One Goal
Part Ten - Game Time
PART TEN: GAME TIME
“Wake up sleepyhead!” This lovely greeting along with a pillow hitting my face was what I woke up to in the morning. Kara and Shantelle were already up, and apparently they didn’t feel like waiting for me any longer. I found it odd that they were up before me. At sleepovers I never failed to fall asleep last and wake up first. The party must have made me extra tired.
“Okay, fine, I’m up. The pillow was a little unnecessary, don’t you think?” I asked, throwing it back to them. Unfortunately, they both moved out of the way in time, and all it hit was the hotel room floor.
“It was perfectly necessary! We already showered and you were still sleeping!” Shantelle answered. I looked at my phone and realized that it was 10:30. It wasn’t that late, they didn’t need to pester me so much! But then again, there was no need to waste any time. I never got to go to Chicago and I wanted to make the weekend last. I got up out of the bed and went to my bag to look for an outfit to wear.
“What are we even doing today?” I asked, deciding that I would pick out clothes based on the day’s activities.
“Shopping!” Kara answered, and I felt a smile explode onto my lips. I loved shopping in Chi town. Where I lived, there was no Forever 21, but here, there was a giant, multiple story Forever 21 store in this city, plus a second one in Water Tower place. Being that it was my favorite store, that aspect alone made Chicago seem like heaven to me.
“And of course we’re going to the game later,” Shantelle added as I picked out a new shirt and a pair of jeans to wear. I had almost forgotten about the game. The birthday game (or in this case, the belated birthday game) that I had always wanted.
I quickly showered and we all got ourselves ready. We went to my mom’s room when we were done, and we found both my mom and my dad in there. I greeted my dad, happy to see him. But I soon realized the dilemma. My dad hated shopping. Well, he hated the kind of shopping that us girls loved, anyways.
“What are you going to do while we’re shopping?” I asked him.
“I’ll be walking around. I might even do my own shopping. The kind that I actually like,” he answered.
“We’re all going to go to the Hawks store together first, though. I don’t have any Hawks attire and neither does your dad. We need something to wear to the game, right?” my mom asked, and I nodded. She seemed to read my mind, since she added, “but not you. You have plenty of things to wear to the game tonight.” I seemed to have a problem where I couldn’t stop buying Hawks attire. I couldn’t help it. There were so many things I wanted, and they kept making more designs that I liked. I wanted it all. Even though I did get quite a bit of money for my birthday and I hadn’t spent much of my Christmas money, I decided to try to hold back from getting anything at the Blackhawks store.
As it turned back, holding back wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be. After grabbing some much needed Starbucks, we quickly arrived at the Hawks store. An image of Patrick Kane greeted us at the door and my mom just had to make a comment.
“You do know that he’s her boyfriend now, right?” she said to my dad when we walked in.
“Mom, stop it! He’s not my boyfriend!” I corrected her.
“Not yet,” I heard Kara mutter under her breath, and Shantelle laughed softly.
Once inside, I saw a million things I wanted. Jerseys, t shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, shorts, hats, everything. A devious voice inside my head told me that I should splurge, since it was still practically my birthday. I tried to talk myself out of it, but that insistent little voice won. I found a really cool hat that I liked and I ended up buying it.
“When are you even going to wear that? You never wear hats,” my mom nagged me when I took it up to the register.
“That’s because I don’t have any hats to wear. It’s not my fault I don’t own any hats,” I answered, handing over some of my birthday money and thanking the man working there when he handed me my change and my bag. “And I’ll wear it to the game tonight, of course,” I said.
After all of us had paid for our things, since every single one of us bought something, we left. Us girls headed to Forever 21 and my dad went the opposite way, looking for a store to browse in or a sight to see.
