Chapter 38

I was up and out the door early Monday morning, raring to go to practice and get back to classes. I had a full day with two math classes after practice and then Philosophy after lunch. I was going to head over to the University hospital after that and see the eye doctor to get his medical clearance to resume practicing before heading back for afternoon practice.

I knew the coaches wouldn't let me practice this morning so I got there early and just skated with a stick and puck, practicing stick-handling before the guys got here. I felt a bit sluggish but warmed up nicely before the team trickled onto the ice. I left the ice as they started shooting at the nets and sat down on the bench.

"So, I hear you played hero again last week" John said as he stopped in front of me on the ice.

"Just helped out a girl," I said.

"You make it sound like you carried her books up the stairs," he remarked with a frown. "How's the eye?"

"Healing nicely, I'm going to see the eye doc this afternoon to get his approval to get back to practicing," I told him.

"Why the hell are you here then?" he asked.

"Just what I was going to ask," Fred said, walking up behind me.

"Just getting in some non-contact skating," I said. "The eye feels great and no issues with the lights in here, so I'm sure I'll get at least non-contact permission this afternoon."

"Until then, you shouldn't be on the ice at all Mike," Fred said with a frown. "There are rules about all of this, for your and our protection."

"Well, I skated Friday and yesterday with no issues so don't worry," I said. "I'll go get changed and hang about to hear the game plan for this weekend."

Fred just shook his head as I got up and headed down the tunnel. I quickly had a shower and then got dressed and grabbed my book bag before heading back out to at least listen to the coaches. The team gathered close to the benches so I stood nearby to hear what they had to say.

"I hope you all had a nice holiday because now we get down to business," Fred began. "We have Miami in on Friday and in case anyone doesn't remember, we lost both games to them in Oxford Ohio in late November. They are coming in here ranked eighth in the nation while we are eleventh. I find that most unacceptable and all of you should as well."

"We played decent games in Oxford but couldn't score while they got lucky with their goals," Fred continued. "We've made some changes that have increased our scoring so hopefully we will solve their goaltender this time. So, we will be playing an up-tempo game with high pressure defence with a one-two-two neutral zone trap. Let's get started."

I stood by the bench as the coaches walked everyone through the offensive and defensive plans for the weekend. I paid close attention to what I needed to do as a right winger as well as a defenceman just in case.

I left the practice after the scrimmage started and headed up to the main campus. After grabbing a diet coke and a muffin, I made my way to the math building and found the new classroom for algebra. It was empty so I grabbed a seat and pulled out the textbook to read the next chapter while I waited. Slowly the room filled up as the students trickled in with their coffee and book bags.

Eventually, the professor came in and introduced himself as Doctor Milan. He was a short Italian with a balding head who wore a shirt and slacks. After handing out the course outline, he started a quick review of the first semester. After that, he began the new material with the next chapter in the textbook and finished that up as the class ended at ten twenty. He assigned some questions from the end of the chapter as the first assignment, to be handed in next Monday.

I quickly packed up and headed down a floor to find my calculus room and found a seat. A professor Hiller came in and had us come down and grab a syllabus. She was a fairly young - probably mid to late twenties, a blonde woman with an English accent. She was quite attractive, dressed in a skirt and blouse outfit and stood about five foot six or so.

She went over the course outline and then did a review of what we were expected to know already as a prerequisite to the course. After that she went through the first two chapters and assigned some questions for the weekly assignment, again due next Monday.

I walked to the nearby cafeteria and got in line for lunch. I got a few looks from people in line, but I figured it was from the bandage on my face until a couple girls said 'Hi Mike' and giggled as they walked by. I wasn't sure why I was popular all of a sudden.

I ate by myself at a far table while reading ahead in the Philosophy textbook. I ignored the looks from some of the tables around me and concentrated on Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the Greek philosophers in the first few chapters.

