*Johanna's POV*

"So there'll be a couple of other NHL guys here this week. I'll have practices on top of the school, there's a workout room downstairs if you want to use it, other than that there's not much except for showing up and coaching," Sidney informs me as we sit in his living room, waiting for our food to arrive.

"Alright sounds good," I respond, feeling the awkward tension in the room growing.

"I'm sure that Taylor will have stuff for you guys to do. I likely won't be around much. There's food in the fridge if you need it, and I have a woman who comes around once a week and restocks the food and all that," He continues. My only response is a nod of my head before I'm met with silence. As if on cue, the doorbell rings signaling the food's arrival.

Getting up to answer the door, Sidney makes his way across the living room to the front door easily. I hear him greet the delivery man before getting up to grab my phone and text my coach Bob, letting him know that I had made it safely and would talk to him later about training plans. My shoulder had been hurting more today than it had been lately, likely because the swelling had gone up due to the flight earlier in the day.

"All right, so here's your chicken pasta," Sidney enters the room, handing me a box," And silverware's in the top drawer right over there," He says, nodding in the direction of the aforementioned drawer.

"Thanks," I respond, grabbing a fork and sitting down to eat my food.

Sidney does the same, and we sit there in an awkward silence, eating, for what feels like ages before Sidney decides to speak up.

"So how is it?"

"Oh it's really good. There's this place back home though that makes the best pasta I've ever had, so in comparison this isn't bad," I tell him.

"Do swimmers eat a lot of pasta?" I have to hold back my snort at his question, realizing that he's actually serious.

"I mean, yeah. It's a great carb, and carb loading before meets is pretty much a part of the routine. Although not too much, otherwise it'll just sit there the next day and make you swim slower," I explain after collecting myself.

"It must've been pretty easy though, right?" He asks, completely changing the topic.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I understand what exactly you're getting at Sidney. What was supposedly pretty easy?" I question, thoroughly confused.

"The whole swimming thing. Because of your family history and everything, it must not have been hard to get to the point that you're at," He says, making me laugh and shake my head.

"I still don't understand what you're trying to say Sidney."

"I mean, I'm sure you've been given things that other people haven't had the opportunity of having, because of your dad and your uncle and stuff," He says, causing me to get a little bit angry.

"Contrary to popular belief Sidney, and I say that because it is popular thinking amongst everyone besides those that know me, I actually have worked really hard to get to where I am at today. Just because of my lineage, people like to believe that I automatically had it easy when I started swimming, and when I started playing hockey. But I didn't, and I had to work my ass off to get to where I'm at today. Sure, there might have been certain things that were given to me that other might not have had, but I realized that, and didn't just act as though they should be given to me because of who I am. I got lucky, and I took advantage of what was given to me, making sure that I kept in mind all of the people that have helped me along the way. I'm not the kind of person to just expect things without hard work, I'm the kind of person that expects to earn those things when the time comes," I rant, breathing deeply when I'm finished," I think that I'm just gonna take this up to my room and eat it. Thanks Sidney, for allowing me to stay in your home."

Standing up from the table, I grab my food and quickly turn for the staircase before he can even utter a word. Legs carrying me up the stairs, I turn left towards my room when I reach the top, opening the door and shutting it before sitting down at the desk in front of the window and finishing my food.

*Sidney's POV*

I didn't know what to do. Somewhere along the line I had said the wrong thing and now I was sitting at my dining room table eating dinner, alone.

I don't know why I agreed to this when Taylor brought it up to me. I should have known that it wouldn't go well, I wasn't very good with other people, unless they were fans or people that I had known for a long time.

I knew that I had said the wrong thing as soon as it came out of my mouth and Jo had tensed up, almost as though she had learned how to guard herself from people and how to respond to people that ever questioned her work ethic. Of course I knew that she had worked hard to get to where she was at, Taylor talked about it all the time, but that still didn't stop my questions from coming out all wrong.

