4. cool down or warm up?

Kitt felt like her feet hadn't touched the ground in hours. She was hoisted onto the shoulders of her teammates and passed around the ice as spectators flooded the ice.

She finally exited the dressing room almost two hours after the silence erupted into chaos.

Most of her teammates had left already to head to the Coaches house for the after party. Kitt took her time, letting everyone leave, still riding the high of the win.

When she was alone, she face-timed her parents.

"We saw baby! You are amazing!" Her dad answered the phone with a big smile and flushed cheeks.

"I'm so happy you guys got to see!" Kitt smiled into the phone.

"We had a whole watch party! Jim and Arlene are here, Dave and Sam, the whole Hadley clan, The Shiptons brought their kids... everyone in town is watching you sweetie!" He smiled proudly.

"That sounds like chaos." Kitt laughed.

"Maybe a little but it was easier than going out to be with friends, you know. Maybe we can get out when you are playing in your championships in a couple of weeks!" His tone was chipper but she could feel the sadness behind his words.

"How is Mom doing?" She asked scared of the answer but also desperate for some good news.

"She has her good days and her bad. She watched the whole game today." He smiled with tears shining in his eyes.

"Yeah? She sat with all those people?" Kitt was impressed.

"For the first two periods she was out with us but by the third she was tired, so Auntie Emily took her to lay down and they watched you dominate the ice in the bedroom." He tried to smile but the worry lines were evident.

"I can come home." Kitt offered quietly knowing how quickly her dad would refuse.

"Absolutely NOT! There is nothing you can do here except wait. You can get an education there and build a future." He said firmly.

"I'm here if you need me though. I can be there any time, you say the word. I feel like I should be with you, helping you with mom. " She insisted.

"Kittridge Penelope Dorothy Charlotte McCoy! You are exactly where you should be! If anything changes I will let you know, but for now there is absolutely no use in wasting away in Darby, when you can learn and grow in school! I won't hear another word!" He sounded firm. She liked that it actually made her feel better.

"Ok on the condition that you get out at least a little, you can grow and thrive in a tiny house in Darby either." She said feeling her heart swell and a lump form in her throat.

"Deal. Now go celebrate your big win, lovely girl." He blew her a kiss and she pretended to catch it and place it gently on her cheek.

They signed off and she sat in the silence for a minute. She was getting too good at compartmentalizing.

The arena was nearly vacant when she finally emerged from the dressing room. She had taken a long hot shower and then dressed in a casual and comfortable pair of leggings and an oversized sweater she had stolen from her dad's closet on her last visit home.

"Wow, you know how to make a guy wait!" She turned to see Leo leaning against the counter of the closed concession stand with two coffee cups in his hands.

"Who did what now?" She asked looking around.

"I told you I would the you for dinner after the game... I mean that's when I thought I would be celebrating my win and you would be impressed watching me. But I think the reverse works too." He grinned and offered her a cup.

"I said you could take me if you won, you lost, so I guess that means your on your own tonight." She shrugged sniffing the cup to determine its contents.

"Why didn't you tell me you were playing in the game?" He said dropping his arm around her shoulders.

"Why did you just assume I wasn't?" She threw his question back at him.

She opened the small plastic tab on the disposable lid and drained the cooled contents before stepping away from him to toss the cup.

"In my defense, you aren't exactly built like a hockey player." He gestured to her and smiled.She assumed he actually believed that was supposed to be a compliment.

"Yeah, well apparently neither are you, if you get your ass kicked by a bunch of girls." She said using her fake sweet voice before giving a little wave over her shoulder.

"Hey!" He yelled after her.

"Thanks for the coffee." She called not turning back.

***

The after party was a crazy dinner of every kind of take out or delivery they could get and a giant cake coach had made "just in case".

The team laughed and told stories and danced and sang. Family and friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, fans and supporters all filled the large house spilling out into the garage and even the hot tub.

Kitt couldn't wait to escape once she had had her fill of food. She was tired, but thanks to the coffee she took from Leo she was able to make it through most of the evening.

Kitt snuck out of the garage at the first opportunity. She ordered an Uber from the end of the driveway with a smile on her face. The party would be rahing on for a few more hours and she needed her bed.

***

Kitt woke up Sunday morning and she could feel in her bones that something had changed. She couldn't put her finger on it just yet, but she knew instinctively.

