Page 14 of Charm on the Rocks
“Girls, girls.” The conversation was abruptly halted by Lara’s voice. She raised a hand, her fingers glittering with the different rings she wore on each figure, in order to get the Girls’ attention, and once the room quieted, she cleared her throat. “Now that all of you are here, I have a couple of announcements to make.
“First and foremost, I’m keeping you all on the ice. Those of you who are still shaky with skating, don’t worry, you can just stay by the entranceway to the rink. But I want everyone together which means that during this game, there will be no going through the crowd and no signing memorabilia at our station. I don’t want to scare any of you girls, but my main priority is to keep you safe. And what with Brandon being down at the police station, it could get violent.”
Shocked gasps and quiet mumblings came out of the Girls’ mouths, and they turned to look at each, wondering if the others knew about this.
“Calm down,” Lara said, waving her free hand up and down. “Now, calm down. Seraphina Hanson has ordered more security for tonight so I highly doubt anything will happen, but let’s err on the side of caution, hmm? It will also be announced, just before the game starts, that anything thrown onto the ice besides hats will be cause for arrest.”
“Why would people throw hats onto the ice?” Madison whispered to Amanda. “For hat tricks,” Amanda replied. Madison was about to ask just what a hat trick was when Lara continued.
“Now, listen, as silly as it sounds, we are the heart of the team. You are the heart of the team.” There was a strength in Lara’s voice that Madison had yet to actually hear before. Until now. “I know it’s hard, what with everything going on right now, but we have to keep smiling. If people see us behaving normally, acting calmly, then they’ll be calm and everything will return to normal. Or as normal as they can be. We need to hold things together. We have to inspire hope.”
Madison felt herself oddly touched by Lara’s speech and realized that being a Gulls’ Girl was more than being eye candy. In essence, the Girls held everything together; they were an approachable gateway to the team, and inspired enthusiasm for the team. They were the glue.
Madison was proud to be the glue.
As she changed into her uniform, she wanted to live up to Lara’s creed. She wanted to inspire hope in belly-baring shirts and hot pants.