Shooting Star

Chapter 17

I stood outside on the balcony, waiting for the fireworks to appear.

It was New Year's Eve, and I was on vacation in Los Angeles with the Admirals' boys' and girls' hockey teams.

Just a few nights ago, I'd gone with Adrian to watch the hockey game. The Maple Leafs had won the game in 1-0 in sudden death OT, which was super exciting. The game had been super tight but I was proud to see my hometown team take down the top-ranked team in the Eastern Conference.

"Hey," Tanner said, coming up to me with Mason.

"Hey yourselves," I smiled. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just chilling," Mason replied.

We stood in silence for a while. I brought my steaming Thermos to my lips and took a sip of the peppermint chocolate mocha I was drinking.

"That smells good," Mason said, breathing it in. "What is it?"

"Peppermint chocolate mocha," I replied. "Take a sip."

I handed the Thermos to him and he sipped from the other side. "It's good," he said happily, passing the cup to Tanner. "You try it," he urged.

Tanner did, and his reaction was the same as Mason's. "Yeah, it is!"

I grabbed it back. "I want my mocha now," I said. "Happy New Year's, guys. I have to find Kylie and Alyssa."

"Okay," Tanner said. "We'll find you later."

I nodded and slipped off into the crowd. It had been almost two weeks since Mom had e-mailed Ms. Ellis about me dropping classes. She'd sent me a reply back, saying that she respected my decision and was disappointed that I wouldn't be in the classes any longer, but she was okay with it, overall. Which was all I could really ask for.

I actually had dance over the holidays, but I got to skip out on it because I left with my hockey team for Los Angeles on Boxing Day. It was the prize for winning the tournament.

Oh yeah, the boys' team also won their tournament, meaning they could come with us. Tanner and Mason were defencemen on the team, so they got to come too.

But really, I was nervous for when dance started up again. No doubt Ms. Ellis would've told Janelle, Aly-G, and Natalie about my desertion from MT and Lyrical, and I was dreading Janelle's reaction when I would get off of break. Natalie and Aly-G were fine with it, I discovered, as I felt my phone buzz and glanced at the text I got from Natalie:

Natalie: 

hey girl! how's LA? havin fun? anywayz, we found out about u dropping classes. janelle's super pissed, but aly-g + i don't really care, as long as ur happy w/decision. have a happy new year & c u when we all get back! <3, Natalie.

I quickly texted her back.

Brianna:

thanx for u and aly-g's support, means so much 2 me. happy new yr 2 u too, ily and tell aly-g that i <3 her too, k? i'll deal w/janelle when i get back to the studio on monday. LA's great, thnx 4 asking, we played a scrimmage with some of the LA Kings a few days ago, and we all had a blast. hope ur havin a good holiday too! XOXO Bree.

I slipped my phone back into my jeans pocket and searched for Kylie's normally straight but tonight curly brown hair, and Alyssa's signature wavy black hair with blue and green streaks in it.

I found them talking to some guys. "Hi," I said quietly.

"Hey Breeze," Alyssa said. To the boys she said, "This is our teammate Bree. She helped us win the tournament."