Tricks to Sticks

part three

As Taylor slowly made her way to the arena, she heard footsteps coming from behind, running towards her; she didn't even have to think twice about who it was once their steps matched hers, "What do you want," she asked as she looked at the Conway boy.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" he replied with a grin.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you guys pull that stunt at lunch today?" Taylor asked as she remembered how half of the students had run out of the cafeteria that day.

"Well, they deserved it. Simple as that," he replied knowing that she'd want him to explain further.

"Yeah, but why did they deserve it?" she asked as he smiled knowing he was right.

"Well, they've been picking on one of my friends, Kenny," he said.

"Hm." she accepted what they'd done, she knew that those jocks deserved it, "So, why are you following me," she asked.

"Well, you looked lonely, and-"

"I'm not," she interrupted.

"-and I thought I wanted to ask you about the book," he continued, ignoring her interruption.

"As I said earlier, read, annotate, discuss, and then write. It's really not that hard," she chuckled.

"So, are you ready to discuss?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Taylor's mask faltered slightly, as she looked at him in surprise, "You're done?" she asked simply.

"Yup! And I've annotated," he said with a smile on his face, as they stopped outside the arena.

Taylor knew the book was long since she'd read it about three times already before this year, so she couldn't quite understand how Charlie Conway - a hockey jock - could've already read it.

She brushed off the fact that he'd finished and said, "Well, this is my stop."

"You skate?" he asked a little surprised forgetting about her not replying to his commitment on the assignment.

"Yup," Taylor nodded awkwardly.

"So, you play hockey?" He asked looking like an excited puppy.

"No, I figure skate," she said as she opened the doors and entered the cold building.

"Why don't you play hockey? I mean, isn't Logan your brother?" he asked.

Taylor flinched ever so quickly when he mentioned Logan. She really did fear him, and the worst part was, Charlie, noticed.

"Did I say something?" he asked alerted as the two made their way down the stairs and into the home box.

"No," Taylor sighed as she slid her feet into her white skates.

"Well, yeah I obviously did," he said as he said beside her.

"No, you didn't," she said as she started to stretch out, "and you don't need to be here."

"Hold on. Give me one minute," he said and left before Taylor could protest.

He returned about forty seconds later, his hockey skates in hand. He sat down next to the girl who was still stretching and started lacing his skates.

"All right," he started as the two made their way out on the ice, "how about a little challenge?" with that he had caught the figure skater's attention.

"Depends on what the challenge is," the girl said with a daring tone.

"Okay," he said, "how about you'll do a few spins and whatnot," which made Taylor chuckle, "and if I can do the three things that you've picked out, I win. But if I can't, then you win."