Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

First Date

I took a deep breath as I walked inside the practice center to meet Julie. "Hey," I greeted her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "You look great." It was the first time I had ever seen her in a dress and she looked damn good in it.

"You really think so?" She asked. It was obvious that dresses still weren't her favorite attire. "My roommate insisted that I wear this," she explained, pointing and making a face at the silky red dress.

"Yeah, you really look hot in it," I smiled as I complimented her. "Are you ready to go?"

"I've been ready for three years," she told me.

I lead her out to my car and opened the door for her. "Thanks," she smiled at me and climbed inside.

"No problem," I smiled back as I shut the door and ran around to the driver's side and got in.

"Where are we going?" Julie asked as I started the car and pulled onto the highway.

"You haven't had dinner yet, have you?" I asked. She shook her head "Good. I made reservations at a place not too far from here. I think you'll like it."

"You mean the way I liked the Minnesota Club?" Julie raised an eyebrow at me.

"That was Riley's idea." I informed her. "I knew it was wrong from the beginning."

"Then why did you go along with it?" she asked.

"Peer pressure," I told her. "Seriously though, I am sorry for all of that stuff during the great Eden Hall prank war. I should have done more to stop them."

"Do you really think you could have stopped them?" Julie asked.

"Probably not. I think they were to agenda driven to listen to reality." I told her as I pulled into the parking lot.

"Whatever happened to them anyway?" Julie asked.

"It's a long story I'll fill you in on at another time." I helped her out of the car and we walked hand in hand into the restaurant. "Reservation for Stahl," I told the receptionist.

"You're going by Stahl now?" Julie raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well, my dad's dead now. I see no reason to keep up the fake persona." I told her.

"But you still go by Scooter," she looked confused.

"I see no reason to drop my nickname," I told her as we were led to our table.

"How did you get that nickname anyway?" She asked.

"Now that is an embarrassing story," I told her.

"I can't wait to hear it. I love embarrassing stories," she grinned at me.

"Well basically, Riley gave it to me," I told her.

"Oh come on," Julie urged me. "I know there is more to it than that."

"Okay. When I first came to Eden Hall, he was asking me all these questions. I guess he was trying to get to know me, which is unusual for Riley. Anyway, he asked me what I liked to do back in Iceland. When I told him how happening it was to ride scooters where I'm from, my nickname was born."

"Are you actually telling me that you used to ride around on a motor scooter?" Julie stifled a laugh. "I can just picture that now."

"Well get that picture out of your head." I told her, hoping she would forget it. "That was a long time ago."

"Now why would I do that?" She asked. "I bet you looked cute riding down the road on your little Scooter."

"Because it's embarrassing," I told her.

"Then why keep the nickname?" She asked.

"Because it's a cool nickname as long as no one knows the origins of it." I told her as the waiter arrived at our table. "Oh, and for the record, I did look hot cruising down the road on it."

"Are you ready to order," the waiter asked, interrupting our conversation.

"Yes," I told him. I'll have the T-Bone, well done, with a loaded baked potato and a coke."

"I'll have the same," Julie told him.

"So tell me what has been going on with you the last three years?" I asked her as the waiter walked away.

"Well, I kept playing hockey, obviously." Julie told me. I played on the ladies team at my high school in Maine."

"Not the guy's team? I bet you were way better than all the guys at that school." I told her.

"I tried," she explained. "The school wouldn't let me."

"That's crappy," I told her. "Why not? Were they afraid you would make all the guys look bad?"

"They claimed that they were afraid that I would get hurt," she explained. "I was ready to go to court, but my parents thought a lawsuit might attract unwanted national exposure and jeopardize my hiding."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had to deal with all of that. You could've stayed at Eden Hall with the Ducks."

"It's not your fault," she told me. "Let's not reflect on the past. Bad things happen to everyone, not just us. I want to look forward to a good future with you. Don't you want that?"

"Of course I do," I smiled at her. "Finding you again is all that I have ever hoped for. I don't want to ever give you up again."

"That's sweet," she smiled back as our food arrived at the table.

"It's true," I told her taking a sip of my drink. "I've never met anyone else like you before."

"Yeah right," she took a bite of the food. "I'll bet the girls have been all over you."

"Girls don't go for guys with psycho fathers," I told her.

"I did," she laughed as she continued eating her potato.

"Yeah, but you didn't know it then," I told her.

"True, but I still would have stood by you." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

I smiled at her and we ate in silence until she finally spoke up. "So what happened after I left Eden Hall?"

"Well, Varsity all but fell apart. The Riley's left town in embarrassment after Rick's dad got caught with his pants down, literally. The Ducks moved up to the Varsity squad with the few remaining warriors. Orion became the new varsity coach and he moved me back to my natural position. Cole stayed on as an enforcer and became the third bash brother. Adam tutored him and he actually graduated. We were all surprised. Goldberg returned to goalie and we won the state title." I told her.

"You won the state title with Goldberg in the net?" Julie raised an eyebrow.

"It was a high scoring game," I smiled. "I somehow caught the eye of Harvard and well, here I am."

"Well, I'm glad," she told me finishing her meal. "I'm glad that we're getting a second chance at happiness."

"Me too," I told her and leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Shall we?" I held my hand out to hers as I pulled away.

She grabbed my hand and we headed out of the restaurant together, stopping only to pay for our meal. I drove her back to her dorm and we shared one final kiss before I headed back to my own dorm.

"Hey man," I greeted my roommate Stephen.

"Hey," he greeted, handing me a note. "Someone left this for you."

I unfolded the paper and my eyes grew wide as I read the words on the paper.

Hey Gunnar or is it still Scooter? Have you forgotten about me? I haven't forgotten about you. I will have my revenge...against BOTH of you.

"Who left this?" I questioned.

"No idea," Stephen shrugged. "It was on the door when I came back from the library."

Only one thought crossed my mind: not Again!