August 2017
A month later...

A pizza parlour in Plymouth, Michigan is busy due to a particular large group dining on their various types of pizzas: the whole junior team of Canada. They are spread throughout the eating area of the restaurant in their own circle of friends, conversing and eating the delicious lunch.

The bell above the door rings as the door opens, notifying the insiders that someone has entered. Entering the area is Kale Clague in his fashionable Team Canada-themed clothing, which matches with his teammates.

“Ugh, I’m late again,” he mumbles, noticing that all his Canadian teammates are already consuming the pizza.

He stands in front of the doorway, scanning at the situation of the joyous room which offered a challenge in finding an empty seat. “Where to sit…”

“Claguer!” a familiar voice shouts from the deep end of the room.

Kale peers ahead at the direction of the voice.

Sitting in an empty booth facing him is Brett Howden with his perfectly combed hair. He is waving a hand in the air with a bright grin.

With an elated expression, Kale strolls up to him.

“Hey, what’s up?” He slides into the booth in front of him.

“Ah, nothing much,” Brett tells him cooly. “I ordered a full pepperoni pizza—” He holds his hand out at the table in between them, which is bearing a full pepperoni pizza. “—you can share with me.”

Kale’s eyebrows shoot up at the sight of the dish. “Sweet, sounds good!” He picks up a slice and bites into it.

“So, what’s up with you?” Brett continues on, taking another piece from the other side of the pizza.

Kale swallows. “I’m about ready to win this showcase, am I right?” He shoots him a toothy grin.

Brett’s eyes fill with passion. “Oh, yeah!” He swallows. “We are not here in enemy territory for nothing!”

“Yes!” Kale pumps his pizza slice into the air. “USA, you’re going down!” He lowers his slice.

Brett leans back with a crackle of haughtiness. “Haha, that’s right!” He then tears a piece of his slice with his teeth.

Realization then comes across Kale’s focus, causing him to soften his features. “You’re okay with that, even with Jake Dog being with the US?”

Pity grows on Brett’s face. “Ah…well…” He swallows with an uneasy look. “…gotta do whatcha gotta do.” He ends with a shrug.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Kale’s eyes fly open at another thought. “Oh man, and Doc’s on the US too!”

Brett pulls out his smartphone from his shorts’ pocket with his free hand. “Yeah! I’ve been getting lots of texts from Jake Dog…” He peers down at the device and swipes across its screen with his thumb. “...but hopefully Yamma Mamma’s keeping him in check.” He gazes back up at the defenceman. “I can’t have him making me feel bad for him. It’d affect my game.”

“You texted him back?” Kale takes a bite of his slice.

“Once. That turned out to be a three-hour text session.” He rolls his eyes playfully.

Kale chuckles before swallowing. “He misses you, eh?”

Brett takes a glance at his phone before slipping it out of view. “A lot.” He then takes another bite of his pizza before his eyes drift to the other side of the room.

He quickly spots a glare beaming at his direction from the starting goalie of Team Canada: Carter Hart.

Carter’s sharp eyes are narrowed with his red lips as a frown and his thin, yet defined eyebrows lowered.

Brett returns a look of bewilderment with his thick eyebrows knitted. He slowly reverts his attention away from him and back to his eating partner.

He leans over the table and whispers, “What’s up with Hartsy? I thought we fixed him.” He nods toward Carter’s direction.

Kale’s eyebrows shoot up at Brett as he chews. “Hm?” He turns to his right to look across the room.

His gaze lands on Carter’s harsh expression locked on him.

Kale swallows before turning his mouth into an understanding “o.” “Ohhh…” He gradually rotates back to the forward. “...yeah…”

Brett now holds a slice of pizza by his mouth. “What?”

“Um—” Kale leans closer to him and lowers his voice: “—we have bad blood between each other.”

He bunches his eyebrows together in confusion. “What? Still? Why? What did you guys do to each other now?”

