PART FOUR: THE FIRST DAY
The drive actually went by relatively quickly, which surprised me. I had been lucky that the roads had been plowed. Even by my house, the roads were pretty clear, which surprised me. I had lived in the same house my whole life. I lived ten minutes outside of town, which wasn’t all that far, but it was far enough to give me and my family a lot of privacy. We had neighbors, but we all had big lots and our houses didn’t feel smooshed together like they seemed to be in town.
When I pulled into my long, winding driveway, I realized how much I had missed being there. I still loved the beautiful, brick house I had grown up in. I remembered playing outside with Brian in the roomy backyard. We spent our summers on the patio with my dad grilling and we spent our winters snowboarding down the one big hill until we got too cold. This house made me so nostalgic.
“I’m home!” I announced as I went inside. Pine scents wafted up to my nose as soon as I got inside - my mom definitely had her winter candles out. Besides the amazing aroma, I was also greeted by my dog Puck. As usual, he was really happy to see me, and I was happy to see him too.
"Hi there Puck! Did you miss me?" I asked, and I was showered in doggy kisses.
“Hi Lena! How was the drive?” my mom wondered, pulling me into a hug once Puck calmed down.
“Not too bad, actually. They plowed the roads out here for once, it’s a miracle!” I said as my dad and Brian walked into the hall from the kitchen to see me. Of course they had been in the kitchen. That seemed to be their favorite room in the house.
“Hey Lean!” Dad greeted me. I hugged him too, and Brian was next. Once they all had squeezed me to death, they took me into the kitchen and I realized why Dad and Brian had been in there. They had ordered a pizza from me and Brian’s favorite local pizza place.
“I don’t know if you’ve had lunch yet, but I figured you wouldn’t turn down your favorite pizza,’ my mom said, and she was right. I actually hadn’t had lunch yet, so I was pretty hungry. I put a few pieces on a plate and sat down with my family to eat.
“So when does your internship start?” my dad asked.
“Tomorrow. And since it’s in the city and it’s two weeks long, I’m only going to be here for a few days, to save on gas,” I explained.
“That’s understandable, as long as you come back for Christmas!” my mom responded. Ha, as if I would miss a Christmas with my family. Not a chance. It was my favorite holiday because I got to see my whole entire family all at once, which pretty much never happened otherwise.
“So you’ll get us some autographs, right?” Brian asked, laughing.
“Yeah, I’ll take a signed stick if you don’t mind. I may be getting old, but I’ve still got some game,” my dad added.
“Very funny you two. This internship isn’t going to just be all fun and games, you know. I might not even get to meet the players. And if I do, it’s not like it’s going to be a party and I’ll be able to hang out with them and get all their signed stuff every day. It’s a learning experience, I’ll have to actually work. I don’t know if you knew, but that’s kind of what an internship is,” I explained. As amazing that would be to hang out with the players and have fun with them every day, that wasn’t what I was expecting. I planned on working hard in hopes that I’d get to at least see the Hawks in person. I mean, they would be busy with practices and games there, so I figured I could at least say I was there with them, the up and coming legends.
“We know, we were just kidding, Lean. But don’t take this experience too seriously. Work hard and do your best, but have fun with it. You’re very lucky to be in the position you’re in and you have to enjoy it,” my dad told me, and Brian nodded. They were right, as usual. I loved them to death, but they always did this. They teamed up to prove a point so they could say “I told you so” later. It was for the best, though.
We finished our food and I took my stuff up to my bedroom. It was exactly the same as I had left it. I settled in and decided to lay out an outfit for the next day. I had been told that I should wear business casual, so I got out a pair of gray dress pants, a black blazer, and a ruffled red tank for underneath. I hung this outfit up on my closet door and set out my red kitten heels. I would add jewelry later.
Just as I had finished, Brian walked into my room to see what I was up to. He seemed almost bored, not having to grade anything or make any lesson plans. Christmas break at his school was the same as it was at mine, and he had done planning ahead of time so he could enjoy his break.
“You have to dress up tomorrow?” he asked, checking out the outfit I had chosen.
“Yeah, I was told business casual. I hope this is okay. Do you think I’ll make a good first impression in it?” I asked him.
“I’m sure you will, Lean. They’ll love you,” he told me, and I hoped he was right. “When do you have to be there?”
“Ten, so I’ll leave at nine. That means I’ll have to get up at eight, probably.”
“Ouch, you can’t even sleep in during your break! I get to sleep in, you know,” Brian said, rubbing it in my face.
“Yeah, well I’ll get to sleep in more when I’m back at my apartment, which will be for most of it,” I corrected him.
“True. Hey, I’ve got a hockey practice to run in a little bit, would you want to come with? We can use the rink afterwards.” I’d been to only one of his practices before, and that was a few years ago. It was really enjoyable to watch, so I nodded.
