Later that night, Jo was just playing solitaire while Dean was in the shower. At around eight thirty she heard a knock on the door. "It's open." Jo shouted. The person came into the room. "Oh hey Fulton."
"Hey Jo. Um…Jo could I talk to you about something?" asked Fulton closing the door.
"Sure. What is it?" asked Jo motioning for Fulton to sit next to her.
"When you have feelings for someone how do you know what their feelings for you are? There's someone that I care about but I don't know how they feel about me," stated Fulton taking a seat.
"I don't know how to answer that. My first boy friend, Evan, he thought he owned me and so when I dumped him and found another boyfriend he went to his house and started beating him up and he went to the hospital. I went back out with Evan so that no one would get hurt. And when I wasn't going out with someone he would hurt me or my friends. And I guess that is why I went out with him for so long."
"So you were sort of forced to stay with him?"
"Yeah. He thought he owned me. Fulton you can just go ahead and tell me how you feel about me."
"What? I never said it was you I had feelings for?"
"Fulton, you know I'm right."
"Okay, your right. I really care about you. You give me a challenge when we play hockey and I'm not used to that, that's one thing that I admire in you."
"Fulton I don't know how to say this but here I goes, Dean is not my brother. It's just a cover up for me. Dean and I met on the plane and we had a week together. The truth is my life is really messed up and Dean is the best thing that's ever happened to me in a long time. And well he is my boyfriend. I'm sorry but I don't want you going and beating your self up because you like me. But as a really good friend will you do me this favor? Don't tell anyone about Dean being my boyfriend and not my brother. We don't want everybody knowing because they will probably be stocking us whenever they can. Again I'm sorry, but we can still be really good friends right?"
"Yeah okay I wont tell." Fulton stood up and made his way to the door completely crushed. But not before Jo gave him a quick kiss on the cheek to try and lighten his spirits.
"Good morning!" Ms. MacKay exclaimed as she walked into her classroom the next day. Her voice declined, as she saw none of her students awake. Half of them had their heads buried in their arms, while the others were asleep leaning on their arms. "Gordon," she murmured unhappily.
Courtney took the teams opportunity to have a day off to get some sleep. Ms. MacKay had told the team to get some rest because she had canceled practice. Jo had explained to her how "Captain Blood" had worked them so hard the past few days and that was why everyone was so tired.
Courtney was the only one in her room and she was glad to have some privacy. She had no clue where the others were but she didn't really care. After the weeks of being crowded in a dorm with everyone and virtually having no time to herself, she really wanted time to just be alone and reflect on things that had been happening. Before she knew it, she fell asleep listening to the air-conditioning in the background.
Courtney wasn't awoken until far into the afternoon by Charlie. The sun was slowly drifting behind the clouds and its rays were thrown across the floor. Charlie shook her until she reluctantly sat up.
"Stop!" she shouted, slapping him. She wasn't fully conscious yet, so she did whatever came natural to her. "Charlie! I'm tired leave me alone," she mumbled.
"No, get up. I need to talk to you," He replied urgently. Courtney continued slapping at him. "Courtney!" he pleaded.
"Fine!" she finally gave in. She tore off her covers and started to brush her hair.
"Courtney, I came to talk to you and you start brushing your hair?"
"Oh, sorry," Courtney mumbled, setting her brush back down.
"Okay, you know how Luis is hurt? Well…that means we're down a player," Charlie said quietly and slowly. He was facing the opposite direction so it was hard to hear him when he was talking so low.
"Yeah," Courtney replied, not understanding yet.
"Well, remember when we were playing against that street gang?" he questioned as if trying to give her a clue.
Courtney nodded, still confused. She sat back down on her bed, staring out the window at the trees wavering back and forth from the wind.
"And remember I had to go back inside because I had forgotten my water?" he asked again.
Courtney nodded once more. "Charlie, what's your point?" she asked angrily.
"My point is, when I went in I saw Jo skating."
"So," Courtney spat, "you saw Jo skating, big deal. And I saw the Russian players, let's call the tabloids!" Courtney shouted in fake excitement.
"Courtney! You're not understanding me! She was really good! You saw her too! At the Iceland game! She can play in Luis' place!" He screamed.
"You're right, Charlie," Courtney agreed. Charlie grinned enthusiastically. "But would she play? I mean, the only reason she played before was because Portman was hurt and our team was losing badly," Courtney said thoughtfully.
