Julie's POV:
I listened to Adam as he told me about his conversation with Scooter Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time I had heard about what had happened to Adam the night before our grudge match with Varsity. It made me feel guilty about using the liquid nitrogen on his clothes in the locker room. Poor Adam. He had been stuck in the middle of our war with Varsity. I figured now wasn't the time to be apologizing though. Things between us and Adam were going well and it was probably just better if I let it go. Leave things the way they were. Bringing what happened up again would probably only cause more problems.
"That sounds like something Charlie would do," I commented after Adam finished telling me about his conversation with Scooter.
"Thanks a lot," he told me.
"Sorry," I told him with a shrug. "How can I help?" I asked him. As soon as I heard the idea I hated it. "What makes you even think he'll want to talk to me?" I asked Adam. He wanted me to talk to Scooter at some point today and tell him to meet Adam at the ice arena before the game tonight. I didn't blame Adam for wanting to stay away from Riley and Cole but why me? Fulton could do it? At least Fulton wouldn't get beat up.
"You said you wanted to help," Adam told me. That I had. Me and my big mouth. "Besides, Scooter likes you. He'll trust you. If one of the others do it he might think it's a trick."
"What," I was still back on the Scooter likes you bit. "How do you know that?" Part of me didn't want to believe it. Part of me wanted him to be the enemy so that I would have no distractions during the game tonight. Then there was the other part of me who wanted to believe what Adam was saying was true. That the starting Varsity goalie actually liked me- a lowly freshman. There was no denying that I had been attracted to Scooter since I first met him. Could he actually feel the same way about me?
"He told me," Adam said as if he was commenting about the weather. I could've strangled him at that point but I restrained myself.
"He just came right out and told you?" I asked in disbelief. Somehow I didn't think the two of them were that good of friends. At least not yet. Adam wasn't an easy person to get to know just because he tended to put up walls.
"Well, not straight out. He sort of started asking all kinds of questions about you and then I wanted to know why he was asking all of these questions about you."
"Are you being serious?" I asked studying his face trying to determine for myself if he was joking with me or not.
"Would I lie to you about something like that?" Adam asked. There was no hint of humor in his voice. If it was one of my other teammates I may have doubted them but Adam very rarely joked around.
"I guess not?" I replied.
"So will you help me?" he asked again.
"Fine," I said with a sigh. After all I was the one that had started this whole conversation anyways.
"Thanks, Julie," Adam said as we headed out of the arena and toward the dorms to get ready for classes.
I didn't even see Scooter until just before lunch and then when I did I got lucky and there wasn't another Varsity player around. I was heading for the cafeteria from my last class with Connie and Charlie when I saw him at his locker switching books.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," I told them coming to a stop.. "There someone I need to talk to," I explained purposely being vague. Adam hadn't told me to keep quiet about what was going on but I decided to anyway.
"Okay," Charlie said with a shrug and he and Connie kept walking toward the cafeteria. I waited until I lost them in the crowd before taking a deep breath and making my way across the hallway to where Scooter was still standing in front of his locker. Part of me had been hoping that in the brief time I had waited for my friends to leave Scooter would have disappeared too. It hadn't happened.
Scooter was just shutting his locker when I reached him.
"Hey Scooter," I said as casually as I could. What was wrong with me anyway? I had never been nervous about talking to a guy before.
"Julie, hi," he said sounding surprised. "Have you and your friends decided to forfeit the game tonight," he asked with a smile on his face.
"Not a chance," I told him fiercely.
"I didn't think so," he said with a laugh, "but a guy can dream can't he." I knew then that he had been joking. I could feel my face turning red. "I just like seeing that fire in your eyes," he told me still smiling. I could feel myself melting. His smile was so gorgeous.
"Um, I have a message from Adam," I said wanting to get what I had set out to do over with so I could retreat to the cafeteria and the safety of my friends. "He wants to talk to you. He wants you to meet him at the ice arena before the game tonight."
"Okay," Scooter said growing serious. "Tell him I'll meet him there," Scooter told me. I saw him looking at something over my shoulder. I didn't even want to look behind me. "I got to go," he said quickly. "Good luck tonight," he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
I turned to watch him leave and saw why he had cut the conversation off when he had. Riley and Cole were walking in this direction probably looking for Scooter. They were two people I definitely didn't want to deal with. Trying to blend in with the crowd I headed for the cafeteria.
