The Life of a Hockey Sister: Welcome to Canada

Chapter Eight

When I got home that night Katie denied that anything happened with Derek. I told her that Brian and Jared were suspicious too, but she still said all they did was mess around for a little bit.

I felt like I did pretty good in the second day of tryouts and apparently, I did because I made Varsity. I was the only Freshman girl to make it. Katie and Brianna both made JV. They were still really happy with how they played. There's a chance that they can play Varsity too, they'll dress and sit the bench sometimes. Brian made the Varsity team too. Jared’s second-string Varsity and first-string JV (talk about an intense schedule) and Derek and Liam just made JV.

Monday morning I'm sitting in Geometry in the back when Cayden strolls in.

"Hey Miss Varsity Hockey Player." Cayden says grabbing the seat by me, "Congrats,"

"Thanks," I say smiling.

"Liam's so depressed."

"Why? He didn't even get cut, being on JV Freshman year is normal. Katie's on JV."

"Who's Katie?" Cayden asks.

"My roommate," I explain, "Besides he's got soccer, isn't he Varsity for that?"

"Yeah he's really good, he's our best Freshman."

"You play soccer?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah I enjoy it, we got a scrimmage tonight you should come watch us."

"What time? I got practice right after school."

"Well somebody's an addict."

"Yeah yeah whatever I know, do you want me to try and catch your scrimmage or not?"

"It's at 7:00,"

"Um practice until 5:30 then lifting until 6:30. As long as I don't get pounded with homework I'll come, I'm going to be late though."

"Why? Lifting's over at 6:30 and the game's at 7:00, it doesn't take a half hour to get to the fields from the rink?"

"Yeah but I'll need to shower cuz I'll smell awful."

"I doubt it, you can't sweat that much can you?" Cayden asks.

"I'll be working out for 3 hours trust me, I'll reek." I assure him.

"Oh well no one attends scrimmages, so you'll be fine."

"Cayden why can't I just shower?"

"Cuz," The teacher walks in so our debate is over.

~~~

After practice and lifting I feel pretty dead. Coach Jackson worked us to the bone in both. If I didn't promise Cayden that I'd go to that dumb scrimmage I would just go to bed. I decide to just shower in the locker room cuz if I see my bed, I'm pretty sure I'll crash. I shower then throw on jeans and a hoodie heading over to the indoor soccer place.

I walk in and find Tara sitting all alone. I go up and join her,

"Hey Tara," Tara turns and looks at me,

"Oh hey Miller, what are you doing here?"

"Can I sit with you?" I ask.

"Sure,"

"There's a player on the team who asked me to come." I say sitting.

"Well I'm pretty familiar with the guys on the team, who was it?"

"His name's Cayden Micheal," Tara grins,

"Aww my baby brother made a friend."

"What?"

"Cayden's my younger brother,"

"Is he really? He's pretty cool, or at least he was until he forced me to come here." I joke.

"He did? He usually only forces me to come."

"Yeah? I wouldn't have cared if we didn't just finish practice."

"What are you tired Miller?" Tara teases.

"Yeah, I guess I'm out of shape."

"Bull crap," Tara says laughing, "Lighten up Miller I was joking. I'm pretty beat too, I just wanna curl up and sleep." I laugh,

"Wow Tara aren't you supposed to be used to this? I mean this is what your 4th year playing?"

"3rd, I got completely cut my Freshman year." Tara admits.

"Does that make you hate people like me?" I ask.

"No, now if I got cut this year and you didn't I would be ticked off. Or if you were cocky instead on insecure."

"Whoa I am not insecure!" I say defensively.

"I always hear you arguing that you're no good."

"Whatever,"

The scrimmage starts so we shut up and pay attention. The team did really good. I have no clue who we played but they were a close match up. We won 5-4 though so that was good. Liam and Cayden came over to talk to me and Tara afterwards. Cayden gives me a hug,

"You showed up!"

"No duh! But I did grab a shower before I came." I tell him.

"I can tell you smell good." Cayden says smiling.

I look at Cayden and Tara. Tara has long, flowing blond curly hair with blue eyes and so does Cayden but of course his hair's shorter then Tara's.

"How could I not tell that you two are related? You're look-a-likes!" I say smiling.

"Yeah he got his good looks from me." Tara says hugging Cayden.

"Tara get off me." Cayden says pushing me.

"What the heck? Make a couple of friends and you get to cool for your big sister?" Tara asks crossing her arms. Cayden rolls his eyes but gives Tara a hug.

"Aw he has a soft size." I tease.

"Are you kidding? He's softer then me!" Tara says.

"Tara shut up," Cayden says moving away from her.

"And I thought I let my older brother get under my skin." I joke.

"Who's your older brother Angie?" Tara asks with interest.

"His name's Grant." I tell her.

"What year is he?" Cayden asks.

"He's a Sophomore." I tell them.

"I've never met him." Cayden says.

"Oh," I just realized that they think he goes to Rivaux too. "He doesn't go here, he goes to school back in the States." I explain.

"Why doesn't he go here?" Liam asks. I laugh,

"Are you kidding? My parents could never afford to send us here."

"Then how are you here?" Cayden asks.

"They offered me a scholarship that lowered the price enough that we could afford it." I admit.

"I thought you were only smart in Math." Cayden says.

"I am," I agree.

"She got a scholarship for hockey then," Tara says, "Anyhow I got tons of homework tonight so I'm leaving. Do you want to walk with me Angie?"

"Depends, will I be considered a suck up to the Captain?" I joke.

"I'm leaving," Tara says walking away.

"Bye guys," I say following Tara.

When I get back to the room, I find Katie asleep on a bean bag chair and Makayla on her laptop. I don't bug either of them and go into the bathroom and change into sweats and a t-shirt. I want to stay up for at least a little bit since it's only 8:30. I realize that I forgot to eat dinner. It's one of those times where I don't wanna eat after my workout, but I burned so many calories I need to. What I want though is sleep, so I decide to forget dinner even though I shouldn't and sleep.

