The lightness of the rifle in my hands scared me as carefully slipped a
pair of bullets into the compartment and jerked it up with a quite noise.
The noise echoed around me in this small clearing that I was in. Now that
the gun was loaded, it felt a hundred times heavier and it made me feel so
much more powerful. More powerful than I had in my entire lifetime.
I looked both ways before creeping out of my hiding spot following a path that was only marked by the grass that had been squashed by the many before me. After a few minutes of walking I stopped and looked through the reeds at a serene sight. A pond. I could feel a calm smile turn up the corners as my mouth as I aimed my shot. I'd only have one so I'd have to make it worth it. I wanted the leader of the pack . . . the flock. My finger twitched at the trigger, the gun going off with a blast, my eyes widening as I realize what I had done. . .
***
"Charlie!" I yelped, realizing I was in a forest with a gun, but in my Spanish classroom, with the first bell ringing in my ears, signaling lunch. "I killed him . . ."
"Hey Banksie, are you okay?" Kenny asked cautiously walking up to my desk and watching the rest of our class as the filed out of one of the many classrooms of Eden Hall.
I panted, my eyes widening as I stared down at my notebook. "I killed Charlie. I shot him in cold blood. I can't believe it, Charlie's dead!" I yelped my mind racing at what they were going to do with me; what would happen to me. I was just a scrawny white boy from Edina! What was I going to do! Imagine the headlines! My father is going to be either so angry . . . or so proud . . .
Kenny frowned, cocking an eyebrow and leaning on the desk parallel to mine. "I highly doubt that, Adam. I saw Charlie in the halls heading for his tech class before I walked in here. When I walked in here, you were talking to Julie." He replied calmly. "So unless you had an 'out-of-body' experience, which are completely bogus, you couldn't have killed our Captain." He was snickering by the end at the ludicrousness of it all. "Besides, you were asleep for more of the lecture. Mostly likely, cake-eater, you were having a bad dream."
"It was so real though." I whispered, as I slowed my breathing and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. I looked up at Kenny's calm brown eyes. "I could've sworn I shot him. I mean he was right there in front of me with the rest of the Ducks!"
Shrugging, Kenny crackled his neck. "Most bad dreams are. I've hear that dreams, when their as vivid as you explained it, mean something, but then again I'm skeptical of that." He walked away from my desk and began towards the door as I began shoveling my books into my bag. "Oh, and a word to the wise Banks, get more sleep at night. You're going to need more energy if Orion is going to make us run track and play hockey."
I nodded, trying my best to smile even though I was still a little jilted from that dream. "Thanks Wu."
He nodded back. "What are friends for?" He replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Later Banks," He waved as he walked out of the classroom leaving me alone in the room.
I breathed deep as I leaned against my desk. "Right. . ."
~*~
I sat down in one of the library's many enormous comfy chairs that were everywhere in this school, and wrapped my arms around my stomach. This morning when I said I was skipping lunch to come here I thought I was going to be kicking myself by the end of Spanish, but now, had someone even mentioned food, I think I'd yak, right here, right now.
The library was completely silent around me leaving me with my thoughts. Ok, so I have a guilty mind, but why would I dream about shooting Charlie? I've never even held a gun in my life, despite the fact my father owns a couple, but their just for show. Antiques that haven't been fired since the late 1800's and now reside in glass cases in my father's study collecting dust. If an intruder actually came into our house, they would be more use hitting him over the head with than actually firing at him with. Supposedly my father says their extremely temperamental (hey much like him!) but I wouldn't know, not that I want to find out; their completely barbaric and old fashioned. After hundreds of thousands of years of beating each other over the head with clubs, you would think we would actually stop and think about actually talking out our problems. But hey I'm just a fifteen year old, why listen to me?
Ok, hockey right? I'm not being a hypocrite either. Yes, hockey has violence with the checking and the fighting and all that hooey, but there are reasons for it. First of all, hockey is just a game and you may be surprised that I'm the one who said that, but it's true. If hockey were real life, we would be knee deep in shit, because by now, I would have more injuries than one bummed up wrist. And the fighting, well that isn't really hockey. That's just certain players (Like Dan McGill. . .) who don't know how to keep their emotional attachment out of the game. They have to make it personal, and that's just the type of person they are.
And the talking out our problems. . .
Oh screw you! I'm fifteen! I talk a whole lot of shit! Bugger off!
I crossed my arms defiantly. It must be time to get back to class now, seeing I've been sitting here thinking about gun control and hockey for the past . . . I looked down at my watch and groaned inwardly. I tapped my finger on my watch and brought it up to my ear. It didn't stop . . . I felt like crying silently. I've only been sitting here for five minutes.