"We're going to crush those punks tonight," I heard Riley saying as I walked quickly pass their little group. I didn't hear anything else but I could imagine hearing his friends agreeing with him. I so wanted to show them up tonight. I wanted a shut out tonight more than I ever had before in my life.
Adam's POV:
I snuck out of the dorms that evening. For some reason I didn't want the other Ducks to see me leave. Maybe I was afraid they would try and stop me. It didn't really matter anyway because Julie would know where I had gone.
The only cars I saw in the parking lot in front of the arena were the ones I knew belonged to Coach Orion and Coach Wilson. I paced nervously back in front of the entrance to the ice arena. What if he had changed his mind? What if Riley and Cole or someone else from Varsity showed up first? Maybe I should've brought Fulton along with me just for some protection. Well it was too late now.
I looked again in the direction of the dorms and saw a figure approaching. The figure was to far away for me to make out who it was but I stopped pacing anyhow. I stood near the front door of the arena watching the approaching figure. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was Scooter.
"Let's go inside," Scooter said as he approached me. "Others will probably start showing up soon."
I just nodded and followed him inside trying desperately to remember what I had planned to say to him. Scooter led me into the JV locker room. I guess he figured it would be better if one of my teammates walked in on our conversation rather than one of the Varsity players walking in on the conversation. However, now that I was alone with him I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say. Try as I may everything I had planned to say had completely slipped my mind.
"Julie said you wanted to talk to me," Scooter said sitting down on one of the benches and looking toward me waiting for me to say something. I took a deep breath and just decided to go for it. After all I couldn't possibly make matters any worse than they already were.
"I've been thinking about things the last couple of days," I began looking down at the floor, "and I realized how wrong I was. I should've never asked you and Charlie to keep that secret and I shouldn't have gotten mad at you when you couldn't keep it."
"Adam, I'm glad you realize that I was trying to do what I thought was best. Maybe I should have never promised to keep it a secret in the first place. I did break a promise to you and I expected you to be upset about that but I was also hoping you would understand why I did so."
"I do," I told him quietly. I realized now that I was lucky to have Scooter as an ally. " And you are different from the others on Varsity, Scooter and I'm sorry I ever said otherwise. I realize now that I couldn't ask for a better friend."
"That means a lot to me Adam," Scooter told me as the door to the locker room opened. Scooter looked toward the door as I turned around to see who had come into the locker room. There in the doorway stood Fulton, Russ, and Guy. None of them looked to thrilled to see Scooter in the locker room.
"Is everything okay Adam," Fulton asked his eyes not leaving Scooter.
"Yeah, fine," I said hoping there wouldn't be trouble. I couldn't help but think that it was a good thing that Portman had stayed in Chicago.
"I've got to get going," Scooter said standing up and grabbing his bag and stick. "Good luck tonight," he told me as he headed toward the door. Fulton, Russ and Guy took a step back and gave him just enough room to exit the locker room.
"Relax guys," I said casually and started getting my hockey gear on. "Everything is fine." They still didn't look like they believed me. I wasn't going to worry about it. I had a game to worry about and that was enough to worry about. My teammates would either come around or they wouldn't. Either way I was going to be friends with Scooter.
Charlie's POV:
I walked over to the ice arena by myself. I wanted some time alone to mentally prepare for the upcoming game. There was a lot riding on this game. This was our last chance to really prove to everyone that the Ducks belonged here at Eden Hall. The last chance to live up to Coach Bombay's belief in us.
As I slowly walked across campus though I did come to one conclusion. It wouldn't necessarily take a win tonight to prove ourselves. No one really expected us to beat Varsity. I'm not even sure Orion did. However, we needed to make a good showing. We couldn't let Varsity run away with the game. We had to keep it close. We had to play well. Other than that Riley would be right. The only reason the Ducks would still be at Eden Hall was on a legal technicality. I didn't want to let that happened.
By the time I reached the ice arena I was psyched up for the game and then I saw Scooter walk out of the JV locker room. That was the last thing I expected. Although I was grateful to Scooter for him being there for Adam when we had all turned our backs on him he was still the enemy tonight. He shouldn't be anywhere near our locker room.
"Good luck tonight, Charlie," Scooter told me as he walked by.
"Thanks, you too," I said calmly responding the way that was expected of me. I definitely didn't mean it and I definitely didn't think Scooter was being sincere.
I walked into the locker room to find some of my teammates silently getting ready for the game. I didn't disturb the silence as I started getting ready myself. I wanted to ask what Scooter had been doing in the locker room but I decided it was safer not to ask. The last thing we needed was an argument between any of us right before the game.