She made a cup of coffee from the little pods in her room and wrapped herself in the giant fluffy blanket from her bed before going to sit out on the porch with her drink.

She was lucky her room was on the back corner of the second floor so she couldn't be seen unless someone else was crazy enough to be out on the balcony.

The air was different. She felt like she had jumped time lines. Everything looked the same, but somehow it wasn't.

Kitt returned to her room to check her phone only to discover she had forgotten to plug it in and it was completely dead.

It was probably for to best any way. She had to catch up on her assignments from the last week, which she had basically been ignoring to prepare for the game.

"It wasn't even the payoffs!" She said laughing at herself.

She made another cup of coffee and emptied a box of granola bars onto her night stand before settling in against her pillows with her lap top.

***

BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Kitt bolted upright in her bed. She must have fallen asleep. Her lap top was open but in sleep mode and she was surrounded by granola bar wrappers. Her stomach lurched as she got up, signaling she had skipped more than just breakfast.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Josie demanded as she burst into Kitt's room before she could even fully open the door.

"Sorry. But also, she's not wrong." Keisha said following her.

"I told you, I have to catch up on my assignments today." Kitt said stretching her neck that was stiff from falling asleep sitting up.

"But where were you? On the moon?" No one has heard from you since you dipped last night." Josie spun on one foot, her eyes looking wild.

"I had to study." Kitt said again slowly.

"Where in nineteen fifty seven?" Josie demanded.

Kitt looked to Keisha for clarification.

"You are a pandemic girl." Keisha said nodding.

"What?" Kitt was even more confused.

"A full on disease!" Keisha said not making it any clearer.

"Am I going crazy or do neither of you make any sense right now?" Kitt asked looking from one wide eyed face to the other and back.

"Viral! She means you went like super. Viral." Josie said.

Kitt's sleepy brain was slow to catch up.

"I'm not sick, is something going around?" Kitt was feeling foggy and uncomfortable.

"No! Your video, of you scoring yesterday, against the goalie? His face is all red and evil and here you are in a fucking sparkly Pink tutu down right dominating! That little turn of yours to score? It's EVERYWHERE." Josie finally calmed down enough to explain.

"Come on, Coach wants to see you in her office." Keisha said tossing her a hoodie and jeans from her chair. "But you might want clothes on."

***

An hour later Kitt sat in complete silence in one of the large board rooms at the Athletics Center.

Some of her teammates sat around her as she just stared at the now blank screen.

"So? You have a lot to think about." Coach said sitting for the first time since Kitt appeared in front of her.

"I just want to play hockey. It was an exhibition game. I just want to play hockey." Kitt said.

"Ladies? Why don't you go and let me talk to Kitt?" Coach shuffled the other players out of the room.

"This could be a hood thing. You have a platform now, and a voice. Use it for good." Coach said in a tone Kitt had never heard.

Leaving the conference room Kitt didn't know where she was going until she ended up at the side of the river in Sherwood Forest. She plopped down on an exposed rock to stare at the water as it moved in and around the rocks and ice on the sides of the river. Across from where she sat she could see under the ice shelf on the far side. The water moved in no apparent hurry to get anywhere, but no mater what was in its way, it kept moving.

Her performance at the game had been broad cast by the university, mostly because there was nothing better for them to show. The exhibition game was a classic and alumni and family or friends usually tuned in to offer some support. Sometimes even giving a donation to the causes they support.

The game yesterday broke records, and not just for the university. The collegiate sports association said it had the most calls, emails and social media interactions they had ever seen for a single event.

The video had been shared over five million times in less than a day. Kitt felt her stomach lurch and she leaned over a vomited.

***

"I really don't want to be an asshole, but like I have class!" Kitt said quietly to Josie who was blocking her from a group of students walking by.

"I know, and to think if I hadn’t been there to clear the path for you, you wouldn't be famous now." Jossie nodded with a slick nod like the slimy guys in 80's movies.

"You joke, but people know my name! Like complete strangers know my name!" Kitt said looking around a corner before hurrying to her next class.

"Ok that is creepy, but ride the wave baby, this will all be over in a hot minute, what will you have to show for it if you hide?" Josie pointed at her. She disappeared as Kitt entered the classroom.

"That is an excellent point! What will I have? What can I do?" The wheels were once again spinning, and Kitt knew she had to make the most of this opportunity. She was going to put the puck princesses on the map and then burn down the patriarchy.

All while wearing a fucking pink sparkly tutu.