Chapter 7- Flying Together
A/N- Magna gratia to those who've reviewed! ^_^ (Ack, I must stop doing Latin homework before writing.) Charlie's POV.
*****
Eden Hall Ducks vs. Minnetonka Jackals.
Three minutes left in the game. The Jackals are a pretty bad team this year. No competition. Right now, it's 10-0. I have three goals, Banks has three, Fulton has two, Dwayne and Portman each have one. The entire team has only one thought.
Let Fulton get the hat trick.
Guy wins the faceoff and gives it to Connie, on right defense. She takes it up, fakes a pass to Averman, then sends it up to Fulton.
Portman and Guy clear Jackals out of the way for a cannon shot. The goalie takes it full in the face. He'll wake up in an hour or so...
Their reserve goalie is in, two minutes left. Their center tries a slap shot from the blue line, but Julie blocks it with her stick. Portman sends it flying down the boards. Guy cuts it off. Stolen.
At the same time, Averman gets slashed by one of the Jackals, who is subsequently penalized.
One minute left, Duck power play. We keep it in their zone. Three... Fulton winds up for a shot. Two... their reserve goalie, being smart, chooses to save his life rather than the goal. One... score!
Duck fans swarm the ice.
*****
Ken and Russ are the first to leave the locker room, as usual glued at the hip. I can't help grinning. Either they think they're more subtle than they really are, they don't care, or I'm just a lot more observant than the rest of the team.
Probably the third, or I would've heard the rumors. I remember that the rumors surfaced once before. Only that time it was about two different Ducks. That was during our camping trip, after the Junior Goodwill Games...
~~~~~
I sat alone on one of the
logs in the fire circle, waiting. I'd asked him to show up at 11. I was
early. He would not be early. He would be just on time.
I don't know what I did for those last five minutes. Saying I just sat there seems awfully dull, and not quite right, but I certainly can't think of anything else I might've done.
Suddenly, I felt a gentle hand tap me on the shoulder. "Hey. Am I late?"
I didn't bother to check my watch. It didn't matter, really, and I'm certain he wasn't. "Right on schedule."
He dropped onto the log next to mine. "So what's up? ...This is about the rumor, isn't it." I nodded, silently, and he continues. "They'll get tired of it eventually, just ignore it until then."
But that's not what I was worried about. "Is it true?"
He looked startled. "If it were, I'd think you would have to know."
Yeah. Yeah, I would think so too. But I didn't. I was thirteen, and he was fourteen, and we weren't supposed to understand these things yet! The question was not whether I loved him, we were like brothers, the question was, was it that kind of love... "I don't know. But I don't think so."
He nodded. "Neither do I."
We just sat there for a long moment. So little spoken, so much said. Finally, he stood up. "C'mon, we're only going to escalate things if we stay out here all night."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Let's go."
He gave me a quick hug, then started towards the tent he was in.
"Hey, Banks?"
"Yeah?"
I cracked a mischievous grin. "G'night. Love ya."
We both laughed all the
way back to our tents.
~~~~~
Those days are long gone... we can never be quite the same. It was fun while it lasted. Hell, we even encouraged the rumors, we thought it was funny. I still remember laughing at how shocked everyone looked this year when I told them I had a girlfriend.
As for Banks, well, I don't know. He might be falling for Rat. Or maybe there's something else. In any case, a couple days ago he asked Linda if Rat has a boyfriend.
Yet he looked relieved when she said yes.
Luis and that cheerleader, Mindy, broke up. So he's back to chasing someone new every five minutes. Guy and Connie had a big fight near the beginning of the year, but they made up and they're back together again. Nobody else is looking for relationships, at least, not actively.
Except, there's Julie's boyfriend. I don't see why she keeps trying to hide it. Scooter's the one sign that there is hope for Varsity, after all. But Julie doesn't want us to know. Then again, after the thing with Banksie, maybe she's got the right idea. What I really don't get is why she won't admit it to Scooter either.
Ken, who's been playing intel officer for awhile now, reports tensions in the Varsity ranks. Something tells me it's related to their goalie's romance.
"CHARLIE!"
Oooops. Locker rooms aren't the best places to space out. Julie is standing in front of me, looking a little annoyed. Adam is behind her. "Uh... yeah?"
"I was asking if you and Adam wanted to go to the soccer game tonight," she repeats. "Since you know Rat..." Banksie does not look thrilled at the idea, but I think it would be fun. Even though I (still) know next to nothing about soccer.
I glance at my watch. 6:30. I guess there's time to fit a soccer game in. "Sure, why not?"
"Why not? How many reasons would you like?" Adam mutters, but Julie's grinning. No backing out now, and he knows it, so he'll come quietly, though I expect I'll be in for it at practice tomorrow.
We head out.
*****
The Inferno gave the Morris Pirates a severe beating, 6-1. Or at least I assume that's pretty severe. Julie told us that soccer games score about like hockey games.
In fact, Julie told us a lot. Seems she knows plenty about the sport. We learned that Rat is the Inferno's starting sweeper, which is a defense position way in the backfield. (She didn't have much to do today.) We also learned the difference between goal kicks and corner kicks and how/why they happen, then Adam said in no uncertain terms he'd learned enough for the day.
