Chapter 16 – The injury
Time passes quickly when you are having fun and are around good people. And that was the case over the fall and the winter. In a blink of an eye it was spring. Troy was working and saving up, while still playing soccer, while I was both working hard in school, having a job and playing handball. Whenever we had an open space in our days, we spent it together – of course, we also spent time with our friends, but mostly with each other.
Then one day my phone rang. It was a number I did not know, but I picked it up anyway.
"Gabriella Montez speaking," I said, and when I heard the voice in the other end of the phone I almost fell down from my chair.
"Hello Gabriella, this is George Anderson, the coach of the youth national team," he said.
"Uhm, hello," I stuttered.
"Well, Gabriella, I am calling you, because I will like to offer you a spot on the next youth national team camp," he said.
"You what?" I said a bit too loud.
He chuckled, "yes, a spot on the next youth national team camp. What do you say?"
I sat there a bit shocked, "are you kidding me?"
He chuckled again, "no, not at all. Actually, I'll be at your practice later today to discuss the details with you and your coach," he said.
"Wow," I said, "I'd be honored to participate."
"Good," he said, "I'll see you later today then."
I packed my bag for practice quicker than ever, while calling my parents and Troy telling them the news. My parents already knew. Of course, they did, I had just turned 18, I could not go there without their permission first. Troy was so proud of me and promised me to take me out the next day to celebrate it.
The meeting with the coach from the youth national team and my coach went well. I got all of the papers and information that I needed. So now I just had to continue my game and stay out of injuries so that I could be the first from our club to participate. It all went as planned, well until that day. The most important game of the season.
My team was one point away from moving a league up and winning a game would give us three points. It was safe to say that the game, we were warming up for was the game of our season, but also the most important game that we had ever played together as the team we were now. The music was loud, the bass was pumping, and we were as focused as ever. Our coach walked around the court talking to each of us about our positions, and what we were doing today. The gym was packed. There was no doubt that it would be intense.
"Gabs," he called.
I turned and looked at him, while I continued my stretching, "what's up, coach?"
"Left wing today, and do what you do best," he said smiling at me, "run, trick, score and most of all, bite their heads off, when they get under the line."
I nodded, "will do," I promised.
"Good," he patted my shoulder. "Now go over there and get the lucky kisses from lover boy," he pointed towards Troy.
I smiled, "yeah, I better," I said and ran towards Troy.
"Hey," he smiled and wrapped his arms around me. He was standing with Chad, Sharpay, Taylor, his parents, and my parents.
"Hi," I said smiling up at him. "I need lots of luck today," I said.
"Well, then I better give it to you, babe," he chuckled. We kissed 5 quick kisses and one long, sweet kiss. "Good luck, darling," he whispered.
"Thanks," I smiled. "I love you," I whispered only for him to hear.
"I love you too," he whispered back. "Now go kick some ass," he chuckled.
I nodded, "I will." I high fived with Chad and Taylor, and then I ran to my team for the last instructions before the game would start.
The game was on, and for once the referee was letting us play the game hard. The score was 15-13 to us, when I for the second time in the first half sent a player from the other team in the floor.
"That's it, 14," the referee said, "2 minutes penalty." He pointed at me.
I stepped over the player's legs and walked towards the bench. Receiving high fives from my teammates and my coach.
"Great job, Gabs," my coach said. "They are losing it," he stated.
I nodded and took a sip of the water and focused on the game, waiting for my penalty to be over. Finally, I ran on to the court again, 5 minutes left of the first half. We were still leading the game, now 18-14. We played around and scored again. The crowd was going crazy, cheering for us. We were screaming to each other in the court trying to communicate. One of my teammates stole the ball and ran to the other end and scored just as the half ended. We were now leading the game 20-14. It was a good score. We went to the locker room to get a talk and plan the next half.
"Gabs, continue what you are doing. You still have 2 penalties to go," my coach said and continued to tell each player what to do. "Okay girls now go in and smash this game out. Show them, who's the boss!" With that we went onto the court again.
Halfway through the second half, I broke through the defense, I got tackled pretty hard as I broke through. I send the ball towards the goal and landed hard on the court floor. I heard the crowd cheer loudly telling me the ball had reached the net of the goal. But I did not move, instead I screamed a loud scream, and then it all went silent. I was lying completely still at the floor and everything was silent around me. My knee hurt, it felt like someone had just ribbed off my leg. I felt steps coming near me. One of my teammates sat down beside me, looking concerned at me. The referee, my coach and our doctor came to me too.
