Note: crazy4nc128 and Banksiesbabe99 I'm glad you like the part with Jesse
and Banksiesbabe99 I'm with you. I don't particularly care for Jesse but I
don't hate him either so I guess I can write nice things about him. C-
Chan96 I'm glad you are enjoying the story. This chapter is just for you
and there is more Charlie/Connie to come after this chapter too so I hope
you enjoy it.
Charlie's POV:
I walked to our normal table with Averman who was ranting about this project we had for English. We were required to write a short story. Averman was freaking out about because he said he didn't have one creative bone in his body. He may have had a point but I wasn't about to say that.
As we approached the table I noticed Connie watching me. As soon as our eyes met though she looked down at the plate in front of her as if the meat surprise was the most interesting thing she had seen in a long time. I took an empty seat at the far end of the table, as far away from Guy as I could possibly get. I was avoiding Guy for the same reason Connie was trying to avoid me.
***flashback***
"Hey Connie, what are you doing tonight?" I asked leaning on the back of the couch in the common room. She was laying on the couch reading.
"No special plans, why?" she asked not looking up from her book.
"I was suppose to go out to eat with Alex and Adam tonight and I want someone to come with me so I don't feel like a third wheel," I told her. I had made plans to go with them before Adam had finally gotten up the nerve to tell Alex he liked her at the basketball game Friday night. Even though they were now actually dating they still insisted that I should come with them like we had originally planned. I did manage to find a date but she had just called and cancelled.
"Sounds kind of like a date to me," Connie said still not looking up from the book.
"Nonsense," I told her. "Its just four friends hanging out," I insisted. She finally looked up at me and the look on her face told me she wasn't buying it. "Okay, I guess it is sort of a date I told her but it'd be a mercy date," I insisted. "You'd be doing me a huge favor."
"Fine," she said with a sigh. "It's not like I have anything better to do."
"Besides," I told her. "I have to be a better date then some of the guys you've gone out with lately. Was the last date even human?"
Connie threw her book at me. I caught the book with a laugh. "Be ready at seven," I told her handing her the book and backing out of the common room. I wasn't stupid enough to turn my back on her after that last comment.
The night had gone smoothly and it had been a lot of fun. It was great seeing Adam actually happy for a change. I could tell something had been bothering him lately but he refused to talk about it. Adam had decided to walk Alex back to her dorm building which left me and Connie to walk to our building alone.
"I had fun tonight," Connie said as we walked toward the building side by side.
"Yeah, me too," I said. I looked over at her. I couldn't help but think about how pretty she was.
"Hey look a shooting star," she said coming to a stop and pointing up at the sky. I didn't bother to even look. Without even thinking about it I had leaned over and kissed her.
She took a step back surprised. I had to admit I was surprised myself. That wasn't suppose to happen. She was one of my best friends girlfriends or at least she had been for the last few years.
"Um, I need to finish some homework," Connie said and the jogged up the steps and disappeared inside.
"Nice move, Spazzway," I muttered to myself as I slowly walked toward the building and up to my room. I was happy to find that Guy was not in the room. I wasn't sure I was ready to face him.
***end flashback***
So here I was sitting at the same table as both Connie and Guy trying to pretend everything was just fine. I was starting to wish that I had just been a third wheel last night.
"Earth to Charlie," I heard Averman saying. I wondered how long he had been trying to get my attention.
"Sorry guys," I said looking around at my friends. "I guess I had my mind on other things," I said casually.
"Like what," Jesse said casually.
"Probably the wedding. Its coming up in two weeks," Julie said. "We're going tonight to pick out dresses."
"Julie excited about wearing a dress. Somehow I can't picture it," Portman commented.
"I wear dresses," Julie said defensively.
"Only when you're trying to impress Scooter," Portman said. Julie stuck his tongue out at him.
"Have they figured out how they're pairing us off yet Charlie?" Guy asked.
