Guy POV:
The others were already gathered for breakfast when I sat my tray down on the table between Connie and Luis the morning of the twenty-second. Except for Adam, I was the last one to show up for breakfast. My teammates were already busy freaking out about their last final. Me, I had given up worrying about it earlier that morning at about two o'clock. Either I was going to pass it or I wasn't. Worrying about it wasn't going to get me anywhere.
"Hey look its sleeping beauty," Averman joked as Adam finally joined us for breakfast.
"Very funny Averman," Adam told him sitting down next to Fulton.
"Yeah is that a new study method - sleeping during a study group?" Charlie asked with a grin on his face. Even I couldn't keep from chuckling at that one.
"Very funny guys," Adam said cutting the waffle on the plate in front of him into pieces. "So I was a little tired last night."
"A little. It took us ten minutes to wake you up last night," Charlie said. "You okay Adam?" Charlie asked growing serious.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about guys," Adam told us. I don't know about the others but I wasn't exactly convinced.
Dean started telling a story about what he and Fulton had done the night before completely changing the breakfast conversation.
The hours seemed to crawl by that morning. I couldn't wait until it was time for the history final. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I was looking forward to taking it. I was looking forward to getting it over with.
As soon as I was done with the test I hurried back to the dorm. I knocked on the room that Connie shared with Julie to see if Connie was done with her English final yet. When I didn't get a reply I figured she was probably still taking it. I headed upstairs to start packing my stuff. My parents were coming to pick me up that night and I hadn't even started packing yet.
In my room I got so involved with packing that I didn't even notice when Charlie came in until he came up behind me and yelled boo. I jumped and let out a yell much to Charlie's delight who stood there and laughed at me.
"That isn't funny I told him," after I recovered from my scare. "You could give a guy a hard attack doing that."
"Yeah, whatever," Charlie said a huge grin still on his face. "When you leaving?"
"My parents said they'd be by to pick me up around eight tonight."
"The whole clan coming?"
"Probably. They always do."
Charlie always referred to my family as the clan because we ended up doing a lot of things together. My family included my parents, an older sister, twin younger brothers and my two year old sister. Yeah that's right five kids. I don't know how my mom does it. In fact until I came to Eden Hall the longest time, and only time, I had been away from my family had been when I skated in the Junior Goodwill Games. Sometimes I wasn't sure who my staying at Eden Hall effected most - me or my family. I was definitely looking for to this holiday break and being home for awhile.
"When are you going home?" I asked Charlie as I returned back to my packing.
"My mom is picking me up early tomorrow morning. She's working late tonight so we figured it would just be better for me to stay here for the night."
"You the only one?" I asked him. I knew that most of the other Ducks were leaving the dorm at some point during the evening.
"No, Connie isn't going home until the morning either. We figured we'd stay up late watching tv and enjoy the quiet of the almost empty dorms," Charlie said. I knew from talking to some of the others who shared our dorms that a few others weren't leaving until the next day either but it looked as if Charlie and Connie were going to be the only Ducks around. I wasn't sure how much I liked that idea. It wasn't that I didn't trust either of them but anything could happen with them being alone. I considered calling my parents and telling them to pick me up the following day but I figured that might be just a little too obvious. Besides Charlie was my friend and Connie's friend. Nothing would happen.
I went back to packing as Charlie started some of his packing. Before long I could hear more voices in the hallway as students finished up their last finals or classes and made there way back to the dorm eager to get out of school for the holiday break.
For dinner we didn't eat at the school cafeteria. Instead Coach Bombay took us all out for pizza so that the team could be together one last time before we all went home.
"Lover boy couldn't make it," Russ said tauntingly to Julie as we waited for our pizza.
"Scooter already left for home," Julie answered him.
"Yeah, can't you tell she's heartbroken," Portman said
"Why don't you pick on Connie and Guy for awhile," Julie said.
"Nah, they're old news. This is much more fun," Averman told her. Fortunately the pizza came at that time and by the time we all had our pizza the subject of Scooter and Julie was forgotten.