I shifted in my chaired and looked around me. There are only two other people in the library other than me. The librarian, with her stiff knee cracking away as she putters about putting books away casting glances at me suspiciously, and some guy I know from my World Geography class in the morning. He's like the smartest guy in the entire school or something, but I haven't quite learned his name yet. Billy, or Bobby or something. The sad thing is that he looks like the stereotypical nerd, with slightly too short dress pants, a plaid dress shirt complete with pocket protector and extremely thick glasses. I think the only difference between him and a stereotypical nerd is the fact that his clothes and glasses are name brand. I think his father is some big shot at some computer company.
I sigh and look down at my watch again. Ok, so our lunch hour is an hour and thirty-five minutes long, and it took me two minutes to get here, and I've sat here thinking for about six minutes thinking, if my calculations are correct, I have quite a while until my next class, which is math, with Josie, sitting behind me, not knowing that I did something really really really stupid over the Christmas holidays. I think I would have a better chance at living if I had just kissed another girl, because then I would have been able to play it off as a mistletoe blunder or something.
But I read her diary that was on a disk that one of our arch-enemies gave to me. Like, it's not like I could say, I was carrying it upstairs and it fell open and I just 'happened' to glance at a page and it just 'happened' to be the page where you were talking about Peter and all that. I wouldn't even be able to come up with a good lie either because there was no excuse! I could just imagine her face as I said to her, "Oh yeah Josie, I was doing research for a school project and it called for me to read a sister's, friend's or girlfriend's diary." She's kill me, slowly. She'd probably ask Kenny to show her Chinese water torture, despite the fact that Kenny wasn't Chinese, but Korean.
I blinked. I was in a huge library full of books. Kenny said that sometimes when dreams are really vivid, they mean something, so I guess I could find out what my dream meant. I mean our library must have some sort of book of dream analysis, and I certainly had plenty of time, so why not? I got up and wandered over to a computer and typed in dream analysis, getting a couple hits in our library. I copied down the code on a sheet a paper and went off in a search. I ran my index finger along the shelves and after a couple minutes finally came to the correct area. I looked at the titles at all the spines. 'Dreams and you', 'What do your dreams mean?', 'Dream Dictionary'.
I shook my head thinking of the fact that I must be the only guy to probably ever look at these books. I grabbed the 'Dream Dictionary', because it seemed the most credential, even though it was a dream book, so how credential could it be. . . and walked back to my original chair, collapsing into it and looking down at the cover. It looked dusty, and old. It honestly looked like it hadn't been touched since before this school opened but I figured what the hell.
I ran my fingers across the top coming across a tiny bit of fabric acting as a makeshift bookmark and opened it up. It opened to the D's. Well, I didn't need the D's; I needed the F's, for friend, or the M's for murder, or the S's for shoot . . . or the A's for Adam is going completely psycho so lets go get a straight jacket off E-bay and toss him in a white room with squishy walls, and inject him with medication so he's nice and calm and only thinks about the cute little ducks that quack and wattle around him!
I was about to flip the page when something at the top of the page caught my eye. This book was like a real dictionary, so it had like a heading like this page, dismemberment (uh . . . yikes. . .) – duck. Hmm . . . well, technically Charlie is a Duck, and I remember in my dream wanting the leader of the 'flock', and people don't usually come in flocks, so I figure I'll read that, just for fun.
Duck- in dreams, ducks can mean a wide range of things . . . yadda yadda yadda, ok not helping me . . . duck over clear water means lucky journey . . . nope . . . ducks flying means a good omen . . . shooting a duck! Ah ha! Exactly what I'm looking for! If you shoot ducks, it means you have enemies working against you.
Enemies working against me? What enemies? I don't have enemies! Except, William Hayworth, but that's only because I'm going out with the girl he likes . . . ok I have one enemy. Ok, and I have Riley from Varsity, but that's only because I became a Duck again; ok, make that most of the Varsity team then because I helped the Ducks win the JV/ Varsity showdown, and Erica that cheerleader that was rooming with Josie for a while, and Daniel McGill . . .
Shit! My enemies ARE working against me. Shit!
"Hey Banksie."
I jumped out of my skin, dropping the book out of my lap and tossing it on the floor and spinning around to see Charlie smiling his usual friendly grin. "Oh thank God!" I yelped giving him a quick hug, out of the blue. He wasn't dead! He was alive scaring the shit out of me!
