Your Name

You Could Be a Star

One Week Later ( Say it with a French accent, it's more fun)

Today was the big day. Today I was gonna meet her. I was more excited than a five year old on Christmas morning.

I woke up with a massive grin on my face and I continued to grin as I got myself ready for the day ahead. I just couldn't wait any longer! I wanted to meet my new little pal SO badly. I've wanted a companion for SO long and today, I was finally going to meet her.

I grabbed my phone and my purse from the TV stand, put my sunglasses on my head and headed out the door of my hotel room.

I was still grinning.

I walked outside to where Max was patiently waiting for me, parked out front of the hotel, ready to open up my car door for me.

He smiled as I approached. "Good morning, Demi! Are you excited to meet Jade?" Max asked, opening up the door for me.

My grin grew wider. "I'm SOOOO excited, Max! I really hope she likes me!" I replied.

Max smiled. "I am MORE than sure that she will adore you, Dems. She sounds like a great kid and I'm sure that you two will get along great!"

I smiled at his reassurance. "Thanks, Maxi. Now let's blow this popstand before I'm late!!"

Max smiled and nodded as he closed my door and walked over to the driver's seat of the car.

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"It's rink two. But you have to take the elevator downstairs to get to the stands. Just be careful, Demi. There are a lot of teenage girls here I don't want you to get mobbed."

I laughed at Janice's statement. "Don't worry I've got it all covered". It had been a little bit since I had been mobbed by fans. I had announced my retirement two years ago, after the release of my fifth album. I still got the occasional paps, but other than that, I don't really get much attention anymore. But I still never risked it. "Hoodie, sunglasses and a whole lotta luck. But okay so rink two, elevator to get downstairs and don't get mobbed."

Janice chuckled. "Great I'll see you in ten, okay?"

"Great! see you then!."

I opened my door, thanked Max and made my way into the rink. Wow! This place is pretty nice. I had never been to a minor hockey game before so I was excited to see one for the first time. Especially since it was MY daughter playing.

I made my way over to the elevator and into rink two once I made it downstairs. I watched as a team of girls walked through the rink doors and onto the ice for their warm-up.

I walked up the stairs to the stands and looked around for Janice. When she caught view of me, she motioned for me to join her. We were at the front so that we could get the best view.

"She's number 20, her jersey name is Dales. But that will change soon if all goes well," she nudged me on the elbow in a joking manner.

I giggled at her joke,"I think that Jaden Lovato sounds pretty good, don't you?"

Janice smiled. Then the ref blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game.

I noticed a "C" on Jade's jersey that all of the other girls didn't have. Two other girls had and "A" on their jerseys but that was it.

"What does the "C" on Jaden's jersey mean?" I asked Janice, feeling a little dumb for not knowing.

Janice turned to me and smiled, "Jade's the captain of her team. The girls with the "A" on their jerseys are Ameilia and Rose," Janice explained, pointing to them as she explained this to me. "They also go to school with Jade and they've been very good friends to her when she moved from MacLachlan to Iroquois."

"Wow she must be good if she's the captain," I said.

Janice nodded, "She's an amazing player. Just watch and... Oh great she's on first line!" Janice pointed to Jaden who had gone to the center of the ice to take the face-off.

I watched as the referee blew his whistle and dropped the puck in front of the two girls. Jaden won the drop and I watched as she took the puck onto her stick, stickhandled about ten yards and then passed it to the girl skating up on the right, who passed the puck back to Jaden. Jade then stopped, and turned around, causing the girl covering her to lose track of her, just in time for Jaden to pass the puck to the player standing right in front of the net. She almost scored, but the goalie saved it. The coaches opened up the doors to the benches and three other girls came on the ice to replace Jaden and the two other players.

I turned to Janice, my mouth probably catching flies. "She's amazing!"

Janice smiled,"Yeah. She really is. They wanted her to play A last year but she had to say no because the society can't pay for it. They only grant $250 a year to pay for extracurriculars. Registration for houseleague hockey for Jade's division is $560. Her foster family offered to pay for her entire registration fee and then use the grant towards her soccer fees. They agreed to do it because they realized her talent and said that she should be able to play to her heart's content."

I looked down at Jaden on the bench, laughing and joking with her teammates and giving them props for a job well-done. I felt sorry for her. Money should never be the reason why a kid can't play their favorite sport at a proper level.

The ref blew his whistle and i watched as they did another line change. Jaden took her place at the center of the ice. The faceoff was on the left-hand side of the ice, right in front of the opponents net. I watched as Jaden won the puck drop and swiftly passed it to the girl on the right. The girl took it around the net and passed to Jaden, who was now in front of the net. I watched as Jaden slapped the puck into the top left corner of the net and score.

I jumped up to cheer for her, along with Janice, the other parents and her coaches. Jade stuck her arms up in victory. Within seconds, her teamates were tackling her into a big group hug. Releasing her shortly after.

Jade looked up and into the stands and smiled at Janice. Janice gave her two thumbs up and Jaden gave her two thumbs back. Then she turned to me, smiled and waved. I mouthed a 'Good Job' to her and she smiled and mouthed back 'Thanks' and returned to center ice.

That was truly a special moment for me. It reassured me that all of this was all going to be so great. I had a great kid who I was going to be adopting, I was able to give her the chance to play her favorite sports and I now had faith in myself that I was completely capable of being a mother.

A great one too.