Chapter 22

Irina sighed, walking up the stairs to Sydney's room. The light was still on in her room, telling Irina that she was still awake. She gently knocked on the closed door, and waited to hear her daughter's voice.

"Come in." Sydney called. Irina slowly opened the door and stepped into the room, smiling at her daughter. Sydney was sat in bed, a book opened on her lap. She closed it over as Irina kissed her gently on the top of her head and sat beside her.

"Have you just got back?" Sydney asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Irina nodded, and knew that she was blushing slightly, but she just hoped that Sydney didn't notice. "Yes, your father gave me a ride."

"Oh, where did he take you?" Sydney was curious about what was going on between her parents. The colour in her mother's cheeks was rising, causing Sydney to wonder just what had happened on the date.

"We went to Rossiya, it's a Russian restaurant. It was so nice, reminded me a lot of back home." Irina smiled and looked down at the bed, thinking about the evening that she had just spent with Jack. But no matter how hard she tried; one thought kept coming to the front of her mind. I kissed Jack!

"Sounds romantic." Sydney teased; earning her a playful hit on the arm by Irina.

"Stop trying to make it into something that it isn't." Irina told her. Wait, isn't that exactly what I was trying to do by kissing him? I was trying to turn a perfect evening into something romantic, mistaking Jack's invitation as something more than him just wanting to have dinner with me. Did I honestly think that he had feelings for me again?

Irina sighed, running her hands through her hair. "So…what happened with Michael?" Irina quickly changed the subject, wanting to get Jack out of her head, at least until she was alone and could figure out her feelings for him, whatever they may be.

Sydney's smile grew, and she picked up the rose, which she had placed next to her on the bed. Lifting it up to her nose again, she smelt the sweet scent, and it reminded her of him. My new boyfriend.

"It was amazing. He made a picnic and we ate it on the beach. We just sat talking, and watching the sunset. It was so romantic." Sydney twirled the rose infront of her as she spoke to her mom. They used to do this when she was dating Danny; everytime Sydney came home after a date, her and Irina would talk for hours about it. It was almost like they were best friends; not mother and daughter.

"Are you two officially a couple now?" She was watching as her daughter's smile kept getting wider, her eyes shining brightly.

"He called me his girlfriend," Sydney gushed. Irina mirrored her smile, her troubles with Jack pushed to the back of her mind.

"That's great sweetheart!" Irina hugged her, and caught a glance of the clock next to Sydney's bed. "I think it's time we both got some sleep." Or in my case, lay there and think about the fact that I kissed Jack! Irina said goodnight, and walked into her own bedroom.

She slipped into her pyjamas, turned off the light, and climbed into bed. She snuggled down into the warm covers, even though it was a warm night and every body else in the city probably had the AC on full blast. Sighing, she closed her eyes hoping that she would be able to fall quickly asleep. But the minute she closed her eyes she could see Jack's puzzled face, after she had kissed him and made a quick exit out of the car. Seriously what was I thinking? She groaned and pulled the covers up over her head, trying to block out the images of Jack. What am I gonna do when I see him tomorrow? Irina sat upright in the bed; her eyes suddenly wide open. Realising that she would undoubtedly run into Jack at work the next day, she began to panic. What am I going to say? 'Hey Jack, yeah I'm really sorry about kissing you last night. I never meant to do it!' She sighed at how lame that sounded. I'm just going to have to avoid him all day, however hard that maybe.

Sydney woke the next morning to find that her mother had already left for work. That's not like her! She packed her bag, and made some breakfast while she waited for Vaughn. Are we going to act like a couple when we're at school? Sydney's mind filled with questions. She wanted to spend time with Michael, no matter what Danny or anybody else might think. She also wanted to hang out with her friends and for them to get to know Vaughn better, which would inevitably result in a confrontation with Danny. If he found out that his friends, well their friends were hanging out with Sydney's new boyfriend he would go ballistic and they would never hear the end of it. The doorbell disrupted Sydney's thoughts, so she grabbed her things and went to answer it.

"Good morning." Vaughn smiled his voice sounding happier than usual.

"Hey!" Sydney shut closed the front door, tucking the keys into the front pocket of her jeans. She turned to face Vaughn, their faces only inches apart. Vaughn leaned forward and placed a soft gentle kiss on her lips. Sydney smiled into his lips, as she brought her hands up to cup his face.

"If we don't stop, we're gonna be late for school!" Vaughn joked as he broke the kiss. Sydney smiled shyly at him, and took his hand in hers and walked away from her house.

"So are you still gonna try and play matchmaker for Weiss and Paige." Vaughn asked as they got nearer to the school building. They had talked and laughed all the way to school, Sydney realising that Michael had a really great sense of humour.

