Notes: No new reviews? Oh well. I don't beg for reviews. I know you are reading =).

A Talk with Mom

We beat Iceland by one point that night. They were very brutal. My ankle hurt. Guy had stitches again, and everyone else looked tired. I took a painkiller when I was sure no one was looking. I'm glad we didn't play England until the day after tomorrow. Practice will be hell though.

As I left the locker room, I saw Jesse's lookalike. He came up to me. "Adam Banks?" He asked.

"That's me." I said looking at him uncertainly.

"My name's Donald Lewis. You knew my cousins Jesse and Terry Hall I believe."

"Jesse was my best friend."

"That's what Terry told me. Terry didn't come tonight. He said it would be too hard to watch. Can't say I disagree."

"You look almost exactly like Jesse." I said watching everyone exit the building.

"I get t hat a lot. We looked alike when we were little too."

I guess it's true. Everyone has a look a like. "I've got to go." I hope he didn't notice how uncomfortable this was making me. I was gland when Brandy and Marcy came over at that moment.

Donald saw them and nodded. "It was nice to meet you Adam." He said and left.

Brandy gave me a hug. "You did great!" I kissed her. "Except for that Viking who hit you in the ankle it was a great game."

"Hey let me congratulate him too!" Marcy said with a grin. "Great job Adam."

"Thanks." We walked over to where my family was standing. They all congratulated me too.

My dad clapped me on the shoulder. "I talked to Orson Olsen, a scout for the New York Islanders. He said he has heard good things about you and will be watching you closely. He did express some concern about your ankle. I reassured him that you recently injured it. So you are fine with that. I'm proud of you son."

I was happy that I had impressed a scout from the NHL. Hopefully I won't be told what they told me six years ago. How will I take it if they did? What if I try suicide again? I was no longer happy. I was trying to keep my emotions in check. I forced a smile on my face and no one thought anything of it.

"Banks! Time to go!" Bombay called to me. I hugged everyone and they said we'll so something tomorrow during my free time.

I joined the others on the bus and took a seat next to Charlie. The others talked nonstop about our win. I tried to join the conversations but I wasn't too successful. My mind was on other things. He looked just like Jesse!

The bus finally arrived at LIU. Pain shot through my ankle when I stepped off the bus. I bit down on my lip and hoped no one saw. Probably just sore from having a stick hit it.

"Get to bed early. You've got practice at seven AM!" Wilson called as we entered the building. That's all I had really planned to do anyway.

When Guy and I got back to our dorm, we were shocked by what we found.

Our dorm had been trashed. I mean really trashed. I don't think there was anything that wasn't out of place. Guy and I started to pick things up.

"Oh no." Guy said. I turned around to see him holding up a torn shirt. He tossed it to me.

I looked at it. If it had been anything else, I wouldn't have cared. But no I was crying. It wasn't just any shirt.

It was Jesse's jersey.

But that wasn't all. Someone else tore up Jesse's journal.

Why did they do it? Of all the things to completely trash why Jesse's stuff? Upon closer look, I noticed a lot of our stuff had been trashed not just Jesse's stuff.

I knew it had to be Iceland that did it.

***
Guy and I stayed up several hours cleaning up the mess. And it wasn't just our dorm that had been trashed. They had really done a number on our rooms. We told Wilson and he said he couldn't do anything because there was no proof that they did it.

Practice was hard. My ankle really hurt.

"Banks get off the ice now!" Wilson yelled. I guess he noticed that my ankle was bothering me. We'd only been practicing 20 minutes.

I limped over to the box and he told me to go sit in the bleachers. I did.

"Is this seat taken?" A soft voice asked. I looked up to se my mother.

I shook my head. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see your practice. Kicked out of practice already?"

I shrug.

"Come on let's go somewhere to talk." She said.

"But practice..."

"Is over for you. Come on." She said walking away. I followed her. I found her sitting outside. "Coach Wilson called me earlier and told me what happened. Are you okay?"

"My ankle's just sore."

"No not that. Your stuff. Anything important get damaged? Anything you need replacing?"

Oh come on. My mother is not that materialistic. She has something else in mind. "Jesse's journal and jersey were ruined."

"Honey I'm so sorry." She hugged me. "I know how much those things meant to you."

"I just want to know why they'd do that."

"Who knows honey." We sat in silence for awhile. "I did come to talk about your ankle though." Aha! I knew it. "Your coaches are very concerned. They want me to take you to have it examined again."

"No mom please don't. I need to play." Okay now if that was my father I could get away with it. As for my mother...

"Adam stop being silly. Your ankle is obviously still hurt. Hockey is not worth further injuring your ankle so come on." She said. I looked up some doctors and we can go right now.

I guess that there was no use arguing. My mother wasn't going to let the matter be dropped.