‹ Prequel: Shooting Stars
Status: In Progress
Rookie of the Year
Introduction
July 2012
I still can't believe I'm here. Corey Crawford and I just walked into the NHL Awards arm in arm in Las Vegas, on the Strip at the MGM Grand. This is the night they announce the winners of the best trophies for the individual players in the league and they have already announced, in preparation for this event, that I will be joining the league this upcoming season. The commissioner is even preparing a statement so that all the players in attendance will be on the same pace for the new rule changes coming because there are going to be more and more women joining the league if I am successful. However, no one knows what to expect with me in the league, it is all uncharted territory and it kind of scares me.
Corey, my best friend and the goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks, the team I will be apart of officially this season, leads me to where they are doing pictures inside with fellow teammates and players could do it without the press. It was like our own mini red carpet for this particular reason. We found Patrick Kane waiting for someone and I squeezed my arm from Corey's to go and greet Patrick.
Having been friends with the guys on the team for a year and a half has been incredible. They have all taken me under their wings as their little sister and have taken to Ava just as much. Ava is my one year old daughter that is the result of my gang rape from my kidnapping in 2010 when I met the Chicago Blackhawks for a night full of fun with my cousin and close friend Jackie. We were headed to the pool and I was separated from the rest of the group and was kidnapped in my bikini and all. I couldn't bring myself to not have the baby that came about in the worst way possible and I am so glad that I went through with the pregnancy. However, this entire situation came with its own roughness. The day I found out I was pregnant was the day my family was in a car accident that was fatal immediately for my mom and dad, it also killed my brother within the week.
After the accident, I moved from my hometown where I had spent my entire life in with Abby and Patrick Sharp. I didn't want to burden my grandparents who were in their 80s and still healthy enough with the nightmare I had become and my cousin's parents couldn't afford to take me in. So Abby and Patrick insisted I live with them. They had been trying to have their own baby for a while and weren't successful until I moved in with them and had the room and extra money to help support me in my time of need. Abby would be the perfect mentor and friend, as would Corey.
When Abby and Patrick found out about their own baby, I knew it was only a matter of time until I would need to move out. They had a big house, but I couldn't expect them to put up with two newborns around the same age if one wasn't theirs. They would've, I'm sure, but I couldn't do that to them. However, Corey and I began to get a lot closer. He would call when he was on the road, I would go and stay at his house in the guest room when I needed some time away from Abby and Patrick's happiness. He let me talk and get out my feelings and wouldn't try to give advice. He was just there as a shoulder to cry on and be comforted by. So when the time came, I moved from the Sharp's to Corey's. Not that long afterwards, I had an emergency delivery and Ava was born prematurely. The doctors immediately knew she was a fighter and she survived a lot for such a little person. But it has only made her stronger and myself as well.
I spent the first 9 months of her life enjoying the fact that she lived, living with Corey and splitting the parenting duties because he is great, and went to work as a waitress for a while at a bar not that far from Corey's place. He hated that I felt that I needed to work, but I didn't have insurance to pay for Ava's health bills and I wasn't expecting anyone to take care of them. I turned 18 and was able to get some help from the government, not a whole lot but better than nothing.
Now, I'm here. Walking up to Patrick Kane. He sees me coming around Steven Stamkos and his girlfriend towards him and he smiles widely. While the Sharps and Corey have taken me in physically, the entire team has taken me in emotionally. They are my closest friends and I could never repay them for the help they have given me and the advice they have given.
"KK!" I exclaim as I get close enough that only him and a couple of random staff people can hear it. He shakes his head with a smile and pulls me into a hug. I press a kiss into the side of his neck and then let him go. "You do clean up well. Damn, Kaner." He chuckles and wraps an arm around my waist casually.
"I could say the same thing about you, Soph. Hot damn little mama. Sophie is one lucky girl to have a mama like you." He whispers this to me because I have decided to not share the fact that I'm a mother to the public yet. I know that it will come out eventually, but the media mongrels are already looking into my kidnapping and how I came to be friends with the team anyways. They don't need this fuel on the fire yet.
"Now Kaner, you know she came as my date," Corey said as he finally caught up to where Kaner and I had escaped to just away from the little red carpet.
"Where can I get a skirted hockey player around here?" I hear a new voice, one that I've heard over the television a dozen or more times. "You, you're her. The skirt who is going to go up against all of us men. Well I want to wish you luck, you're going to need it because I know that my team isn't going to back away because you're a measly woman trying to make it in the big leagues." It's Jordan Staal. I have heard through the grapevine that he's an asshole, but this makes me thing of his as much worse.
"Back off Staal. She's not here as a hockey player tonight, she is my guest. So just wait until she gets her turn at you on the ice. You'll be the one who's sorry." Corey stepped up, but I put my delicate, freshly manicured hand on his chest. I only got the manicure because of the awards tonight and now I'm regretting it.
"I can handle myself just fine against the whole lot of you men. I've done just fine so far on the practice squad for the Hawks. I look forward to our first game Jordan. You won't expect what I have to offer."
"You're still a skirt. See you in the season." Did I mention he was drunk? And the night has just begun. I can tell this is going to be a great night, not.
