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Excuse the mistakes

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I’m not a person who can sleep in cars.

I wish I was, since I traveled a lot for hockey, but once I strapped into a car, I was doomed to be awake the whole trip. It royally sucked, especially today since I’d been up since a little before six in the morning, and I was just really tired.

Luckily, we were about ten minutes away from our new house, according to my dad’s GPS anyways. That meant I was ten minutes closer to a nap. The very thought made me yawn, and I ran a hand through my hair as I shivered involuntarily.

My dad was happily tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel to the beat of the Fray song drifting quietly through the speakers. He’d always been a morning person, which was funny seeing as both Nick and I could just sleep forever and be content. I’m not ashamed to say that my dad’s ability to be chipper in the morning was more than slightly annoying to me.

“Are we there yet?” I asked, poking my dad in the shoulder. “Are we there yet?”

“Kelsey,” my dad replied, eyeing my finger as I repeatedly jammed it into his bicep, “Don’t even start with that because I’m not afraid to leave you at the side of the road to walk the rest of the way.”

“You want your only daughter to get lost?” I asked, faking hurt. I stuck my bottom lip out like a two year old and widened my eyes. My dad took one look at my face and burst out laughing.

“Now that is an attractive look, bud,” he commented, shaking his head. I grinned and sat back in my seat, which was starting to make my back and butt sore and stiff. We’d only stopped once to get breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts, so I’d been sitting in the same chair for about four hours straight.

I started playing Fruit Ninja on my phone, and after what seemed like seconds, I felt the car turn. I looked up and frowned. My dad wasn’t pulling onto a street or a driveway; he was pulling into the parking lot of what looked to be a school.

“What are we doing?” I asked slowly as my dad parked.

“I told the principal of your new school that we’d stop by today to get your schedule and locker information,” My dad replied, and he unbuckled his seatbelt and shut off the car.

“Are you serious?” I asked, and I gestured at the pajama pants that I’d worn for the car ride, which were incredibly old and covered in pictures from Dr. Seuss books. “I can’t be seen in public like this!”

“It’ll only take a few minutes, Kelsey,” my dad said, “Now c’mon. I want to get this done so I can get to the house.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, and I climbed slowly and reluctantly out of the car. I shut the door behind myself, and I hurried after my dad, who was already half-way towards the school. In addition to the fact that I was wearing some pretty outrageous pants, today was a Thursday so school was in session.

I followed my dad into the school, and we asked a teacher who was walking by where the main office was. Thankfully, as we navigated the hallways and looked for the office, it appeared that everyone was in class, so I didn’t have to deal with questioning stares.

My dad held the door of the main office open, and after slipping past him, I walked up to the young looking secretary. She glanced up from her computer and smiled at me. “What can I do for you, sweetheart?” she asked.

“We’re here to see Principal Trace,” my dad said, coming up behind me, “My daughter, Kelsey Rogers, is a new student.” The secretary’s posture changed from that of someone regarding a child to that of someone who was looking to flirt. This was a common occurrence, since apparently my dad was attractive to pretty much everyone. I couldn’t see it, but that’s because he’s my dad. Like, ew!

“One moment please,” the secretary said, her tone now trying a bit too hard to be seductive. She typed something into her computer, and a moment later, it pinged. “You can go in now, Mr. Rogers,” the secretary stated, and my dad, as oblivious as ever, just thanked her and opened the door to Principal Trace’s office, with me right behind him.

Principal Trace, who was apparently a woman, grinned and stood up as we walked into her office. Her strawberry blonde hair was bulled back in a French twist, and she had on a brown pantsuit. However, she made it all look stylish. I could tell immediately from the laugh lines on her face that Principal Trace was a cool lady.

“You must be Kelsey,” Principal Trace said warmly, and she reached across her desk and shook my hand firmly. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I replied with a grin, and then Principal Trace greeted my dad. She gestured towards the two chairs in front of us, and my dad and I sat down.

“Now, I want to keep this meeting short, since I’m sure you still have to go get settled into your new house,” Principal Trace said, giving us a knowing look as she walked over to a filing cabinet.

“That would be much appreciated,” I replied without thinking, and Principal Trace and my dad chuckled.

Principal Trace opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet and searched in the files for a moment before pulling out a manila folder with my name written in magic marker on the front. She dropped the folder onto the desk and sat down, and then she pulled out a few sheets of paper.

“This is your locker information and school map,” Principal Trace said, as she handed me a sheet of paper, “and this is your class schedule.” I took the second piece of paper from Principal Trace and scanned the classes I’d been put into.

I was in mostly AP classes, since I was a closet nerd, and I’d also been enrolled in sociology, which was cool because that wasn’t offered at my old school. I also had a couple of study halls throughout the schedule, which was nice since my old schedule was jam-packed with classes with almost no breathing room.

Principal Trace started talking about school rules and expectations, but like I said before, I was a nerd. I wasn’t someone who was going to break the rules, skip class, or be a jackass in class. Instead of paying close attention, my gaze drifted down towards the school map on the back of the sheet with my locker information. The school didn’t look that hard to navigate, but I was looking at paper and not actually trying to find my way to class.

“Kelsey, if you could try and get here a little early on tomorrow, I’ll have a student aid to show you to your locker and homeroom,” Principal Trace said, and I nodded.

“That sounds helpful,” I replied with a smile, and Principal Trace grinned right back at me. She said a few more things, mostly to my dad, about the school, and then it was about time for use to head out.

“It was wonderful meeting you, Kelsey,” Principal Trace said, and she shook my hand once more as I stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Come to the main office.”