"Well…" Charlie trailed off. "I was thinking you could kind of…you know..."
"Oh, no, Charlie." Courtney yelled shaking her head. "No, Charlie. I am not going to talk her into playing for us. Uh-uh. I am not going to do that."
"Please, Courtney. We need someone in Luis' spot and she's good," he begged.
"No, Charlie," she stated.
"Courtney, do it for Adam."
"How would talking Jo into playing be doing anything for Adam?" Courtney asked quizzically.
"Because then we would do better during the games and you know how much winning means to Adam. Do it for the team, Courtney. Do it for me."
Courtney stood up and walked to the window. Should I talk to her, Courtney pondered. She sighed heavily and turned back to Charlie. "All right."
"Yes!" Charlie exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
Courtney hurriedly got dressed and ran down to Jo's room. She knocked quietly on the door and Portman opened it.
"I have to talk to Jo," Courtney whispered. Portman glanced back at Jo.
"Okay, so talk to her," Portman responded.
"Privately," Courtney stressed. Portman sighed and walked out of the room. Courtney walked into the room and shut the door behind her. "Uh…hey," Courtney said uncertainly.
"Hi," Jo replied nonchalantly.
"Look, I'm gonna cut right to the chase here. I want you…I mean, we, the team, want you to play for us. Luis is hurt and we need someone to take his place and you're really good. So, what do you say?"
"Well...I...I'm not sure," Jo said, still writing on her paper.
"Does that mean yes or no?"
"There's a lot you don't know about me. Hockey is part of my past and not my future."
"But we need you to play!" Courtney pleaded. "You're really good! Please, we need you to play! Why isn't hockey a part of your future?"
"You wouldn't understand. It's too complicated," Jo responded.
"I can't walk out of this room letting my team down, though. They all want you to play! Do you really wanna let them all down?" Courtney cried frustrated.
Jo looked up at her for the first time. "Well I'm sorry, Courtney. I told you, hockey's a part of my past."
"Well why is it a part of your past? Why won't you play now?" Courtney demanded.
Jo glared at her, "I told you, you wouldn't understand."
"That doesn't tell me anything! Why won't you tell me?" Courtney shouted.
"Because…" Jo's voice trailed.
"Because why?!" Courtney screamed.
Jo looked back down at her papers. "Because my mom died trying to get to one of my games!" Jo finally shouted.
Courtney didn't know what to say next. "I'm really sorry Jo," Courtney mumbled.
"Are you happy now, Courtney?" Jo yelled.
"Um…not really," Courtney immediately resented saying that. "I mean, if you love hockey you shouldn't let something like that stop you. I'm sure your mother wouldn't have wanted you to stop playing," she said apologetically.
"Shut up, Courtney! It's not like you knew her!" Jo snapped.
"Yes, but every mother is the same! If their kid is doing something that they really love then they don't want to stop them."
"Well your mom didn't want you playing!" Jo pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'm here aren't I? So she obviously let me. She was just worried before."
"Well my mom's not like everyone else's."
"Wait, don't you and Portman have the same mom?" Courtney asked curiously.
Jo was quiet for a moment. "I'm adopted, Courtney!" Jo shouted. "Didn't you realize that? My mom died and my dad couldn't keep me for financial reasons."
"Oh," Courtney murmured, blushing. "But still, don't you think your mom would've wanted you to keep playing if you were happy doing that?"
"What part of this don't you get?! It was hard enough playing in the Iceland game. None of you understand how hard that was on me," Jo shouted standing up. "As an answer to your question my mom died when I was really young so I don't know if she would want me to continue or not . One of main reasons I even played hockey in the first place was because it kept me out of the house."
"Well how was I supposed to know that?"
"That's the thing; you weren't supposed to know. I keep to myself because it's the best thing for myself and others!" Jo raged.
"Well maybe you shouldn't keep to yourself so much and people wouldn't treat you the way they do," Courtney stated.
"Maybe I don't want everyone to know all about my life. It's none of their business anyway!"
Courtney couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had come into this room to talk to Jo about playing hockey for their team and somehow they had gotten onto the subject of her life.
"We've gotten so off topic here! I didn't come to your room to argue over your childhood and I don't plan on continuing to! Are you playing with us or not!?" Courtney hollered, losing her temper.
"Well let's think…What have I been telling you through this whole argument?" Jo yelled sarcastically.