~~~

Katie shakes me awake when the alarm clock goes off. I moan and roll out of bed.

"Where were you last night?" Katie asks combing out her wet hair.

"I went to see Liam and Cayden play soccer." I say getting ready for school. I'm still not very hungry so I just grab a bottle of water out of the mini fridge for breakfast.

"When did you get home?" Katie asks.

"When you were asleep on the bean bag chair." I say nonchalantly.

"Yeah I woke up at like 2:00 a.m. and moved to my bed." Katie says. There's a knock on the door so I go answer it.

"Hey Ang," Derek says coming in.

"Why are you here?" I ask annoyed.

"Angie he's allowed to be here." Katie says tiredly.

"How was practice Angie?" Derek asks trying to be nice.

"Tiring," I say, "Can I skip class?" I ask Katie.

"Do you wanna get kicked off the team?" Katie asks.

"Well I'm gonna get to class." I say grabbing my book bag. Katie laughs,

"Hey wait for us,"

We all head towards the area where our classes are located. Of course, I don't have homeroom with either Katie or Derek, so I leave them to join my class. I get to Science and take my seat between Liam and Brian.

"Did you oversleep?" Brian guesses.

"No, I considered skipping class though." I admit.

"Then you realized if you do, you're going to be in huge trouble?" Liam asks.

"No, I thought I better not risk my hockey season over a little extra sleep." I say resting my head on my desk. Brian kicks me, "Ow what the heck? Why'd you kick me?" I ask annoyed.

"Because if you fall asleep in class, you're going to get a detention and you'll miss practice which won't end good either." Brian says, "Stay awake." I roll my eyes but keep my head up.

The day of course drags on. Liam, Brian, and Cayden are all working on keeping me awake. Brian even walks me back to my room after school's over to make sure I go to practice.

"Brian school's boring so that makes me fall asleep. I won't sleep through practice." I assure him.

"I'm still walking you home and to the rink." Brian says.

"I don't need a babysitter." I say growing annoyed.

"Why are you so moody today?" Brian asks.

"Cuz I want sleep!"

"Why? Didn't you sleep at all last night?"

"Yeah I went to bed at like 8:30."

"Holy crap girl! What's your issue?" Brian asks smiling.

"Brian go get ready for lifting, you're going to be late."

"Ang I start and hour after you. Why can't I walk you to your room?"

"You obviously can cuz you are, it's pointless though since I'm going to be heading directly to the rink." I tell him.

"Oh, well I want to, so I will."

"Whatever,"

We go to my room and I change, I start to feel blah. I make it through the whole day and now I feel sick? No wonder I want to sleep. I start to feel cold, so I go back into the room and put on a hoodie and sweats. I can't seem to get warm.

"Ang it's not that cold, why are you layering up so much?" Brian asks.

"I'm going to be at the Ice Arena it's cold in there." I say grabbing my gear.

"Bull crap, Ang you wear shorts and tank tops to the rink. You okay?"

"I'm fine," I say fanning my face. Brian puts his hand on my forehead.

"Wow! I thought you were hot before but now-"

"Brian," I whine. He gives me a hug and I don't refuse it.

