Chapter Five

[You won’t be hearing much about Sidney in the next few chapters, and I know that will annoy you. But I don’t think you can get the full effect of the rest of the story without a break from him.Well, actually you'll be hearing about him a lot, but not really seeing him]


“Haley, you’re being ridiculous. Brett Caswell is a very nice boy, and his family has always been so good to us,” Mom said. “No,” was all I said. “Yes,” she snapped.

“Why would I go out with him? I don’t even like him,” I said. “Oh come on! You can’t be in this dating slump for the rest of your life, Haley. I’m starting to get really worried about you. Hell, you don’t even smile anymore!” she said.

 “Why the hell did you invite him over here telling him that I agreed to go out with him, when you never even told me about it?” I asked. “I knew I couldn’t get you to go with him if I didn’t,” she said. “Maybe because I don’t want to,” I growled.

“Do it,” she said, narrowing her eyes. I let out a quick breath. “If I do, will you please leave me alone about Sidney?” I asked. She shrugged, “Maybe.” So with that, I put on a pair or jeans, and a Crosby jersey that Bridget had gotten me as a joke. Not such a funny one in my opinion.

Somehow, though, I couldn’t push myself to throw it away, or even take it back. So it sat in the back of my closet. I tucked the front of it into my belt, and brushed through my hair before heading down to my living room. “Ready to go?” Brett asked, standing up.

“Nope,” I said. “Haley!” Mom said. I shrugged and followed him out to his car. Once he got in, he glanced down at my jersey. “You’re seriously wearing that?” he asked. “Let’s go Pens,” I said. “Why do you hate me?” he asked. I snorted. “Obviously I know you’re only interested in sex, that’s why.”

He looked confused. “Why do you think that?” He asked. “Maybe because every time Sidney and I passed you, you yelled something about him, as you call it, making my bed rock,” I said, stone-faced. “Aw, come on. That was last year, Haley. I’m not like that anymore,” he said. “Right,” I rolled my eyes.


Brett and I didn’t last long, obviously. Well…he’s no Sidney Crosby. Neither one of us were happy. I did feel sort of bad, being so pissy with him all the time, but oh well. After that summer was over, I went off to college at Penn State.

It was a long year, and not very enjoyable. I did meet a lot of new friends, which was nice. The only difference between me and, well, just about everyone else on the campus, was that I wasn’t interested with hooking up with anyone.

 Like Sidney had said, he wanted it to be special. And I didn’t think it could be with anyone but him. Of course, I knew he had probably already been with dozens of girls, I still couldn’t do it. That’s why any relationship I had with a guy never lasted long after they realized I didn’t want any of that.

State College is pretty close to Pittsburgh, so I saw a lot of people wearing Penguins jerseys. Even my roommate, Megan, was a pretty big fan. I didn’t tell anyone about me and Sidney for a long time. I just wanted to get away from that for a while.

One night, though, Megan and I were watching the game in our dorm. “I bet Crosby’s even hotter in person,” she said. “He is,” I answered, without realizing. She didn’t think much of it. Later that night, we were talking about our hometowns. “I miss Bellwood,” she said. “I miss home too,” I said. “Where are you from again?” she asked. “Cole Harbour,” I answered.

Just as I said that, a reporter asked Sid if he had any plans for the summer. “Cole Harbour. I’m always home in the summer,” he answered. Megan looked at me. “Maybe you have a tiny bit of information you’d like to share with me?” she asked.

I smiled a little. “Do you know Sidney Crosby?” she asked. I shrugged, “Yeah.” Her mouth dropped. “Like…know, know? Or you just lived in the same town but you never really talked?” she asked. “It’s a small town. Everybody knows everybody,” I said.

 “Were you close with him?” she asked, practically bouncing out of her seat. “Uh, yeah, I was. We were good friends,” I said. “Dude what do you mean ‘friends’?” she asked. “Ok, I’m just gonna tell you. I dated Sidney Crosby for five years,” I said, and felt my face burn up. She was sitting there shaking her head. “You’ve got to be shitting me,” she said.