five

I drop my overnight bag at the entrance and go to the kitchen. I wanted to surprise my friend with her favourite candy and snacks.

I couldn't wait to see Bailey. We hadn't had a sleepover in a while; it was going to be so fun. There was so much to catch up on. I missed just snacking and chatting with her.

"You're in a good mood," Ian states, seeing me dance around in the kitchen.

"Sleepover at Bailey's," I squeal, and he laughs. "And guess what? You're dropping me." I add, knowing that he forgot that he agreed to it.

"Oh shoot. Okay, I'll drop you off before practice," he says, making a plan. "I'm going to Blake's anyway."

I eyed his pyjamas; his practice was soon, and if he was dropping me, he would have to get dressed in the next half an hour. At least we were saving time; Blake could just switch with me; I'll hang out with his sister, and he can go to practice with my brother.

"I'll eat first." He shrugs, taking out some eggs from the fridge.

I go back to rummaging through our pantries, looking for the variety pack of gummies. I find the Sour Patch Kids and Skittles and pack them into my bag.

"All packed?" Ian asks, stirring the eggs in the pan.

"Yep. Are you?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. He wasn't the most prepared person in the world, but he would be ready in time.

"I will be," he says confidently, adding salt to his food.

I sit on the island, and I think about how long I'll be gone. Since my brother and his friends usually come to our house after practice because it's the biggest, they might sleep over and eat everything and make a mess.

"If you bring your friends over, clean up after and don't eat everything." I remind him, concerned for the state of the house that I'll walk into tomorrow.

Ian sits down next to me with his plate of food. "Of course." He stuffs his mouth with an egg. "They'll probably sleep over."

I shake my head, sighing, "Why are they always here?"

"They're my friends, and we're going to the academy together." He replies right away.

"Have you decided yet?" I asked, dropping the other subject; it didn't matter, and this was how our conversations usually went.

"Nope, but we will by the end of the month." He goes on, finishing his eggs, "We're not sure if we want to pick a really serious one or a more flexible one."

Hayden will probably want the serious one; he was serious about hockey, and he didn't want anything in his way.

"Okay, I have to get changed," Ian tells me. He jumps up from his seat, cleans up, and goes upstairs.

I double-check that my bag has everything and wait.

As I scroll on my phone, I hear the doorbell. I get up and open the door, not bothering to check who it is, even though I had no clue as to who would come here this early.

Hayden stood in front of me, and I let him in.

"Hi," I greeted him.

"Hey, Jules," he says, and my stomach flutters at the nickname.

I shut the door and led him to the living room, where he sits on the couch, his hockey bag at his feet.

"Ian will probably be ready in a few minutes." I tell him, "You want something to drink?"

"Yeah, water's fine." He smiles.

I make my way to the kitchen, grabbing two glasses for us. I always forgot to drink water, and my coach always had to remind me.

The doorbell rings again, and I open it. Dylan walked in, meeting Hayden.

I went back to the kitchen, approaching the tap, and I saw something small crawling on the ground.

I screamed as it creeped close to me.

"Jules?" Hayden asked, concerned, from around the corner.

"Hayden!" I yelp, and he comes running to the kitchen.

"What is it?" He asks, panicking.

I point at the spider and say, "Spider!" I shriek and run behind him, hugging him from behind.

Dylan grabs a paper towel, taking the spider in it. Instead of letting it go outside like a normal person, he tries to chase me with it. I scream and hide behind Hayden, using him as a shield.

"C'mon, man, that's enough," Hayden tells Dylan, and he listens.

I stay shielded, just in case. I hated spiders.

I follow Hayden as he grabs the two glasses and fills them with water, handing one to me.

As we sit there and sip our water, Ian comes downstairs, ready to drive us, oblivious to the chaos that just happened.

"Is Dylan here?" He asks, "Let's go."

Dylan shows himself, still laughing at my fear and picking up his bag. Hayden gets his, and we go to the car.

I got shotgun since it would be easier for me to get out of the car. Dylan complained, but he had to listen to the driver.

"Are those Sour Patch Kids?" Dylan asks, eyeing the side pocket of my bag which sat on my lap. "Can I have some?"

I glanced at Ian, who was focused on the road like a good driver. "Nope," I say, without remorse. He didn't deserve any after what just happened. Plus, he's just annoying in general.

"Can I have one?" Hayden asks, a grin growing on his face, knowing I'll say yes to him. His hand was out, waiting for me to pass one to him.

I take one and smack it into his palm as the car comes to a stop. I turn to face the garage of the house, putting my bag on my shoulder.

"Alright, A," Ian says, "this is your stop."

"Thanks E. You'll pick me up tomorrow before practice." I ask, arranging my ride.

He thinks about it, his brow furrowing. "Can Bailey drop you?"

I shrug. "Probably. Okay bye." I wave at the boys in the back and my brother, leaving the car and ringing the doorbell on the doorstep of my best friend.

~~~

I watch the TV screen as Bailey scrolls through the movie options.

"Spiderman?" she asks.

"No, no, no." I shake my head, thinking about this morning.

"Why not?" she frowns. It was one of her favourite movies, and I usually agreed to it.

"I had an unfortunate encounter with one this morning, and it was horrible." I sigh, not wanting to think about its disgusting legs and the way it crawled on the tiles.

"That's not all, is it, though?" Bailey stared, trying to see through me.

"What?" I asked, but she gave me a look. "I got saved." I say in a tone, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"By who?" She wanted all the details.

"Hayden," I say, giving her the answer in a bland tone.

"You guys are finally on speaking terms again! Omg, this is amazing!"

I roll my eyes. She rarely saw Hayden, but when she did, she always made attempts to get us to talk because we had 'chemistry'.

I cross my arms and say, "I'm not going to invite you to our summer barbeque."

"Why? You don't want me to tell you the truth about how you feel about him." She says, wiggling her eyebrows.

I throw a pillow at her, laughing, and grab the remote. "Let's watch The Hunger Games." I suggest changing the topic.

"Ooh yes!" She squeals, forgetting about my love life and thinking about hers. She had a massive crush on Peeta, which is why she shut up so fast.

We get comfy and watch the movie, eating the gummies that I brought.

~~~

"Katniss and Peeta's love story is so cute." Bailey swoons, running a greenlight.

I was glad she agreed to drop me off to practise after the sleepover. I wasn't sure if she was going to go anyway; her and Blake's relationship was complicated, and she didn't really care much about his practice. Their parents force her to go to his games, though.

"Yeah," I agree, "but enemies to lovers is better. I was reading this book—"

She cuts me off, always hungry for book recommendations. "What book?"

"Wraith Whisper," I tell her and continue, "The main characters hated each other, but then they kind of grew to like each other. It's such a good book."

"Hmm..." She side-eyes me at a red light and says, "Sounds like two people I know."

I roll my eyes and laugh. "Shut up."

"I'm calling it." She lifts her hands off the steering wheel for a second, for dramatic effect.

I think about it as she turns into the rink parking lot. Would Hayden and I work? We're just friends for now, but could we be something more?"

"Have fun, girl." She hugs me.

"Thanks, you too." I laughed and got out of the car, shouldering my bag.

I walked into the cold rink, realising there was only one person on the ice, skating furiously. Not even my coach was here.

I changed into my skates, put my new leg warmers on—I know I said they wouldn't be cute because Ian picked them, but they were pretty cute—and tied up my hair.

As I stepped onto the ice, I recognized the skater. It was Hayden.