Title: Familiar Faces: Anniversary
Disclaimer: Just the usual, don't own anything that you recognise.
Feedback: Yes please, anything constructive would be really appreciated.
Emma POV
With each day that passed, Adam and me became lower on the gossip column of Eden Hall. After a week, the only ones that still seemed to have a problem with it were the Varsity hockey team, but according to the Ducks, they always had a problem with anything to do with them. Unfortunately for me though, I had to spend 7 hours a week with them, tutoring, no matter what. Adam had offered to give me the money from what Dad gave him, but it was a condition of my scholarship, so I had to continue to tutor them. Anyway, after the first week, I had threatened to stop tutoring them if they didn't drop it, but seeing as they needed to pass this year to graduate, or no more hockey, they had little choice. Riley and Cole were the main ones that wouldn't let up, everyone else was fine when they weren't around. I even got to talk to some of them about when Adam was on the Varsity team at the beginning of last year. They told me how he was then, apparently he was very quiet and always had a photo with him, and I knew what photo that was, his confidence. It was good to get to know about Adam from another view point than the Ducks, not that he was really that different.
So, as the week went by, Adam continued to teach me skating every night, or after practice. I was no where near as good as I hoped I could be, but I was getting there, and the rest of the team would also come along and help me along as well. We had a lot of fun mucking about, and when Adam was giving me a quick run down on stopping, Russ noticed and told Luis that he should maybe listen as well. I don't see what his problem is, it seems that he can sometimes stop, but not all the time, he keeps saying that he is getting better, just as Fulton's aim is as well, just slowly. Bless him, maybe I would get it down before he does, but then again, I don't think that I will ever get up to any speed that I need to know how to stop. Adam assures me that I will, that it is in my blood, but I don't know, it isn't that easy.
Sunday morning came round and Julie woke me up, "Come on Emma, we got to go."
"Where, it is way to early to get up?" Looking over at the clock, it read 10-00. "Who in their right mind would want to get up at this time on Sunday?"
"Someone who has somewhere to be, now move, get up, have a shower, get dressed into something casual and move!!"
"Hold it, I still don't see where I have to be, I haven't forgotten anything, but I'm too tired to argue, so fine, I'll get up, dressed and then you can explain your ass away." Whilst saying this, I had got out of bed, gathered my towel and wash bits and walked out the door to the bathroom. There best be a good reason for this, Sunday is the only day that I let myself lay in. The shower managed to wake me up enough and when I got back to my dorm, I was ready to get very angry at Julie if she didn't have a good reason. Fortunately for her, when I got back there was a large group of people in our small room, being baffled by this, I completely forgot that I was angry and was now just curious. One at how 13 people manage to fit into our dorm and second on why they were all up at this time as well.
"Anyone gonna explain?" I asked as I looked round at the Ducks, walking over to my bed to put my bits away and sit next to Adam.
"That is what I want to know, but they said not until you get here. Your all washed and here, so are you now gonna tell us what you have planned for us?" We both looked at all the group and rested on Charlie, seeing as he was Captain, and everyone else was looking at him to explain. "Well?"
"The team had a meeting last night after practice and decided that seeing as you and Emma have 'been together' for exactly one week, then you should do something special. So we are taking you away from school for a few hours, not letting you do anything to do with school work, and making you have some fun."
"Slight problem there Charlie, don't you lot have practice at 2-00?" I was not having the team missing a practice on my conscience, and from knowing Adam for a week, there was no way that he would miss a practice, especially not before a game.
"Yeah, unfortunately we do have to come back for that, but seeing as Banks loves practice and you seem to enjoy watching us, it doesn't seem to ruin the day of fun theme. So come on, lets go." With that he turned to the door and started ushering people out. This worked quite well, as people were wanting to get out for some fresh air.
Adam and I were the last out the door and I leant over and whispered to him, "are they normally this sweet?"
"Yeah, we are like one big family and if there is something to celebrate, then they will find it. I'm just curious at what we might actually be doing." We didn't get to talk anymore as we were dragged along by people, they seem to be very excited about this.
First stop was breakfast, we had got on a bus into town and walked into a dinner, as we walked through the door, a lady turned round to the group and told us to be civilised. Either the Ducks came here often, or this woman knew them. The whole group piled over to the corner, climbed into two tables, and talked about what everyone wanted to eat. It was decided that we would get 4 plates of pancakes and share them out, so when the woman from earlier came over, it was left for Charlie to order.
"Well, we are gonna have 4 plates of pancakes between us, and for drinks," looking round the group, "usual order guys?" From this he got a round of affirmations, but I didn't have a usual, "oh, and what do you want Emma?"
