Chapter 24

Monday morning started out as any other normal morning with Vicky lying half on top of me. If I knew what this week would bring I probably would have stayed in bed with her rather than getting up. However, I wasn't clairvoyant so I got ready and left for the arena, grabbing a granola bar for breakfast. I sat beside John as we changed for practice.

"How was the weekend?" I asked.

"Pretty good, Amanda and I went out Saturday night to a party and then spent yesterday together getting caught up on homework," John replied. "How was yours?"

"Went out to supper with the twins and their parents and then drove around on Sunday after brunch," I answered. "It was good to relax after last week with three tests and two games."

"Welcome to Wolverine hockey," he said with a grin. "Two games a week until probably April and less time for homework and studying. Just wait until we go to Boston in three weeks and then Alaska soon after."

"Well, I guess I'll get to see the country a bit more than I thought I would," I said, shaking my head.

We joined the team out on the ice and warmed up with a skate and shooting practice. Fred had us gather around sooner than usual.

"Good morning gentlemen, I trust you all had a good weekend after our two final exhibition games," he started, with a smile. "The other coaches and I were pleased with the results and how you battled to preserve the win, especially against Waterloo. You definitely came together as a team and worked hard to finish the game well."

Fred paused for a second and then got serious, saying "Those two games mark the end of the exhibition season and the start of the real thing. From now on every game counts for both teams and believe me, the competition is much higher than what you've seen so far. We'll be picking up the pace in practice and adding additional team meetings to view game film of each week's opponents, to discuss strategy and design a game plan.

This week's opponent for both games is St. Lawrence University from Canton New York. They will be coming here for Friday and Saturday night games. They are an aggressive, physical team who perennially compete for the title every year. Expect a hard fought game and everyone had better be prepared to step it up a notch or get steamrolled over."

After Fred's remarks, the team was put through the ringer, with a half hour of intense drills and then full contact half ice scrimmages. Fred got on my case when I went light on a hit on Shawn in the corner.

"Stewart, what the hell was that! My five year old girl hits harder than that!" he yelled as he stopped the scrimmage and came over to stand in front of me.

"You do want him to play in the games this weekend don't you?" I asked mildly.

"You think that lowly of Cason here that you have to coddle him?" Fred yelled at me before turning to Shawn. "Well Mr. Cason, do you require a red no hit shirt so Mr. Stewart doesn't hurt you?"

"No coach," Shawn replied, looking a bit pissed.

"Well, Mr. Stewart, you have your answer. Start hitting like it's a game or go find a spot on the bench," Fred yelled.

I just nodded as I got a bit pissed. They started the scrimmage again and when I had the opportunity to hit someone, I really stepped into him. Peter Stromach, the fourth line centre, was the unfortunate recipient of my anger. He flew a few feet in the air and landed in a heap, while I grabbed the loose puck and passed it to a streaking winger.

A couple of guys helped Peter off the ice and then we continued with the scrimmage. This time Shawn's third line was against us. They dumped it into my corner and I went in to retrieve it. I knew I had a target on my back, but calmly passed it over to John and leaned into Shawn's check. I was pushed into the boards but kept on my feet, while Shawn bounced off of me and fell to the ice. I skated around him and got back into the play. John was pinned on the boards and the puck squirted loose to Brad Eddings, the third line right winger. I hit him as he gained possession of the puck along the boards, looking down at the puck. He crumpled against the boards as I pounced on the puck and passed it to a wide open left winger for a breakaway out of the zone.

Fred stopped scrimmage again and had Brad helped up as Shawn got up by himself.

"I've just used Mr. Stewart to re-emphasize what we will be facing," he stated with a grin. "This is what everyone can expect this weekend from St. Lawrence from each one of their players. You need to have eyes in the back of your head and keep your head up at all times!"

Our line went off the ice for a rest and scrimmage continued, with increased hitting from all players. They finally let us go to the showers and I stayed under the hot water a bit longer than usual. I had to dress quickly and hurried off to logics class where I found Steph already seated.

