social anxiety gets the best of me.
~•~
"maybe if i jump out of this car right now i won't be forced to talk to a bunch of snotty rich kid hockey players!"
"don't think that way kacy, it's not the way your dad and i raised you." my mom half turned around and spoke. we were on our way to my impending doom and also my worst nightmare. meeting new people!
"yeah kacy, listen to mommy." my little brother taunted. i glared at him and mouthed, you little suck up. he smiled at me and went back to watching his ipad. "you're such a dirty little gremlin ipad kid."
julie laughed and covered my brothers eyes so he can't see his video. "jUliE! stawp i cant see my ipadddd!" he cried. i rolled my eyes at the two and put in my airpods to drown out their fighting. i shuffled my older music playlist and trouble by lindsey buckingham started playing.
i closed my eyes and tried to forget about everything that was about to happen.
~•~
my peaceful slumber was once again ruined by julie gaffney and her perfect timing to annoy me.
"can you wake up bro, i swear your like aurora from sleeping beauty but without the beauty." she said while she poked my cheek numerous times.
i slapped her hand away and sat up and took in my surroundings. we were already at the airport. julie snatched her hand away and looked at me with fake sadness. i rolled my eyes. "that could've been avoided if you woke me up like a normal person would."
"well you're not a normal person to wake up. it takes forever to get you up. and when you do wake up, you're snappy and bitchy like you are now!" she glared, holding her hand to her chest, as if to protect it.
"whatever." i got up and stretched "come on girls we already got your luggage ready!" our moms yelled.
we both got out and started heading to where they were. while i only had 2 suitcases and my hockey bag, julie had decided to bring her whole closet.
"you never know what you'll forget, so i brought everything i'd ever need!" she smiled proudly. "you're a special person, you know that jules?" i yawned, walking past her and up to where our moms were waiting.
"thanks!- wait, what do you mean special?!"
~•~
we got through security smoothly and got our pre-paid tickets. curtesy of mr. tibbles.
"well girls, this as far as we can go, i'm sorry that we can't go with you guys." my mom started getting teary eyed. "oh mom it's fine! we're big girls and we'll have each other." i hugged her, she laughed whole heartedly while stroking my hair. "i know, i know. i love you bug." i smiled at the familiar name. "i love you too mom."
"last call for flight 783 to minnesota. last call for flight 783 to minnesota."
"that's us!" julie smiled. i hugged my brother and put my arm through julie's. we hurried over to our flight and gave the lady our tickets.
"at least we can sit together." julie smiled. i nodded as we made our way through the hallway to the plane.
"so do you wanna watch iron man, 10 things i hate about you, or the parent trap?" i asked her. when she didn't answer i looked over at her to see her staring ahead. i looked to where she was staring and i made eye contact with 4 different boys all sitting on the ground playing uno.
i recognized them all from the newspaper we were in. these were our new teammates. ken wu, luis mendoza, dean portman, and dwayne robertson.
they stared at us until i gave each of the them a glare, that's when they turned back and started playing again. i rolled my eyes and led julie to the only two seats left and sat her down.
we decided on the parent trap, and we were just enjoying the movie until one of the guys came up to our seats.
"he-hey! um, since we um already took off and um the captain um said we can get out of our seats uh do you guys wanna play uno?" he shyly asked us.
julie smiled, "sure! we'd love to!" his shy mood perked up and he smiled, nodded, and sped-walked away.
i looked at julie and glared. she seemed to sense my anger and tried to soothe me. "come on kace, it's either talk to them now and get it out of the way, or be stuck with them and talk to them later."
i rolled my eyes and gestured her to get up. she grinned and quickly got up and rushed to where they were sitting. i was not so eager and slowly followed after her, an airpod in one of my ears playing (don't fear) the reaper by the blue oyster cult quietly.
i sat down next to julie in their circle next to dwayne. he gave me a warm grin and i gave him a small smile.
dwayne suggested that we all introduce ourselves since julie and i are technically new. "hi! i'm dwayne robertson! it's really a pleasure meeting y'all!" his country accent really shone through as he greeted us.
"i'm ken wu but you guys can call me kenny." kenny welcomed quietly.
"the name's dean portman." dean said, slightly waving, and slightly intimidating me but i didn't let it show.
"luis, luis mendoza. but you ladies can call me your próximo novio." he winked. i raised an eyebrow and responded, "¿No nos acabamos de conocer? eres un poco arrogante." his eyes went wide as julie laughed.
"well, um i'm julie gaffney and this is my bestfriend kacy mcfall." she giggled. i smiled and waved slightly.
"while that's just wonderful coming here with your best friends! my bestfriend isn't into hockey, but she loves when i show her tricks! my good old cow betsy!" dwayne rambled. i laughed and shook my head, " your bestfriend is a cow?"
"yes ma'am! and she always listens when i need her to!" the group laughed and started chatting amongst each other. julie turned her head and whispered in my ear, "this isn't half bad, is it now kacy." i giggled, "yeah yeah you were right, soak it in because this is the last time i will ever admit that."
——
sorry for the long wait for this chapter... that's my bad!
