Note: Yes I do realize that I switched things around a bit and I did it on
purpose. Though its not exactly word for word anyone who saw the movie is
going to recognize the seen between Hans and Charlie as I took it from the
movie just put it into words. Some of the other scenes are completely my
creation though.
With that said thanks too Adriana3, Banskiesbabe99, Jess, crazy4nc128, and anne918 for your reviews and encouragement. Enjoy!
Charlie's POV:
After watching Fulton walk off I sat in the alley feeling very depressed. I had never felt so alone in my life. Even all those nights I had spent at home by myself because my mom was at work I at least knew she was only a phone call away. Now I felt that I couldn't even do that. I was losing everything. I was living away from home, Coach Bombay had bailed on the team and now Orion had even taken the Ducks away from. My whole world was falling down around me.
After awhile I just started walking aimlessly. I wasn't aware of where I was and I had no particular aim in goal. I knew eventually I would end up back at the dorms simply because I didn't want to face my mom or my step-dad but it was too early for that right now. Without realizing it though I eventually ended up at Han's shop.
As I let myself in, I found Hans sitting in his armchair in the living room listening to the game at Eden Hall. I guess no matter how hard I tried there was no avoiding the game tonight. I took a seat on the couch nearby.
"Your mother has been looking for you."
"I'm right here," I told him as the radio announced the score at the end of the second period. The warriors were losing by three points.
"Sounds like the team needs you," Hans said.
"What they need is a new coach," I told him.
"You're not a little boy Charlie, please stop acting this way," Hans told me.
"I just don't know what this guy wants from me," I told him.
I vaguely listened to what Hans was telling me. I really hadn't wanted an answer even though I was getting one. His last sentence got through to me though. "He needs you to lead."
"How can he expect me to lead when he takes my "C" away," I said getting angry. What Hans did next only added to my anger. He told me it was just a letter and handed me one from a drawer. He didn't understand. It wasn't the same.
"He took away the "C",Charlie not what was underneath. You're the heart of the team. Don't let it slip away,"Hans told me softly.
"They're the ones who are slipping away from me," I told him standing up and starting for the door. I stopped part way there and looked back. Something wasn't right even though I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. "Are you okay, Hans?" I asked him. He just held up a finger and smiled. I wasn't in the moods for jokes.
"I gotta go," I said more frustrated then when I had come in. I headed out the door and back into the night. I started walking toward the closest bus stop. It still wasn't all that late so instead of heading back to the dorm I headed over to the hospital to see how Adam was doing. I had talked to his mother briefly earlier that morning and found out that they were keeping him another day. She said they told her it was just a precaution but I could tell she was still worried.
I walked down the quiet hallway of the hospital to Adam's room. Adam was alone in the room reading the book we had been reading for English class. His right arm was in a sling and I could tell his wrist had been wrapped. I knocked on the door as I walked into the room to make him aware of my presence.
"Hi Charlie," he said looking up from his book. He closed the book and sat it aside. "Shouldn't you be at a game tonight?" he asked me.
"How are you?" I asked him purposely ignoring his question. What I really wanted to know was what was wrong with his arm. No one had told me about that injury although I had been avoiding everyone since yesterday afternoon.
"I'm doing okay. The doctor said I can go back to school tomorrow. They're going to release me early tomorrow morning. I'll probably miss my first class though."
"What's wrong with your arm?" I asked seeing as he wasn't telling me what I really wanted to know.
"It's nothing," he said trying to dismiss it. "Its just a sprain shoulder and wrist. The doctor said I'll be fine in a couple of days."
"I'm sorry Adam," I said apologizing again for what I had done. I could feel tears welling up again but I was determined not to let them fall.
"Its not your fault," he told me.
I didn't say the obvious. That yes it was my fault. That if I hadn't let my anger get the best of me yesterday that he wouldn't even be in the hospital. It was probably a good thing that I had quit before I had hurt one of my other teammates.
"Charlie if I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone else."
"Adam what are you talking about?" I said concerned.
"I need you to promise. You can't tell anyone," he said. I could see in his eyes that he was serious.
"Yeah, sure. I promise I won't say anything to anyone," I told him wanting to know what he was keeping a secret.
"The sprain wrist and shoulder didn't come from the fall yesterday morning on the ice," he told me. "They were from the night before."
"Then why were you even playing yesterday and what happened?" I asked him.
"I was playing so that no one would suspect anything."
"Adam what are you trying to keep a secret? How did this happen?" I asked him. Part of me was relieved to know that I hadn't been the cause of all of his injuries.
