AN:/ Hey all! The meme above is...yeah. Enjoy it. It's great. It's also accurate. Except I wouldn't say the Newsies were angry about Race mispronouncing oyster, they were just really confused. Anyways, I don't own the picture. I also don't own any random book, movie or TV show characters that I reference throughout this chapter. Let's get to it.

I scroll through my phone, ignoring the chatter of the other girls that I am staying with as I look through the Olympics Event website to find when the next hockey game is. My cousin Tanner, who is Irish through and through, is coming to pick me up from dinner at any minute now. He's supposed to text me when he gets here. I'm going to try to convince him to come with me to this hockey game. Not so I can tell him about some cute guys that I met, except for Jojo. Not that he's not cute but he's really just a kid and I don't want to be weird or anything. More so that I don't have to go to this hockey game alone. I really don't want in the stands by myself with all of these other people that I really don't know and Tanner's rich and is apparently in Beijing right now so, things worked out.

I know that sounds really cliche but that's not how all of my cousin's lives are. Trust me. My life is not perfect and I'm paying for my own hockey ticket for this game. I am single and perfectly capable of affording a ticket...or at least I'm trying to be. I'm not making my rich Irish cousin pay for my ticket to one hockey game so I can watch some cute guys play a game and throw other guys up against the glass. I'm not into that much violence but, there's something to be said about a guy who can throw another guy down. I'm pretty sure Mush could do that. He looks like he has the muscle for it anyways.

I mean, not that I looked at his muscles or anything the last time I saw him. 

Tanner would be making fun of me if he were here right now. In fact, he'll probably tease me at the game. I would try to go take a prolonged visit to the bathroom but then I would miss the guys and I REALLY don't want to miss the guys.

In all honesty, I've met these boys once and they were all very cute. And they pretty much said I was cute too and I'm not someone who gets hit on all the time. Or really at all. Except by these boys apparently.

It's kind of strange that I'm okay with them hitting on me because I get the feeling that unlike most guys who hit on every girl they see, these guys aren't sleezy. At least I don't think they are. Then again, I've only met them once. Hopefully, I'll meet them again after the game. I'll sneak back there and casually them give all high fives or something. Or a wave. I don't know if I've reached the high five status with them yet. Half of them won't even know who I am and that's okay. I like it that way. The four of them who met me will be excited and that's really all that matters. I connected with them pretty well last night and I really would like to see them again. Thank goodness the games only started two days ago. I have plenty of time to visit with them again. Or really not that much time, but hey...I'll try to see as many hockey games as my college student restricted budget will allow. I may just have to settle for hangouts at the library. If only I could get paid to hang out with them at the library...ya know....maybe someday.

I'm not boy crazy I promise!! These boys just have....very inviting, hilarious, and pleasing personas. Even Skittery, who I think in a really strange way, he'll be like a less romantic version of the Jo to my Laurie. In this case, I'm more like Laurie and he's more like Jo. I mean that's how I would like to think of him...if it doesn't happen that's okay. I tend to compare my relationships with real people to relationships that characters have with each other and it gets me excited even if they don't turn out the way. Where's the adventure if you always know what's going to happen?

I'm not much of an adventurer but, I like to view life as an adventure, one that is always worth embarking on.

And yes, I'm thinking all of these things while waiting for my cousin to get here. What in the world could be taking him so long? It's not like he's coming here all the way from Ireland, he's riding the subway from his hotel to here which he told me was half an hour away on a slow train.

He didn't anger Chinese gangsters too, did he? I can't rescue him too!! I didn't even really rescue the other boys. Unless you count serving hot beverages and being friendly a rescue. If I was really trying to be impressive and dramatic, I would say that but I'm not, so I won't. 

A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. I walk over, glance through the peephole (just in case for some random reason, the Chinese gangsters decided to come after me), and open the door to see my blonde cousin Tanner standing on the other side. In my personal opinion, and true to my love for books, I've always though Tanner looked a bit like a shaggier version of Joe Hardy. I throw my arms around Tanner in a big hug and he hugs me back, grinning as he does.

"Hi, Selah!!" he says as I carefully pull him into the apartment, "You ready to go?" His thick Irish brogue makes every single one of the girls in my apartment turn their heads. One of them is French (she hates that I'm kinda bilingual because I actually understand when she goes off on a rant about something in French), two of them are Chinese and the other one is from the US. The girl from the US grins at Tanner.