"Hey Mikey, you just made it," she said with a grin.

"Practice was brutal so I stayed too long under the hot water," I told her. "How was your weekend?"

"Not bad, it was nice to relax after last week," she replied.

"That's for sure," I replied, as the professor came in.

"I have last week's tests marked and I must say that the results are rather dim," he started. "The correct answers have been posted on the department website, so I suggest you all download them and find out where you went wrong. I will be available at my usual office hours if anyone wishes to discuss the test or their future in this course. For those few of you that did well, congratulations, your hard work paid off so far. Keep up the good work."

He called us down to get our tests in alphabetical order. Stephanie was called about half way through and the professor said something quietly to her before giving the test to her. She looked at the mark and then smiled at him and said something back. She was beaming when she came back to her seat.

"You looked pleased," I said to her.

"Eighty five percent!" she said happily as she gave me a hug.

"Wow, great job Steph!" I told her.

"I owe it all to you Mikey," she replied with a smile.

"Bull. You worked your butt off for that mark and you earned it yourself," I contradicted her.

My name was called and I went down to collect my paper

"I see that playing hockey has not affected your school work so far Mr. Stewart. I'm glad you are taking your scholastics as seriously as you do your athletics. Very well done," the professor said.

"Thank you Dr. Quinn, I'm here for an education first and foremost, hockey is just a game," I told him.

"Well, keep up the good work," he replied, handing me the test.

"I will, thanks," I answered before heading back to my seat.

"Well, how did you do?" Stephanie asked, looking more eager than I was.

"I don't know, I haven't looked yet," I said with a grin.

"So look at it already!" she commanded.

I turned the paper over but hid it from her as I glanced at the ninety seven percent at the top of the front page. I shook my head and put a frown on my face.

"Damn, I blew that one! I thought I did so well too," I said, as I tucked it into my binder.

"What! You didn't do well?" she asked, looking shocked. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I'll have to review it later," I replied, putting on a sad look.

The professor finished with the tests and then started in on today's lecture. He gave the assignment out at the end of the class after collecting last week's assignment from us.

Stephanie and I walked out and she tried to console me.

"Listen Mike, we will go over the test and see what happened tonight ok? This test is just worth thirty percent of your total mark. With our good assignment scores and a good final you can still do well in the class," she encouraged me.

"I know, thanks for trying to cheer me up," I replied.

"Ok, I'll see you for lunch," she said.

She left me there after giving me a hug. I watched her butt as she walked away and was caught when she looked back. She grinned and wiggled her butt before heading away. I smiled and then walked to creative writing. I handed in my full length poem when the professor asked for them and then paid attention when she continued with elements of a short story. After getting this week's assignment, I headed over to the cafeteria to join the girls.

Vicky was on her phone and Stephanie and Jessica were listening to her conversation while nibbling at their food when I sat down beside her.

"Hang on Bec, Mike is here," she said into her phone. "Sweetie, we got the offer from BT!" she said excitedly.

"Congrats!" I replied with a smile and a hug. "Tell Bec too!"

"Thanks, it's so exciting!" she gushed. "Bec says they want to meet with us this afternoon and get us signed up. The head honchos in New York want us to get started as soon as we can so they can use us for some shows there coming up this month."

"Wow, that is real quick," I said in response. "They want you to go to New York?"

"Yes, can you believe it!" she responded with a grin. "We fly out this Friday after my lab is done."

"What, they want you to go this weekend? When do you come back?" I asked.

"Sunday evening, I'm sorry to say Sweetie," she replied, looking sad. "Don't worry; I'll call you every night."

"Ok, but I'll miss you just the same," I told her.

Vicky put the phone on speaker and the twins talked to the girls about how it happened. They finally hung up twenty minutes later and Vicky steered the conversation to the others.

"So Stephie, how was the weekend?" she asked. "Did you hook up with that guy you told us about?"

