It was like pouring salt on an open wound and I'm not afraid to admit it, it stung.
Adam had even stopped talking to us and I'm not entirely sure it was the Varsity's fault. He actually looked at us like we were beneath him now.
Perhaps Charlie had been right, Adam certainly was acting like a cake eater these days.
"Julie have you seen the school paper?" Connie asked me waving the Eden Hall Weekly in my face.
"Sure, its right in front of me" I replied sarcastically and Connie rolled her eyes.
"Look at this, can they print things like this?" she asked shoving the paper under my nose.
I looked at the headline.
"Sitting Ducks – Eden Hall's 'Miracle Team' a Sham"
I silently read the article.
From the first moment the new JV Hockey Team set foot on campus they have shown us that they are not the Mighty Ducks they once might have been. From destroying assemblies to THAT embarrassing first game tie the Ducks have now hit an all-time low.
Sources inform us that as of early yesterday morning two of the Ducks have left the team indefinitely. The two players in question are Captain, Charlie Conway and Left Wing Defenseman and "Bash Brother" Fulton Reed.
With the loss of two more of their valuable players just how much longer can the Ducks stay afloat?
Student opinions around campus are unanimous – the Ducks will be dead by the end of the semester.
The lovely piece of journalism (and I'm dripping with sarcasm here) was accompanied by an ever-so-flattering photo of the Ducks on induction day looking lost and confused. I recognised it as the moment Charlie had just dropped the Bombay left us bombshell on us.
"Is it me or is the entire cafeteria staring at us?" Averman asked as he and Luis joined Connie and I at our usual table.
"They must've read the paper" Connie scowled and I handed the paper to the new additions to the table.
"Why do I look like a stunned mullet?" Luis asked perusing the photo.
"You know I've always wondered about that saying, why would a mullet looked stunned in the first place?" Averman asked.
"I dunno, maybe with a hook hanging out of the side of its mouth it's stunned?" Russ argued.
"Hook?" Goldberg asked looking confused.
"A mullet is a fish Goldie" Dwayne answered.
"Wait I thought a mullet was a haircut?" Goldberg asked.
"Yeah, a really bad one at that" Russ grinned.
"But you just said it was a fish" Goldberg was confused even further.
"It's both" Guy piped up.
"Really?" Goldberg asked.
"YES!" we all said at the same time and for the first time since yesterday, we all laughed.
"Man that felt good" Connie said once we became silent again.
"I'll say, I was starting to worry we would never laugh again" Ken agreed.
"Us never laugh again? Come on Wu Man" Russ teased.
"I have one more question?" Goldberg asked.
"What?"
"Can a haircut be stunned?" he asked very seriously and that set us off again.
By now I'm sure the entire school population thought we were insane. If they didn't already think that of course.
It took a lot longer for the laughter to die off this time because every time it did, someone would mutter "stunned haircut" and we'd laugh again.
Who'd have thought such a stupid topic would be good for a laugh like this?
"Do you think we can prove them all wrong without Charlie and Fulton?" Guy asked suddenly.
We all thought for a moment before responding.
"We're gonna have to aren't we?" Connie answered with a look of sheer determination on her face.
"Yeah, and if we're gonna do it, we're gonna have to work damn hard" Luis was trying to channel Charlie but it didn't quite have the same effect.
Fortunately for him we humoured him anyway.
"Yeah!" we agreed.
This afternoon's practice should be interesting then.
Indeed practice was interesting. Coach Orion had obviously been thinking about our line up as he informed us he was shuffling it around again.
Instead of back-up Goalie, Goldberg was now taking Fulton's position and Guy was taking Charlie's. Connie had been moved to Guy's spot and Ken was moved to Connie's.
Poor Goldberg looked scared out of his mind when Coach announced his new position.
"That means that Gaffney will be playing full games from now on. So we've got to work extra hard on our defence now to give her a break" Coach continued.
