Zac sighed dramatically but skated off with Jennifer. Isaac put his arms around Hope and they skated off after Zac and Jen.

Taylor and Brittany stood looking at each other in an awkward silence. Just as Brittany was going to skate off the floor, Taylor reached forward and enfolded her hands in his slightly bigger ones.
"Um Taylor,"Brittany began after a few seconds that seemed like a few hours passed,"I'm sorry for making fun of Ariel. 'Cos you seem mad at me and I was only playing. I'm sorry."
He sighed.
"I'm not mad. I've just been in a bad mood I guess. I'm sorry for being that way,"he apologized.

She smiled, relieved. He hadn't said anything to her since they had all got together.
"It's ok Tay!"she assured him happily.
He smiled. She happened to see two familiar faces out of the corner of her eye.
"Kristen!"she yelled trying to pull Taylor in that direction. Taylor wasn't expecting the tug and lost his balance.
Brittany screamed as they fell.
"Well they noticed us now,"Taylor muttered from under Brittany. She giggled and rolled off of him.

Isaac, Hope, Jennifer and Zac came over to help them up but did more harm than help cos they couldn't stop laughing. Hope and Jennifer bent down to help Brittany up, laughing. Brittany smiled.
"Yeah it is pretty funny,"she agreed taking their hands then jerking. They screeched and tried to regain their balance but fell anyway.
"But it's funnier now,"she finished.

Zac was laughing so Jennifer tried to pull him down. He dodged her hand, giggling.
The manager skated over, glaring at them.
"The next time it says couple skate get off the floor. Your obviously not cut out for them,"he informed them, turning and skating off.

They got up and skated off the floor to where Kristen and Chris were. Brittany introduced them to Jennifer and Hope. They all smiled at each other.
"What are you guys doing here?"Taylor asked.
"Waiting for Daniel and Josh to get here,"Chris replied.
"Josh who?"Brittany asked quickly.
"Myers. Why?"Chris questioned.
"No reason. Well let's go bowling! This is boring!"she told them, yawning for effect.
"I'm having fun tho'!"Hope protested.
"No your not,"Jennifer argued catching on,"I'm bored too. I wanna bowl!"
"I wanna stay too,"Zac throwed in. Jennifer gave him a look.
"But bowling is kewler!"Zac finished uncertainly. Jennifer smiled approvingly.

Taylor thought he knew why she wanted to leave too. He smiled to himself. He thought staying was a great idea and told them so.

Isaac wanted to stay too and he was driving he pointed out.

Brittany stomped her foot in annoyance. Josh was gonna be so pissed when he saw her reason for backing out. She had made it look like she was staying home all night.
"But I wanna go!"she whined babyishly. They looked like they might be changing their minds. She smiled to herself. Cha-ching.
"RACES! Everybody line up for races!"the man in the sound booth yelled. Jennifer, Zac, Ike and Hope all skated over. Taylor grabbed her hand and pulled her along too.
Why me,she asked silently. They were giving in....then the freakin' races...*sigh*.
"Boys 11-14!"the man announced.
"Zac and some other guys lined up. Brittany watched disinterestedly as Zac won. Jennifer clapped and cheered for him.
"Woohoo,"Brittany intoned, thinking that his winning wasn't a huge surprise considering the 3 of them, faithfully bladed for at least an hour a day.

Boys 15-18 went next and Isaac won just ahead of Taylor. Hope cheered and clapped this time.Next was girls 11-14. Some red haired girl won. Next was 15-18 girls.

Brittany sighed and got in line. Hope, Brittany and Jennifer were tied then Brittany saw Josh and Daniel come in and lost her balance, falling really ungracefully. Jennifer busted out laughing and stopped but Hope kept going and won. Brittany just lay there dazedly.

Taylor and Josh ran out to see if she was hurt.

Her wrist was throbbing, and her bottom and was stinging but besides that she would live.
"I thought you were staying home,"Josh told her in an accusing voice after they had sat down, more interested in her lying to him than her wrist.

She opened her mouth to explain but Taylor, who had been silently examining her wrist, broke in.
"Her wrist is really swollen and red and it's probably at least sprained, so stop yelling at her,"Taylor ordered.
"I didn't know!"Josh replied defensivly, "I'll take her to the emergency room."
"No you won't. We'll take her,"he replied bending to take his skates off.
"Don't you think that her decision?"Josh asked snapped.
"We're taking her,"Taylor replied simply. He started unlacing her skates.
"Well I'm coming too,"Josh announced.

