse yet, no one seems to understand — not his teachers, not his parents, and not even his best friend, Jill.

 

Sam will have to figure out how to solve this problem, and learn how to deal with frustrating and unfair events – both on and off the ice.

 

Play through it.
Life is hockey. Hockey is life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Code 4 Press
• Release date: Oct 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223261759

Frank Scalise

Frank is a recreational hockey player.

Book preview

Bad Calls

A Sam the Hockey Player Novel

By

Frank Scalise

Bad Calls: A Sam the Hockey Player Novel

By Frank Scalise

Copyright 2021 Frank Scalise

Published by Code 4 Press, an imprint of Frank Zafiro, LLC

Cover Design by Alex McVey

This book is for Wiley, the best boy.

Play through it.

Hockey is life. Life is hockey.

Prologue

Sam was a born hockey player.

That’s what my dad always says and it makes me feel proud. There’s something about the idea of being meant to be a hockey player that makes me feel special. Maybe it’s because it feels like destiny. Or maybe just that being a hockey player means being part of a team. A team always has your back. With a team, you’re never alone.

I’m eleven and half now, in my first year of Peewee. I’ve been playing hockey for as long I can remember. From the very first moments on the ice to my very first team to now, I’ve never felt alone. Even after my concussion earlier this year or when I got the bombshell news that my parents were getting divorced, I didn’t feel completely alone. Hockey always made it better. My teammates, especially my best friend, Jill, were there for me. They never let me down.

Then, in the second half of my season, something changed. It was unexpected and swift, and like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It left me feeling abandoned, scared, and alone.

Worse yet, not even hockey seemed to help.

You know it’s pretty bad when the best thing in the world doesn’t make it better.

1

Over winter break, the unthinkable happened.

Nate Bridger got even bigger.

I mean, the kid was already just about the biggest kid in the school. Now, he might actually be the biggest. I swear, he grew a foot. That's twelve inches. And I'm not even kidding.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. But the thing is, he didn't just grow upward. He got bigger all around. And it wasn't like he ate too much Christmas dinner or candy or whatever and just got fat. It was more like he took a bodybuilder pill that gave him muscles. Or maybe he borrowed them from a fifteen year old or something.

Either way, no matter how you stacked it, Nate was bigger.

That wasn't all. With all the extra size came extra meanness, too. I could see it in his eyes. More snarl. And more joy in being mean, too, which I have a tough time understanding. I'd ask my dad about it to see if he could explain, but I only see him a couple of days a week, and I never seem to remember to ask him stuff like this when we're together.

And it's not like I can ask my mom. Maybe that was okay when I was six or seven, but I’m eleven now going on twelve. I was almost a teenager. So I couldn't be running to ask mommy about man stuff.

The third thing I noticed about Nate after Christmas break was that he seemed to suddenly have friends. He'd always had an occasional toady that followed him around and laughed at his jokes. But the first day back from break, he had half a dozen kids hanging around him, acting like he was a rock star. All of them laughed at his jokes. Most of them looked almost as mean as him.

I saw them hanging out near the drinking fountain right before home room. I'd just got off the bus and trudged up the snowy walk to the front doors. Maybe my feet weren't moving too lightly. I'd just had the first truly terrible Christmas of my life. How bad was it? Well, I was actually happy to be back at school. That’s how bad. But when I saw Nate and his crew, my heart sank.

He was bigger.

And meaner.

And he had friends.

Great. Nate had scored the bully hat trick.

And then his eyes fixed on me.

2

"Hey, look. It's Spam."

Several sets of eyes snapped over to me. All at once, their eyes narrowed.

I didn't answer Nate. Instead, I turned left and headed down the hall toward home room.

Behind me, Nate's voice boomed. You can run, Spam, but you can't hide.

His gang's laughter chased me down the hall. I had to stop at my locker, and the loud voices rang in my ears. I fumbled with my locker combo twice before finally snapping it open. The halls were thinning out by the time I headed to homeroom. By the time I got there, my cheeks were burning.  I dropped my books onto my desk and sat heavily into my seat.

My best friend, Jill, was already in her chair, reading a book. Without looking up, she asked, You know what I like about coming back from winter break?

Nope.

Nothing, she said, grinning.

I didn't answer.

Jill shrugged. Actually, I like that it's a new term, and that we get a new schedule. That's kinda fun.

I guess.

Jill turned toward me, noticing my mood. What's wrong?

Nothing, I grunted.

Whatever. What is it, Sam?

Jill has been my best friend since...well, since forever. That's probably why she can read me as easily as the book in front of her. Most of the time, it's nice to have someone who knows me that well. But sometimes, it's a little annoying.

I sighed. It's Nate.

She wrinkled her nose. That meathead? Again?

Have you seen him? I asked.

About a hundred zillion times since second grade, Jill answered. Why?

"No, I mean have you seen him today?"

Jill shook her head.

Well, he's gi-normus, I said. It's like he grew a foot over Christmas break.

Jill fixed me with a doubtful stare. Sam.

What?

No one grows a foot in just two weeks.

