Where Do I Begin?

Chapter 10

Adam

"Well, what is it?" Charlie asked.

"She has broken a rib on her right side, she is heading to the surgery room now. She will be done in about one hour. We connected her next of kin, Mr. Jane. He'll be down here soon. How did this happen?" The doctor asked. I put my head down a little.

"She was skating too fast and fell on the turn, she fell on her side really hard." Coach answered. The doctor nodded his head like he was getting the information he needed.

"Does she figure skate?" The doctor asked.

"No, hockey. Thats why we're all in hockey gear, and her too." Charlie corrected the doctor. He looked at us really puzzled.

"Oh." The doctor said. He shook his head and looked back down at the clipboard. "Well, if the surgery does not turn out good, she may never play again. Come with me if you wanna see the x-rays." The doctor demanded. We all started to follow the doctor through the hospital. As we were walking, I looked to my left and saw a little kid, about five years old, with a hockey jersey on. But, it wasn't any jersey, it was a Hawks jersey. It's my jersey.

He's a fan of mine?

I started to stop and stare at him. Charlie turned around and stopped walking.

"What's wrong, Banks?" Charlie asked as he came back and stood next to me.

"Look at that little kid." I demanded kindly. Charlie looked over and saw the kid. He smiled and looked back at me.

"You should go up to him and say hi." Charlie implied. I started to walk over to the kid. He was looking down because he looked super sad. I walked up to him and bent down. He looked up, then smiled.

"You're Adam Banks!" He yelled with shock. I smiled. He looked down at my jersey and stopped smiling. "Why do you have a Ducks jersey on?" I looked down at it, then back at him.

"I, uh, had to switch teams." I replied. He looked really confused.

"Why?"

"Because, uh, I wasn't living where I could play for the Hawks, I have to play for the Ducks." I tried to explained.

"Do you miss the team?" He asked. I smiled and started to nod my head.

"Yeah." I sighed. He smiled really big.

"Don't worry! I'm still going to be your #1 fan!" He yelled. I smiled.

"Why are you so sad?" I asked. Right then, that cute little smile ran from his face again.

"My sisters dying." He blurted. I stopped smiling too.

"Why?" He started to tear up.

"She has lung cancer and the doctors say she might not make it. It's a eighty nine percent chance she might die. She's a huge fan of yours." He explained. I looked down, then back at him.

"Hey, look at the positive. She might make it. When she makes it, come to a Ducks game and I'll see you and her at the end of the game, deal?" I asked. He smiled again.

"Deal." He gave me a hug. We let go and I stood up. I walked over to Charlie. Charlie put his arm around my shoulders. We walked to the x-ray room. We all slowly walked to the chairs and sat down, facing the wall, where there was blank screen with a light shining through it.

"I have the the pictures." The doctor stated. He put the x-rays up on the screen. It had two photos of Courtney's rib cage, with on the of ribs shattered. I just stared at it.

This is my fault. She wouldn't have a broken rib if it wasn't for me.

"She shattered her bottom right rib, right here." He said, pointing at the pictures. I put my head down.

"How long is the recovery?" Coach asked. I looked up. The doctor put his hand down from the picture and looked at us.

"Um, if the surgery is successful, then one week. But if it's not, like I said, she will never play hockey again." The doctor replied. We all stared at him. "Okay, that's all. Can you please wait in the waiting room?" We didn't reply. We all just stood up and left the room.

"Charlie!" I heard someone yell. We all turned around and saw a man standing there.

"Hi, Mr. Jane." Charlie said nervously.

Is that Courtney's dad?

She never mentions him. He walked over quickly, then stopped almost immediately when he looked at me.

"Who are you?" He asked. I smiled a little.

"I'm Cou-"

"He's Courtney's friend. Yeah. He's new to the team." Charlie said, interrupting me. I just looked at Charlie, confused.

"Oh, nice to meet you." Mr. Jane said. He stuck his hand out. I looked at it, then shook his hand.

"Let's have Coach and Mr. Jane talk." Charlie said. He grabbed my arm and brought me to the chairs.

"What was that?" I asked. Charlie stared at me.

"Be careful with Mr. Jane."