Friday Night. [Ashley and Mac]

[Ryan Kirk]

It was a Friday night. Ryan was at the ice rink with Mac, one of Ashley's bestfriends. He became pretty close with her when he started dating Ashley in his sophomore year. So now they had a schedule planned. Having fun at the ice rink. Ryan had played hockey when he was in middle school, back in Dallas, so he was a pretty good skater. It had been awhile since he skated though.

Ryan was getting his ice skates at the rental counter as he waited for Mac to show up. He dkidnt know it, but he as actually starting to like her a little - a little bit more than friends. That obviously wasn't a good thing, though. He was currently dating Ashley. They had been dating ever since their sophomore year. Their relationship had lasted for about three years or two. He couldn't ruin that. But, he didn't even realize that he was starting to like Mac himself. Besides, they were just here at the rink as friends. There was nothing wrong with that.

[Mackenzee Mancini]

Not having anything to do, Mackenzee had agreed to go ice skating with a friend of hers, Ryan. Mac had met Ryan through a good friend of hers, Ashley. Ryan and Ashley were dating, so Ryan was a friend by association for awhile, but Mac and Ryan had become really good friends over the years and hung out regularly. So when he had invited her to go ice skating with him, she naturally agreed to it. She had nothing else better to do this afternoon, so she was up for a little ice skating with a friend.

After school, Mac put her books in her locker and then grabbed her purse and put it over her shoulder and went out to her car. She turned it on and then drove to the ice rink. While she waited for Ryan to join her, she rented a pair of skates that would fit her and then wen to the benches and sat down to put them on. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to wait all that long for him, because if she didn't get home in enough time, she would miss Jesse's call.

[Ryan Kirk]

Ryan got rented a pair of ice skates and went over to a bench nearby to put his skates on. He checked the time: 6:30 PM. They were supposed to meet each other around this time right now. Where was she? Ryan pulled on the pair of ice skates and went over to a locker to lock up his shoes and other things. When he looked around, he finally spotted Mac sitting on a bench close by. Why hadn't he noticed her earlier?

With a smile, Ryan headed towards where he as sitting. It was pretty hard and awkward to walk in the skates. He wanted to get on the ice as soon as posssible. "Hey Mac!" he called out to her, still smiling. "Ready to skate?"

[Mackenzee Mancini]

Mac had just begun to lace up her skates when she heard a familiar voice call out to her and say hello. Mac waited until she finished tying the last knot on her skate and then looked up at the person whom the voice had come from. "Hey Ry," she said to him. "I'm ready now, just have to put my hat on first," she said. Mac then proceeded to put her cute little hat on that she always wore when she went ice skating. She had gotten it from her grandmother when she was a little girl, although when she was younger, the hat was way to big for her head and her grandmother would roll it a little to make it fit. The white and pink knitted hat now fit on top of Mackenzee's head perfectly and she loved it. The only thing now that Mackenzee had to do, was to bring herself to a standing position and walk down the wooden bleachers to the ground level to be able to walk out onto the ice rink.

"Why did I have to sit so far up?" Mac said to herself softly as she tried to walk down the few stairs to get to the ground level. "I should have thought about this before and not went up so far, knowing that I'd be coming down with skates on my feet." Mackenzee held onto the railing on her way down, praying silently to herself that she wouldn't fall. She finally made it to the bottom and looked up to Ryan, since he stood taller than herself, then asked, "The question is, are you ready?" Mackenzee giggled a little bit, since it was only a minute or two earlier that he had asked her that same question.

[Ryan Kirk]

Ryan laughed a little as he watched Mac put her hat on and attempt to walk down the stairs. He followed her down the stairs, still laughing. "I know. This is really tricky trying to walk in these skates," he said, finally reaching the ground level. He laughed again when she asked him, "The question is, are you ready?" He shrugged and answered, "I guess. Come on - let's go."

He opened the little door to the ice rink and attempted to balance carefully on the slippery ice. It had been awhile since the last time he'd went skating. It was going to take him a little while to get used to all of the balancing on ice again. Ryan groaned when he almost fell down as a group of giggling kids skated by. He raised his eyebrow but started laughing again. He was having fun already. Ryan looked over at Mac, finally succeeding in balancing. "This is going to be interesting."

[Mackenzee Mancini]

As soon as Mackenzee had gotten down to the ground level with Ryan, she lost her balance a little, but eventually caught it before there was any real trouble. "Yeah, you're absolutely right. This should be interesting," Mac said in between little giggles as Ryan stumbled on his skates a little bit. When Mac stepped onto the ice, it was as if she was in a place she had been all of her life. She was a natural on the ice. When Ryan lost his balance on the ice a bit, Mac offered him her hand, especially after she watched a bunch of the younger kids laugh at him for his lack of skating abilities at the current moment. Mackenzee decided that she was going to be nice to Ryan and help him find his feet on the ice and until he did so, she'd probably find herself helping him out a bit. She didn't mind though, because he was a friend and friends always helped out other friends.

[Ashley Taylor]

School was over well it was over for every other kid in the entire school except for the cheerleaders. They had to get ready for the big upcoming game against their rival school and Ashley really wasn't in the mood for practice today. She was exhausted and really just wanted to get out of school and spend time with her boyfriend. But, being the captain and all Ashley really couldn't leave. She had a responsibilty to fill even if she wasn't up for it at least not this evening.

Practice was extra long tonight because since the co-captain decided to skip tonight out of all nights Ashley had to pick up the slack. After a couple of hours practice was finally over and Ashley could finally head home. She had gotten dressed into her normal clothes and grabbed her boyfriend's football jacket he had given to her when they first began dating. Putting it on gently over her body she smilled sweetly the cuddled into the jacket. Reaching down into her cheerleading bag she grabbed her cell phone and called Ryan.

But, there was no answer. "He's still at the ice rink with Mac maybe I should go surprise him" Ashley thought silently to herself. Stuffing her cheerleading bag into her locker Ashley grabbed her perfect pair of white ice skates then began to drive on over to the ice rink.

[Ryan Kirk]

Ryan laughed again and took her hand without hesitating. He felt like a little kid again - trying to keep in perfect balance. It wasn't only that; he was getting tired already from the long football practice, too. He started to skate slowly, holding hands together with Mac and grabbing onto the wall with his other hand. It usually took him awhile to get used to the ice, although Ryan as a talented athlte in almost every sport.

Ryan laughed a little awkwardly again when he nearly stumbled and fell again. After a few minutes of skating around though, Ryan finally adjusted to the balancing on ice. He let go of the wall, still holding Mac's hand, and said with a grin, "Wanna go for a race around the rink?"