Note: Thanks to my four reviewers of the first chapter - Banksiesbabe99,
anne918, crazy4nc128, and CakeEater'sGirly99. Crazy4nc128- you're right in
that I plan on getting a romance going on in this story a little bit down
the line but I wonder if your thinking of the same two I'm thinking of.
Banksiesbabe99- you'll be happy to know that Adam does appear in this
chapter a little (he'll get more involved as the story progresses. I
explain Scooter not wanting Charlie on the team more in this chapter and
although I explain it differently I think we're still thinking on the same
lines there. Anne918- I kind of thought Shane would be a neat character to
explore and I kind of like him myself. As for Alex, you'll get to find out
a little more about her in this chapter and I hope you still love her after
you do. Happy reading everyone!
Alex's POV:
Shane and I headed to the library to work on the lab questions. We found an empty conference room on the second floor and went inside so that we could talk an not disrupt anyone or be disrupted ourselves. It actually didn't take us as long as I had thought it would. We were done with the questions in a half hour.
"I hope this isn't an indication of how the whole semester is going to go," Shane told me as we both put our stuff away.
"Come on," I told him, "You can't possibly mess up every experiment."
"Me? Hey I had help messing it up the second time," Shane told me.
"Touche," I told him with a smile on my face. I opened the door to the conference room and we headed out of the library. It was getting dark by this time. I looked up and found the moon in the sky. It was almost full and I thought it looked beautiful. Ever since I was little I had a fascination with the moon. Don't ask me why?
"So how did try outs go?" Shane asked me as we walked down the steps to the library and headed toward the dorm buildings across campus.
"Overall pretty good. Of course we had a few people causing problems but we expected that."
"Did they recognize you?" Shane asked and I knew who he was referring to. Charlie Conway and his friends. The Ducks. I had never gotten involved in all the stuff that went on between the Ducks and the Hawks when we skated together. I enjoyed playing hockey and yes I wanted to win every time I took the ice but it wasn't the only thing that mattered.
I had missed the season that Bombay had taken over coaching District 5 and turned them into the Ducks. My mother had been diagnosed with leukemia and was in the hospital that fall. I had spent the time that I wasn't in school at the hospital with her. She had won that battle with the cancer and gone into remission. Adam and Shane had been the only two Hawks who had been there for me through all of that. Even after they had stopped talking to each other I had remained friends with both of them even though Adam was a year younger than us.
I had wanted to be there for Adam when he came to Eden Hall last fall, especially after I had learned he had made varsity. I knew what it was like being a freshman and on the varsity. You were forever trying to prove that you belonged. I had gotten lucky and became friends with Scooter or I might not have made it through the school year. However, right before this school year had started my mom had started getting sick again. My father had died in a car accident a couple years earlier and so I was all my mother had. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to play hockey. It had been a struggle to keep up with my school work and I had missed more classes than I had attended. But with the help of Dean Buckley and my teachers I had completed the school work and just barely passed all of my finals.
However, my mother didn't win the battle this time. She had passed away a few days before Christmas. Shane had been there with me that night. I had no other living relatives that I knew of, both my parents having been only children and my grandparents had all passed away. For now, I was staying with the Larsons who had been family friends for years. It was what my mom had wanted in her will. However, there was one other thing I had found out right before my mother died. She had told me I had been adopted as a baby. She never had gotten around to telling me who my real parents had been and part of me didn't really want to know. Kathy and Thomas Paris had been the only parents I had known.
"I'm not sure," I told Shane answering his question. "If they did they didn't say anything about it. I still think that you should've tried out for the team."
"Oh yeah, that would have gone over real well. Adam hasn't even talked to me since that season. I know his teammates wouldn't. Believe me, its better this way."
"Adam wasn't even at tryouts this afternoon. I don't know why. I remember Scooter mentioning something about a problem with his dad and that he wasn't living at home so I haven't been able to call him recently although I'm sure his Mom would be able to tell me how to get in touch with him," I told him. I had actually started calling Mrs. Banks a couple times but hadn't gone through with it. Part of me was afraid Adam's dad would answer. The other part of me was starting to wonder if Adam even wanted to talk to me any more.
"And what are you going to do next fall?" I asked him continuing to talk. "Not play ice hockey either just so you can avoid them?" I asked him.
"I don't know. Maybe. The only reason I even transferred was because it was what my father wanted. He was upset when I didn't make it into Eden Hall last year. When the chance for me to transfer in this year he was so happy. I couldn't disappoint him. Besides I wanted to be here for you."
"Thanks," I told him. "That means a lot to me." We walked in silence for a little while. "I still think you should try talking to Adam again." 'Nice words coming from you Alex' I thought to myself as soon as I said the words. What had I just said about putting off talking to him myself here recently.
"If I thought he would listen to me I would," Shane told me. "He wouldn't even listen to me two years ago when I tried talking to him."
"That was two years ago. Things change," I told him. I had been trying for the past four years to bring my two best friends back together again. I wasn't about to give up yet.
Shane didn't say anything else after that and I let the subject go for now. I didn't need to get into a fight with him over it. From what I knew about what had went on at Eden Hall last semester from Scooter I sure couldn't blame Adam for not calling me and being there for me. It sounded as if Adam had a lot of his own problems to deal with since we had last talked.
