A/N: Sorry for the wait. Lotsa stuff going on in my life that I don't understand exactly. Not much time to write. Trying to get into Sewanee, which I can never go to without a scholarship, which I can't get because of my grades. Which aren't bad, they just aren't enough to get a full scholarship. Uhng… And I'm only a Freshman! I shouldn't worry about this stuff! BTW, State Band Contest is tomorrow. I play the piccolo. I am the only person in my band who plays piccolo. I have a solo. I am the only one playing. It is scary. I am using short sentences. It is fun. Haha, enough of that. Anyhoo, yeah. Competition tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Here you are! Hot off the press-er… laptop… computer… bah. Just read it, m'kay?

I turned to Chase. "So… have you asked her yet?"

Chase flushed and mumbled something about having to use the restroom, then fled the room. Luke laughed (I'd let him in on the secret once he promised not to tell anyone he knew, and that meant Care Bear and my mom) and when Cary shot him a questioning glance, he groaned. "Don't ask me!" He cried, pointing at me and nearly poking me in the eye with his finger. He has really big hands, even for a guy. Seriously. His index finger goes from my chin to the bridge of my nose. "She told me about it! Ask her!"

Odd glanced at me before muttering something in what sounded like German. His friends laughed.

We spent another hour at the Center before we left, when Cary finally declared it time for Odd and his friends to go back to the dorm. Cary caught a ride with us. Chase had his own car, and he was going engagement ring shopping for Marny, so there you go.

At home we ate dinner. Duh. What else do you do at home, besides laze around on the couch sleep? Anyways. Normally, mom makes some kind of meat-filled dish, since everyone else is a raging carnivore, and lets me have my choice of tofu or a salad. Tonight, however, she observed my rights as a vegetarian and didn't put any meat in the ravioli! Well… In mine, at least. All that was in mine was spinach and mozzarella cheese. Technically, that doesn't count as vegetarian, because pasta has a lot of fat in it, and so does cheese, but come on. It had spinach in it! GROSS! Can you tell by now that I can't stand vegetables? In my opinion they should all be burned and made illegal. Except green beans. And fried okra. Only, it's FRIED and therefore against my diet. I like fried squash, too, but it is also FRIED and I can't eat it but once or twice a year (in the summer, when we skate five times a week for five hours, instead of the eight hours every single day).

The weekend passed with surprising speed and in no time it was Sunday, the only day of the week where I have any time whatsoever to myself. I found myself sitting in a booth at Tenders, a place that serves chicken, squished between Emily and Renae (both of whom weighed more than Luke, by the way). Luke was sharing the other side of the booth with Cary. Chase and Marny were sitting across the room somewhere. My parents had opted to stay at home, since mom usually cooks some huge meal on Sunday and Dad just likes to sleep.

I was eating grilled chicken and drinking a water. And eating a pickle. Much as I hate them, it was the only other thing I could eat.

"So, Adrianne." Emily poked me in the side and I squeaked. Have I mentioned that I am really ticklish?

"Yes, Emily?" I took another bite of my chicken.

"Are you and Luke going out yet?" Yes, Emily was one of the people who believed that Luke and I would eventually get together. Which we so totally would NOT.

I choked into my water. Cary laughed. Renae smirked. Luke just sat there with this stupid grin on his face, until he realized that I was slowly grinding my heel into his foot with my "hooker sandals" as Emily called them. They were a pair of clear plastic sandals that made me at least five inches taller that I usually was. That way, I was about as tall as Renae and Emily were! Instead of being 4'11 and a foot and an inch shorter than Luke and at least half a foot shorter than Emily and Renae, I was only 9 inches shorter than Luke, and an inch shorter than Renae and Emily. It was fun. However, the "hooker sandals" were so terribly hard to walk in.

"Stop it, Annie!" He whined, from where he was eating fries. Yes, Luke was eating fries. It bugged me so much because he got to eat, like, whatever he wanted (he was not a vegetarian. He had fish all the time) and I was stuck with vegetables and tofu. YUCK!