She blushed and replied "I did actually; we went out Saturday night to dinner and a movie. We had a good time."

"That's great!" Vicky replied. "Are you going to see him again?"

"Yep, he called me on Sunday and already asked me for a Friday night date," she informed us.

"Good for you," Vicky said.

"I've got a new boyfriend too!" Jessica said. "Brent and I went out Friday to a party and then to dinner on Saturday."

"Wow, that's great too!" Vicky responded. "Now I don't have to hear about renting out Michael to either of you."

I tuned out the girls as they answered questions about their new boyfriends and asked Vicky about the modelling. I finished my lunch and started working on the logic assignment. I was progressing nicely when the Vicky nudged me.

"Hey Sweetie, it's time for class," she reminded me.

"Ok, so when are you heading to the agency?" I asked, packing up.

"Right after next class, so I won't see you until later tonight," she replied, standing up. "I'll call you after six to let you know what's up, but you might as well eat at the arena."

"Alright, you be safe and have fun," I told her as I gave her a hug and kiss. "I love you and let Bec know as well."

"Ok, I love you too, I'll see you later," she replied as we walked out the door.

I watched the trio as they headed off to their next class chatting away about the new boyfriends and the modelling offer. I turned and walked back the math building and sat down in my Algebra classroom. The professor came in a couple minutes later with the tests we wrote last week. He also had some remarks about the low scores before handing them out. This time it was apparent that he was going from worst to best as each student was shaking their head when they looked at their grade. I felt better each time my name wasn't called. Eventually the students were smiling as they walked back to their seats. My name was finally called and I walked down to retrieve it.

"Good work Mr. Stewart," said the professor. "I'm pleased to see a computer scientist doing so well in this class."

"Thank you Professor Adams, you make it easy to understand," I replied, buttering him up a bit.

He smiled and handed me the test. I walked back and then looked at the mark. I saw the ninety two percent and had to grin. I had done much better than I expected. Four more students went up and then the professor got busy with the new material. An hour and a half later he had us all lost and, after giving out the assignment, left the classroom quickly.

I went back to the cafeteria but Jessica and Steph weren't there. I stayed and finished my logic assignment and started the Algebra one before heading over to the arena for practice. I walked down to the locker room and got some pissed off looks from a couple of guys before I sat down beside John.

"Hey, did I hurt one of those guys this morning?" I asked him.

"No, why?" he asked.

"I've been getting a few less than friendly looks from some of the guys," I told him.

He laughed and handed me a paper from his locker before saying "The school paper talked you up again, saying you're a combination of Bobby Orr's skating ability, Al MacInnis's shooting and Chris Pronger's hitting. Some of them don't like it when a rookie gets all the press."

"Shit, you know I don't read that crap," I replied, handing it back to him unread.

"I know that Mike, but some of the others do and get jealous," John told me. "Just make sure you don't talk to the press without permission."

"You don't have to worry about that!" I replied vehemently, starting to dress.

Frank pulled me aside as I was skating in the warm-up.

"Mike, you didn't talk to any reporters from the paper or anywhere else did you?" he asked.

"Of course not Frank, I know the rules," I stated. "I haven't talked to anybody at all and I don't read the paper."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear," he replied. "There's going to be more coverage about you I'm sure, just don't let it go to your head."

"It can't go to my head if I don't read it," I replied with a frown. "I've got too much to do to read that crap."

"Ok, now when Fred says to go all out with the checks today, we don't mean you," Frank added. "We do need some of our guys to play this weekend. Fred told me to tell you to keep it at half strength."

"Sure thing Frank, maybe he should have said that yesterday," I replied.

"I'm sure a few of the guys think that," he laughed.

Practice was another physical one as the coaches had the rookies and other non-starters try and knock out a starter out of the line-up. They took to it very enthusiastically, hitting everybody in sight. A few of them took great pleasure in hitting or trying to hit me. I guess they really didn't like the article in the paper. I took the hits as best I could, and leaned into them when I saw them coming. I made sure to make a note of some of the numbers and returned the hits when I could.