"Yes I am! And you are still my little helper!" Vaughn jokingly groaned, causing Sydney to laugh at him.

"You do realise that when Weiss finds out that I helped set him up, he isn't going to be too pleased!" Sydney spotted Weiss walking towards them, so she quickly finished their conversation.

"Since when have you been afraid of Weiss?" She asked sarcastically, Vaughn detected her sarcastic tone, and rolled his eyes. "Just make sure that he's free tonight, don't make it obvious. Be subtle." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, as Weiss stood opposite them.

Rolling his eyes at the display of affection, he cleared his throat. "Slowly back away from each other, or I'm going to have to turn around and make new friends." Weiss always managed to make Sydney laugh, even when his humour was directed towards her.

"It's ok Eric." Sydney noticed Paige talking to Phoebe and Francie by the fountain in the middle of the campus. "I'm just gonna go and talk to Paige. I'll see you guys at the hockey try-outs." She started to walk away and then turned back to Vaughn. "Don't forget what we talked about!" She winked at him, and walked towards her friends. Vaughn watched her walk away, his heart pounding in his chest. I'm falling fast for that girl…

"Do I even want to know what you guys were talking about?" Weiss asked as him and Vaughn carried on walking into school. Vaughn tore his eyes away from Sydney and looked at him.

"You know, truthfully, you really don't." Vaughn laughed at Eric's puzzled expression.

"Paige are we still on for this lunch time." Sydney asked, fidgeting with the hem on her top.

Paige smiled, and took her lollipop out of her mouth. "Yeah sure. It'll be good!" Oh, you have no idea! Sydney thought to herself, hoping that her little scheme would go to plan.

Sydney felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, and turned to see Piper, her eyes wide with anticipation. "Hi!" She was her usual perky self, her smile displaying a full set of pearly white teeth.

"Hi!" Sydney tried to match her happy tone, but ended up laughing at her own attempt.

"So spill…" Piper led her away from everybody else, so that she could hear the gossip about the date. She wasn't sure if everyone knew that Sydney had gone out with Michael, and she didn't want to be the one to spread Sydney's news.

The bell rang as the two girls walked arm in arm into the building, to their first class. "Ok, it was the best date that I have EVER been on. I mean it, it was that good." Sydney couldn't keep the smile off her face, but she wasn't complaining; she was happy and she didn't care who saw her. Even if it was Danny.

Sydney's news seemed to put Piper in an even better mood, as she started jumping up and down as they walked, asking for more details. "Where did you guys go?"

"To the beach. He had this whole picnic spread out on a blanket, and we just sat there eating and watching the sun go down. It could quite possibly be the most romantic thing that I have ever done!" They walked into their Geography class, and took their usual seats. The class was slowly filling with people, but Sydney and Piper were the only ones out of their group of friends who took the class. Even Danny wasn't gonna be in the room, which Sydney was pleased about.

"Why is it that only the European guys know anything about romance?" Piper joked, a half smile playing on her lips.

"Oh come on. Leo's romantic, I've seen some of the things he does for you. He definitely knows a thing or two. But you are right; Vaughn is definitely big on the romance thing, he keeps bringing me single white roses."

Yeah, Syd's right. Leo is a romantic guy. I mean he's always showering me with gifts and surprise dates. God, I love him! But it seems that Sydney's in for more romance with Michael…

"So are you two going out again?"

Sydney paused for a minute, and looked towards the front of the class, the smile never once fading. "Well, you generally do go out a lot with your boyfriend…" Sydney started, hoping that Piper would understand what she was saying.

"Oh My God Syd!" Piper squealed, heads automatically turning in her direction. It was a good job that the teacher wasn't in the room yet, otherwise she would have had some explaining to do. "Hey how you doing?" She asked the people who were looking at her, causing them to take the gaze away from her. "Did he like ask you to go out with him?"

"I swear Courtney, I saw them with my own eyes. They were holding hands, laughing, and looking all gooey eyed." Danny looked up from his work at the two girls who were sat infront of him. The gossip that they were currently sharing caught his attention. He tried his hardest to make it look like he wasn't listening, when really he was hanging on their every word.

"The guy has only been here for a week, and already he's managed to shack up with the most popular girl in school. It'll only be a matter of time before he worms his way in with all of Sydney's friends and becomes one of the popular guys." Danny dropped his pen, his cheeks getting hotter. So Syd's dating this jerk is she? Payback is just about to get a little bit sweeter!

The rest of the morning went quite slowly, Sydney sat watching the clock, waiting for the lunch bell to ring. After what seemed like an eternity, Sydney was on her way to her locker to meet Paige so that they could quickly eat and head down to the ice rink.