Taylor just shrugged and put a shoe on her foot. Brittany smiled at Josh.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. Josh was her friend but he was and always had been a jerk. Taylor was trying to take care of her and she was still looking at Josh like he was God's gift because he was going to the emergency room with her. She'd have to talk to her later.
Zac smiled suddenly.
"Why ya smiling?"Jen asked.
"Cos Brittany got hurt and I was nowhere around!"Zac replied.
They all laughed.

Taylor insisted on keeping her hand in his lap on the way to the E.R. He insisted she'd either move it or Zac would somehow manage to injure it further. Zac scowled at that.

She was experimentally wiggling her fingers when Taylor suddenly ordered her to stop. She frowned at him then blushed bright red, realizing the position of her hand. Taylor blushed too.

Zac shook his head thinking he wouldn't mind Jen's hand in that particular position. I wouldn't have made Jennifer move her hand. Too bad she wasn't the one that fell. Shame washed over him. She wouldn't wish for bad things to happen to him. She looked back from the front seat and smiled at him. He felt all the more guilty and smiled weakly back. He almost apologized but caught himself. That would make things worse. He shrugged and chalked his mean thought up to puberty and hormones.

Taylor started tapping his fingers. Isaac and Hope were singing Jewels most annoying song....Foolish Games. Even more foolish songs. The song finally went off and Jewel stopped trying to die. "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia came on next and Brittany started on that one. Tap, tap, tap, tap.......

She walked out into the lobby, frowning at her bandaged hand.
"Sprain?"Taylor asked sympathetically. She nodded glumly.
"We'll take you home,"Josh offered. Daniel, Chris and Kristen had come with him.
Brittany started to nod when her mom cut in.
"Josh I'd rather her stay with her company. It would be extremely rude of her to do otherwise. I hope you won't be mad. It was a lovely offer,"she said smoothly.
"Oh no! I'm not mad at all,"he assured her. He turned to Brittany.
"Can I call you?"he asked.

She nodded and smiled. Kristen, Chris and Daniel said bye and the 3 of them left.

She watched them leave then turned towards everyone else. Taylor was giving her a funny look and Jennifer was just flat out frowning at her.
"What?"Brittany asked in alarm. Taylor half smiled and Jennifer turned her head towards Zac. Brittany made a face at her turned head. She looked down at her wrist and sighed.

Well there go 2 weeks of my life wasted, she thought to herself. She looked around to see if anyone was giving her sympathetic looks. She frowned. Noone was paying attention to her!
"I'll be in the car if anyone actually cares,"she announced childishly. They glanced at her briefly and nodded. She glared at them all and stomped out.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. Okay she sprained her wrist. It does suck but she's not gonna get total 24/7 attention the whole 2 weeks. Taylor was walking after her. Okay not from all of us she amended silently.

Anne walked over to them and said they should be home at 11:00. They all agreed and walked outside. Zac put his arm around her and she leaned on him a little. He was her little cutie! Taylor and Brittany were in the backseat and she was getting the attention she wanted. Her bandaged wrist was laying on his leg.
"One of you get in front. I wanna sit in the back with Zac,"Jennifer commanded. Brittany whined and moaned but finally got up front. Jennifer smiled, satisfied and got in after Zac. Somehow she slammed her hand in the car door. She screamed in pain and Zac opened the door ery quickly.
"Ow my fingers. Ow ow ow!"she cried.

Zac took her hand gently and looked at it. Three fingers were swollen and the skin was tore a little. He bit his lip.
"I think she needs to see the doctor too,"he said in a trembly voice.

Jennifer was sniffing and Brittany was glad they weren't in switched positions. She looked at Zac. He was more upset than Jennifer. This is what he'll look like whenever he gets married and his wife is in labor she mused silently. What does that have to do with anything she questioned silently. She shook her head.
"Zac calm down. She'll be ok,"Taylor soothed. He saw in surprise that Zac looked like he was going to cry. He also looked guilty. Jennifer noticed it too.
"Zac? Are you okay? I'll be fine,"she assured him.
"But it's all my fault!"he burst out suddenly,"I wanted to be able to take care of you and look nice like Taylor so you'd like me more and I wished it had been you and me instead of him and her for like just a second! But then I felt bad! And I feel worse now! I'm sorry! It's all my fault! Please forgive me!"he begged.
"It's ok! I forgive you,"she said hugging him because she really thought he was going to cry.