We were walking past the student parking lot at this. "Look Shane I got to go or I'm going to be late for practice. I'll catch up with you tomorrow okay."
"Yeah sure. Have fun," he told me as I headed out to my car.
Charlie's POV:
I hurried up the steps of the dorm building to the second floor and made my way to my room quickly closing the door and locking it behind me. When Guy got back from his date with Connie he was just going to have to use his keys. My friends had been driving me crazy during dinner. Fulton and Portman were busy planning another prank and I really didn't want to know about it. Averman was freaking out about hockey try outs. If any of us had to worry about try outs it was me. I know Scooter wasn't keen on the idea of me being on the team. Connie and Ken had been reciting lines from the school play and Russ and Jesse were at each others throats, for what reason I don't know.
I sat down at my desk and got my history book out. After about five minutes I gave up trying to read it and tried my math homework. After trying to add thirteen and five and ending up with nine I gave up on that too. I had to face it my mind was not on my school work. My thought was on try outs. Well maybe not so much try outs as our student coaches, Alex Paris in particular. Did she realize who Connie, Guy, Averman and I were? Did she still think of us as rivals? Ducks vs. Hawks. I tried to remember what she was like back in pee wees.
As I thought about it I realize that she had never really seemed to get involved in the rivalry between the two teams. She hadn't stood up for us, except for Adam one time when McGill had been getting on his case during our first game the second season he had skated with us. I remember McGill backing off when she stood up to him. Other than that incident I just remembered her as another player. Sure she had checked me into the boards a couple of times but it had been in the course of the game. She hadn't gone out of her way to do it like the other Hawks had, even Adam when he skated with them.
I was also curious as to what her relationship with Adam was. Were they still friends? And exactly why hadn't she been skating this past fall? Scooter had kind of glanced over that part but I had the feeling that he knew more? Would she be playing next fall? And where the hell had Shane Larson come from? That was one person I could have done without ever seeing again. My only comfort in the thought was at least it was Larson and not McGill. Larson was definitely the lesser of the two evils.
With a sigh I reached for my cell phone and dialed Coach Bombay's number. Talking to Adam wouldn't solve everything but at least I might get answers to some of my questions. Adam answered the phone and we talked about some trivial stuff. I had to remind myself not to mention anything regarding Jesse. We were still planning on surprising Adam when he came back to school.
"So how did try outs go?" Adam finally asked me getting to the subject that I had been trying to figure out how to bring up.
"Not too bad I guess. There was one little mishap with Murphy."
"Let me guess you got into a fight with him," Adam said.
"Oh ye of little faith," I told him. "It wasn't so much of a fight as it was a misunderstanding. Scooter still ended up breaking us up though which I don't think is a point in my favor. In fact, I think Murphy was told not to come back and I probably would have been told the same thing if the other student coach hadn't stepped in, Alex Paris. She skated on the Hawks didn't she?" I asked innocently.
"Yeah she did," Adam said something strange coming into his voice.
"You know Guy actually thought we might not make the team because of the problems between our two teams when we were kids."
"Alex isn't like that," Adam said quickly. "She never did care about the rivalry between the Ducks and the Hawks. She thought it was stupid and she wouldn't hold it against you guys."
"Whoa, calm down. I wasn't accusing her or anything. Didn't I just say I probably wouldn't be going back to try outs tomorrow if it wasn't for her."
"I'm sorry Charlie."
"Are you and Alex still friends?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I guess but we haven't talked to each other in awhile. The last time I talked to her was right before school started. I really should've called her but things just started happening and now I'm not even sure what number to call her at," Adam told me which just spiked my curiosity. "I guess I'll just have to wait till I come back to school and catch up with her now if she still wants to talk to me. I should've have been there for her last semester and I wasn't."
"Hey, you had your own problems," I told him. "I'm sure she'll understand."
"I hope so," Adam said. "She was the only one who stood by me when I switched teams. We haven't spent as much time together recently like we use to but she was always there when I needed her. She actually stood up against McGill and the others after I joined the Ducks."
"I'm surprised anybody had the nerve to stand up to McGill," I told him. "If it wasn't for Fulton I know I would have been running the other way every time I saw him."
"Yeah well, no one ever really wanted to mess with Alex. Besides hockey she took karate lessons. She's a black belt now."
"Great, thanks for the warning," I said and heard Adam laugh on the other end of the line.
"You know actually Alex reminds me a lot of you," Adam said.
"Oh really."
"Yeah. You're both strong-willed, stubborn, and hot tempered. Though Alex has started to get a handle on her temper a bit more than you have." Now it was my turn to laugh at his comment.
"You forgot lovable on that list," I told him.
"Now that's a matter of opinion," Adam said.
"Thanks a lot," I told him. "So what's the story with Alex anyway? Why wasn't she playing on varsity last season?"
"Sorry Charlie, but that isn't my place to say. Its up to her to tell you."