"Make me." I growled, before nabbing one of his fries. He glared at me.

"You never answered her question." Renae told me, taking it right out of my hand and eating it. When I glared at he, she shrugged. "You didn't need it." She paused to finish off the rest of the fry. "Now, answer the question."

"I am not, nor will I ever, go out with Luke."

"Aww, Annie, that's mean!" He pouted.

"Get over it."

He growled at me, then sighed and started in on another fry. (Sigh) What I wouldn't give to be able to eat salty potato-ey goodness again! I hadn't had a single fry since I was 8 and took skating seriously. I'd cut back on fast food when I was 12 and started skating 7 times a week. I became a vegetarian when I was 13 and started missing school for it.

We left a few minutes later. Luke went home, since his mom was there, and Renae and Emily and I all piled in my car and drove home. We did our homework at my house on Sundays before I had to leave for IcePlex at 4. I got back at 7, when church started, and I went back and practiced for two more hours before going home.

Anyhoo. Cary and Chase, like I've said, were both day counselors at the space and rocket Center. Space camp had two sets of counselors—day counselors, who were college kids like Chase and Cary, and night counselors, who were usually old people with nothing to do but spend the night around a bunch of hyper teenagers. Space Camp also had a problem with this year's counselors. The night counselors were notorious for just… not showing up. Usually, someone would stay. Chase stayed a lot. Cary stayed sometimes when Chase couldn't.

Tonight, I was staying.

"Dree!" Cary whined over the phone. "Can you please stay?"

It was 10:00 at night, which is an hour past my bedtime. I'm usually in bed by 9, when I don't have to skate on Sunday. Call me when I'm sleeping, and I keele you.

"Cary!" I whined back. "We qualify for Nationals tomorrow!"

I'm sure he rolled his eyes at that, even though he knew I couldn't see him.

"Dree!" He cried. "No one showed up tonight! You're the only person I know who speaks French!"

"Marny speaks French."

"She's in Auburn."

"Gaah. How old are these people?"

"Most of them are fifteen and sixteen."

"Care Bear! They're my age! None of them are going to listen to ME!"

"Just… Please, Dree." He sounded desperate. I'm sure that, had I been standing there, he would have given me his puppy dog pout. He probably gave it to the phone anyway.

"Cary… We qualify for Nationals tomorrow. If I'm not fully awake and ready to skate…"

"I'll have you a bed made. Come in and crash. They'll probably go to sleep when you do—it's been a long day."

"Yeah, fine." I mumbled into the phone. "Give me about 45 minutes."

"It doesn't take you 45 minutes to pack a bag, Dree."

"It takes me at least 20 minutes to get an overnight bag, a gym bag, my skates, lunch money, and my book bag together and by the door. It takes another 20 to 30 minutes to drive from here to the Center."

"Just come on."

"Ugh. Fine." I moaned into the phone. "But I'm leaving at 4:30 and I am NOT staying for breakfast. Nor am I skipping out on Gym or anything else tomorrow to help you. One night ONLY."

And so it was with great regret that I found myself piling in my car and going to the Center on a Monday night. To spend it with lots of hyperactive French teenage girls with nothing to do but keep their night counselor up all night when she really needed to get some sleep for National qualifications the next morning.

I came to the Girl's Dorm to find Odd and his friends standing outside. Generally, guys aren't even supposed to be on the same floor as girls (dorm wise, that is) so seeing them outside surprised me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, slinging my gym bag down on the floor and wincing as my skates hit the floor with a loud CLINK. I had two pairs of skates—a pair of practice skates that were really beat up and autographed by a lot of people (Like Michelle Kwan and Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash and Johnny Weir). Like all girl's skates, they were white. This was not saying I hadn't drawn all over them in neon orange sharpie and pink hi-liter.

"I could ask the same thing." Odd answered. "Why are you here?"

"I'm being a girl's night counselor for a night because theirs decided not to show up!" I announced cheerfully. "Did Care Bear bring any sheets up?"

"Yeah, they're over there." Aelita waved me over to a bed.