The hitting disrupted our play enough that Fred had to stop the scrimmage and get people on track, showing a couple of the lines how to counter the rough and tumble play. Quick passing and skating didn't allow the opposition enough time to hit and still keep in the play. Frank and Sam showed everyone some fundamentals about how to pass the puck off at the last moment and avoid the coming hit.

After practice I had a quick bite to eat and then went home to study. I finished the Algebra assignment and then started the creative writing weekly assignment. After that was completed, I attempted to write a short story for the second major assignment in the class. It wasn't due until the end of the month, but with the schedule I had, it didn't hurt to get ahead. I had a few pages done of the first chapter when my cell phone rang about nine.

"Hello," I said.

"Hey Sweetie, It's me. I'm sorry I'm calling so late," Vicky said. "It's been hectic to say the least. We're all signed up and we had our first shoot so they could get some publicity shots of us. We're just finishing some supper and I'll be home in about an hour ok?"

"Alright Vicky, drive safe and I'll see you soon," I responded.

I watched a bit of the Monday night football game before falling asleep. I woke up briefly when Vicky came into bed a couple of hours later.

"Hey, you're getting in late," I said groggily.

"I had to get some homework done so I was over in my apartment for a bit," she said as she slid over to me.

"So, did you have a good time?" I asked, giving her a hug and a kiss.

"It was busy, with lots of reading and signing of contracts this afternoon with our lawyer and new agent," she replied. "Then we went over to BT and did some more signing and picture taking. Finally they had us made up and we did a shoot, which was fun."

"So, how busy are you two going to be with this?" I asked. "I can't believe you're going to New York this weekend already."

"I know! We can't believe it either!" she answered. "It looks like we could be busy every weekend, and, if we hadn't put our feet down, we would be busy every day too! The money is going to be fantastic but Becky needs to finish high school and I have to finish this semester at least."

"And what comes after that?" I asked.

"I don't know Michael; we'll have to see how things go over the holidays. They have some big plans for those two weeks, so they tell us," she admitted.

"How is Becky handling it?" I asked.

"She loves it, if it was up to her, she would be out of school and going fulltime already!" Vicky laughed. "If it goes well, she won't be coming to University in the new year."

"Everything is changing, isn't it?" I said a bit sadly.

"Yes it is Sweetie, but we'll still be together, we made sure you were included in our plans," she said. "Either we can fly back here or you can fly to us on BT's tab when there is a break in either of our schedules."

"You two mean so much to me, but I know you deserve your shot at this," I said. "Just make sure you two stick together and watch out for each other since I can't be around to protect you."

"Mom and Dad already took me aside and made me swear to watch out for Bec," Vicky told me. "We all know she will be the one to embrace the wild side of modelling."

"Well, I'm adding my request for you to watch out for both of you," I said. "I'm going to be jealous enough with all the guys that are at the photo shoots and shows, let alone any of the high rollers I'm sure you'll meet. I'm sure you'll both have your choice of handsome models and rich millionaires that will be after you."

"Michael Stewart, you do not have to be jealous, we're both committed to you," she said emphatically. "Frankly, we're worried that someone will trip you between her legs while we're away."

"No worries there Darling, I'm a two women man," I said with a grin. "Now with Steph and Jessica both having boyfriends, there's no one to worry about."

"I'm sure there are not many women who would like to hear that you're a two women man" she replied with a laugh. "Now, let's get some sleep, we both have an early day tomorrow."

She pushed me down on my back and snuggled up to my side. After a nice kiss and hug she settled down and was soon snoring away. I had no such luck as I had my doubts about how well things would work out. I pictured handsome rich playboys in Ferraris draping their arms around the twins possessively while I was stuck writing a damn short story. I fell asleep with those happy thoughts and dreamed of punching out a Fabio look-alike who had his arms wrapped around a half naked Becky.

