Crawl

Gabriel:
I remember back to the day I was being scouted for junior hockey. Scouts from all over came to watch the tournament my team was in. Kitchener,Red Deer, and even Windsor were there. I met some of the scouts, but not all of them. The scouts from Red Deer came up to talk to me and there was a girl with them. She looked my age,16, maybe 17. I wondered why she was with them, I mean she was to young to be a scout.

"Gabriel, I am Joe Schwartz and this is my scouting partner Rob Nugent-Hopkins." "Nice to meet you." I shook both of their hands and exchanged hellos. "Oh, sorry this is my daughter Brooklyn." She held out her hand. "Brooklyn Nugent-Hopkins.Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too." I knew the Nugent-Hopkins name since another kid my age,Ryan, was probably Rob's son, and Brooklyn's brother. Now I know how Ryan is playing for them. "So Gabriel we watched you play, you are one fantastic player. How would you like to come play for Red Deer?" "Um, well sir it would be a lot of fun I am sure, but I don't make any decisions without talking to my parents." I could see that wasn't what they wanted to hear. "Well if you have to consult them then that's okay, but remember, we can't take everyone. And we want the best possible team we could have, if you are on the team that insures that."

"Well thank you for the compliment sir, but I do have to talk to them first." "Okay well let us know." They both handed me their cards and walked off, except for Brooke, she stayed to talk to me. "You really are something special Gabriel. The way you play out there is amazing." She had a huge smile on her face. "Well thanks, but I don't know if I can play for you guys." She lost the smile quickly. "Look, I am not here for scouting, my dad tries to get me to talk to guys and make them want to come to Red Deer." "Like bribe them by flirting?" "Yeah. I hate it, but he makes me." "And how is that working out for you?" "I have done it to 2 guys so far and 1 said he would play for Red Deer, but one is gonna play college hockey so he can get an education."

"So why aren't you trying that with me?" "I don't know." She looked confused. "I don't feel like I need to be fake with you, I can just be myself." "Well I guess it's working for you, I don't think you are fake. So that's a plus." We both laughed. "Well you don't seem like a jerk." "A jerk?" "Yeah, you know how they say hockey players are normally jerks? You don't seem like that to me." "Oh well that is good." "I feel like you and I are best friends, but yet I have only know you for 5 minutes." "Well why don't you get to know me?" "When? How? Where? I am by my dad's side like 24/7 helping them 'scout'." "Doesn't your brother play later today?" "Yeah?" "how about I come to the game and we could hang out, get to know each other?" "Okay, sounds like a plan." "Alright well I have to go talk to my parents, but I will see you back here at 2:30 right?" "Yupp 2:30, see you later Gabriel." "Bye."

Yup, I will always remember that day, it's the day I met my best friend. We hang out anytime we can, we have become so close. Over the 2 years we started to know each other better, I developed feelings for that girl, she likes me too, but we haven't done anything about it. Luckily, I have a few free days before the draft and I will hang out with her since she will be there for her brother. I hope we can either move forward with our relationship, our learn to just deal with our feelings on our own.