Disclaimer: I don't own.
Author's Note: I forgot to mention, Portman is also not in this story (for now, perhaps, there's a chance he'll come back), and Julie is also not part of the Ducks. I've also kept most of the Warrior/Hawk characters around to avoid having to make any original characters, which means Warrior ages will be off. Soz, kiddos.
: Chapter Two :
Name: Adam Banks
Ranking: 1
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 140
Physical Description: Dark blonde hair, gray eyes.
Adam slowly made his way across the vast courtyard of Eden Hall. He could feel eyes on him and as trite as it seemed, he really, really wished they weren't. Then again, he would be lying if he didn't admit that a part of him also really enjoyed this sort of treatment. He'd probably enjoy it more if he hadn't been pampered his whole life. That came from being the youngest, the youngest by a lot, as well, seeing as how his older brother Jonathon was already married with a kid. His parents had the tendency to treat him like he was seven, not seventeen, not that he was exactly complaining.
He normally kept his eyes trained ahead as to not make eye contact but today Adam found himself glancing around a bit, particularly to the left since on his right was Larson who wouldn't shut the hell up about some sorority girl he hooked up with. Bored, Adam looked over to the left again. There, standing in the shade of the school wall was a boy, probably his age. Their eyes locked for a second and the first thought that passed Adam's mind was, who the hell is he? He looked kind of threatening, glowering there in the shadow of the wall. Adam shrugged; he had long since realized that there was really no way he could know everyone in the school and there was bound to be one or two lurkers that would never come across his way. It was too bad since he looked kind of interesting, in an out of place sort of way.
"Where's my schedule," Adam mumbled, as he checked his bags. He came up with a crinkled sheet of paper that he smoothed out. First period was on the second floor.
"I'll see you guys later," he said to his friends, before one of them could chime in saying that they had the same class. Adam slowly made his way up the stairs, deep in thought. He didn't mind his friends, when he needed to blow some steam, but there was a difference between being alone and being lonely, and usually being with his friends made him feel lonely as opposed to just being flat out alone.
He heard a loud crash behind him and shrieks of laughter. He turned around to find that glowering boy and another boy who was surprisingly big, wrestling their way through the hall. They were pushing each other into the rows of lockers, apparently enjoying winding each other.
"Come on, Fulton, you can't take that kind of crap from Charlie!" someone yelled. The voice appeared to have come from the small group who were following and surrounding the two…who were apparently named Fulton and Charlie. It took Adam a second to realize that they weren't fighting, just horsing around, something he hadn't even done before. He paused at the stairway, watching them; he wasn't the only one. Some of the students that were making their way to class had paused to watch the scene unfold before them. Others, though, passed by Adam to climb up the stairs, saying hello as they did so, to which Adam only returned with an absent nod.
Now the smaller boy had jumped onto the bigger boy's back, hooking his arm around the bigger boy's neck. They fell down in a heap and erupted into laughter. The only girl in the group punched the smaller boy's arm, saying something that was indecipherable from the flow of noise. Adam realized his brows had been knitted into a small frown. He told himself to relax and turned around to climb the rest of the stairs to his class. He selected a seat by the wall in the very back of the classroom. Even as he pulled out a notebook to appear engrossed at the blank lines, to avoid conversation, someone said, in a voice that was just too chirpy for the given time and mood that Adam was in, "You're number one again. Great way to start off the year, huh?"
Adam doodled something into his notebook. Fulton. Charlie. Maybe if he had time he could check out who they were, find out which one was the glowering one. The names sounded…mildly familiar but it was really hard to say when different names were pushed at him each week, asking for his opinion on them. Adam shut the notebook and capped his pen.
"Yeah. Great," he said, his automated voice kicking in.
From the Index of Rules, article XIV
It is possible to become leader without having to necessarily beat the current leader in a physical fight. If the current leader relinquishes his/her title to another, it is considered a valid win and the current leader is stripped of his/her position and their actions are considered void until the next school year. Their name is removed from the list until the next school year or before if by popular demand; this is usually not the case for relinquishing one's title inevitably leads to public humiliation and mocking.
Julie was tapping away at her laptop on the fifth floor of the library. She was surrounded by metaphysics books and texts in Latin and Greek which meant that this particular floor was almost always empty. She pushed her chair back and pulled up her legs and rested her chin on her knees, staring blandly at the website before her. It was a hell of a lot of work doing this but it was pretty much the only way she got these brain-dead kids to see her graphics. Without participating in this ridiculous tradition of the lists, she wouldn't have gotten nearly as many commissions as she's had so far.
"I thought I'd find you here." Julie didn't even bother looking up; she didn't even register the owner of the voice, just let the words go in one ear and out the other.
"Fuck off, Scooter. I told you about five times last year that I wasn't going to sleep with you, I'd think that even a moron like you would get it after a while."
"As amusing as that is," said the voice. Julie realized it wasn't Scooter. The voice was laced in irony; Scooter was never sarcastic. Silly, goofy, and somewhat sweet even though he was dumb as a brick, he was never sarcastic.