"Fair enough. Can't blame me for trying," I said. I hadn't really expected Adam to tell me anything. I knew when someone wanted him to keep something a secret or maybe just not go telling everyone around he'd do it. He'd do it even if you didn't ask and he just felt it was something that you should tell the people you wanted to whether or not it really mattered to you. "Well, I guess I should probably get back to my homework," I said then. We had already talked for an hour and I was determined to at least keep up my mediocre grades I had gotten last semester. My mom would probably even like it if I brought a few of them up.
"Okay," Adam said. There was a slight pause and then he asked, "hey Charlie, can you do me a favor."
"Yeah, sure," I said.
"Can you give Alex this number and ask her to call me if she gets a chance."
"Of course. No problem," I told him. I got the feeling something else was going on between the two of them other than just not talking to each other in awhile. What had happened that Adam would feel bad that he hadn't been there for her? I thought about seeing Shane with her. Should I warn him about Shane Larson being on campus? " Adam is there anything you want to talk about?"
"No," Adam said after a slight hesitation. "I don't want to keep you away from school work. I'll talk to you later Charlie."
"Okay, bye," I told him as we hung up. I couldn't help but feel like I was being shut out again but then again this was Adam I was dealing with. He'd try dealing with everything himself if we let him. Although maybe this time I needed to give him a little space right now. There was definitely more going on then what I knew about right now and until I knew more about what that was I should probably just stay out of it. Maybe I should stay out of it altogether but somehow I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen.
With a sigh I turned my cell phone of and turned back to my math homework. As much as I would like it to, it definitely wasn't going to do itself.
Scooter's POV:
I sat at one of the tables in the common room with math book open. I had already finished the assignment but I wanted to make it look like I was doing something. Across the room I could hear Riley getting frustrated as he tried to explain Physics to Cole. Personally, I thought it was a lost cause. How Cole had made it to his senior year was beyond me. Next to my math book was the clipboard with the names and notes I had taken during try outs.
I glanced up at the clock. It was eight ten. It wasn't like Alex to be late. She was always on time to everything. I was starting to wonder if maybe she was mad at me from earlier. I wasn't sure why I was so against Conway being on the team. I just knew that I didn't want him on the team. And Alex was right. I could probably deal with his temper but the fact was I didn't want to. That was the only chance I had of keeping him off this team because everyone knew he had the talent.
"Sorry, I'm late," I heard Alex say as she hurried into the common room and over to where I was sitting. She sat her back pack on the table and as she took off her coat I could see that she was still dressed in her karate outfit. "Class got out late tonight and then I got to talking to one of the other students and loss track of time. I'm sorry," she explained sitting down in the chair next to me.
"Not a problem," I told her as I put my math stuff away and pulled the clipboard in front of me. I waited as she pulled her papers from try outs out of her backpack. "I guess we should start by getting one list of all the kids trying out minus the ones we've already cut," I said. "What happen with Bill. He isn't happy about being cut the first day and was trying to get me to let him come back tomorrow. I told him I wasn't going to even consider it and he wouldn't tell me what happened."
"He and a few others chose to laugh at one of the skaters who didn't do so well on the shooting drill. You know how I feel about things like that." I nodded as she continued. "Its one thing for friends to tease each other but he and the others who were laughing didn't even know her. Besides, she's a goalie I didn't expect her to do spectacular on the drill."
"Was it Julie?" I asked.
"Yes, and I didn't do it just because you're dating her," she told me defensively. "I would have done the same thing had it been anybody else."
"Did I ever say you would," I told her. "When I asked her how try outs went over dinner she didn't want to discuss it. I knew something had happened."
"She showed him up when I had her take a second shot," Alex said with a smile. "Second shot went right in and then I had her take his place and she didn't let a shot by her. I really think she's our best bet for goalie."
"Then why didn't you have her out there as a goalie during the game?" I asked her.
"What's the point," Alex said with a shrug. "We both know how good she is. I'd like to give the others a chance of showing us what they can do. Besides, I want her to know that she can do something other than just be a goalie. I don't think she was doing to bad out there on offense."
"No she sure wasn't," I said. Alex had gotten a clean piece of paper out and was busy recopying the names on our lists that we hadn't already crossed out. "I'll make a list of those who want to be considered as alternates if they don't make the team," I told her getting another sheet of paper out.
While we were writing we talked about some of the other kids who were trying out. I purposely avoided mentioning Conway. I knew we disagreed on him and was putting that discussion off as long as possible. All of a sudden I noticed that the common room suddenly got very quiet. I glance up from the list I was writing to see Dean Buckley standing in the doorway looking around the room. When he saw Alex and I he headed over in our direction.
"Hello, sir. What can we do for you?" I asked him as he took a seat in a chair across the table from us.
"I just wanted to let you two know that there is an official faculty advisor for your roller hockey team. Mr. Bombay, Mr. Gubbine's replacement, has agreed to take over that position too. As you probably both know Coach Bombay knows a little bit more about hockey than Mr. Gubbine did. I've informed him of how things worked last year but told him that if he wished to take a more active role in it that I'd support him. He asked me to let you know that he'd like to talk to the both of you at some point tomorrow."
"Okay," I said. I wasn't sure how I was going to like having Bombay as the faculty advisor. He'd probably want to more or less take over.
"Thanks Dean," Alex said beside me.