He was busy watching Rat.
As we walk back to the dorms, I find myself lost in thought again. He is falling for her, whether he likes it or not. On second thought, it might be better to say whether he knows it or not. But I think that's a good thing, for him not to know. After all... she's taken, and he does know that.
Damn. That means this could get messy. Banks doesn't need to get hurt again, and I know enough about Rat that I'm sure she doesn't want to hurt him. I want to know about this other guy, though.
"Hey! Cat, Adam, Charlie!"
We pause. Rat's running over to us, grinning. "Cat, did you forget about me?"
Julie shakes her head. "I figured you would just show up. do you need me to wait?"
"Nah, I'm ready to go." She sighs. "Well, ready as I can be for a study session."
"You guys are studying on a weekend?" I ask, pretending to be horrified. It doesn't really come as much of a surprise for our model student goalie to be studying when she doesn't have to, but I can't help a jab at her habits. "When you could be up all night partying?"
"We are partying," Rat answers promptly. "As soon as we finish studying."
As we head off, I notice the Warrior soccer bus has arrived and the team's unloading. They must have been at their own game. One of the players, a young man with pale blond hair, catches sight of us. He looks less than thrilled.
No, correction. He looks pissed. For some reason I've got a bad feeling about this.
*****
Julie and Rat left us and entered the Cat's dorm.
"They've got the right idea. We should have a party," I suggest after they leave.
Banksie gives me a look. "Isn't it a bit late to send out invites?"
"So we'll have just you, me, and Guy." Guy doesn't know about this, of course, but I doubt he'll object. And if he does... well... he'll do it anyway.
"Fine," he consents. "But what are we planning to do at this party? We can't exactly go rent movies now, the only reason they're not busting us for being out past curfew is that we look like we're heading back from the soccer game. In about 5 minutes we won't be able to use that excuse anymore."
He has a point, but I'm not letting him get out of it that easy. There is one other option. Guy has a thing for board games, and brought a lot of them with him. "We have a Monopoly marathon. We can stay up all night if we have to, Coach gave us tomorrow off, remember?"
We enter the building. "Monopoly? Maybe..." He frowns, and considers this for a moment. But he's so busy with our conversation he doesn't notice we're already right outside my room. So it's a pretty simple matter to drag him in.
Guy puts down the history book he was studying from—or pretending to study from—and looks at me. "Charlie, you do know it's against the law to force people into involuntary servitude, right?"
"What involuntary?" I demand, as innocently as I can. "He came in here of his own free will, and he's gonna play Monopoly with us and he's gonna like it."
Guy gets the idea, and goes to the closet to hunt down the game. Banks, being the smart Duck that he is, sits on my bed and sighs resignedly. Something tells me he's worried about getting in trouble. He won't. I can't count the times a Duck or two (or six) have wound up in the wrong room all night. Nobody cares as long as we stay there and don't go wandering around campus.
"I'm banker," Guy informs us as he comes up with the Monopoly board.
"Who made you boss?"
He glares at me. "My game, my call."
Good point. "You win."
*****
At one in the afternoon, I get rudely woken up by a bright light shining directly in my eyes. Damn dorms and their damn windows.
Guy is still asleep, as his bed isn't right in the sunlight's path. Lucky. Banks is curled up on the floor next to my bed, with a spare blanket tossed over him. He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. So happy... it's hard to recognize him, as little as I see him happy anymore.
He stirs, and looks at me through sleepy blue eyes. "What're you staring at, Conway? Go back to sleep."
"I think it's too late for that. You realize we've slept through a whole hour of the afternoon?"
"So?"
I briefly consider pushing my mattress onto his head, but decide that might be more harm than it's worth. "Fine. You stay asleep if you like, but I'm getting Mr. Hotel-On-Boardwalk up. And I mean up." He watches, interested, as I cross over to Guy's bed.
I learned more than hockey from Coach Bombay.
Guy yells out a long and colorful string of profanity as I dump him and his mattress onto the floor. "Charlie! What the hell was that for!"
"Time to wake up," I answer simply. Banks snickers.
"It's Sunday, isn't it?" he snaps back, dragging himself off the floor. "Haven't you guys got a pickup soccer game to go play in?"
"Only if you come with us." That shuts him up.
We decide to finish our game, which we gave up on around 6 in the morning. Guy was winning, and sadly, things haven't miraculously changed overnight. But before we can get started somebody knocks on the door.
It's Max. We aren't friends, by a long shot, but we get along well enough that he's okay with showing up sometimes. Especially because he knows that if he's looking for his roommate, this should be stop number 1. "Hey, Charlie. Is Banks here?"
Hearing his name, Adam glances up. "Something wrong?"
"Not really. But some guy named Jay showed up about an hour ago, asking about you, and I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd drop by and let you know." He leaves.
We exchange curious glances. "Anyone you know?" Guy asks.
"No..."
I refrain from comment, but I have a bad feeling about this. Linda's mentioned someone named Jay once before. And she was talking about Rat. My thoughts drift back to the guy who was watching us after the soccer game.
This could be a problem.
*****
More A/N- the thing with Ken and Russ is going nowhere, I just felt like doing something unexpected. *shrugs* This chapter somehow got really long without me realizing it. It must have been Charlie's fault...