“It’s more like ‘what did Carter do to us—Pat, Duker, and me?’”

“What did he do to you guys?” He takes a bite of his hovering pizza.

“Uh, it’s a long story…” Kale pulls away as he mentally rummages for the correct explanation. “He did some freaky Halloween stuff to us and then swapped his powers with Pat. He’s been giving us his craziness and bitterness lately.”

He swallows, still awfully perplexed. “But why would he do that to you guys?”

Kale shrugs. “Beats me. None of us know why. We thought it was just for Halloween until he swapped powers with Pat not too long ago.”

“And he doesn’t like you.” Brett narrows his eyes and points to him with an index finger.

“Apparently not.”

He sighs and shakes head as his expression grows solemn. “This is not good.” He places his pizza slice on a napkin in front of him. “Teammates having bad blood is a recipe for disaster. We all have to get along well to work together and win!” He slams his fist on the table. “It’s the exact reason why we lost the gold medal match in the World Juniors!”

“Hey, I’m cool with Carter,” Kale blurts out. “It’s him with the problem.”

“Then in that case—” He begins scooting himself toward the edge of the booth. “—we’re gonna go talk to him.

Kale follows him with his eyes in surprise as the forward rises to his feet. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't need to—”

He quiets his desperate rambling as he witnesses Brett striding across the restaurant and toward Carter’s direction.

“Okay…” Kale slowly pushes himself out of the booth and onto his feet. He shuffles down Brett’s tracks toward the goalie.

At his own booth, Carter is munching on a cheese pizza alone when someone settles himself in the empty booth in front of him.

“Hello, Hartsy!” Brett chirps warmly with a smirk.

Carter snaps his stern eyes at him. “Hey.” He takes a bite of his pizza.

Kale then silently slips into the booth next to Brett.

Carter raises his eyes from his lunch to give him his famous lour.

“So,” Brett starts off amicably, “I heard—and got the vibe—that you two—” He swishes his pointer finger from Carter to Kale. “—don’t get along with each other.” He folds his arms the table’s surface. “Do you know that’s not the way to win?”

The goalie swallows, reverting his stare at the forward. “So what do you want us to do?”

Brett extends his hands out at him. “Get along with each other! Duh!”

Carter shoots him an offended expression as he tosses his slice onto the tray in front of him. “Don’t ‘duh’ me!”

Brett returns to him a pompous look with a huff. “You asked.”

“Hey, I’m ready to make amends,” Kale pipes in to the two. “I’m cool.”

“I still have a goal to achieve,” Carter states gravely, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Which is to win this showcase!” Brett throws his hands out at him.

“No!” The goalie slams his drumming hand on the table in fury. “Quit assuming!”

Brett reverts his hands over to the small defenceman. “Can’t you at least just be cool with Kale for this whole tournament?”

“And let my guard down?”

Kale gawks at him with utter confusion. “What am I gonna do?”

The goalie leans closer to him, rising from his seat in the booth, with a threatening expression. “I don’t know, what are you gonna do?”

“Carter, please—” Brett gingerly pushes his shoulder away from him, guiding him back into his booth. “—we’re a team.”

Carter sets himself back down. He holds a glare at Kale. He then silently guides himself out from the booth, rises to his feet, and storms away from them.

The two Canadian teammates sit in the tense quietness for a moment, processing the meaning of the goalie’s actions.

Brett then turns to Kale. “Yup, it’s him with the problem.”

Kale does the same. “Told you.”

He lets out a sigh. “I guess we’ll just keep an eye out on him.” He taps on the screen of the Wrist-Moto that is wrapped around his left wrist.

Kale nods his head toward it. “Yeah!” He then looks back up at Brett. “Pizza?”

A delighted grin pops on Brett’s face. “Totally!”

With that, the two exit the booth and return to their own booth to finish their lunch.

Notes

E.8 "The Game of Juniors"
Part 1/8
Episode 8/10