"Good luck, you two. I'll be keeping an eye on how the team does this semester," Dean Buckley said standing up and walking away. As soon as he was gone the chatter in the room picked back up.
"What do you think its going to be like with Bombay as the faculty advisor?" Alex asked me.
"I don't know, but I do know I want to look organized when we meet with him tomorrow."
"We will," she said calmly. We were both quiet for a little while as we completed her list. "About Conway," she said bringing up the subject I had been avoiding as she put her pen down her list complete.
"What about him?" I asked staring at the list before me although I wasn't really taking in anything that was written on it.
"He's a good player. I think he'd be an asset for the team. He's most likely the best player we had out there today."
"I'm not saying he's not good. I just think he'll be a problem. I think we'll spend practices trying to justify ourselves to him or breaking up fights. The kid has no self control. Orion had a hard enough time dealing with. How much luck are we going to have?"
"I think you're worrying about nothing. Yes he has a temper but need I remind you so do I have. I think he can learn to control it. Besides I think he really wants to be on this team. That should stand for something."
"It really means a lot to you doesn't it?" I asked her finally looking up at her.
"It does. This might sound stupid but I see myself as a freshman in him. Somebody was willing to reach out to me and help me out. I'd like a chance to return the favor."
She was looking right at me. I knew she was referring to the help I gave her last year during the ice hockey season when we had become friends. She had a point. Maybe Charlie wasn't so different from her back then but I had been her teammate not a student coach. With a sigh I finally told her, "Fine, if Charlie can show me the next two days that he can somewhat keep his temper than we won't cut him. I'm still going on the record that it's a bad idea."
"Fair enough," Alex said. "Its getting late and I have some more homework to do," she said standing up. "Want to try finding Bombay tomorrow during our lunch period?"
"Sounds like a plan," I told her. I gathered my stuff up and headed up to my room. It had been a long day and I wanted to get some time alone. Riley was still talking with Cole so I knew I would have the room to myself for a little bit.
"Coach Bombay," I said standing in the doorway to his office in the gymnasium, the following afternoon. Alex was standing right behind me. "Dean Buckley said you wanted us to catch up with you today. Is now a good time?"
"Yeah sure," he said standing up. "Come on in. Scott right?" he asked as he shook my hand. I nodded.
"And you must be Alex," Bombay said turning to Alex.
"Yes sir," she said shaking his hand.
"You played on the Hawks didn't you?" Bombay asked her as the three of us sat down
"Yes I did," Alex said.
"You were a good player," Bombay told her.
"Thank-you sir," she said.
"Now from what Dean Buckley told me you two more or less organized the whole roller hockey program here at Eden Hall last year and that Mr. Gubbine just gave you help when you asked for it."
"Ah yeah that's right," I said nervously. "He knew the basics of hockey but that's it."
"Well, I think its great for students to get involved in projects like this. From what I've heard about the program you've done an outstanding job. If you don't mind however, I'd like to get a little bit more involved as faculty advisor than Mr. Gubbine did. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not going to try taking over. This is still your team, and I'm going to let you do the coaching and chose your own team. However, I'd like to come to practices and games and observe what is going on and then I'll offer my advice to you afterwards. I promise I won't interfere during the practices. I just think I'd be able to give better advice if I see first hand what is going on."
I looked at Alex. I had to admit there had been times last year when I would've liked to have some one giving me advice on certain things. Yes Mr. Gubbine had helped us as much as he could but he had never showed any interest on seeing what was going on. It was either Alex or I who had to approach him. I could tell from the look in her eyes to that she liked the sound of his proposal.
"I think that would be great," I told him. Suddenly I wasn't nervous anymore. My worst fear had been that Bombay would try taking over the team. It didn't seem like that he was planning on doing that."I know there is a lot more I could learn about coaching."
"Me too," Alex said.
"Great," Bombay said. " I know you had your first try out session yesterday. Any chance I could see who you have trying out?"
"Yeah sure," Alex said handing over the folder she had which had our master list and our notes in it which we had both rewritten the night before. "There were a few kids that we had problems with yesterday that we've already cut," Alex told him. Suddenly I was glad she had stopped me from cutting Conway yesterday. I knew that Bombay was soon going to be Charlie's step father. I was almost wishing I hadn't rewritten the part of my notes about Charlie and his temper. I wasn't sure how Bombay was going to take it.
Bombay was silent as he glanced over everything we had in the folder. "You two are really organized," he finally said. "Look I know I'm pretty close to some of these kids so I'm going to stay out of the selection process. This is your team. Being students yourself you're going to face a bit of a challenge getting respect from some of your peers. I do want to give you this advice though- don't disregard someone just because you think you may have problems dealing with them. This should be a learning experience for the two of you too. Learning how to deal with problems that arise amongst your team members should be part of that learning experience. I just want you to keep that in mind."
"We will," Alex said glancing over at me. I just nodded in agreement.
"Well, unless you two want to ask me anything else I think we're about done here for now," Bombay said. Both Alex and I shook our heads.
"Are you going to stop by try outs this afternoon?" Alex asked as we stood up getting ready to leave.
"I may for a little while just to see how things are going but I'm not sure. I'll definitely be there Friday though," Bombay told us.
"Okay," Alex said as we left.
