By Milo Fakir

Man, I can’t wait to bite into a juicy chicken wing! thought Alex. 

He was standing at the marble counter in the kitchen, filling up his glass. But he was not paying attention, and it overflowed. He went to take a sip as he was walking to the living room when, all of a sudden, the glass began to glide out of his slippery hands.  

“Darn!” muffled Alex.  He dropped the glass, and it broke. The water spilled everywhere.  He was red in the face.  “Well, at least I am going to the hockey game today with my cousins.”

Alex loves sports. He is a very athletic kid, and he loves recess the most.  He never wants to miss out on something to do with sports. Alex is 12 years old and is a tall sixth grader.

***

Alex’s checkered Vans launched onto the escalator at the Prudential Center.  He was so excited to go to his first professional hockey game that his leg started shaking like a salt and pepper shaker. Alex was looking around at the jerseys that were framed on the wall. He was wearing a black hoodie with a Devils jersey on top. 

Alex asked his cousin Jake, “Where are we sitting?”

Jake said, “We are sitting 12 rows up next to the corner goalpost.”

Alex was excited to go to the Devils game, as excited as he would be on Christmas Day opening presents under the tree. 

Alex lives in Newark. He has one brother who did not come to the game because he did not want to, which is very good for Alex because his brother is annoying. But he still loves him. Alex is grateful that Sam is not going, but he knows that it is not good for his mom because his brother does not stop talking, like ever. It is like nails on a chalkboard listening to him.

Alex reached his seat and looked around.  It smelled like sweat from the players, French fries, and chicken tenders. A guy entered the row behind him. Alex thought nothing of it because it was just another person out of 1,500 people in the stadium. He was so excited, he barely even noticed him. 

Alex’s other cousin, Keely, did not think anything of it either when she saw the guy.  He said hello to her and she said hello back too. But soon the guy became super-annoying. He was screaming at the players to score a goal.  It was like listening to Sam. It was like a teacher trying to teach eighth graders geometry. Alex tried to focus on the game. The stadium was cool. There were a bunch of stairs leading down to the boards around the ice. 

Jake said, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get a pretzel.” There was a tiny chip in the last stair Jake was climbing.

It was the second period.  The score was one to one. All of a sudden, Alex felt something dripping down his forehead. It smelt sweet. The drink was all over him, and he was soaked. It was like he was standing in the middle of the street during a rainstorm.  Alex even had some in his mouth. Coke! He clenched his fist and ground his teeth. Alex was thinking about grabbing a hockey stick and beating the guy behind him until he started to cry. But he would never do that.

Alex swiftly turned around to see who had spilled the Coke on him.  The guy didn’t even realize he had done it because he was so into the game. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt with a Devils jersey on top of it. He had sandy blonde hair.

Alex turned back to his cousins and said, under his breath, ‘’Can we get some chicken wings to make me feel better?”

When Jake came back with the steaming wings, Alex began to cheer up.

“You smell sweet,” Jake joked.

The wings were delicious. And he ended up having a great time with his cousins.