After everything I've been through, you would think that I would be over hockey completely. But to be honest, I'm not. As a 6'1" guy on the team, I was always one of the bigger guys. One of the powerhouses all guys hate to have to face. My teammates all said I had the best flow on the team too. That's debatable though since I've got light brown hair that I made a mistake and bleached two years ago for a state tournament and you can still see it. Doesn't go very well with blue eyes. Looks a bit like a knock off Elsa. However, Elsa stands for ice. And every second I'm there at rehab, I'm visualizing the ice. How fast I could be going. How the ice would feel under my feet. I've visualized more goals in the past two weeks once the accident than I have in the past sixteen years of playing hockey.

After about forty-five minutes of rehab, I tune into the conversation this 'Savannah' girl is having with the trainer.
"How's she doing these days?" He asks her.

"Oh, she's doing fine. She's got scouts all over her back right now with the way their team has been playing this season. Doesn't help that she's the only girl on it at the moment, if something happens it's automatically her fault according to the press."

"What do you mean she's the only girl on the team?" I blurt out before I can filter myself. Oops, that was rude.

"Oh, my step sister is on a boys team over in Blue Mountain Bay since they don't have the manpower for a girls team." She shrugs.

"What about you?" I ask, still staring at the giant CCM logo on her jacket sleeve.

"Oh, this is my boyfriend's jacket. I'm a Bauer kid myself." She laughs, noticing my stares at this point. "He plays for the Buckshot Buccaneers. I used to play but don't anymore. Tried picking up skates again about three months ago and ended up with ACL repair surgery."

I try to suppress a laugh, not trying to be rude. I feel that. I really do.

"Who's your boyfriend?" I ask.

"Charlie Torres."

I freeze in shock. I mean, I've played for the Buccaneers for two seasons now, and I didn't realize my hockey best friend and liney had a girlfriend, how stupid could I be?! Then again if my attention wasn't on the ice it had to be on Tali or she would throw a fit.

"Guessing by the look on your face, you know him?" She pushes, looking confused.

"KNOW HIM?" I wheeze out. "I'm his liney! We play together on the Buccaneers!"

She freezes then too.

"JACK AHONEN?!!!" She gasps out. "No one's heard from you since the night you got hit! The guys are going crazy not knowing if you're coming back or not!"

"What does it look like?" I huff, returning to my foul mood from earlier.

"Looks like you have some healing to do before you get back on the ice." She says. I shake my head.

"I'm not getting back on the ice. Not after how bad I fell. I'll never hear the end of it. Besides, I'll never be able to be on a team coached by that monstrosity of a female's dad. I try not to spread rumors, but Tali isn't going to let me just walk back onto the team after I dumped her. Either I take her back and face the wrath of Tali and her mom, or I am no longer welcome on the team." I sigh.

"Hold on Jack. I know things don't look great right now, but if my sister can come back from an injury like yours to become the number one shooter on her team, you can overcome it to get back on the ice." She tells me.

I perk up at hearing that her sister has been through something similar. Maybe if someone else has done this, I can too. But I can't without assurance that coach will let me back on the team. I have a lot to think about.

"I can tell you've got a lot on your mind, so I'll give you my snapchat. If you wanna talk about it, and maybe talk to my sister, feel free to reach out, I'm more than willing to help." She tells me.

"Thanks so much, you have no idea what this means to me." I sigh. I pull up my snap code, and show it to her, allowing her to scan it on her phone. Once she adds me, I manage to fake a pretty decent smile.

"Looks like you two are ready to get this show on the road." Doc says, and for once, he's not wrong.

I crutch my way back to the waiting room, to see my dad sitting alone.

"Hey, dad." I don't even ask where the devil incarnate is. I don't wanna know.

"Hey J. Looks like it's just us on the way back, what do you say about getting some lunch." I give him a questioning look before asking

"Can we go to Applebees?"

He laughs.

"When have we ever gone anywhere other than Applebees?" He rolls his eyes at me

"I just want Applebees!"
"Ok, ok. Let me call Corin and let him know, so he can meet us there."
Within five minutes, we're out in the truck, heading towards Applebees, with my brother promising he'll be there in the next fifteen minutes.

"How was PT?" He asks, once we're there and settled into a booth so I can stretch my sore leg out.

"Tough." I mumble through a mouth full of straw. What, they have really good Rasberry tea here. Not my fault.

"Was the PT tough or was the breaking up with Tali the tough part." He snickers. Wait, how did he know? He must see the look on my face because he says "When I wake up to her screaming and throwing a fit because you broke up with her and dad is refusing to march upstairs to make you take it back it's always a good morning."

I crack up laughing at that point, with my dad.

"Not my fault she told me to stop pouting and get surgery, like what was she expecting, the scars across my knee to magically have disappeared?!" I mock. Just then, our food arrives. I look up to the waitress to say thank you when I happen to see the door swing open. Mumbling a quick thank you, I notice the girl who walks in. She has got to be the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life. And right behind her is the girl from the doctor's office. Savannah.