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Nothing had ever cooing to have a good life, she had to nition fired her deterive this relationship a chance

Alix aiting outside the skating rink, leaning against the building, when the big yellow church bus pulled up The doors opened and about a thousand pre-teens poured out No one paid much attention to Alix until Jordan walked over to her, wearing the biggest grin she’d ever seen

"I was hoping you’d show up"

"I’" She wanted that understood "I ca to play the role of klutz in front of a crowd of teenyboppers

"You’ll beout on all the fun"

She didn’t care; no one was strapping her into a pair of skates

The rink opened and the kids swararette, then casually wandered into the rink Already kids were skating on the polished wooden floor, speeding around and around with the nized--but then she realized she did She’d heard one of the songs while she was standing outside the church last SundayThe rink apparently provided Christian rock

Alix had to look for Jordan Then she saw him, surrounded by kids They followed hiht with a smile Some of that Bible stuff had definitely stuck Jordan was busy helping the on his own Before he ventured into the rink, he stopped and gazed around When he saw her, he srin and she nodded her head in acknowledge directly on her

Despite her curiosity, Alix re in Jordan finally skated into the rink, faltering a bit before he found his balance Once he did, he began skating smoothly and confidently; she found it a pleasure to watch A few of the kids skated around hi backward and doing creative dance-style moves to the music

When Alix lost sight of Jordan, sheJordan skated past and waved It didn’t take long for the church kids to notice the attention he paid Alix Several stopped to look at her and chat anored theirl asked She couldn’t be more than thirteen, with perfect dark hair and olive skin Another girl, a blonde in braces, stood beside her

Alix nodded

"He mentioned you," Blondie said

Okay, so Alix was curious "What did he say?"

The other girl answered "Jordan said he’d invited a friend to join hied "That was a long tio"

"He’s kinda cute, don’t you think?" Blondie said

Alix shrugged again Anything she said was sure to get back to Jordan

"Aren’t you going to skate?" the first girl asked

"Maybe later"

Jordan went around the rink at least a dozen tilided over to stand next to Alix "I haven’t seen you in a while"

"I’ve been around"

"I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come"

She almost hadn’t, but she didn’t mention the reason

"You’ve never skated before, have you?"

"Every kid’s skated," she returned, rather than confess the truth

An hour later, Alix earing a pair of skates Before she knew it, her tfound friends had convinced her to give it a try Once Alix had on the skates, the girls led her into the rink, each holding one of her hands

"Don’t worry, we aren’t going to let you fall," the blond girl proh for Alix to believe it

She shouldn’t have

Two feet onto the slick wooden floor, Alix started flailing Not ten seconds later, she was flat on her butt She didn’t have a chance to even think before Jordan ca her upright

"Everyone falls" Then with his ar hers, they made one full circuit of the rink Kids whizzed past them at speeds that made Alix dizzy She didn’t look Couldn’t look She needed all her concentration to reet the feel of it Despite herself she laughed It was as if she were six years old again and Santa had delivered that pair of roller skates, after all

"Cherie says you’re cool"

Alix didn’t care what the little blond girl thought "What do you say?" she asked Jordan

He grinned down at her "I think you’re pretty cool, too"