I shrugged. Nate did.

She thought about it for a few seconds. I haven't seen him much in the last month or two. Have you?

Now I had to think about it. No, I finally answered. I guess not. At least, not that I remember.

So he's probably been growing all that time, and you just didn't notice it, Jill explained. Or you're exaggerating.

I'm not exaggerating!

Before Jill could answer, Mrs. O'Halloran stood up from her desk. That was the signal to be quiet, so we zipped our lips.

Mrs. O'Halloran welcomed us back from break, and asked a few of us how our vacations went. I was glad she didn't ask me. I didn't want to talk about the worst Christmas in the history of my life or have to pretend it was so much fun.

When the bell rang for first period, Jill and I both headed to our math class. In the hall, she asked me, Why do you care about Nate, anyway? We only have to play his team a couple more times this season.

You don't understand, I told her. He beat me last time we played.

"The Ducks beat us, Jill corrected. And so what? We're five and two since then."

"The so what is that he won. Now he thinks he can push me around because of it. And not just on the ice."

Jill didn't answer right away. We walked into Mr. Dvorak's math classroom and found our seats. Once we both had our pencils and books out, she leaned toward me a little. Maybe he's just a big talker, she offered.

He's big, all right.

Besides, last time he picked on you, he got a surprise. She said it with a slight tone of disapproval.

I remembered. I'd been angry about my parents’ separation, and Nate just picked a bad day to start in on me. I punched him in the nose. Everyone knew it was out of character for me, but I still got in trouble for it.

I think that punch only made things worse, I said. It made him look bad, so now he has to do something about it.

Has he yet?

I shook my head. Not yet. But I saw him right before home room and he made sure to let me know he noticed me. I thought about his crew of friends. But that wasn't the worst part, I told her.

The worst part? Jill asked, but by then Mr. Dvorak started talking about equations, and we both had to pay attention. I'm okay at math, but it takes some effort. Jill was better at it, which worked out pretty well sometimes, because she helped me if I got stuck on a concept.

We weren't able to continue our conversation until class ended, and I had to get to the gym for P.E., so Jill just gave me a hurried wave and a see you at lunch before she headed on her way, too.

While I hustled to the gym, I thought about what she said about Nate's attitude just being talk. She was right that kids sometimes chirped without anything behind the words. It happened every game in hockey, and at school, too. Maybe that's all Nate Bridger needed to do. If he talked tough, his new pals would think he was tough, and that was what he really wanted, wasn't it? All I had to do was avoid him, and if I couldn't avoid him, then ignore him as best I could.

I felt pretty good about figuring out my problem mostly on my own, and my last few steps before I got to the locker room were lighter.

When I pushed open the locker room door, though, I heard the familiar, braying laughter of Nate Bridger. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure about my plan anymore.

3

I managed to slip past the first row of benches without being noticed. When I got to my locker, I twisted the dial quickly, hoping to get changed and out into the gym before anyone saw me. I stopped on my last number and tugged on the lock handle.

It didn't move.

I took a deep breath and started the combination over. The next row over, I could hear Nate bragging.

By the end of the season, I'm going to be the number one goal scorer in the league, he told his crew.

A couple of them laughed, then faltered. They must have realized he wasn't joking.

I stopped at my second number and reversed to the final one.

How're you going to do that? one of them asked. I was pretty sure I recognized the voice as Ethan. He was almost as big as Nate and looked enough like him that they could be cousins. I wondered when the two of them became such good friends. Ethan and I used to ride the same bus in grade school. We’d even sat together sometimes and traded hockey cards.

I'm gonna park in front of the net and bash in every rebound, Nate proclaimed.

You could totally do that, I heard Caleb tell him. Caleb was a smaller guy that I always figured was the kind of kid Nate liked to pick on. Maybe that's why they were friends now.

The thing was, Caleb and I kinda used to be friends ourselves. Not like Jill and me, of course. And not the hang out every day kind, either, but the kind that gets invited to each other's birthday party. I could still remember four years ago when Caleb got sick at my party and puked up birthday cake.

But four years ago was forever.

I don't know... Ethan said doubtfully.

Who's gonna move me? Nate asked. "You?"

I landed on the final number of my combination and tugged down on the handle. This time, the lock opened. I kicked off my shoes and pulled my shirt over my head.

What about Parker? Ethan asked, and I froze, my arms in the air and my shirt still covering my head.

"You mean Spam? Nate jeered. He's not moving me, either."

No, Ethan said, I know that. But he scores goals.

So?

So he scores a lot. He might score more than you, that's all.

Well, maybe you should go be his friend, Nate growled, if you love him so much.

No way, Ethan scoffed. I can't stand that guy. He's a stuck up goody-good. I'm just saying he scores goals.

Nate was quiet a minute, then he said in a low voice, We'll see about that.

A cold sensation splashed on the small my back and washed through me. What did he mean by that?

Ethan and Caleb chuckled like a couple of evil gargoyles. I wondered if they knew what he meant, or if they were just sucking up.

Come on, Nate ordered. "Let's go line up