Chapter03 The Team's decision
It seemed like forever before the phone rang. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey Jamies, can you go get coach Bombay and meet us down on the ice?" Charlie asked. "Yeah but the ice?" "No questions please, just go do it and meet us down here." "Okay." I said as I hung up the phone. "I'm starting to hate all this drama." I said out loud. I walked down the hall towards the Athletic Directors office where coach Bombay was the last time I saw him. "Coach, they want to see us down on the Ice." I said only poking my head into the office. "Okay right behind you." He said as he got up. I started to walk fast down to the rink; the anticipation was getting to me. You know that feeling where you can't wait for something to happen? Yeah that feeling, the feeling that maybe it's something good that's about to happen or something bad is about to happen. I'm clearly hoping something good happens because I don't think that I could handle going home and being rejected by people that I love, especially Adam. I finally reached my destination. I looked behind me to see how far coach was from me and he was just a couple of yards. I walked into the fogged up rink and went out on the ice. I heard a door open and a door slam and then saw coach walk onto the ice. "What do you think they're going to say?" He asked me. "I don't know, hopefully something good." "We're both thinking the same thing, but for a totally different reason." He stated. And he was right. We were thinking the same; hopefully they say something good but for different reasons. More along the lines of 'you can stay Jaimie, you're a great player and you were right about the Team USA thing, we want to be Ducks not team USA.' I was hoping they'd say that. But Coach Bombay, was hoping that they'd say yes to them being Team USA again. I heard a door open. I saw figures moving and I heard skates on the ice. All of a sudden I got more nervous. My anticipation wore away and I saw Charlie and the rest of the team, but in Team USA uniforms. I started to feel my eyes sting. 'I can't believe them, they would just come out with those uniforms on and just tell us this way.' I said to myself. " I think I'm going to die." I said out loud. "They need to defend their titles as Team USA." Coach Bombay said. "But why can't they just enter as Ducks, their the same people." I said turning my head to the team as they came to a stop. I started to cry even harder, as I saw my date for our junior prom standing in a Team USA uniform. "I know what your thinking Jaimie, but it's not what it looks like." Julie said skating forward. "It's not, either you changed the colors to the Ducks uniforms or I'm seeing all of you wearing the Team USA jerseys." "We are wearing the Team USA jerseys, but we are not Team USA." Julie said going back to where she was before. "What that makes no sense." Coach Bombay said. "All it means is that we are not defending our titles as Team USA." Adam said skating up to me and looking me in the eyes. "We are going as. The Ducks." Adam said as all of the players took off the USA jerseys and threw them to the ground. "You can't do that, you have no one to sign you up as the ducks." Coach Bombay said picking up all the jerseys. "Actually. I made a few phone calls and I got in touch with Jaimie's brother Brian, and he decided to sign us up and coach us for the rest of the season." Charlie said. "Coach Bombay, we thank you for stepping up and helping us be a team but now it's time to let us go and be Ducks." "Yeah, but you have to defend your title as." "No we don't Gordon, we can do it as the Ducks too, and that' what we're doing, we all love you to death but you need to let us be who we are not something you created." Connie said. I walked over to my teammates and stood in front of Adam who gave me my jersey. "You guys are the best thing that happened to me, but your right, good luck and I'll be cheering you all on." Gordon said. "Oh and you guys. take care of Jaimie, she truly loves you all and she will go through anything to protect you too." He said as he started to walk away. They all gathered around me and started hugging me. "So how badly did we scare you?" Charlie asked. "You really want to know that?" I said getting ready to show him. "Yeah we do." He said. "Well. you better start skating because I'm going to kill you!" I screamed as I chased him around the rink. "Okay I think I get the point, your mad at us for doing that but we just wanted to see your face when we told you that we decided to stay as the Ducks when we were still wearing team USA jerseys." Charlie said stopping behind Adam. "Well you saw your face and you're about to see a whole other face from me." I said skating up to Adam and looking behind him to see Charlie. "We should