"I overheard Riley and some of the other varsity guys talking about the dinner the other afternoon after practice. That was the first time that I learned about what they planned to do. Before that they had just told me what they had told you - that the dinner was an Eden Hall tradition. They caught me listening to them though and when I tried to leave Riley came after me and grabbed me by the arm. He threatened me Charlie. He told me that I tried to warn you guys I'd regret it and I knew he meant it. That's why I didn't warn you guys."
I was getting mad again. I was mad at Riley for hurting Adam and mad at myself for not listening to him when he had told me he didn't know about the prank until it was too late. No wonder he hadn't tried to warn us. He had been scared and the way we had been treating him he didn't feel like he could turn to us for help.
"You can't let him get away with this," I said angrily.
"Charlie you can't tell anyone," he said pleadingly. "You promised. It will only make things worse."
I really didn't want to listen to him. I wanted to go straight to the Dean and tell him. To get Riley in trouble. The jerk would certainly deserve it. He thought he could just go around using people and bullying people. But I could tell Adam was scared. Scared of what might happen if Riley thought Adam had told anyone about what had happened. And knowing Riley he would try to get Adam back and Cole and some of the other varsity goons would be glad to help.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone," I said reluctantly, "but I still think you're making a mistake."
"Thank-you Charlie," Adam said. I couldn't help but think I was making a mistake. I just hoped that it wouldn't result in someone getting hurt again.
Scooter's POV:
After visiting with Adam I drove back to campus and parked my car out front of my dorm building. I headed inside to look for Riley. Part of me was hoping that I would find him in our room as I would rather say what I had to say without an audience.
I wasn't that lucky. As I walked by the common room I saw him sitting at the table in the corner with one of his school books open. Several other people were in the common room - some studying some just hanging out. A few of them were other members of the team. I made my way over to where Riley was sitting.
"Riley," I said but he didn't react. I knew he was ignoring me on purpose. I reached out and shut his book on him. He still ignored me and just opened the book and started to pretend to read it again. It was nowhere near the same page as he had been. In frustration I picked the book up and threw it against the closest wall which drew everyone's attention to us.
"Did you want something," Riley said casually.
"Do you enjoy making other people's lives miserable. Is your own life really that pathetic that you need to put others down just to make yourself feel important," I said.
"What the hell are you talking about."
"What did Adam Banks ever do to you to justify the way you've been treating him. To justify a sprained shoulder and wrist. You pick on people weaker than you are so you look good. I'm sick of it, Riley."
"And just what are you going to do about it? Banksie is so petrified right now that he'll never come forward with what happened so even if you tell someone what good will it do. Banksie will never back up your story and neither will anyone else who was there."
"You're right but I'm warning you right now -stay away from Adam Banks from now on. I'm not afraid of you Riley and if you do anything to hurt him again I'll make you regret it. I have connections myself Riley and I've hung around you long enough to know how to use them to my advantage and your disadvantage."
I could see fear registering on Riley's face. No one had ever challenged him before and now that someone had he had no clue as to how to handle it. No one had ever dared threaten him before.
"Fine," Riley said finally. "He was too easy anyway. To much of a push over."
"He's a hundred times the person you'll ever be, Riley. If it wasn't for Daddy's connections you wouldn't have anything."
I saw the punch coming and ducked. Riley completely missed me and while he was disorientated my fist made contact with his jaw.
"You're a fake, Riley." I told him as I started walking away leaving Riley standing there with his hand to his face. The room was completely silent and everyone had been watching what was going on. I knew our mighty leader had just lost a few points in everyone's eyes and I really didn't care.
Guy's POV:
The walk back to the dorm was silent. We had loss to the Cardinals six to two. It was like the old district-5 team was back. Orion was even starting to remind me of the coaches we had back then. Always yelling at us, like we weren't good enough for him to be coaching us. At least back then they had a reason. Half of us couldn't even skate, let alone score a goal.
I walked into my dorm room and was surprised to see Charlie in his bed, already asleep. I tried to get ready for bed as quietly as possible so that I wouldn't wake him up. I was so tired that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I reached over and turned it off and then sat up in bed. I glanced over to Charlie's side of the room and saw that he was already gone. I guess he was still busy trying to avoid all of us. I didn't understand what had gotten into Charlie since we came to Eden Hall. It was like he was a totally different person.
I got ready for classes quickly, grabbed my back pack and headed downstairs to meet up with Connie and the others to head over to the cafeteria for breakfast. They were already downstairs waiting for me. We headed quietly over to the cafeteria. None of us were much in the mood for joking around yet after the last couple of days we've had.
