Frozen in Ice

Chapter 56

Luke's POV

The season leapt up on us and soon we were a day out from our season opener that was in Flint and after our training session Coach called me into his office.

"Luke, take a seat," he started.

"How come you wanted me in here?" I asked.

"We want you to wear an A this season," he said.

I sat there in stunned silence for a second because I was really surprised. I had been an assistant captain during the pre-season but there was like five of us and I didn't think that they would tell me to keep it.

"The guys listen to you and you have a calm head on your shoulders. We think that you will be good," he continued.

"Who else gets a letter?" I asked.

"Jackson has the other A and Adam is the captain. We have told them that if Mitch doesn't make the Islanders' team and he comes back then he will get the C back," he said.

I nodded and left the office, still slightly in shock. I really couldn't believe that I was going to have an A for the season. It was completely different to having it in the pre-season because now that games matter.

The first group of people that I ran into was Noah and Ryan and they both noticed my slightly stunned expression.

"What's with the look?" Noah asked.

"Coach told me that I'm going to have an A for the season," I said.

"Congrats," they both said.

I nodded and they both hugged me.

"You deserve it," Noah said.

I nodded and they pulled me into the locker room. Jackson and Adam must have already been told because they smiled and high-fived me.

"You'll make a good assistant captain," Jackson added.

I nodded and Jackson then told the rest of the team who was getting the letters and I got mobbed by the team moments later. As soon as I had a chance I stepped out to call a few different people. The first person I called was Mitch.

I was lucky that he answered after a couple of rings.

"Luke, it's good to hear from you," he said.

"They've given me an A," I started.

"That's so cool," he said.

"I know but I'm kind of worried," I continued.

"It's a massive responsibility but I think that you will be good at it."

"I've had a few people tell me that but it's not something that I've done before."

"Luke, you will be amazing at it. You can talk to me whenever you want."

I nodded even though he couldn't see it. We talked for a little bit longer but he had to go and I had more people that I should call so we hung up. I spent the next few minutes talking to Justin and Dylan as well and left messages from Alex and Jamie.

I didn't have anywhere to be and I had homework to be doing so I headed out. Neither of my billet parents were home so I unlocked the door and spread my books out on the dining room table.

I managed to power through a lot of the work done and it wasn't too difficult. I barely even heard the door open and was surprised to see Richard sitting opposite me when I looked up.

"Fuck," I muttered.

Richard laughed at me and I pretended to scowl at him.

"You looked focus. How is your work going?" he asked.

"Not too bad," I shrugged as I saw Belinda sit down as well.

"How was training?"

"They gave me an A for the season," I said.

Both of them congratulated me and Belinda reached over and hugged me. We started to talk about it and our upcoming season. I was looking forward to our first game but I needed to finish the work that I was doing.

Belinda disappeared into the kitchen and Richard followed her. I could hear them talk but I tuned that out so I could continue working. I kept pushing through it until I felt my phone vibrate and I saw that it was Jamie calling me so stopped working and answered.

"Luke, we got you message, congratulations," Jamie said.

"Thanks," I said simply.

"That's so cool. You are going to do amazingly," Alex added.

We talked for a bit longer but they were going out for dinner and I think that mine was almost ready so we hung up with the promise to talk more later. I didn't have the motivation to go back to working and I had done all that needed to be done for tomorrow so I didn't.

I had been following the coverage of the Islanders and seeing what they said about Mitch. It was a bit hard to know because they hadn't started playing pre-season games yet and it was hard to know without playing any games.

I had heard good things about how he was playing and as much as I would love to have him back here and playing with us this season I really do hope he is able to stay in New York. As I predicted dinner was pretty much ready so I packed up stuff in so that we could eat on the table.

"How was your day?" I asked.

I was happy to listen to both of them talk about what they had been doing and it was easy. We talked about school as well and once we finished I headed into my room. I was tired from school and training so I just curled up on the bed and started to text Ryan.

I could feel my eyes starting to close so I stopped texting and just lay there. I had a bit of time to think about the season. I was really hoping that we could go a bit further than last year. I think that we have the depth and the talents so I hopeful but you have to wait and see.

I drifted off to sleep and spent the night dreaming about hockey but that wasn't anything new.

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The Wise One