Shattered Dreams [EDITING] - Chapter 79: Chapter 79

COREY'S POV:
"You're all smashing it out there." Coach boasts as we walk through the changing room doors in a fit of panting.
"I shouldn't have had that sausage and egg sandwich before I came," Nathan holds his stomach, looking a little pale in the face. "It's doing cartwheels in my belly."
"Keep it inside you idiot." Liam shoves him in the chest, causing Nathan to fall back against the lockers.
"Don't push me, I'm vulnerable." Nathan says dramatically, gasping for air.
"Mate, pack it in, I need you to pattern up because we have another third to get through." I interrupt, not wanting them to have their childish banter now as we have this game to win now.
"Sorry, cap." They both apologise, turning serious now.
Jasper walks into the room also panting whilst limping and looking defeated. "I don't think I can carry on lads."
"I could've told you that." Logan tells him, helping him to sit down on the bench.
"We can bring on Finn instead of you, it's fine. Stay rested." I tell him, knowing that Coach would be speaking to Finn about it now.
"So, how do we go about this next third, cap?" I get asked by Liam, the boys standing around me now so we can get our head into a game plan.
I am stumped on what to come up with as the play we have been doing has been going fine and we have scored multiple times with it. The only issue is that they might use that to their advantage to do a gameplay that will go against that.
"I think we should focus on the defending as we have been pretty aggressive so far," I begin, speaking as I think it over in my head. "They will be wanting to push up to the goal more so we need to hold back, stopping them from scoring. If we get an opportunity to attack then let's do it, it'll look good to have such a gap in the points."
"I like the sound of that, cap." A number of the boys agree with my gameplay, not as though they have much of a choice.
"Oh my god." Nathan gasps and when I turn to look at him, he is staring at the television mounted on the walls.
"What is it?" The rest of the boys gather around him and I watch from here and see their expressions change. They have genuine shock on their faces and Willem looks like he could kill.
"What the fuck is this?" He roars, punching one of the lockers lightly in an effort to release his stress but also not to hurt himself too much so that he can't play.
"Woah, what's going on? Calm down mate, we have to be on the ice again in a minute." I tell him, putting a comforting arm around him.
"That fucking bitch." He sneers, his eyes bloodshot and filled with rage.
"Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" I shout out, begging for some answers so I can make sense of the reactions around me. I can't see the screen because someone turned it off so I really have no idea.
"Maddy." Jasper is the one to reply to me.
"What's she done now? Is Nadia okay?" I panic, my ears pricking up at the mention of that girl.
"Maddy took over from her on the showcase, so my guess is she is probably not okay." Jasper responds and it sounds snide in my opinion so I react quicker than I can think and the next thing I know, I have him pushed against the locker in a fit of rage.
"What are you doing?" Cole asks from behind but I don't answer him because I'm not really sure myself.
"You did this." I accuse Jasper, pointing in his face and Willem comes to stand beside me as the others watch on from the distance.
"I did not," Jasper denies, shoving me of him and I don't fight it. "I didn't even know she was doing it."
"I don't fucking believe you." I spit, shoving him back again and I notice him limp slightly at the action so I immediately regret it.
"Believe what you want but your girlfriend is out there probably in pieces," He remarks, taking a sip of his water. "Your attention is in the wrong place, all of you."
"He's right." I hear Liam agree from behind me and he is joined by everyone else agreeing with him.
"Let's go." I look to Willem and he follows me out the room into the rink and the other guys, minus Jasper follow too.
We rush to where Nadia is sitting alone without her parents and she is just staring at the ice in front of her. She is watching Maddy so intently that I swear I haven't even seen her blink yet. We all look at each other, silently communicating and I take the handles of her chair and push her away from being able to watch Maddy skate. Willem and the guys take a protective role and walk in a group alongside the chair, to protect Nadia from the stares, which is the last thing she wants, especially now.
I look up at the stands to make sure that their barrier is working well but I can still see the wondering stares pouring down towards her. I glare at them as if to ask them what the fuck they are looking at and they all seem to be shocked I've noticed them staring.
I hate that I feel as though I have betrayed Nadia's trust somehow by allowing her to be stared at because that was he biggest worry with coming here tonight. It would be fucked if it was random people staring but I think what makes it worse is it's people that know and grew up with this girl. Her old skating mates and their parents, even people who are on my sisters level have looked this way, wondering what is wrong with her. They act like they have never seen anyone in a wheelchair before and they think that just because they haven't seen Nadia in one that means they can look to get the full experience of seeing her like this.
Nadia has always been so strong and fearless so for them to see her this vulnerable must be shocking, but that doesn't give them any right to stare.
I know what their thought process is and I know it's to feel sorry for her rather than judge her but there is no reason to feel sorry for this girl. Her life has taken a tragic turn, but she is strong and she will get through it, none of it matters to them and I wish I could hold up a massive sign telling everyone to mind their own fucking business.