"I still feel the same way about Conway," I told her as we walked down the hallway. We still had time to grab a quick snack before our next class.
"So noted," she told me. "Don't worry. I'm going to have a talk with him this afternoon."
To tell you the truth I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I definitely didn't want Conway or any of the Ducks mad at me. Especially Julie. I was starting to wonder if maybe I had made a mistake asking them to try out.
Alex's POV:
Shane and I headed to the library to work on the lab questions. We found an empty conference room on the second floor and went inside so that we could talk an not disrupt anyone or be disrupted ourselves. It actually didn't take us as long as I had thought it would. We were done with the questions in a half hour.
"I hope this isn't an indication of how the whole semester is going to go," Shane told me as we both put our stuff away.
"Come on," I told him, "You can't possibly mess up every experiment."
"Me? Hey I had help messing it up the second time," Shane told me.
"Touche," I told him with a smile on my face. I opened the door to the conference room and we headed out of the library. It was getting dark by this time. I looked up and found the moon in the sky. It was almost full and I thought it looked beautiful. Ever since I was little I had a fascination with the moon. Don't ask me why?
"So how did try outs go?" Shane asked me as we walked down the steps to the library and headed toward the dorm buildings across campus.
"Overall pretty good. Of course we had a few people causing problems but we expected that."
"Did they recognize you?" Shane asked and I knew who he was referring to. Charlie Conway and his friends. The Ducks. I had never gotten involved in all the stuff that went on between the Ducks and the Hawks when we skated together. I enjoyed playing hockey and yes I wanted to win every time I took the ice but it wasn't the only thing that mattered.
I had missed the season that Bombay had taken over coaching District 5 and turned them into the Ducks. My mother had been diagnosed with leukemia and was in the hospital that fall. I had spent the time that I wasn't in school at the hospital with her. She had won that battle with the cancer and gone into remission. Adam and Shane had been the only two Hawks who had been there for me through all of that. Even after they had stopped talking to each other I had remained friends with both of them even though Adam was a year younger than us.
I had wanted to be there for Adam when he came to Eden Hall last fall, especially after I had learned he had made varsity. I knew what it was like being a freshman and on the varsity. You were forever trying to prove that you belonged. I had gotten lucky and became friends with Scooter or I might not have made it through the school year. However, right before this school year had started my mom had started getting sick again. My father had died in a car accident a couple years earlier and so I was all my mother had. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to play hockey. It had been a struggle to keep up with my school work and I had missed more classes than I had attended. But with the help of Dean Buckley and my teachers I had completed the school work and just barely passed all of my finals.
However, my mother didn't win the battle this time. She had passed away a few days before Christmas. Shane had been there with me that night. I had no other living relatives that I knew of, both my parents having been only children and my grandparents had all passed away. For now, I was staying with the Larsons who had been family friends for years. It was what my mom had wanted in her will. However, there was one other thing I had found out right before my mother died. She had told me I had been adopted as a baby. She never had gotten around to telling me who my real parents had been and part of me didn't really want to know. Kathy and Thomas Paris had been the only parents I had known.
"I'm not sure," I told Shane answering his question. "If they did they didn't say anything about it. I still think that you should've tried out for the team."
"Oh yeah, that would have gone over real well. Adam hasn't even talked to me since that season. I know his teammates wouldn't. Believe me, its better this way."
"Adam wasn't even at tryouts this afternoon. I don't know why. I remember Scooter mentioning something about a problem with his dad and that he wasn't living at home so I haven't been able to call him recently although I'm sure his Mom would be able to tell me how to get in touch with him," I told him. I had actually started calling Mrs. Banks a couple times but hadn't gone through with it. Part of me was afraid Adam's dad would answer. The other part of me was starting to wonder if Adam even wanted to talk to me any more.
"And what are you going to do next fall?" I asked him continuing to talk. "Not play ice hockey either just so you can avoid them?" I asked him.
"I don't know. Maybe. The only reason I even transferred was because it was what my father wanted. He was upset when I didn't make it into Eden Hall last year. When the chance for me to transfer in this year he was so happy. I couldn't disappoint him. Besides I wanted to be here for you."
"Thanks," I told him. "That means a lot to me." We walked in silence for a little while. "I still think you should try talking to Adam again." 'Nice words coming from you Alex' I thought to myself as soon as I said the words. What had I just said about putting off talking to him myself here recently.
"If I thought he would listen to me I would," Shane told me. "He wouldn't even listen to me two years ago when I tried talking to him."
"That was two years ago. Things change," I told him. I had been trying for the past four years to bring my two best friends back together again. I wasn't about to give up yet.
Shane didn't say anything else after that and I let the subject go for now. I didn't need to get into a fight with him over it. From what I knew about what had went on at Eden Hall last semester from Scooter I sure couldn't blame Adam for not calling me and being there for me. It sounded as if Adam had a lot of his own problems to deal with since we had last talked.
We were walking past the student parking lot at this. "Look Shane I got to go or I'm going to be late for practice. I'll catch up with you tomorrow okay."
"Yeah sure. Have fun," he told me as I headed out to my car.