We got to eat our meal in peace again. Maybe Varsity had grown tired of tormenting us all the time. As I glanced over at where they were sitting though I could tell something was going on. Scooter was at the opposite end of the table from Riley which I had never seen before and none of them were really talking to each other. I could see that Riley had a bruise on his jaw even from where I was sitting and couldn't help but wonder what had taken place. I wasn't about to go ask questions though. I didn't have a death wish.
The day started looking up though when I walked into my second period history class with Fulton, Russ and Julie. We walked into the classroom to find Adam already there. To say the least we were all happy to see and we crowded around him. I know Connie, Averman, Goldberg and I had thought about going to the hospital and seeing him but had decided against it. We had all been afraid of running into his father or Adam not wanting to see us after how we had treated him recently.
From the smile on his face when he saw us though, I don't think we needed to worry about our second fear. I heard my friends all offering apologies aroun me an Connie even carefully give Adam a hug. So many of us were talking at once though that it was hard to make out any one thing.
The second bell rang and Mr. Morgan called for everyone to take their seats. It took a little longer for us to actually do so but Mr. Morgan was patient enough to give us that extra time. It was a good thing Adam had come back in history class and not Ms. Madigan's class or we would all probably have detention.
That was the last bright spot of the day. The next period all of the Ducks were called to the Dean's office. As I left the classroom with Ken, Luis, Julie and Adam whom I had class with that period we were all wondering what was going on. We met the others, minus Charlie who was evidently cutting school again today, in the office. We didn't have to wait long before the Dean came out of his office. Ms. Conway was with him and it looked as if she had been crying. My first thought was that something had happened to Charlie but then she asked, "where's Charlie?"
"Um, we think he's cutting classes again today," Averman said quietly. She didn't say anything but I could tell she wasn't happy about it.
"I have some bad news kids," she told us. Dean Buckley kind of took a step back and let her handle whatever was going on. "Hans passed away last night in his sleep."
There was stunned silence in the office for a moment and the next to me I heard Connie start to cry. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Julie also started crying and I saw Ms. Conway go to her. Before long Connie and I found ourselves in a group hug with the rest of the Ducks minus Julie and Adam. Adam was standing nearby but I think he was afraid of hurting his shoulder in the group which I was also pretty sure was the only reason none of us tried to draw him in. After a moment though Connie shifted enough so that she could reach a hand out to Adam and grabbed his left hand. We had all loss a very special person. Hans had been a friend and a mentor to all of us and too some of us the father figure that we didn't have. But more importantly Hans had been a part of our family. He had been a Duck.
With that said thanks too Adriana3, Banskiesbabe99, Jess, crazy4nc128, and anne918 for your reviews and encouragement. Enjoy!
Charlie's POV:
After watching Fulton walk off I sat in the alley feeling very depressed. I had never felt so alone in my life. Even all those nights I had spent at home by myself because my mom was at work I at least knew she was only a phone call away. Now I felt that I couldn't even do that. I was losing everything. I was living away from home, Coach Bombay had bailed on the team and now Orion had even taken the Ducks away from. My whole world was falling down around me.
After awhile I just started walking aimlessly. I wasn't aware of where I was and I had no particular aim in goal. I knew eventually I would end up back at the dorms simply because I didn't want to face my mom or my step-dad but it was too early for that right now. Without realizing it though I eventually ended up at Han's shop.
As I let myself in, I found Hans sitting in his armchair in the living room listening to the game at Eden Hall. I guess no matter how hard I tried there was no avoiding the game tonight. I took a seat on the couch nearby.
"Your mother has been looking for you."
"I'm right here," I told him as the radio announced the score at the end of the second period. The warriors were losing by three points.
"Sounds like the team needs you," Hans said.
"What they need is a new coach," I told him.
"You're not a little boy Charlie, please stop acting this way," Hans told me.
"I just don't know what this guy wants from me," I told him.
I vaguely listened to what Hans was telling me. I really hadn't wanted an answer even though I was getting one. His last sentence got through to me though. "He needs you to lead."
"How can he expect me to lead when he takes my "C" away," I said getting angry. What Hans did next only added to my anger. He told me it was just a letter and handed me one from a drawer. He didn't understand. It wasn't the same.
"He took away the "C",Charlie not what was underneath. You're the heart of the team. Don't let it slip away,"Hans told me softly.
"They're the ones who are slipping away from me," I told him standing up and starting for the door. I stopped part way there and looked back. Something wasn't right even though I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. "Are you okay, Hans?" I asked him. He just held up a finger and smiled. I wasn't in the moods for jokes.