The need to protect this girl is so strong, I would punch anyone who even glanced at her whilst she's in her wheelchair if I could.
I bring my eyes off the stands and back infront of me, where a red-haired woman is coming up to us. "Nadia, love, what happened?" She asks but before Nadia could even responds she carries on, going off on a tangent. "We have all heard what's been happening, it's such a shame, it really is. I mean, to not be able to skate anymore would really ruin my daughter so I can understand what you're going through and don't get me started on the chair. My heart aches for you."
"Can you shut the fuck up?" Nadia surprises us by speaking up, cutting through the conversations of those around us so they can nosey in on what's happening.
The woman's eyes go wide and she pats down her coat uncomfortably before finding the courage to reply,. "You used to be such a lovely girl, what happened?"
I am about to chime in to tell her to pack it in, but Willem shakes his head at me, telling me to let his sister handle it so I do.
Nadia laughs in this woman's face. "Please, don't act like this isn't the best thing to ever happen to you, or your daughter. She is finally being noticed and isn't living in my shadow," Nadia states, not backing down even though I expected she would and I now notice that this is Maddy's mum. "I am still the sweet girl but my reaction to people change when they belittle me and my condition right in front of me. You don't understand what the fuck I'm going through so don't ever comment on something you have no idea on ever again."
"I always knew you were a brat," She squints her eyes, pulling her lipstick out of her bag and bends down so her mouth is level to Nadia's ear. "Just look where my daughter is compared to you."
"Only took me being in a wheelchair for her to finally get some attention," Nadia bites back and the boys let out a little laugh, trying their hardest to cover it up but it fails. "Please say hi to your slut of a daughter for me."
The woman puts the break on Nadia's chair on before standing up straight and stalking away with a face like a smacked arse. When we can no longer contain ourselves we all, apart from Nadia, burst out laughing at the fact that was her only possible response to that.
I take the break off and begin walking again, needing to get back to the locker room to go over last minute gameplay once more as we have spent a good chunk of our break saving Nadia, so coach won't be happy. We need to at least look as though we are doing something beneficial to the match.
"Stop," Nadia orders us and we all come to a halt at the command, like we are her little lapdogs. "I don't want to be wheeled away. I want to watch."
"Why?" Logan asks her. "Why would you want to see that?"
"I need to see if it was worth it for her," She claims, looking back out to where Maddy is almost finished with her routine. "I need to know if her losing our friendship was worth it."
To respect her wishes we wheel her right up to the glass and she watches Maddy preform there, not taking her eyes off her to even glimpse at us. I notice a tear slide down her cheek as she watches and I want to be able to climb into her head and kiss the negative thoughts away and replace them with something positive for her.
"If it makes you feel better, Noddy, you would've done a much better job out there." Cole speaks up and we all mutter our agreements.
"And more beautiful." Nathan winks, giving her a kiss on the cheek before walking back to the locker rooms where coach is also walking towards with an angry expression on his face. Nadia laughs with tear stained cheeks and my heart shatters at the sight, she hides all her sadness behind that smile and even though I can see through the cracks she is so unbelievably beautiful to me.
"We have to go back so we can win this, will you be okay?" Willem asks her and she simply nods. He runs off and I give her a kiss on the top of her head, not wanting to disturb her thoughts and I head to where coach is waiting for us.
I turn back to look at her once more and she hasn't moved and I doubt she has even swallowed the lump in her throat. Cole wasn't lying earlier, she is known as the best skater this rink has, and she still has that title even though she is sitting here in a wheelchair now. I know she still has so much love for this sport, it's been a part of who she is for the last fifteen or so years, but I can really begin to see how she almost resents it and the people that she met from it now. She used to watch people skate with so much love in her eyes and you could really feel it radiating off of her but now, looking at her I see that watching skating breaks her. Her stare is blank now, almost like she has already let the sport go, along with any future it could've brought her.
I somewhat understand falling out of love with the sport you were destined to play but obviously not to the same extent. I loved hockey all throughout my life but I lost more interest the more my family got divided, but now that is being repaired my love for hockey seems to be coming back, which I'm so grateful for. I wish Nadia can be healthy enough one day where she can fall in love with skating all over again and reclaim the person she used to be.
Watching this can't be easy for her as she has lost so much in the last few years, nothing good ever seems to happen to her, which is why I hope I can be good for her. Archie didn't deserve to die and I wish he could be here right now so he could sit with Nadia and tell her all that it's going to be okay and that they didn't need Maddy in their lives anyway.
It must really suck for Nadia, she had to watch her best friend die and then become chronically ill with no explanation as to why and then after all of that, the first person she considered her best friend after Archie died suddenly turns against her, stealing everything and everyone she loves around her, including her boyfriend.
I love her and I know that just my love will never be enough to compensate for the life she could've had, but I will try my fucking hardest to make it happen.
"Corey!" Coach shouts, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Game starts in five."
Shit. It's time to win that trophy.