The librarian shushed us angrily from her spot behind her desk and turned back to her book, flipping the page and continued reading.
Charlie frowned. "Uh . . . hi . . . Are you feeling ok?" He replied after my over zealous greeting.
I nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh. Great, fine! Perfect! I feel wonderful!"
He nodded and bent down to pick up the book I had dropped. He looked at the cover and his expression changed from surprised and slightly frightened to completely confused. "Dream interpretation? You?" He asked. "I was expecting a hockey magazine or a textbook or something, but this? You blew off the Ducks to interpret your dreams? No . . . You blew off your upset girlfriend to interpret your dreams." He stopped and shook his head. "Who are you, and what have you done with our star hockey player?"
I bit my lip. Ok, after hearing what Charlie said I feel like I really big jerk. I mean I feel like I'm like the uber jerk right now. "It was on the chair and a page caught my eye."
He blinked and shook the book upside down in hopes of finding something that was stuck inside the gigantic book. "Ok, there is no hockey magazine stuck in here, like what I would've done." He began to thumb through the book quickly, probably in hopes of finding a picture that represented hockey. "Ok . . . This can all be explained." He nodded placing the book on the coffee table in front of the chair. "You aren't really Adam. You're a body-snatching alien and you're using Adam's body to find out the finer points of hockey so you can teach it to the other aliens in your spaceship and take over the NHL. The only thing I request is that you either a) make the Wilds win the Stanley Cup when you take it over, or b) bring back the North Stars back to Minnesota and make them win."
I snorted. Charlie and his over-active imagination. "Charlie, I did something really stupid."
"Yes, you're obviously not Adam Banks because he never does anything stupid." He retorted shaking his head. It looked like his entire world was crumbling apart. It was he just found out everything turned opposite: right was wrong and Michael Jackson was black.
"Charlie seriously."
"If you tell me your quitting hockey I'll kill you myself."
"No!" I yelped half laughing. "No! I love hockey! I'm not quitting!"
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok then Banksie, as long as this stupid thing you did has nothing to do with you in result having to quit hockey, I'm all ears." He jumped into the chair next to the one that was beside mine.
I sat down slowly and lowered my head. "I can't tell you, Conway."
Charlie smirked. "Adam, I'm Captain Duck. I am the King of Stupid things! Believe me, anything you did, will never match the stupid things I've done."
"Oh believe me; you've never done anything as stupid as what I did." I bit my lip.
Charlie crossed his arms stubbornly. "I once shot myself in the foot with a bee-bee gun!"
I rolled my eyes. "You're right. You're the King. Long live the King." I replied unenthusiastically. Normally I would have laughed at him, but now, I know that my deed would go far far past any of his infractions.
"Thank you my humble servant." He bowed smirking. "Ok, so what did you do that was so stupid that you thought you could threaten my ruling on the throne of Stupid?"
I shrugged. "It's nothing."
Charlie smiled. "Ok. Then how about you tell me what's up with you and Josie." He asked leaning over the arm of his chair. "I asked her if you guys got into a fight last night and she was under the impression that you guys were better than fine. I mean yesterday you guys were all fairy tale like. I swear you guys were like glowing! Then today, ok, let me put it this way, if Orion saw you run out of the cafeteria as fast as you did, he would have kicked you off the hockey team and made you focus solely on track."
I sighed. "I did not run."
"There were road-runner clouds behind you, dude."
"Were not!"
Charlie smirked. "Mendoza is now calling you Adam 'the Blur' Banks!"
I frowned. "Is she ok?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah, of course. I mean it took a couple make-out sessions with Fulton, but yeah, she's fine." He grinned widely.
"Charlie . . ." I threatened.
"Josie is fine. She looked pretty close to crying at first, but we calmed her down. Then Averman came in and told her you've been acting funny basically since you've woken up. Something about his shoes. I think. He had half a bagel shoved down his throat so I'm not sure." Charlie shrugged. "He said you were acting like Speedy Gonzalez this morning with him too. He said you were there one minute and gone the next."
I nodded silently, my eyes locked on my shoes.
"Are you sure you're okay Banks?"
I looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah . . . fine."
Charlie bit his lip nervously. "You do know if something is wrong you can come to any of the Ducks right?"
I forced a little smile onto my lips. "Yeah. I know."
He nodded and got up. "Talk to Josie ok? She's worried about you."
I nodded. "Thanks Charlie." I whispered quietly.
He shrugged. "No problem." He turned to leave and quickly spun around. "Get something to eat ok?"
I nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'll get right on that."