"I'm not Scooter. Although I can relay the message to him if you want." Julie looked up to find Adam looking at her without his normal entourage of mindless followers. In fact, he looked pretty normal, especially with the corners of his lips pulled up in a sort of wry grin; Julie had never seen him smile before.
"I take commissions by e-mail," she said. "And I can't switch around the lists for you. I really won't; it's unethical."
"I'm not looking for you to design any flyers," he said. "And I really don't care for the lists."
"I would have never expected you to be a liar," Julie said. "Acting as though you couldn't care for being treated like royalty in this place. You enjoy it, at least a little, don't you?" Adam's expression closed off and he looked outside. The large bay windows overlooked the quad and he saw a group of kids playing dodgeball with those big red, rubber balls.
"It's a nice day," Adam finally said, pointedly ignoring Julie's last comment. "Why aren't you out there?" Julie pursed her lips thoughtfully.
"I'd rather not. I have this to work on. Why aren't you out there? Aren't you a jock or something?"
"I have a mild allergy to the sun." He said it so blandly that Julie couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.
"Well, why are you here?" she demanded. "And how did you find me?" Adam had sat down on the opposite side of the table, setting his book bag on the floor beside him, still staring at the kids in the quad. Julie thought he was going to ignore her question, like he had before. Julie went back to tinkering with her website. She wanted a new look with the lists. As of the moment, it was completely plain and while she had liked the institutional look during the past school year, she wanted something with a little more…before she had a chance to put a finger on what she wanted, Adam spoke up, to her surprise.
"I come here often," he said, off-handedly. "If there was one reason why Riley was of any use, it was his loaded dad donating money for this library."
"I guess it is nice," Julie said, a little bit warily. The conversation seemed to be veering towards civility, which seemed very wrong. She hadn't even exchanged two words with Adam before; why was he seeking her out now?
"I like books. I like to read," he said. He glanced at her. "Aren't you going to write this down? Or type it out onto that laptop, storing all of this information until it proves to be of some worth? I might say something blackmail worthy sooner or later." Julie blushed, something she didn't do often. It was true that she took note of almost every little thing that someone else said or did around her. And usually it did prove to be useful. Like Adam said, there was something powerful about having the ability to blackmail them. She wasn't a malicious person, though. Julie only did it to be left alone. She didn't belong with these rich preps; she was here on a scholarship, her and a handful of other kids. She was the only girl in the school who wore cargoes and flannel shirts and left her hair long and boring. She wanted to be left alone and this was the key.
"I like to be left alone," Julie said, although it was hardly a fitting answer to Adam's question, unless he could follow her train of thought.
"I don't mind being alone either," he said. He glanced at her before turning back towards the window.
"Which is why I like to come to the library," he continued. "It's nice. I've perused just about every floor, which is why I knew your little hideout." So there was the answer; he just had a really roundabout way of getting to it.
"What do you want?" Julie asked, directly. Adam glanced at her again. He reached into his book bag and pulled out a notebook and flipped to the first page. He pushed it across the table to her. Julie looked at the page; it was blank except for two names written in a surprisingly neat, narrow handwriting.
"Fulton? Charlie? What about them?"
"I'm looking for a particular boy. He's relatively tall with curly brown hair. I don't know which one he is. I thought you would be the one to ask." Julie looked at him doubtfully.
"What do you want with them? I don't want to endorse social hierarchies of any sort but they're not really your type of people." Adam laughed.
"My type? What is my type?" When Julie didn't answer, he continued, "Rich, cocky boys with cars and egos that couldn't be compensated by anything in their vapid personalities. Snobby girls who reek of some wildflower whose only ambition is to marry rich and live in comfort their whole lives. If you were me, you'd be looking for an alternative too." Julie still looked at him with the same expression.
"They'd hardly fall at your feet, either," she retorted. She had a couple of classes with Charlie and Fulton and some of their friends. They had been acquaintances, not really friends, but they were cool. They weren't anything like the rest of the annoying kids at school that fell all over the ground that Adam walked on.
"They're not like your desperate pack of friends that want your approval all the time. I doubt they'd view you as any different from your friends…because you aren't." Adam just stared out the window. Julie followed his gaze and found it fixed on what looked like Charlie, himself, playing what appeared to be water tag with his friends. They each had a bottle of water in their hands as they chased each other around the grassy quad. She had to admit, it looked pretty enticing. Those Ducks always found a way to have fun. Julie looked at the paper again.
"Charlie's the thin one. Fulton's the humongous one. Charlie's the captain of the Varsity hockey team. He and the rest of his friends are here on a hockey scholarship; he's led them to state championships every year he's been here." Adam got up.
"Thank you for all your help, Ms. Gaffney," he said, with only a trace of mockery. But he still smiled a little bit as he picked up the notebook and put it in his bag. Julie watched him leave then shook her head. That was weird, really weird, and to think she thought Mondays were always mundane. She glanced back at the laptop screen and went back to work.
A/N: Thanks for reading, please review on your way out.
Y0urs-truly- Yep, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that in the first chapter. No, Julie isn't part of the Ducks, unfortunately.
Adam- Adam does play hockey, but not for the school, although that may change. I'm not a fan of drugs, either, to tell the truth, so obviously it won't be a large part of the story at all. Thanks for your insight.
