Page 12 of Conner

“Hmmm…” Hillary hummed, looking at her laptop. “Yeah, I think Wes and Ethan could be good, but Conner means so much to this team. I think we should stay focused on him too.”

“Can do!” Sasha’s sunny disposition not matching the gray cloud she felt inside about having to work with him.

Sasha left her meeting with Hillary feeling good about everything. Okay, most everything. She was happy with the job she's been doing but was not looking forward to working with Conner again. At least she still had a few videos set to go, so there was some time before that.

She checked the calendar of events coming that she might like to take pictures at. It looked like there was a family skate coming up in a few weeks. That would be a great time to get pictures of the hockey players skating with their kids. Though she realized she needed to know how to skate herself. She had been teaching herself about hockey so no one would know she didn't know much, but you can't research skating. It looked like it was time to practice, so she looked for a local rink and found their open skate schedule. This way she could practice before she had to skate with the families.

That night when she got home her phone rang.

“Hi dad.” She knew it would be him, he called her almost every night, but she was looking forward to talking to him tonight.

“How's it going Sasha, still doing good?”

“Actually, I was going to call you tonight,” she said.

“Oh, why is that sweetheart?”

“I had a meeting today with my supervisor and it went really well. I have two videos going viral, which means they’re doing really well. It is showing up in traffic to the website which will transfer into ticket sales. She was excited by my progress,” she said with pride filling her voice.

“That's wonderful. I'm so glad you are doing well. Helping in ticket sales you say?”

“Well, I don't have those numbers yet, but with the site traffic being up and two videos with over a million views, I'm sure numbers will be up for the next game.”

“I’m proud of you, Sasha.”

Those words meant everything to her. She was proud of herself, but his approval meant a lot to her.

“Are those boys behaving themselves?” he asked.

“Everyone has been amazing. Well, almost everyone,” she grumbled under her breath thinking about Conner, but that was not a conversation she wanted to have with her father.

“Well, I'm going to get ready for bed baba, talk to you soon.”

The next couple of days went well, the videos were still doing good. She had settled on a release schedule that let her keep her head above water and promote the team in the best way. The Cash video had found its target audience and followers were up and active.

Now she just needed to figure out how to skate, so she didn’t make a fool of herself at the family skate coming up over the weekend. Big hockey players and little kids on skates, there was no way she was missing that. That gave her week to figure out how to skate. How hard could it be?

She found a local skating rink and went to every open skate they had. She fell a couple times her first couple visits, but by her third she was able to make it around the rink pretty easily. Nothing fancy like back skating or hockey stops, but she could stay upright and make it around the rink without falling flat on her face. That was a success.

This job had immersed her in a world she hadn't known. When she was hired she didn't know much about hockey or how to skate, but in her time there she had managed to learn about the sport and now she could stay upright on the ice. She liked her job and the people she worked with, now she just needed to make some friends.

“Hey, this is your third time here this week,” said an elegant woman skating up next to her.

“Yeah, I have to skate in front of people this weekend, and I don't want to make a fool of myself.”

“Well, so far so good. I'm Evie, I teach figure skating here.”

“Nice to meet you, I'm Sasha. I'm new to the area.”

“Nice to meet you. Can I ask what skating event you have?”

“Yeah, I'm the social media manager for The Magic and there is a family skate on Saturday morning. I'm hoping to get some good pictures.”

“Ahhh, yes that makes sense,” she said as she skated elegantly next to Sasha who was doing a decent job keeping up.

“Hey, I just moved here from Illinois, and I don't really know anyone. Would you want to get coffee?” asked Sasha.

“There's about to be a youth hockey game in the next rink and the concession stand has the best hot chocolate, care to join me?”

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