"Okay lets run some drills, Mendoza, Wu and Averman against Moreau, Goldberg and Tyler. Use the open net and take turns in playing offence and defence. Go" Orion ordered and they took off down the other side of the rink.
"Germaine and Robertson, you're taking turns at shooting pucks at Gaffney" he ordered. I guess they were going to be taking Charlie and Adam's places as our leading scorers. Not that I minded, Dwayne and Guy were wonderful players.
"Guys I don't want to step on anyone's toes here but I think we should call a team meeting tonight" Ken spoke up as we were finishing up in the locker room.
"What for?" Averman asked.
"I don't know about you but I think we need to discuss our new, um, situation without any outside influence" Ken explained.
"I'm in" I replied. I thought Ken had a great idea there.
"Me too" Connie replied.
One by one the rest of the team slowly agreed to meet at Russ and Ken's dorm room after dinner.
"Hey Julie" Connie came up to me.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I could stay with you tonight in the dorm?" Connie asked me seriously.
"Is everything okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah its just that…"
"What?" I asked starting to feel a little worried. I hoped everything was okay for her at home.
"This is so stupid, Charlie lives down the street from me and I really don't want to run into him today, I'm so mad at him" Connie explained.
"Sure, I understand" I told her as I picked up my bag ready to leave the locker rooms. Our 15 minutes were up.
"Thanks Julie, have you heard from Fulton?" she asked me gently as we walked back to my dorm room.
"No and honestly I don't want to. I'm pissed off at him too" I replied. The asshole hadn't even bothered to call me.
"What about Scooter? Has he tried to talk to you again?" Connie asked when we were in the safety of my dorm room. I had asked her not to say anything about Scooter and I talking to each other. The Ducks were treading on very thin ice at the moment and didn't need any further upset.
"Yeah he asked how I was doing this morning after first period. But if you're asking whether we've had any more D&Ms then no" I replied.
"You seem a little upset about that" Connie teased with a glint in her eye.
"No not really" I wasn't taking the bait. I knew what she was getting at and I didn't have any answers for her. Not until I find out where Fulton and I stood for sure.
She sighed and gave up the interrogation.
"So wanna watch a movie before dinner?" she asked me eying my DVD collection.
"Sure" I replied hoping she'd pick something that didn't have romance in it.
Fortunately for me she picked Terminator 2.
"Portman said I should watch this one" she informed me.
"Oh he did, did he?" I teased her.
"Yep" she answered and popped the movie in and settled on the spare bed to watch.
Since I'd seen it a hundred times already I decided to get some French homework out of the way.
By the time I'd finished it was up the part where Arnold Schwarzanegger's character was sacrificing himself into the hot liquid and John Connor was crying like a baby because he didn't want to lose his new friend.
I glanced over at Connie and almost burst out laughing when I saw her wipe away a tear. She's so lucky Portman's not here to see that.
The movie ended and I looked at the clock.
"Come on dinner starts in five minutes" I told her as I put away my French homework. At least the hardest subject was done first.
"What's on the menu tonight?" Connie asked as we entered the cafeteria.
"Um, lets see we've got a choice of Tuna Surprise or Chicken and vegetables" I read the menu on the wall.
"I so do not want to know what the surprise is so I'm gonna go with the chicken" Connie followed me to the line.
Dinner at Eden Hall wasn't as bad as breakfast and lunch since majority of the population had left the grounds to go home for dinner. Only the 'in house' students remained.
"Lets grab a table" I suggested once we'd gotten our meals.
Shortly after the boys joined us. It appeared that the in state Ducks had stayed behind for dinner too. Oh well, the more the merrier right?
Dinner was strangely silent. It seemed like we all had something else on our minds than conversation.
"Well since we're all here shall we go?" Russ asked.
We all nodded our agreement and made our way back to Russ and Ken's dorm for our 'team meeting'. I had a feeling that lots of anger was going to come to the surface soon.