Finally it was time to head over to the nearby social studies building to find the classroom. As this was an introductory class that lots of people took, it was held in a huge two storey room that looked more like a theatre than a classroom. It sat at least five hundred people and it was getting filled up quickly. I walked up the right side and found an aisle seat about half way up. I pulled out my notepad and my textbook and continued reading where I left off.

Soon most seats were taken but no one had sat beside me yet. The noise level dropped and I looked up, thinking it was the professor coming into the room. It was instead a stunning blonde walking across the front of the room that had caught the attention of all the guys and most of the women in the room. Her short leather jacket was open to show her impressive chest and her painted on jeans were stuffed into fashionable leather boots that clicked on the floor. As she was set to climb the stairs, I could see a tiny knowing smile on her face, indicating to me anyway that she knew she was attracting everyone's attention.

I resumed reading as she wasn't my cup of tea. She was a little too aware of her beauty and seemed to be enjoying being the centre of attention. Of course, the clicking of her heels stopped beside me.

"Is that seat taken?" she asked.

I looked up and replied, "Nope."

I stood up and let her past before returning to my seat and continued to read as she got settled. She took her coat off and put on the back of her seat and then sat down and put her notepad on the small table.

The professor came in shortly thereafter and was a tall good looking man in his mid-thirties. He introduced himself as Professor Rehnquist as he handed out stacks of course outlines to the bottom row and had them pass them up. I got handed a pile, so took one and handed it off to the blonde beside me. She thanked me with a smile and passed the stack along after putting one on her desk.

The professor went over the outline and what was expected of us this semester.

"Shit, I lost my pen; would you happen to have one I can borrow?" the girl asked me.

"Yeah, give me a sec," I replied and pulled one out of my book bag.

"Thanks, I'm Nora by the way," she said.

"Mike," I replied, trying to be quiet.

The prof got started on the lesson and I was busy writing down notes as were the rest of the class. He covered most of two chapters before letting us go at two twenty.

"Thanks Mike for the pen," Nora said with a smile as she handed it back.

"You're welcome," I replied, taking it as I packed up and stood up.

"Wow, you're a tall one," Nora exclaimed with a grin. "Care to join me for a coffee Mike?"

"Thanks, but I have an appointment," I replied. "See you later."

"That's too bad, I was hoping to get to know you better Mike," Nora remarked with a fake pout. "I'll see you Wednesday."

I nodded to her and took off down the steps to get away as fast as I could. It took a couple of minutes to get out of the room as the masses all tried to squeeze out of the doors at the same time. Finally I got out and left the building, heading north to the W. K. Kellogg Eye Center, where Dr. Patel had his office.

About twenty minutes later I was sitting in his waiting room, tackling my Algebra assignment while a couple of kids ran around the room. I finally got in to see the good doctor about three fifteen.

"How's the eye feeling Mr. Stewart?" he asked as I sat down in the big chair.

"Much better Doctor," I replied. "Light doesn't bother it anymore, including bright sunshine walking here just now."

"Good, let's get a look at it to be sure everything is back to normal," he replied as he brought his wheeled stool close in.

He looked at my eye through a scope he pulled down on a bracket attached to the ceiling, without any additional light to start. He switched lenses and filters and continued to look at the eye, asking me to look one way and then the next.

"Looking good so far Mr. Stewart; now let's see how it reacts to different levels of light," Dr. Patel warned me.

He started with a low level light and observed the eye's reaction. He continued to increase the brightness until I had to squint from the glare.

"How does the eye feel now?" he asked as he shut it off.

"Wow, that was bright," I said as I blinked a few times. "It's ok, doesn't hurt and no dizziness."

"Good, everything looks back to normal, so I think you can get back to practice," he responded. "I would keep from major contact for a few days, but you should be fine for a game by Friday."

"Great news Doc, thanks!" I replied. "Can I get that in a note for the coaches and trainer please?"

"Sure, let me handle that now," he answered.

Soon I was on my way back to the main campus and on to the arena, trusty note in my pocket. The team was all changing as I got into the locker room and quickly joined them getting ready. I carried the note to the rink and handed it to Fred with a grin before stepping out onto the ice.