Looking at the menu to see what they did, Adam leaned over and whispered "I tend to go for their milkshake, it is the best."
"Ok, I'll have a strawberry milkshake please." I instructed Charlie.
"Cool, so is that everything?" He asked looking to the woman.
"For the order yes, but you seem to have forgotten your manners young man. Are you going to introduce me?" This women must know Charlie at least, by the way that she was talking and looking at him.
"Sorry, this is Emma Banks, Emma this is my mum." Well that sure explains a lot of things, not that they actually look alike.
"Banks, is that coincidence or are you related to Adam?"
"Yeah, he's my brother."
"Brother, I thought you were an only child Adam?"
"So did we until last week." Portman shouted from the other table.
"Hey, give me a break, I thought she was dead alright." Adam was trying to defend himself, though they were only joking.
"Dead, this does sound like an interesting story, but you look hungry so I will put your order in, plus I'm likely to lose my job if I don't serve some other customers." With that she turned round and walked over to the kitchen hatch to put the order in. We chatted until our food came , and then chatted more whilst everyone was eating. I'm not entirely sure what we talked about, it was the most random topics ever, but to be honest I and the most fun I have had in ages. Half way through, Charlie's mum came over with a cup of coffee and sat with us, demanding to know all the details, which resulted in everyone looking at me and Adam to tell her. I don't even know the woman and they expect me to talk to her? Well, unfortunately they did, but we shared the story this time, Adam has been telling it a lot this last week, and being round this lot, made me have a lot more confidence than I used to have. So by the time that food had been consumed and drinks drunk, it was apparently time for us to get to the next stop, not that they were gonna tell us where that was. So out the diner we filed, with everyone shouting bye to Cassie, I'm guessing that is Charlie's mum's name. We walked down the street continuing with the same sort of chatter the whole time, Adam stuck by me the whole time, which I am glad about, I may know these people better, but they still scared me sometimes. Julie said that it took some time for the out of state ducks to break into the circle as well, they are a very close knit group, I'm glad that Adam has had them for some of his life.
As we wondered round the town, a few places were pointed out for me, like the original pond of the Ducks, after they had won the Junior Goodwill Games, the council had put a bench up in commemoration. Shows how proud they were of them, but this pond wasn't that big, no wonder they never managed to practice properly on here, I would have been scared to fall through, but everyone of the group just walked straight into the middle of the ice today. I stayed by the side and was showing no sign of moving, there was no way in this world that I was gonna risk falling into the water when it cracked under the pressure of everyone on it. I mean, when they played hockey on it, they were a lot smaller and lighter, and it was a really scary thought. Unfortunately, Portman and Fulton picked me up and put me down in the middle of the ice, well Adam had told them to put me down, but I'm sure he didn't mean in the middle. We played about on the ice for a while, not that anyone was wearing skates, but they all managed to walk around on it without much hassle, I kept to the same spot the whole time. When it was time to move on, as Connie informed us, the group walked to the side, but I still wasn't moving, too scared, when Russ looked behind to yell an insult at Averman he noticed that I was still in the same spot.
"Come on Emma, your gonna get pretty cold if you stay there much longer." To which the whole group turned round and smiled at my predicament.
"I'm not moving, I'll fall over." But thinking about it, I would be stuck here forever, "please help me?" I was looking at the whole group, I didn't care who helped, just someone.
"You put here there, you can go and get her. Now." He is so sweet, I just love having a big brother watching over me. We don't actually know who is the older, but he is taller than me, so he will always be my big brother. Fulton and Portman, walked over to me and picked me up, and when they put me onto the land I was so happy that I turned round and hugged them, then hit them for putting me there in the first place. To this everyone laughed, including the two guys, seeing as I punched like a girl, it didn't actually hurt them.
So that was our morning, it was now 12-30 and people were starting to get hungry, well Goldberg was, but in this group, that tended to constitute everyone. Our next stop was Hans' Skate Shop, well that is what it said above the door. When we stepped in the door, it was definitely a skate shop, everything to do with skating and hockey, amazing really. When the door closed behind the last person, the bell rang and out stepped an old man.
"You made it for lunch then. Come round the back and sit down, you are making the place look untidy. How was your morning?"
"It was pretty good thank Jan." Charlie started and proceeded to tell him about where we had been while everyone found somewhere to sit in the crowded back room. Jan must have been expecting us, because there was a big space in the middle of the room for everyone to sit with cushions chucked in random places. Jan went out of the room and came back with sandwiches and drinks for everyone and handed them out. When he got to me he said "Here you are Emma, how are the team treating you?"