get off the ice before the Varsity team comes and kicks us off physically." Averman said bringing up a point. "Too late we're already here." Some one said behind us. We turned around to see the Varsity team standing there. "Oh look they have their new player, and oh it's a girl!" One of their players' girlfriends said. "Shut up Tracy, what's your name?" The captain asked. "Jaimie." I said trying to be as calm as possible, though I was nervous as hell. "That's Josh, you must remember him from English?" Adam whispered in my ear. "Yeah I remember." I said putting my hands behind my back and grabbing Adam's hands. "So. Jaimie want to go to the dance with me?" Josh asked. "Only in your dreams hunny, plus I don't know you that well, and I already have a date. Maybe next time, actually. no, never!" "No one ever says no to me." Josh said stepping forward. "She just did, why do you have a problem with that?" Portman asked. "Yeah I do, who asked you to stick up for her. oh that's right Ducks stick together, and I forgot, sorry." Josh said sarcastically. "Josh just let them be, we'll let you go this time, but next time we'll take this outside of school." Tracy said. "Fine, thanks, let's go guys we have better stuff to do. Oh and Josh you should never tell a girl to shut up, we never do." Dwayne said as we all walked away. At that time I had other problems to deal with. Like on what I was going to wear to the dance tomorrow night. "Julie, Connie, can I talk to you two. alone?" I asked letting go of Adam's hand and looking at the guys. "Yeah, sure." They answered. "What's the matter?" Julie asked. "I need a dress for the dance, but I didn't pack one, do either of you have a dress I could borrow?" I asked hoping they did. I didn't have enough time to run out and get one, and I'm sure one of the teachers wouldn't let me go get one during a class. "You have the same problem we have, we don't have any dresses and if we do they're all sun dresses." Connie said. "Do you think a teacher would let us skip a class and go out and get one?" I asked stupidly. "Mr. Robertson would let us, we all have his class tomorrow, at the same time too, so we could ask him tonight if we can get a pass to get out of study early, but we'd have to bring the guys with us too, because they don't have any suits, well not that I know of." Julie stated. "Do all of us have the same class?" I asked. "All of us plus the Varsity team, since we're hockey players, we have different schedules to accommodate our practices and games that are away from the school." Julie said. "Okay so when do you want to go see him?" I asked looking from Connie to Julie. "We could go now, but we'd have to bring the guys with us." Connie said with a smile on her face. "Okay, oh Connie I forgot to ask you. who are you going to the dance with?" I asked waiting for an answer. "We all know who she's going with. Germaine!" Julie yelled, making the guys turn around. Julie and I burst out laughing as Connie stopped and gave us a pissed off look. "Come on Connie we know that your going with him, you have been going out with him forever." Julie said putting her arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, anyways, yes Jaimie I'm going with Germaine." She said laughing. "That's cool." I said as we ran up to catch up with the guys. "You guys want to redirect this crowd, we're going to see Mr. Robertson about the dance tomorrow night." Connie said. They all turned around with no complaint and we all started walking back towards the classrooms. "So why are we going back to Mr. Robertson's?" Adam asked me grabbing my hand. "We don't have any dresses and we're going to ask him if all of us can skip class to go get the dresses." "And you think he's going to let you Hun?" "Yeah, maybe, hopefully." I said as he started laughing. We reached his class and luckily his lights were still on. We knocked on his door. "Come in!" We heard him yell. "Hey, it's my favorite Ducks!" He said with a smile. "What can I do for all of you?" He asked. "Well, us girls were wondering if you could give all of us passes to skip class tomorrow morning, since your going to be our only class, to get our dresses and their tuxes or whatever their wearing." Julie asked. "I don't know, but yeah I'll late you go." He said. "That easily. Cool, thanks." We all said giving him a hug. "You came up with this didn't you Julie?" He asked. "Yeah I did, but Jaimie came up with the subject." Julie said grabbing my free arm. "Of course the new one. I'll let you go, only if you behave tomorrow." He said seriously. "Yeah we will!" We all screamed walking out of the room. "So, who are the rest of you guys going with?" I asked. "That's for us to know and you to find out." Goldberg said. "Smart Ass!" I said walking up behind him and slapping him upside the head.