Charlie's POV:
I hurried up the steps of the dorm building to the second floor and made my way to my room quickly closing the door and locking it behind me. When Guy got back from his date with Connie he was just going to have to use his keys. My friends had been driving me crazy during dinner. Fulton and Portman were busy planning another prank and I really didn't want to know about it. Averman was freaking out about hockey try outs. If any of us had to worry about try outs it was me. I know Scooter wasn't keen on the idea of me being on the team. Connie and Ken had been reciting lines from the school play and Russ and Jesse were at each others throats, for what reason I don't know.
I sat down at my desk and got my history book out. After about five minutes I gave up trying to read it and tried my math homework. After trying to add thirteen and five and ending up with nine I gave up on that too. I had to face it my mind was not on my school work. My thought was on try outs. Well maybe not so much try outs as our student coaches, Alex Paris in particular. Did she realize who Connie, Guy, Averman and I were? Did she still think of us as rivals? Ducks vs. Hawks. I tried to remember what she was like back in pee wees.
As I thought about it I realize that she had never really seemed to get involved in the rivalry between the two teams. She hadn't stood up for us, except for Adam one time when McGill had been getting on his case during our first game the second season he had skated with us. I remember McGill backing off when she stood up to him. Other than that incident I just remembered her as another player. Sure she had checked me into the boards a couple of times but it had been in the course of the game. She hadn't gone out of her way to do it like the other Hawks had, even Adam when he skated with them.
I was also curious as to what her relationship with Adam was. Were they still friends? And exactly why hadn't she been skating this past fall? Scooter had kind of glanced over that part but I had the feeling that he knew more? Would she be playing next fall? And where the hell had Shane Larson come from? That was one person I could have done without ever seeing again. My only comfort in the thought was at least it was Larson and not McGill. Larson was definitely the lesser of the two evils.
With a sigh I reached for my cell phone and dialed Coach Bombay's number. Talking to Adam wouldn't solve everything but at least I might get answers to some of my questions. Adam answered the phone and we talked about some trivial stuff. I had to remind myself not to mention anything regarding Jesse. We were still planning on surprising Adam when he came back to school.
"So how did try outs go?" Adam finally asked me getting to the subject that I had been trying to figure out how to bring up.
"Not too bad I guess. There was one little mishap with Murphy."
"Let me guess you got into a fight with him," Adam said.
"Oh ye of little faith," I told him. "It wasn't so much of a fight as it was a misunderstanding. Scooter still ended up breaking us up though which I don't think is a point in my favor. In fact, I think Murphy was told not to come back and I probably would have been told the same thing if the other student coach hadn't stepped in, Alex Paris. She skated on the Hawks didn't she?" I asked innocently.
"Yeah she did," Adam said something strange coming into his voice.
"You know Guy actually thought we might not make the team because of the problems between our two teams when we were kids."
"Alex isn't like that," Adam said quickly. "She never did care about the rivalry between the Ducks and the Hawks. She thought it was stupid and she wouldn't hold it against you guys."
"Whoa, calm down. I wasn't accusing her or anything. Didn't I just say I probably wouldn't be going back to try outs tomorrow if it wasn't for her."
"I'm sorry Charlie."
"Are you and Alex still friends?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I guess but we haven't talked to each other in awhile. The last time I talked to her was right before school started. I really should've called her but things just started happening and now I'm not even sure what number to call her at," Adam told me which just spiked my curiosity. "I guess I'll just have to wait till I come back to school and catch up with her now if she still wants to talk to me. I should've have been there for her last semester and I wasn't."
"Hey, you had your own problems," I told him. "I'm sure she'll understand."
"I hope so," Adam said. "She was the only one who stood by me when I switched teams. We haven't spent as much time together recently like we use to but she was always there when I needed her. She actually stood up against McGill and the others after I joined the Ducks."
"I'm surprised anybody had the nerve to stand up to McGill," I told him. "If it wasn't for Fulton I know I would have been running the other way every time I saw him."
"Yeah well, no one ever really wanted to mess with Alex. Besides hockey she took karate lessons. She's a black belt now."
"Great, thanks for the warning," I said and heard Adam laugh on the other end of the line.
"You know actually Alex reminds me a lot of you," Adam said.
"Oh really."
"Yeah. You're both strong-willed, stubborn, and hot tempered. Though Alex has started to get a handle on her temper a bit more than you have." Now it was my turn to laugh at his comment.
"You forgot lovable on that list," I told him.
"Now that's a matter of opinion," Adam said.
"Thanks a lot," I told him. "So what's the story with Alex anyway? Why wasn't she playing on varsity last season?"
"Sorry Charlie, but that isn't my place to say. Its up to her to tell you."
"Fair enough. Can't blame me for trying," I said. I hadn't really expected Adam to tell me anything. I knew when someone wanted him to keep something a secret or maybe just not go telling everyone around he'd do it. He'd do it even if you didn't ask and he just felt it was something that you should tell the people you wanted to whether or not it really mattered to you. "Well, I guess I should probably get back to my homework," I said then. We had already talked for an hour and I was determined to at least keep up my mediocre grades I had gotten last semester. My mom would probably even like it if I brought a few of them up.
"Okay," Adam said. There was a slight pause and then he asked, "hey Charlie, can you do me a favor."