I skated around the ice to get warmed up and then joined the team shooting at the goalies. I stepped into a puck and blasted it in on Mark and broke his stick.

"Damn it Mike, I liked that stick!" Mark shouted. "Go save another girl or something!"

The guys all laughed as I shot a weak wrister at his butt as he skated to the bench to get another stick. Fred handed me a red mesh jersey and reminded everyone of my delicate disposition for the next few days which generated more laughter.

Practice was more offensively minded with a high speed puck possession type of offence being worked out. We carried the puck in rather than dump and chase it into the corner. If we were stopped at the blueline from carrying the puck in we would make small passes to the wingers or use a soft bank off the boards and try and retrieve the puck just past the forwards and before the defence.

It felt great to back on the ice and I loved the high speed offence. Pete, Victor and I soon jelled as a unit again after having a week off. Pete was a master of faking which way he was going to pass or carry the puck in and we had to be ready at any time to take a pass.

We switched to defence and I learned my position in the one-two-two neutral zone trap, covering the right side, hoping to intercept a bad pass to the winger or hit the recipient of that pass. I had to just lightly run into him of course, at least for the next couple of days.

Finally we had a scrimmage and I had a couple of good chances to score, putting one of them through Josh as he tried to sprawl to cover more of the net. I was pretty bushed when we were done and took my time grabbing a shower and getting dressed.

With my book bag over my shoulder, I headed out of the locker room as Frank was headed in.

"Mike, Angie is in Fred's office looking for you," he said.

"Thanks Frank, I'll head the other way then," I said with a grin.

"Probably the better decision, but unfortunately not the right one," he admitted with a laugh.

I turned left and went down to enter Coach's office.

"Hi Coach, Miss Dawson," I said. "Frank said you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah Mike, Angie tells me that the security cameras caught your escapade last week and the video got leaked to the web on the weekend," Fred said. "Angie, why don't you take over?"

"Ok Coach," she agreed. "Mike, we've been bombarded with calls and email requests to discuss the incident with Miss. Matsuda and yourself. Mitsy is still recovering at home from her injuries and obviously is in no shape to deal with the press. Since it's an assault case, we haven't broadcast the incident at all, but someone here did."

"I certainly didn't and the twins don't know yet," I told her. "I avoided the media at the hospital on Wednesday evening by sneaking out another door. I don't have a clue who leaked it."

"Oh, I wasn't blaming you Mike, I meant someone from the security staff," Angie replied. "So far we haven't addressed it other than to admit there was an incident. The police report and the 911 call is public access so they know who was involved. Expect to get ambushed as soon as you hit the lobby."

"Shit, maybe I can slip out the side door or something," I suggested.

"They'll get to you eventually Mike," Angie replied. "You might just want to answer some questions while I'm here to control them."

I looked at Coach and he said, "I agree, get it over with in one shot. You didn't do anything wrong, you saved that girl and the attacker is in jail."

I sighed and then agreed, "Ok, but just questions about the attack. How is Mitsy anyway?"

"She's recovering slowly but it was a severe concussion, so she needs to rest another week before returning to school, and another week before she can start skating casually," Angie replied. "Alright, let's get this over with. Thanks Coach."

"Yeah, thanks Coach," I said dryly.

"Next time, make sure there aren't any cameras around superhero," he replied with a grin.

I shook my head as I followed her out the door. We walked side by side for a bit until we hit the set of doors and I let her go first through the doors and up the stairs to the lobby.

As we came into view, a bunch of reporters crowded close and cameramen turned on their lights and video cameras. Angie moved to an area in front of a big Wolverine logo and held up her hand.

"I will be reading a short statement and then Mike Stewart will answer a few questions about the incident only," Angie said. "No questions on Mike's personal life or hockey at this time. Ok?"

There were some nods, a couple of groans and a few yes Ma'am.

