The Hat Trick

chapter seventeen

later that day after waking up, I realized I needed to be at practice soon.

I pulled myself out of bed and put on some old clothes since I'd be changing out of them soon anyway.

as I was leaving the dorm building, I noticed Adam walking towards me.

"hey, mind if I walk with you to practice?" he asked. "not at all." I giggled.

he smiled and pushed open the door for me. "thanks." I said quietly as I walked out.

it was warm and windy out. I really loved the weather in California.

"are you worried about the game?" Adam asked. "yeah. I've seen the team. they're really intimidating." I said.

"we'll be fine. we're a good team. don't worry Hals." he said as he wrapped his arm around me playfully. I giggled as I kept walking.

we walked for a few more moments before he grasped my fingers and wove them with his. we smiled at each other.

I looked around to make sure Luis was nowhere to be seen, just to be safe.

when we approached the doors to the locker room, we let go of each other's hands. we didn't want Luis, or any of our teammates at that matter, to see us like this.

Adam kindly opened the door for me and we entered the locker room, where most of my team already was.

I quickly got into my gear and tied my skates tightly.

a few minutes later, we were all gathered on the ice, skating from blue-line to blue-line as a warm up.

it was funny and cute watching Luis. he had so much trouble stopping, and that was the whole point of the drill.

while I skated back and forth, I was very focused. I knew I needed all the practice I could get, so it was best that I didn't fool around.

on my way to the blue-line on our last lap, I could hear Luis desperately trying to stop as he skated at top speed towards me.

I tried to move out of the way because I knew he'd hit me if I didn't, but before I could skate over, it was too late.

he rammed into me from behind and the two of us hit the ice pretty hard.

I put my arms out to stop myself and landed hard on my wrists.

lucky for him, I broke Luis' fall since he had landed on top of me.

we both laid there for a moment, in pain and shock.

I looked up to see a crowd hovering above  him and I, which included coach Bombay and Miss McKay, who had terrified expressions on their faces.

I could hear a blur of 'are you okay' and such things, but neither Luis or I answered or got up.

I felt something touch my hand and looked up to see Adam, who was trying to pull me out from underneath Luis.

finally, Luis pulled himself up and off of me, then Adam helped me up to my feet.

my wrists, hips, and knees hurt terribly.

I could hardly skate but I needed to get off the ice, so I weakly and slowly began to make my way off.

Luis noticed me struggling and limply skated to me, put my arm around his shoulder and assisted me, while everyone else looked concerned. coach followed him and I.

Luis helped me over to a bench and as soon as I sat down, I began to sob.

"hush. shhh, Hallie." quietly said Luis while he took off my helmet and brushed my hair out of my face gently.