Chapter 7: The Game

Notes: I would have written the game in detail if I knew a thing about hockey, sadly, I know nothing!

They ended up joining the rest of the Ducks under the tree for lunch. Fulton reminded her of everyone's names, and she managed to retain a few more. She was pleased to see Portman and Julie sitting together, slightly away from the rest of the group.

She was introduced to Linda, Charlie's girlfriend, who asked her to sit with her during the game.

She ended up spending most of the lunch trying to lie flat, to the amusement of the others. Mr. Lambert had often told her that lying flat would help ease any pain she was having.

Connie and Linda joined her, noticing how foolish she felt, and they spend the lunch hour staring at the clouds and pointing out what shapes they looked like to each other.

"Taz! Over here!"

Taz looked over the stands and saw Linda waving at her. She made her way over as quickly as possible, trying to minimize her inelegant movements.

"It's a good thing you've got purple hair or I'd have never seen you," Linda said.

"Is it usually this packed?" Taz asked.

"Pretty much, everyone wants to see the Ducks play, especially since they've played in the Junior Goodwill Games."

"Have you always been a hockey fan?"

Linda brushed some hair out of her eyes. "No, not until Charlie started at the school. He kinda convinced me to come to a game."

"And here was me thinking I was the only non-sports nut in the school." Taz grinned.

However, having said that, she quickly got into the game, joining Linda in cheering for the Ducks and occasionally hurling abuse at the other team.

When Fulton scored a goal she went wild, bouncing excitedly, ignoring the pain in her hip. His eyes sought her out in the crowd, he pointed at her and smiled.

"He just dedicated the goal to you," Linda said.

Taz grinned so much it began to ache. "I'm really liking this game."

Taz and Linda made their way out of the rink to wait for the team, Taz leant heavily on Linda's arm. "Sorry for being so pathetic," she said. She'd only known the girl a couple of hours, and now she was relying on her.

"It's fine," Linda assured her. "You're not pathetic. It's just a good thing you're so little, I'm a big wimp."

"I shouldn't have bounced so much," Taz commented.

"Sometimes you just can't help it. It was a good game."

"So what do we do now? Fulton said to meet him here, but he didn't say where we're going." Taz found a bench and sank down on it thankfully.

"We all go to the diner down the road and get something to eat. Don't expect intelligent conversation though, there's constant interruptions from well-wishers. It's fun though," Linda replied, taking a seat next to her.

Taz smiled, suddenly realizing that she hadn't spent the evening terrified that Linda was about to make fun of her. Not only that, she had asked her for help. She had a lot to thank Fulton for.

She felt arms slide around her waist, she looked over her shoulder at Fulton's smiling face. "Hi."

"Did you have a good time?" he asked.

"Yeah! It was great." she replied excitedly. "I have to admit, I liked the violence."

"Glad about that, it's one of my specialties. C'mon, let's go." He offered his hand and helped her to her feet. "Are you ok?"

"Too much bouncing," she told him as the others began to walk away. "I should have stayed put. I'll be fine."

"You don't look fine," he said bluntly. "You've gone really pale again."

"Pain killers are wearing off, that's all."

"Hey Portman!" Fulton yelled suddenly. "Come here."

"What's up, dude?" he asked, walking over, with Julie in tow.

Fulton leant over and muttered something in his ear. Portman nodded and stood on the other side of Taz. Without warning they picked her up, making a seat with their arms for her.

She shrieked and put an arm around each of them. "Put me down!"

"No. You were yelling for the team, now we're saying thanks." Portman told her.

"You can't carry me to the diner," she said.

"It's not that far, and you don't weigh anything." Fulton said.

"Put me down, I feel like an idiot!" She giggled.

But they didn't put her down.

And she didn't feel like an idiot.

In fact, she felt rather amazing.