I remember standing near my father's casket, not crying. I know I should have been but my eyes were dry as a desert. For four days prior to the funeral, I had bawled like a baby. That day no tears would come. But then, I think Sky cried enough for both of us.
I was sitting with Bailey on my lap when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I bounced Bailey on my knew one more time and closed my eyes with a sigh, before I turned to see who it was. I had heard the words 'I'm so sorry Scooter.' so many times they'd lost all meaning to me. I saw two people standing behind me, one I'd seen every time I looked in the mirror and the other I hadn't seen in years. My mom and brother.
"Hi sweetie." My mother smiled sympathetically "How are you feelin'?"
"I'm doing okay, you know as good as can be expected. Hey Chris, do you want to hold Bailey for a bit?" I offered the little one to my twin.
"No, no thanks." He answered shying away. I think, he doesn't really think of dad, Sky or Bailey as his family. "I think I'm gonna go say hi to Sky and um bye to dad. Where's Sky?"
"Uh, over there." I indicated pointing to the redheaded women in the wheelchair, with her back to us.
"Scooter honey," My mom began "I actually came here today to invite you to come back to New York with your brother and I. There's more then enough room in my apartment, and Christopher is moving into a loft with a few of his friends from school. You remember Jamal, Al, Cassidy, Dawn and L-train right? They offered to allow you to stay with them as well. What do you think?"
"I don't know mom, I mean that's a lot to think about, I mean my life is here." I couldn't believe she sprung that on me like that, my dad wasn't even cold in the grave yet.
"Consider this Scott, you have no family here and from what I've been told, you're friends are no longer even speaking to you." She added "And you've quit the hockey team, if you come home with me, I maybe able to pull some strings and get you on the team at Manny High."
"Still……"
"I'll give you some time to think it over dear, but Chris and I are leaving Manhattan in three days." With that she got up and went off to speak to my grandmother.
AT THE SAME TIME
"Gaffney, do you think you could stop the puck!" Orion fumed throwing his whistle across the box.
"Give her a break coach." Charlie said, pushing the door open and climbing onto the bench.
"And why should I do that Conway? We have a game in a week against the Warren Learning Center Weasels, the one team in the league that's undefeated and our goalie hasn't stopped a puck all practice."
"She's just distracted, Scooter's father died, Jules is worrying about him. But he comes back to school tomorrow, she'll be good for the game."
"She better be, or else she's bench and I'm putting Goldberg in."
"I think we've got bigger problems." Charlie nodded to the doorway where Averman came walking in with his arm in a sling and stitches on his forehead.
The whole team skated off the ice and surrounded the class clown, a hyper mixture of what 'happeneds? and 'are you okays?'
"I fell down the stairs, my wrist is broken. I'm out of the game for four weeks." Les responded glumly.
Orion turned an awful shade of green as he swallowed all the swears that wanted out of his mouth.
"Alright, twenty-five laps, everyone keep up with Luis, those of you that can't, no one goes home till Goldberg finishes. I've gotta go see if I can burrow a varsity player to play both ways and fill the empty roster spot."
LATER THAT DAY
I called Jules as soon as I got home from the funeral, one because I wanted to tell her about my mother's offer and two because I knew she'd be worried about me.
"Hey Julie." I greeted when she picked up.
"Hi Scooter, are you okay? How was the service?" I heard her flop onto her bed.
"It was hard really hard, probably the toughest thing I've ever done." I replied sitting down at my desk.
"I would've been there if you would've let me."
"I know, but you had class and practice, I couldn't just ask your life to stop because my father died. Plus you've got that big game coming up."
"Ugh, don't remind me. Averman broke his wrist today, I don't know what we're going to do."
"I'm sure Orion'll think of something."
"Yeah…" There was silence for a second before she queried. "So are you okay, really?"
I sighed hard.
"My mom and brother came to the funeral, they want me to move back to New York with them."
"Are you going to?"
"I don't know, I'm thinking about it. My mother raised some good points, about not having any friends or the hockey team to fall back on, to help me through all of this. It seems like the best thing for me."
"Oh." Suddenly Julie sounds disappointed. "So what about us? I mea, I don't wanna change your decision, but I thought we had the start of something special."
"We do Jules, I really like you, I think you're great."
"Well that's a relieve, sorta…"
"Don't worry about it, if I move we'll work it out. I'll come visit you when, I come out to see my sister and grandmother and you can come to my mother's when for the weekend or something, when you go home to Maine on vacation."
"You sound like you've already made up your mind."
"Unless another reason for me to stay comes up, I'll more then likely go Jules. I'm sorry. I gotta go, my nana's here, she wants to spend some time together. Hey don't worry okay, I'll see you at school tomorrow. I'll meet you in the quad, and I'll take you out for breakfast okay, at like 7:30."