"Your voice is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," she says dramatically. Her name is Aubrey. She's extremely dramatic and is on tour with some musical theater group. I'm not entirely sure what she's doing but she hears for awhile. I go in between being royally annoyed with her and thinking she's hilarious. We're friends but, sometimes I just really can't deal with her. Now is one of those times.

"Tanner and I are going out to dinner," I say quickly, starting to pull Tanner towards the door and away from her. She's going to drive me crazy if we stay here twenty more seconds. And yes, I mean a literal twenty seconds.

"Oh yeah? Selah, I didn't know you were seeing anyone," Aubrey says slyly. I resist the urge to roll my eyes as you can imagine I did so many times in high school.

"He's my cousin, Aubrey," I say matter of factly. I silently promise myself that I will never tell Aubrey about any of those cool hockey guys that I met last night.

"Oh. Is he single?" she asks and once again, I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"We've gotta go. See you later!" I say quickly, throwing open the door and hurrying Tanner outside.

"She seems very dramatic," he says in his thick Irish brogue.

"Yes she is. Apparently she's also really into Irish brogues," I reply as we walk down towards the street and to the subway entrance. The city greets us with all kinds of scents, bright lights, loud music, and people talking as we move down to the subway. People flood in and out, hurrying to somewhere or just trying to get home after a long day of work. Beijing is a busy place. I'm not sure I could live with it forever but I'll enjoy the unique cultural experience while I'm here. Tanner and I get on a subway and start riding towards a side of town that has some cool restaurants.

"So, what's new with you?" Tanner asks.

"I'm here. Doing my library thing and meeting people, I guess," I reply, fiddling with the gloves in my lap, "What about you?"

"I"m busy learning the family business in Ireland. Newspapers are a big deal in Ireland. Someone has to help run it. I'm going to take it over once Dad retires," Tanner replies. I smile and nod.

"That sounds like fun. I'll have to come visit once I actually have enough money to do things with my life," I say with a smile.

"So, the Olympics are here? Have you gone to any events?" Tanner asks.

"Funny you should ask...there's actually a hockey game tonight and I ran into some of the players from one of the teams. They were really nice and wanted me to come see them. I was wondering if you wanted to go see it with me since I don't really know anything there or anything about hockey. Unless you're a genius about hockey, we can be confused or rather, learning the game together," I say with a grin.

"Sounds like fun. I take it the players were feens?" Tanner asks. I raise an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to say 'fiends'?" I ask and Tanner shakes his head.

"I know how to say the word fiend. I taught you better than this, dote!! 'Feen' like the Irish word. I'm asking if they're males," he explains in his thick accent. I sigh and place my head in my hands.

"The only word I remember is dote and that's because you call me that more than you call me by my real name," I respond as the subway pulls up towards our stop, "And to answer your question, yes. They were 'feeeeens'." I enunciate on the Irish word just to appease Tanner.  He chuckles a little bit at my over enunciating.

"You didn't let them score on you, did you?" Tanner asks in his protective big brother voice. Tanner's an only child and I'm the female cousin that he is closest to so, I think he feels that he has some sort of an obligation to protect me.

Actually, I don't think he does.... I know that's how he feels.

"If by score you mean kiss, then no," I reply as we exit the subway and navigate the station full of people.

"That's precisely what I mean," Tanner confirms as we hurry out onto the street with a flood of other people, "I don't know where you want to go to dinner. Beijing is full of places that I've never explored and you're closer to a local than I am." I start to lead the way, weaving my way around people and objects that are occupying the sidewalk.

"It's a good thing  you have me then. Would you be interested in going to the game? It's starts at 9," I suggest kindly, really hoping that I can go to the game and see the boys with my cousin.

"I wouldn't mind doing that. No. I'll just buy a ticket I suppose and we can sit in the spectator area with everyone else and be the quiet people who have no idea what's going on," Tanner replies as I guide us through the busy street and towards a restaurant where I find things that I enjoy. We stop in front of it and I point to the brightly lit sign, flashing its fancy Chinese symbols into the night.

"How's this?" I ask. The sign is completely in Chinese but one of my Chinese roommates told me what it translates to in English. She thinks it says something like "The Dancing Wheel" and I don't want her to feel bad if I put these symbols into Google Translate. Not that I could, there's far too many of them and I simply don't have time to do it at this point in my life. 

"Do you know what it's called?" Tanner asks me.

