Riley's little problem

The cold inside the gym numbed Riley's fingers. Still she put on her gloves, grabbed her stick and went out into the hockey game. First five minutes in and she already scored. That's when she looked to the side to wave at her friends but instead she saw someone else. The new guy there sitting at the corner cheering for the Titans. At that point she could only think about how cute he looked. Sitting there, cheering. But she had to get back to game. She had to score only one more point for the Titans to win. And she did, she scored in the most awesome way ever by scoring between the goalie's legs. Everyone was cheering and clapping really loud that she decided to go back into the backstage area.

"Hey" Riley heard an unfamiliar voice. "You're pretty good out there, huh?" She turned around to see the new boy.

"I guess so" Riley replied. "Why, you thinking of joining?"

"Of course" the boy shouted. "I didn't catch your name though".

"Riley, and yours?"

"Max, nice to meet you"

"You too! Talk to you later?"

"Sure, bye!"

The bell rang to dismiss the class. It's been two days since she and Max talked. Ever since she had been thinking about him. As a surprise when she stepped outside of the classroom she saw him waiting there for her. He said hi and asked how life was. She told him it was great seeing him and said that life was great then stared at him. He smiled but he didn't seem that happy which brought Riley to ask what was wrong, she giggled when he said it was because next period he had a test.

"Hey, we have a ten minute break now… Maybe you'll want to spend it with me?"

"Yes, but um first we have to pass by my locker"

Riley led the way to her locker so she could get her science books. After they went straight to the playground in the school and they both sat in the big rock beside the swings. They stayed there talking about the Titans and their favorite player on the team till he invited her to practice this afternoon after school. Of course Riley said yes and unfortunately the bell rang. They went to different directions so both said bye.

So as scheduled after school Max picked Riley up in her last class so they could go to the gym. Arriving there Riley went to the girls changing room and called her dad saying she would be late today. Right after they called a bunch of Max's and Riley's friends and they had a little game going on in just minutes. The girls ended up winning by six points. And as promised the boys had to buy drinks from the vending machine for each one of the girls.

When everyone was done changing back into their clothes they all walked home alone. Going house by house. Then they got to Riley's house. She said bye to everyone.

"So… Will I see you in school tomorrow?" Max said.

"Yeah" Riley answered blushing.

"Uhhhhhhhh" coming from their friends was everything she heard before closing the door.

After that Riley and Max started hanging out a lot. They went to every school hockey game. To the arcade and cinema. They even studied for tests together. And that happened for at least 3 weeks. In the second week they started hanging out Riley started to stop hanging with her new best friend Nina.

Riley never actually thought about the fact that she was leaving Nina behind. But of course Nina did. She was in town for only 2 months and so only had Riley as a friend. They had hung out a lot and on top of all they're neighbors so the two walked to school together. At least they still did that together. Until one afternoon Nina tried talking some sense into Riley. After history she called Riley into the girl's bathroom and told her how she felt. Some how Riley didn't quite get what she meant.

"You're just jealous aren't you?"

"No" answered Nina. "I mean why would I be?"

"I don't know, you tell me!" shouted Riley before leaving the bathroom.

Riley knew she shouldn't have said that and thought about going back into the bathroom but her feet wouldn't turn around. Instead she just kept on walking in the direction of her last class. The bell rang before she could think about it again.

Even though Riley acted mad or jealous she wasn't, what she said was just a reflex. Nothing more. In that forty minute torturing reading class she thought about it more. She didn't want to stop hanging out with Max but she wanted to hang out with Nina more. It was easy figuring out a solution for her problem, she could invite them both to eat pizza and go to the playground. She would also invite Nina to sleep over and then they could spend more time together. Of course first she would have to apologize for the misunderstanding in the bathroom. So the bell rang again and Riley ran to her locker, put her things away and ran to Nina's locker to see if she would find her there. She did and so began explaining.

"Look, first things first, I'm sorry for what I said in the bathroom and so second things I want you to sleep over tonight, then we can eat pizza and play, it'll be fun!"

"Okay but Max isn't going right?" Nina asked with a funny expression on her face.

"No" Riley giggled "And I'm sorry for that too, I was stupid for putting you aside for him or in that case anyone"

"Sure"

"Now if you'll excuse me I have to do something else, see you at my house at six"

She ran across the hallway where she found Max and she explained everything in details. He said he agreed and that actually was already thinking of inviting Nina to one of their hangouts with Max's friends. She smiled and thanked him for understanding.

"Hey Riley! Don't you mind walking home with me? I mean we do live right next to each other…" Asked Nina from behind.

"No, I don't mind at all"

On their way back they talked about pretty much everything. Minutes from getting home Riley started again.

"I'm sorry"

"Again?" Nina looked so confused.

"Yeah, I feel really bad, I also feel dumb I mean why didn't I realize it from the start?"

"I guess because you have to first make the mistake to then learn the lesson" Nina stopped for a few seconds "I don't mean that in a bad way, I swear"

Riley laughed but then continued, "Look secret is, no matter who you meet and how awesome they are, do not ever trade them for any of your friends…"

"Got it," Nina said being sarcastic. The sound of Riley tripping on her own feet and falling interrupted them both, which got to Nina laughing to the point where she fell too.