I listened to Adam as he told me about his conversation with Scooter Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time I had heard about what had happened to Adam the night before our grudge match with Varsity. It made me feel guilty about using the liquid nitrogen on his clothes in the locker room. Poor Adam. He had been stuck in the middle of our war with Varsity. I figured now wasn't the time to be apologizing though. Things between us and Adam were going well and it was probably just better if I let it go. Leave things the way they were. Bringing what happened up again would probably only cause more problems.
"That sounds like something Charlie would do," I commented after Adam finished telling me about his conversation with Scooter.
"Thanks a lot," he told me.
"Sorry," I told him with a shrug. "How can I help?" I asked him. As soon as I heard the idea I hated it. "What makes you even think he'll want to talk to me?" I asked Adam. He wanted me to talk to Scooter at some point today and tell him to meet Adam at the ice arena before the game tonight. I didn't blame Adam for wanting to stay away from Riley and Cole but why me? Fulton could do it? At least Fulton wouldn't get beat up.
"You said you wanted to help," Adam told me. That I had. Me and my big mouth. "Besides, Scooter likes you. He'll trust you. If one of the others do it he might think it's a trick."
"What," I was still back on the Scooter likes you bit. "How do you know that?" Part of me didn't want to believe it. Part of me wanted him to be the enemy so that I would have no distractions during the game tonight. Then there was the other part of me who wanted to believe what Adam was saying was true. That the starting Varsity goalie actually liked me- a lowly freshman. There was no denying that I had been attracted to Scooter since I first met him. Could he actually feel the same way about me?
"He told me," Adam said as if he was commenting about the weather. I could've strangled him at that point but I restrained myself.
"He just came right out and told you?" I asked in disbelief. Somehow I didn't think the two of them were that good of friends. At least not yet. Adam wasn't an easy person to get to know just because he tended to put up walls.
"Well, not straight out. He sort of started asking all kinds of questions about you and then I wanted to know why he was asking all of these questions about you."
"Are you being serious?" I asked studying his face trying to determine for myself if he was joking with me or not.
"Would I lie to you about something like that?" Adam asked. There was no hint of humor in his voice. If it was one of my other teammates I may have doubted them but Adam very rarely joked around.
"I guess not?" I replied.
"So will you help me?" he asked again.
"Fine," I said with a sigh. After all I was the one that had started this whole conversation anyways.
"Thanks, Julie," Adam said as we headed out of the arena and toward the dorms to get ready for classes.
I didn't even see Scooter until just before lunch and then when I did I got lucky and there wasn't another Varsity player around. I was heading for the cafeteria from my last class with Connie and Charlie when I saw him at his locker switching books.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," I told them coming to a stop.. "There someone I need to talk to," I explained purposely being vague. Adam hadn't told me to keep quiet about what was going on but I decided to anyway.
"Okay," Charlie said with a shrug and he and Connie kept walking toward the cafeteria. I waited until I lost them in the crowd before taking a deep breath and making my way across the hallway to where Scooter was still standing in front of his locker. Part of me had been hoping that in the brief time I had waited for my friends to leave Scooter would have disappeared too. It hadn't happened.
Scooter was just shutting his locker when I reached him.
"Hey Scooter," I said as casually as I could. What was wrong with me anyway? I had never been nervous about talking to a guy before.
"Julie, hi," he said sounding surprised. "Have you and your friends decided to forfeit the game tonight," he asked with a smile on his face.
"Not a chance," I told him fiercely.
"I didn't think so," he said with a laugh, "but a guy can dream can't he." I knew then that he had been joking. I could feel my face turning red. "I just like seeing that fire in your eyes," he told me still smiling. I could feel myself melting. His smile was so gorgeous.
"Um, I have a message from Adam," I said wanting to get what I had set out to do over with so I could retreat to the cafeteria and the safety of my friends. "He wants to talk to you. He wants you to meet him at the ice arena before the game tonight."
"Okay," Scooter said growing serious. "Tell him I'll meet him there," Scooter told me. I saw him looking at something over my shoulder. I didn't even want to look behind me. "I got to go," he said quickly. "Good luck tonight," he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
I turned to watch him leave and saw why he had cut the conversation off when he had. Riley and Cole were walking in this direction probably looking for Scooter. They were two people I definitely didn't want to deal with. Trying to blend in with the crowd I headed for the cafeteria.
