Boston Garden High School

A few weeks later, Patrice entered the faculty lounge earlier than most. The only person in there was the janitor working on the coffee machine.
"Y'alright, Marky?" Patrice asked the young janitor.
"Ho'd you know it was me, Mr. Bergeron-Cleary?" He asked.
"I remember you. You were one of the first students I ever taught." Patrice cocked his head and smiled fondly.
"That's right, sir, I just didn't think you remembered me."
"What are you doing here, Marky? You could be doing anything, but instead you're a janitor." Patrice looked at the young man sadly.
"It's not my fault Mr. Bergeron-Cleary. There are no jobs available for university graduates, so I took a year-or three-out and applied for my master's at Boston College." The young man shrugged.
"Marky, you're the same age as me, you call me Patrice. Or Pat. Or even Bergy as my friends do." Patrice put a comforting arm around the young man.
"And I don't go by Marky either... Patrice?" The young man said uncomfortably. "It's just Marcus now."
"Marcus. Got it." Patrice gave a small smile. "So you're doing this to earn money for your degree?" He asks and Marcus nods. "Do you need any extra money?"
"Patrice!" Marcus pushes himself away from Patrice in shock. "I could never take money from you!"
"No. You're not TAKING money from me. You're EARNING it." A devilish grin found its way onto Patrice's lips.
"You want me to do some embarrassing things, don't you, Patrice?" Marcus looked at Patrice nervously. Patrice just raised his eyebrow before Zdeno Chara burst into the lounge.
"Look who's back, bitches!" He shouted. His neck was now free of the neck brace, but his pinky and ring fingers on his left hand were taped together.
"Z!" Patrice shouted as he ran to his old friend and wrapped his arms around him. He pushed himself away from Zdeno and grabbed Zdeno's left arm to examine his hand. "Shit, Z... What happened here?"
"Uh... Trapped them in a door." Zdeno said as his eyebrows knitted together. He pulled his hand away from Patrice's.
"Damn, Z. That looks nasty." Patrice shook his head. Jordan entered the room bopping his head, listening to his iPod. Zdeno turned around and looked down at him. Jordan shrieked with shock and saved it with a "Z! What a nice surprise!" Jordan took the earbuds from his ears. "What happened to your hand?"
"What happened to your face?" Z asked when he noticed Jordan's black eye. Jordan shrugs.
"I don't know. Why? What's wrong with it?"
"Dude, you got a black eye." Bartkowski motioned around his own eye. Jordan-now panic stricken-felt around his eye and face. "Big Z. This is a surprise." Bartkowski smiled awkwardly.
"You wouldn't think so. I'm not dead." Zdeno flashed a wicked smile. Johnny was next to enter and he arrived with Dennis.
"Yeah, well that surgery wasn't much fun either." Dennis muttered and took a sip from his Slurpee.
"I can well imagine. I've had my own problems too." Johnny took a bite from a half eaten sandwich.
"Look who's back guys!" Patrice said quickly, not giving Dennis a chance to reply.
"Z!" The two shouted in unison.
"Come on. I'm not dead. I wasn't sick. I didn't have cancer. I am fine." Zdeno rolled his eyes. "I was gone three weeks. No more overreacting!"
"I have a note from Savvy." Johnny said, rummaging through his pockets. "Here." He said as he pulled something out and hands it to Zdeno.
"Thanks?" Zdeno raised an eyebrow. He looked at what Johnny just handed him. It was a small white envelope with the letter "Z" taking up most of the room on the front.
"What happened to your hand?" Dennis asked.
"Nothing." Zdeno replied curtly as he opened the envelope and removed the note from inside.
"What does the note say?" Patrice asked.
"Also nothing." Zdeno shoved the letter and envelope into his pocket. "So have I missed anything?"
"Not much. Tuukka started glee club." Bartkowski shrugged.
"Lessons have formally started." Johnny stated.
