Open Arms

Chapter 6

At 3:30, Will blew his final whistle. We all came in together, he talked about the big game in a days. We would be playing the U16 Ontario High Performance Team, our biggest competition. As captain, I led the team in a final cheer and then everyone left the ice to get showered and changed.

I took off my helmet and placed it on the bench, grabbed my stick and the bucket of pucks. I started skating around, taking shot after shot, trick after trick. The rush of energy I got from playing was so intense. Sports were my therapy. Some people go to see shrinks, but I play sports.

I kept remembering and picturing my dad in my head, which just made me madder, which made me shoot better and harder.

I looked down at the ice. I had one puck left. I brought it too the far side of the rink, facing the other net. Started skating a bit, throwing move after move, until I reached close enough that I could zing a hard slap shot. I looked down and smiled. This is what brought me happiness.

I heard a loud whistle from the stand. I looked up to see Hunter, standing on his seat with both arms in the air, yelling and chanting my name. I burst out laughing, and he soon followed. I skated off the ice and met him in front of the dressing room.

"I'm going to shower and I'll be right out", I smiled.

"Sounds good. I'm going to go buy some Hickory Sticks. I'll meet you in the lobby", he smiled and turned and left.

I walked into the dressing room to hear whispering. "What's going on guys", I asked.

"Who the hell was that sexy piece of ass outside", said Kyla, a defender on our team.

"Oh that's my friend, Hunter", I said laughing.

"Friend, huh", said Layla, nudging me and winking.

"We just met today guys. There's nothing going on. He just moved here from Toronto and we happen to have the exact same schedule", I said.

"Cars, you're blushing so bad right now", said Izzy, just walking out of a shower stall.

"Oh shut up guys", I said, taking my equipment off.

"Damn Carson. You can't deny it. You like this guy", said Dana, pulling her long bleach blonde hair into a bun on top of her head.

I grabbed my stuff and headed to the shower, flipping them all off as I walked away, making them all immediately burst out laughing.

The hot water of the shower was exactly what I needed after the long practice. My leg muscles were burning just from holding up my own weight. Once I was clean, I got out and dressed into the clothes I had worn to school today. I packed up my bag and left the dressing room, and walked towards the lobby to find Hunter looking at all of the newspaper clippings of teams that regularly practiced there that had been hung up on the wall over the years.

I saw him reading the article of my team from last season, when we had won the league, undefeated. The front page of the newspaper had a picture of my team, but on the inside where the story was, there was a picture of me holding the trophy and the awards I had gotten from the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor for leadership, sportsmanship, etc. They were big awards that I had no idea even existed until I received them.

"Hey, Hunt", I said, clearly startling him because of the way he jumped when he heard me.

"Damn Cars. Look at you go, getting all of these awards", he smiled, grabbing my bag from me, even though I gave him a look that clearly said 'I can carry it by myself. I'm not as weak as you think'. But he still took it, leading the way back to his truck. He put the bag back into the bed and then we drove away.