She paused and then started, "Last Tuesday evening there was an incident in the arena parking lot. A young lady was getting into her car when she became a victim of an attempted carjacking and kidnapping. She struggled and was injured when her head hit the doorjamb hard. Another student, Mr. Mike Stewart, a member of the University of Michigan Wolverine's men's hockey team, witnessed the attempt and rushed over to help. He fought with the attacker and managed to subdue him, sustaining injuries to his face and eye. Mr. Stewart called 911 and police and ambulance arrived to detain the attacker and provide medical assistance to the young lady and the attacker. Mr. Stewart also went to the hospital for the night for treatment to his face and eye."

"On behalf of the University Athletic Department, we thank Mr. Stewart for his timely rescue of the young lady. The University will be increasing the lighting in the parking lot and providing more visible security in the area. Mr. Stewart will now answer some questions about the incident for the only time."

"Mike, can you tell us in more detail what happened?" asked a reporter.

"There's not much more to say; I was scraping my windows and saw the young lady get grabbed and ran over," I started. "I got there just after he shoved her into the car and got the jump on him. We traded a couple of punches and I got in a lucky shot and he went down. I called 911 and waited with the lady until the police and ambulance got here."

"What were your injuries?" another one asked.

"I had a cut stitched up and a bruise to my iris that caused me some pain and nausea when exposed to light," I said.

"How are you now?" a reporter shouted out.

"The stitches come out tomorrow and the eye is healed," I replied.

"How is the young lady?" a woman reporter asked.

I looked to Angie and she replied, "The young lady has a severe concussion and is resting at home. She should make a full recovery but concussions are tricky things and she needs peace and quiet."

"How does it feel to be a hero on top of a star hockey player?" I was asked.

"I don't feel I'm a hero, I just did what anyone would have done in the same situation," I answered. "I'm happy that she will recover but sad that I couldn't get there fast enough to stop her from getting hurt. I will say she put up a heck of a fight before I got there so she's more of a hero than I am."

"The attacker's lawyer is saying you brutally beat up his client, attacking from behind and were excessive in your assault on him," a slimeball reporter asked. "What do you have to say in your defence?"

"I was just informed that the video has been leaked of the incident and you all probably have seen it," I replied. "I'll leave it up to you to decide the answer to that question."

"What does your girlfriend have to say about your rescue of a beautiful young lady?" another woman asked.

"No personal questions," Angie said.

"Will you be playing this weekend?" a reporter asked.

I looked at Angie and she said, "No hockey questions. If there are no more questions about the incident, then this interview is over. Thank you for attending."

She took my arm and we marched back to the doors we came out of as the reporters shouted questions about the twins.

"Geez, they're like a pack of hyenas," Angie said angrily. "You handled yourself well back there. Just give the minimum answer and don't be afraid to leave stuff out. I never lie to the press but I don't have to tell them everything either."

"Thanks for going out there with me, I would have handled that badly if I was alone," I told her.

"That's my job," she replied. "So Coach tells me that Steph has gone to New York with her younger sister and you're alone here. That must be tough."

"Yeah, it was nice to have someone to study with and hang out with, but her sister is only sixteen and needs her a lot worse than I do," I told her. "The twins are getting super busy as well so we're kind of on a break."

"Well give me a call if you need some help or just need to talk to someone," Angie offered. "I know what you're going through so I can relate if you need some advice."

Thanks, I'll be sure to call if I need to," I replied.

"And I'll need a copy of those Calvin Klein photos and commercials so I know what all the fuss is about," she said with a grin.

"They have to come here to get approval, so you should be in the meeting so you can comment on them," I told her. "I haven't seen anything yet so you're out of luck."

"Well, I'm reserving a copy of them right now," she said. "Ok, you better wait a few minutes and slip out the side door and walk around to get to your car."

"Ok, thanks Miss Dawson, have a good night," I said.

"It's Angie, I'm not that much older than you, Mister," she growled. "If you weren't already attached I'd be after you myself."