"Gabs," I heard my coach's voice somewhere over my head, and then it went black.
I woke up in a bed. It was definitely not mine, and I was definitely not wearing my own clothes. I was still in my uniform. Everything was white around me. Where was I? I looked around and found Troy sitting by my side. Then my eyes caught sight of my leg. It was covered with bandage and I had ice on it.
"What happened?" I asked shocked.
Troy caressed my hand and stood up and sat down on the bed beside me. "You got tackled pretty hard. Your knee is damaged, and you passed out on the court, the doctors think it was due to the pain," he said softly.
I looked at him in disbelief. "But the game… did we win?" I asked.
He smiled at me, "at least your head is still functioning," he chuckled and kissed my forehead. "You won," he said, "32-25" he added.
I smiled, "good." I bit my lip and tried to move my leg. "Ouch," I said and felt tears pressing in my eyes.
Troy shook his head, "don't move, babe," he said softly. "They are looking at the pictures of your knee," he said. He told me that I had been in the x-ray, while I was passed out.
"Is it bad?" I asked looking at my leg.
Troy sighed, "maybe, they were not sure. Your parents are talking to the doctors."
I nodded and looked down at my hands. They were still smeared with resin from the game. I was still in my uniform. "Where is my bag?" I asked.
"In my car," he said taking my hand again.
I nodded. I stayed silent. What if it was really bad? What if this was the last time I had ever been playing? The youth national team camp. No, no, no, that could not happen. The tears started to form in my eyes and ran down my cheeks.
Troy just wrapped me in his arms and caressed my back. "Hey, it will be okay, babe. No matter what they say, it'll be okay, I promise," he whispered.
I shook my head. "No, my knee is damaged. And I'm not going to the camp next month…" I cried.
I felt Troy swallow as he held me closer. "I'm sorry, babe," he whispered. I just cried even harder into his chest.
After some time of crying I had run out of tears. Troy was still holding me close and kissing my hair. "It will be okay, no matter what, okay?" he said looking me in the eyes. I nodded slowly but bit my lip again. It was a thing I did, when I was not sure. I could see how my pain affected Troy. There was no doubt that he was just as sad as me right now. I knew he hated seeing me hurt.
"Thanks for being here," I whispered.
He caressed my cheek, "of course I'm here," he said, "there is no other place for me to be than by your side." I smiled weakly at him. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
"When will they come and tell me?" I asked.
"Hopefully soon," Troy said.
I nodded, "damn it hurts," I muttered.
Troy looked worried at me, "should I go see if I can get some painkillers for you, babe?"
I shook my head, "no thanks, babe," I said.
"Are you sure?" he looked at me.
I nodded, "let's just wait and see, what they say." I sighed and leaned my head on Troy's shoulder.
We sat there in silence. I knew Troy was wishing he could take away my pain and heal my knee. And I would give anything to not be there in the hospital with this bandage on my knee. There was a knock on the door, and then a doctor and my parents came in.
"Ah, Gabriella, you are awake," the doctor said half smiling.
I nodded, "is it bad?"
The doctor sighed and gestured for my parents to sit down, "please sit down and let's talk about it." My parents sat down in the chairs beside my bed, and the doctor sat down beside my hurt knee. "Okay, Gabriella, to answer your question," he took a deep breath, "yes, it is bad."
The tears started to run again, "no, no, no," I cried. Troy squeezed my hand.
"Unfortunately, your ligaments in the knee are torn apart. It can be operated and recover well, but it will take a long time before you will be able to walk again. Unfortunately, we cannot promise you that you will not get to experience aftereffects of it, which means you may never get to play handball again," the doctor told me slowly. I could see in his eyes that it pained him to tell me.
I cried even harder now. "Is there a slight chance that I will play again?" I asked sobbing.
The doctor placed a hand over the one hand Troy did not hold. "I'm not sure. It depends on the surgery. But I have to be honest with you," he said. "It doesn't look good. I have only seen it this bad once before, and it was another handball player, who never played again."
I nodded. "When will I get the surgery?" I asked without emotions showing. It was just too hard to cope with right now.