I couldn't help but think about how much I was going to miss moments like these over the next couple of weeks. Yeah I'd see some of my friends while on break, the ones who lived in the area. However, some of my teammates I wasn't going to see until we returned to Eden Hall.
After dinner Bombay took us back to the dorm and waited as the Ducks who had to catch flights grabbed their stuff. Bombay was going to take them to the airport and make sure they all got on their flights. We all said good-bye to Julie, Russ, Luis, Dwayne, Ken and Portman and then headed back into the dorm building. Instead of going to our rooms us remaining Ducks went into the common room and spread out on the floor in one corner of the room. A group of other kids had gathered in front of the tv.
We all chatted and joked around until our parents started showing up to take us home. Averman was the first one to leave and by that time we had all decided to get together at the pond the following afternoon to play a game of hockey. We were even going to try and get Jesse and some of the others to join us.
Before long the only ones left in the common room were Charlie, Connie, Adam and myself. Coach Bombay was the next one to show up as he came back from the airport for Adam.
"You ready Adam?" Bombay asked as he stood in the doorway to the common room.
"Yeah, just let me go get my stuff," Adam said slowly getting up and heading upstairs.
"I'll go help him," Charlie said getting up and following Adam upstairs.
As those two disappeared upstairs I heard another car pull up to the front of the building and a few moments later a lot of familiar voices.
"Looks, like my family is here. Can you tell them I'll be right back down, Coach?" I asked as I headed for the stuff with Connie close behind me.
"Sure," Bombay told me.
I passed Adam and Charlie coming down with Adam's stuff on the way to my room.
"I'll see you tomorrow Adam," I said as Connie and I walked by.
"Yeah, Bye," Adam said as he headed down the stairs. I noticed that Charlie was carrying most of the stuff but didn't really think much about it as I went into the room I shared with Charlie.
"Make sure you call me if you need to talk to anyone at any time," I told Connie as I gathered my stuff. Though she hadn't gone into details with the others I knew more about what was going on at Connie's house. Her Dad had gone to the hospital last week thinking he was having a heart attack. Luckily he wasn't but that was when he had been told he was under to much stress and that he needed to take a break from his job. From what Connie had said he had been driving her mother and younger sister crazy since he had been stuck at home.
"I'm going to see you tomorrow afternoon," Connie said with a smile.
"You know what I mean," I told her.
"I know. And thanks," Connie said. "It means a lot to me to know you'll be there if I need you," Connie said and then gave me a quick kiss. Connie then grabbed the last duffle bag on the bed and we headed downstairs.
As soon as I came downstairs I noticed that although all of my siblings had showed up only my Dad had come to pick me up.
"Where's Mom?" I asked worried.
"She just felt like staying at home," my Dad said quickly. "You ready."
"Yeah," I said. I had the funny feeling that my dad wasn't telling me something but now wasn't the time to press the issue.
I said good-bye to Charlie outside and then got into the van with the 'clan'. Before long my younger siblings were busy telling me about what they had been up to in school this past week and I forgot all about my concern over the fact that my Mom had not come tonight.
Adam's POV:
I was glad that Charlie had volunteered to help me carry my stuff downstairs and out to Coach Bombay's van. I just didn't think I had the strength to carry everything by myself. When Charlie had insisted on carrying most of the stuff I didn't argue. The way I felt the less stuff I had to carry the better.
On the way back downstairs we passed Guy and Connie in the hall and I said good-bye to Guy even though I would be seeing him the following afternoon. We continued down the steps where Gordon was waiting in the hallway talking with Guy's father. I could hear Guy's five siblings in the common room carrying on.
"You okay," Gordon asked me as he reached out and took one of the two bags I was carrying and my hockey gear from Charlie.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," I told him trying to put a smile on my face. Tired was an understatement. I was exhausted. It had been a struggle for me to keep my eyes open the entire afternoon. The only thing I could figure is that I was coming down with a cold or something because I had been sleeping. Falling asleep during the study group the night before hadn't been the only time I had fallen asleep trying to study for finals. I was just glad they were over with. I was sure that now that the pressures of finals were over I would stop feeling so worn out.
