Title: More Than You'll Ever Know
Summary: All Adam's dad wants is for Adam to make pro-hockey. All Adam ever wanted was a friend. A friend to stick by him. He'd lost one before, and when she comes back, sparks fly, but not for the better.
Main Duck: Adam Banks
Rating: PG-13 for language especially in this chapter and later violence
Time frame: After D2, before and during D3 maybe after D3 if I feel like it and if you give me reviews =p
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own 'em. I just own Jessica, Ethan, Sally, Jason, and Andrew.
This chapter: ANOTHER bad thing to Jessica…sorry Pyro…*ducks from the knives* The next few chapters will be like this, but then something bad will happen to Adam, well angst wise. I promise.
Adam
Jessica was waiting for me at the edge of the field after the funeral. She was wearing a denim miniskirt and a gray tank-top under her Varsity jacket. Her hair bounced off her shoulders when she walked and since she was wearing platform flip-flops, I didn't have to look down too much. Wait a minute, what was I doing?
"Hey Adam," she said quietly smiling shyly at me.
"Hey." I bit my lip. I had willed myself not to cry during the funeral. Hans had taught me how to have fun on the ice, he taught me that life wasn't about winning. That hockey was for fun. Now he was gone. Jessica saw that I was upset and reached out to hug me. I hugged her back, taking in her smell, clinging onto her for support. When she pulled away, she looked at me with concern, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine."
"I'm here to talk if you need it Adam." She'd used my first name. She was probably the only on of my friends at the moment that used my first name a lot. Of course, she was one of my only friends too.
"Thanks. Are you okay? You look like you have something on your mind."
"I'm sorry, Adam!" she blurted out.
"For what?"
"Being so mean to you all the time. I mean…you were right! Zak is a pimp and a player. I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry. And even if I was mad at you, I didn't have a very good reason. I'm sorry!" I was a little surprised. Of all things that could have been on her mind, this was, somehow, the least expected. But then, she started to cry.
"It's okay, I forgive you. I just…I just want to start over with you. Two years is a long time for us not to be talking. I don't even know if you're the same Jessica as I knew before."
"I want to start over too. You're not the same Adam I knew either. You're quieter and deeper," she sniffled, wiping away her tears.
I smiled, "I'm only quiet because there's no one to talk to."
"So you'll start talking again?"
"Yeah I think I can fit that in somewhere on my 'To do' list." We walked in silence until we reached her dorm room. She invited me in and I accepted since it was a much better way to spend my time than sitting with Col.
"So we're starting over?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Hi, my name is Jessica. What's your name?" she held out her hand for me to shake and I took it.
"I'm Adam." We laughed a little before Jessica started getting serious.
"Adam. Go talk to the Ducks."
"I already tried," I sighed.
"Try again. You need them and you miss them. I mean, they don't seem like the greatest friends, but what do I know?"
"I don't know…I guess I can try." We talked a little more before I ended up dozing off.
Jessica shook me awake about a half hour later, announcing that my friends had arrived. 'What friends?' I thought dully. But Jessica really wanted me to talk to whoever it was so I sat up. It was the JV team. Jessica picked up her guitar and left to go practice. She had a gig coming up and she hadn't practiced in weeks. That's what she told me, anyway. Apparently, Danny, Jessica, Aaron Kind, and two other kids formed a band during my lack of speaking to Jessica time period.
"Look I didn't do it. Whatever Varsity did, I don't have anything to do with it. What did they do? I'll tell them to stop if you want," I pleaded with them. I was sick of the ongoing feud between JV and Varsity; it didn't even make sense to me.
"We're not here because of that," Russ told me. I let out a breath and looked at them, beckoning them to continue. Jessica told me to start talking again, but around the JV team, I couldn't. Not now anyway.
"It's just that…well…" Julie started, but couldn't finish. Luis tried to say it.
"Okay, you know that saying 'Ducks Fly Together'?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Well," Guy smiled a little, "We realized that ever since we got here, we haven't been flying together."
Connie agreed, "None of us talk to Jesse anymore like we said we would."
"I still talk to him," I said quietly.
"Oh." There was an awkward silence after that.
"The truth is, we realized that even without Bombay, Ducks still fly together," Fulton enthused.
"So we're sorry," Dwayne finished, saying something that actually made sense.
I looked at every one of them and knew that they mean it. All but Charlie, who hadn't even bothered to show up. I gave them a small smile.