As expected, we spent a lot of time in Forever 21. I insisted on looking at every item on every floor. I didn’t want to miss out on anything, and I was glad that I didn’t - I made some good purchases there. Next, we went to H & M, and then into the Water Tower Place. We all found some good buys and had no trouble passing the time. When we were hungry we met up with my dad to grab food and then we went back to shopping. We scoured the mall until we had been everywhere we wanted to go and then we met up with my dad again once we were done. It was pretty chilly out since it was January, so we tried not to spend too much time outside. We went back to the hotel to warm up and hang out for a little while before we could have to go back to the United Center.
“I have so much stuff to take home,” I declared, dropping my shopping bags on the floor next to my messy bag of clothes my mom had packed me. It was once so neat, but I had already messed it up completely.
“Yeah, hopefully we’ll be able to fit all our stuff in the car when we go home,” Shantelle agreed, opening a package of cookies that my mom had bought us. We wanted to snack a little before the game, since the food and drinks there weren’t all that cheap.
“So has your boy toy texted you today?” Kara asked, munching on a cookie.
“No, but I didn’t really expect him to. I’m sure he’s been busy and we‘ve been busy too.” Even though I knew he had no reason to be talking to me, especially with the game quickly approaching, I still gave my phone a sad glance. No new messages.
While watching TV and eating, we slowly started to get ready for the game. We changed out of the regular clothes we had been wearing and we put on our Hawks attire. Kara put on her new Hawks shirt and threw on her Toews jersey that she had apparently brought with. Shantelle put on a Hawks shirt she already had and added on the new Shaw jersey she had just purchased. I put on a not so new Hawks shirt I had bought a few months ago and layered my autographed jersey over it. I took the price tag and sticker off of my new hat and tried it on, asking them what they thought.
“You actually wear hats pretty well,” Shantelle told me. I wasn’t so sure about that. I didn’t know if I could pull them off very well, but I wanted to give them a try anyways. When I took if off though, I quickly realized why I had never really worn hats in the past: hat hair.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” I said, brushing my hair and plugging in a curling iron. I wanted to look cute for this game.
“It didn’t mess up your hair that much. Just smooth it out and it’ll be fine,” Kara insisted.
We did each other’s hair and makeup as if it was prom, and when I realized how ridiculous it was, I laughed.
“Maybe we’re overdoing it guys. I mean, we’re going to a sporting event, not a ball,” I realized.
“Well it’s not like we’re wearing dresses and heels! We aren’t overdoing it, we’re just going to look extra good. And besides, don’t you want to look good for Patty?” Shantelle asked, chuckling. Why did they have to tease me so much? I guessed that must have been what friends were for. That, and proving points. Looking in the mirror at all of us, I realized they were right. We didn’t look ridiculous, we looked, well, hot. Not in a bad or slutty way. We just looked good.
“Are you girls almost ready?” I heard my mom ask through the door.
“Yeah, just a minute!” I yelled, forgetting that we were in a hotel and we couldn’t be super loud. We took a couple pictures for Instagram, and while I was on my phone, an idea struck me. I didn’t know if Patrick would even check his phone before he started playing at this point, but I sent him a good luck text anyways. I figured my mom was being very impatient, so I made sure to be quick. Then we grabbed our purses, complete with passes and tickets, and headed out the door to get with my parents. We made sure we had everything we needed and then piled into the car. This ride to the UC was very different then the previous one. This time, I actually got to see where we were going, and it almost seemed strange when we arrived there and I didn’t need anyone to help me make my way up the steps to the entrance. Plus, we actually got to take some pictures outside this time.
Besides the car ride, the actual experience inside was much different from the day before too. At my party, all I could do was remember and imagine the craziness of a game day that I had once seen. This time, I got to actually experience it again. We practically had to push our way inside past people, since we were one of the first ones inside. We scanned our tickets and got our “first 10,000 fans” souvenirs, which were drawstring bags. My ears were filled with the sounds of thousands of people talking and I felt so small in the midst of all the people scrambling to find bathrooms, seats, merchandise, food, family members, and whatever else they might have been looking for.
“Let’s hit the restrooms and then find our seats,” my mom suggested, so we headed to the bathrooms.