We put my stuff in the van and then we said good-bye to Charlie. I'm not sure when during the trip back to Gordon's apartment that I fell asleep but the next thing I remember Gordon was trying to wake me up because we were there.
I slowly got out of the van and started to get my stuff.
"I'll get that later," Gordon told me as he put an arm around my shoulders and started leading me upstairs to his apartment. "I think the only thing you should do is go to bed."
Even if I had wanted to I didn't have the energy to argue with him. I let Gordon lead me upstairs to the apartment and then headed straight for my room. I got changed into a t-shirt and sweat pants to sleep in and then climbed into bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.
I woke up in the morning to the sunlight streaming through my window. I glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings for a moment trying to remember where I was. Sometimes it was hard thinking about Coach Bombay's, I mean Gordon's (which he has insisted that I start calling him since I moved in), as my home. It wasn't that I didn't feel welcomed there I did. Gordon had gone out of his way to make sure I felt like this was my home too but the whole concept of staying with Gordon and not living with my family was taking some getting use to.
I glanced over at my alarm clock on the bedside table. The clock already read eleven forty-two. I couldn't believe I had slept away most of the morning. I got out of bed and headed to the kitchen for something to eat.
The apartment was quiet. I was wondering where Gordon had gotten too when I saw the note on the refrigerator. It read:
Adam,
Am having lunch with Casey. I'll see you later this afternoon.
-Gordon
I sat down at the kitchen table with my breakfast and then I remembered the hockey game at the pond in the afternoon. Just thinking about the game made me feel tired again and this morning my throat felt a bit scratchy. I was starting to think I was coming down with something.
I had made up my mind to stay in this afternoon when the telephone rang. As I answered it I heard Jesse's voice on the other end.
"Hey cake-eater," Jesse said cheerfully, "I just got done talking with Charlie. I can't wait to see everybody this afternoon. Charlie wants me to get a hold of Perter and Karp too but I wanted to talk to you before I try calling them. Charlie's going to try and see if Tommy and Tammy can make it too. It'll be great to get together again."
"Yeah, I can't wait," I told him. It looked like I wasn't staying around the apartment this afternoon anyways. Besides I did want to see Jesse. I hadn't seen him since the weekend following Thanksgiving. I hadn't seen Peter and Karp since the summer and I can't remember when the last time I saw Tammy and Tommy was.
"Hey Charlie was telling me about the final goal in that game against varsity. That is so cool and at least you guys showed them that the first win was no fluke."
"Yeah well I think I was one of the most surprised people there when that puck actually went into the net. I mean yeah the rules state that if you ice the puck and score a goal then there is no penalty for icing and the score counts but I never thought I'd actually ever see it happen."
"To be honest I thought Charlie was making it up when he first told me. It took him awhile to convince me that he wasn't kidding."
"So anything happening with Tina yet?" I asked Jesse wanting to change the subject. Tina was a girl at Jesse's school that Jesse has had a crush on all school year.
"No. I still haven't gotten around to asking her out," Jesse said slowly.
"Just ask her out," I told him. "What is the worst that could happen - she'll tell you no. At least then you'll know where you stand."
"Look who's talking," Jesse said quickly. "You've had a crush on a couple girls and have never asked them out."
"Yeah, but I have trouble talking to everybody," I told him. "You're not like that Jesse. You've never had a problem telling anyone what is on your mind. Why is this any different?"
"I don't know," Jesse said. "Every time I get the nerve up to do it I chicken out at the last second and pretend I have a question about something in one of our classes. She probably thinks I'm one of the stupidest people in our grade at this point."
"Your probably making it out to be worst than it really is."
"Yeah, maybe. Hey look I need to go ahead and call Karp and Peter. I'll see you in a couple of hours," Jesse said then.
"Okay, bye," I told him and then hung up the phone. I then went into the living room. I figured I'd just watch tv until it was time to head for the pond.