"No, not yet," I said. "I think Gordon is about ready to give up," I told him. I was suppose to be Gordon's best man and Adam and Guy were going to be ushers. Since being reunited a couple of weeks ago my Mom had been spending a lot of time with Alex getting reacquainted with her daughter. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been a little bit jealous at all the time they had been spending together but I thought I had been handling it well. I hadn't gone flying off the handle yet. Besides they had sixteen years to catch up on. So, it hadn't really come as any surprise to me when Mom had asked Alex to be her maid of honor. Julie and Connie were going to be brides maid. However, Guy and Connie's break-up and Adam and Alex getting together had been causing some headaches in trying to figure out how to pair us off. And now who knew what was going on between me and Connie.
"You guys could always pull names and pair off that way," Averman said.
"Don't you dare even suggested that to them," I told him. Gordon might have found it funny but my Mom probably would've started crying. Now that the day of the wedding was approaching she was starting to get very stressed out.
"I was just joking,"Averman said.
"You better be," I told him.
"Chill Charlie," Fulton said.
"Sorry," I said. "I guess I'm a little on edge myself lately."
Russ opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. I guess for once he had actually thought before speaking. The mood I was in, it was probably a good thing.
"How's the play going?" I asked looking at Ken but directing the question to both Connie and Ken. The conversation switched from the upcoming wedding to play rehearsals which was what I was hoping would happen.
Alex's POV:
I just wanted him to shut up. I really didn't care what he was saying. Not to mention the fact that I hadn't even been involved in the prank. Mr. Marvin, our science teacher, just assumed I was involved because he had caught Shane passing his teacher's addition book to Albert Sypher, our class clown, the two guys he always saw me hanging out with. The only thing I was guilty of was not telling him where his book was when he had started looking for it but the whole class was guilty of that.
I glanced at the clock. If this little lecture lasted much longer I was going to be late for hockey practice which wasn't going to look good. It was our first official practice of the season. Not to mention Adam was out in the hallway waiting me.
Mr. Marvin finally finished his lecture on giving people the respect they deserve, he should take his own advice, and let us go. I was surprised we got off that easy. I was expecting a detention or something. Scott would have loved that. I could just see me telling him that he'd have to handle practice alone because I had detention. He'd probably strangle me.
As I walked out into the hallway I found Adam leaning up against the wall across from Mr. Marvin's classroom. He had my bag for practice slung over one shoulder and my hockey stick in one hand.
"Your roommate got them for me," he said in answer to my unspoken question.
"Thank-you," I told him giving him a quick kiss and taking my bag from him. "I still need to get over to the court quickly though or I'm still going to be late," I said starting down the hallway. Adam fell in step beside me and took my hand.
"Well if you would show your teachers the proper respect," Shane said from behind me.
"You be quiet," I told him over my shoulder. "It's your fault I got stuck in that classroom anyway. You're the one who originally took the book to begin with and you're the one who got caught passing it to Albert."
"I didn't see you telling him where the book was when he first discovered it missing," Shane said.
"Well excuse me. I thought I was trying to keep you out of trouble."
"Lighten up Alex," Albert said. "It was a joke. So we had to listen to a lecture big deal. It's not like we ended up with detention."
"Yeah, and you aren't going to be late for practice," I told him.
"You're the coach. You can't get in trouble for being late," Albert insisted.
"But it sets a bad example. Just because certain people don't care what kind of example they set doesn't mean I have to be that way to," I told him. We were outside by this time and I cut across the grass toward the hockey court to save time.
"I resent that," Albert said. "I got some research to do at the library. Catch ya later Alex," he said as we passed the library. He went off in his own direction leaving Adam, Shane and I to walk the rest of the way to the roller hockey court by ourselves.
I could see that everyone was already there including our three alternates, and by the looks of it almost everyone was ready. There were a couple kids on the sidelines still putting their skates on but most of them were just standing around talking. Scott however was pacing and looking extremely agitated.
"I'll talk to you later," Adam said as we reached the gate. He handed me my hockey stick and gave me a quick kiss.
"Okay," I said and then turned and walked into the hockey court as Adam and Shane headed off to where ever they were going.
"There you are," Scott said as he saw me walking toward him. He stopped pacing and looked extremely relieved.