It seemed like forever before the phone rang. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey Jamies, can you go get coach Bombay and meet us down on the ice?" Charlie asked. "Yeah but the ice?" "No questions please, just go do it and meet us down here." "Okay." I said as I hung up the phone. "I'm starting to hate all this drama." I said out loud. I walked down the hall towards the Athletic Directors office where coach Bombay was the last time I saw him. "Coach, they want to see us down on the Ice." I said only poking my head into the office. "Okay right behind you." He said as he got up. I started to walk fast down to the rink; the anticipation was getting to me. You know that feeling where you can't wait for something to happen? Yeah that feeling, the feeling that maybe it's something good that's about to happen or something bad is about to happen. I'm clearly hoping something good happens because I don't think that I could handle going home and being rejected by people that I love, especially Adam. I finally reached my destination. I looked behind me to see how far coach was from me and he was just a couple of yards. I walked into the fogged up rink and went out on the ice. I heard a door open and a door slam and then saw coach walk onto the ice. "What do you think they're going to say?" He asked me. "I don't know, hopefully something good." "We're both thinking the same thing, but for a totally different reason." He stated. And he was right. We were thinking the same; hopefully they say something good but for different reasons. More along the lines of 'you can stay Jaimie, you're a great player and you were right about the Team USA thing, we want to be Ducks not team USA.' I was hoping they'd say that. But Coach Bombay, was hoping that they'd say yes to them being Team USA again. I heard a door open. I saw figures moving and I heard skates on the ice. All of a sudden I got more nervous. My anticipation wore away and I saw Charlie and the rest of the team, but in Team USA uniforms. I started to feel my eyes sting. 'I can't believe them, they would just come out with those uniforms on and just tell us this way.' I said to myself. " I think I'm going to die." I said out loud. "They need to defend their titles as Team USA." Coach Bombay said. "But why can't they just enter as Ducks, their the same people." I said turning my head to the team as they came to a stop. I started to cry even harder, as I saw my date for our junior prom standing in a Team USA uniform. "I know what your thinking Jaimie, but it's not what it looks like." Julie said skating forward. "It's not, either you changed the colors to the Ducks uniforms or I'm seeing all of you wearing the Team USA jerseys." "We are wearing the Team USA jerseys, but we are not Team USA." Julie said going back to where she was before. "What that makes no sense." Coach Bombay said. "All it means is that we are not defending our titles as Team USA." Adam said skating up to me and looking me in the eyes. "We are going as. The Ducks." Adam said as all of the players took off the USA jerseys and threw them to the ground. "You can't do that, you have no one to sign you up as the ducks." Coach Bombay said picking up all the jerseys. "Actually. I made a few phone calls and I got in touch with Jaimie's brother Brian, and he decided to sign us up and coach us for the rest of the season." Charlie said. "Coach Bombay, we thank you for stepping up and helping us be a team but now it's time to let us go and be Ducks." "Yeah, but you have to defend your title as." "No we don't Gordon, we can do it as the Ducks too, and that' what we're doing, we all love you to death but you need to let us be who we are not something you created." Connie said. I walked over to my teammates and stood in front of Adam who gave me my jersey. "You guys are the best thing that happened to me, but your right, good luck and I'll be cheering you all on." Gordon said. "Oh and you guys. take care of Jaimie, she truly loves you all and she will go through anything to protect you too." He said as he started to walk away. They all gathered around me and started hugging me. "So how badly did we scare you?" Charlie asked. "You really want to know that?" I said getting ready to show him. "Yeah we do." He said. "Well. you better start skating because I'm going to kill you!" I screamed as I chased him around the rink. "Okay I think I get the point, your mad at us for doing that but we just wanted to see your face when we told you that we decided to stay as the Ducks when we were still wearing team USA jerseys." Charlie said stopping behind Adam. "Well you saw your face and you're about to see a whole other face from me." I said skating up to Adam and looking behind him to see Charlie. "We should get off the