Chapter 30

I slammed the door shut on Raina's car that I borrowed since she was visiting her parents. I was so thankful that Mario and Nathalie took the kids out to dinner, so more people weren't here to witness my humiliation. I backed out recklessly, almost taking out the mailbox. Now that would have been a nice "fuck you." Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, but I refused to be that pathetic girl that cries. I had already been used and tossed aside, I didn't need to add anything else to my resume. I drove to the local Giant Eagle and strode in. I grabbed my favorite tub of cookie dough ice cream, some trash magazines, hair dye, and some bag of candy. That's all a girl needed to fix an aching heart. I saw some people give me weird looks, I must have looked like shit. I already felt like shit, like I had been put through the blender, chopped up, and throw back out. All I had to do was get through the rest of this week, and then I got to escape to Penn State during the weekend to see the game and visit some friends. After that, we had a road trip and I could just let hockey wash everything away like it did in the past. I threw everything into the passengers seat and drove back to the dorms. I took the steps two by a time, ignoring everyone's questioning looks. I unlocked the door to see Marissa laying on her bed listening to her iPod. I threw everything on my desk and I caught a glimpse of the picture of Sidney and me. We looked so happy back then. That's when the rush of anger hit me. He was stringing me along the whole time, making me think I was special and the only one. How many girls did he fuck while we were together? Did Vero and the rest of the team know? Did they still let me follow him around like a stupid little puppy. I ripped the photo frame off the desk and threw it onto the ground. I climbed my bunk bag and started ripping off all of the posters that we had in the room of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I went to my closet and started ripping all of my jersey's off the hangers.

Marissa sat straight up. "What the hell is going on?"

I ignored her and gathered all the crap up in my arms and started heading towards the open door. Marissa jumped out of bed and began to follow me. "Calli? What is this about?"

"I don't want to fucking talk about it." I growled running down the steps, out the lobby, and onto the sidewalk. I walked down the hilll, hearing Marissa's ragged breathing while she tried to keep up with me. I headed down to the side of the rode and threw all of it into the rode, ignoring the honking of the cars. "Fuck you, Crosby." I yelled into the dark night.

Marissa put her arm around me. "I'm guessing something happen?"

"Yeah, I caught him fucking another girl."

"Was he really actually in the throws of doing it with her?" Marissa asked, her voice getting louder with each word.

"No." I admitted. "But trust me, they were well on there way."

"Come on. I'm going to go get my hockey stick and go blow his fucking knee out. He'll be able to fucking skate again!" She said vehemently.

"I'm not going to be immature. It happens." I said walking slowly back up the hill, my energy suddenly drained.

"Not to you, it doesn't." Marissa hissed. We walked back up to the dorm and Marissa locked the door behind us. "You can scream and go ape shit now, if you want."

I shook my head and pulled out the bottle of dye. "No thanks, I just want your help with this please."

Marissa looked at me questioningly and I explained. "I've been wanting to get red highlights for a long time, but I was worried that Sidney might get shit for it. I should have never let him affect me like that. So there's no better time than now."

Marissa grinned and led me to the bathrooms. "Taking this head on. Now that's why I love you." We read the directions and applied the dye to the strands wanted. I ran my thick, curly hair under the sink faucet and wrapped a towel around it.

I smiled bravely. "I guess we'll see how it is tomorrow."

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I woke up the next morning feeling like a dead person. The girls on the team always teased me about how I sleep so much and that I sleep like a dead person. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful December day in PIttsburgh. To match my mood though, it should be pouring and specific people should be getting struck down with lightning. Marissa was writing something in a notebook and I climbed down from the top bunk. Raina burst into the door. "Calli! I saw! What the hell! I'm going to beat the shit out of him! Dig a hole so we can hide his body!" Raina shouted lilke a crazy woman.

It took a few moments to comprehend what she just said. "Wait..how do you know?"

She frowned. "You haven't seen it?" She handed me the sports section of the Post Gazette. On it was the pictures of Sidney and the slut nuzzling together at McDonalds. Underneath was the caption of. "Doesn't his girlfriend have black hair?" God fucking damn it. Now every one knows about my humiliation. I took the towel off of my head and ran my hand through it, my nervous habit.

Marissa and Raina's jaws dropped. "What happened to your hair?" Raina blurted.

I ran to the mirrow, forgetting about the dye job last night. My jaw dropped when I saw my hair. The dye must have spread or something. All I know is that all my long, previously black curls are now a deep, vivid, flaming red.

"You look like Ronald McDonald's wife!" Marissa said trying not to let the giggles erupt from her mouth.

I cracked a smile. "I was going for a change. Maybe not this much of one, but it's better than nothing I guess..."

"If any one can pull of this look, it's you. You look smoking, babe." Marissa commented.

I blushed and muttered a thanks. I ran a brush through the tangly mess and left it down. I put on a pair of yoga pants and one of my old Mt. Lebanon's sweatshirt and brushed on some make-up. "Do you want to go to the Strip?"

Marissa and Raina exchanged looks. "Are you sure you want to be around all of that? People are going to be talking.." Marissa told me.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Let me just grab my phone." I jogged to the floor where I had thrown it last night. I turned it back on to see that I had 45 missed calls, 23 voicemals, and 30 text messages. All of them were from either one of my four brothers, Sidney, Vero, Max, and various old high school friends. Without looking at any of them, I shut my phone off again. "Let's roll."