The Next Day…

Nadia woke up late the next day, tired from the night before. She quickly got on her clothes and went down to the restaurant, where she met up with Sally. Nadia and Sally ate breakfast and decided to go to watch Tretiak and Mikhailov play. The two girls went in the direction of the rink where they would watch the USSR team play against the team from. Nadia and Sally were talking to each other while walking and weren't really paying attention to their surroundings.

"So, what did Tikhonov say when he found out what you were doing?" asked Sally.

"Well, he wasn't as angry as I thought he would be. But, he might be really angry with Vlad if he doesn't play well." Said Nadia, "I mean… it's not good that—Ouch!"

Nadia looked and saw that she had walked right into someone. That someone was Tina.

"Well look who it is," she said, "It's the little communists."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sally.

Nadia glared at Tina, angered at her for insulting Russians.

"Hey, watch how you talk about Russians!" said Nadia.

"Oh, yeah… your little boyfriends are from Russia." Said Chelsea.

"Yes… and so am I!" said Nadia.

Chelsea, Tina, and Halley gasped.

"Seriously?" asked Tina.

"Uh, yes! Look at my last name! Petrova!" said Nadia, angrily.

"Well, that's even better!" said Chelsea.

"And so what if they're Russian?" said Nadia, "Vlad and Boris are the nicest guys in the—."

"What kind of name is Vlad?" asked Chelsea, with mocking laughter in her voice.

"His nickname. His full name is Vladislav." Said Nadia defensively.

"Oh, like that's a step up!" said Tina.

"And you actually think he likes you?" asked Chelsea.

"Well, he kisses me with an unforgettable passion, spends much of his free time with me, and is always so sweet." Said Nadia.

"And your point?" said Chelsea, rudely.

"Her point," said Sally, "is that she loves him."

"You sound jealous." Said Nadia to Chelsea.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Chelsea, "This is her first boyfriend!"

"Exactly!" said Sally, "Nadia's first boyfriend. How many unsuccessful relationships have you had? I bet you've never even been in love once!"

"Shut up!" said Tina, "Who would ever like you?"

"No…" said Nadia, "You're wrong!"

"Oh, now you're a little miss tough girl!" said Chelsea, mockingly.

"All of these years I've known you, since 4th grade, you've told me that no guy would ever like me!"

"We were just doing you a favor by not having you get your hopes up." Said Tina, "I mean, you're not that pretty!"

"Then how come OC thought I was?" Nadia asked slyly.

"What?" asked Tina, with a deadly silence in her voice.

Shedidn't know that Nadia had heard OC say this.

"You know!" said Sally who had know idea what they were talking about.

"Shut up, Sally!" said Tina.

"I heard him." Said Nadia, "He said I was cute."

Tina walked close to Nadia, towering over her and pushed her against the wall. She hit Nadia hard in the stomach. Nadia took a deep breath out and fell to the ground. Tina took her leg back far and kicked Nadia hard in the ribs. Nadia screeched with pain. Tina and Chelsea laughed, but Halley just looked at the fallen little girl.

"Stop it!" screamed Sally.

Chelsea pushed her against the wall, like Tina had done to Nadia and smacked her across her face.

"That'll teach you to think before you talk back to us!" said Chelsea and smacked her again.

"No…" said Nadia, out of breath and in pain. Tina pulled back her leg again, but was stopped by Halley.

"No." said Halley, "I can't watch it anymore."

"Excuse me?" said Chelsea, "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm on your side!" said Halley, "Well, actually, not this time…"

"I'll let this little incident go, just this once." Said Chelsea, "But next time… it won't be so easy!"

Chelsea and Tina walked away, leaving Halley with Nadia and Sally.

The three of them stood in the empty hallway, the sound of cheering during the hockey game was heard from down the hall.

"Thanks." Said Nadia gratefully.

"I'm not your friend!" said Halley, "But I couldn't watch you getting abused like that."

"Yeah, well…" said Sally, "Thanks."

"No, thank you." Said Halley, "You made me realize something about all of my relationships. That I've never actually fallen in love before."

"Is that good?" asked Sally.

"I guess so." Said Halley, "Now I can find someone that I really like and who is, of course, hot!"

Sally and Nadia looked at each other when she said that.

"What's it like?" asked Halley.

"It's the most wonderful thing." Said Nadia, who sounded out of breath.

"I mean, I've kissed ten times as many boys as you have and… they've never meant half as much as your one kiss at the airport with Vlad."

"Yeah… that was nice." Said Nadia.

"Well… thanks again." Said Sally.

"Well, don't expect it to happen again. We're still enemies." Said Halley, frowning.

Sally and Nadia looked at Halley sadly. Halley smiled a little and said, "Thanks."

They shook hands and walked off in separate directions. Halley, in the direction of her room and Sally and Nadia in the direction of there's. Nadia and Sally were so tired, they forgot to go watch Vlad and Boris's game.

That Night…

Nadia was awake at 9:00 that night, thinking about the day. That's when she remembered that she forgot to go see Vlad play.

'Oh no. Vlad will hate me for that.'

Nadia became very sad, her side still aching from the beating.

'Maybe a little swim will cool off my mind.' She thought.

