The Hockey Star and the Ice Princess (Complete)

Ch. 31 - Shock

***** ONE MONTH LATER *****

Rachel sat on one of the double beds in her hotel room she was sharing with her Mom and sister in Richfield, Minnesota where the Midwestern Sectional Skating Championships were taking place tomorrow. The best figure skaters from the 23 states in the middle of the country were competing to see who would get to go to Nationals and the next step after Nationals would be the Olympics.

They were only twenty minutes away from St. Cloud, Minnesota where Cain was now living as of last week and he had already started team practices with the Minnesota Wild. Saying goodbye to him last week had been one of the hardest things she had ever done. She hugged him and cried and told him bye before walking away and then running back and hugging him again. They had said goodbye in the parking lot of the rink for almost an hour before she finally let him go for real, waving goodbye as he pulled out of the parking lot with tears running down her cheeks. 

She had planned on being strong for him and acting like she was okay with him leaving because she knew this was his dream and she wanted to be a supportive girlfriend, but when the time had come to say goodbye she couldn't stop the tears from coming. She had been an emotional wreck. Luckily, she was going to get to see him tomorrow because he was planning to come watch her skate at Sectionals after his team practice with the Wild was over since he wasn't far away.

Rachel's cell phone rang and she saw that it was Coach Sumners calling.

"Hey Coach! What's up?" she asked happily. She was feeling excited and pumped up about Sectionals and seeing Cain tomorrow.

"Hey Rachel," he said in a strange tone of voice, sounding worried. "This is important. I ummm.  I need you to meet me downstairs in the lobby. I need to talk to you about something, but don't say anything to your Mom or Sister about it. Just act casual, like you're going downstairs to grab a snack or something."

"Oh, ummm. Ok," she said hesitantly, wondering why coach was acting so weird. She hung up and then waited a few minutes so it wouldn't be suspicious and finally said, "I'm gonna go downstairs and get a snack. I'll be back."

When she got downstairs she saw Coach Sumners standing in the middle of the lobby and he waved her over, looking around before whispering, "We can't talk here. Follow me." 

She followed him outside and said, "You're making me worried. What is it?" 

"C'mon," he whispered, taking her arm and crossing the street, walking over to the parking garage next door. He went up the stairs and stopped next to his car and said, "Get in."

He was acting so strange, like they were on a secret spy mission. She got into the passenger seat and he got in on the driver's side and shut the door. 

"Okay. Now will you tell me why you're acting so weird and secretive?" she asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

He took a deep breath in and let it out, rubbing both of his hands up over his face and through his grey hair before looking over at her with worried eyes. "I've got something I need to tell you Rachel and I'm afraid it's gonna come as quite a shock." He looked down at his lap and his eyes were starting to water. 

Her heart dropped and she was suddenly hit with panic because  in all the years she had known him she had never seen Coach cry before.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling her heart beating faster, scared to hear what he had to say. She could tell it was bad news. 

"I ummm," he started, clearing his throat and letting out an exhale before saying, "I got a call just a little bit ago from Nancy at the USFS, you know, the ones that oversee and regulate skating competitions. She said they had finished their investigation and they know who sabotaged your ice skates. She said they're disqualified and banned from competing for two years as a penalty."