Disclaimer: I own the antonym of everything. You get the picture. "Fall For You" is a song by Secondhand Serenade.

Til I Forget About You

Changing of the Guard

This was my second hockey game since I've joined the team. Our track record was 0-6. The score was tied 1-1. There were twenty seconds left on the clock. I was wide open, but Conrad wouldn't pass me the puck. It reminded me so much of our last game.

Flashback

There were ten seconds left on the clock. We were trailing 1-0. I was wide open, and Conrad had possession of the puck.

"I'm open!" I shouted.

Instead of passing to me, he tried to hog all the glory for himself. He was getting double teamed. He skillfully evaded one defender. However, he couldn't escape the second one. He got checked into the boards, and the other team maneuvered the puck to the opposite side of the rink just as the time expired.

End Flashback

Conrad was getting double teamed again. The other team knew that Conrad was our captain. They knew that Conrad was our star player. No one knew anything about me. No one even bothered to defend me. I wasn't about to let history repeat itself.

I quickly skated over to Conrad and checked one of the opposing team's defenders into the boards. By then, the other defender had checked Conrad into the boards. I scooped up the loose puck, and skated as fast as my legs could carry me. I was lighter and more agile than the defender. I was quicker than the defender. I was probably the fastest skater on the ice.

The opposing team's goalie was getting closer and closer to me. Twenty feet away. Fifteen feet away. Ten feet away. I glanced up at the clock. There were ten seconds left in play. I could hear players from the opposing team coming up behind me trying to stop me.

I faked shooting to the left, and just as I anticipated, the goalie fully committed to going left. I changed my aim, and shot to the right. The puck hit the back of the net. The buzzer blared signaling the end of the game.

We won. We had actually won. Our record was still crummy; 1-6, but at least we finally got a W. I had scored the game-winning shot. I felt like I was on top of the world. It was such a rush. I was startled when a bunch of my teammates had skated out on the ice, and hoisted me up in the air on their shoulders in celebration.

I happened to look over at Conrad. He had already taken off his helmet, and he chucked it across the rink. His gaze met mine, and I saw the dark expression in his eyes. He was probably just jealous that I was the one to win for our team and not him. I could care less though. For the first time here in New York City, people were paying attention to me. For the first time, I felt like I belonged.

XXXXX

Later that night, I had to call Carlos and tell him the good news. It wasn't the same being out there on the ice without Kendall, James, and Carlos, but hopefully, Carlos would still be happy for me. The phone rang once. Twice.

"Logan! Hey, I haven't talked to you in forever!" Carlos remarked excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Hey, guess what?" I replied.

"What?"

"Our hockey team actually won today! Plus, I scored the game-winning goal!"

"Really? That's awesome! I'm so proud of you, Logan! I'm so jealous! I want to play hockey with you!"

I laughed. It was strange. This was the first time I had even genuinely laughed in a really long time. This was the first time I had really been happy since I came to New York City. It had been such a long time since I last laughed that my laugh sounded foreign to me.

"Watch, when you get back here, Kendall won't be the star player anymore," Carlos commented.

The mere mentioning of Kendall's name brought me down from my high. I felt the corners of my mouth pull downwards in a frown.

"How is Kendall? And James?" I asked.

I felt bad asking Carlos how Kendall and James were doing. I should probably be asking Kendall and James themselves. It's just they didn't even say bye to me. They probably didn't even want to talk to me. However, that didn't mean I don't care about them. That doesn't mean I don't think about them. I do think about them—everyday.

"They're good," Carlos replied quickly—a little too quickly.

"Do they…you know…talk about me?" I asked.

"Logie, maybe we should talk about something else."

"Oh, I see."

I got all the answer I needed. How could I be so stupid? Here I thought even if they didn't talk about me, at the very least they would think about me. If their song being on the radio is any indication, it was clear that Kendall and James had already moved on. They had no intention of looking back either. I don't really know how I felt about them not replacing me in the band. On the one hand, maybe it was because they felt nobody could replace me. On the other hand, maybe it was because they felt that they didn't need me to begin with.