It had been awkward pretty much all night, the conversation between us scarce if at all. Taylor had told me that Johanna wasn't great with people she didn't know. Something about not being able to trust people because of her family and whatnot. I get it, I really do, but it's not like I'm somebody she wouldn't be able to trust.

Finishing my food, I toss away the container and place my fork in the dishwasher before heading up the stairs. Pausing at her door, I contemplate knocking and apologizing, before turning around and heading for my own room, three doors down. Deciding to watch some TV before falling asleep, I'm laying in bed when a knock comes at my bedroom door.

*Johanna's POV*

I really didn't want to have to ask Sidney for anything, but seeing as he didn't have any ice packs in his freezer, I had no choice but to knock on his bedroom door and ask him where the ice packs are myself.

He seems surprised as he opens the door, before recovering.

"I, um, need an ice pack," I state, quite awkwardly," For my shoulder. It's pretty inflamed from all of the flying and stuff today. I looked in the freezer but didn't find anything."

"Oh, yeah. They're actually downstairs in the basement. I've got an ice machine down there with the rest of the equipment," He explains, exiting his room and shutting the door behind him before moving towards the stairs, myself following.

"So what happened? With your shoulder, I mean," He questions as we reach the basement.

"I tore some of the ligaments when I was swimming last week. Hence why I agreed to come here instead of swim in Kazan at World Championships. Taylor asked me to and I didn't have anything to do. I really didn't want to sit at home and wallow while all of my friends were off doing the one thing that I wanted to be doing, so I decided to say yes and come here, get away from it all for a bit," I explain.

"Do you mind if I take a look at it?" He asks. I hesitantly agree, before taking off my shirt and showing him the area where my ligaments had torn only a week prior. It was majorly swollen, and the bruise had deepened since a couple of days ago.

"Man, that's bad," He mutters, looking over my now-purple shoulder. The outline of my muscle was visible, and I could see it throbbing just a little bit," Does it hurt?"

I shrug with my non-injured shoulder," I suppose a little bit. More so because I flew today than anything else. I really can't move it in the first place, and so I've really just gotten used to the pain level that it's normally at."

"Surgery?"

"Yep, mid-September. And then it's the long road to recovery and hopefully Rio next summer. At this point, however, things aren't looking too good," I tell him, looking away.

"Hey, I'm sure things will be fine, right? Athletes are known to bounce back at a fast rate," He tries to reassure me, but I had heard it all before. From doctors, coaches, teammates, family. It didn't matter, I knew how bad it was, and I knew that my chances of swimming in Rio at this point were slim. But I wasn't willing to give up on Rio just quite yet, I still held out hope.

"And look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it in that way, and looking back on it now I realize that I was a total dick about it. I went about it all wrong. I know that you're a hard worker, Taylor's told me. I don't think that you expect people to give you things, that's just sort of how it came out."

I almost laugh at his statement. Of course he didn't mean it. People normally don't, they just don't really know how to talk to me, and so they end up saying something that they really don't mean. But people normally don't apologize to me whenever they say something that has set me off, normally chalking it up to the idea that I'm a major diva.

"Thanks Sidney, that means a lot. People like to assume that I'm this major diva, but I'm really not. You just have to get to know me a little bit in order to see that," I say, taking the ice he's given me and placing it on my shoulder before awkwardly trying to wrap the saran wrap around my shoulder to keep it in place.

"Here," Sidney says, noticing my struggle and grabbing the saran wrap, wrapping my shoulder for me. I give him a grateful smile before carefully maneuvering my shirt back onto my swimmer's frame.

We both head back up the stairs and to our respective rooms before I turn around, calling out to Sidney, who turns around at his name being called.

"Um, thanks, for the ice. And for allowing me to coach at your school, I'm excited to be a part of it."

"Well thanks for coming up and being a part of it Johanna Gretzky, we're excited to have you," He smiles before turning around and heading into his room. I do the same, getting ready for bed, stomach growing increasingly nervous for the next day.

The first day of school.

Notes