Adam Banks arrived at his locker the next morning to find a handwritten note in it together with a folded piece of cardboard.
See I told you I saw Santa riding a dragon!
He read the note and realised that it was Bec who left it.
Smiling to himself he picked up the cardboard and opened it. He immediately burst out laughing when he saw what Bec had done.
On it was a cutout picture of Santa Claus riding the dragon from the Eragon movie poster and in the bottom corner was a photo of Bec's head glued on top of her hand drawn body pointing up at the dragon and its unusual choice of passenger.
"What's so funny Banks?" Scooter arrived at the locker to find his teammate looking at a piece of paper and laughing hysterically.
"Oh just something Bec did" Adam showed him the cardboard.
"She's a character alright" Scooter didn't understand what the drawing was meant to represent, or why Adam found it so hilariously funny.
"I'll say" Adam replied smiling to the picture.
"So you like her then?" Scooter asked slyly.
"She's okay" Adam replied not sure how he was feeling about the girl who made him laugh.
"You think she likes you?" Scooter pressed on.
"I dunno, I suppose" Adam replied wanting Scooter to shut up.
"I say go for it man. I'm gonna go for it with Julie" Scooter replied.
"Right and how do you propose to do that? You're not a part of her favourite people right now" Adam reminded him.
"Not yet but I will be" Scooter grinned.
"Alright but its your funeral, she's not exactly all that forgiving you know" Adam replied but Scooter wasn't listening. He'd just caught sight of his golden goddess.
"Hi Julie" Scooter waved with a goofy grin on his face.
"Drop dead asshole" came the icy reply.
"Ouch!" Adam patted his friend on the back.
"Its cool, at least she didn't ignore me!" Scooter brightened up and followed Julie down the hall with a wave back at Adam.
"He's hopeless" Adam shook his head and placed Bec's present back in his locker.
"So, you ate ice pretty hard this morning" Bec commented to Tammy as they sat in the locker room unlacing their skates.
"Yeah had a rough night, that combined with coaches impossible routines, I'm surprised I can still walk" Tammy replied sighing. It had not been her best morning.
"Look the sooner you talk to him the better you'll feel" Bec replied releasing her hair from its ballerina bun.
"I know but what do you want me to say? Hey how you doin' wanna be my bit on the side cos I can't choose who I want?" Tammy replied putting on a fake sleazy voice.
"It could work" Bec grinned slyly.
"You are so horrible!" Tammy threw her warm up jacket at Bec.
"You got that right"
The girls looked up to see that a sneering Connie and Julie had just entered the locker room with their gear in hand.
"Mmm hmmm" Bec replied not bothering to bite back. She felt they weren't worth the effort anymore.
"What no witty comebacks?" Connie challenged.
"Not for you, wouldn't dream of wasting my breath on someone like you" Bec replied shoving her gear into her bag and flashing a toothy grin at the pair before heading out the door with Tammy in tow.
"Have a nice day" Tammy replied throwing them an equally fake grin as she followed Bec outside.
"Whatever" Connie grumbled and threw her bag down in the same spot Tammy had been occupying only a few moments ago.
Tammy and Bec were walking down the corridor that led to the rink's exit when they saw a tall dark familiar figure exiting Coach Orion's office.
"Is that Fulton?" Bec asked Tammy.
"Yeah, he came back!" Tammy replied smiling.
"Tam's you're drooling" Bec joking placed her hand under Tammy's chin and closed her mouth for her.
"I am not" Tammy protested.
"So are you gonna go talk to him?" Bec nudged her friend forward in the direction of Fulton
Fulton shook hands with Orion and received a stern don't ever pull a stunt like that again or you wont come back speech.
"Yes sir" Fulton replied and the coach left him to get dressed and hit the ice for practice.
"Hey" Tammy walked up to him with a big prod from Bec.
"Hi" Fulton replied shyly. He suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with Portman.
