"I've had a lot of distractions since I've been here in LA. This is a distraction.' 

           He said holding a cardboard cutout of him with a hockey stick and and quote bubble that read "For me, its Hendrix" 

           He then lit a match, throwing it into the metal barrel/trashcan that was next to him. 

          "This s a firing barrel."

          He picked up the cardboard cut out. 

          "This is a distraction in a firing barrel. Any questions?" 

           He stated as he put the cardboard cut out in the barrel, lighting it on fire. We all clapped and cheered. 

          "Good job coach." Portman stated 

          "Alright!" 

           "Woohoo!"

---------- Time Skip ----------

          Once we got back to the dorms Dean asked me if I wanted to hang out with him, so I said sure. One because I had nothing better to do, and two because honestly, Dean has gotten a lot nicer. We hung out outside the dorms since it was really nice out. We had been sitting on the picnic table just chilling and talking.  We mostly talked about music and laughed about the dumb things we've done. 

          "Yo, one time I went to slash someone's tires with Dally and we almost got caught." 

          "Dude what is up with your crew?" 

           "Uhmmm pretty much everything is wrong with those boys. I've been friends with them since I was a baby. They're all like brothers to me, especially Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry. Our parents were best friends. Darry's the oldest, he's also super protective over all of us. Dally's a criminal and is constantly in jail or at his other buddy, Buck Merrill's house. Johnny's like a lost puppy who's been kicked around a lot. Ponyboy's a total and complete nerd. Twobit is an 18 year old with the mentality of a 5 year old who's obsessed with Mickey Mouse, and can't take anything seriously. Steve's an idiot who's brain never works when ya need it. And lastly Sodapop is relaxed, however he can get over protective of the gang or people he know/is buddies with" 

            Dean laughed 

          "You guys sound like fun" 

           "Huh? What the heck are you on about?" 

           "You guys seem like you're fun to be around. I mean you definitely are." 

            I laughed a little 

           "You got a crew, back in Chicago?" 

            "Not really. I mostly stay by myself." 

           "Huh, that's odd. I thought you'd have a huge crew of best friends. I mean your kind, you protect your friends and teammates, and you're really fun to hang out with."

"Thanks Emery ... Hey uhm... Could I...Could I ask you something?" 

            "Sure. What's up?" 

           "You're a really cool person, and uhmm, I really like you. And I was thinking, Would you like to be my girlfriend?" 

           There was a small silence between us, then I answered him. 

        "Dean, you're so cool, and honestly you're the funnest person the team to be around, so yes. I'd gladly be your girlfriend." 

           After a while of us hanging out some more, the sun started setting. I asked Dean if we could stay outside to watch the sunset together, since that was my favorite thing to do when it was nice out. After the sunset we walked to our dorms, hand in hand, when I walked into ,y room all smiley Julie and Connie were immediately on the case. 

          "Sooo...  what's got you so smiley Em?" Connie asked 

          "Uhm, well. Y'all know how I was talking to Dean yesterday and dis morning?" 

          "Yeah" Connie said not getting the hint.

         Both girls gasped when they realized what I was on about. 

        "EMERY!" Julie shouted "ARE YOUR WITH..." 

        "Jesus Julie! Shush! I don't want the world knowing" I said as I covered her mouther cutting her off. 

         "You're with Portman?" Connie asked 

        "Yes, as of like an hour ago. Now please, keep your traps shut. I don't want to tell the team yet." 

        "Okay, okay." They agreed 

       When I went to sleep that night I could only thing of Dean and I was so giggly it wasn't funny. I fell asleep by 2am, and luckily it wasn't too difficult for me to wake up for practice the next day. At practice coach made us start from the basics, even crawling on the ice, then thank god, we actually got to workout. We ran on treadmills for about 45 minutes or more, then coach let us off and we could do whatever workout we wanted to do or that we normally do, or we could use the one coach set up. 

          "Yo julez. We finally get to train like real athletes." I stated excitedly.

         "Yeah. Thank god. I bet you're happy. You love working out Emery." 

         The next day we were back on the ice for more practicing. We all shot pucks at Goldberg, and got to work on things we needed more practice on or needed to fix, like Luis and his stopping/speed control.

----------Time Skip ----------

           When we were walking out of the locker room I was walking with Julie and Connie, far Infront of Dean, yet I still heard him yell. 

          "Hey, Banks! Let's go!" 

           The rest of that day was us doing anything we needed to do before/after class. After class I was chilling in my dorm, drawing when someone knocked on the door. 

          "Emery?" 

          When I hear the voice all I thought was that's either Dean or one of our teammates is secretly a voice actor and can do a really good impression of Dean. I opened the door, and low and behold it was Dean. 

          "What's up?" 

          "I was gonna ask if you wanted to go hang out outside with me again." 

          "Uh, sure, just let me grab my hoodie real quick.: 

          I turned around to go get my hoodie, then I heard Dean say something. 

         "Oh you mean this hoodie?" he said. 

         When I turned around I saw him holding up my football hoodie.