Tuesday morning arrived too soon as I had a horrible sleep. I staggered to the shower and took too long to wake up. I kissed Vicky and rushed off to practice, arriving in the locker room as everyone was going on the ice. I changed as quickly as I could and got on the ice as Fred called the players in for the start of practice.

"Glad you could join us Mr. Stewart," he said sarcastically as he looked at me. "I trust you had a pleasant sleep dreaming about your fantastic career after reading your accolades in the paper?"

"Sorry I'm late, I had a bad night. And no, I don't read the paper," I said as some of the team laughed at Fred's comment.

"See that it doesn't happen again," he said before carrying on.

The initial game plan devised by the coaches was to play the fast transition game against their physical play, rather than slug it out with them. The practice concentrated on hitting streaking forwards with outlet passes before getting hit by their fore-checkers. Fred kept John and me out longer than the other defensive pairings, letting us take more hits from the non-starters. Near the end of the practice, John took a viscous hit from behind from a rookie and crumpled to the ground. The rookie pounced on the puck but forgot to look out for himself as I paid him back by crushing him to the boards before slapping the puck in the general direction of a forward. I went over to John and helped him up and over to the bench.

John was groggy and staggering so I helped him walk to the trainer's room rather than leave him on the bench. Chris took one look at him and helped him to a table to sit down on.

"You'll probably have another one in here in a minute or so; I hit the asshole who hit John from behind," I told him.

"Swell," Chris replied as he removed John's helmet and shone a light into this eyes.

I looked at the clock and seeing it was already almost the end of practice, went to the locker room and had a shower. The rest of the guys came in a few minutes later as I was dressing. Frank came up to me and shook his head.

"I thought you were going to go easy out there?" he asked quietly.

"You don't seem to tell anyone else to take it easy or fairly," I retorted. "At least it was a clean hit, and, believe it or not, I pulled up at the end."

I left the room and quickly walked out of the arena, starting to get mad at everyone there. It was turning into a crappy day already. I slipped into the programming classroom just before the professor did and sat down beside Stephanie.

"Hey Mikey, just in time," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, rough practice again," I said.

"So, how did you do on your Algebra test?" she asked as she got her notebook out.

"I did ok, how about you in Calculus?" I asked.

"I got an eighty three, so I'm pretty happy about that," she replied.

"Way to go Steph, good work," I said, congratulating her.

"Thanks, I worked hard for that one. The big one is this class, I hope he gives me a good mark for my work on the last question," she worried.

"I'm sure you did fine," I reassured her as the professor started up.

"I have your tests and it seems most of you learned the basics but couldn't apply that knowledge to a previously unseen problem," he began. "The last question separated the men from the boys and the women from the girls. The class average was sixty seven percent. I expect better from you people, especially from those in a computer science major. Please make an effort to see me or the teaching assistants to go over your test if you did not do well. It is imperative that you also do well on your assignments or you will fail this class."

He called my name first and I went up to get my test.

"Excellent work Mr. Stewart, as can be expected from a scholarship winner," he said as he handed me the test. "Keep up the good work, in the classroom and at the rink."

"Thank you Dr. Albert, I'll try," I replied, as I took the test.

I walked back, glancing down at a one hundred, a perfect paper. I closed it and slid it into my book as I sat down.

"Well?" she asked.

"I did pretty well," I replied.

"Oh you, so secretive all of a sudden," Steph said, with a pout.

"Stephanie Merks," the prof called out.

She went down and after a couple of words with the professor, came back with a smile. I looked at her with an upraised eyebrow and she couldn't stop from telling me.

"I got a ninety four!" she said excitedly. "He said my work showed I had the right solution but wasn't finished enough to give me full marks."

"Congratulations, you certainly had a good week of tests," I praised her.

"Well, it's all thanks to you," she said.

"Oh don't go there, you did Calculus all by yourself and I certainly didn't help you with that last big question, you handled that all on your own," I contradicted her. "Face it, you're one smart woman."