"It's okay." Everyone cheered and we shared a group hug. I forgot how good those felt. It was nice to be friends with them again. Still, I wished I could switch back to JV. Although Varsity was a challenge and the players weren't too bad, I missed Duck hockey. 'Wait a minute,' I said to myself, 'Why can't I go back to JV?'
"Do you think Orien would let me play for you again?" I asked them. They all stopped cheering and stared at me like I had grown an extra head, "WHAT?!"
"Okay, I guess I won't go back then…you could have just said so."
"NO! I'm sure he'll let you," Connie quickly decided.
"Welcome back Banksie!"
Jessica walked in at that moment looking please with herself, "I managed to annoy the hell out of Cole and confuse him! He went to 'seek comfort in the bathroom'."
I laughed, "I thought you were practicing."
"I was. But I realized that I can't practice band songs without the rest of the band. Besides, annoying Cole is so much more fun. How do you live with that oaf anyway? Not that I'm not grateful to him for beating Zak up because I am, but he's such an idiot."
"Tell me about it," I muttered. Suddenly out of nowhere, Jessica's eyes widened. She clapped her hand to her mouth and made a bee-line to the bathroom. Not bothering to shut the door, she let it all go. Sounds of wretching could he heard and I ran to see what was going on. Jessica was throwing up everything she ate that day and more. It was pretty gross to tell the truth. After a few minutes, she stopped and left the bathroom, collapsing onto her bed, looking pale as I'd ever seen her, "Sorry." She whispered. I shook my head and put my hand to her forehead, "There's nothing to be sorry about. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am now. Thanks."
"No you're not," I answered my own question, ignoring her, "I'm getting Riley." Why I chose Riley, I didn't know, but he was the first one that came to my mine.
"NO!" Jessica shot up, eyes widening with fear.
"Why not?" They Ducks looked on with growing interest.
"Because if there's anything wrong with me, which there isn't, he'll tell Coach Wilson and Coach Wilson will bench me. I won't see the two minutes of game time that I usually do and my dad will call and lecture me!"
"He lectures you?" Hmm…that sounded familiar.
Jessica realized she'd said something wrong and fell back onto her bed, "Well no, never mind. Just don't tell him, please?
"Look Jess. After the whole Zak thing something was bound to be wrong with your body. Maybe this is it."
"I was raped not diagnosed with a disease!"
"How do you know Zak doesn't have AIDS or some other STD?" I shot back, leaving to get Riley before Jessica could even think of something to say.
I came back in to find Jessica lying on her bed in her own world and the team was having their own conversation. Riley stopped when he saw the Ducks and stared at them with contempt. I shook my head at him and mouthed, 'Later.' He nodded with resignation and headed over to Jessica's bed.
"Hey Jess. Banksie said you weren't feeling well."
"Yeah well Banksie," she glared at me and I winked, "was wrong."
"That explains the throwing up," I threw back at her.
"And the fever," Riley frowned, "Just the same, I want you to stay in bed or else I'll tell Wilson and you'll be benched. Stay in bed. And I mean it."
"Fine," she grumbled slumping against her pillows. Riley nodded and left. Jessica sat up almost immediately after Riley shut the door.
"So when are you coming back?" Kenny asked after a minute.
"I don't know. I'll talk to Coach Wilson today. If all goes well, probably by the middle of the week."
"What? Wait, where are you going?" Jessica asked curiously. I looked over at her small figure and though of how we finally made amends for the past two years. She deserved to know the truth, I decided. I looked up to find Jessica's beautiful face waiting patiently for me to continue. This time, I didn't deny my thoughts.
"Jess," I turned to her, "I think I'm going back to the JV team to be with my friends."
"Really? That's great!" she said brightly and a little forced if you asked me. But I ignored it.
"It is?"
"Yeah! Now you'll be happy again and…you'll talk more and laugh like you used to…"
"Thanks for understanding," I hugged her.
"No problem. Now go have fun," she told me smiling a little. I nodded and left with the rest of the Ducks to play street hockey.
Please Review!
Iluvguygermaine00: Thanks so much! I'm not that great.
PyroRockerGirl: I want to learn how to play guitar too…well I'm kind of learning but not really. If that makes anysense, which it probably doesn't. I WANT RAMEN NOODLES!! =D
RosieLady: Thank you very much, the different perspectives thing wasn't original so I won't take credit for that =)
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