How did he know my name, why wasn't he confused at who I was? He must have noticed the look on my face, "Adam told me about you last Monday when he got the skates and shirt, I hope they were the right size?"
"Yeah, they were fine, thanks for asking, though I don't think that I will ever get the hang of skating." The conversation started up around the room again, and I talked to Jan some more, when lunch was finished, everyone sat around talking for a while. Adam said that he had something that he wanted to show me and pulled me back into the shop and behind the counter. There displayed on the wall were a load of photos and newspaper articles, a lot of them were of the Ducks.
"This is probably the most detailed collection of our history as a team, probably has more details than I can remember." We went through the wall and he pointed out things, and giving me some details about them.
"Hey, what is this photo, isn't that the same shirt that we got for our 3rd birthday?" I was pointing to a newspaper article on the corner.
"Yeah, that is our old coach when he was in peewees. He used to play for the Hawks until he stopped. Ironic really." We continued to look at the pictures until Adam looked at his watch and saw the time. "No way, Coach is going to kill us, there is no way we are gonna get back to campus in 15 minutes."
"Banks, calm down, we aren't going back to campus." the whole of the team had run into the shop when they had heard Adam shouting.
"What, but we have practice, we have to get back."
"No, the history tour for Emma would not be complete if we didn't go back to the old rink, so we asked coach if we could have practice there today instead. I have cleared it with the rink, well Jesse did really, seeing as he works there and could swindle free time." Adam just stood there as Charlie told him about the plans they had made.
"You guys are the best friends ever, I don't know how you managed to plan all this without me or Emma finding out, and all within a week as well."
"Lets stop getting all girly and get to the rink then, otherwise Coach will blow a stack."
"Hey" came three replies to his statement, "we take offence at that." Connie finished for us.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, but we still have to go." Charlie finished the conversation and ushered everyone out the front door.
Adam POV
I can't believe that everyone went to so much trouble for us, it just goes to show how much we all care for each other. We managed to get to the rink and onto the ice within 15 minutes, so luckily Coach didn't through a fit. He may have been kind enough to move practice, but I think he may have had a problem if we were late seeing as we have a match next weekend. It was an important, we always found it difficult to beat the team we were playing against, plus some of the old Hawks team were in this one, and they still hadn't forgiven us for ruining their winning streak.
So here we were on the ice, warming up for practice with laps. Emma was sat on the bench as she normally is watching us, I'm surprised she doesn't get really bored just sitting there. I'd have to ask her later but she doesn't look bored. If I don't concentrate on practice there might not be a later though, Coach is in his normal pre-game strop. After warm up and drills we finished with a scrimmage, which no one knows who won, seeing as no one really cares. The it just came to warm down, with cowboy round up, the classic, seeing as we were back at our old rink there was no way that we weren't gonna do it. So out came the rope and everyone scattered. During it I looked over to Emma and she was laughing so hard.
"Hey Emma, got out here."
"Bro, slight problem," lifting one leg so he could see, "no skates." True that would be a slight problem, especially remembering this morning.
"Yeah there is, they are in the locker room, in the bag by the door" Julie yelled over to us. They obviously had put a lot of thought into this, so Emma reluctantly wandered over to the locker room and went inside. 10 minutes later, Dwayne caught me and I realised that Emma still wasn't out, so I went into the locker room to see what the problem was.
"Hey, Emma, you still in here?"
"Yeah, just over here." I walked round the corner to see her looking at the bench in front of my locker and the one next door. So that is why she was taking so long, she was reading what had been inscribed in front of my locker by Jesse and me, but there wasn't that much written that it would take 10 minutes to read.
"What you been up to?"
"Just reading the benches, this one id funny, I take it this is your locker?"
"Yeah, when we all had to leave the team cos we were to old for peewees, we decided to inscribe our names on the bench in front of our locker, Jesse just thought that it would be better if he put my other names as well." Which he had, along with Banks was Cake-eater, and Preppy. Underneath there were a couple of other names, looking at the other benches I noticed that there was in the other places as well. Must be the people that took the lockers after us, the new peewee team. "So, lets get those skates on." As I pulled the skated out of the bag, the shirt I had bought Emma fell out as well. I handed it to her and smiled, receiving one back.
Once Emma was skated, we walked back out into the rink, but the game had stopped and everyone was crowded at the bench, walking over I recognised a voice that would always be in my memory. "Jesse" grabbing Emma's hand I started to walk faster to the group. "Come on, you have GOT to meet Jesse."