She grinned at me and then looked at the test while the professor kept on with handing out the tests. The recipients started getting frowns when they received their tests back until the final few had serious long faces as they trudged back to their seats.

"Ok, let's get busy with some new topics," the professor said as he went to the blackboard.

He flew through the next couple of chapters in the remaining hour and a quarter and I knew I had to put in some extra time to go them again to comprehend everything. Reading ahead had been put off due to all the tests and hockey, so that became a priority so that the lectures could be understood. The professor gave out the next assignment, due next Tuesday and left the room. Stephanie and I grabbed our stuff and left the classroom.

"I'll see you later Mike, I'm late for next class," she said, scampering away in haste.

I headed reluctantly back to the arena and got changed for my work-out. I took my frustrations out by adding twenty five pounds to each upper body exercise and doing an extra five reps for each set. I bumped up the weight on my leg exercises by fifty pounds and, using my anger, really pushed myself hard. I was in a zone, doing my last set of calf raises, when Chris tapped me on the shoulder and shouted in my ear.

"Mike! What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh hey Chris, just in the zone, working out the legs," I said, finishing the last rep.

"You've bumped up the weight and the reps, why?" he asked with a frown.

"I needed to work off a bit of anger and the weights you had me at were too easy," I replied, getting up and towelling off.

"You need to check in with me before you do something like that Mike," he told me. "The weight room is not the place to get aggressive and work out your anger issues."

"Well, apparently the ice isn't either," I retorted. "I guess I had better find a place on my own where I can."

I left the weight room and had a hot shower to try and settle down. After dressing I grabbed some lunch and sat in the corner of the cafeteria jotting down some ideas for the new programming assignment. All too soon I had to leave for the rookie practice at one.

I got changed, ignoring the dirty looks from some of the others, and got on the ice before them. I did a quick warm-up skate and was shooting pucks into a net when the rest came onto the ice. I rested on the bench while the others did their warm-ups and then joined them when Frank came out.

Today's practice was dedicated to the tip drill in front of the net. I was the designated shooter for most of the drill while all of the forwards took their turn trying to get their stick on the puck. The other defencemen defended against the forwards, trying to tie up their sticks or push them out of the way. After about a half hour of that we had a scrimmage and then hit the showers.

While eating a snack in the cafeteria I read the new chapters of the programming textbook and then started the programming assignment on my laptop. I accomplished a fair bit before saving it and heading back a bit early for afternoon practice. I was changed and out on the ice skating a full fifteen minutes early so, after a quick warm-up skate, fooled around with some pucks closer to the net than usual, normally where the forwards would be shooting from. I concentrated on wrist shots and backhands, trying for the corners. After a bit, I started flipping pucks into the air with my stick and tried to shoot them into the net before they hit the ice. I had done this since I was a kid with my father so I hit most of them into the net. I quit when the rest of the team came out for their warm-up.

Practice was again 'pick on defence day' as the forwards took advantage of the green light given to them by the coaches to hit us every chance they could. John was still out of commission from the hit this morning so I had Ian as a partner. We worked on pick plays to get the forwards off the other player by standing still and letting the other go around us close enough that the forward would run into the stationary player. If the forwards weren't watching closely, they would be put flat on their back when they ran into us at full speed.

Another thing I taught him was how to take a hit so that the forward would be more wary when he came in on you. Subtle placement of elbows or sticks would be enough to hurt the forward without taking a penalty. Leaning into their check would minimize the force of the check as well.

By the end of practice, enough forwards had received enough punishment that they cooled their checking somewhat. I was sore and a bit peeved when we were done. I showered quickly and then called Vicky as I walked to the lobby.

"Hey Vicky, you home?" I asked.

"Nope, I'm at Jessica's trying to catch up on stuff," she told me. "Why don't you eat at the arena and we'll grab something here. I'll be a couple of hours at least."

"Ok, call me when you're done and I'll come get you," I said.