"Can you tell them that I miss them? Can you tell them that I think about them every day?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll do that," Carlos replied.

A small smile formed on my face. Of course Carlos would. He was a great friend. Right now, he was probably the only friend I had. It was just too bad that he was some three thousand miles away.

"Hey, I heard your song made it all the way to number two on the weekly countdown. Congratulations!" I said.

"Thanks. You're not…mad…are you?" he responded.

"Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"Well, I kind of took all your parts."

"Yeah, but I'm sure that wasn't your decision. That was probably Gustavo's. Or Griffin's. It's okay though. They had to go to somebody. I'm actually glad that they went to you. Frankly, you don't get enough singing parts."

For whatever reason, Carlos and I usually got the short end of the stick when it came to solos and singing the lead. Most of the time, the solos went to Kendall or James. Same thing with the lead parts. It's not that I was bitter and resentful. It's just…I don't even know what I'm saying.

"Hey Logan, when are you coming back?" Carlos asked me.

I was surprised how blunt Carlos was with that question. Maybe it's because I've been away from him for a while, but I don't remember him usually being that blunt.

"I don't know, Carlitos. Are you sure people even want me to come back?" I replied.

"Of course they want you to come back! We all want you to come back! I'm sure once you do, Kendall and James will forgive you," Carlos said.

My breath hitched in my throat. Kendall and James will forgive you. So I was the one in the wrong? I was the one who needed to be forgiven? Maybe that's not how Carlos meant it at all, but that's what it sounded like to me. I felt my eyes well up with tears.

"Logan, are you still there?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, I'm still here," I answered, my voice breaking.

"Are you…crying? I made you cry, didn't I? I'm sorry. I feel horrible."

"Don't. I'm fine."

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I have no idea why though. It's not like Carlos could see my watery eyes through the telephone.

"Look Logan, I didn't mean it like that," Carlos commented.

"It's okay, Carlos. I should go. I have a big test tomorrow to study for," I replied.

"Come on, Logan. Don't be like that. Please?"

I hung up the cell phone. What I wanted to do was throw it against the wall. After my hockey game, I was on such a high. All signs of my depression were gone. Now…well now, I was feeling blue once more.

XXXXX

I was in the choir room. My time in New York City had been full of ups and downs. It seemed like there had been way more downs than ups. However, after our hockey game, I noticed things start to change around school. People actually waved to me. People actually talked to me. I wasn't even getting bullied as much anymore. Most of the time, my fellow hockey teammates would come to my rescue and the bullies would leave me alone. Of course, Conrad wasn't one of my rescuers.

Mr. Andrews was handing out sheet music for a new song. It was "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade. I saw that there was another solo opportunity. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Logan?" Mr. Andrews responded.

"I'd like to audition for the solo," I said.

I noticed Courtney look over at me, and smile. It wasn't easy to do something that you failed so horribly at the first time around. Picking yourself up after getting knocked down went against everything you felt like doing. I felt like just staying down. What's the point getting up if I was just going to get knocked down again? However, something had changed since we won our hockey game. There was no time like the present.

Conrad scoffed. "Please! Didn't you learn your lesson the last time? What makes you think this time will be any different?" he remarked.

"What's wrong, Conrad? Are you afraid of a little competition?" I replied.

"You? Competition? Don't make me laugh!"

I had no idea where all this self-confidence was coming from. I usually had next to no self-confidence. It all boiled down to one thing though—I knew I could beat Conrad. Nothing would be more satisfying than to do just that.

"Alright boys, break it up. Conrad you'll sing the solo first. Then, Logan will sing it after you. After you both have sung, everyone will write the name of the person they feel did better on a piece of paper. Whoever gets the most votes gets the solo," Mr. Andrews stated.

Best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting

Could it be that we have been this way before?

I know you don't think that I am trying

I know you're wearing thin down to the core

But hold your breath because

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

Over again don't make me change my mind

Or I won't live to see another day I swear it's true

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

You're impossible to find

Once again, Conrad sang it straight. He didn't put his own twist on it. He didn't make the song his own. It was good, but not great. As far as I was concerned, he left the door wide open. As Conrad took his seat, I stood in front of the class.

