Falling For a Hockey Player

Chapter 3 - Injured

There was nothing worse than waking up on a sunny, summer morning and knowing that the holidays were over and it was time to go to school again. I pulled on my sweater and grabbed my bag. My uniform was so uncomfortable and I hated school. School for me was my worst nightmare. I didn't like to keep a lot of friends because I suffered with depression and I never trusted anyone at school. I had a few friends who I liked to keep close, but other than that I kept quiet at school. I hated most of my lessons and didn't really get on with the teachers, though I always tried my best with all of my course work.

'Caitlyn!' I heard a voice shout from behind me. I turned around to see one of my best friends, Courtney.

'Hi!' I replied, giving her a long hug. Courtney was one of my closest friends and we had always told each other everything. I hadn't seen her during the half term break and I had missed her. She had text me telling me that she had something important to tell me.

'Heyyy! How are you? Come and sit in my tutor,' so I did. I went and sat with Courtney and Amelia and we sat and had a quick catch up. The bell rang. Great. I had missed the whole of Registration without going to my tutor room. This meant only one thing: Detention.

'Caitlyn. It's your first day back! You're gonna have to try harder than this!' My mum babbled on our way to the ice arena.

'A detention on your first day. It's your final year in school Caitlyn, you need to really do everything you can this year!'

'I know mum, I know! ' I sighed. It didn't bother me though, I never liked school anyway. In a matter of moments i'd be in the one place where I felt free.

I slowed to a stop at the side of the rink, my chest rising and falling at a quick pace. I had attempted a move where you balance on one foot with your other leg raised behind you. It was the first time I had attempted this move and I was having to put in twice the amount of effort to avoid falling. I looked to the right to see the Jesters emerging from their changing room tunnel. I turned around and glided back up the ice towards Amy.

'Great Caitlyn, just working on extending those arms and it'll be perfect!' She said, smiling and turning her attention to the younger skaters. I was so glad I had started skating again! I took a deep breath. I focused my eyes on the blue line at the other end of the rink. I begin to skate, forcing my self to pick up speed before switching to skate backwards and practice my backwards crossovers. I switched to backwards skating and was coming upto the corners. I lifted my left leg to begin practising when I saw a flash of baby pink glide in from the right. She crashed right into me and we both skittered across the ice. I collided with the board, head first. My head bounced off the boards and I landed in an uncomfortable position, sprawled across the ice. My eyes rolled backwards and I felt myself slipping into an unconscious state.

After that? Everything was just a hazy blur.

I woke up two days later in the hospital. My vision was still blurred and my head hurt like crazy. I tried to turn my head to the left but I struggled to move my head. I lifted my hands up to my neck to feel a big white block around my neck. A neck brace. I began to panic at the thought of an injury in my neck. I heard the door open and I could hear my mum's voice. Suddenly, a man's head appeared above mine, and after noticing his blue shirt and name badge, I realised that he must have been my nurse.

'Hi sweetie, I'm Stevie, your nurse. I've just come to do your blood pressure, check your pulse and take some blood samples if that's okay, how are you feeling today?' He asked, reaching for the remote to raise my bed up.

'I'm fine, thankyou,' I managed to croak. I felt dizzy, but I didn't want to admit that in case they kept me in hospital for any longer.

'Okay! You took quite a nasty hit, that was a bad fall you took! Not to worry though, you have no breaks and your concussion is much improved, if your tests come back all clear, you're free to go home. Though I'd recommend that you didn't skate for a minimum of a week!' He said, smiling as he placed the blood pressure band around my arm.