"I gotta go," I said more frustrated then when I had come in. I headed out the door and back into the night. I started walking toward the closest bus stop. It still wasn't all that late so instead of heading back to the dorm I headed over to the hospital to see how Adam was doing. I had talked to his mother briefly earlier that morning and found out that they were keeping him another day. She said they told her it was just a precaution but I could tell she was still worried.
I walked down the quiet hallway of the hospital to Adam's room. Adam was alone in the room reading the book we had been reading for English class. His right arm was in a sling and I could tell his wrist had been wrapped. I knocked on the door as I walked into the room to make him aware of my presence.
"Hi Charlie," he said looking up from his book. He closed the book and sat it aside. "Shouldn't you be at a game tonight?" he asked me.
"How are you?" I asked him purposely ignoring his question. What I really wanted to know was what was wrong with his arm. No one had told me about that injury although I had been avoiding everyone since yesterday afternoon.
"I'm doing okay. The doctor said I can go back to school tomorrow. They're going to release me early tomorrow morning. I'll probably miss my first class though."
"What's wrong with your arm?" I asked seeing as he wasn't telling me what I really wanted to know.
"It's nothing," he said trying to dismiss it. "Its just a sprain shoulder and wrist. The doctor said I'll be fine in a couple of days."
"I'm sorry Adam," I said apologizing again for what I had done. I could feel tears welling up again but I was determined not to let them fall.
"Its not your fault," he told me.
I didn't say the obvious. That yes it was my fault. That if I hadn't let my anger get the best of me yesterday that he wouldn't even be in the hospital. It was probably a good thing that I had quit before I had hurt one of my other teammates.
"Charlie if I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone else."
"Adam what are you talking about?" I said concerned.
"I need you to promise. You can't tell anyone," he said. I could see in his eyes that he was serious.
"Yeah, sure. I promise I won't say anything to anyone," I told him wanting to know what he was keeping a secret.
"The sprain wrist and shoulder didn't come from the fall yesterday morning on the ice," he told me. "They were from the night before."
"Then why were you even playing yesterday and what happened?" I asked him.
"I was playing so that no one would suspect anything."
"Adam what are you trying to keep a secret? How did this happen?" I asked him. Part of me was relieved to know that I hadn't been the cause of all of his injuries.
"I overheard Riley and some of the other varsity guys talking about the dinner the other afternoon after practice. That was the first time that I learned about what they planned to do. Before that they had just told me what they had told you - that the dinner was an Eden Hall tradition. They caught me listening to them though and when I tried to leave Riley came after me and grabbed me by the arm. He threatened me Charlie. He told me that I tried to warn you guys I'd regret it and I knew he meant it. That's why I didn't warn you guys."
I was getting mad again. I was mad at Riley for hurting Adam and mad at myself for not listening to him when he had told me he didn't know about the prank until it was too late. No wonder he hadn't tried to warn us. He had been scared and the way we had been treating him he didn't feel like he could turn to us for help.
"You can't let him get away with this," I said angrily.
"Charlie you can't tell anyone," he said pleadingly. "You promised. It will only make things worse."
I really didn't want to listen to him. I wanted to go straight to the Dean and tell him. To get Riley in trouble. The jerk would certainly deserve it. He thought he could just go around using people and bullying people. But I could tell Adam was scared. Scared of what might happen if Riley thought Adam had told anyone about what had happened. And knowing Riley he would try to get Adam back and Cole and some of the other varsity goons would be glad to help.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone," I said reluctantly, "but I still think you're making a mistake."
"Thank-you Charlie," Adam said. I couldn't help but think I was making a mistake. I just hoped that it wouldn't result in someone getting hurt again.
Scooter's POV:
After visiting with Adam I drove back to campus and parked my car out front of my dorm building. I headed inside to look for Riley. Part of me was hoping that I would find him in our room as I would rather say what I had to say without an audience.
I wasn't that lucky. As I walked by the common room I saw him sitting at the table in the corner with one of his school books open. Several other people were in the common room - some studying some just hanging out. A few of them were other members of the team. I made my way over to where Riley was sitting.
"Riley," I said but he didn't react. I knew he was ignoring me on purpose. I reached out and shut his book on him. He still ignored me and just opened the book and started to pretend to read it again. It was nowhere near the same page as he had been. In frustration I picked the book up and threw it against the closest wall which drew everyone's attention to us.
"Did you want something," Riley said casually.
"Do you enjoy making other people's lives miserable. Is your own life really that pathetic that you need to put others down just to make yourself feel important," I said.
"What the hell are you talking about."
"What did Adam Banks ever do to you to justify the way you've been treating him. To justify a sprained shoulder and wrist. You pick on people weaker than you are so you look good. I'm sick of it, Riley."