Nadia changed into her swimsuit and grabbed her towel and walked out of her hotel. The pool was in the athlete's hotel, so Nadia had to walk down the sidewalk in sandals in the ice-cold air. As Nadia entered the hotel, she saw the USSR team with Tikhonov, sitting at tables eating their dinner. Nadia remembered that they had a late practice that night and was scared to see Vlad, in fear of him being angered with her for missing his game. Nadia snuck past the open door of the restaurant, without him seeing her… or so she thought. Vlad did see her and wondered why she was sneaking away from him. He told Tikhonov that he was going to go up to his room and got to bed. "Sure, Vladislav." Said Tikhonov.

"Thanks." He said and ran out of the restaurant.

Vlad ran to the pool, knowing Nadia was there because of the bathing suit he saw her wearing. He came in from the side door and saw Nadia swimming around the shallow end of the pool. Vlad took off his shirt and jeans jumped into the deep end with his jeans on. Nadia gasped.

"Who is there?" she asked with a scared tone.

The deep end of the indoor pool was covered in the shadow of the night, while the shallow end was lit with the light of the moon. Nadia saw Vlad swim into view.

"Vlad." She said, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he asked.

"I forgot to come and see you play."

"Nadia, don't be sorry." He said, "It's just a game."

"Yeah, but I feel awful." She said.

Vladislav went very close to Nadia and put his hands on her sides.

"Ouch!" Nadia cried with pain.

"What? What did I do?" questioned Vladislav.

"No, no, it's nothing." She said.

Through the shallow water, Vlad saw a huge bruise on Nadia's side.

"Oh my gosh, Nadia." He said, "What happened?"

Nadia laid her head on Vlad's shoulder and he stroked her hair.

She started to bawl.

"It was…" she started to say, "It was… it was…"

"Who was it?" asked Vlad.

Nadia smiled at him and touched his face. Then, she was gone.

"Nadia?" asked Vlad, frantically, "Nadia!"

He shook Nadia but she didn't wake up. Nadia had fainted. Vladislav, having very little of an idea of what to do, picked up Nadia and ran out of the pool, down the hallway and into the lobby. Luckily, his team was just leaving to go back to their rooms.

"Nadia fainted." He said.

All of his teammates looked at him, with his boxers dripping wet, holding Nadia a wet in her small two-piece bathing suit.

"We have to get her to the hospital." Said Krutov, with a look of concern on his face.

Together, the USSR hockey team called an ambulance and took Nadia to the hospital, where she awoke the next morning.

In the Hospital the Next Morning…

"Nadia…Nadia…Nadia…"

Everything was white. There was a voice in the distance calling Nadia's name but she didn't come. She was afraid of who it might be… Tina, Chelsea, Red, or Gary… it was too risky.

"Nadia… Nadia…" the voice called again.

This time, it was tempting her to come. It might be Vlad, Sally, Krutov, or Boris. Nadia ran toward the voice and a bright green light emerged from the distance. Nadia slowly opened her eyes.

"Nadia?" asked a man dressed in white, who looked like a doctor.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Good, you know who you are." He said.

"Of course." Said Nadia, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because, sweetie, you blacked out yesterday night." He said, "We think is was because of the cold of the pool and your cracked rib that knocked you out."

"Cracked rib?" Nadia said.

'I can't believe that Tina cracked my rib.' She thought.

"How do you think it happened?" asked the doctor.

"Well, it was a girl…" said Nadia, ready to spill the whole story.

"A girl beat you up?" asked the doctor, "If you give me information about her, she can be arrested for physical assault."

Nadia thought about this for a second. On the one hand, if she told, she would never have to worry about Tina and Chelsea again. She could live her life without fear. But, on the other hand, if she did tell, they would get arrested. She knew that Tina and Chelsea hated her, but Nadia didn't share that pure hatred towards them. She knew that they were probably just jealous of her.

"Well," said the doctor, "Anything?"

"No… I'm sorry." Said Nadia, "I don't know who it was."

"Well, okay." Said the doctor, "Just tell me if you start to remember anything about the girl."

Nadia nodded and the doctor continued to ask her a few questions.

"Oh, one more question." He finally said, looking at his clipboard, "When was the last time you had—."

Nadia already knew what the last word was and answered, "I've never had it."

The doctor looked at her, skeptically.

"Well, I almost did. I mean, with my boyfriend Vladislav."

"Vladislav Tretiak is your boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yes. He's so wonderful…" she said.

"Well, okay then. You are free to leave whenever you want." He said and walked out of the room.

She heard him talking to someone in the hallway, telling him or her that she was okay. Nadia watched the door and saw it open. Vladislav came in, looking tired and relieved. He smiled at Nadia and Nadia smiled back. He walked over to her bedside and touched her side, which was bandaged up.

"So," he said, "how are you feeling?"

"Very good." Said Nadia, "But you look tired."

"Yeah, I was very worried for you, I stayed the night here." He said, "Didn't get a wink of sleep."

"Vlad… you really shouldn't have." Said Nadia, "You play the USA team tomorrow."

"Yeah, they're not that good," he said lightly, "But I should have gotten a little sleep I guess. I can barely stand."

"Please," said Nadia, "I'll come with you and you can rest before you play."

"But you can't walk." He said.

"I'll do my best." She said, getting up with a look of pain on her face.

"No, I'll carry you." Said Vladislav.

"No, you'll fall."

"I'll do my best." He said smiling.

That's when Nadia realized something that changed her life forever… Vladislav Tretiak was the man she needed to spend the rest of her life with. He was willing to take care of her, no matter what the circumstances. Nadia smiled back at him and he picked her up. A tired Vlad carried Nadia up to his hotel room, where he fell on his bed with exhaustion. Nadia and he snuggled up under the covers of his bed and fell asleep.