"Sorry, had to listen to an extra lecture today thanks to Shane," I told him as I sat my stuff down and sat down next to my bag to put my skates on. "Besides, I thought you wanted to be super coach. You shouldn't have any trouble handling practice by yourself," I said with a grin.
"Very funny," Scott told me. "You sure you're okay with handling drills by yourself?" He asked. We had planned on starting out practice with me doing drills with most of the teams while he worked on things with the goalies seeing as I knew next to nothing about being a goalie.
"No problem," I said. "Why don't you take Allen too since he showed up today," Allen Tryst was one of alternates but he had been one of the candidates for goalie too.
"Okay," Scott said.
I finished putting my skates on and then gathered my group together and started with passing drills. We kept the two groups apart until we had about fifteen minutes left and then we split the team into two groups. I took half the team to do shooting drills with Julie as goalie while Scooter had the rest of the team with our back-up goalie, Simon in the net.
I felt that practice went well. With any luck we would be ready for our first game come Friday afternoon. We ended practice and I took off my skates and then walked over to where Connie and Julie were waiting. We were driving over to my new house to meet my mom and then the four of us were going to go pick out dresses for the wedding. We were cutting it close but my Mom new the lady who owned the dress shop we were going to and she had insured my Mom that she could have the dresses done in time.
I had been thrilled when my Mom had asked me to be her maid of honor. She had asked me the Saturday after Charlie and I had confronted her with the picture when we had gone out to lunch. I had been surprised. I mean we had been spending a lot of time together those first few days and we had seemed to hit it off but I hadn't been expecting that. I had figured she would go with someone she had known longer.
Mom and Charlie had been great. They worked hard to make me feel like I was a part of the family. Even Coach Bombay had gone out of his way to make the house seem like my new home. I still missed my old life and the Mom and Dad I had grown up knowing but it was good to be a part of another family.
"I guess we're ready then," Connie said as I joined her and Julie by the gate of the court.
"Let's go," I told them and we started through the gate and toward the parking lot where my car was parked.
"Hey Alex, can we talk for a minute," I heard a voice call behind me. I turned around to find Coach Bombay walking in our direction.
"Do you guys mind waiting a couple of minutes?" I asked Connie and Julie. They both shook there head that they didn't. Julie reached out to take my bag and Connie took my hockey stick as I walked back toward the court to talk with Coach Bombay.
Charlie's POV:
I walked to our normal table with Averman who was ranting about this project we had for English. We were required to write a short story. Averman was freaking out about because he said he didn't have one creative bone in his body. He may have had a point but I wasn't about to say that.
As we approached the table I noticed Connie watching me. As soon as our eyes met though she looked down at the plate in front of her as if the meat surprise was the most interesting thing she had seen in a long time. I took an empty seat at the far end of the table, as far away from Guy as I could possibly get. I was avoiding Guy for the same reason Connie was trying to avoid me.
***flashback***
"Hey Connie, what are you doing tonight?" I asked leaning on the back of the couch in the common room. She was laying on the couch reading.
"No special plans, why?" she asked not looking up from her book.
"I was suppose to go out to eat with Alex and Adam tonight and I want someone to come with me so I don't feel like a third wheel," I told her. I had made plans to go with them before Adam had finally gotten up the nerve to tell Alex he liked her at the basketball game Friday night. Even though they were now actually dating they still insisted that I should come with them like we had originally planned. I did manage to find a date but she had just called and cancelled.
"Sounds kind of like a date to me," Connie said still not looking up from the book.
"Nonsense," I told her. "Its just four friends hanging out," I insisted. She finally looked up at me and the look on her face told me she wasn't buying it. "Okay, I guess it is sort of a date I told her but it'd be a mercy date," I insisted. "You'd be doing me a huge favor."
"Fine," she said with a sigh. "It's not like I have anything better to do."
"Besides," I told her. "I have to be a better date then some of the guys you've gone out with lately. Was the last date even human?"
Connie threw her book at me. I caught the book with a laugh. "Be ready at seven," I told her handing her the book and backing out of the common room. I wasn't stupid enough to turn my back on her after that last comment.