“Do you have your hockey stuff with you? If not I’m sure there’s extras somewhere in this house,” he said. I motioned to my hockey bag in the corner of the room and he chuckled. “Of course, you would never leave it behind.”
When we got to the rink, the memories came flooding back to me. It was where I first starting playing hockey. I loved it there. It looked like the kids on Brian’s team did too, because they came in with smiles on their faces.
“Alright guys, before we start, I wanted to introduce you to somebody. This is my little sister Lena. She plays hockey just like us,” Brian told the kids. I said hi to them and they all had good things to say to me.
“You guys look alike!” one boy said, and Brian and I laughed. We had gotten that a lot, but we weren’t sure if we saw it. We both shared dark brown hair and blue eyes, and people said we had the same nose too. I didn’t know if I believed them, but I was so used to hearing it that I just accepted it.
I watched the practice and it was so fun to see such young kids having a ton of fun out on the ice. Brian invited me to help him out for a while, so I did, and I understood why he loved what he did so much.
Once practice was over, we spent a lot of extra time on the ice, taking shots and skating around. We lost track of time and we were there later than we had expected, so by the time we got home, it was dinnertime.
I spent the rest of the day watching movies with my family and I went to bed early so I’d be sure to get plenty of sleep. Luckily, I always slept pretty well there.
I woke up about a minute before my alarm went off, and when it did, it startled me. I shut it off quickly and hopped in the shower. The water seemed to wake me up a little, luckily. I needed to be awake and ready to go for my first day. I put on my planned outfit and stared at myself in the mirror for a couple minutes, smoothing things out and making sure it looked good enough. I added a simple necklace and bracelet and decided that what I was wearing was fine.
Today, I would make sure I looked flawless. I blow dried and flat ironed my hair until it was stick-straight. I set my face and did a smoky eye for my makeup. I added shiny lip gloss and I decided that I looked good enough. I had a little extra time, so I went downstairs and had a bowl of cereal. My mom was up, so she fixed up some coffee just the way I like it and poured it into a travel cup so I could drink it on the way to Chicago.
“Thanks, Mom,” I told her when I finished my quick breakfast. I headed out the door with my purse and headed to the Windy City, hoping the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. I has happy to find out that it wasn’t.
I found my way to the United Center. I had been there before for games with my family, so I remembered the way with ease. When I pulled into the parking lot and I saw the huge building in front of me, I felt overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked in.
When I did get inside, there was a table set up for the interns to sign in, and a signs pointing to where we needed to go after we did. It seemed like everyone was arriving at the same time. From what I could tell, there were six interns, including me. There were four guys and two girls - myself and a pretty blonde. I hoped we would get along, since we were the only girls there.
I signed in and followed the signs. They lead us to a somewhat open area where we congregated. A well dressed man greeted us all individually before speaking to us as a group. He apparently was the man in charge of interns and the actual internship program. He looked to be in his thirties, with short, black hair and bright green eyes. He seemed nice, but pretty serious. I knew right away that it wouldn’t be a good idea to mess up in front of him.
“Good morning everyone, and welcome to your first day of your internship here at the United Center. Before we get started, I just want you all to know that there were many, many students like yourselves that applied for spots in this program. It took a very long time to sort through the hundreds of applications we received, but we put a lot of time into it and we made sure to choose very carefully. You all were chosen because we saw specific qualities in each of you that we didn’t see in others. I believed, when I chose you, that you all had the potential to do well in this program and hopefully continue to excel outside of it. I really hope you all enjoy your experience here, and I have a feeling you all will do well.” What a speech. It made me feel even luckier to be there, but at the same time, I felt intimidated by the other five college students standing around me. I started really looking at them and I guessed what they were like and what they did. I tried to guess what they were in school for and a bunch of other things that were impossible for me to know just by looking at them. Before I could get too caught up in this though, the serious man spoke again. His name was Brad Stanford.
“Well, anyways, today you’re going to get a tour and you’ll get a feel for the UC. We’ll go over all the different things that will be happening for the next two weeks. So for now, follow me.”
We went everywhere in the UC that ever had anything to do with the Hawks pretty much. Brad led us through the building, telling us what different areas were used for. We ended up in the locker room. I couldn’t believe I was actually in my favorite team’s locker room. There was the iconic Indian head on the floor, the logo that could not be stepped on. And there was the blonde, about to put her right foot right on it.
“Hey, watch out. You almost stepped on the logo,” I warned her, touching her arm to let her know I was talking to her.
“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, in a sassy, obnoxious voice. “What’s it to you if I step on it anyways?”
“Well, it’s kind of a disgrace to the team. It’s frowned upon, so I was just trying to help. Sorry,” I said, and I caught the girl rolling her eyes. So much for me getting along with her. She seemed really bitchy. I wondered if she even wanted to be there. Obviously she didn’t care very much about the team.