"What did you drop?" Ulrich asked. I bent to dig my skates out of my gym bag and held them up by their laces (SPONGEBOB! Hey, just cuz I'm going to Nationals (hopefully) doesn't mean I can't have some really weird looking practice skates).

"SKATES!" I said cheerfully.

Aelita grabbed me by the hand and tugged me back outside. Ulrich was gone. Aelita followed after Jeremie, who was heading down the hall. I saw him take her by the hand and lead her into a corner.

Odd smiled at me. "Wanna take a walk?"

My heart did this weird little flippy thing in my chest. "Yeah, can you wait for a minute? Let me get my stuff fixed… Um…" I tripped over my gym bag and threw it annoyedly at what I thought was my bed. Apparrently not, since this girl in a tight pink shirt and yellow headband gave me a sarcastic look and tossed it off.

"Sorry!" I called into the room. "Just… don't hurt my skates, they're the only dead pair I have!"

"Dead?" Odd questioned as we left the room.

"Yeah. I've got two pairs of skates. I've got a practice pair, and a performance pair." I paused, and when he still didn't understand, I elaborated. "One pair is for practice. The other is for performances. Since I don't practice in them, they look all nice and white." I paused. "And they don't have Spongebob laces."

"Oh." He understood. We came to the steps and walked down them. "So…" He trailed off. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Geez. Could you be any more obvious?" He blushed and I smiled. "No. Luke's just my skating partner."

"Well, he seemed pretty cozy around you today." Odd shrugged.

I blinked. "No. Well, yeah, he likes me, and from time to time he refers to himself as my boyfriend, but he never means anything by it. Besides, I've got my hopes set on someone else now."

"Please don't tell me you like Ulrich."

"Who? Oh, him. Nah. Some guy on the hockey team at IcePlex."

"Oh." Odd's face fell before he shrugged it off. "Well anyways, you said something about qualifying for something, so… good luck with whatever it is tomorrow!"

"Thanks!" I called after him. My watch went off—11:00. Exactly two hours past my bedtime.

Before I left, I poked Odd in the side. Turns out he's pretty ticklish, took.

"I don't actually know this guy. He's just one of the guys on the Hockey Team at IcePlex who likes messin' with me."

Odd shrugged before walking down the stairs in a dejected way.

After mumbling a sleepy goodnight to Odd, I marched back to the dorm in time to see Aelita sneak one last kiss from Jeremie. Smiling at them (as Odd had told me Saturday afternoon, Jeremie was 13 and Aelita was 14) and the thought of "young love" I went back to the dorm to catch what I had hoped would be a peaceful night's sleep. "Do I have a chance?" I wondered as I ambled down the hallway.

Of course, how much sleep can you get when your roommates include 26 teenaged french girls who happen to be used to their own time zone? Not much, it turns out. Especially when the one who had flirted with Luke on Friday (Sissi, as I later learned) turns out to be the headmaster's daughter, so you can't do anything to her or she'll run crying to her daddy. Who was staying in the Mariott a few hundred yards off of Space Camp property.

At midnight, I drew the line. I turned the light on and managed to wake up several girls, but glared at the three or four who had been talking.

"Listen." I said in a deadly voice. "I don't care what you do past 4 in the morning tomorrow, because that's when I get up. But please… I have to qualify for this or we're never going to get anywhere." It only occurred to me afterwards that the poor girls probably had no idea what I was saying, because I was probably babbling on in English and making absolutely no sense at all. I elaborated. "I'm a pair skater. There is this HUGE competition in two weeks, and my partner and I have to qualify for it tomorrow. So unless you want to wrath of a thousand angry Adriannes on you, get some sleep. You're gonna need it."

That didn't work. I finally resorted to yelling.

And it shut them right up.

THE NEXT MORNING

I found myself in my car heading for IcePlex at 5 the next morning. Yes, I was behind schedule. But considering that George hadn't been there in time for the last three practices and had missed one of them completely, I found it highly unlikely that he'd actually be there on time today. So, I dropped by Wendy's for a quick breakfast and arrived at the rink half an hour late. Luke glared at me from his spot on the bleachers. George sighed.