"According to my roommate, the one who claims to be good at English says it's called 'The Dancing Wheel'," I reply. Tanner shrugs and holds open the door for me. The two of us walk in and thank goodness it says that you can seat yourselves because my Chinese skills take a daily ride on the struggle bus. I'm attending Chinese classes for adults who don't speak Chinese, but I feel like it's not going well. I'm not very good at it. English and French are so much better in my opinion. I'm impressed and at the same time confused by how quickly my roommates can speak to each other in Chinese and they can understand each other really well.

Tanner and I find a booth and we sit down across from each other. The restaurant is fairly busy but, it's on the lower range of a middle price range restaurant so, it's not overwhelmingly busy or expensive. I start to look through the menu for something that I like. There are certain foods that I find that I enjoy here and then there's foods that I just can't even imagine eating. My roommates have tried and failed to get me to sample something off of their plates and I simply couldn't do it. Tonight, especially since we're going to the hockey game afterwards, I'm going to go with something simple.

And nothing beats Chinese dumplings.

"What are you getting?" I ask Tanner. Tanner sighs as he looks at the pictures on the menu.

"I don't know what a lot of it is saying," he says as he stares at the symbols on the page.

"Use Google Translate. It's mostly reliable..." I suggest. Tanner gets out his phone and scans the page with his camera. A few minutes later, Tanner nods his head in approval.

"Something about potatoes and noodles. I wouldn't be Irish if I didn't like potatoes so, I think I'm going to get this," he says. I smile at him as we wait for a waiter to come around. We talk for a bit about random things...college, the newspaper business in Ireland, how much he wants me to visit Ireland because of how beautiful it is there, how fun it is to be living in China for a time, how my roommates, etc. A waiter eventually comes around and we manage to communicate what we want and everyone walks away happy. After awhile, our food arrives. Not much talking happens after waiting because we are too busy eating.

"This is delicious," Tanner exclaims as he finishes off his dish. I smile as I scoop up the last little bit of sauce from my dumplings.

"I really like this place. I've never had what you ordered tonight. I'm glad you liked it," I say. I check the time on my phone and smile, "The game will be on shortly." I quickly pull out some money and hurry up to the register with the check that the waiter had brought by while we were eating. I pay for both Tanner and I's dinners despite his protesting before hurrying back down to the subway with my cousin in tow.

"Why didn't you let me pay?" he asks with a bit of a whine in his voice, which sounds pleasant just because of his accent.

"Because you can buy tickets to the game," I say as we enter the crowded subway station. I find the line to the Olympic village and we wait for a train. I jump as the train honks it horn once it arrives and Tanner laughs at me.

"You get scared so easily, dote," he says as we walk onto the train. I sigh and quickly sit down, holding my small purse in my lap.

"I don't like loud noises, you've known this," I complain as the subway starts to head towards our stop. We sit in silent. Tanner scrolls on his phone for a few minutes. The subway is much quieter than the busy street and the restaurant we were in. People chat and there's some kid whining about something but I don't understand what about. I'm hoping that someday I can make this language barrier non-existent but, we're working with what we got for now.

Our subway soon pulls up to our stop. I almost race to get off. Tanner hurries off behind me.

"I thought you said no one scored on you!" Tanner exclaims as I hurry through the station, half ignoring him. He continues, "Since when did you become a New Yorker, you never walk this fast!" I keep walking, not answering him. I just really want to get to this game and maybe see these boys. Tanner follows me out of the station and jogs a little bit to keep up with me.  We approach the Olympic Village and then we follow the signs to the stadium where the hockey games are happening. I let Tanner pay for our tickets this time with little protesting. I did offer but I figured since I paid for dinner, he was going to pay for the tickets to the game. We enter the stadium, extremely full of people. I somehow manage to recognize Jojo with some other people that I don't recognize from across the stadium. Tanner and I weave our way through the crowd and to our seats as the buzzer goes off to start the game. I search the US players for any sign of Mush, but don't see any. Then again, they wear enough hockey gear that it would be kind of hard to tell whose who. And I don't know Mush's last name which would have been helpful with identifying him on the ice.

"I don't see him," I say softly to myself, catching the attention of my cousin.

"What did you say, dote?" he asks and I shake my head.