Best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting

Could it be that we have been this way before?

I know you don't think that I am trying

I know you're wearing thin down to the core

But hold your breath because

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you

Over again don't make me change my mind

Or I won't live to see another day I swear it's true

Because a girl like you is impossible to find

You're impossible to find

Even though I wasn't singing to the girls in the choir, I couldn't help but notice they seemed to be swooning as I sang. I don't know what that was all about. Maybe they envisioned that I was serenading them or something. I wondered how Camille would feel about that.

I changed it up. I made the song my own. I projected. I included rises and falls in dynamics. I did key changes. I sped up the tempo in some parts while slowing it down in others.

The choir gave both of us a round of applause. I took my seat. We all pulled out pieces of paper and wrote down the name of the person we thought should get the solo. Our choir director collected everyone's votes before standing in front of the class.

"The first vote is for Conrad," he said, opening up the first slip of paper.

I chanced a glance at Conrad. He had his feet propped up, and was reclining with his hands resting behind his head. He had this smug expression on his face like he thought he had this in the bag.

Mr. Andrews opened up the next piece of paper. "The second vote is for Logan," he told us.

I knew at the very worst, I would only get one vote. In fact, that vote was probably the one I cast for myself.

"The next vote is for Logan," Mr. Andrews said as he looked at the next slip of paper.

Again, I looked in Conrad's direction. He didn't look to be very concerned even though I was currently leading in votes.

Our choir director peeked at the next slip of paper. "The next vote is for Conrad," he informed us.

We were now tied. Because there were thirteen of us in the choir, there was no possible way the final result would be a tie.

"The next vote is for Conrad," Mr. Andrews stated.

I was starting to get nervous. What if I didn't get any more votes? I was pretty sure the two votes I got so far were from me and from Courtney.

Mr. Andrews opened up the next slip of paper. "The next vote is for Logan," he said.

Once again, we were tied. I didn't want to make too big of a deal out of it, but that meant that someone had swapped allegiances. Maybe he or she wasn't the only one…

"The next vote is for Conrad," our choir director said.

Maybe it was my pessimistic nature, but I had already convinced myself that I would lose again. This time, I would lose 10-3. Hey, but at least I got one more vote this time. At this rate, I had to score the game-winning shot four more times before I had enough votes to earn the majority.

Mr. Andrews opened up the next slip of paper. "The next vote is for Conrad," he told us.

Great! Now I was trailing 5-3.

"The next vote is for Logan," he said.

5-4. Well, at least that's not so bad.

"The next vote is for Logan," Mr. Andrews stated.

Yet again, we were tied. 5-5. Three votes left. Okay, now I was convinced that I would lose 8-5.

Our choir director unfolded the next slip of paper. "The next vote is for Conrad," he said.

Like I said, 8-5.

"The next vote is for Logan," Mr. Andrews informed us.

I couldn't believe it. We were tied…again. 6-6. One vote left. Even though, I was pretty sure I would lose, I still couldn't believe that I actually stood a chance—no matter how small that chance may be—of winning.

I looked over at Conrad. He still remained unfazed. As cocky as he was, I really wanted to beat him. I wanted to be the one to put him in his place.

"This last vote is the tie-breaker. This will determine who gets the solo," Mr. Andrews said adding to the anticipation.

Everyone held their breath. Well, everyone except for Conrad. The implications of this one vote could be huge. It could change everything. Our choir director unfolded the last piece of paper.

"The person who gets the solo is," Mr. Andrews said, before pausing dramatically. "Logan."

To Be Continued…

A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who has supported this story whether it be by simply reading it, reviewing it, putting it on your favorite story list, or putting it on your story alert list. Also, a huge shout out to everyone who put me on their favorite author list and/or their author alert list. Seriously, 59 of you have me on your favorite author list. 49 of you have me on your author alert list. What is wrong with you people? Just kidding. I am so, so grateful. It makes me feel like my writing is better than mediocre.