Chapter 8: Love Hurts
A/N- Ugh. School is getting in the way, so chapter 9 could be awhile in coming. >_ But this is a long one, so that kinda makes up for it. ^_^ A bit faster paced this time. Adam's POV.
*****
I was genuinely intending to get in some hockey practice. So why am I heading for the soccer field?
Get a grip, Banks. Rat's taken. You do not want to play soccer. You have a game at Morris High in three days, and they're tough. You need to practice. You don't have time to go watch soccer.
I don't get it. Rat and I have spoken twice, for all of ten minutes total, and I feel like we're best friends. Or we should be.
Charlie warned me when I was leaving his room, though, that I could be getting myself in trouble. This guy that was looking for me earlier... Jay... is Rat's boyfriend. I somehow doubt he just dropped by to say hello.
When I reach the field and drop onto the grass, the first thing I notice is that there are a lot more people than usual. Several people in red and blue practice jerseys are standing on the sidelines. Rat is one of them.
She comes over to me almost immediately. "Hey. Change your mind about playing?"
"No."
"Oh. Well that's okay, you probably wouldn't get in much anyhow." She sighs. "Usually the Warriors have their own game on Sundays, and they don't bother us. But they had their game last night so we're overcrowded today."
Good, I have an excuse. I wasn't looking forward to a repeat experience of last week. Now that she's available for conversation, I guess I might as well ask her... "So where's Jay?"
She looks startled. "You've met??"
"No, but my roommate says he tried to visit earlier."
If looks could kill... "Figures. You don't want him to find you. He's in serious Jealous Boyfriend Mode for some reason. I guess I'm not allowed to talk to any guys who aren't either taken or on my team... But that's him, the blue keeper."
Keeper? Oh, right. Julie told us that in soccer, they call the goalie the 'keeper' for some unfathomable reason.
The blue keeper is paying less attention to keeping and more attention to glaring at us. More specifically, glaring at me. Rat notices, and scowls. Man... I can cause an awful lot of trouble without even trying, can't I? Real good, Banks.
Right around then, Jay gets replaced with one of the other blue players. I decide I'd better leave.
"Hey, whoa! Where're you going?" Rat demands.
"I've got homework to do... bye!" I take off. The last thing I need is to be mistaken for competition by a bad-tempered soccer player.
*****
Two hours later, I've succeeded in BS'ing my way through yet another English essay and a really odd assignment on plant cells. I'm bored senseless. 5 p.m... the game's probably still going, but that doesn't mean Rat's there, and I'm really not in the mood to dodge her boyfriend just to have a conversation with her anyway.
I think about Jay for a minute. Honestly, I don't think I would like him even if he weren't out for my blood. He just rubs me the wrong way, somehow. Really strange. And that's without even meeting him!
What was he doing here earlier, anyway, hoping I'd be available to get beat up? He doesn't need to worry about that, Varsity'll do it for him soon enough. I haven't been their chosen target for awhile, sure, but it's only a matter of time...
Someone knocks on the door. Great. With my luck, that'll be Jay. Hopefully he'll say hello first and throw punches later. How did I get into this mess? Right, I got assigned to Varsity, was lonely, and had nothing better to do than watch soccer practices.
Lovely.
Whoever's out there knocks again. "I'm coming already!" I yank the door open.
Scooter grins at me. "Hey. You want to play some one on one? Julie was busy, and told me you would be the most likely Duck to accept."
And Julie's right. But why doesn't he go play with one of his own teammates? Hell with the questions, I'm not about to go and pass up an opportunity to play hockey.
*****
"You and Julie play often?"
He shoots, but it goes wide of the goal. I guess goalies don't get much practice at shooting, though they don't do much skating either and he's good at that. (Which I didn't expect, I got too used to Goldberg.) And I don't know many other people who could, let alone would, have a conversation and a hockey game at the same time.
"Once a week or so. Wish you'd see it. I can't aim, she can't skate, and neither of us are any good at trying to block shots with these shooting sticks..." He trails off as I blast a slap shot from center ice, which bounces off the crossbar and over the boards. "Oh, that was nice."
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and help me find it." We head off the ice to look for the puck.
"So how goes it with Rat?"