ice before the Varsity team comes and kicks us off physically." Averman said bringing up a point. "Too late we're already here." Some one said behind us. We turned around to see the Varsity team standing there. "Oh look they have their new player, and oh it's a girl!" One of their players' girlfriends said. "Shut up Tracy, what's your name?" The captain asked. "Jaimie." I said trying to be as calm as possible, though I was nervous as hell. "That's Josh, you must remember him from English?" Adam whispered in my ear. "Yeah I remember." I said putting my hands behind my back and grabbing Adam's hands. "So. Jaimie want to go to the dance with me?" Josh asked. "Only in your dreams hunny, plus I don't know you that well, and I already have a date. Maybe next time, actually. no, never!" "No one ever says no to me." Josh said stepping forward. "She just did, why do you have a problem with that?" Portman asked. "Yeah I do, who asked you to stick up for her. oh that's right Ducks stick together, and I forgot, sorry." Josh said sarcastically. "Josh just let them be, we'll let you go this time, but next time we'll take this outside of school." Tracy said. "Fine, thanks, let's go guys we have better stuff to do. Oh and Josh you should never tell a girl to shut up, we never do." Dwayne said as we all walked away. At that time I had other problems to deal with. Like on what I was going to wear to the dance tomorrow night. "Julie, Connie, can I talk to you two. alone?" I asked letting go of Adam's hand and looking at the guys. "Yeah, sure." They answered. "What's the matter?" Julie asked. "I need a dress for the dance, but I didn't pack one, do either of you have a dress I could borrow?" I asked hoping they did. I didn't have enough time to run out and get one, and I'm sure one of the teachers wouldn't let me go get one during a class. "You have the same problem we have, we don't have any dresses and if we do they're all sun dresses." Connie said. "Do you think a teacher would let us skip a class and go out and get one?" I asked stupidly. "Mr. Robertson would let us, we all have his class tomorrow, at the same time too, so we could ask him tonight if we can get a pass to get out of study early, but we'd have to bring the guys with us too, because they don't have any suits, well not that I know of." Julie stated. "Do all of us have the same class?" I asked. "All of us plus the Varsity team, since we're hockey players, we have different schedules to accommodate our practices and games that are away from the school." Julie said. "Okay so when do you want to go see him?" I asked looking from Connie to Julie. "We could go now, but we'd have to bring the guys with us." Connie said with a smile on her face. "Okay, oh Connie I forgot to ask you. who are you going to the dance with?" I asked waiting for an answer. "We all know who she's going with. Germaine!" Julie yelled, making the guys turn around. Julie and I burst out laughing as Connie stopped and gave us a pissed off look. "Come on Connie we know that your going with him, you have been going out with him forever." Julie said putting her arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, anyways, yes Jaimie I'm going with Germaine." She said laughing. "That's cool." I said as we ran up to catch up with the guys. "You guys want to redirect this crowd, we're going to see Mr. Robertson about the dance tomorrow night." Connie said. They all turned around with no complaint and we all started walking back towards the classrooms. "So why are we going back to Mr. Robertson's?" Adam asked me grabbing my hand. "We don't have any dresses and we're going to ask him if all of us can skip class to go get the dresses." "And you think he's going to let you Hun?" "Yeah, maybe, hopefully." I said as he started laughing. We reached his class and luckily his lights were still on. We knocked on his door. "Come in!" We heard him yell. "Hey, it's my favorite Ducks!" He said with a smile. "What can I do for all of you?" He asked. "Well, us girls were wondering if you could give all of us passes to skip class tomorrow morning, since your going to be our only class, to get our dresses and their tuxes or whatever their wearing." Julie asked. "I don't know, but yeah I'll late you go." He said. "That easily. Cool, thanks." We all said giving him a hug. "You came up with this didn't you Julie?" He asked. "Yeah I did, but Jaimie came up with the subject." Julie said grabbing my free arm. "Of course the new one. I'll let you go, only if you behave tomorrow." He said seriously. "Yeah we will!" We all screamed walking out of the room. "So, who are the rest of you guys going with?" I asked. "That's for us to know and you to find out." Goldberg said. "Smart Ass!" I said walking up behind him and slapping him upside the head.