"How miserable do you feel?" Brian asks.

"Not that I think about it? Awful," I say resting my head on his shoulder.

"C'mon," he says taking my hand pulling me over to my bed.

"No," I say pulling my hand back. "I got practice in 45 minutes."

"Ang no way, I'll tell Jackson that you can't make it, you need to rest."

"No way, I'm the only Freshman on Varsity, I have to prove myself." I say clicking to my senses.

"Angie go to bed."

"No," I say leaving.

Brian follows me all the way to the rink telling me to go home. I ignore him and go into the locker room to get ready. I sit and the room spins, I definitely got hammered with the flu. I get dressed and go to the ice for practice for practice. Brian stays and watches for a little bit. I play miserably, and I know it. I'm skating sluggishly, I can hardly keep up. I somehow manage to make it through the whole practice though even if it wasn’t pretty.

When practice is over I quickly undress and put on my sweats and hoodie. I don't bother waiting for Katie or Bri and go directly to the gym. I'm the first player there, Coach Jackson's there too. He comes over to talk to me,

"You okay Miller? You're looking a little slow today." I force a smile,

"Never better," I lie as I feel my head start to pound.

"Then let's pick it up eh?" Coach says patting my shoulder and leaving.

I do my best, but I suck. I can't manage to pick it up at all. Immediately after practice I got back to my room and go to bed.

Katie wakes me up around 8:30 that night.

"What?" I croak.

"C'mon, let's go to the infirmary." Katie instructs.

"No way," I say rolling over.

"Angie if you don't come, I'll go get Megan." Katie threatens.

"I just need to sleep."

"Angie you need medicine, if you don’t, you're going to get dropped to JV."

"What?" I ask sitting up.

"Wow should've known that would get your attention. Angie you sucked today, if you keep playing like that Coach will drop you to JV in a heartbeat."

"No, he won't."

"Yeah he will, so let's go."

Something's telling me Katie's not lying, I probably was way worse today than I could ever imagine. I get up,

"Fine, let's go."

Katie walks me across campus to the infirmary. We go and walk in and it's empty besides the nurse. There's a nice lobby done in a burnt orange color with tons of doors.

"I'll come here after school tomorrow to check on you." Katie says handing me a book bag.

"Wait what? I'll be back in the room in a little bit."

"Bye Angie," Katie says leaving.

"Hey girly how you doing?" the nurse asks walking up.

"Tired, cold, light-headed, headache-"

"Whoa, when'd all this happen?"

"My loss of energy started yesterday." The nurse takes my temperature.

"Well you have a high fever, c'mon back here." She guides me to a room behind one of the many doors. "I'm gonna run a quick flu test." The nurse says leaving the room and shutting the door.

I look around, it's a small orange and purple room. There's a twin bed, sink, bed stand, and small TV. Then it hits me. I'm not going back to my room, I'm gonna be actually staying here until I get better, I decide to lay down. Besides I'm gonna be here for a while and I'm insanely tired. The nurse comes back,

"Alright Sweetie I'm gonna swab your nose. It'll be a little uncomfortable, but I'll make it quick." she assures me.

She does do it quick and leaves to test it. I crawl under the blankets and fall asleep in no time.

~~~

I don't wake up until morning. I still feel drained, I wanna die. I moan and roll over. At least sleep numbs everything. The nurse walks in,

"Hey Sleeping Beauty, how you feeling?" she asks grabbing a tray of food. I look at it and wince,

"Nauseous."

"Okay well at least take your meds." She hands me a small cup with a pill in it. "You tested positive for the flu, once we get into this you should perk up." She watches me take the meds then leaves. I start to hear a vibrate, I dig through the bag Katie gave me and find my phone ringing. It's my Dad so I answer,

"Daddy?" I ask weakly.

"Hey baby I heard you're sick."

"I wanna die," I moan.

"Oh Sweetie, what are you doing getting sick? Don't you know hockey season's starting?" Dad teases.

"Dad not helping." I say a little annoyed.

"Brian told Grant that you practiced last night against your better judgment." I smile a little bit,

"You know it, the only reason I even went to the infirmary was cuz my teammate told me I sucked so bad I'd get dropped to JV if I kept playing like I did." Dad laughs,

"Good, I know there's someone there to take care of you."

"I'm fine Dad I swear it's just the flu, I'm not going to let it get the best of me."

"I know Sweetie, I'm your Dad though so I'm naturally concerned."

"Dad don't be I'm okay, everyone gets sick."

"I know, well I'll let you rest."

"Bye Dad."