PART THREE: MORE SURPRISES

I was almost speechless. I was a little confused though, too.

“Wait, why are we here? There isn’t a game here until tomorrow!” I said.

“We aren’t here for a game. We’re here for your party!” Shantelle answered.

“You guys are throwing me a party here?!” I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think that was even possible. I had no idea how anybody could even go about asking to have a party there, let alone the price it would cost. “How is that even possible?”

“Do you remember your sister’s friend Alecia?” my mom asked. I nodded. I had two sisters who were much older than me. Neither of them lived at home anymore of course, and I didn’t get to see them all that often. However, when I did, I usually saw their friends too, and I couldn’t forget sweet Alecia. “Well, she had been looking for a job in sports, as you know, and as it turns out, she got a position with the Blackhawks a while back. She’s done very well in her job so she was able to pull some strings and make this party possible.”

“That’s crazy! I’ll make sure to thank her the next time I see her!” I exclaimed. How lucky was it that my sister had a friend with such a great job?

“So, where are we going to be partying at?” I wondered.

“Out by the ice. We’ve got the whole UC basically to ourselves,” Kara squealed. She seemed to be just as excited as I was.

On that note, we made our way through the UC. As we did, nostalgia rushed through me. I had only been to the United Center once before, for my first Hawks game during my last spring break. I had been so excited for it. I actually counted down the days until it came, and when it finally happened and I got inside the UC, I had never been happier. Now, as I walked through the halls of the building for my birthday, I could just see the rush of people; the sea of red and black that normally filled the space. I remembered the excitement on their faces, and I felt it on mine. This was no game, but it didn’t matter. The place just had a fun atmosphere.

There it was. The seating, the ice, the jumbotron; the place was huge, just as I had remembered. It was odd to see it looking so empty. I almost hoped that in a few minutes it would fill up with people like it did on game days.

“Man, this place is huge!” my friends who had never been there before commented.

A zamboni slowly made its way onto the ice and following it was a familiar face, waving at my mom and I. It was Alecia, with her long, flowing blonde hair that I almost envied.

“Hey guys! Happy birthday, Destiny!” she bellowed from a distance. Once she made her way off the ice and over to all of us, she gave me a big hug.

“Thank you so much Alecia. My mom said you pulled all this together.” I told her.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. So, do you guys think it’s a little quiet in here?” she wondered. It did seem oddly silent. The last time I had been there, my ears had been filled with ooos, ahs, yells, and cheers.

Everyone nodded in response and Alecia motioned up towards someone in the area where announcers would normally be. A few seconds later, music began playing loudly, making the UC rock with the bass.

“Well, I’ll be around if you guys need anything. You guys will be getting some skates in a bit so you can go out on the ice, and there should be some food outside this area there where you normally would buy it, but of course for you, it’s free. The gift shop should be open, too,” Alecia explained. All of my friends thanked her and she left. For some reason, Kara disappeared too. I figured she was just going to the bathroom, so I ignored it and danced around the place with the rest of my friends.

A few minutes later, Kara returned with my Kane jersey. How had she gotten it? Had my mom sneaked it over to her somehow without me knowing? I didn’t know, and I didn’t even ask.

“Here, you might want to put this on!” Kara told me as she handed it over.

“Yeah, I guess I should. Everyone else is dressed for the occasion,” I said, noticing how even my other friends were wearing Hawks shirts. In my jersey, I would fit in with the theme but still stand out, being the only one in a jersey.

“Yeah, that’s a plus I guess. But that’s not the only reason,” she responded. Now she was being mysterious. I understood why Shantelle was being that way earlier, since they had been keeping this surprise away from me. But now, what was going on?

“What other reason is there?” I asked.

“You’ll see!” was all Kara said in response. “Hey, let’s get some group photos!” After I slipped my jersey on over my head, she pulled me over to a row of seats where everyone sat down for some pictures that my mom took for us. We took a ton, standing, sitting, being serious, being silly, and everything in between. Then we went in front of the plexi glass to take a shot with the ice and the jumbotron in the background. Chelsea Dagger started played almost as if somebody had cued it for the perfect moment, and I thought I could hear some scrapes on the ice behind us while we were posing, but I figured I should ignore it until we were done with the picture. After the picture had been taken, I spun around for the biggest surprise of my life; one that was both bigger and better than when I found out I was going to party all night in the United Center. On the other side of the glass were the Chicago Blackhawks, every single member of the team.

“They photo bombed your picture!” my mom announced, and everyone laughed. A few of my friends went over to my mom to see the epic photo. I wasn’t interested in that at the moment, though. I had no interest in anything except for the fact that Patrick Kane was directly in front of me, smiling at me from behind the plexiglass.