"Sure, I'll see you then. Have a good night." And she hung up sounding despondent.
I was sitting with Bailey on my lap when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I bounced Bailey on my knew one more time and closed my eyes with a sigh, before I turned to see who it was. I had heard the words 'I'm so sorry Scooter.' so many times they'd lost all meaning to me. I saw two people standing behind me, one I'd seen every time I looked in the mirror and the other I hadn't seen in years. My mom and brother.
"Hi sweetie." My mother smiled sympathetically "How are you feelin'?"
"I'm doing okay, you know as good as can be expected. Hey Chris, do you want to hold Bailey for a bit?" I offered the little one to my twin.
"No, no thanks." He answered shying away. I think, he doesn't really think of dad, Sky or Bailey as his family. "I think I'm gonna go say hi to Sky and um bye to dad. Where's Sky?"
"Uh, over there." I indicated pointing to the redheaded women in the wheelchair, with her back to us.
"Scooter honey," My mom began "I actually came here today to invite you to come back to New York with your brother and I. There's more then enough room in my apartment, and Christopher is moving into a loft with a few of his friends from school. You remember Jamal, Al, Cassidy, Dawn and L-train right? They offered to allow you to stay with them as well. What do you think?"
"I don't know mom, I mean that's a lot to think about, I mean my life is here." I couldn't believe she sprung that on me like that, my dad wasn't even cold in the grave yet.
"Consider this Scott, you have no family here and from what I've been told, you're friends are no longer even speaking to you." She added "And you've quit the hockey team, if you come home with me, I maybe able to pull some strings and get you on the team at Manny High."
"Still……"
"I'll give you some time to think it over dear, but Chris and I are leaving Manhattan in three days." With that she got up and went off to speak to my grandmother.
AT THE SAME TIME
"Gaffney, do you think you could stop the puck!" Orion fumed throwing his whistle across the box.
"Give her a break coach." Charlie said, pushing the door open and climbing onto the bench.
"And why should I do that Conway? We have a game in a week against the Warren Learning Center Weasels, the one team in the league that's undefeated and our goalie hasn't stopped a puck all practice."
"She's just distracted, Scooter's father died, Jules is worrying about him. But he comes back to school tomorrow, she'll be good for the game."
"She better be, or else she's bench and I'm putting Goldberg in."
"I think we've got bigger problems." Charlie nodded to the doorway where Averman came walking in with his arm in a sling and stitches on his forehead.
The whole team skated off the ice and surrounded the class clown, a hyper mixture of what 'happeneds? and 'are you okays?'
"I fell down the stairs, my wrist is broken. I'm out of the game for four weeks." Les responded glumly.
Orion turned an awful shade of green as he swallowed all the swears that wanted out of his mouth.
"Alright, twenty-five laps, everyone keep up with Luis, those of you that can't, no one goes home till Goldberg finishes. I've gotta go see if I can burrow a varsity player to play both ways and fill the empty roster spot."
LATER THAT DAY
I called Jules as soon as I got home from the funeral, one because I wanted to tell her about my mother's offer and two because I knew she'd be worried about me.
"Hey Julie." I greeted when she picked up.
"Hi Scooter, are you okay? How was the service?" I heard her flop onto her bed.
"It was hard really hard, probably the toughest thing I've ever done." I replied sitting down at my desk.
"I would've been there if you would've let me."
"I know, but you had class and practice, I couldn't just ask your life to stop because my father died. Plus you've got that big game coming up."
"Ugh, don't remind me. Averman broke his wrist today, I don't know what we're going to do."
"I'm sure Orion'll think of something."
"Yeah…" There was silence for a second before she queried. "So are you okay, really?"
I sighed hard.
"My mom and brother came to the funeral, they want me to move back to New York with them."
"Are you going to?"
"I don't know, I'm thinking about it. My mother raised some good points, about not having any friends or the hockey team to fall back on, to help me through all of this. It seems like the best thing for me."
"Oh." Suddenly Julie sounds disappointed. "So what about us? I mea, I don't wanna change your decision, but I thought we had the start of something special."
"We do Jules, I really like you, I think you're great."
"Well that's a relieve, sorta…"
"Don't worry about it, if I move we'll work it out. I'll come visit you when, I come out to see my sister and grandmother and you can come to my mother's when for the weekend or something, when you go home to Maine on vacation."
"You sound like you've already made up your mind."
"Unless another reason for me to stay comes up, I'll more then likely go Jules. I'm sorry. I gotta go, my nana's here, she wants to spend some time together. Hey don't worry okay, I'll see you at school tomorrow. I'll meet you in the quad, and I'll take you out for breakfast okay, at like 7:30."
"Sure, I'll see you then. Have a good night." And she hung up sounding despondent.