Friday, October 31, 2008

Chapter Eighteen

Coasting Down Memory Lane;
Chapter Eighteen.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’m replacing you,” he said coldly.

“Miss Jacobs, you should go.” Paul said before Riley could say anything.

Riley walked out to her car in the cold November weather, trying to hold back hot tears that were forming quickly in her eyes. Once she got inside her car and blasted the heat the tears began to fall freely. She was upset that she had just lost her job and infuriated at why Paul wouldn’t give her any details on how he knew these untrue things.

As she was walking out of Paul’s office for the last time she overheard a bit of what Cooper and Paul were saying. Things like, ‘…Copied my work? Horrible… I’m sickened… today?’

She drove home to quickly redo her make-up and to change her clothes before heading back out to the arena. She couldn’t believe that she spent four years in university working her rear off just to keep her dream job for only several months.

It was now past two, meaning that the boys would be off of the ice by the time Riley got to the rink. There hadn’t been any snow yet but the forecasters had predicted that there would be by the end of the week. The temperature throughout the week had been in the low positives, Celsius that is, and quickly approaching the zero mark and below.

Before stepping out into the cold weather Riley looked in the mirror in her car and plastered a fake smile on her face. She decided that around the guys she would pretend that everything was ok.

Walking into the arena she spotted a group of girls sitting in the stands giggling and gossiping. When Riley got closer she noticed that someone was still on the ice, even though practice had ended half an hour ago. Knowing it was Sidney; Riley decided to sit a few rows back from the glass. The giddy girls looked back at Riley a few times and whispered a few things to each other, all of which Riley rolled her eyes.

Soon after Sidney glanced into the stands and saw Riley sitting there, he winked and smiled, causing the gossip group to break out into a bunch of ‘Oh my God’s’ and ‘He so wants me’. Riley had to put her hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. Sidney collected everything and made his way to the gate. The clan of barbies jumped out of their seats and screeched ‘Here he comes!’ Riley remained in her seat and enjoyed the show.

After being brutally rejected by Sidney the girls looked at Riley and started a ‘diss’ conversation. “I wonder what she’s waiting for,” the leader said idiotically. “It doesn’t matter, if Sid won’t go for us there’s no way he’ll go for her,” another one said coldly. “Well duh, she’s so plain why would he ever want her?” The bleach blonde one said, cocking her head to the right. Riley decided that they weren’t worth her time or energy, so she sat there and listened to their insults.

Once they left a song popped into Riley’s head; one that she hadn’t heard in ages. She began to sing it quietly while she sat in the stands staring at the sheet of ice.

When I was 7
They said I was strange
I noticed that my eyes and hair weren't the same
I asked my parents if I was OK
They said you're more beautiful
And that's the way they show that they wish
That they had your smile
So my confidence was up for a while
I got real comfortable with my own style
I knew that they were only jealous ‘cause

People are all the same
And we only get judged by what we do
Personality reflects name
And if I'm ugly then
So are you
So are you

There was a time when I felt like I cared
That I was shorter than everyone there
People made me feel like life was unfair
And I did things that made me ashamed
‘Cause I didn't know my body would change
I grew taller than them in more ways
But there will always be the one who will say
Something bad to make them feel great

People are all the same
And we only get judged by what we do
Personality reflects name
And if I'm ugly then
So are you
So are you

Her phone vibrating interrupted her song. She flipped it open to see a text from Sidney. ‘Come to the locker room’ she smiled to herself and headed to the locker room. Normally she would wait outside but since nobody was there but Sidney she decided to go in and wait. When she walked in she saw Sidney putting on his jacket, Riley stood there quietly watching him.

He looked up and saw her standing there in dark jeans and her grey pea coat, leaning up against the doorway. “So how’d the meeting go?” he asked casually as he approached her. “Uh, well I lost my job.” Riley replied, anger rushing through her again. “What, how?” he asked quickly. “Cooper.” His expression changed from confusion to anger, “What did he do?” he asked in a low, pissed off voice. “Apparently he told Paul and others that I copied his work and used it as my own…” she said as tears began to form again. “Son of a bitch!” he exclaimed, his own anger coming to a boil. “So he’s replacing me and I’m left to find a new career. The only problem is that now I have a reputation as a plagiarizer,” she said as her lower lip began to quiver. He pulled her into a huge comforting hug. “So he’ll be here every day interviewing us?” he asked as she rested her head on his chest. “Pretty much, why?” she asked looking up at him with watery eyes. “Just wondering,” Sidney said.

The rest of the day went by slowly and uneventful. The next day Kaylan returned from her month long European vacation. Her boyfriend, Spencer had brought her along with him on his business trip. While Sidney was at practice Kaylan decided to pop over and get caught up on everything.

“Hey girly!” she said, enveloping Riley in a huge hug.

“Hey Kay! I missed you so much,” Riley said once they let go of each other.

“Ditto girl, ditto.” Kaylan said being her same old goofy self.

“How was the trip?” Riley asked, anxious for some good news.

“It was awesome. He’s awesome. Everything was friggen awesome!” Kaylan said with a huge smile. “So what did I miss, anything juicy?”

Riley began to tell Kaylan about the whole ordeal involving Cooper and getting fired. She didn’t want to bore or bring down Kaylan so she kept it short. Riley also filled her in on other random things that had happened. Kaylan showed Riley all of the pictures she had taken on her amazing trip and recalling everything that had happened in each picture. Sidney arrived home an hour later and Kaylan was still there. “Oh you’re back…” he sighed, pretending to be quite disappointed. “Damn straight! But you know you missed me,” she said, standing up to walk over to him. “Uhh… yeah,” he said unconvincingly. She playfully hit him on the shoulder. “So how was the trip?” he asked laughing. “Good, good.”

Kaylan stayed for a little while longer then decided to go home and rest. The jet lag had been catching up with her. Once she left Sidney came and sat next to Riley, placing his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “So, how was practice?” Riley asked as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Good, so I kind of told the guys about Cooper and all so then when he came in to interview us everyone refused to answer his questions, gave him a hard time and best of all, they booed him.” Sidney said laughing. Riley started to laugh not only because it was hilarious but also because the guys would do something like that for her, that and they were just having fun.

5 comments:

Lauren said...

aww I love how all the guys refused to talk to him! Cooper is an ass.

More soon please - your story is great!

Aeryn said...

Awwww, gotta love those guys. Cooper should have seen this coming. I love you're new background, it's very green, which just happens to be the best color in the world! Love the update, and I thought the song was very fitting, I can't wait for more! :D

Carrie said...

haha i love how all of the guys reacted. :)
amazing, as always.
can't wait for another update.

mrsjordanstaal11 said...

Haha, I love love the guys. I can so see them doing something like that.

Cooper is an ass, I love the new background, and I can`t wait for more.

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