Alex Hawke walked through the campus of ULA.  This was her freshman year and she was ecstatic to make the school's newspaper, even if she only did the small articles no one read.  She expected to get the bottom of the bucket in terms of roles on the team, but this didn't bother her too much.  She knew all she had to do was impress the right people and get more students to read her articles and she would quickly climb the ranks.  Unlike other school newspapers, this one wasn't treated as an elective or a club, rather it was similar to working on an actual newspaper.  Alex got paid for her work.

Finally she made it to the hockey stadium's home locker room.  Their practice was finishing up within the next ten minutes and she wanted to make sure she didn't miss her chance.  Alex looked down to the paper in her hand.  "Cole Cross," she muttered, reading the name.  The paper had a copy of his school ID photo, which she was grateful for.  She would be able to find him easily in the sea of players.  Or so she thought.

Though she didn't know much about Cole, or hockey in general for that matter, the young woman was assigned to interview him.  Rumors spread about an issue with his visa, which prevented him from arriving in Los Angeles on time.  She decided to take this story with a grain of salt.

Eventually, the team began to come out of the locker rooms in groups.  Alex didn't see Cole make his exit.  Maybe he blended in with the group?  They were all so tall, much taller than her 5'3" self.  She couldn't see all of their faces so well.  Alex stuck around a couple more minutes before deciding that Cole must have left.

She sighed and tapped her pen on her head in frustration.  If she couldn't manage something as simple as an interview how could she ever manage a bigger job?

Alex moved to make her leave, running her hands through her wavy brown hair in an attempt to relax her frustration, but something knocked her back.  [i]Hard.[/i]

The young woman flew down to the ground, dropping her folders and pens, even hitting her head quite hard against the pavement.  She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again to see who had hit her.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Alex assured him, though the pain in her head and tailbone were was pretty bothersome.  She took his hand and stood as he pulled her up to his chest.

Alex looked up to him, her body pressed to his.  Time stood still momentarily.  She was incredibly embarrassed, so much show that a blush quickly appeared on her cheeks.  But then she realized something.  Taking a step back and smoothing her clothes down, she stated confidently, "You're Cole Cross, right?  I'm here for your interview."

Then she realized her folders and pens were still on the floor.  She awkwardly scrambled to pick them up, then returned to face him, "Do you have time for an interview?  It's for the school's online newspaper."