"We're going to crush those punks tonight," I heard Riley saying as I walked quickly pass their little group. I didn't hear anything else but I could imagine hearing his friends agreeing with him. I so wanted to show them up tonight. I wanted a shut out tonight more than I ever had before in my life.
Adam's POV:
I snuck out of the dorms that evening. For some reason I didn't want the other Ducks to see me leave. Maybe I was afraid they would try and stop me. It didn't really matter anyway because Julie would know where I had gone.
The only cars I saw in the parking lot in front of the arena were the ones I knew belonged to Coach Orion and Coach Wilson. I paced nervously back in front of the entrance to the ice arena. What if he had changed his mind? What if Riley and Cole or someone else from Varsity showed up first? Maybe I should've brought Fulton along with me just for some protection. Well it was too late now.
I looked again in the direction of the dorms and saw a figure approaching. The figure was to far away for me to make out who it was but I stopped pacing anyhow. I stood near the front door of the arena watching the approaching figure. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was Scooter.
"Let's go inside," Scooter said as he approached me. "Others will probably start showing up soon."
I just nodded and followed him inside trying desperately to remember what I had planned to say to him. Scooter led me into the JV locker room. I guess he figured it would be better if one of my teammates walked in on our conversation rather than one of the Varsity players walking in on the conversation. However, now that I was alone with him I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say. Try as I may everything I had planned to say had completely slipped my mind.
"Julie said you wanted to talk to me," Scooter said sitting down on one of the benches and looking toward me waiting for me to say something. I took a deep breath and just decided to go for it. After all I couldn't possibly make matters any worse than they already were.
"I've been thinking about things the last couple of days," I began looking down at the floor, "and I realized how wrong I was. I should've never asked you and Charlie to keep that secret and I shouldn't have gotten mad at you when you couldn't keep it."
"Adam, I'm glad you realize that I was trying to do what I thought was best. Maybe I should have never promised to keep it a secret in the first place. I did break a promise to you and I expected you to be upset about that but I was also hoping you would understand why I did so."
"I do," I told him quietly. I realized now that I was lucky to have Scooter as an ally. " And you are different from the others on Varsity, Scooter and I'm sorry I ever said otherwise. I realize now that I couldn't ask for a better friend."
"That means a lot to me Adam," Scooter told me as the door to the locker room opened. Scooter looked toward the door as I turned around to see who had come into the locker room. There in the doorway stood Fulton, Russ, and Guy. None of them looked to thrilled to see Scooter in the locker room.
"Is everything okay Adam," Fulton asked his eyes not leaving Scooter.
"Yeah, fine," I said hoping there wouldn't be trouble. I couldn't help but think that it was a good thing that Portman had stayed in Chicago.
"I've got to get going," Scooter said standing up and grabbing his bag and stick. "Good luck tonight," he told me as he headed toward the door. Fulton, Russ and Guy took a step back and gave him just enough room to exit the locker room.
"Relax guys," I said casually and started getting my hockey gear on. "Everything is fine." They still didn't look like they believed me. I wasn't going to worry about it. I had a game to worry about and that was enough to worry about. My teammates would either come around or they wouldn't. Either way I was going to be friends with Scooter.
Charlie's POV:
I walked over to the ice arena by myself. I wanted some time alone to mentally prepare for the upcoming game. There was a lot riding on this game. This was our last chance to really prove to everyone that the Ducks belonged here at Eden Hall. The last chance to live up to Coach Bombay's belief in us.
As I slowly walked across campus though I did come to one conclusion. It wouldn't necessarily take a win tonight to prove ourselves. No one really expected us to beat Varsity. I'm not even sure Orion did. However, we needed to make a good showing. We couldn't let Varsity run away with the game. We had to keep it close. We had to play well. Other than that Riley would be right. The only reason the Ducks would still be at Eden Hall was on a legal technicality. I didn't want to let that happened.
By the time I reached the ice arena I was psyched up for the game and then I saw Scooter walk out of the JV locker room. That was the last thing I expected. Although I was grateful to Scooter for him being there for Adam when we had all turned our backs on him he was still the enemy tonight. He shouldn't be anywhere near our locker room.
"Good luck tonight, Charlie," Scooter told me as he walked by.
"Thanks, you too," I said calmly responding the way that was expected of me. I definitely didn't mean it and I definitely didn't think Scooter was being sincere.
I walked into the locker room to find some of my teammates silently getting ready for the game. I didn't disturb the silence as I started getting ready myself. I wanted to ask what Scooter had been doing in the locker room but I decided it was safer not to ask. The last thing we needed was an argument between any of us right before the game.