"It's nothing. I'm just not seeing anyone I recognize," I say, half trying to figure out what's going on and half trying to figure out if Mush is playing or not. I look to the sidelines off the ice and I see a blonde haired guy standing with a crutch and shouting, what I'm assuming, is encouraging things at the boys. He has a smile on his face but it looks kind of serious. He must be the boys' coach. There's one boy sitting next to him and I can't tell who it is because of the face guard. I understand that they need protection and all but it stinks that I can't tell who they are if I don't know their last names.

The boys, meaning the boys I'm cheering for, score a point and a contingency of the room goes wild. I cheer right along with them, probably not as loudly or as enthusiastically as some of the other players, but it's still impressive. Tanner raises an eyebrow at me. 

"Never took you as one to cheer," he remarks and I roll my eyes.

"I've always been one to cheer," I say with a little bit more attitude than necessary.

"Are you sure it's not just because of the feens here, dote?" Tanner asks and I feel my face flush, "I know I'm right. You can't hide the truth from your closest cousin, Selah."

"Hockey and the Olympics are exciting," I offer. Tanner merely raises an eyebrow.

"You're a terrible liar," he says, shooting down my answer.

"You don't even know what's going on," I protest. Tanner holds up his phone and shows me the website he's on. Hockey For Dummies, of course.

"Don't be so sure," Tanner says with a smile.

"How do you know what's happening on the ice?" I ask.

"I don't but I'm going to figure it out," he states. I look out at the ice, still trying to get a glimpse of Mush. Where is he?? How bad would it be if I looked up his number online? I kind of want to know but that also kind of borders on being a stalker and I don't notice that I want to do that. I mean if I get to be really good friends with the guys and I just forget their numbers then I suppose that's acceptable. I guess I could just ask them too. The opposing team, I believe that is the Olympic Athletes of Russia, score another point and one of the players for our team gets shoved up against the glass....hard.

"That doesn't look good," I say quietly. 

"I believe that was called a slam," Tanner says like he knows what he's talking about. I honestly don't think he really does.

"Did Hockey For Dummies tell you that?" I ask and Tanner shakes his head.

"I came up with that on my own. Hockey For Dummies didn't have to tell me that," he says. I roll my eyes and continue watching the game as Russia goes for another goal. There's about 30 seconds left in the first quarter. The scoreboard counts down to zero and the room goes wild. The rest of the game continues in a similar matter. One of the US hockey players totally knocks one of Russia's players over in order to score a goal. Whoever it is does it successfully. The US Hockey team is up by one at halftime. Tanner sneaks off to go find some concessions. I'm not sure what he's going to find because the concessions that are here are not going to be like anything he's ever had before. At least I don't think they will be. I've never been to a hockey game here before.

The game resumes and Tanner comes back shortly after. Russia manages to score one pretty quickly after halftime tying both teams up. I watch intensely as the little black puck flies across the ice from stick to stick. One of the US players shoots it into a goal and the crowd goes absolutely wild. I cheer right along with them and Tanner rolls his eyes.  I see the guy with the crutch across the stadium going absolutely wild. There's a group of people not sitting too far behind him who are going wild as well. I recognize Jojo as one of those people.

The rest of the game is fast paced with Russia scoring to get ahead but then the US keeping it tied up by scoring. There are now ten seconds remaining on the clock and a US player has the puck. The player skillfully weaves in between the Russian players passing it off to another player and then receiving it again to score it into the goal. There's about half a second left when the puck flies into the goal, scoring a win for the US.

The stadium erupts into cheers and I cheer loudly along with them. Tanner cheers too to my surprise. He's never really been one for sporting events. The stadium begins to clear out and I sneak towards the locker room areas before Tanner can catch me. I read the signs that tell people where the locker rooms are and I weave my way through the crowd to get there. I notice the press milling about outside of the locker rooms and I wait off to the side a ways. Tanner comes down after me and pulls out his press badge to appease the security guard who is standing just outside of the locker room hallway where the press are waiting. He walks inside and starts to pull me towards him.

"Come on now. I don't use that press badge for just any particular reason," he says.

"I'm not a member of the press. I can't just go in there," I protest quietly, eyeing the muscular security guard. I think Mush has bigger muscles than he does but I don't want to make him mad.

"Just say you're my assistant," Tanner says. I shake my head.

"I'm standing right here because there's only a few guys I've met and I don't really want to attract that much attention right now," I reason. Tanner shrugs.