While we were all together in the locker room, Brad told us all the things we’d be doing. We’d work as equipment managers, water boys (and girls), Ice girls, in a sense (keeping the ice in check, minus the sexy uniforms), we’d work with the media aspect of things, we’d sell tickets, and more. In the midst of all this, Brad said we’d do competitions in pairs for certain events. It sounded like we all were going to learn about all the different jobs related to the Hawks and we’d get a chance to do all of them to some extent.
The Hawks were currently away in Detroit, but apparently they would be back the next day for practice and an upcoming home game. Today we would be introduced to the equipment so that we could work with the Hawks at their practice the next day.
After he told us this, Brad had a call to take. We were told we could mingle with each other and check out the locker room until he got back. I learned a little more about blondie when Brad left the room. She walked around, checking out the players’ stalls, squealing.
“Ooo, this is Andrew’s stall! And there’s Sharp’s! Wow, I can’t wait to see their gorgeous faces in here tomorrow…” I wasn’t normally one to judge a book by its cover, especially not as soon as I met someone. However, this time, I couldn’t help myself. Maybe it was hypocritical of me to think it, since I had a crush on a player too, but to me, blondie screamed “Puck Bunny” to me. Maybe she actually did really appreciate the team and the sport; maybe I would learn that during the next few days. But at that moment, she didn’t give off that impression. I couldn’t help but stare at her in awe.
When Brad got back, he led us out of the room and to where the equipment was. Puck Bunny scoffed at me and made sure to run into me on the way there. I was taken aback at how rude she was being to me. One of the male interns seemed to notice.
“She’s interesting, huh?” he commented, giving me a warm smile. He had straight, brown hair that was lighter than mine and chocolate brown eyes. He wasn’t bad looking, honestly. But I really wasn’t looking for any relationship, not with a fellow intern, anyways.
“Yeah, she is. I don’t know why she hates me so much already, all I did was try to help her out,” I answered.
“Well, don’t worry about her too much. I’m sure you can take her. You’re the one who plays hockey, right?” How did he know I played hockey?
“Uh, yeah. I’ve been playing my whole life, basically. How’d you know?”
“Oh, I had a chance to talk to Brad before we got started. He mentioned that one of the girls was a hockey player. At this point I had a feeling it was you,” he explained.
“Oh.”
“I play hockey too, you know. I’ve been playing for as long as you have, it seems,” he continued. Well, just the fact that he played hockey made me approve of him. That and he seemed pretty friendly. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Oh, sorry. My name’s Lena. Lena Stratton,” I told him.
“Nice to meet you Lena. I’m Dylan. Dylan Zuniga.” Dylan shook my hand and then our conversation was interrupted, since it was time to learn everything we needed to know to prepare for practice the next day.
The day went by very quickly, but at the same time, I was happy to be back home when I got there. After telling Brian and my parents about my day, I invited Tess over, since she was back home too by then. My parents didn’t care. She was there so often when I actually had lived there still that she might as well have just moved in. She lived close enough, though, which was why she arrived at my house ten minutes after I texted her.
“So, how was the first day?” Tess asked as she walked into my room with Puck by her side. He loved her for some reason.
“It was pretty good. It was kind of easy, we didn’t do all that much. The guy that’s in charge of our program, Brad, he gave us a tour of the UC and we prepared for tomorrow. The Hawks will be back in Chicago for practice tomorrow so we’re in charge of water/Gatorade and equipment,” I told her.
“Awesome! So how are the other interns? And how many are there?”
“There are five others, four guys and one girl. They all seem pretty nice…for the most part.”
“For the most part?” Tess asked.
“Yeah. The other girl is ridiculous. We were in the locker room and she almost stepped on the Indian head so I warned her and she yelled at me for touching her. She even rolled her eyes at me and later she purposefully bumped into me. She’s extremely rude and so far it seems like the only Hawks related thing she even cares about is how good looking the players are.” I didn’t even try to hide my rage.
“Wow, she sounds like a winner. She must have made herself sound really good in her application if they let her into this internship.”
“Yeah, I know. But whatever. There is at least one intern that I’m kind of friends with,” I said.
“Oooo, he’s a boy, right? Is he cute?” Of course that was what Tess was concerned about.
“Yes, and yes, AND he’s been playing hockey for as long as we have. But I know what you’re going to say, and you better just stop yourself now! I don’t have any plans on dating him.” I knew Tess too well.
“Hey, you’ve only known him for a day, don’t speak too soon! You never know, you could fall madly in love in the next two weeks,” Tess said.
“Oh, please, Tess. I’m going to be so busy for the next couple weeks that I’m not even going to have time to fall in love.”
Tess stayed for dinner and she left before it got too late so I could get to bed. I had gotten through my first day, and it had gone well as far as I was concerned. I would have an even busier and more eventful second day, though, so I went to bed early yet again and for the second night in a row, I had no troubles sleeping at all.