The others were already gathered for breakfast when I sat my tray down on the table between Connie and Luis the morning of the twenty-second. Except for Adam, I was the last one to show up for breakfast. My teammates were already busy freaking out about their last final. Me, I had given up worrying about it earlier that morning at about two o'clock. Either I was going to pass it or I wasn't. Worrying about it wasn't going to get me anywhere.
"Hey look its sleeping beauty," Averman joked as Adam finally joined us for breakfast.
"Very funny Averman," Adam told him sitting down next to Fulton.
"Yeah is that a new study method - sleeping during a study group?" Charlie asked with a grin on his face. Even I couldn't keep from chuckling at that one.
"Very funny guys," Adam said cutting the waffle on the plate in front of him into pieces. "So I was a little tired last night."
"A little. It took us ten minutes to wake you up last night," Charlie said. "You okay Adam?" Charlie asked growing serious.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about guys," Adam told us. I don't know about the others but I wasn't exactly convinced.
Dean started telling a story about what he and Fulton had done the night before completely changing the breakfast conversation.
The hours seemed to crawl by that morning. I couldn't wait until it was time for the history final. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I was looking forward to taking it. I was looking forward to getting it over with.
As soon as I was done with the test I hurried back to the dorm. I knocked on the room that Connie shared with Julie to see if Connie was done with her English final yet. When I didn't get a reply I figured she was probably still taking it. I headed upstairs to start packing my stuff. My parents were coming to pick me up that night and I hadn't even started packing yet.
In my room I got so involved with packing that I didn't even notice when Charlie came in until he came up behind me and yelled boo. I jumped and let out a yell much to Charlie's delight who stood there and laughed at me.
"That isn't funny I told him," after I recovered from my scare. "You could give a guy a hard attack doing that."
"Yeah, whatever," Charlie said a huge grin still on his face. "When you leaving?"
"My parents said they'd be by to pick me up around eight tonight."
"The whole clan coming?"
"Probably. They always do."
Charlie always referred to my family as the clan because we ended up doing a lot of things together. My family included my parents, an older sister, twin younger brothers and my two year old sister. Yeah that's right five kids. I don't know how my mom does it. In fact until I came to Eden Hall the longest time, and only time, I had been away from my family had been when I skated in the Junior Goodwill Games. Sometimes I wasn't sure who my staying at Eden Hall effected most - me or my family. I was definitely looking for to this holiday break and being home for awhile.
"When are you going home?" I asked Charlie as I returned back to my packing.
"My mom is picking me up early tomorrow morning. She's working late tonight so we figured it would just be better for me to stay here for the night."
"You the only one?" I asked him. I knew that most of the other Ducks were leaving the dorm at some point during the evening.
"No, Connie isn't going home until the morning either. We figured we'd stay up late watching tv and enjoy the quiet of the almost empty dorms," Charlie said. I knew from talking to some of the others who shared our dorms that a few others weren't leaving until the next day either but it looked as if Charlie and Connie were going to be the only Ducks around. I wasn't sure how much I liked that idea. It wasn't that I didn't trust either of them but anything could happen with them being alone. I considered calling my parents and telling them to pick me up the following day but I figured that might be just a little too obvious. Besides Charlie was my friend and Connie's friend. Nothing would happen.
I went back to packing as Charlie started some of his packing. Before long I could hear more voices in the hallway as students finished up their last finals or classes and made there way back to the dorm eager to get out of school for the holiday break.
For dinner we didn't eat at the school cafeteria. Instead Coach Bombay took us all out for pizza so that the team could be together one last time before we all went home.
"Lover boy couldn't make it," Russ said tauntingly to Julie as we waited for our pizza.
"Scooter already left for home," Julie answered him.
"Yeah, can't you tell she's heartbroken," Portman said
"Why don't you pick on Connie and Guy for awhile," Julie said.
"Nah, they're old news. This is much more fun," Averman told her. Fortunately the pizza came at that time and by the time we all had our pizza the subject of Scooter and Julie was forgotten.