I still can't believe I'm here. Corey Crawford and I just walked into the NHL Awards arm in arm in Las Vegas, on the Strip at the MGM Grand. This is the night they announce the winners of the best trophies for the individual players in the league and they have already announced, in preparation for this event, that I will be joining the league this upcoming season. The commissioner is even preparing a statement so that all the players in attendance will be on the same pace for the new rule changes coming because there are going to be more and more women joining the league if I am successful. However, no one knows what to expect with me in the league, it is all uncharted territory and it kind of scares me.
Corey, my best friend and the goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks, the team I will be apart of officially this season, leads me to where they are doing pictures inside with fellow teammates and players could do it without the press. It was like our own mini red carpet for this particular reason. We found Patrick Kane waiting for someone and I squeezed my arm from Corey's to go and greet Patrick.
Having been friends with the guys on the team for a year and a half has been incredible. They have all taken me under their wings as their little sister and have taken to Ava just as much. Ava is my one year old daughter that is the result of my gang rape from my kidnapping in 2010 when I met the Chicago Blackhawks for a night full of fun with my cousin and close friend Jackie. We were headed to the pool and I was separated from the rest of the group and was kidnapped in my bikini and all. I couldn't bring myself to not have the baby that came about in the worst way possible and I am so glad that I went through with the pregnancy. However, this entire situation came with its own roughness. The day I found out I was pregnant was the day my family was in a car accident that was fatal immediately for my mom and dad, it also killed my brother within the week.
After the accident, I moved from my hometown where I had spent my entire life in with Abby and Patrick Sharp. I didn't want to burden my grandparents who were in their 80s and still healthy enough with the nightmare I had become and my cousin's parents couldn't afford to take me in. So Abby and Patrick insisted I live with them. They had been trying to have their own baby for a while and weren't successful until I moved in with them and had the room and extra money to help support me in my time of need. Abby would be the perfect mentor and friend, as would Corey.
When Abby and Patrick found out about their own baby, I knew it was only a matter of time until I would need to move out. They had a big house, but I couldn't expect them to put up with two newborns around the same age if one wasn't theirs. They would've, I'm sure, but I couldn't do that to them. However, Corey and I began to get a lot closer. He would call when he was on the road, I would go and stay at his house in the guest room when I needed some time away from Abby and Patrick's happiness. He let me talk and get out my feelings and wouldn't try to give advice. He was just there as a shoulder to cry on and be comforted by. So when the time came, I moved from the Sharp's to Corey's. Not that long afterwards, I had an emergency delivery and Ava was born prematurely. The doctors immediately knew she was a fighter and she survived a lot for such a little person. But it has only made her stronger and myself as well.
I spent the first 9 months of her life enjoying the fact that she lived, living with Corey and splitting the parenting duties because he is great, and went to work as a waitress for a while at a bar not that far from Corey's place. He hated that I felt that I needed to work, but I didn't have insurance to pay for Ava's health bills and I wasn't expecting anyone to take care of them. I turned 18 and was able to get some help from the government, not a whole lot but better than nothing.
Now, I'm here. Walking up to Patrick Kane. He sees me coming around Steven Stamkos and his girlfriend towards him and he smiles widely. While the Sharps and Corey have taken me in physically, the entire team has taken me in emotionally. They are my closest friends and I could never repay them for the help they have given me and the advice they have given.
"KK!" I exclaim as I get close enough that only him and a couple of random staff people can hear it. He shakes his head with a smile and pulls me into a hug. I press a kiss into the side of his neck and then let him go. "You do clean up well. Damn, Kaner." He chuckles and wraps an arm around my waist casually.
"I could say the same thing about you, Soph. Hot damn little mama. Sophie is one lucky girl to have a mama like you." He whispers this to me because I have decided to not share the fact that I'm a mother to the public yet. I know that it will come out eventually, but the media mongrels are already looking into my kidnapping and how I came to be friends with the team anyways. They don't need this fuel on the fire yet.
"Now Kaner, you know she came as my date," Corey said as he finally caught up to where Kaner and I had escaped to just away from the little red carpet.
"Where can I get a skirted hockey player around here?" I hear a new voice, one that I've heard over the television a dozen or more times. "You, you're her. The skirt who is going to go up against all of us men. Well I want to wish you luck, you're going to need it because I know that my team isn't going to back away because you're a measly woman trying to make it in the big leagues." It's Jordan Staal. I have heard through the grapevine that he's an asshole, but this makes me thing of his as much worse.
"Back off Staal. She's not here as a hockey player tonight, she is my guest. So just wait until she gets her turn at you on the ice. You'll be the one who's sorry." Corey stepped up, but I put my delicate, freshly manicured hand on his chest. I only got the manicure because of the awards tonight and now I'm regretting it.
"I can handle myself just fine against the whole lot of you men. I've done just fine so far on the practice squad for the Hawks. I look forward to our first game Jordan. You won't expect what I have to offer."
"You're still a skirt. See you in the season." Did I mention he was drunk? And the night has just begun. I can tell this is going to be a great night, not.
♠ ♠ ♠
Here it is! A re-write to Shooting Star's sequel Rookie. I have grown so much as a writer in three years when I first posted Rookie and I hope that I can get that across with this revitalized version. Enjoy and it will be slow going for updates but hopefully because it is being better developed than the original.