"Honestly, I have no idea! Because it hasn't answered my question one bit!" Courtney responded.
"Here's your answer flat out, NO!"
"Fine, you wanna let Dean, ya know your boyfriend, down? You wanna let the whole team down? If you want to let go of everything you could be in the sport of hockey that's your choice!" Courtney screamed as she turned around and headed to the door.
Courtney was billowing over with anger. She didn't want to spend any more time in that room. All she wanted to do was get away. She didn't care where to or how she got there she just wanted to leave.
"How'd you find out?" Jo menacingly hissed.
"Find out what?"
"About me and Dean, stupid! What do you think I'm talking about?!" Jo exploded.
"Well I don't want to tell you because 'I keep to myself because it's the best thing for myself and others'," Courtney mocked.
"Why you little-" Jo charged towards Courtney. Courtney had no defense and was checked into the door.
"Ahh!" They heard Goldberg cry. Jo slammed her fist against the door and heard him yelp again.
Courtney was crouched down in the corner of the room with no protection whatsoever. She saw Jo dash towards her again. She squinted her eyes worrying about how much pain she was about to feel. She regretted ever going to Jo's room and she didn't plan on every coming again. Oh where is Portman when you need him, Courtney pleaded to herself, Come on Portman, come into the room. If there was ever a time it's now!
Jo was still advancing on her and she had her fist positioned. She seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her fist swung backwards and started to sway forward. All hope seemed gone. Courtney wondered what Coach Bombay would say when he found out they were another player down. Adam flashed back into her mind as well.
"Oh crap!" Courtney suddenly yelled. Jo froze for a split second.
"What?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about Adam's face when he hears what happened."
"Oh, whatever. Well if that's all-," Jo responded and threw her fist back again.
Unexpectedly, Portman broke down the door and darted into the room, closely followed by Adam and Fulton.
"What's goin' on here?" Adam shouted, "What the heck is your girlfriend doing to my girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend?!" Goldberg echoed. "She's your girlfriend?" The whole team was inside the room now, watching the dramatic scene.
"No, s-she's my sister," Portman stammered, "I don't know how this whole girlfriend thing came up."
"Face it Portman. You can't hide it anymore! We know Jo's your girlfriend," Charlie stepped forward, "You don't kiss your sister like you did!"
Courtney was grateful that the boys had come into the room when they did. For once, she didn't entirely hate Portman. She was actually happy that he was there. Adam rushed over to her and helped her up. Quickly, he pulled her over to the doorway with the team.
"What happened?" Fulton blasted.
"Anyone of you who may be offended by my language better leave now. 'Cause it is not gonna be pretty. Goldberg, you get your fat-"
"Uh Jo, let's just…sit down. Calm ourselves and um…keep the profanity to a minimum," Fulton said soothingly.
"Fine, I'll leave. We're goin over to see Luis at the trainer's office. That's why we came up here in the first place. We didn't know if you wanted to come or not," Goldberg muttered.
"Fulton, you better get your hands off me before I stick my foot up your ass," Jo remarked, "Are you happy? I kept the "profanity" down."
"This is gonna be harder than I thought," Fulton mumbled.
"It's gonna be a long night," Charlie added. "I'd hate to be whoever sleeps down here."
"Guys, listen. Adam, Courtney, Charlie-that side of the room NOW! Portman, Jo-over there! Team, get out with the exception of Guy, Dwayne, and Connie. You seemed to be just fine listening in the hallway, at least until you got thrown backwards," Fulton instructed. Jo smiled triumphantly.
Courtney traveled to the left side of the room. Charlie followed Dwayne and the others. Jo didn't move from her spot on the bed. Portman was sitting beside her and whispering something.
"Now I'm gonna ask this once and only once. What the heck happened?" Fulton wore no expression of amusement.
Jo and Courtney both started blurting out words at once. Fulton grabbed his head.
"SHUT UP!" He bellowed. "You two do this again and I'm bringing my hockey stick and a puck in here and I guarantee whoever gets it in there head will not be able to talk anymore!" Both girls looked down at the floor. "One at a time-Jo, what happened?"
"Courtney brought up a topic that I didn't want to talk about and kept pressing on that subject," Jo argued.
"Only because I was trying to get her to play for the team because Luis is hurt! I was only thinking of the team, and she was giving me bull crap answers!" Courtney shot back.
