Here's the next chapter. Once again I don't own the Ducks nor do I own Scooter. All I own are the Baseball team, Lizzy, Anna, Emma, Ellie, and Aly. Enjoy.

Chapter 36: That's Gotta Hurt

I looked around the cafeteria and went and got my lunch. I looked at the Ducks but they wouldn't look at me, Scooter gave me a sympathetic look, Varsity Baseball shook their heads, and Anna walked me to her table. "Hey Anna...Lizzy." Emma said. I could tell that the three girls sitting there were hesitant to include me.

"I'll just go." I said to Anna.

"Is it true?" Alyssa blurted.

"Is what true?" I asked.

"You don't know?" Ellie asked. I shook my head. "Someone said you're pining for a guy that doesn't return your feelings."

"Only Dean could tell you that."

"So that's what that sonnet was about?" Anna asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh, have a seat then." Emma said. Anna and I sat down and Emma looked at me sheepishly. "Tiffany's going around saying that you're pining for Scooter."

"That would explain why the Ducks wouldn't look at me, Varsity would think I'm a jerk, and Scooter would feel for me." I muttered.

"You're telling me it has nothing to do with Scooter?" Alyssa asked.

"Nothing at all." I said laughing.

"What's so funny?" Anna asked.

"Julie and I are Ducks and the idea of me going behind her back to get with Scooter when I have a perfectly good hockey player is so absurd I wouldn't know where she got it from. Ducks don't go after other Ducks' boyfriends or girlfriends. Not to mention Julie, Connie, and I have each said that we don't find the others' boyfriends worthy of stealing because our own are so much better suited for us than the others would be."

"That makes sense." Emma said as the girls collapsed in laughter.

Charlie's PoV
"Hey guys." I said sitting down to lunch.

"Hey." The team muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you hear what happened to Lizzy during English Lit?" Connie asked.

"No, well not really, just that Anna found her crying in the hallway halfway through." I answered.

"Where's Julie?" Portman asked.

"In her room." Adam answered.

"She was so upset after she heard that she didn't want to run the risk of seeing Scooter or Lizzy." Connie said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I can't believe you haven't talked to Lizzy, before you believe the crap that comes out through the rumor mill." Fulton snapped.

"Apparently Lizzy wrote something for English that got her emotional and after reading it to the class she broke down in tears and left. Everyone is saying it's about Scooter." Luis explained.

"It's not about Scooter." Fulton barked before leaving.

"Then who is it about?" I asked.

"If you have to ask then you really don't know her as well as you thought." Adam said before following Fulton.

"Turns out no one knows for sure who it's about. Tiffany's the one that started saying Scooter, but someone else told me they don't know because she didn't say a name." Russ said.

"Leave it to Mitchell to spread rumors." Portman said.

"You think it is just a rumor?" Kenny asked.

"That's it's about Scooter? Absolutely," Portman replied.

"Yeah come to think of it, she wouldn't want him because she said that he wasn't worthy of stealing when she had her own hockey player who was better than Scooter in her eyes. But which part wasn't a rumor?" Connie added.

"The part that isn't a rumor is that they had to write something and she got emotional about it. Fulton told me they had to write something and that Lizzy's would most likely be about me."

"Guys, you have to help us." Fulton said coming in holding a sheet of yellow paper.

"With what Fult?" Dwayne asked.

"To get these flyers off the wall. They're all over the school as far as I can tell." He said putting the flyer in the center of the table. I grabbed it first. Reading through it I instantly knew that it was Lizzy English project.

"This is Lizzy's English project isn't it?" I asked. He nodded glancing at Portman.

"She really feels like this?" Portman asked after he read through it. Fulton just nodded.

"We have to get these down before Lizzy sees them." I said. We stood and left. When I finished my five hallways I met Adam and Guy at Fulton's locker.

"What the hell is this about?" Portman yelled. I looked around the hallway and saw Portman standing in front of Lizzy holding a tulip and a piece of paper. Lizzy looked lost where as Portman looked slightly angry.

"This isn't good." Adam said. Fulton opened his locker and we put the flyers in there.

"That's the last of them." Connie said, "But look at this." She showed us the back of one of the flyers.

'JV's going to lose. This is only the first step.' It read. "Varsity." Adam muttered.

"Care to explain it?" We heard Portman say. We walked closer to where we saw them standing in front of Lizzy's open locker. She reached out and took the paper before she read through it then looked at her shoes as her hand clenched tightly around it.

"I wrote it if that's what you want to hear." She answered. I barely saw two tears streak down her face.

"Did you put it on my locker to get me to apologize?"