"Yeah, sure," I said.
"Can you give Alex this number and ask her to call me if she gets a chance."
"Of course. No problem," I told him. I got the feeling something else was going on between the two of them other than just not talking to each other in awhile. What had happened that Adam would feel bad that he hadn't been there for her? I thought about seeing Shane with her. Should I warn him about Shane Larson being on campus? " Adam is there anything you want to talk about?"
"No," Adam said after a slight hesitation. "I don't want to keep you away from school work. I'll talk to you later Charlie."
"Okay, bye," I told him as we hung up. I couldn't help but feel like I was being shut out again but then again this was Adam I was dealing with. He'd try dealing with everything himself if we let him. Although maybe this time I needed to give him a little space right now. There was definitely more going on then what I knew about right now and until I knew more about what that was I should probably just stay out of it. Maybe I should stay out of it altogether but somehow I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen.
With a sigh I turned my cell phone of and turned back to my math homework. As much as I would like it to, it definitely wasn't going to do itself.
Scooter's POV:
I sat at one of the tables in the common room with math book open. I had already finished the assignment but I wanted to make it look like I was doing something. Across the room I could hear Riley getting frustrated as he tried to explain Physics to Cole. Personally, I thought it was a lost cause. How Cole had made it to his senior year was beyond me. Next to my math book was the clipboard with the names and notes I had taken during try outs.
I glanced up at the clock. It was eight ten. It wasn't like Alex to be late. She was always on time to everything. I was starting to wonder if maybe she was mad at me from earlier. I wasn't sure why I was so against Conway being on the team. I just knew that I didn't want him on the team. And Alex was right. I could probably deal with his temper but the fact was I didn't want to. That was the only chance I had of keeping him off this team because everyone knew he had the talent.
"Sorry, I'm late," I heard Alex say as she hurried into the common room and over to where I was sitting. She sat her back pack on the table and as she took off her coat I could see that she was still dressed in her karate outfit. "Class got out late tonight and then I got to talking to one of the other students and loss track of time. I'm sorry," she explained sitting down in the chair next to me.
"Not a problem," I told her as I put my math stuff away and pulled the clipboard in front of me. I waited as she pulled her papers from try outs out of her backpack. "I guess we should start by getting one list of all the kids trying out minus the ones we've already cut," I said. "What happen with Bill. He isn't happy about being cut the first day and was trying to get me to let him come back tomorrow. I told him I wasn't going to even consider it and he wouldn't tell me what happened."
"He and a few others chose to laugh at one of the skaters who didn't do so well on the shooting drill. You know how I feel about things like that." I nodded as she continued. "Its one thing for friends to tease each other but he and the others who were laughing didn't even know her. Besides, she's a goalie I didn't expect her to do spectacular on the drill."
"Was it Julie?" I asked.
"Yes, and I didn't do it just because you're dating her," she told me defensively. "I would have done the same thing had it been anybody else."
"Did I ever say you would," I told her. "When I asked her how try outs went over dinner she didn't want to discuss it. I knew something had happened."
"She showed him up when I had her take a second shot," Alex said with a smile. "Second shot went right in and then I had her take his place and she didn't let a shot by her. I really think she's our best bet for goalie."
"Then why didn't you have her out there as a goalie during the game?" I asked her.
"What's the point," Alex said with a shrug. "We both know how good she is. I'd like to give the others a chance of showing us what they can do. Besides, I want her to know that she can do something other than just be a goalie. I don't think she was doing to bad out there on offense."
"No she sure wasn't," I said. Alex had gotten a clean piece of paper out and was busy recopying the names on our lists that we hadn't already crossed out. "I'll make a list of those who want to be considered as alternates if they don't make the team," I told her getting another sheet of paper out.
While we were writing we talked about some of the other kids who were trying out. I purposely avoided mentioning Conway. I knew we disagreed on him and was putting that discussion off as long as possible. All of a sudden I noticed that the common room suddenly got very quiet. I glance up from the list I was writing to see Dean Buckley standing in the doorway looking around the room. When he saw Alex and I he headed over in our direction.
"Hello, sir. What can we do for you?" I asked him as he took a seat in a chair across the table from us.
"I just wanted to let you two know that there is an official faculty advisor for your roller hockey team. Mr. Bombay, Mr. Gubbine's replacement, has agreed to take over that position too. As you probably both know Coach Bombay knows a little bit more about hockey than Mr. Gubbine did. I've informed him of how things worked last year but told him that if he wished to take a more active role in it that I'd support him. He asked me to let you know that he'd like to talk to the both of you at some point tomorrow."
"Okay," I said. I wasn't sure how I was going to like having Bombay as the faculty advisor. He'd probably want to more or less take over.
"Thanks Dean," Alex said beside me.
"Good luck, you two. I'll be keeping an eye on how the team does this semester," Dean Buckley said standing up and walking away. As soon as he was gone the chatter in the room picked back up.
"What do you think its going to be like with Bombay as the faculty advisor?" Alex asked me.
"I don't know, but I do know I want to look organized when we meet with him tomorrow."
"We will," she said calmly. We were both quiet for a little while as we completed her list. "About Conway," she said bringing up the subject I had been avoiding as she put her pen down her list complete.