"Wait a minute, this whole thing is over some stupid argument about playing for the team? Courtney, where did you even get the idea that Jo could play hockey?" Fulton asked.
"She didn't! Charlie told her I could play and he probably made her come down here and ask me because he didn't have enough guts to do it himself!"
"Hey!" Charlie jumped in defense.
"Well, it's true. But that's not the point-Charlie was only thinking of the team! He knows how much this means to Bombay," Courtney alleged
"Bombay? Don't you mean "Captain Blood"?" Jo spat.
"Okay, that's enough! Bombay's a great guy, he's just let everything get to his head! I didn't know the point of this was to bash on the coach," Charlie shot back.
"Well, some coach's shouldn't be hanging out with Iceland chicks!" Portman shouted.
"Wait-what?" Adam questioned.
"Yeah, we saw him with this Iceland chick the other night getting ice cream and talking about Iceland!" Jo cut in.
"I don't care what the coach does! It's not my business what he does with his personal life. What is this, a mutiny?!" Charlie shrieked.
"Can we get back on the subject please?" Fulton requested. "Courtney, please reenact what happened, but without the one: profanity, two: fighting, and three: yelling."
Courtney got up from the bed irritated Jo did the same. Courtney tried to think about what happened first. "I asked Portman to leave, Jo was writing. I asked her to join the team, she got an attitude, told me 'bout some stuff, we got into an argument about her past and she tried to attack me," Courtney explained.
"Well, yeah I would attack someone who seriously pisses me off," Jo shouted. Courtney glared at her.
"Anger management," Charlie coughed.
"You got something to say to me, midget?" Jo spat.
"Jo, you sit down. I am not in the mood for this!" Portman glowered.
"Whatever," Jo plopped down onto the bed.
"So what's the deal with this whole thing?" Guy asked. He had been silent along with Connie and Dwayne the whole time. Courtney hardly knew they were even in the room.
Fulton sighed heavily, "They just explained it, Guy. Were you not listening? The real question it, what are we going to do about it?"
"I vote we just forget about it," Connie added.
"Connie, why do you always try the stupid, never works, way out? You know I'm never gonna forget about this," Jo replied.
"Well, you said and I quote, 'I keep to myself' so how do we know if you'll forget about it?" Courtney said sarcastically.
"I'm guessing mocking is why this whole thing started? Right?" Dwayne asked excitedly.
"Way to go cowboy, you do have a brain!" Jo shouted sarcastically. That was it, Courtney wasn't going to take anymore of Jo's smart mouth. These were her friends that Jo was making fun of. Everyone but Portman and Fulton lunged at her at the same time. Jo darted out of the way at the perfect time, leaving them on a heap in the floor.
"Ow," Dwayne mumbled, "She doesn't have to be so darn mean. None of the girls where I come from are like that!"
"Smart move Cowboy," Jo stated in a Texas accent. She hurriedly left the room. "Guess we'll have to do this later guys. It's been fun…not."
Courtney spun around to face Fulton. "Great plan, what are we gonna do now smart one?"
"I wasn't expecting her to leave!" he alleged.
"I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid that she'll regret," Portman mumbled.
"Why on earth would she do something like that?" Courtney asked sarcastically.
"Real funny. You guys don't know her like I do. She's had it rough, okay? Go easy on her," Portman said defensively.
"Why should we? She's made our lives very difficult."
"Well would you be happy if your mom died when you were almost eight? I don't think you'd react too well, either."
"I don't even wanna talk about this anymore. I'm going to sleep and no one is going to bother me, you here?! No one! Just leave me alone!" Courtney shouted.
Courtney didn't ever want to hear the name 'Jo' again. She wanted to go home; get away from everything that had happened. She thought being in California was going to be so much different. She never expected any of the obstacles that she had encountered. For the first time, she was sincerely thinking about calling her mom and leaving, but then what would the team think of her? She didn't want to give them the impression that she couldn't hack it. She covered her head with her pillow and tried to fall asleep. She heard Adam come into the room, but didn't attempt to make a conversation with him. She felt him sit down on the end of her bed.
"Are you all right?" he asked smoothly.
"Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk about anything," Courtney whispered crankily.
"If you talk about it, then it might make you feel better. You can tell me anything," Adam replied, "You know that."
"Well, I don't' know what to say about it all. It doesn't make any sense. Why won't Jo play with the team?"