Isaac and Hope were trying not to laugh. Ike kinda snorted and Hope busted out laughing.
"I'm sorry. It's really not funny,"she apologized through her giggles.
"Yeah. Not funny at all. Sorry,"Ike agreed chuckling.

Jennifer and Brittany were still scowling at them in the emergency room and they were still giggling occasionally.
"Yeah ah ha ha ha! Laugh now but it's your turn next hope!"Brittany pointed out.
"Then we'll laugh!"Jennifer finished.

A nurse came out and called Jennifer back. Zac went too since Anne was already gone. Hope and Isaac finally stopped laughing and went to the snack bar for a drink. Brittany and Taylor looked at magazines.

About an hour later Jennifer and Zac came out. Zac looked comepletly miserable. Jennifer looked annoyed. 3 of her fingers were taped up. Dr.Tims walked behind them.
"Should I get an ambulance to follow the 6 of you home? Because we're too busy for 4 more patients,"he told them, half joking, half serious.
They all blushed and shook their heads no.
"Well at least make a night of it. One young lady has a badly sprained wrist and this one has 3 broken fingers."

They nodded sheepishly and left. On the way home Zac kept apologizing to Jennifer. She kept telling him it was ok to no avail. He was pretty much unconsolable. Taylor and Brittany were singing Clumsy by Our Lady Peace. Isaac and Hope were pretty quiet.
"Why are you being so quiet?"Isaac asked.
Hope shrugged her shoulders distractedly.
Maybe she really thinks she's gonna get hurt, Isaac mused to himself.
"Your not scared your gonna get hurt next are you?"he asked gently. She looked at him and laughed.
"Of course not! How silly! I thought you were more practical than all that! I was thinking that I wish I had all of this on film! Am I scared?"she scoffed laughing.
Isaac bristled.
"Well I was trying to be helpful!"he snapped. Couldn't a guy be nice these day? Geez! He never laughed at her!!
"I'm sorry for laughing,"she told him contritly. He smiled to himself. That was more like it.
"Apology accepted. He smiled contentedly and put one arm around her.

A bad song came on the radio so Brittany started flipping through stations. Hope mentally groaned. Brittany would probably flip through stations until they got home. She'd leave it on a station long enough to catch a nanosecond of music then keep flipping. It was really annoying. Jennifer kept sighing and Taylor was tapping his fingers.
"Leave it already!"Jennifer snapped.
"It's an old song,"Brittany protested.
"I like it,"Jennifer stressed.
"Fine,"she pouted but started singing along. Rather loudly.
"I'm a bitch, I'm a lover, I'm a child, I'm a mother, I'm a sinner, I'm a saint, I do not feel ashamed! I'm your hell, I'm your dream, I'm NOTHING in between, you know I wouldn't want it any other way!"she belted out.
"Sing it right or not at all!"Hope finally ordered.
"I won't sing at all then,"she said sulkily. A second later she started flipping stations.
"Stop the car and put her in the back!"Hope told Ike loudly. After a couple more minutes of flipping he did.

Zac got up front because Taylor and Jennifer, while they couldn't stand for Brittany to do it, did the exact same thing.
Brittany's shoe came untied and she was trying to tie it but couldn't. Taylor smiled sympathetically and tied it for her.
Jennifer realized she wouldn't be able to tie her shoe either. Oh well Hope could.
When they got home a little black Saturn was parked in Brittany's driveway.
"Josh!"she cried happily, glad he wasn't mad with her.

She basically pushed Taylor out of the car and jumped out. Halfway to the house she turned around.
"Thanx for tying my shoe and stuff for my Tay!"she called turning back around.
"Yeah no problem,"he muttered scowling at her back,"Joshy can do it from now on."
"When he leaves Saturday she'll be normal again,"Jennifer told him apologetically.
"It doesn't matter,"he replied shortly.
"His opinion has always meant way too much to her,"Jennifer tried to explain. He just shrugged and walked towards his house.
"Will he stay mad at her?"Jennifer asked Zac.
"I dunno,"he answered shrugging. He apologized one more time then hugged her goodnight.

Isaac and Hope said their goodnights then filmed each other walking off.

Josh and Brittany came out of the house and hugged bye. Taylor was unfortunatly watching.
Jennifer wondered absently if anyone was dumber than her best friend. She sighed and walked inside. Her and Hope would have to talk to Brittany about all this.
"What happened to your hand Jennifer?!"Anne demanded.

Dang. She'd almost forgot about it. She sighed and sat down to explain it. This hadn't been a good day. *SiGh*