"Fine then. Have it your way. I'm going to go get an interview," he says before nodding to the security guy and entering the press minefield...I mean press area. I watch as one by one the hockey players exit their locker room. They cheer loudly as they bounce up and down in a tight circle. I smile as I watch them from afar. The press swarms them, including Tanner. Some of the boys manage to sneak away somehow with the help of the security guard. I see Mush and Skittery among the small group. Another group of people emerges and some of them start to exit the stadium with a few of the boys. Mush, for whatever reason, turns around and notices me standing there. He nudges Skittery, who also turns around. Kid Blink, who I just now recognize, turns around to see why his friends aren't following the group. The three guys walk over to approach me.

"Hey! You came! I thought you said you were busy," Mush says happily, a wide grin breaking out onto his face.

"I managed to convince my cousin to come with me after dinner," I say with a smile of my own. Today, Mush is wearing a light blue tank top and a pair of sweats. I can actually see how muscular he is now. He definitely could take that security guy out in one punch.

"It wasn't that exciting," Skittery says moodily.

"You won against Russia, who's a pretty athletic team," I say, "I'm impressed."

"Good, we only impress the best," Blink adds cheekily. I struggle to hide the blush that creeps up my cheeks. Mush is gazing at me and I finally can't resist blushing anymore. Heat creeps up to my cheeks and I start to fiddle with my hands.

"You should see if you can sit with Crutchie, our coach and then you and your cousin wouldn't always have to sit with your cousin by yourselves," Mush offers. This boy, he's so sweet, but I don't want anyone to think anything. I just met Mush two days ago and while he is very sweet and very cute, I don't know if I'm ready for anything serious. At least not until I get to know Mush a little bit better.

"I think Tanner and I will be okay," I decline politely, "I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about us." I see something flash across Mush's face.

"They think that anyways. Even if there's no girl around," Skittery explains, catching onto what I'm saying.

"Oh," Mush says quickly, "I can understand that. We've only known each other for a day so, I get it."

"Thank you and it's not that I don't want to get to know you better," I say quickly putting a hand up to reassure Mush.

"No, I understand. I'll try to stop by the library again," Mush says with a grin.

"Don't worry about them thinking you're his girl," Kid Blink reassures me, "As long as Davey doesn't find out, you'll be safe."

"Who's Davey?" I ask.

"If you see Davey, run," Skittery says, "Or Race, who just might scare you away."

"I'm sure it will be fine whatever these people do," I say reassuringly, "Is it okay if I walk outside with you to wait for my cousin? He's a little busy at the moment."

"Sure," Mush answers. The group of us start to walk out together. Mush opens the door for me and once again, I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. How could this boy be any sweeter? I stand next to the door and text Tanner where I am.

"Good night," the boys call out as they start to walk away.

"Good night," I say back. The boys get onto a large charter bus and I move off to the side a little bit. Mush waves at me once last time before he walks on. The bus pulls away and the minute it does, someone knocks my small purse out of my hands and grabs my arm.

"You're coming with me and if you cry for help, you die," A voice hisses in my ear as I'm pulled into a dark alley.

AN:/ Aaaaaannnddd a cliffhanger...who doesn't love these? She's not going to die and this is going to become resolved fairly quickly. Like in the next chapter. I hope you all are enjoying this book. I'm actually having a blast writing it. This is a book I feel like doesn't have to entirely have a coherent and consistent storyline besides the relationship dynamics developing. With the exception of this chapter and the next one. How was Tanner? I kind of figured he would be an interesting addition since he's so accomplished and all that. I kinda like him. He'll be a regular appearance in the first part of this book but once they leave Beijing he'll be around a lot less. More Newsies will definitely be in the next chapter. Sorry for the lack of them in this one. They are for sure coming in the next chapter and you can probably guess why. Tanner is my OC that I came up with. He's not actually canon or anything. I feel like I really shortchanged you guys with chapter but, we needed some more exposition going on before she really gets into a strong friendship with the guys. They'll be in the next chapter pretty heavily though. As for the next thing I'm going to update, I'm going to TRY to work more on the Psych story. Shules has me on the struggle bus because I absolutely adore Shules but, I also like Lizzy and Shawn being together. It will come, I'm just going to gradually keep working on it. Anyways, feel free to drop some comments and do all the things that you do. Thanks for reading this book!! Sorry this chapter wasn't more interesting..it will get there. I promise. Thanks for commenting or doing whatever you do. I appreciate it a lot!!! See you around, peeps.

-Aisling/AK/Selah (in this book)