“I can’t believe we’re at a Hawks game,” Shantelle said, clearly very excited. It was her first game, after all. But even though Kara and I had been to games before, we were just as happy if not more so than Shantelle. We loved being at the UC for a game, even though we both had only been to one other game. It was such a cool experience that I felt lucky to be having for the second time.
“If you can’t believe it now, then just wait til the game starts, you really won’t believe it then. It’s awesome to actually be here and see everything firsthand. It’s so much more exciting than it is when you’re just looking at a TV screen,” I assured her.
Once we were out of the bathroom, we headed up the escalators to the 300 level, which was where our seats were. I was really anxious to see where we were sitting. At the last game I had been to, I sat in the 300 level on one goal end. It was a good seat, but this time, I had an even better seat. We all realized that our seats were right in the middle, so we could see both ends of the ice equally as well. I knew it was going to be really fun to see the game from there.
“Great seats,” my dad commented.
“These are really good seats!” my mom sided with him.
My mom snapped some pictures of Shantelle, Kara and I in our seats and then I took some of my parents. The seats around us had seemed so lonely when we first arrived, but after walking around a bit and getting drinks to kill time, I was reminded of how fast the place filled up. When we got back to our seats, we had to find our way around people before we could sit down. We were sitting there for a while, counting down the minutes before the game would start. When the players all came out to practice, I felt adrenaline pumping through me, realizing that the game was going to be starting soon. We all spotted our favorite players and kept our eyes on them. It was so strange to think that I had just met them all the day before. It was almost weird to me that I had skated on that ice with them just twenty four hours before the game.
I thought a lot about the day before as we watched the countdown clock wind down on the jumbotron. So much had happened in so little time, and now here we were, back at the same place again. I hoped this UC visit would be just as amazing as the last one. I really hoped that the Hawks could get a good win. And before I knew it, the anthem was sung, making every fan rowdier than they were before. Then, in no time at all, the puck was dropped for Johnny Toews’ first faceoff of the night, and it was officially game time.
“Wake up sleepyhead!” This lovely greeting along with a pillow hitting my face was what I woke up to in the morning. Kara and Shantelle were already up, and apparently they didn’t feel like waiting for me any longer. I found it odd that they were up before me. At sleepovers I never failed to fall asleep last and wake up first. The party must have made me extra tired.
“Okay, fine, I’m up. The pillow was a little unnecessary, don’t you think?” I asked, throwing it back to them. Unfortunately, they both moved out of the way in time, and all it hit was the hotel room floor.
“It was perfectly necessary! We already showered and you were still sleeping!” Shantelle answered. I looked at my phone and realized that it was 10:30. It wasn’t that late, they didn’t need to pester me so much! But then again, there was no need to waste any time. I never got to go to Chicago and I wanted to make the weekend last. I got up out of the bed and went to my bag to look for an outfit to wear.
“What are we even doing today?” I asked, deciding that I would pick out clothes based on the day’s activities.
“Shopping!” Kara answered, and I felt a smile explode onto my lips. I loved shopping in Chi town. Where I lived, there was no Forever 21, but here, there was a giant, multiple story Forever 21 store in this city, plus a second one in Water Tower place. Being that it was my favorite store, that aspect alone made Chicago seem like heaven to me.
“And of course we’re going to the game later,” Shantelle added as I picked out a new shirt and a pair of jeans to wear. I had almost forgotten about the game. The birthday game (or in this case, the belated birthday game) that I had always wanted.
I quickly showered and we all got ourselves ready. We went to my mom’s room when we were done, and we found both my mom and my dad in there. I greeted my dad, happy to see him. But I soon realized the dilemma. My dad hated shopping. Well, he hated the kind of shopping that us girls loved, anyways.
“What are you going to do while we’re shopping?” I asked him.
“I’ll be walking around. I might even do my own shopping. The kind that I actually like,” he answered.
