Hockey is My Life, Plus Some Others

Chapter 2

*Fulton POV*
I wake up to a rush of emotions that I know my sister has left for me there is a feeling of happiness, does she delight in my pain? But there is also a feeling of calmness, what does that mean? I hear the door open, Mom hasn't even left for work yet so it's not her. I go downstairs with my hockey stick in hand, ready to kill any intruders, I find AJ. I drop my hockey stick. I run up behind her and squeeze her as tight as possible. AJ makes me put her down so she can hug me. All I feel is immense joy. "Thank you for coming home and I promise I won't be as overprotective." I say. "Fulton, you know you can't keep that promise." AJ replies. "You're right but I'll try, okay?" I respond. All of a sudden she starts crying. "What's wrong?" I ask. "Nothing. This is perfect." She replies.

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"Do I have too?" I ask AJ. "Yes you have to." AJ replies. "Let's just get this over with." I reply. It has been a month and AJ's sprained ankle has healed and she has been cleared to skate. We skate down the street towards Charlie's house. We are half way there when AJ asks if I have the gift. "Yes I have it." I reply showing her the gift box. We arrive at Charlie's house and AJ rings the doorbell. Charlie opens the door and starts to greet AJ but when he sees me he drops off his sentence and freezes in fear. "I-  I wanted to say I'm sorry, and, uh, I brought you a gift." I manage to say. I hand him the gift box and I start to turn away when he invites us to come in. We come inside and take off our skates. We stay for dinner and I think that me and Charlie might become friends.

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AJ's POV*
Me and Fulton decide to spend some time at park. We're skating down all the trails, over bridges, and occasionally going down by riverbank. We have been at the park for around an hour when we see most of the ducks skating on a nearby path. I spot the hawks about to pull a really mean prank. I tell Fulton and we devise a plan. I find a pair of hedge trimmers and snip the string while Fulton ties them up. I quickly realize that Fulton is stripping them down to their underwear. That wasn't part of the plan but it's fine. By now I can see that the ducks are looking at those hawks and Fulton. "That'll teach them to mess with the ducks! Yeah!" Me and Fulton say in perfect unison as we join the rest of the ducks. It has been 1-2 months since I've seen some of them. As we approach Coach Bombay we start chanting "DUCKS! DUCKS! DUCKS!" We see a limo pull up and a guy poke the top part of his body stick out of the sunroof. He tells why he's here and asks us if we want cards. I stay where I am and Fulton returns with two cards, one for me and one for him.

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"Tell me about my new kids." Bombay says. The guy with the cards from yesterday, I figure out his name is Tibbles, introduces each kid and tells a fact about them. The last kid puts Ken Wu on top of the goalpost after pushing my friends around. I go to help Ken get down but the last kid, whose name is Dean, knocks me down. Fulton starts to come over and do something but I shoot him a look that says I have a plan, just trust me. I approach Dean without him realizing and check him into the boards, when he comes at me I hit in just the right spot and he flips over my head. I look him dead in the eyes and say "I may be a girl but you shouldn't mess with me or my friends." This just makes him mad and he checks me hard into the boards. I fall down and I can't get up. I black out, undoubtedly from pain.

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*Fulton's POV*
"What did you do?" I scream at Dean. It takes the entire team, including the rookies, to keep me away from Dean. I calm down and skate over to AJ, she's lying on her side with her eyes closed and slowly rocking back and forth, clutching her arm. All I feel is pain. I hurt so much. I'm barely conscious when the medics arrive. I go with her into the ambulance trying to keep myself composed. When we arrive at the hospital I pass by mom wheeling a patient towards the elevator. She catches my eye and asks one of her work friends to finish while she dealt with this. She asks what happened, and all I can manage is a grunt. Bombay gives her the long and short of it. I hurt so much that I can't even stay awake. Mom has to wake me up to go see AJ. The pain is still pretty terrible but not as bad.
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*AJ's POV*
I ache all over and much, much worse I feel Fulton's pain, too. It's so terrible that I pass out.

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This is the fifth day I've been in the hospital. As far as I know, neither Mom nor Fulton have left the hospital since I arrived. Fulton is seated right next to me and clutching my hand. I slip my hand out from his and he darts awake. "Hi," I croak out, right now it even hurts to breathe. Fulton responds with a look that says Save your energy, OK? I respond with a look that says Dean? "He feels absolutely terrible and I would have killed him if the team hadn't held me back." Fulton says. My expression asks Hockey? "The games have been postponed but everyone flys out in two days. I'll try to stay with you." My expression pleads this You can still play! Don't stop because I'm injured. This is your dream! Please don't let me spoil it! Just then, the doctor comes in and says I'm cleared to go home. "Can I take her to hockey practice?" Fulton asks. "As long as she just sits in the stands." The doctor replies. I find out that I sprained my wrist and chipped part of my ankle. For now, I will be in a wheelchair, but I start crutches when my wrist heals. Fulton's expression darkens, I can tell he's imagining killing Dean in a million different ways. "I'll call Bombay," Mom says. She walks out of the room and you can hear slightly muffled speech. A few minutes later mom walks back in and says "Bombay's working on it, they think they might be able to push your first hockey game back one or two weeks." "That would not be long enough for her to heal all the way." The doctor says. I do the math in my head. A couple weeks plus 1.5 months. "Would two months be enough for her to play?" Fulton read my mind. "If she's careful." The doctor replies. "Then can I go?" I manage to murmur. "What was that." The doctor asks me. "She asked if she could go." Fulton says. "She would have to wait until she can do crutches." The doctor replies. Mom runs home and grabs me some clothes. She comes back with a t-shirt, some sweatpants, and a sweatshirt. The t-shirt is a Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine shirt. My favorite song and band, my mom has perfect taste. They put a cast on my ankle and give me a splint for my wrist. I'm wheeled out of the hospital and to the car. Mom helps me into the car while Fulton puts the wheelchair in the back of the SUV. We drive home. Mom helps me out and Fulton gets the wheelchair we go inside and I lay on the couch. I take a nap and Fulton wakes me up when it's time for practice. Mom takes us to practice. Me and mom sit in the stands and watch practice, every so often I catch Dean staring at me. I quickly look away and watch Fulton. They are scrimmaging and Fulton goes in for a slap shot just as Tibbles and a woman come in. I hear someone scream "Look out!" Dean just replies by saying "What a bunch of wussies!" His eyes go wide as he dives out of the way. The puck ricochets around the room and I hear the woman Tibbles came in with shout "Duck!" Tibbles gets hit in the head with the puck, he passes out. I let out a gasp as the team skates over and watches as Coach Bombay and the woman try to wake Tibbles up.