"Where were you? We tried calling you, like, 12 times." Luke groaned, shoving his foot into his left skate and lacing it up.

I checked my phone to make sure it was on. It wasn't. I guess I turned it off in the night to keep the alarm from waking up all the French girls at 4:30 in the morning and forgot to turn it back on when I left the Center.

"Oh well." I shrugged and pulled my skates out of my bag and pulled them on. Then we went onto the rink and George started the music up.

Our qualifications went better than I had expected, considering I'd gotten only 3½ hours of sleep the night before.

(A/N: I'm not terribly good at skating, so I'm not going to Nationals any time soon. I am, however, attempting to make it to the 2014 Olympics. Watch for me! Right. I don't know anything about Nationals or qualifications or anything, but just go with me.)

At the end of the practice, George got in his car. Luke and I got in his, and we drove to the gym.

We hadn't worked out (or really practiced) since Thursday afternoon. Thus when George told me to do 100 leg presses, I was dying after about 40. I only made it to 75 before I died.

Luke is what I would call a very strong person. In mind and in body. In body because he can balance my 96 pound self on one hand and spin me around several times in midair before setting me back down again. When we'd last practiced, we had gotten lazy and just skipped most of the lifts and throws. That meant that when George had put us to our floor exercise Luke had dropped me several times because we hadn't done any of the lifts. It was bad. It also hurt.

"You're lucky you didn't break any bones." George said mildly from where he was sitting on a bench, next to two 50 lb. weights. Which Luke couldn't pick up, by the way.

"George!" I whined in the best impression of my little 3-year-old niece that I could. (Technically she wasn't my niece—she was Chase's half sister, so…) "So we didn't practice for three days. Big deal." I flapped my hand dismissivly.

"I'd be a lot more inclined to tell you whether you made it into Nationals if you'd practice." He said mildly, dangling an envelope between his thumb and index fingers. As I reached out to snatch it from him, he moved away. He's pretty spry for a 50-something old guy.

Luke straightened up and swiped me off my feet. He twirled me around in what would have been a very nice lift if I had cooperated and worked with him instead of shrieking at the top of my lungs. Several people turned around to stare at me.

The rest of the practice went pretty much without a hitch. Finally, the end. George held the envelope out with trembling hands (though they trembled cuz he was old, not cuz he was nervous or anything. He knew full well whether we were going to Nationals or not) and slipped it open slowly. I finally snatched it away from him and ripped it open. After a brief scuffle with Luke I returned triumphant, holding a slightly crumpled piece of paper in my hand.

We were in.

A/N: Short chapter this time, sorry. I've been so busy with school and guys that I haven't had a lot of time to write this time.

SPOILER…

"Cary!" I screamed, running into the briefing room, knowing full well that they were in the middle of a lecture. "Cary! Cary!"

"What?" He asked, with this annoyed look on his face.

"WE'RE IN!" I screamed, throwing myself at him.

His jaw dropped. "You're in?"

"We're IN!" I yelled joyously at the top of my lungs! "We're in! This means I have a chance!"

"Whoah, calm down." He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "You're only sixteen. The chances of you going all the way to Worlds are slim to none."

"Yeah, Care Bear, ruin my perfect moment, why don't you?"

REVIEWER RESPONSES FOR CHAPTER 2:

SohowisYumi2181- sorry, can't tell you. You'll find out in the next chapter. Which is, ironically, when Odd goes home.

Allyfromcali- thanks! Yes, I should read it. Post it soon!

Kayrana- thanks! Yeah, it's completely plotted now. Well… as plotted as it can get on the back of my band folder, but whatever…

Odd9- thanks!

Diamond-Halo-Thanks! I am practicing… I'm still bad.

Kayrana- Yes. Big patience. Mmmm… sleep. Wonderful thing.

SohowisYumi2181- Yumi is at school. Wasn't the yellow headband a dead giveaway? SISSI!

That's all. Come on, you guys can do better than that! No go click the purple button that says go and make this author really happy!