Hurricane Jenny

023:

Chapter Twenty Three
-Jennifer-
"Jen-"

"Don't talk to me," I mumbled as I walked into the kitchen and saw Jared sitting at the counter.

"Please-"

"Don't talk to me," I repeated, "I'm still pissed at you."

"I'm sorry, I've said that I was sorry," he said and I growled as I pulled a water bottle out of the fridge, "I don't know what else I can do to make you not hate me anymore!"

"I don't hate you, Jared! I'm pissed at you, there's a difference," I sighed and then walked over towards him and sat in front of him on the stool, "Throwing a party- I don't care, this is your house too, and I wasn't here- But you know that I hate people in my room! And they broke-"

"I'm sorry, Jen! I swear! No more parties!" he said and I sighed and shook my head.

"They broke things that couldn't be replaced, Jared," I muttered as I stood up and walked out of the kitchen and walked towards my now clean room, not sure if Jared had heard me or not.

It's been about a week since the destroying of the house, I was back in Charlotte, everyone was healthy, so I was brought back down. I didn't argue, although, I wish I had, I don't mean to brag, but the Hurricanes were in the top five teams in the league thanks to me. My first game back on the Checkers was tomorrow night, and I was more than ready. Practice with the team was this morning and laughed as my teammates practically tackled me to the ground, happy to see me. I will admit that I missed them too.

I sat on the end of my bed and turned on the TV, of course it was on the channel that was always on, the NHL channel. They were talking about how the trade deadline was coming up and general managers were rushing to try and get the players that they wanted. I saw how the Pittsburgh Penguins had traded to acquire Brendan Morrow from the Dallas Stars, and then Douglas Murry from the Sharks was coming as well. I knew that Pittsburgh had their eye on Jarome Iginla, but I was pretty sure that he was going to choose Boston. There were other teams, other players, but just as I was about to turn the TV off, finished with listening to what was going on, my name popped on the screen, along with my picture.

'...I hate that picture...'

Candy jumped onto my bed and laid down next to me, my hand resting on her side and I watched the TV. Listened to how they were calling the Hurricanes' general manager a moron for sending me back down to the AHL. I smirked and then looked at the door to see Jared walking in, he gave me a small smile, and I patted the spot next to me on the bed. Jared walked over and took a seat, watching the TV along side of me.

"Trading rumors for Jennifer Staal, recently brought back down to the AHL," the one announcer said, "We have here on the phone Hurricanes' general manager, Jim Rutherford. Jim what can you say about our female Staal?"

The connection was all right, you can tell that Jim was walking while talking on his cell phone, "There's not much to say about Jennifer, she was good- she 'is' good, but these boys are used to Elis and Peters-"

"Bull shit!" Jared yelled next to me and I smirked and nudged my shoulder into his.

"...So once the boys were healthy, it was time for her to go back to her team."

"Bastard," I muttered and then sighed.

"Do you honestly believe that, that was the best hope for Hurricanes to make it into the playoffs? Because you have to admit that you got pretty high up there in the league while you had her as your goalie for those two months," the announcer said and I smirked.

"I do believe that it was," he said and I rolled my eyes.

"All right, well we also have some trade rumors for Jennifer, can you talk about those?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"Well there are teams out there who are interested in Jennifer, and we're interested in acquiring some of their players as well. Staal's contract allows her to decide whether or not she would like to be traded, I'm just offering her a chance to fully play for the NHL," Jim explained and I scoffed.

"Well I see here that there are about fix or six teams interested in her, one being the Pittsburgh Penguins," the announcer said, "Do you think she'll go there, even though her older brother was recently traded to the Hurricanes?"

"I'm not sure, it's all up to Jennifer."

"Does she even know that she's wanted?" another announcer asked.

"No!" I answered and then scoffed when Jim said 'yes'.

"Will you go?" Jared asked as I turned the TV off and sighed, "Would you accept the trade?"

"I'm not sure, Jared," I sighed and then laid back in my bed, "That's a serious question that I have to think about. I mean, we're not even sure that-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, because you know that you're just like me and want to be up in the NHL," he said and I sighed and nodded my head, "So the Penguins?"