“We’re all going to go to the Hawks store together first, though. I don’t have any Hawks attire and neither does your dad. We need something to wear to the game, right?” my mom asked, and I nodded. She seemed to read my mind, since she added, “but not you. You have plenty of things to wear to the game tonight.” I seemed to have a problem where I couldn’t stop buying Hawks attire. I couldn’t help it. There were so many things I wanted, and they kept making more designs that I liked. I wanted it all. Even though I did get quite a bit of money for my birthday and I hadn’t spent much of my Christmas money, I decided to try to hold back from getting anything at the Blackhawks store.
As it turned back, holding back wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be. After grabbing some much needed Starbucks, we quickly arrived at the Hawks store. An image of Patrick Kane greeted us at the door and my mom just had to make a comment.
“You do know that he’s her boyfriend now, right?” she said to my dad when we walked in.
“Mom, stop it! He’s not my boyfriend!” I corrected her.
“Not yet,” I heard Kara mutter under her breath, and Shantelle laughed softly.
Once inside, I saw a million things I wanted. Jerseys, t shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, shorts, hats, everything. A devious voice inside my head told me that I should splurge, since it was still practically my birthday. I tried to talk myself out of it, but that insistent little voice won. I found a really cool hat that I liked and I ended up buying it.
“When are you even going to wear that? You never wear hats,” my mom nagged me when I took it up to the register.
“That’s because I don’t have any hats to wear. It’s not my fault I don’t own any hats,” I answered, handing over some of my birthday money and thanking the man working there when he handed me my change and my bag. “And I’ll wear it to the game tonight, of course,” I said.
After all of us had paid for our things, since every single one of us bought something, we left. Us girls headed to Forever 21 and my dad went the opposite way, looking for a store to browse in or a sight to see.
As expected, we spent a lot of time in Forever 21. I insisted on looking at every item on every floor. I didn’t want to miss out on anything, and I was glad that I didn’t - I made some good purchases there. Next, we went to H & M, and then into the Water Tower Place. We all found some good buys and had no trouble passing the time. When we were hungry we met up with my dad to grab food and then we went back to shopping. We scoured the mall until we had been everywhere we wanted to go and then we met up with my dad again once we were done. It was pretty chilly out since it was January, so we tried not to spend too much time outside. We went back to the hotel to warm up and hang out for a little while before we could have to go back to the United Center.
“I have so much stuff to take home,” I declared, dropping my shopping bags on the floor next to my messy bag of clothes my mom had packed me. It was once so neat, but I had already messed it up completely.
“Yeah, hopefully we’ll be able to fit all our stuff in the car when we go home,” Shantelle agreed, opening a package of cookies that my mom had bought us. We wanted to snack a little before the game, since the food and drinks there weren’t all that cheap.
“So has your boy toy texted you today?” Kara asked, munching on a cookie.
“No, but I didn’t really expect him to. I’m sure he’s been busy and we‘ve been busy too.” Even though I knew he had no reason to be talking to me, especially with the game quickly approaching, I still gave my phone a sad glance. No new messages.
While watching TV and eating, we slowly started to get ready for the game. We changed out of the regular clothes we had been wearing and we put on our Hawks attire. Kara put on her new Hawks shirt and threw on her Toews jersey that she had apparently brought with. Shantelle put on a Hawks shirt she already had and added on the new Shaw jersey she had just purchased. I put on a not so new Hawks shirt I had bought a few months ago and layered my autographed jersey over it. I took the price tag and sticker off of my new hat and tried it on, asking them what they thought.
“You actually wear hats pretty well,” Shantelle told me. I wasn’t so sure about that. I didn’t know if I could pull them off very well, but I wanted to give them a try anyways. When I took if off though, I quickly realized why I had never really worn hats in the past: hat hair.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” I said, brushing my hair and plugging in a curling iron. I wanted to look cute for this game.
“It didn’t mess up your hair that much. Just smooth it out and it’ll be fine,” Kara insisted.
We did each other’s hair and makeup as if it was prom, and when I realized how ridiculous it was, I laughed.