Kennedy High was funded mainly for the sports. The football, baseball and hockey teams were among the best in the city, which resulted in the school being give the money to build all the facilities that they needed. The latest addition was the ice rink, which was sometimes used to host discos on ice, whenever it wasn't being used for practices or for games.

After eating a sandwich and a couple of fries, they excused themselves from the rest of the group and went down to the rink. A few other students were sitting in the stands, obviously there to support one of the players. Sydney took hold of Paige's hand and led her down the steps of the small stadium, and took a seat two rows from the front.

On the ice stood Coach Owen; a thirty year old guy who had been teaching at the school for five years. A lot of the girls at the school had crushes on the guy, but Sydney could never figure out why they liked him so much. Sure she thought that he was attractive, but that's about it; it wasn't like he had a great personality or anything. A group of guys surrounded the Coach; all sporting various hockey shirts, and skating boots.

Sydney immediately spotted Vaughn; the navy sweater that he was wearing contrasting well with the colour of his eyes. She remembered him wearing a similar top the day that they had gone the cinema, and again the shear sight of him managed to render her speechless. Weiss was standing next to him, a hockey stick in his hands, a smile on his face. Sydney glanced at Paige, who was just staring out onto the ice. Time to put the plan into action.

"Right for those of you who don't already know, I am Coach Owen. Today's try-outs will determine if you have enough skills and talent to join Kennedy High's hockey team. During the next 40 minutes, we will do various exercises on the ice and conclude with a quick hockey game." He skated over to the edge of the rink, and came back with a bucket containing pucks. "Now pair up and each pair take a puck. I want you to just practice hitting the puck to each other."

Weiss collected a puck and skated back over to Vaughn. Dropping the puck, Weiss gently hit it over to Vaughn, who knocked it back to him.

Sydney still had her eyes fixed on Vaughn, amazed by his every move on the ice. "I've always been attracted to guys who play sports." Sydney started, hoping to strike up a conversation with Paige. She wasn't exactly lying; most of the guys that she had ever dated or had a crush on, played some kind of sport.

Paige looked at her, a small smile on her lips. "Yeah, I guess some guys who play sports are hot. Well they definitely have great bodies after all the practising and stuff." Paige rested her feet on the bench infront, her arms leaning on her knees.

This is gonna be harder than I thought…

"This team looks like it's gonna be filled with hot guys."

"Yeah there are a few cute players." Paige had been watching this dark haired guy, who was definitely good looking, only he didn't seem to have much talent at standing upright on the ice. She tried to hide her laughter with her hand, as the guy took another fall, which was noticed by the coach.

"Of course there are. I mean, first you've got: Ryan Peterson, every girl thinks he's cute; Joshua Carter, he's a nice guy; Michael Vaughn, but I guess I'm a bit biased with that one; Eric Weiss, he's a hot and there's always…Danny?" Sydney's attention was drawn to her ex-boyfriend who was skating onto the rink towards the coach. "What is Danny doing here?" Sydney was confused; Danny hated ice hockey, the only sport that he would play or watch was football.

"Mr Hecht. Nice of you to join us, 10 minutes late." Danny threw him an apologetic look. "I have to say it's a surprise to see you here Mr Hecht. Is the football team not treating you so well?"

"I just thought I'd try something new that's all." He smiled at the Coach, and went and joined in with some of the other guys. He looked towards the stands and saw Sydney and Paige. How sweet, she's obviously here to support lover boy. Well, we'll just have to make sure that we put on a good show. Danny smirked and glared in Vaughn's direction. Vaughn's stomach had turned when he saw Danny skate onto the ice; he wasn't ready for another show off with Sydney's ex-boyfriend.

"Just ignore him." Weiss told Vaughn as they continued passing the puck.

The Coach skated among the players, making notes on a pad of paper. Vaughn had managed to avoid Danny so far, but he couldn't avoid the glares and looks of hatred that were constantly being thrown at him. He rolled his eyes as the Coach called everybody to into a group.

"For the last 20 minutes we're gonna play a little 15 on 15 game." He counted out 15 players sent them to one side of the rink. Sydney watched as Vaughn and Weiss were put on one team, Danny on the other. This is not gonna end good.

As if by fate, the Coach assigned Danny to mark Vaughn. Danny couldn't help but smirk. Time for payback.

The game started quickly, Vaughn's team taking hold of the puck and successfully passing it towards the net. Danny followed Vaughn around the rink, intent on making him trip up. He made several attempts at putting his hockey stick by Vaughn's feet, but Vaughn managed to dodge each of his attempts.