"Oh! And I hear we'll be getting a new French teacher-one who happens to be the brother of the one and only... PK Subban." Patrice smiled wickedly. "No longer will I be the only guy who teaches French, I..."
"Okay, Bergy. Don't get too ahead of yourself." Dennis put his hand on Patrice's shoulder. "Malcolm Subban is still teaching over in Providence. He COULD come here, but we're not sure yet."
"Yeah, what Seidy said." Patrice shrugged.
"Why would Subban's brother want to teach at a rival school?" Zdeno asked, shaking his head.
"Why WOULDN'T he?"
"It's like Dom DiMaggio playing for Boston and Joe DiMaggio playing for the Yankees."
"They DID do that." Jordan pointed out.
"That's why I said it." David entered the room in a group with Adam, Torey, Bartkowski, Greg and Daniel.
"What's going on, guys? Hey! Z!" David says excitedly. " (so good to see you) !"
" (you too) , David." Zdeno replied.
"Why are you here, Z?" Bartkowski asked.
"Because, Patrice, I believe the Bruins are playing tonight?"
"Yeah, the Canadiens." Patrice shrugged.
"I want to see Subban, Pacioretty, Plekanec and all his team get taken down a few notches."
"You hear Subban's brother Malcolm is helping me coach the team tonight?" Patrice asked. A chorus of "no way's" broke out among the teachers. "All true guys, all true." He folded his arms and looked smugly at his fellow teachers.
"Yeah, he might be coming over here, am I right?" Greg asked.
"Weasely Subban's weasely brother?" Brad asked, standing in the doorway.
"Yeah."
"Then who's going?" Johnny asked as he demolished the rest of the sandwich that was in his hands.
"You are." Said a voice from the doorway.
"Claude." Johnny said quietly, all color drained from his face. "I love it here. I don't want to go."
"I'm sorry, Johnny. We're cutting your department as not many kids are taking it up anymore. This is your notice. You have to go." Claude said apologetically. "You have until the end of the week." And with that he took off, leaving everyone in the room speechless and in shock with the turn of events. Zdeno took the note from his pocket and reread it.
"You gonna tell us what it says now, Z?" Patrice asked.
"It says 'Congratulations on outcoaching Washington and Detroit and tough luck on Montreal and New York'." Zdeno read. "'But before you face Philadelphia, Johnny Boychuck is gonna go. As in he's getting canned. Just letting you know. And there's gonna be someone else to go after him. Don't worry, it won't be you, Patrice, Tuukka, Milan or Brad. You guys are safe. How about we turn this into a game of Clue? You meet me in my office before you go watch your Bruins take on the Flyers and we'll talk more then. Marc Savard.'"
"If it's not us..." Patrice said dramatically. "Who is it going to be?"
"Oh my God it's me!" Torey said, panicking.
"Hey! What if it's me?" Bartkowski shouted back.
"I'm the new kid on the block, it's gonna be me!" Torey shouted. "Crap, I think I'm gonna be sick!"
"Everyone just calm the fuck down!" Zdeno shouted. His loud voice boomed off the walls and gathered everyone's attention. "I'm gonna go to see Savvy on Wednesday and listen to what he has to say THEN. So until then, I want no more freak outs! Okay?" Everyone nodded except Johnny. "And Johnny, I'll be holding a leaving party for you on Friday."
"I don't want to go back to the Ukraine, not with all the trouble-I'll be coming from donut paradise into a war zone and... I can't do it, I just can't." Johnny sniffled.
Zdeno sighed. "I hear there's lots of jobs for woodshop teachers in New York City as it's not generally needed there, but they want kids to know..."
"I know what you mean, Z." Johnny said, also sighing. "I just never thought my department would be cut."
"It's like what happened to Thorty over summer." Greg shook his head.
"I'm so sorry, Johnny." Adam said, putting a hand on the Ukrainian teacher's shoulder. "Truly, I am."