The night had gone smoothly and it had been a lot of fun. It was great seeing Adam actually happy for a change. I could tell something had been bothering him lately but he refused to talk about it. Adam had decided to walk Alex back to her dorm building which left me and Connie to walk to our building alone.
"I had fun tonight," Connie said as we walked toward the building side by side.
"Yeah, me too," I said. I looked over at her. I couldn't help but think about how pretty she was.
"Hey look a shooting star," she said coming to a stop and pointing up at the sky. I didn't bother to even look. Without even thinking about it I had leaned over and kissed her.
She took a step back surprised. I had to admit I was surprised myself. That wasn't suppose to happen. She was one of my best friends girlfriends or at least she had been for the last few years.
"Um, I need to finish some homework," Connie said and the jogged up the steps and disappeared inside.
"Nice move, Spazzway," I muttered to myself as I slowly walked toward the building and up to my room. I was happy to find that Guy was not in the room. I wasn't sure I was ready to face him.
***end flashback***
So here I was sitting at the same table as both Connie and Guy trying to pretend everything was just fine. I was starting to wish that I had just been a third wheel last night.
"Earth to Charlie," I heard Averman saying. I wondered how long he had been trying to get my attention.
"Sorry guys," I said looking around at my friends. "I guess I had my mind on other things," I said casually.
"Like what," Jesse said casually.
"Probably the wedding. Its coming up in two weeks," Julie said. "We're going tonight to pick out dresses."
"Julie excited about wearing a dress. Somehow I can't picture it," Portman commented.
"I wear dresses," Julie said defensively.
"Only when you're trying to impress Scooter," Portman said. Julie stuck his tongue out at him.
"Have they figured out how they're pairing us off yet Charlie?" Guy asked.
"No, not yet," I said. "I think Gordon is about ready to give up," I told him. I was suppose to be Gordon's best man and Adam and Guy were going to be ushers. Since being reunited a couple of weeks ago my Mom had been spending a lot of time with Alex getting reacquainted with her daughter. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been a little bit jealous at all the time they had been spending together but I thought I had been handling it well. I hadn't gone flying off the handle yet. Besides they had sixteen years to catch up on. So, it hadn't really come as any surprise to me when Mom had asked Alex to be her maid of honor. Julie and Connie were going to be brides maid. However, Guy and Connie's break-up and Adam and Alex getting together had been causing some headaches in trying to figure out how to pair us off. And now who knew what was going on between me and Connie.
"You guys could always pull names and pair off that way," Averman said.
"Don't you dare even suggested that to them," I told him. Gordon might have found it funny but my Mom probably would've started crying. Now that the day of the wedding was approaching she was starting to get very stressed out.
"I was just joking,"Averman said.
"You better be," I told him.
"Chill Charlie," Fulton said.
"Sorry," I said. "I guess I'm a little on edge myself lately."
Russ opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. I guess for once he had actually thought before speaking. The mood I was in, it was probably a good thing.
"How's the play going?" I asked looking at Ken but directing the question to both Connie and Ken. The conversation switched from the upcoming wedding to play rehearsals which was what I was hoping would happen.
Alex's POV:
I just wanted him to shut up. I really didn't care what he was saying. Not to mention the fact that I hadn't even been involved in the prank. Mr. Marvin, our science teacher, just assumed I was involved because he had caught Shane passing his teacher's addition book to Albert Sypher, our class clown, the two guys he always saw me hanging out with. The only thing I was guilty of was not telling him where his book was when he had started looking for it but the whole class was guilty of that.
I glanced at the clock. If this little lecture lasted much longer I was going to be late for hockey practice which wasn't going to look good. It was our first official practice of the season. Not to mention Adam was out in the hallway waiting me.
Mr. Marvin finally finished his lecture on giving people the respect they deserve, he should take his own advice, and let us go. I was surprised we got off that easy. I was expecting a detention or something. Scott would have loved that. I could just see me telling him that he'd have to handle practice alone because I had detention. He'd probably strangle me.
As I walked out into the hallway I found Adam leaning up against the wall across from Mr. Marvin's classroom. He had my bag for practice slung over one shoulder and my hockey stick in one hand.
"Your roommate got them for me," he said in answer to my unspoken question.