I let out a strangled yelp. "What? How do you know about her?" People are really blowing this out of proportion, sure, but I definitely didn't expect it to get as far as Varsity. Ugh. Now if she were really my girlfriend, I wouldn't mind so much, but she's hardly even my friend! I believe the term is 'acquaintance'? She's the one that's been taking an interest in me, after all.
"Calm down," he laughs, holding up the puck and tossing it back on the ice. "I study with Julie, and Rat's been coming too lately. Julie's been teasing her about you. Something about she never gets invited to play soccer..." He checks me, grabs the puck, and slams it into the net. "Three-four."
"Julie doesn't get to play soccer because Rat doesn't want her dead," I mutter as we face off. I win it, spin around him, and race down the ice for an easy goal. "Five-three. I do not like the crazy soccer player. We're just... friends." Did I just say Rat's my friend? I thought I just decided we were 'acquaintances'? How'd I let that slip? "What's up with you and Cat-lady, though? You expect me to believe you only study together?"
That startles him enough for me to steal the puck, but my shot doesn't quite reach the goal. "What do you mean by that?"
"We spy on you Warriors as much as you spy on us." He retrieves the puck and brings it up the ice. "You're making yourself pretty unpopular with the rest of your team. Does it happen to have anything to do with our goalie?"
He tries to fake me out, but ends up falling down. I can't help laughing as I help him up. "Shut up, you'd fall down too if you were used to balancing in goalie pads. And find a better spy, there's nothing wrong between me and the rest of the Warriors." I give him a disbelieving look. From the time I was on their team, I know that there was always something wrong between Scooter and the rest of Varsity. He gets the idea. "Okay, no more than usual."
"So why aren't you playing with one of them? Why look for a Duck?"
Point for me. He sighs. "All right, so I really just wanted to talk to you. About Julie." He tracks down the puck and fires it hard enough to make one of Fulton's cannon shots look tame. I'm not about to go diving in front of that one. "Four-five. Game over, you win."
Even with his helmet in the way I can tell he's uncomfortable. "Fair enough. Let's get off the ice."
*****
We found a nice, isolated corner in the cafeteria. It's about 7, which is relatively late, but there are still enough people that nobody notices us.
For awhile we just sit there, not saying anything. I wonder, for a minute, just why Scooter decided to come to me of all the Ducks. Stupid question. We bonded somewhat while I was on Varsity... the two that weren't quite 'real' Warriors. Great.
I felt uncomfortable, sitting there with people I didn't know or like, watching the team I should've been on play without me. What a mess. But that didn't stop me from jumping up and clapping when the Ducks—right, the Warriors—made their first goal.
Riley yanked me back down. "We do not cheer for JV losers."
Yeah, I should've expected as much. Go school spirit.
Scooter, who was sitting next to me, glanced over and sighed. "Rick, lay off a bit. It's his first game." He turned and offered me a sympathetic grimace. "Don't let him get to you. But don't cheer if you value your life. Speaking from experience."
"Thanks for the warning..." I think.
"Any time. You'll learn how things work around here sooner or later. Until then, if they get on your case, let me know and I'll see if I can get them to back off."
At least one Varsity jock wasn't so bad.
The silence is getting uncomfortable. "So what's up?"
"Does Julie have a boyfriend?" he asks abruptly.
Um... okay, didn't expect that at all. "Isn't that you?"
"I don't know." He sighs. "I told you before. All we do is study. And we don't even do that alone anymore, she's gone on a crusade to get Rat back to a C average so she can play on the Warrior soccer team. We've sat together at dinner all of twice, and she's not showing any interest in taking it further. Yeah, we're solid."
He's got a point there.
"Well, as far as any of us know, she's not taken. We assumed she was with you."
This earns me a weak smile. Good, at least I've been some use to someone today. But any trace of contentment about that vanishes as my new least favorite person in the school walks into the cafeteria.
Jay walks right up to us and gives us a wonderful false smile. "Scooter, lovely to see you." He turns to me. "Adam Banks, isn't it?"
I consider denying it. I know Scooter would be happy to go along with it; judging from his expression, he likes Jay about as much as I do. "Yeah, that's me..." Why did I say that? (Because I don't know when to keep my mouth shut.)