“Alright,” I replied, and after Principal Trace said a farewell to my dad, we both shuffled out of her office.

“Goodbye Mr. Rogers,” the secretary called after my dad, the bracelet on her wrist jingling as she waved. My dad nodded without really giving her a second look, and we walked out of the main office.

“She was nice,” I said, nodding back towards the main office and Principal Trace.

“Yeah, she was,” my dad replied, and then the bell rang. I immediately grabbed my dad’s arm and practically dragged him down the flight of stairs to the parking lot. “What’s the hurry?” my dad asked roughly as I pretty much shoved him through the door to the parking lot.

“I don’t want to be seen, remember?” I hissed, and when we reached my dad’s Pilot, I dove into the passenger seat and closed the door quickly.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, my dad ducked into the driver’s seat, and he turned his key in the ignition as he buckled his seatbelt. After the engine roared to life, my dad pulled out of his parking space and left the parking lot of the high school.

This time, when my dad turned, it was down a residential street, and he stopped in front of a pretty blue house. I noticed the black pickup truck in the driveway of the house and frowned. Just as I started to ask my dad who it was, the driver’s door opened, and I instantly recognized Nick.

I glanced over at my dad, who was just grinning a knowing smile, and then like the spazz I am, I ripped off the seatbelt and lurched from the car. “Nick!” I screamed, and I sprinted over to my older brother.

This might seem a little overdramatic, but Nick went back to school early for hockey preseason, and I hadn’t seen him in over a month and a half. We were close, so that was a really long time for me.

“Hey Kels,” he said a second before the impact of my giant hug. I’d taken him by surprise, so Nick had to move back a couple of steps to accommodate the force of my hug.

After a few long moments, I let go of Nick and beamed up at him. “Since when do you have a car?” I asked, tapping on the end of the pickup truck.

“One of my teammates lent it to me,” Nick stated, and he nodded at my dad as he walked up behind me. “I told him that my family was moving to Clarkson, and he offered up this fine vehicle so that I could come welcome you guys.”

Nick gave my dad one of those quick man hugs, and then he leaned against the truck. “Now, I have a feeling you’re going to need some help with some furniture.”

*

“Okay, so now I’m just going to hibernate forever.”

I flopped onto my reassembled bed, and despite the fact that the mattress was bare, I felt insanely comfortable. I could pass out right now, and my dad wouldn’t be able to wake me up for at least six or seven hours.

“Kelsey,” Nick said from the end of my bed, “You do realize that the only thing we’ve done in here is put together your bed and arrange your furniture. You still have a bunch of boxes to unpack.”

“I don’t care,” I drawled, moving my arms across the mattress like I was making a snow angel. I heard Nick sigh, and I could just tell that he was rolling his eyes at me.

“Okay, well, I have to get going,” Nick stated, and I groaned as I propped myself up on my elbows.

“Why?” I whined. Nick had actually been here for a couple of hours, helping my dad move all the furniture around into the positions that he wanted, and I knew that he had to get back to school to finish homework and get dinner. However, I didn’t want him to go. I’d missed him.

“I have practice at six in the morning, Kelsey,” Nick said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh, yeah,” I replied, making a face, “Yeah, you should go sleep.”

Nick chuckled and nodded towards the door. “Wanna walk me out, Kels?” he asked, and I nodded. Quickly, I bounced off of my bed and shook my hair out of my face. I led Nick out of my bedroom and down the hall, and then I hopped down the stairs with Nick right behind me.

“Dad!” Nick called, “I have to get going!”

My dad appeared from the kitchen, and with a pot in one hand, he gave my brother a hug. “It was good to see you, Nick,” my dad said, “Thank you so much for the help.”

“No problem, Dad,” Nick replied as they released each other from the hug, “I’ll be back in a couple of days to help you guys finish unpacking.”

I cheered internally at the fact that Nick was coming back, and then I lead him outside to the pickup truck that he’d borrowed. When we reached the driver’s door, Nick pulled me into a bear hug, and he even lifted me off of the ground a little.

“Good luck at school tomorrow, Kelsey,” Nick said after a moment, and he let go of me.

“I’m sure I’ll need it,” I replied, and Nick shook his head.

“No you don’t,” Nick stated with a grin, “As my baby sister, you don’t need any luck. You’re too smart to need luck.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thanks Nick,” I said, and he poked my nose before climbing into the driver’s seat and turning the pickup truck on. Nick rolled down the window and leaned out of it slightly.

“Bye Kelsey.”

“Bye Nick.”

I watched as Nick pulled out of our driveway, and I waved until he was out of sight. Then, I crossed my arms over my chest as a breeze picked up, and goosebumps rose up all over my skin. I glanced to my right, and I noticed the hockey net set up in our neighbor’s driveway.

“Well isn’t that interesting,” I murmured to myself, and I had to resist the urge to grab my hockey stick from where it was still sitting in the back of the car.

As soon as possible, I needed to find a team to play with this season. That was no doubt going to be hard, seeing as it was the end of September, and the hockey season was already in full swing. However, I wasn’t even close to giving up. As stupid as it sounds, hockey is my life.

I needed to get back on the ice.

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So who do you think her neighbor is?

I'm watching The Matrix for the first time at the moment, and it is actually a damn good movie. I was unsure that I'd totally get it, but so far, I am. However, Mouse died, and I just don't approve of that at all... Screw you, Agents.

The song on the side is Up in the Air by 30 Seconds to Mars. Enjoy :)

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