"Wow, I'm flattered that a beautiful lady would be interested in me," I told her. "And I think you look young enough to be a freshman so I'm just being respectful calling you Miss Dawson. I'll call you Angie in private if you like."

"You keep up that charm and I'll forget my rules about students and attached men, Mike," she said with a grin. "Let me know if you become unattached and we maybe we can get together."

"Um, sure," I said with a blush.

"You are so cute when you blush," she said as she walked away with a wiggle.

I turned away quickly so I wouldn't get caught gawking and headed out to a side door and walked around the rink. I slipped into my car quickly and got it started before any of the straggling media caught me alone. I was back safe and sound in the apartment fifteen minutes later.

After some supper, I tackled my assignments in both math classes before finishing the reading on the Philosophy chapters the professor had covered. The midterms were going to be written papers instead in that class but I hadn't gotten far enough to start those yet.

I settled down with the database textbook to read ahead before tomorrow's class. I fell asleep with the book on my stomach and dreamed of Nora and Angie fighting each other trying to get a piece of me.

Tuesday morning I woke up to see snow piling up on the basement window. I had a quick shower and some breakfast before heading to the arena. I parked up close and headed into the building, brushing away the snow that stuck to me when I got into the lobby. After stomping my boots on the mats, I headed down and got dressed for the ice.

Rolf was just finishing cleaning the ice so I helped with the nets and Patrick. I had the ice to myself for half an hour and then the team trickled in. Practice was more of the same so I was tired when I got off the ice. I had to get dressed quickly though as the weather would make the walk up to the main campus a bit slower.

I slugged through the blowing snow and the two inches already accumulated on the ground and arrived just as the professor did at the building.

"Hey Mike, good work at the tournament and helping out that girl," Dr. Albert said as we brushed ourselves off and stamped our boots.

"Thanks. How were your holidays?" I asked.

"Too short but ok," he replied. "So are you ready for second semester?"

"Yep, hopefully you're going to make the exams a little harder," I said with a grin. "Are the marks coming out soon?"

"You should have already gotten them in the mail Mike," he replied. "But you got perfect on everything so no worries on for at least one class. Even Miss Merks got enough bonus marks to get perfect on the exam."

"She'll be glad to hear it, but she had to take off this semester to be with her younger sister," I told him as we walked to the classroom.

"That's too bad, she was a very intelligent young woman," he said. "We need more of them in this field."

I nodded and we split up as we entered the room. I found a seat in the back and got out my books. Dr. Albert handed out the outline and then did a quick review before starting the next chapters. He handed out the assignment at the end of class before we headed out into the snow storm. I had some time to kill so I started the assignment in the nearby cafeteria while having an early lunch. I had a working solution done before heading to the database classroom, back in the same building.

Professor Delany was a short stout older man with a good sense of humour. He kept us in stitches as he explained the course before starting the first chapter. It was all about storing and manipulating data and I enjoyed it immensely.

After class I braved the storm and walked back to the arena and got into my workout clothes. I headed to the weight room and got in a great workout before practice. I then had a shower and slowly got into my hockey equipment as the guys came in to the locker room.

"Hey Mike, you're not out scoping out the figure skating babe?" John asked.

"Nope, they didn't appreciate it last week so I'm turning over a new leaf," I replied. "No more scoping out women."

"I'll believe when I see you walk by some lovelies and don't look back," John responded with a laugh.

"Alright, you'll see," I told him.

We went out together and did our stretches before skating around to warm up. We split up to shot from different points on Josh and Bob before the coaches got the practice going. They decided to concentrate on special teams this practice so John and I paired as defence partners on both the penalty kill and power play. I was a little rusty on the penalty kill so it was good to get in some practise. I couldn't hit anyone yet so I had to just use my stick to poke check pucks away from the forwards down deep rather than pin them to the boards.

On the power play, I took a few more chances by going in deep a few times with the puck or into the slot hoping for a pass. I got burnt once as the pass to me was intercepted and the forward was sent on a breakaway and scored on Mark.