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean there were only two copies of this, I gave one to my English teacher and the other is..." She trailed off looking through her locker. She pulled out a composition notebook and flipped through the pages. "Right here." Lizzy finished handing the book to him. "How they got it I don't know, but I never gave it to anyone." Portman watched her carefully and a few more tears fell from my cousin's eyes. I looked at Fulton and saw it was taking everything in him not to smack Portman on the back of his head and force him to hold Lizzy or hold her himself. "Dean I'm sor..." Lizzy started.

"Don't you dare apologize to me." Portman growled. She took a step back and I could tell she was scared. "God damn it Lizzy, you did nothing wrong. You have nothing to apologize for." I don't think either of them realized the bell had just rang or that the hall way was starting to fill with students. Lizzy locked eyes with a girl standing just to the left of Fulton and her expression changed.

"You're damn right I have nothing to apologize for; you're the asshole and the pig here. Why do I feel like shit when you're the one who's in the wrong?" She demanded. Fulton almost smiled. "And I mean it's not like I should...mmhm." Portman kissed her hard effectively cutting off the rest of the sentence. She struggled against him at first but you could tell she was enjoying it. When she looked to be kissing back he pulled away. "What the hell was that for?" She snapped.

"It was the only way to get you to shut up. I apologize Lizzy; really Maverick I never meant to piss you off. I'm just a little driven by hormones and..." Portman stopped and Lizzy looked at him hard before she smiled.

"You're forgiven." She said smirking. Then they started making out and I looked at the less crowded hallway.

"Sorry to break this up but we have to get to Math." Fulton said tapping them both on the shoulder. Lizzy pulled away, looked around, and flushed bright red before hiding her face in Portman's chest.

"Do it again and I will never speak to you again." I barely heard Lizzy whisper.

Later that afternoon before practice Lizzy, Fulton and I came up with an idea to get back at Varsity.

ER's PoV
I was really happy when Dean and I made up and Fulton told me that we need an idea to get Varsity back. No one on the team would tell me what they had done but they said it hadn't gotten that bad yet. "Varsity's practice is over now right?" I asked on our way to practice.

"Yeah." Fulton answered.

"And their practice uniforms are hanging in their locker room." Charlie said.

"Itchy little Warriors aren't they?" I said.

"No, but they'll be itching for payback after this." Fulton said. Charlie smirked and I knew the three of us had the same idea.

"Dwayne do you have your prank supply with you?" I asked.

"Sure do, figured you'd pull at least on prank this year." He answered. "But what do you need?"

"Let's just say they'll be itching worse than with the fire ants." Charlie said.

"Itching powder in their uniforms." Connie and Julie said.

"And it'll crack us up all day since they have practice tomorrow morning at five." Fulton said.

"You do know this will mean war right?" Guy said.

"My dear Guy, don't you know all is fair in love and war?" I asked.

"Of course Lizzy, I meant...Bring it on." He answered. Once we were on the ice Coach looked at us.

"Something's different here." He said. We nodded. "Let me guess. Jacobs and Portman have stopped fighting?" He stated. I smirked.

"How'd you know?" Guy asked.

"Well Portman looks happy for once and...Oh yeah it's all over the school, how could I not know?" Orion answered.

"Gossip is rarely the truth sir, but you can believe what ever you want." I said. During laps I stayed slow with Fulton even though it was hurting me to stay so slow. "You think we can do plan itchy and scratchy at dinner?" I asked. He nodded. "Good I'll let every one know." I said skating up to Goldberg. "Plan Itchy and Scratchy in action at dinner, pass it on." I said before slowing down again. I went back to Fulton and we had almost finished with laps when Luis caught up to me.

"Plan to be scratched and tickled at dinner." He said. I looked at Fulton and we both laughed.

"That's not what I said. It started out 'Plan Itchy and Scratchy in action at dinner, pass it on'. How in the world did that get changed?"

"I don't know that's just how it reached me, but I'll pass on the true message." Luis answered.

"What was it?" I asked.

"Plan Itchy and Scratchy in action at dinner, pass it on." Luis said slowing down to let us go and let Kenny catch up. This time it was Charlie who told me the message.

"Plan Itchy and Scratchy enacted at dinner." He said. I looked at Fulton and let out a sigh of relief.

"As much as I really hate the game telephone this is the first time I can remember it working almost perfectly." I said.

"Almost?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah I said 'In action' and not 'Enacted' but that was the only change."

"Ok but who's doing it?" Fulton asked.

"The three of us." Charlie said.

"It'll look too suspicious, Dean and I will. Everyone will think we're making up. Bona fide excuse." I said. Charlie and Fulton nodded and practice went on.

