Chapter 8
The next day...
Rocky POV
"Why did you sleep in his bed with him?" I asked.
"Because he's scared to sleep in his bed, so I asked him if he would try sleeping if I was here with him," dad said.
"How long are you going to keep sleeping in here with him?"
"I'm going to try to get him to sleep here by himself tonight."
"I don't think I told you this, but last night, before he woke up and freaked out, he was having a lot of trouble falling asleep. He was just tossing and turning for like an hour. Eventually he came over to me and I asked him if he wanted to sleep over here, so he didn't even fall asleep in his own bed. He fell asleep over here."
"I think he'll be able to sleep by himself, but it might take a little while."
Later...
Riker POV
So apparently everyone plays ice hockey. Well not Stormie and Rydel. But all the guys. So they took me to the ice rink. I've never ice skated before, so I was nervous. Mark said I could just practice skating around the edge while they practiced hockey.
When we got there, Mark rented skates for me and then helped me put them on. I felt really wobbly. But he held both of my hands and helped me get on the ice. It was super slippery.
He skated backwards while pulling me forwards so I could get the feel for it. After a little while, he said I could practice on my own.
I held onto the edge for a while, going super slow. It was crazy how fast everyone else could skate.
After a while, I let go of the edge and tried to keep my balance. My ankles were starting to get really tired though.
And I ended up losing my balance and falling backwards on my back. The ice was really hard and it hurt.
"Are you ok?"
I looked up to see Rocky standing over me. He held his hands out to me, so I took them, and he helped me stand up again.
He started doing what Mark did before and started pulling me while he skated backwards. It was much easier when I was holding onto someone.
"Try to keep your feet closer together. And lean forward a bit more. That way if you fall, you'll fall forward on your knees and not backwards on your back," Rocky said.
I tried to do what he told me.
"You're doing really good, Riker. Let's trying going a bit faster."
He started going faster, and it was actually really fun. I was able to stay on my feet and keep my balance because I was holding onto his hands.
We did that for a while and then we got off the ice because my ankles were hurting. Everyone else got off the ice too. Rocky led me to the locker room while Mark went to return my skates.
"I thought we were going to practice hockey today," Ross said.
"We did," Rocky said.
"No. Me, Ryland, and dad did. You were skating with Riker. We were supposed to be playing 2 on 2. We can't really play hockey with just 3 people. Next time we come here, tell us if you're going to play or not so we don't waste our time," Ross said.
"Ross, I was just trying to help Riker. He's never ice skated before and he fell pretty hard."
"I get that, but you didn't have to spend the entire time with him. He's not going to be here forever, Rocky. He's just a foster kid. He doesn't even talk."
Rocky got up, grabbed Ross's arm, and dragged him out of the locker room.
"I don't care if you don't talk. I like that you're here," Ryland said.
Ryland finished getting changed out of his hockey gear and packed it up in a bag. He took my hand and then led me out of the locker room.
"I don't know where Rocky, Ross, or dad are. So we can just sit down and wait for them," Ryland said.
We sat down on a bench together.
"Did you like ice skating even though you fell?" Ryland asked.
I nodded.
"You'll get better at it the more you practice."
Finally we saw Mark, Rocky, and Ross walking towards us. All of them looked sort of mad.
"Let's go," Mark said, sounding annoyed.
I followed them all out to the car. Things seem really tense and I hate it.
When we got home, Stormie called me into the kitchen and had me sit down at the table with her. I was nervous though. Am I in trouble?
"Riker, I wanted to talk to you about the shower. Stay calm. I can already see you're getting nervous about it. Mark told me what happened. I'm not going to force you to take showers. But how would you feel about taking baths instead?"
I nodded.
"Ok, good. I want you to go take a bath then. Take your time and try to just relax, ok?"
I nodded and then went upstairs. It was raining outside and it was kind of cold, so I chose to just change into my pjs after my bath. I got my pjs and went to the bathroom.
I was still really nervous of hot water, so I didn't fill the tub with hot water. Just warm water. And then I got in.
I was trying to relax. I was definitely glad that I can take baths instead of showers. But I can hear it starting to storm outside. Storms are ok, but not when they get super loud. I hate when storms feel like they're directly above the house because when there's thunder, it feels like the whole house is shaking. And it's extremely loud.
I tried to push those thoughts out of my head and think about something happy. Ryland was glad that I'm here. And he doesn't care that I don't talk. So that makes me feel a little bit better. I just hope the rest of today goes better than this morning.