"And just what are you going to do about it? Banksie is so petrified right now that he'll never come forward with what happened so even if you tell someone what good will it do. Banksie will never back up your story and neither will anyone else who was there."
"You're right but I'm warning you right now -stay away from Adam Banks from now on. I'm not afraid of you Riley and if you do anything to hurt him again I'll make you regret it. I have connections myself Riley and I've hung around you long enough to know how to use them to my advantage and your disadvantage."
I could see fear registering on Riley's face. No one had ever challenged him before and now that someone had he had no clue as to how to handle it. No one had ever dared threaten him before.
"Fine," Riley said finally. "He was too easy anyway. To much of a push over."
"He's a hundred times the person you'll ever be, Riley. If it wasn't for Daddy's connections you wouldn't have anything."
I saw the punch coming and ducked. Riley completely missed me and while he was disorientated my fist made contact with his jaw.
"You're a fake, Riley." I told him as I started walking away leaving Riley standing there with his hand to his face. The room was completely silent and everyone had been watching what was going on. I knew our mighty leader had just lost a few points in everyone's eyes and I really didn't care.
Guy's POV:
The walk back to the dorm was silent. We had loss to the Cardinals six to two. It was like the old district-5 team was back. Orion was even starting to remind me of the coaches we had back then. Always yelling at us, like we weren't good enough for him to be coaching us. At least back then they had a reason. Half of us couldn't even skate, let alone score a goal.
I walked into my dorm room and was surprised to see Charlie in his bed, already asleep. I tried to get ready for bed as quietly as possible so that I wouldn't wake him up. I was so tired that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I reached over and turned it off and then sat up in bed. I glanced over to Charlie's side of the room and saw that he was already gone. I guess he was still busy trying to avoid all of us. I didn't understand what had gotten into Charlie since we came to Eden Hall. It was like he was a totally different person.
I got ready for classes quickly, grabbed my back pack and headed downstairs to meet up with Connie and the others to head over to the cafeteria for breakfast. They were already downstairs waiting for me. We headed quietly over to the cafeteria. None of us were much in the mood for joking around yet after the last couple of days we've had.
We got to eat our meal in peace again. Maybe Varsity had grown tired of tormenting us all the time. As I glanced over at where they were sitting though I could tell something was going on. Scooter was at the opposite end of the table from Riley which I had never seen before and none of them were really talking to each other. I could see that Riley had a bruise on his jaw even from where I was sitting and couldn't help but wonder what had taken place. I wasn't about to go ask questions though. I didn't have a death wish.
The day started looking up though when I walked into my second period history class with Fulton, Russ and Julie. We walked into the classroom to find Adam already there. To say the least we were all happy to see and we crowded around him. I know Connie, Averman, Goldberg and I had thought about going to the hospital and seeing him but had decided against it. We had all been afraid of running into his father or Adam not wanting to see us after how we had treated him recently.
From the smile on his face when he saw us though, I don't think we needed to worry about our second fear. I heard my friends all offering apologies aroun me an Connie even carefully give Adam a hug. So many of us were talking at once though that it was hard to make out any one thing.
The second bell rang and Mr. Morgan called for everyone to take their seats. It took a little longer for us to actually do so but Mr. Morgan was patient enough to give us that extra time. It was a good thing Adam had come back in history class and not Ms. Madigan's class or we would all probably have detention.
That was the last bright spot of the day. The next period all of the Ducks were called to the Dean's office. As I left the classroom with Ken, Luis, Julie and Adam whom I had class with that period we were all wondering what was going on. We met the others, minus Charlie who was evidently cutting school again today, in the office. We didn't have to wait long before the Dean came out of his office. Ms. Conway was with him and it looked as if she had been crying. My first thought was that something had happened to Charlie but then she asked, "where's Charlie?"
"Um, we think he's cutting classes again today," Averman said quietly. She didn't say anything but I could tell she wasn't happy about it.
"I have some bad news kids," she told us. Dean Buckley kind of took a step back and let her handle whatever was going on. "Hans passed away last night in his sleep."
There was stunned silence in the office for a moment and the next to me I heard Connie start to cry. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Julie also started crying and I saw Ms. Conway go to her. Before long Connie and I found ourselves in a group hug with the rest of the Ducks minus Julie and Adam. Adam was standing nearby but I think he was afraid of hurting his shoulder in the group which I was also pretty sure was the only reason none of us tried to draw him in. After a moment though Connie shifted enough so that she could reach a hand out to Adam and grabbed his left hand. We had all loss a very special person. Hans had been a friend and a mentor to all of us and too some of us the father figure that we didn't have. But more importantly Hans had been a part of our family. He had been a Duck.