Carl woke up with a headache. He wondered what was going on. At that moment, I, his 16 -year-old sister, came tearing into his room. “Step is here, Carl! He wants to see you”, I say, a squeal in my voice. A smile lit Carl’s face as he ran a hand through my tangled hair. “You need a shower, squirt. Tell Step I’ll be right down”, he replied. I hugged him, then raced out of the room. “Step? Carl said he’d be right down”, I said, hugging him. Step smiled and picked me up, spinning me around in a circle. Step was what the team and I called him. His real name was Derek Stepan. Yes, you heard right. My best friend is New York Ranger’s forward Derek Stepan. Carl and I both love him. When I came to New York with Carl, I was really shy and didn’t trust anyone but Carl, our siblings, our parents, and our friends. But, then I met Derek Stepan. He was really nice to me, and in the locker room, when things got too rough or too loud, if Carl was busy, he’d hold me in his lap or take me onto the ice, where I felt safe. I really learned to trust him and eventually, become friends with him. I have other friends in that locker room, but Step is my favorite, next to Carl.

At the moment, we are playing NHL 2010. I’m the Red Wings, and he is the Rangers. I’m winning by one. “Step, stop running into Datsyuk. He’s my best player”, I complain as one of his players runs my best player into the boards. Step turns to look at me. “Lizzy, you’re already kicking my butt. Do you have to beat me even more”, he retorts. I smile. “You’ve won the last three games we’ve played. Can’t I win one for once”, I ask. Step shoves my shoulder before sending a Ranger into Datsyuk yet again. “You’re going to pay for that”, I tease. I steal the puck and send it down the ice, where a Red Wing is waiting. He turns and puts it in the back of the net. I raised my hands over my head and let out a victory yell. I turn towards Step, whose sitting with his head down. A scared look came over my face. I placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Step? I didn’t think you’d over-react to my win”, I asked. Step looked up. “I do that every time you or Carl beat me. I’m playing around”, he said gently. I nod and crawl into his lap. A few minutes later, I hear Carl’s footstep’s on the stairs. I shove myself off of Step and run towards my brother, almost knocking him down. Carl smiles and picks me up. “Carl, Step and I played NHL 2010. I won”, I say.

Carl nods. “It’s about time Step let you win one. I was afraid you were never going to win”, he says. I laugh. “Carl, I’ve known you all my life, and yet, I still love the accent”. Step smiles. “You’re just saying that to please him. You don’t REALLY like it”, he says. “She loves it. At practice yesterday, she told me she’d never get tired of listening to it. She promises on my locker room stall”, Carl says. Step smirks at me. “She’s crazy, but I love her”, he says. I smile and raise my arms. Step turns to look at Carl. “What took you so long to come down”, he asks. Carl’s face turns bright-red. “I was talking to my girlfriend, Erica”, he says. I smile and rest my head against his shoulder. “I knew that’s what you were doing”, I whisper into his ear. Carl looks at me. “How do you always know when I’m talking to Erica”, he asks. I think for a minute. “Well, first of all, your face turned red when Step asked you what you were doing. And, I heard you screaming Erica’s name when she answered the phone”, I reply. Afterwards, we went out to breakfast, which was quite good. We arrived at the rink at around 8:30. As we walked into the locker room, one of Carl’s teammates, Brad Richards, looked up from his skates. “Hey, Hags. I was wondering where you were”, he said, trying hard not to laugh. Carl smiled. “Richie, I arrive at the same time every day. Lizzy was trying to make me late by making me and Step go out to breakfast”, he said, winking at me. Richie looked over at me. “I’m glad you’re here, Lizzy. I do a lot better in practice when you’re here”, he said with a playful smile. I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the compliment, Richie. I just come to practice ‘cause Carl is here”, I replied. I went over to Richie’s locker and gave him a hug. “Are you ready for the big game tonight? Crosby and his Penguins are in town”. Richie nodded. “Yes. I’m going to score a hat trick”. Carl looked over from his locker. “You’re settin’ that bar a little too high there, Richie. Why don’t you settle for one goal, and if that’s not enough, then you can score a hat trick”, he said. Richie stood up and set me on the floor. “I’ll think about it. Why don’t you score a goal? Lizzy would be pleased”, he said, one hand on my shoulder.

“Three-on-two! Three-on-two”, Coach yelled, pointing. Carl was sitting on the bench, me on his lap. I turned to look at my brother. “I love watching practices. They’re fun, and they help me learn so I can amp up my game”, I told him. He nodded in agreement. “Yes. When is your next game”, he asked. I thought about it. “Tomorrow. Can you make it? Is your next game a road game”, I asked him. Carl shook his head. “No. We have the day off. I’ll make it. I can ask Erica, Step, Richie if they can make it, too. Would you like that?” I nodded and smiled. A minute later, a familiar feeling shot up in my body. – I know what this feeling is. I need to say the rosary- I thought. Carl gave me a nudge with his knee. I slid off his lap and looked into his eyes. A knowing look came over his face, and he nodded. “Go on. You need a break from watching me anyway”, he said, shoving my shoulder. I smiled and ran into the locker room. Soon, I was saying the prayer that I had been taught in Bible school four years ago. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”…