Izzie and I go to a track competition, and we stay in a hotel. I sit on a couch in the foyer of the building, and I wait for Izzie. This is where I told her to meet me. "I just hugged or high-fived at least 63 people on the way in." Izzie says, as she sits down. I smile, as she sits close next to me. "Do you have any hand sanitizer?" She asks. "Yeah, nerd, I think Elsa might have put some in here. I hand her the hand sanitizer. I see something else in my bag. It's a drawing of Sphen and Magic. Sam must have put it in my bag after our talk yesterday. He's very talented at drawing. It looks just like the picture he showed me. "Look what Sam made me." I smile as I show Izzie. "Who's Sphen and Magic?" She asks, looking at the drawing. "Gay penguins. In Australia." I tell her. "He told me about them last night." "Wait." Izzie looks at me, with confusion in her eyes. "Did you tell Sam about us?" She sounds a little mad. "Not really." I say, hearing the anger in her voice. "Not really?" She asks. "Well, I didn't tell him anything. He saw us at the door." I see her look away from me. "What would be the big deal? He's my brother." Why would she care if Sam knows? He's fine with it. "The big deal is that I don't feel like broadcasting my personal business to the world." Izzie says, looking back at me. She's definitely mad. "Okay, jeez." I reply. What is her problem? "No. It's not okay." I say nothing, and look away from her. "There's Claire. I'm gonna go say hi." Izzie says, as she walks away. Things were just starting to get good with her, and now she's gonna be all weird because Sam knows? Who cares? She said she doesn't want the world to see her business, but it's not the world, it's just my brother. I put the drawing back in my bag, and put my head in my hands.
Sharice shows up, and I go in my hotel room with her. I tell her everything, from Slurpee night, to Izzie and I kissing, Evan and I breaking up, to now. "Wow." Sharice says. "Poor Evan." I nod. I still feel horrible about hurting him. "Poor you." I know she's talking about what Izzie just did. "Kind of." I reply. "Izzie is a villain." I laugh. "I'm so confused. I miss Evan so much." I say, honestly. "But when I'm with Izzie, it's so exciting. And kissing her was amazing." I smile, just thinking about our long kiss at the track. Sharice nods. "When it's just the two of us, she acts like she's so into me. But when we're around anyone else, it's like she's afraid to be around me." I tell her. "Sounds like my cat." I laugh. I love how she makes light out of any situation. "Casey, whoever you're with should treat you like the precious, precious princess you are!" She shakes me. I laugh again. "Why am I even having this conversation with you?" She shrugs her shoulders, and the door opens. I hear Izzie's shy voice. "Hey." She softly says. "Can we talk?" She asks, walking closer to me. "I'm gonna go." Sharice says, as she immediately gets up. "I have dinner with the team." Sharice says. "Say hi to them for me." I tell her. "You can tell them yourself. There's a party tonight in Tanya's room. "You're invited too." She says, looking at Izzie. "You know, If you're cool." Izzie nods. Sharice leaves.
Izzie sits down on my bed next to me. "I'm sorry." She says. I feel like she's always apologizing. I don't say anything. "This is just all so new." "Yeah. It is." I reply. "And I don't know what any of this means. Or who I am." "I'm confused too." I tell her. My confusion about her and where we stand, along with feeling sad about Evan, is a lot to think about. "I know. I think I just need to take it slow." She says. I nod in response. "But it was really nice hanging out in your room the other night. And I really like hanging out." She laughs a little. I smile. Kissing her at the track and last night was incredible. "Me too." She bites her lip. "Do you maybe want to go to that party together later?" She asks. "Sure."