I couldn't help but think about how much I was going to miss moments like these over the next couple of weeks. Yeah I'd see some of my friends while on break, the ones who lived in the area. However, some of my teammates I wasn't going to see until we returned to Eden Hall.
After dinner Bombay took us back to the dorm and waited as the Ducks who had to catch flights grabbed their stuff. Bombay was going to take them to the airport and make sure they all got on their flights. We all said good-bye to Julie, Russ, Luis, Dwayne, Ken and Portman and then headed back into the dorm building. Instead of going to our rooms us remaining Ducks went into the common room and spread out on the floor in one corner of the room. A group of other kids had gathered in front of the tv.
We all chatted and joked around until our parents started showing up to take us home. Averman was the first one to leave and by that time we had all decided to get together at the pond the following afternoon to play a game of hockey. We were even going to try and get Jesse and some of the others to join us.
Before long the only ones left in the common room were Charlie, Connie, Adam and myself. Coach Bombay was the next one to show up as he came back from the airport for Adam.
"You ready Adam?" Bombay asked as he stood in the doorway to the common room.
"Yeah, just let me go get my stuff," Adam said slowly getting up and heading upstairs.
"I'll go help him," Charlie said getting up and following Adam upstairs.
As those two disappeared upstairs I heard another car pull up to the front of the building and a few moments later a lot of familiar voices.
"Looks, like my family is here. Can you tell them I'll be right back down, Coach?" I asked as I headed for the stuff with Connie close behind me.
"Sure," Bombay told me.
I passed Adam and Charlie coming down with Adam's stuff on the way to my room.
"I'll see you tomorrow Adam," I said as Connie and I walked by.
"Yeah, Bye," Adam said as he headed down the stairs. I noticed that Charlie was carrying most of the stuff but didn't really think much about it as I went into the room I shared with Charlie.
"Make sure you call me if you need to talk to anyone at any time," I told Connie as I gathered my stuff. Though she hadn't gone into details with the others I knew more about what was going on at Connie's house. Her Dad had gone to the hospital last week thinking he was having a heart attack. Luckily he wasn't but that was when he had been told he was under to much stress and that he needed to take a break from his job. From what Connie had said he had been driving her mother and younger sister crazy since he had been stuck at home.
"I'm going to see you tomorrow afternoon," Connie said with a smile.
"You know what I mean," I told her.
"I know. And thanks," Connie said. "It means a lot to me to know you'll be there if I need you," Connie said and then gave me a quick kiss. Connie then grabbed the last duffle bag on the bed and we headed downstairs.
As soon as I came downstairs I noticed that although all of my siblings had showed up only my Dad had come to pick me up.
"Where's Mom?" I asked worried.
"She just felt like staying at home," my Dad said quickly. "You ready."
"Yeah," I said. I had the funny feeling that my dad wasn't telling me something but now wasn't the time to press the issue.
I said good-bye to Charlie outside and then got into the van with the 'clan'. Before long my younger siblings were busy telling me about what they had been up to in school this past week and I forgot all about my concern over the fact that my Mom had not come tonight.
Adam's POV:
I was glad that Charlie had volunteered to help me carry my stuff downstairs and out to Coach Bombay's van. I just didn't think I had the strength to carry everything by myself. When Charlie had insisted on carrying most of the stuff I didn't argue. The way I felt the less stuff I had to carry the better.
On the way back downstairs we passed Guy and Connie in the hall and I said good-bye to Guy even though I would be seeing him the following afternoon. We continued down the steps where Gordon was waiting in the hallway talking with Guy's father. I could hear Guy's five siblings in the common room carrying on.
"You okay," Gordon asked me as he reached out and took one of the two bags I was carrying and my hockey gear from Charlie.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," I told him trying to put a smile on my face. Tired was an understatement. I was exhausted. It had been a struggle for me to keep my eyes open the entire afternoon. The only thing I could figure is that I was coming down with a cold or something because I had been sleeping. Falling asleep during the study group the night before hadn't been the only time I had fallen asleep trying to study for finals. I was just glad they were over with. I was sure that now that the pressures of finals were over I would stop feeling so worn out.
