Chapter One

September 2005

“So your mom’s been on your case about taking the SAT’s?”
“Yeah, and it’s bothering the crap out of me. I took the practice test last year and I didn’t do bad, but it’s almost as if you need to be Bill Gates in order to figure out what answer to put down.”
“Glad I never had to go through that..” Abby replied as we looked through the clothing rack in Bebe. Looked as in Abby bought anything she liked and I just stared at the clothing wishing I could actually afford it.
“Aren’t you lucky..” I grumbled.
“Rachel, you’re a smart girl. You’d get into college without even taking the SAT’s.”
“If only that were true. I don’t even know where I wanna go yet. My dad’s been asking me about college since eighth grade.”
“Well, what do you wanna do?”
“Well, I’d really love to do something with music -”
“You should totally audition for American Idol! You’d have Simon on his knees begging for you to serenade him!”
I looked at her weird, “Okay..that’s not going to happen.”
“Come on, Rach! I know you can sing! You have a hell of a voice that has Mariah Carey running for her money!”
Try telling this all to my mother, I thought.“I was thinking along the lines of music therapy.”

You see, my mom and I have been fighting about what career I want to choose for me lately. Music has always been such a huge part of my life. Not only did I sing, but I also have been playing the piano for years now. When no one’s home, I let all my emotions out whether good or bad. I also have begun writing my own songs based on past experiences. Boys, friends, family, etc. Nothing was left hidden between me and my diary of music. But whenever I even mentioned the word ‘music’ in my career, my mom immediately rejected the idea.
“You’re not the next Britney Spears,” she would say.
I sure hope not the way she’s heading down her life, I thought. “Mom, I don’t want fame and all of that. I just want to help other people out with a gift that I love.”
“You can do that through teaching. You’d be helping out students everyday by teaching them everything they need to know in order to succeed in life.”
Great, a school teacher. Not that I didn’t oppose the idea, but I know how kids can be to teachers. I’m not gonna lie, whenever there’s a substitute, I join in the usual pranks and think it’s hilarious. But then I end up feeling guilty about it and realize that that could be me in the next six years.

“That sounds like a career you could convince your mom of,” Abby replied as she held up a top that looked like only Lindsay Lohan could fit into. “Do you like this shirt? I think it would be great for clubbing!”
I just nodded and continued to look through the clothing rack.
“Remember that if you see something you like in any store that we go into, let me know and it’s yours.”
“Abby, I’m not gonna let you do that-”
“It’s your birthday for Pete’s sake! I’m supposed to buy you presents!”

Today was my sixteenth birthday. I have to admit, I am excited about going to get my permit so I can finally drive, but I didn’t like how everyone just threw presents at me. Sure, they were nice and I ended up liking them a lot, but I just feel guilty about people spending their money on me. I’m very independent and I don’t accept charity.
Abby pulled out a black halter dress, “This would look so cute for your birthday dinner tonight!” She shoved the dress at me, “Go try it on ..and if you look at the price tag, I’ll slap you.”

Not wanting to make a scene in the middle of the store, I obliged and went to a dressing room to try it on. When I finished putting the dress on, I actually liked myself in it. It fit my body perfectly and didn’t show any imperfections that I didn’t want to be showing. I opened the dressing room door for Abby to see and she immediately squealed in delight saying, “Damn, you’re sexy! It’s a winner!” Once I changed into my regular clothes again, we went to the register and Abby paid for my dress not accepting any arguments from me. Just as we walked out of the store, her cell phone rang.

“Hey, baby! … Yeah, we’re just shopping at the mall. I just bought Rach this cute dress for dinner tonight! ..What? I thought you were getting a ride home from Max ..What do you mean he needs to go suit shopping? It’s not like we’re eating with the President! ..Okay, all right, but only because I love you ..shut up. Okay, love you too, bye,” Abby said as she shut her phone. She sighed, “We have to go pick Ryan up from the arena. Max decided that he doesn’t have the right suit for your dinner tonight so he left Ryan looking for a ride home.”
“That’s fine with me. But exactly who is all coming to this dinner?” I asked. I had already celebrated with my family the night before because Ryan and Abby insisted on taking me out to dinner along with some of the guys from the team.
“Well there’s us, Max, Marc and V, Colby and Mel, and a couple of the other younger players from the team.”
I grunted as I hopped into the passenger seat as we drove off to the arena. It’s not that I didn’t want to hang out with any of them, it’s just that I felt like I didn’t know them as well as Abby and Ryan did. And now they were coming out to celebrate my birthday? It just felt weird to me.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Mellon Arena and parked. We walked into the arena and headed towards the waiting area when all of a sudden, I got attacked with a kickball to my forehead.
“What the hell?!” I answered as I rubbed my forehead.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!” Colby screamed as he picked me up and spun me around as I protested for him to put me down. I hit him several times before he finally agreed to do so. “Damn, you hit like a girl,” he joked as he pouted at his right shoulder.
“You know, for it being my birthday, you’re being very mean to me,” I grinned at him.
“If I wasn’t mean to you, that means I wouldn’t like you. I always am a little rough with my friends, but it’s all out of fun. Although, I don’t think my new roommate on the road has gotten that yet..”
“What did you do to the poor boy now?” Abby asked as she rolled her eyes.
“All I did was-”
“Army, if you put shaving cream in my skates again, I swear I’ll take one of your hockey sticks and shove it up your-” he stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw that he had more than Colby as an audience.