"Look, we lost 'cause Iceland was just too good. We can go on without her. I told you that you shouldn't have helped her pretend to be Portman's sister. Why do you want her to be on the team so bad?" Adam asked, grabbing Courtney's hand. His hands were warm in contrast to hers.
"Well, Charlie told me he'd seen her play and she was good. I didn't want to ask her to join the team, but Charlie said that I should for you."
"What do you mean he told you to do it for me?" he asked, moving her hair off of her face. He smiled soothingly at her. Courtney was starting to feel better now that she knew Adam was on her side.
"Winning this tournament means so much to you. I just thought that if Jo was on the team and we won, you'd be happy," Courtney sighed.
"We both need to get some sleep. Why don't you get some hot chocolate and then try to fall asleep. It might calm you down a little" Courtney nodded and watched as Adam made some hot chocolate. He handed her a mug with a Santa Clause printed on the side. She smiled gratefully. He waited for her to finish and took the mug. He gently kissed her on the forehead and climbed into his bunk.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, she heard their door creak open. She uncovered her face. There was just enough moonlight shining in the room for her to see Portman peaking through their door.
"Adam," he whispered, "Adam!" he said a little louder. Oh, shut up! Courtney thought.
"What?" he called back aggravated.
"Have you seen Jo?"
"No, go away," Adam muttered.
"He's kind of cranky if he gets woken up like that," Courtney answered. "Oh, and never come to this room again speaking of anyone with the name 'Jo', or anything resembling that. What makes you think we know where she is anyway?"
"Jeez, I was just asking. Get over yourself. You need more sleep than you think." He stormed back out of the room and slammed the door, making the entire room shake. Courtney threw her pillow at him, but the door was already shut.
"Jerk," she mumbled. She had trouble sleeping that night. She kept thinking about how insensitive Portman and Jo were. No wonder they were a couple, they had so much in common.
The next morning, Adam was shaking Courtney awake. "If you didn't want to be shaken awake last night, what makes you think I want to be shaken awake now?" she muttered.
"Somebody woke me up last night?" he asked, seriously.
"Yes, Adam! Number twenty-one woke you up!" Courtney shouted in disbelief.
"Really? Anyway, there are policemen outside! Come on!" Adam was wearing a boyish grin on his face.
"What?!" Courtney shot up. "Why? Did someone get hurt? Was it Portman or Jo?"
"I don't think so. Somebody got drunk or something like that. Apparently, someone on the team."
"I knew my luck wasn't that good. How much you bet it was Jo who got drunk?"
"Yeah, it probably was. Now, get dressed so we can go down there," Adam rushed her. Courtney wasn't aware that she was still in her Pajamas. She was wearing a tank top with shorts. She quickly covered herself up with the covers.
"Adam, why are you still looking at me? I'm in my pajamas. Let me get changed, okay?" He nodded. Courtney waited for him to leave, but he just stood there. She cleared her throat. He looked around the room. "Adam!"
"Oh, what?" He asked.
"Either you need to leave the room or go into the bathroom."
"Why?" He questioned.
"Because I have to change!" Courtney shouted in hesitation.
"Oh," he blushed.
"Are you sure you're not the one who got drunk?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm not drunk. Then again, that drink that Goldberg gave me this morning, tasted pretty good. Boy, you're sarcastic today." Adam walked out of the room and left Courtney to herself. She changed as quickly as she could and ran down the stairs. Police cars were surrounding the building. Lights flashed everywhere. The team was all out talking to the policemen. Connie, in particular, was talking and giggling with one of the younger boys. Courtney dragged her away from him.
"Guy," she muttered, "Remember, he's your boyfriend."
The coach was interrogating one of the policemen on what was going on. He wasn't having much luck. The only thing the policemen would say was that they were not at liberty to discuss what had happened, only that they were looking for a member of his hockey team. Courtney could tell the coach was angry. His face was bright red and his eyes were narrowed.
"Just tell me who you're looking for and I will be able to find them for you," he demanded.
"I'm sorry sir, I can't do that," the policemen responded.
"I suggest you tell him because he's been in a really bad mood for the past few days. He gets pretty mad, too," Averman cut in. Bombay gave him a menacing glare.
"I'll deal with you later. Get over there with the team. "He turned back to the policemen. "Who are you looking for?"
"All I can tell you is that we think she's hiding out in this building."
"She, huh? Well, I only know of three girls and two of them are out here, so I think I know who it is. Is her name Jo?"