It was obvious he'd spent the past few days in tears and hadn't slept much. The bags under his eyes were a dead giveaway, excuse the pun.
I stood next to Connie in the front row since we were the shortest and the entire time I felt sick to my stomach as I tried not to look at the casket in front of me. Instead I clutched onto the single white rose in my hand and looked at the native costumes that Hans' distant cousins had worn.
Fulton had to stand in the back since he was so tall so I didn't get to lean on him throughout the service. Instead, Connie and I clung to each other trying our hardest not to cry.
Charlie didn't speak to any of us Ducks that day. Instead he opted to stick close to his mother and when Bombay arrived and laid Hans' Ducks jersey on the coffin before it was lowered into the ground, Charlie broke down and left.
I could see how much it had hurt Bombay that Charlie was acting this way. He obviously had no idea that things had gotten this bad.
"Every time you touch the ice. Remember it was Hans who taught us how to fly" he'd said.
That was the one thing that stuck in my mind.
After the service we all decided to meet back at the old District 5 pond where Bombay was filled in on what had happed since he'd last seen us.
"Why didn't you guys call me before it got this bad?" he asked.
He all looked at our feet.
"Charlie was the only one who had your number Coach and ah, well, he's not exactly into talking to us lately" Goldberg admitted.
"Oh, I see" Bombay lowered his head.
"Coach? I have a question" Dwayne raised his hand like we were in school.
"Yes Dwayne?" Bombay tried not to laugh.
"Why did Coach Orion quit the Stars? Is it true he punched out a fan?" he asked.
"Who cares? The guy's a jerk!" Russ piped up.
"Maybe there's more to him than you know" Bombay stood up for our new coach.
"Like what?" Connie asked.
"Like, to answer your question Dwayne, he quit the Stars when they moved to Dallas because he had to look after his daughter" Bombay started.
"Couldn't she have gone with him?" Goldberg interrupted.
Bombay took a deep breath. You'd think he'd be used to us interrupting his stories by now.
"Its not that simple Goldberg, you see Orion and his daughter, Becky, were in a car wreck. He was fine but she took the impact and is now in a wheelchair. The doctors say she may never walk again. Orion stayed to help her recover" Bombay explained.
"I liked the punching out the fan story better. This story's too dang depressing" Dwayne declared.
"Yeah!" we all agreed.
Bombay looked bewildered.
"I feel so bad for thinking he's a jerk when his daughter nearly died" Connie declared.
"Me too" I said starting to warm up to our new Coach now.
"Guys, I don't think he wants to be treated any different because of Becky" Bombay advised.
But his words were lost on us as we began talking animatedly about our new Coach.
When we'd finally calmed down enough to let Bombay get a word in he advised us he was hatching a plan to get Charlie to see sense again and that we should organise a street puck game amongst ourselves whilst he was with Charlie.
We agreed to it but Guy called a team meeting back in the dorms straight after Bombay left to check in to his hotel.
"Guy what's up?" we all asked him as we piled into Luis and Dwayne's dorm room.
"Oreo called me yesterday, about Charlie" he began.
"Oreo?" Russ asked not getting it, I must admit I didn't understand who he was talking about either.
"Jesse, long story" Guy explained.
"What did he say?" Fulton asked from next to me.
"He called Charlie when he heard about Hans and from what Charlie told him, I'm not so sure Bombay can get him back to the team" Guy said softly.
"What do you mean by that?" Averman asked looking worried. Charlie had been his friend for a long time.
"I mean Charlie told Jesse he's leaving Minnesota for good" Guy dropped the bombshell.
"What?" we all asked with our mouths hanging open.
"What should we do?" Goldberg asked when the shock had worn off.
"Charlie made him promise not to say anything so I guess we can't do anything" Guy said seriously. He didn't want to get Jesse into any trouble.
"I can't believe this. Charlie is like the original Duck. He and Fulton were the only ones who stuck around after we all found out Bombay was a Hawk" Connie pointed out.
"I know, its just wrong. Who's gonna come after me when I get separated from the team again?" Goldberg was talking about how Charlie rescues him from harm every time they go skating together.
"We need Adam" Connie said suddenly.
"He's Varsity" Luis pointed out.
"He knows Charlie better than anyone" Connie argued back.
"He's not speaking to us either?"
"Yeah are we the only ones who remember the fight the other day?" Averman spoke up.
"Can it jackass, of course I remember, but he's hurting too you know, and we've all just shunned him. I think its time to make things right again" Connie argued.
"I agree" I spoke up. Bombay was trying with Charlie so the least we could do was try with Adam.
"Okay so who's gonna call him?" Goldberg asked.
"Guy" Connie said simply.
"Why me?" Guy looked frightenend.
"Because, you're too nice to be turned down" Connie replied simply before announcing she had homework to do and would see us all later.
I knew she was off to call Portman.
"Did she just insult me?" Guy was scratching his head as he stared at the closed door.
"Probably" Russ was stifling his laughter.
"Well Guy, don't you have a phone call to make?" Goldberg innocently handed Guy Dwayne and Luis' in-house phone.
Guy reluctantly accepted it.
"Okay, lets get this over with" he said dialling Adam Banks' number.
thanks Torithy, Donna79 and Elyse Black for your reviews and I hope you liked this one (although not a whole lot really happens in this chapter)