"So you're back in then?" Tammy asked hoping Orion let him back.
"Yeah, I have to be on the ice in ten minutes to complete about a million laps though" Fulton replied grimacing.
"Ouch, sounds like fun" Tammy said sarcastically.
"Yeah I know, look I have something I want to run by you. Are you free later?" Fulton asked wondering where the suggestion had come from. He mentally cursed his brain for betraying him.
"Yeah, I have a free after lunch" Tammy replied knowing Rick would want to see her at lunch time. She was definitely not looking forward to that.
"So do I, lets meet say, at the front gates?" Fulton said knowing no one would be near there around that time.
"Sounds good, see you then" Tammy replied grinning like an idiot.
"Okay bye" Fulton had the same grin on his face.
Bec smiled and shook her head. Those two were hopeless.
"Hey Banks" Bec said taking a seat next to the Varsity player at the lunch table. It wasn't common practice for a girl who wasn't dating a player to sit with the team but since Tammy was dating Rick, they allowed Bec to join them regularly.
"Hey, thanks for my present" Adam laughed at her.
Several players tuned into their conversation obviously getting the wrong idea about Bec's 'present' to Adam.
"Anytime" Bec replied wondering why every pair of eyes at the table was watching her and Adam.
"Hey everyone" Scooter had arrived at the table and had sunk down in the seat opposite Bec.
"Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?" Bec asked.
"Oh no don't get him started!" Brad Labine, a player on the team, spoke.
"She touched me!" Scooter grinned at Bec.
"Julie?" Bec asked.
"My goddess!" Scooter replied.
"Slapped him was more like it" Brad informed the table.
"She slapped you?" Bec asked.
"Yes but she voluntarily placed her hand on my skin, it was awesome!" Scooter said not caring how much of a tool he was sounding like.
"Erm okay, good for you" Bec replied wondering where her 'normal' friend had disappeared to.
"So are you coming to the game tomorrow night?" Adam asked Bec.
"Yeah, why not" Bec replied knowing that she'd probably be watching that game alone.
"Hi everyone" Tammy had arrived at the table and was greeted with a chorus of
"Hi Tammy"
She sat next to Bec and before she could say anything she was spun around by Rick and had a soft kiss placed on her lips.
"I missed you" Rick said as he sat down next to her.
"Hi, um I missed you too" Tammy lied.
Bec and Adam exchanged a glance. Adam had a feeling that something else was going on here but he'd ask Bec about it later.
"Good answer" Rick smiled kissing her again.
"Hey look the lone Bash Brother's back" someone at the table said and Tammy looked across to the Ducks table where Fulton was engaged in a conversation with Guy Germaine.
"Well we'll just have to welcome him back then won't we?" Rick replied in a tone that made Tammy's skin crawl.
Maybe Bec was right, maybe Rick is an asshole when I'm not around.
GALINDAPOPULAR - I thought Portman's perspective was needed, and his mother was just a bonus!
HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I hope the picture in the locker will suffice, I tried making something up but got nowhere!
HOLLY - thanks for the review, I heard KISS' "God Gave Rock & Roll To You II" (from the Bill & Ted movies) the other day and thought of your review!
TORITHY - I'm sure he'll get past it, he wants her and she wants him but they don't want the trouble that'll go with it! Wonder how they're gonna get away with that one though!
SILVERRAIN1.3 - yeah Portman's my favourite too, had to include him.
NIKKIP - I actually hated Tammy Duncan when I first saw the movies (she makes weirdo facial expressions when Bombay's telling them not to go after the Hawks for what they did to Banks but hit them with the scoreboard 'where it hurts the most') but after reading a few fics on her and Fulton, she's grown on me. Oh god no, I'm well aware of how girls really fight - I just figured an OTT catfight would be better since Connie's been so outwards about hating Tammy. Thakns for the review
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED, THEY'RE HUGELY INSPIRATIONAL AND GREATLY APPRECIATED!