"Thank-you," I told him giving him a quick kiss and taking my bag from him. "I still need to get over to the court quickly though or I'm still going to be late," I said starting down the hallway. Adam fell in step beside me and took my hand.
"Well if you would show your teachers the proper respect," Shane said from behind me.
"You be quiet," I told him over my shoulder. "It's your fault I got stuck in that classroom anyway. You're the one who originally took the book to begin with and you're the one who got caught passing it to Albert."
"I didn't see you telling him where the book was when he first discovered it missing," Shane said.
"Well excuse me. I thought I was trying to keep you out of trouble."
"Lighten up Alex," Albert said. "It was a joke. So we had to listen to a lecture big deal. It's not like we ended up with detention."
"Yeah, and you aren't going to be late for practice," I told him.
"You're the coach. You can't get in trouble for being late," Albert insisted.
"But it sets a bad example. Just because certain people don't care what kind of example they set doesn't mean I have to be that way to," I told him. We were outside by this time and I cut across the grass toward the hockey court to save time.
"I resent that," Albert said. "I got some research to do at the library. Catch ya later Alex," he said as we passed the library. He went off in his own direction leaving Adam, Shane and I to walk the rest of the way to the roller hockey court by ourselves.
I could see that everyone was already there including our three alternates, and by the looks of it almost everyone was ready. There were a couple kids on the sidelines still putting their skates on but most of them were just standing around talking. Scott however was pacing and looking extremely agitated.
"I'll talk to you later," Adam said as we reached the gate. He handed me my hockey stick and gave me a quick kiss.
"Okay," I said and then turned and walked into the hockey court as Adam and Shane headed off to where ever they were going.
"There you are," Scott said as he saw me walking toward him. He stopped pacing and looked extremely relieved.
"Sorry, had to listen to an extra lecture today thanks to Shane," I told him as I sat my stuff down and sat down next to my bag to put my skates on. "Besides, I thought you wanted to be super coach. You shouldn't have any trouble handling practice by yourself," I said with a grin.
"Very funny," Scott told me. "You sure you're okay with handling drills by yourself?" He asked. We had planned on starting out practice with me doing drills with most of the teams while he worked on things with the goalies seeing as I knew next to nothing about being a goalie.
"No problem," I said. "Why don't you take Allen too since he showed up today," Allen Tryst was one of alternates but he had been one of the candidates for goalie too.
"Okay," Scott said.
I finished putting my skates on and then gathered my group together and started with passing drills. We kept the two groups apart until we had about fifteen minutes left and then we split the team into two groups. I took half the team to do shooting drills with Julie as goalie while Scooter had the rest of the team with our back-up goalie, Simon in the net.
I felt that practice went well. With any luck we would be ready for our first game come Friday afternoon. We ended practice and I took off my skates and then walked over to where Connie and Julie were waiting. We were driving over to my new house to meet my mom and then the four of us were going to go pick out dresses for the wedding. We were cutting it close but my Mom new the lady who owned the dress shop we were going to and she had insured my Mom that she could have the dresses done in time.
I had been thrilled when my Mom had asked me to be her maid of honor. She had asked me the Saturday after Charlie and I had confronted her with the picture when we had gone out to lunch. I had been surprised. I mean we had been spending a lot of time together those first few days and we had seemed to hit it off but I hadn't been expecting that. I had figured she would go with someone she had known longer.
Mom and Charlie had been great. They worked hard to make me feel like I was a part of the family. Even Coach Bombay had gone out of his way to make the house seem like my new home. I still missed my old life and the Mom and Dad I had grown up knowing but it was good to be a part of another family.
"I guess we're ready then," Connie said as I joined her and Julie by the gate of the court.
"Let's go," I told them and we started through the gate and toward the parking lot where my car was parked.
"Hey Alex, can we talk for a minute," I heard a voice call behind me. I turned around to find Coach Bombay walking in our direction.
"Do you guys mind waiting a couple of minutes?" I asked Connie and Julie. They both shook there head that they didn't. Julie reached out to take my bag and Connie took my hockey stick as I walked back toward the court to talk with Coach Bombay.