Joshua Carter was gliding down the rink, towards Weiss who was standing in the goal. A player from the other team was coming towards him, so he quickly hit the puck to Danny. Danny took the puck and aimed at the net, imagining the puck was Vaughn. He hit it hard, but Weiss stopped it from entering the net.

"That's for being a total jerk to my best friend." He hit the puck to somebody on his team, and watched the disappointed look on Danny's face. He had missed the perfect chance to score a goal, and in doing so missed the opportunity to look better than Vaughn, who hadn't scored yet either.

Sydney had stopped worrying about Danny; he just wasn't worth it. "Did you see how Weiss stopped that puck from going in?"

"Yeah I did. He's a really good player!" Sydney smiled. YES! She's noticed him. First step complete.

Vaughn had the puck, and was quickly skating to the net. Danny skated infront of him, intent on blocking the shot at the goal. Vaughn stood still on the ice, the puck still resting on his stick. Danny glared at him, his eyes cold and full of anger. Sighing, Vaughn made eye contact with him, the other players watching in anticipation.

Up in the stands, Sydney's mouth had gone dry as she watched Danny standing infront of Michael. Danny won't do anything, not with all these people here, Sydney tried to convince herself.

"Move out of the way Danny." Vaughn told him, but Danny didn't budge.

"Not a chance. I'm not letting you take that shot. You think you're so big just because you managed to steal my girlfriend. But somebody needs to put you back in your place." His voice was harsh, and low enough so that only Vaughn could hear him.

"Oh and I take it that that somebody is you? Let me tell you something Danny, you don't scare me, you never have, and probably never will. As for me stealing you girlfriend…I never stole her. I suggest that you try and learn how to treat a lady and then they might stick around for longer." Vaughn quickly hit the puck forward, causing it to fly straight through Danny's legs and into the back of the net. "Thanks for helping me take the shot!" Vaughn winked at him, and skated away just as the Coach blew the whistle.

"Excellent playing everybody. The team list will be posted on the board outside the gym tomorrow morning. Thank you for coming." The Coach collected the pucks and then headed of the ice. Danny felt like he was frozen to the ice. He had come to the try-outs to make a fool out of Vaughn, but ended up being made the fool.

Seeing that it was the end of the game, Sydney stood up and walked to the front row, followed by Paige. Vaughn and Weiss skated over to them, a smile on both of their faces. Sydney greeted Vaughn with a peck on the lips, and smiled at Weiss.

"Hey. Nice game you two!" Sydney kept her arm around Vaughn's neck, keeping him close to her, although there was a fence between them.

"Thanks." They both replied simultaneously.

"Oh I'm sorry. Weiss this is my friend Paige." Vaughn gave Sydney an I-can't-believe-you're-doing-this-look, causing Sydney to laugh.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you." Weiss flashed her a charming smile. He had seen Paige around school, but they had never actually spoken. They were both part of two very different circles of people who just never mixed.

"Likewise." Paige returned his smile.

"We should go and get changed." Vaughn started, looking down at his shirt and pants. He had small beads of sweat on his forehead, the rest of his face slightly red with the heat. "Do you two want to meet us outside?"

Sydney looked at Paige who nodded. "Sure." She leaned forward and kissed Vaughn again, and then her and Paige headed back up the steps, while the two guys skated to the shower room.

"So what did you think of Eric?" Sydney asked innocently, as her and Paige sat waiting on a bench outside of the changing rooms.

"He's cute!" Paige shrugged, smiling.

"Yeah he's a really great guy." Sydney stopped talking as the doors opened, and the two guys walked over to them. The girls stood up and the four of them walked down the corridor talking about the try-outs.

"Have you been playing hockey for long?" Paige asked, as she and Eric walked slightly ahead of Sydney and Vaughn. Vaughn had his arm around her shoulders, bringing her into his embrace. They both smiled and looked at each other, as they witnessed their two friends talking.

"It looks like our plan is going to work!" Sydney whispered.

Vaughn laughed a little too loudly causing Weiss to look at him. "Our plan? More like your plan!" Vaughn corrected her.

"Whatever!" Sydney rolled her eyes, trying to keep in her laughter. "Did you find out if Weiss was free tonight?" Vaughn nodded.

"Hey you guys?" Paige and Weiss turned to look at Sydney. "Do you two want to hang out with us tonight? We could go bowling or something!"

Weiss looked at Paige, waiting to see her response. Even though he had only just started talking to her, he thought that she seemed like a nice person. He definitely wanted to hang out with her some more.

"Sure. It sounds like fun." Paige smiled at the three of them, and then they all turned their attention to Weiss.

"Ok, count me in."