Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Kristopher Letang and Brielle Laroche had known each other their entire lives; they grew up next door to each other. Kristopher was very quiet, extremely shy and very reserved which made it difficult for him to make friends. Brielle was the polar opposite; very boisterous, friendly, outgoing and outspoken. You knew when she entered a room; her crystal clear blue eyes and dazzling smile were hypnotizing, her laugh was infectious, and her confidence commanded attention, even from a young age.

Brielle was a year older than Kristopher and when he started school, she took it upon herself to protect him. Every day they would walk to school together, hand in hand, and every day she would wait for him after school so they could walk home together. Every day without fail.

Kristopher could always be found trailing behind Brielle everywhere she went. She was involved in as many activities as she could be; skating, dance and gymnastics, and was amazing at every single thing she did. The truth was, Kristopher was in complete awe of his best friend; in complete awe and bursting with pride. Her best friend was always at her meets cheering from the sidelines along with her parents Margot and Gilles. When Gilles suggested to Kristopher's mother Christiane to try signing her son up for some kind of sport to help him come out of his shell, it was the end of life as they knew it.

From the very first time Kristopher put on a pair of skates he felt at home. The tide quickly turned from him going to all of Brielle's dance recitals, skating carnivals, and gymnastics meets to her going to his early morning practices, hockey games and tournaments. She was there for every single one of them. Every one without fail.

It wasn't hard to see that Kris was going to go far with his hockey career. By the time he was 10 his coaches started talking about him moving up to play on travel teams so he could be more challenged. Kris excelled on every team he played on and flourished socially as well. Brielle watched her shy, quiet best friend who needed her to interact socially with anyone, turn into a rambunctious, happy yet still on the quiet and reserved side, hockey player that everyone wanted to be around.

Life was good. Everywhere Brielle went, Kris went too. Everywhere Kris went, Brielle followed; hand in hand, just like when they were five and six years old walking to school. Two best friends navigating life.

As they got older, Brielle's friends didn't understand her relationship with Kristopher.
"He's strange," they'd say. "He's always following you around, doesn't he have anything better to do?" "Does he have to go everywhere we go?" they'd ask. Brielle's response was always the same, "Wherever we go, we go together. If you don't like it, we won't go." Kris' teamates on the other hand, thought it was cool to have a cute girl around all the time but would still razz him about Brielle being his girlfriend and would often tease him making kissing noises whenever she was around. Kris' response was always the same, he's shrug his shoulders and the right corner of his mouth would turn up into a crooked little half smile, but he never spoke a word.

Kris would often look at his best friend and think 'life can't get any better can it?' The truth was, it could. One of them was about to embark down a path that would make all their dreams come true; but could they go down that path the same way they went everywhere else? Could they go together?