Fire & Ice

twentyone

The next morning when I woke up for my classes Becca was waiting outside my dorm room for me. I let her in while I made Cassie and I breakfast. Just as I plated the eggs Becca stole my plate and I just rolled my eyes and made myself some more food. When we finished breakfast Becca and I left for our classes after I gave Cassie a kiss. We didn't make it far from the dorm hall when Stacey walked up to both of us. She slung her arm around Becca's shoulders and I could see my friend relax in her hold. It put a smile on my face as I watched Becca lean her head into Stacey's shoulder and we continued to walk to our first class of the day.

            Today's classes were okay as they were more like study sessions for our midterms coming up later this week. When my classes were over I went over to the rink and laced up my skates to get some time on the ice. There are public skate sessions tonight and I'm going to pick up a shift to make a little extra money before I head home at the end of the week. As I got onto the ice I took a deep breath and did a few laps. I could feel the ache in my chest but I just pushed through it. I wanted to put in some work right now on my own before practice tomorrow.

            There isn't anybody else on the ice right now but the nets are set up so I went back into the locker room and grabbed my sticks and some pucks. When I got back to center ice I dumped the bucket of pucks on the ice and took a few of them towards the net to shoot around. I went light at first getting used to the motion again with my ribs and when I thought they were warmed up enough I tried some slap shots. This time I was expecting the pain so when I felt it shoot through my side it wasn't too much of a surprise. The feeling was uncomfortable but manageable. During a game with all the adrenaline going through me I doubt I would feel the pain till after the game is over.

            Just as I finished shooting around I heard someone come onto the ice behind me. I turned around and found a few of the guys team members in practice uniforms take the ice. Turns out the men's team was having a last minute practice and so I had to leave the ice. As I was taking my skates off I heard a door shutting so I looked up from the floor and found coach standing in the middle of the locker room. I didn't pay him any mind as I finished wiping down my skates and put them away.

            When I was finished I was about to leave the locker room when I heard him call my name. I rolled my eyes and walked over to his office. As I got there I left the door open and walked inside. I didn't bother sitting in the chairs in front of his desk, just stood by the door hoping not to be here long.

            "How is your side feeling?" He asked.

            "Ready to play" I answered.

            "I saw you practicing just now, you look good." He said.

            "I feel good, I expect to be going on the trip to Boston." I said.

            "You're post made it seem like you needed to be elsewhere then playing hockey." Coach said.

            "Well you said I needed to change my attitude, consider it changed. If I'm not on that Boston trip, you are going to have a more explaining to do to the reporters why your number one pick was left behind again." I said and clenched my jaw. When coach didn't respond right away I turned my back to him and left his office. It felt pretty go to tell him off a bit. He deserved it. I checked in with the manager of the rink to confirm my shift for the night before I made the walk back to my dorm.

            The rest of the week seemed to fly by. With studying for and taking my midterms along with practicing harder to get back up to speed, it didn't leave much time to do anything else. Cassie and I didn't really see each other as she was in the library most of the time while I was training. The only time we really saw each other was when we eventually fell asleep together in the same bed.