“Maybe we’re overdoing it guys. I mean, we’re going to a sporting event, not a ball,” I realized.
“Well it’s not like we’re wearing dresses and heels! We aren’t overdoing it, we’re just going to look extra good. And besides, don’t you want to look good for Patty?” Shantelle asked, chuckling. Why did they have to tease me so much? I guessed that must have been what friends were for. That, and proving points. Looking in the mirror at all of us, I realized they were right. We didn’t look ridiculous, we looked, well, hot. Not in a bad or slutty way. We just looked good.
“Are you girls almost ready?” I heard my mom ask through the door.
“Yeah, just a minute!” I yelled, forgetting that we were in a hotel and we couldn’t be super loud. We took a couple pictures for Instagram, and while I was on my phone, an idea struck me. I didn’t know if Patrick would even check his phone before he started playing at this point, but I sent him a good luck text anyways. I figured my mom was being very impatient, so I made sure to be quick. Then we grabbed our purses, complete with passes and tickets, and headed out the door to get with my parents. We made sure we had everything we needed and then piled into the car. This ride to the UC was very different then the previous one. This time, I actually got to see where we were going, and it almost seemed strange when we arrived there and I didn’t need anyone to help me make my way up the steps to the entrance. Plus, we actually got to take some pictures outside this time.
Besides the car ride, the actual experience inside was much different from the day before too. At my party, all I could do was remember and imagine the craziness of a game day that I had once seen. This time, I got to actually experience it again. We practically had to push our way inside past people, since we were one of the first ones inside. We scanned our tickets and got our “first 10,000 fans” souvenirs, which were drawstring bags. My ears were filled with the sounds of thousands of people talking and I felt so small in the midst of all the people scrambling to find bathrooms, seats, merchandise, food, family members, and whatever else they might have been looking for.
“Let’s hit the restrooms and then find our seats,” my mom suggested, so we headed to the bathrooms.
“I can’t believe we’re at a Hawks game,” Shantelle said, clearly very excited. It was her first game, after all. But even though Kara and I had been to games before, we were just as happy if not more so than Shantelle. We loved being at the UC for a game, even though we both had only been to one other game. It was such a cool experience that I felt lucky to be having for the second time.
“If you can’t believe it now, then just wait til the game starts, you really won’t believe it then. It’s awesome to actually be here and see everything firsthand. It’s so much more exciting than it is when you’re just looking at a TV screen,” I assured her.
Once we were out of the bathroom, we headed up the escalators to the 300 level, which was where our seats were. I was really anxious to see where we were sitting. At the last game I had been to, I sat in the 300 level on one goal end. It was a good seat, but this time, I had an even better seat. We all realized that our seats were right in the middle, so we could see both ends of the ice equally as well. I knew it was going to be really fun to see the game from there.
“Great seats,” my dad commented.
“These are really good seats!” my mom sided with him.
My mom snapped some pictures of Shantelle, Kara and I in our seats and then I took some of my parents. The seats around us had seemed so lonely when we first arrived, but after walking around a bit and getting drinks to kill time, I was reminded of how fast the place filled up. When we got back to our seats, we had to find our way around people before we could sit down. We were sitting there for a while, counting down the minutes before the game would start. When the players all came out to practice, I felt adrenaline pumping through me, realizing that the game was going to be starting soon. We all spotted our favorite players and kept our eyes on them. It was so strange to think that I had just met them all the day before. It was almost weird to me that I had skated on that ice with them just twenty four hours before the game.
I thought a lot about the day before as we watched the countdown clock wind down on the jumbotron. So much had happened in so little time, and now here we were, back at the same place again. I hoped this UC visit would be just as amazing as the last one. I really hoped that the Hawks could get a good win. And before I knew it, the anthem was sung, making every fan rowdier than they were before. Then, in no time at all, the puck was dropped for Johnny Toews’ first faceoff of the night, and it was officially game time.
7/12/13