The fake smile gets wider. "So nice to meet you. Tell me, Adam... how are things going with you and Rat?"
He doesn't dare start a fight here, or Scooter'll have all of Varsity on his ass. Just because he's not way too popular right now with his team doesn't mean they won't stick together in front of an outside threat. Soccer players are outside threats. So, against my better judgement, I allow a little sarcasm to seep into my voice. "Things are going fine. I've been looking forward to meeting you." Yeah right. "She's told me a lot of nice things about you." She's said nothing of the sort, of course, she's usually complaining. But it's probably best if he doesn't know that.
I don't think he's buying it. That smile's so obviously fake I'd like nothing better than to smack it right off his face. "Oh really. Good to hear." And he leaves.
Scooter gives me a worried look. "Adam... be careful. Jay's trouble, and nothing but. He'll probably jump you on your way back to your room just out of spite."
"So?" Let him. Bet Rat'll be thrilled then.
*****
Scooter wasn't kidding. Jay was waiting for me outside my room. "Now that we're alone, we can finish our conversation." He's wearing a real smile this time. I think that worries me.
"I have nothing to say to you."
Ooh, bad idea, Banks. He looks about ready to hit me, but reconsiders. I can tell he's trying to judge where the advantage is—I'm a lot taller than him, but he's probably a little stronger.
While he's busy, he settles for scowling, "Then I'll talk and you'll listen."
I consider just shoving past him and going in, but think better of it. I'm not going to get in a fight. Well, I'm not going to start a fight... but if he starts it I'll quite happily finish it. "I'm listening. For now."
"It's really pretty simple. You stay away from my girl, I don't bother you anymore. Fair enough, Duck?"
Why does everyone always try to use Duck as a demeaning term? (Wait... I know this one, I've heard it before. Something about a bunch of mallards quacking around with sticks.)
"Don't tell me what to do. Do you just go chasing anyone she says hello to? Because I'm not competition. But if you don't stop being so overprotective, don't blame me when she gets ticked off." Where did that come from? Damn... that made it sound an awful lot like I am competing with him.
Which might be why he punched me as soon as I said it. Well if he wants to fight... I slam him into the wall. He pulls himself free and throws another punch, but this time I'm expecting it and dodge. He loses his balance and falls flat on his face.
Before I can do anything else, Max opens the door. "There a problem out here?"
"Absolutely not," Jay assures him. "I was just leaving." He races off so fast you'd think someone had shot at him. It makes sense. All of the sports teams at Eden Hall have reputations. Varsity hockey's a bunch of bullies. JV hockey's a bunch of psychos. Soccer players, particularly the Inferno, are absolutely militant about being unique.
Football players are generally nice, but if you piss them off, watch out!
"What was that about?" Max inquires as I drop onto my bed.
"He thinks I'm after his girlfriend. Which is stupid. We've talked three times. For a total of fifteen minutes." Usually I wouldn't have let that out, but right now I'm too tired to care. Today's been way too confusing. I just want to go to sleep. Better to just answer the questions, get them over with.
Surprisingly, he laughs. "But you consider her a friend?"
"Yeah." I'm even too tired to contradict myself for that. So we haven't talked much. When we do talk, I enjoy it, even if I usually don't admit it to myself. We're friends.
"That's your problem, then."
"Eh?"
"I've seen this before, and he seems the right type for it. Since you don't talk to this girl much, it makes him suspicious that you're hiding something, even when you're not. You should spend more time with her. He'll figure you aren't stupid enough to be that obvious if you're trying to steal her, so you must only be friends."
Wow. That's got to be the most logical thing I've heard all day. Maybe he's onto something. But that means I have to let her get closer. And despite my earlier promise, I'm not sure I'm really willing to do that.
I'm still considering it as I try to go to sleep. Maybe he's right. Everyone's right. I'm not in love, I'm just trying to be her friend and trying to keep her away at the same time, which is stupid. Jay's not jealous, just suspicious. And all of that can be fixed. A lot of the knot that's been tying itself in my stomach finally loosens up, leaving me with only one major problem.
What I really need is more stress. It had to happen right before the playoffs.