"What about him?" I asked staring at the list before me although I wasn't really taking in anything that was written on it.
"He's a good player. I think he'd be an asset for the team. He's most likely the best player we had out there today."
"I'm not saying he's not good. I just think he'll be a problem. I think we'll spend practices trying to justify ourselves to him or breaking up fights. The kid has no self control. Orion had a hard enough time dealing with. How much luck are we going to have?"
"I think you're worrying about nothing. Yes he has a temper but need I remind you so do I have. I think he can learn to control it. Besides I think he really wants to be on this team. That should stand for something."
"It really means a lot to you doesn't it?" I asked her finally looking up at her.
"It does. This might sound stupid but I see myself as a freshman in him. Somebody was willing to reach out to me and help me out. I'd like a chance to return the favor."
She was looking right at me. I knew she was referring to the help I gave her last year during the ice hockey season when we had become friends. She had a point. Maybe Charlie wasn't so different from her back then but I had been her teammate not a student coach. With a sigh I finally told her, "Fine, if Charlie can show me the next two days that he can somewhat keep his temper than we won't cut him. I'm still going on the record that it's a bad idea."
"Fair enough," Alex said. "Its getting late and I have some more homework to do," she said standing up. "Want to try finding Bombay tomorrow during our lunch period?"
"Sounds like a plan," I told her. I gathered my stuff up and headed up to my room. It had been a long day and I wanted to get some time alone. Riley was still talking with Cole so I knew I would have the room to myself for a little bit.
"Coach Bombay," I said standing in the doorway to his office in the gymnasium, the following afternoon. Alex was standing right behind me. "Dean Buckley said you wanted us to catch up with you today. Is now a good time?"
"Yeah sure," he said standing up. "Come on in. Scott right?" he asked as he shook my hand. I nodded.
"And you must be Alex," Bombay said turning to Alex.
"Yes sir," she said shaking his hand.
"You played on the Hawks didn't you?" Bombay asked her as the three of us sat down
"Yes I did," Alex said.
"You were a good player," Bombay told her.
"Thank-you sir," she said.
"Now from what Dean Buckley told me you two more or less organized the whole roller hockey program here at Eden Hall last year and that Mr. Gubbine just gave you help when you asked for it."
"Ah yeah that's right," I said nervously. "He knew the basics of hockey but that's it."
"Well, I think its great for students to get involved in projects like this. From what I've heard about the program you've done an outstanding job. If you don't mind however, I'd like to get a little bit more involved as faculty advisor than Mr. Gubbine did. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not going to try taking over. This is still your team, and I'm going to let you do the coaching and chose your own team. However, I'd like to come to practices and games and observe what is going on and then I'll offer my advice to you afterwards. I promise I won't interfere during the practices. I just think I'd be able to give better advice if I see first hand what is going on."
I looked at Alex. I had to admit there had been times last year when I would've liked to have some one giving me advice on certain things. Yes Mr. Gubbine had helped us as much as he could but he had never showed any interest on seeing what was going on. It was either Alex or I who had to approach him. I could tell from the look in her eyes to that she liked the sound of his proposal.
"I think that would be great," I told him. Suddenly I wasn't nervous anymore. My worst fear had been that Bombay would try taking over the team. It didn't seem like that he was planning on doing that."I know there is a lot more I could learn about coaching."
"Me too," Alex said.
"Great," Bombay said. " I know you had your first try out session yesterday. Any chance I could see who you have trying out?"
"Yeah sure," Alex said handing over the folder she had which had our master list and our notes in it which we had both rewritten the night before. "There were a few kids that we had problems with yesterday that we've already cut," Alex told him. Suddenly I was glad she had stopped me from cutting Conway yesterday. I knew that Bombay was soon going to be Charlie's step father. I was almost wishing I hadn't rewritten the part of my notes about Charlie and his temper. I wasn't sure how Bombay was going to take it.
Bombay was silent as he glanced over everything we had in the folder. "You two are really organized," he finally said. "Look I know I'm pretty close to some of these kids so I'm going to stay out of the selection process. This is your team. Being students yourself you're going to face a bit of a challenge getting respect from some of your peers. I do want to give you this advice though- don't disregard someone just because you think you may have problems dealing with them. This should be a learning experience for the two of you too. Learning how to deal with problems that arise amongst your team members should be part of that learning experience. I just want you to keep that in mind."
"We will," Alex said glancing over at me. I just nodded in agreement.
"Well, unless you two want to ask me anything else I think we're about done here for now," Bombay said. Both Alex and I shook our heads.
"Are you going to stop by try outs this afternoon?" Alex asked as we stood up getting ready to leave.
"I may for a little while just to see how things are going but I'm not sure. I'll definitely be there Friday though," Bombay told us.
"Okay," Alex said as we left.
"I still feel the same way about Conway," I told her as we walked down the hallway. We still had time to grab a quick snack before our next class.
"So noted," she told me. "Don't worry. I'm going to have a talk with him this afternoon."
To tell you the truth I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I definitely didn't want Conway or any of the Ducks mad at me. Especially Julie. I was starting to wonder if maybe I had made a mistake asking them to try out.