"And the Flames, the Kings, the Sharks, the Predators, the Oilers and the Senators," I said because that's what the announcer had listed as the teams interested in me. My cell phone rang and I looked to see that it was Jim calling, "Oh, speak of the devil."

"Answer it," Jared said and I scoffed.

"Hello?"

"Jennifer! Jim Rutherford here, I was wondering if I you are free today?" I decided that I was going to play dumb.

"Uh, yeah-"

"Wonderful, I'm on my way to Charlotte, wondering if we can meet?"

"Sure, what time?"

"Say around five, meeting you at the arena?"

"Sure, see you then," I said and then hung up my phone and groaned.

"What?" Jared asked.

"He wants to meet," I said and then sighed, "Probably to talk to me about the trade before the press does."

-Beau-
I was back in Pittsburgh, having been brought up again, but I was completely all right with it. Today was an optional practice, most of us were working out, I was on the treadmill running watching the TV with Tyler Kennedy next to me.

Tyler tapped my arm and pointed towards the TV, "There's your girl."

I looked up and saw Jen's face on the screen, she was brought back down a few days ago, they were talking about her. Called the general manager a moron for bringing her back down, and he was, they were on the phone with him and he tried to make it seem like Jennifer wasn't as good as everyone said that she was.

"Dumbass," Pascal said from behind me and I turned my head enough to see him looking at the TV.

"She doesn't let anyone score! How the hell can you say that she's just all right?!" Chris Kunitz said and I sighed.

"Trade rumors?" Tyler muttered and I looked up at the screen to see that there was a list of at least eight teams interested in her.

'...Why wouldn't they be?!...' I thought and then my eyes widened when I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins logo, "We're trying for her?"

"Have been since she started in the AHL," Pascal said and I nodded my head.

"She's good, real good," Marc said and then sighed, "I'll give her that."

"Why has she stayed in the AHL for this long?"

"Probably because she's a girl," Tyler said and I scoffed.

"Yo Bennett!" I heard Letang yell from across the room.

"Yeah?"

"Phone's goin' off! I answered it! It's your girl!" he yelled and then walked over and handed it to me.

"Jen?" I asked as I slowed the pace on the treadmill but continued to jog.

"You all right? Why are you out of breath?"

"Work out," I said and she giggled, '...God I love her giggle...'

"So I just got off of the phone with my manager," she said and I didn't say anything, "You see the news?"

"Yeah, we're watching it."

"We?"

"The guys and I," I said and then took a drink of water, "That's a lot of teams."

She giggled again, "Guess I'm all right then."

"You're more than 'all right'," I laughed.

"Well, I thought it over, I have a meeting tonight with my manager and Coach, I know it's about the trade rumors."

"Are they just rumors?"

"Maybe not," she said and I heard stuff moving around.

"What's going on?"

"I'm thinking about being traded," she said and I shook my head, thinking that she was probably going to be farther away than North Carolina, "I want to be traded to Pittsburgh."

"What?!" I yelled, lost my footing on the treadmill, fell and then was thrown back onto the ground.

Everyone had stopped what they were doing and see my on the ground.

"Dude, are you all right?" Tyler asked as he stopped the treadmill he was on.

I scrambled to my knees and grabbed my phone that had landed in-between the two treadmills. I could hear Jen calling my name, "Are you fucking serious?!" I yelled happily and stood up.

"Yeah, I mean, I'll know more after I talk to my manager- Did you fall or something?"

"Yeah, and REALLY?" I asked excitedly.

She laughed, "Yes silly!"

"Holly shit! I'll call you back!"

"Remember to breathe!" was the last thing I heard before I hung up the phone and started to run around the room with a huge grin on my face and looking like a little kid in a candy store.

"You mind filling us in?" Sidney asked as he put his weights down. I stopped in front of everyone and jumped up and down, telling them that Jen was coming to Pittsburgh, but they weren't able to understand me, "One more time?"

"JEN'S BEING TRADED TO PITTSBURGH!!!!"