~~~~~~~~~CASSIDY~~~~~~~~

"You go out there and win this thing, and when you come home she'll have to go out with you." -The Hunger Games

"And... SCORE!" calls the ref blowing his whistle while the stands go wild.

They aren't the only ones who are screaming. My team mates and I are so loud and grinning so widely I'm surprised the speakers aren't exploding and our teeth aren't breaking! But, who can blame us? The Lady Shawmuts just won the USA Hockey National Championship! We were so close last year but didn't quite make it. We really upped our game this year and, well, I guess you could say it payed off. Big time. After some more victory cheers, team pictures with our gold trophy, a congratulation talk from Coach Larson, and a victorious talk with my mother over the phone I was sitting in the passenger seat of the minivan discussing the game with my step-father Stanley.

It is just me and him this time as we are driving home from West Virginia. Chloe, my 2 year old sister is teething pretty badly right now. It's gross how much she chews everything and she is contently crying. Poor kid. My mom is grateful for Becca and Jess who still like to babysit her whenever I'm at practice or with my 'chicks' from my class "Chicks With Sticks" at the local Concord Rink. I still have a jam-packed schedule between hockey and school like last year. I love hanging with my little sister though and I try to help watch her whenever I can, which isn't a lot. Mom stayed home with Chloe as she said 11 ½ hours would be too much in the car at her age. I agree. Stanley and I are driving for, like, 7 ½ hours and staying the night at a hotel somewhere in New Jersey, thank god.

I'm disappointed that Mom and Chloe, and Courtney, and the rest of the Mother Daughter Book Club gang couldn't see the Lady Shawmuts win cheering there in the stands, but relieved there is such a thing as a TV. The tournament was on National Television. Mom was watching when I called.

I hope everyone back home is happy. The book club said they would all watch their "Star Athlete" and her team dominate. The game was pretty intense.

Oh, that reminds me! When I get home I have to Skype Tristan! He wanted to know if we won. Yeah, I know what happened to 'The Big Bad Cassidy Sloane'? She disappeared, that's what happened. Now the new Cassidy likes someone named Tristan and doesn't have to be forced to wear something nice. Things change, that's for sure. Megan, teen fashion designer and my mom, Queen Clementine the former model like to look at me, smirk, and say '"I told you so" whenever I care about my looks. Then I just scowl at them. So? I care now!

I talked to Courtney over the summer about Tristan and Zach. She told me to follow my heart, that sap, but I did. I went with Tristan. Zach kept wanting to get back together but I had to keep rejecting him. Sure, I felt bad, but I just didn't like him like that anymore.

I guess you never have to worry about Zach because he's now going out with Sophie Fairfox who is the granddaughter of Gi Gi and Monsieur de Roches. Things were a bit dramatic and heated last year but we fixed all of it. I can't believe we misjudged Sophie with all she was going through. She's pretty cool now, just like after we solved all our problems with Savannah Sinclair in 8th grade.

Soon Stanley and I got to the hotel. I took out my laptop and got on Skype. I checked the time in London. 5:20 A.M., well you-know-who won't be up and it's late so I log off and go to sleep. Man, these big fluffy beds are HEAVEN right now!

The rest of the drive home consists of me and Stanley talking.

"I can't wait to get back home and eat some of your mother's fabulous food! I have to wait for book club though, right?" Stanley asks.

"Yup. It's gonna be torture!" I say. Another reason my mom stayed home was she was filming a new episode for her cooking show on Food Network, "Cooking With Clementine".

"This episode was chocolate themed! That means lava cake, brownies, homemade chocolate ice cream, stuff like that! How will we survive Stanley?" I wail.

"We won't! What have we done to deserve this?!" Stanley jokes back.

"So are you excited for book club tonight?"

"Well, I guess so. I'm interested in seeing what musty-dusty-old book we'll be reading this time." I laugh. "I really hope it's more modern. The books have been fine, better than I expected even, but it'd be nice to get away from the classics. You know what I mean?"

"Yes. You read too many of those already in school." he says.

"Exactly. But we'll just have to see. I'm sure there will be some suggestion. There always is."

"You never know."

"I guess."

Our conversation ended as we pulled up to our Victorian house. We were greeted by Chloe and Mom and how they were all so proud of how hard me and everyone on my team worked this year, yadda, yadda.

"Go rest now. Book club is in half an hour." my mother calls up the stairs as I'm walking up them. "OK!" I call back. I set my lap top on my bed and log onto Skype. Tristan's on this time. I message him.

Hey:) Guess what?

You're coming to England for a visit?

Hahaha, no. Guess again.

You want to be my girlfriend.

I immediately look up from the screen. Woah did he just write that? Yeah he did. OMG! He wants to be my boyfriend! Wait, do I want to be his girlfriend? Sure, I like him and didn't get back with Zach, right? But am I ready? We promised each other that we'd not be together when I saw him last summer for Gi Gi and Edouard's wedding. We thought that we should wait until after his gap year (a year between graduating high school and going to college or Uni, as they call it in England) was done to talk about this stuff. I guess not. I breathe deeply and look back at the screen.

Cassidy?

r u ok?

I'm sorry I shouldn't have said something like that. I know we were gonna talk about stuff like this later. Sorry.

U were saying before?

Cass?

Sorry, Tris. Um, book club is soon so ya, we have to talk about things like this later.

Don't go! What were u gonna tell me?

It's not that important, I have to go. Sorry Tris.

Ok then...r u sure...?

Yes, Tris. I'll tell you later. Bye!

Whatever cass. I'll find out soon enough.

I'm sure you will. Bye tris.

Bye:(

I shut my laptop. What's wrong with me?! Why didn't I tell him my good news about winning? Why did I have to end our conversation? I'm so stupid! I'll have to text Courtney tomorrow about this. Boys are so confusing! UGH! You know, I'll talk to my friends when they get here. Maybe Megan knows something about it. She's dating Simon, Tristan's younger brother so she might know something. Simon and Tristan are really close. Yes, I'll just wait until they get here.

"CASSIDY! People are arriving! Come on down!" Mom yells.

Guess my wait is no longer.

_II'm finally posting/ writing a story! YAY! I sorta have an idea for this story, but not really. So I'll try my hardest to write but I'm pretty busy, of course. I hope you like! review or pm me with your comments and make sure to include keep or delete.

Stay Gorgeous! -Tori