We put my stuff in the van and then we said good-bye to Charlie. I'm not sure when during the trip back to Gordon's apartment that I fell asleep but the next thing I remember Gordon was trying to wake me up because we were there.
I slowly got out of the van and started to get my stuff.
"I'll get that later," Gordon told me as he put an arm around my shoulders and started leading me upstairs to his apartment. "I think the only thing you should do is go to bed."
Even if I had wanted to I didn't have the energy to argue with him. I let Gordon lead me upstairs to the apartment and then headed straight for my room. I got changed into a t-shirt and sweat pants to sleep in and then climbed into bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.
I woke up in the morning to the sunlight streaming through my window. I glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings for a moment trying to remember where I was. Sometimes it was hard thinking about Coach Bombay's, I mean Gordon's (which he has insisted that I start calling him since I moved in), as my home. It wasn't that I didn't feel welcomed there I did. Gordon had gone out of his way to make sure I felt like this was my home too but the whole concept of staying with Gordon and not living with my family was taking some getting use to.
I glanced over at my alarm clock on the bedside table. The clock already read eleven forty-two. I couldn't believe I had slept away most of the morning. I got out of bed and headed to the kitchen for something to eat.
The apartment was quiet. I was wondering where Gordon had gotten too when I saw the note on the refrigerator. It read:
Adam,
Am having lunch with Casey. I'll see you later this afternoon.
-Gordon
I sat down at the kitchen table with my breakfast and then I remembered the hockey game at the pond in the afternoon. Just thinking about the game made me feel tired again and this morning my throat felt a bit scratchy. I was starting to think I was coming down with something.
I had made up my mind to stay in this afternoon when the telephone rang. As I answered it I heard Jesse's voice on the other end.
"Hey cake-eater," Jesse said cheerfully, "I just got done talking with Charlie. I can't wait to see everybody this afternoon. Charlie wants me to get a hold of Perter and Karp too but I wanted to talk to you before I try calling them. Charlie's going to try and see if Tommy and Tammy can make it too. It'll be great to get together again."
"Yeah, I can't wait," I told him. It looked like I wasn't staying around the apartment this afternoon anyways. Besides I did want to see Jesse. I hadn't seen him since the weekend following Thanksgiving. I hadn't seen Peter and Karp since the summer and I can't remember when the last time I saw Tammy and Tommy was.
"Hey Charlie was telling me about the final goal in that game against varsity. That is so cool and at least you guys showed them that the first win was no fluke."
"Yeah well I think I was one of the most surprised people there when that puck actually went into the net. I mean yeah the rules state that if you ice the puck and score a goal then there is no penalty for icing and the score counts but I never thought I'd actually ever see it happen."
"To be honest I thought Charlie was making it up when he first told me. It took him awhile to convince me that he wasn't kidding."
"So anything happening with Tina yet?" I asked Jesse wanting to change the subject. Tina was a girl at Jesse's school that Jesse has had a crush on all school year.
"No. I still haven't gotten around to asking her out," Jesse said slowly.
"Just ask her out," I told him. "What is the worst that could happen - she'll tell you no. At least then you'll know where you stand."
"Look who's talking," Jesse said quickly. "You've had a crush on a couple girls and have never asked them out."
"Yeah, but I have trouble talking to everybody," I told him. "You're not like that Jesse. You've never had a problem telling anyone what is on your mind. Why is this any different?"
"I don't know," Jesse said. "Every time I get the nerve up to do it I chicken out at the last second and pretend I have a question about something in one of our classes. She probably thinks I'm one of the stupidest people in our grade at this point."
"Your probably making it out to be worst than it really is."
"Yeah, maybe. Hey look I need to go ahead and call Karp and Peter. I'll see you in a couple of hours," Jesse said then.
"Okay, bye," I told him and then hung up the phone. I then went into the living room. I figured I'd just watch tv until it was time to head for the pond.