We ended as usual with a scrimmage and I played as a forward. I was starting to feel comfortable in that role more and more as time went on. Pete and Victor seemed to get open every time I had the puck and we had several scoring opportunities against the top lines. It felt just as good to set up a goal as it did to score one.

After practice was over I had Chris take out the stitches in the cut and then headed home and found my report card in the mail box. I started some macaroni and cheese and then opened the envelope. I ended up with a 3.9 grade point average for the first semester, getting a perfect 4.0 in programming, 3.9 in logic, 3.9 in algebra and 3.8 in creative writing. I was pleased to say the least.

After eating, I checked my messages and emails and found messages and emails from the five women.

"Michael, you didn't think to let us know about the incident last week?" Vicky asked. "I know we're busy, but we would have liked to know about it and how you are. Please let us know how you are doing."

The others were more of the same. Steph and Sammi were now in Jamaica doing a swimsuit shoot after being in LA with the twins filming a commercial. Becky let me know they were off to London England for a fashion show and then had to fly to Arizona to attend a playoff game on the weekend.

I sent all of them the same email, describing the incident and subsequent week of inactivity. I let them know I was all healed up and back on the ice. I told them that the professors were already piling on the work so I was keeping busy. I also let them know about the Angie and Nora incidents, telling them how I had to come up with ways to avoid them now. I wished them luck and hoped to hear from them a little more regularly.

After I sent the email, I got to my homework and finished the first year comp programming assignment and then tackled the db programming one before hitting the hay.

Wednesday was a similar day as Monday except for the addition of four inches of snow before the system finally moved on. I had a few more girls that I didn't know say hi to me in the cafeteria at lunch but I just nodded or smiled and kept going. I played the coward and sat in the middle of a row where Nora couldn't get to me in Philosophy. I saw her looking around and she took a seat beside another handsome guy when she couldn't find me. After class I hoofed it up the stairs and out the second floor exit and made my way out the building through another exit.

Both morning and afternoon practices were split into three to practice all facets of the game before a short scrimmage. After the afternoon scrimmage, I headed home and had some supper. I checked my emails and found one from Steph.

Steph told me to stay away from the Nora bitch and not to encourage Angie. They couldn't get away to come help me out but the twins were going to see what they could do to make sure I didn't stray from approved female companionship. She did say that Casey was still an option.

I wrote her back that I hadn't seen the figure skaters all week and wasn't planning on seeing them. I told her what I had done to avoid them this week and Nora today. I also let her know that Angie was in fact too old for me, contrary to what I had said to her at the arena to make her feel better. Finally I let Steph know I missed them all and hoped to talk to them soon.

The twins called an hour later.

"Hey Michael, I'm glad you're avoiding the blonde bitch in class," Vicky said as a greeting.

"Hello to you Vicky, I'm glad to hear your voice," I replied.

"Sorry Michael, let me start over," Vicky said. "Hi Sweetie, I'm glad to hear your voice."

"Hi Michael," Becky added.

"Hey Bec, It's nice to hear from both of you," I responded. "So, you're not in London are you?"

"Nope, we flew back to New York when the S sisters went to Jamaica yesterday," Bec replied. "We're heading over to London in the morning."

"That should be fun for you three," I said. "Going to do some sight-seeing?

"We'll try to, we have a few hours on each day free, so we might take in some of the castles and thing," Vicky replied. "So, your eye is ok?"

"Yep, good as new," I told them.

"And the girl?" Vicky asked.

"She had to stay home at least another week to rest, she had a pretty severe concussion," I answered. "She'll be ok in a couple of weeks from what I hear."

"That's good to hear," Vicky said. "So, maybe you can use her to get to Casey."

"I'm afraid not, all the skaters seem to be mad at me for some reason, maybe because I was staring at her while still having a girlfriend," I told them. "I haven't seen them since the incident but even the coach and Casey were angry before that."