I got the information. The surgery would be the next morning. Troy called his boss telling him about what had happened and got the next few days off to be there for me. My parents went home to pick up some clothes and other stuff for me. A nurse helped me take a shower and get into some clothes from the hospital. I got back into the bed, got some painkillers and some more ice on my knee. Troy sat by my side holding my hand. We did not say much, but it meant the world to me that he was there.
"I should call the coach from the youth national team and tell him," I said looking at my phone at the table.
Troy shook his head, "not now, babe," he said softly, "right now, you need to rest so that you can be ready for your surgery tomorrow. Once it is done, you can call him," he said caressing my cheek.
I nodded, "I hate this."
Troy nodded, "I know. I do too, but hopefully it will go well."
I shook my head, "you heard him. He has only seen it this bad once before, and he never played again." The tears formed in my eyes again. I felt Troy's arms around my body again. He hugged me tightly as if he was trying to take away my pain.
The surgery went well. And soon I was up on my feet again, well with crutches, but still I was standing up. I was at the hospital for three days, before I was sent home to recover. I talked to the coach from the youth national team, who was sad to hear about my injury and wished me the best, knowing that I might not got to play again. It was the hardest conversation I had ever had. I let go of one of my dreams… being a part of the national team. Well, the youth national team, but still, a national team. I was devasted. Troy had been by my side for the entire time. He helped me becoming friends with the crutches. I even lived at his place in the beginning so that I could avoid stairs.
It was a hard time. Handball had been the one thing that I had always held onto through everything – through the things happening with Benjamin, through my fights with my parents… through every single thing that had happened in my life handball had been the one thing I could always be sure of. It was the one thing that I never missed out on. It was where I let out my anger, where I found happiness, where I was me. And now I was out for at least 12 months. And even then, I could not be sure to come back into the court ever again. Facing those things, I got a psychologist to help me manage my feelings and what I was going through. According to her I suffered from a depression. No shit sherlock, I just lost like the most important thing in my life!
Life was about to go on. I had somehow accepted the fact that I was not playing. At least my team won the league and ended up moving a league up. I was there cheering for them at the court side. It had been 1 month since my team won the league, and I was now finishing my exams at high school. It had been 3 months since the day I ended up at the hospital. I was still walking with the crutches, which made everything a bit harder. My teachers had been helping me in and out of the exam rooms, some of them even carried my papers, when I had been in preparation and had to go to another room to defend my work.
Finally, my last exam came. It was history, one of my favorite subjects. I was at the school drawing my subject, and then I had 24 hours to prepare at home, and then I had to present it the following day. When I was finally done at my exam, my teacher helped me out and outside the exam room I was surprised by my family, Shar and Troy. My father was the one to put on the hat that we get in Denmark, when we finish high school, and so it went.
"So, how did it go?" Shar asked hugging me, and then releasing me to Troy's arms, where I was met with a warm hug and a kiss.
I smiled, "as it should."
Troy rolled his eyes and chuckled, "why do you even ask, Shar? She has been a straight A student as long as we have known her."
I smiled and nodded, "straight A," I giggled.
"Congratulations, Gabby," everyone smiled.
"We were thinking we could go out for dinner to celebrate you finally being done with high school," my dad smiled at me.
"That sounds nice," I smiled as I stood comfortable in Troy's arms.
"Well, then let's go to our place and then we will go out later," my mom smiled at us, "and Shar and Troy you are of course coming with us."
Troy chuckled, "thanks, Maria," he said. "Let me take that bag, babe," he smiled at me and took my bag from the floor.
"Let's go then," my dad smiled.
We spent the day and night with my parents, and we had a good time. Two days after graduating from high school, I went back to the hospital to get checked up on and to get the judgment over my knee. I knew all too well that it would not be good news. I still was not able to walk further than 20 meters without the crutches, and I still felt pain in my knee. I knew it before the doctors told me. My handball career had ended right there on the floor, when I passed out from pain. Even though I knew it before I went to the hospital, it still felt like a stroke in the abdomen, when the doctor looked me in the eyes and gave me the news. After that there was only one thing left to do. Accept it and try a life without handball. I knew it would be hard, but on the other hand in a month, I would move in, in a new apartment with Troy, and we would both start college in two months. Maybe, it would be okay. I knew it would.