So this was the talk of the town. I was finally going to meet Sidney Crosby. It wasn’t as if I already had my assumptions about him already, but that last comment had my eyebrows raising. Sure, I’ve heard a lot worse from the guys, but Sidney needed to work up to that level of insulting. I quickly eyed him from head to toe and ..wait, is he staring at me? I looked right into his hazel eyes, and we connected for a second before he quickly looked away realizing that I caught him.

Who did he think he was?

“Sid, you don’t threaten me at all! This is only the beginning of a B-E-A-utiful friendship!” Colby replied as he pulled Sidney next to him and had him in a quick head lock before Sidney jerked away. He then retreated back to my eyes again as I stared right back at him. If he wanted to play this game, then I wasn’t backing down.

Abby noticed our silent interaction with each other and smirked as she introduced us, “Sidney, have you met Rachel yet?”
He continued to stare at me until Colby waved his hand in front of his face, “Hellooo?? Is anyone alive in there?”
Sidney quickly stepped back into reality, “It’s nice to meet you, Rachel..” he replied as he offered his hand.
I looked at it almost afraid to touch it, but agreed to shake his hand. “You too.”
“Y’know, Sid, it’s Rachel’s birthday today-” Abby started, but was then cut off.
“Happy Birthday,” he breathed.
The three of us looked at Sidney as if he was nuts. I wasn’t sure if he was having an asthma attack or if he was just plain psychotic. He then blushed, but failed at trying to hide it. Man, this boy needed help.

“Abby, baby,” Ryan said as he entered the most awkward conversation alive. He kissed Abby and looked at the people around him. “Did I miss something?”
Colby looked at Abby, “Yeah, we were just telling Sid that it was Rachel’s birthday and that we’re all going out to celebrate tonight.”
Abby winked at Ryan and he immediately knew what the two of them were up to, “Oh yeah, you should join us Sid!”
“What?” Sidney and I responded at the same time both in shock of the invitation.
“Yeah, it’ll be a bunch of us young guys at this restaurant downtown. We’re just going to celebrate this young lady’s aging!” Ryan said as he looked at me with a smirk on his face.
Abby continued, “Yeah, we could drive you if you want.”
Are you people out of your minds?! I am NOT sitting in the same car with this lunatic!
Sidney responded, “That won’t be necessary. I have my own car here so I can just meet you guys there. What time?”
I cursed the Three Musketeers inside. I knew what they were up to and I didn’t like it at all. I would not be a puppeteer of their matchmaking game.
“7:00,” Ryan replied as he gave Sidney the address to the restaurant.
“Cool, thanks guys. I guess I better go get out of this nasty gear and get moving then,” Sid replied as he looked down at himself. He was still wearing his under armor and shorts from practice.
“Yeah, it usually helps making friends when you don’t smell like dog sweat,” I responded as I quickly covered up my mouth. Now, usually I could talk peacefully with people that I couldn’t get along with without any resentment said from me. So to say that I was completely horrified at what I had just said to Sidney was an understatement.
Colby, Ryan, and Abby looked at me with wide eyes. Sidney stood there shocked, but then chuckled, “You’re not the first person that’s told me I smell bad. But I promise I don’t smell like this all the time.” He then put out his hand for me to shake again, but I just looked down at it and back up into his eyes. I thought I saw hope in them, but he quickly got the hint that I wasn’t going to offer my hand anytime soon.
“I guess I’ll see you later tonight,” he said as he walked back into the locker room.

As soon as the doors shut, the three of them went crazy.
“Well that’s a way to meet someone!”
“I think you shot him down with your stare!”
“Did you see the way he was looking at you?! Man, he’s got it bad already and he doesn’t even know your last name.”
“Would you all shut up?!” I yelled. “Yes, I know that wasn’t one of my finest moments and I could have been nicer to him, but if you all weren’t trying to hook us up, maybe it wouldn’t have been that awkward!”
“Please,” Abby said, “he’s crazy about you! I bet you he’s sitting at his locker right now trying to figure out what the hell he did wrong to make you react that way! And I bet he’s also trying to figure out how to ask you out without being punched in the face!”
Colby replied, “Yeah, you may not like him, but he’s already writing your first name to his last name!”
“Colby..” I growled.
“Whoa,” Colby put his hands up, “don’t wanna set off the birthday girl.”
Ryan put his arm around my shoulders, “Just be nice to him, Rach. The least you could do is be a good friend. He doesn’t have many yet since he’s new here and he doesn’t need someone pushing him down.”
I sighed. I was pretty rude to him, and I did feel bad that he knew absolutely no one coming into this city. “All right, I will. Just don’t push us together, that’s all I’m asking.”
“Oh yeah, sure..” the three of them replied.

Somehow I didn’t believe them. The three of them started walking towards the exit so I followed them. I thought about the entire situation that had just occurred. To be honest, Sidney didn’t seem like a bad guy so far. He actually seemed pretty shy considering all the media that follows him around. I silently cursed myself for acting so foolish. He probably thought I was such a bitch now. I then decided to apologize to him at dinner ..that is, if he still decided to take up the offer.