"Goldberg, Moreau, Jacobs, Tyler, Reed, and Conway. Team A. Everyone else team B Averman you'll sit this one out." Orion called.

"Coach!" Charlie, Fulton, and I protested.

"I've made my decision."

"But Coach that's not fair." I protested.

"You're not gonna change my mind Jacobs. Suck it up." He answered.

"Just take the face off Lizzy." Charlie said. I shrugged and looked at Guy when we faced off.

"I hope you know you have no chance." I said.

"I know but thanks for trying." He answered.

"Sure." We were halfway though the game when events took a turn. I didn't see him coming at first but Dwayne's call broke me out of my trance.

"Lizzy one coming hard, move it!" He called. I looked up and saw Portman coming fast but the call had come too late and I had no where to move. He slammed into me hard and I heard something pop.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed. Dean backed off and the game came to a halt.

"Sorry Lizzy it's the game." He said. I took off my left glove and helmet biting my lip and holding my right shoulder.

"Robertson, did you forget she's on the opposite team?" Orion hollered.

"No sir, but he was coming too hard, too fast, and from the wrong angle. From the look on her face right now I'd say she's got a dislocated shoulder." The moment I began to taste blood I let go of my lip and clenched my teeth together. Dean pulled of his helmet and looked at me.

"Lizzy are you alright?" Dean asked.

"I think you just dislocated my shoulder in a rookie move and you ask me if I'm alright?" I gritted out. Fulton skated over and took off both of his gloves and after moving my hand started prodding my shoulder. I flinched a few times and he nodded.

"I know you were just trying to up your chances of winning but that didn't mean you had to go and dislocate her shoulder." Fulton snapped at Dean.

"Fulton don't he didn't mean it." I said.

"Yeah I didn't mean it." Dean said. "God Maverick I'm...I apologize, I really didn't mean to hurt you really I..."

"I know." I answered.

"Maybe we should take you down to the nurse." Fulton suggested.

"No need." Dwayne said skating over.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, really I'm ok no need for any drastic measures." I said

"Portman you and Fulton have to hold her." He told them then raising his voice he said, "The rest of you might want to cover your ears."

"What's gonna happen?" Dean asked as I tried to slink away. Keyword there again is tried. Dwayne reached out, grabbed my good arm, and pushed me into Dean. Instinctively he grabbed me around the waist and held me still. As Fulton held me too Dwayne started talking, "About two months into her first baseball season she dislocated her right arm pitching cold, that is, without warming up. Ben put it back into place and she swore against getting it fixed if it happened again. The next time it happened she was about to go to a game until Chris noticed she was favoring her left arm. Took him a few minutes to figure out why and when he confronted her she denied it. We actually got to the field before three of her teammates and Chris trapped her and fixed it. She won't hold still for it."

"You dirty son of a bitch, don't you dare touch me again." I yelled in pain.

"Done." Dwayne smirked. "Should have covered her mouth first but other than that it went well." He let go of my arm and smiled.

"Thanks jerk." I said.

"Anytime Babe." He smirked. Fulton and Dean released me and we looked to Coach.

"Will you able to play?" Orion asked.

"This weekend yes, now no. I need to ice it." I said picking up my stick and glove and helmet.

"Averman you're in Team A." Orion called.

Later after practice Dwayne, Dean, and I went back to Dwayne's room to get our supplies. "Thanks Dwayne." I said. He nodded and Dean and I went back to the Varsity locker rooms.

"Damn, doors locked." Dean cursed trying the handle. I blew an imaginary hair out of my face and shook my head. Pushing Dean out of the way I jimmied the lock open.

"You were saying?" I asked.

"I love you." He said sheepishly.

"That's what I thought. I mean it's not like you haven't seen me do it before." After laying the prank and disposing of the evidence I pulled out a can of shaving cream. I turned to the back wall of the locker room and smiled.

"JV 2 Varsity 1. Trouble keeping above the water?" Dean said. I nodded and wrote it. I disposed of the empty bottle and led Dean back to my room. After a while of getting reacquainted with Dean or as my brother so kindly put it, making out, his stomach let out a huge growl instigating my stomach to do the same. We both laughed, me blushing a bit, and then we went to get some food.

"Hey you guys, everyone's talking about where you two have been whether it was screaming at each other or my favorite, clawing each other's eyes out." Charlie said.

"Well don't worry about it. The Plan worked and we decided to celebrate a bit before his stomach caused my stomach to get the better of me." I said. The team around us chuckled and we ate.

That's all for now for this one. Let me know what you think.