"Calm down, I'm sure he isn't gonna run away or anything."
When we got to the group, Jesse turned to me and gave me a very hurt look. "First off, 5 years and you never say anything about a sister, and second off, a week and I have to hear about it from this lot. Ever heard of a phone?" Oops, I never rang Jesse, I had meant to earlier in the week but must have forgotten.
"Sorry mate, but thanks a lot for getting the rink for us today, have you seen what we started in the locker room?"
"Yeah, it seems to be a tradition now, the first thing that anyone does when they join the peewee team is write their name on the bench, and they get very excited about which one of us has used the locker before." Jesse looked to the side of me and stuck out his hand. "Well, seeing as he has forgotten his manners again, I'm Jesse, you must be Emma."
"Hiya, I'm glad to finally meet you, Adam has told me a lot about you." Emma shock his hand, then the conversation started to dwindle.
"So are you guys gonna get changed, and please shower, you smell real bad."
"Oh, please, it isn't that bad, is it?" Goldberg asked, trying to smell himself, as did most of the team, but I could tell that we must do if the amount of sweat on our hair was anything to go by.
"Come on then, Emma, you alright to stay with Jesse while we get changed?"
"Yeah sure, I'm sure that he will have questions and I'll do you a favour and answer them for you." Sharing a smile, we all walked to the locker room and showered. Before everyone was finished Coach came in and told us to put our kit in the minibus that was out front, and he would take it back to campus, but if we wanted to keep our skates, then we would have to carry them back ourselves. No one had a problem with this, and so our bags were piled into the minibus and we were back to the rink.
When I got out there, Emma wasn't on the bench as I had expected her to be, but on the ice. Over the last week, Emma would never go on the ice without me holding her hand, it felt weird seeing her out there with someone else, I was also jealous, she was my sister and I was teaching her to skate. This set in my mind, I skated over to where Emma and Jesse were and was ready to get angry with Jesse, but when I saw how comfortable Emma was and how happy she seemed, I couldn't do it. She was getting on with my best friend and must have more confidence on the ice seeing as she was laughing.
"See, you don't need me surgically attached to you just to get on the ice." I must have shocked her as she tried to spin round to look at me, but only managed to fall over her feet, straight into Jesse. But with all the practice Jesse has on the ice, he managed to stop either of them falling.
"Thanks Jesse, and thank you Adam for nearly scaring me to death. Come on, just for that, you can stay by me all night and let Jesse go skate some." Emma grabbed my hand, smiling, she was joking, but I was happy to take over, I really enjoyed helping her skate.
"Come on then." With that, I took her hand and we started off.
That day id the best of my life, well so far anyway. It was for many reasons, Emma got to see a lot of my old life and met a few people from it as well. Also, that night she went a little way on the ice without holding onto me or the side, it was only a few metres and she was still pushing herself along with the side, but she was getting there, and it made me very proud to watch her. We skated round for a while longer and then went for dinner at the local McDonalds, then got on the bus back to campus. It had been a long day, but the best, all thanks to the Ducks, my family.
It was late at night, just past curfew and the phone in my dorm rang, reaching over for it, I answered, "Hello, Adam and Charlie's room."
"Hi Adam, how are you doing?" Dad, oh, I knew that this would happen at some stage, but I really didn't know how to talk to him.
"Yeah, not bad. You?"
"Fine, just ringing to see how you are and check what time the match is next Saturday?" Oh no, Emma is most probably gonna be at the match, what if they meet? Hang on, that would be good, I could introduce them and then we could get to the bottom of what actually happened. "Adam, you still there?"
"Oh, yeah, just thinking."
"I didn't think that it was that hard of a question."
"No, sorry the match is at 2-00."
"Do you wan to meet up before the match?"
"No its fine, I'll see you at the end, got to get ready for the game before."
"Oh, so you do, well I better let you get some sleep, see you next Saturday and good luck for the game."
"Thanks, have a nice week and see you after the game Dad." Hearing the phone go dead, I put the receiver down and sat staring at the wall.
"Your dad is coming to the game next weekend?" Oh, Charlie was in the room.
"Yeah, meeting him after the game."
"Gonna tell Emma?"
"No."
"Think that is wise?"
"I don't know, but she won't go if I tell her, she has to meet him at some point, doesn't she?" Had I done the right thing? How was next Saturday gonna go? It had to happen sometime, sooner is better than later right? Oh well, just have to see how it goes, but Emma will have me if nothing else. If Dad doesn't want to know then we would still have each other, we didn't need him.