I watched Charlie go as I sat there again alone in the library.
I heard about this one guy who said that you can never step into the same river twice or something like that. Saying that the water is always changing. I think my father made me read a book with that in it or something. It means that when a moment is lost, it is lost forever.
Well I just lost a chance of coming clean.
And now I'm hoping like hell God will be kind and give me another one because I don't know how long I can live with this secret.
~
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A/N: Ok, I wrote this in two halves. One yesterday and the other today. I woke up really early (6:45 am!) for some weird reason and began writing. I found out that my brain really works well early in the morning and WAY late at night. I think it's when I'm sleep deprived or something. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Shout outs!
Beaner- Oh well I don't care. Screw the stupid spell checker! Yes the Ducks are really mature eh? And it's so Averman to go into a joke shop or something and find something as weird as 'spray stench'. Yeah that wasn't good of Adam to be mean to either girl. Doesn't he know that girls can be vicious when they are threatened? Well I guess not seeing he only has a brother and his mother is living off in la-la land and Josie is basically his first girlfriend. Do you want to know why Guy wasn't taken when I asked you that you wanted him? You were the first one I asked! Ok, so I was the author and I had first dibs on Adam and I think I gave Luis and Portman to Tara as a peace offering because I 'stole' Adam, so yeah, you basically go first choice. Oh, and I just found out why my Spanish translation came out 'Hello class are we ready to begin?' That's because that's the way I typed it in! Yeah, so it turns out my translator is really really good. But I think next time I'll come to you because well just because my translator was super awesome, I still don't trust it. Did you think my dream came out ok? I wasn't too sure with it. I was like . . . hmm . . . But I like the rest of the chapter so I'm not going to scrap it. So yeah that's it. Talk later!
Shelbers- I'm glad you liked last chapter. Last chapter was harder to write than this one, mainly because I wasn't sure how to start. Now that I've sort of gotten back into the swing of things, I think I'm good again. Oh, you want to say hi to the Ducks? Just a second, it's 9:20 am so I'm going to wake them up. *Author runs away from computer and upstairs where cawing is heard. Three thumps immerge from upstairs* *Author rushes back to the computer* Ok give them a sec. Their getting off the floor. I'm planning on keeping up the good work. Oh . . . here they are. *Fulton, Adam and Charlie trudge into room with bed head looking rather peeved* Fulton: "What!" Charlie: "I don't remember asking for a morning wake-up call." Adam: "And I'm pretty sure I didn't ask for you to crow in my ear." *author frowns* A reviewer wanted to say hi to you. Charlie . . . remember Shelbers? She housed you for about a month? Charlie: "Oh yeah. Hi! You didn't wake me at all hours of the morning!" *Charlie narrows eyes at author* Adam: "Exactly. I say we disconnect her internet." Fulton: "No, I say we make her watch really bad movies without us in it!" *author's jaw drops* You wouldn't dare because I could make you *points at Adam* break up with your girlfriend, you *points at Fulton* faint at the sight of blood in front of the team and you *points at Charlie* you wouldn't want the return of Linda would you? *Duck's jaw's drop* Charlie: "Y-you w-wouldn't." Now say hi to her and go back to sleep. The Ducks: *panicked* "Hi!" *All the Ducks hurry back upstairs* Ok that's it! Later!
Angela- Hey hey! You really liked last chapter? That's good! I hope you like this one! No I didn't know there was only one story about Sandlot. Maybe you could start up a whole new fandom! I'm quite sure that there are plenty of people around here that like that movie. I haven't seen it in a while, but I remember really liking it. Uh . . . watching a movie about three times a day probably would make you obsessed, but I doubt the nice people in white coats will drag you away. You're too good of a reviewer for me to let that happen. OK? No Worries. Later!
Rach- It was so Quack! I'm planning on having a couple more Duck pranks. I'm not exactly sure where I came up with the spray stench though. That one just came to me. For some reason I'm going to have Averman obsessed with messing up Adam's clothes. *blushes* I know I would be! Yeah, Adam is fighting that right now, but he has to have a guilty conscience for a while. Yeah I'd do the same thing if someone (my boyfriend especially) read my diary. Especially if it had something really personal like it did with Josie's. If it were about him and how he's cute . . . blah blah blah, I might not care, as much. But if it were something else, his butt would be on the curb so fast he wouldn't know what hit him! Oh, my parents know my 'greatness', they just would sometimes like to check their e-mail . . . and do their taxes . . . and maybe . . . if there's time . . . play a game. But no worries. My updating shall be regular. I've figured a way around this problem. Instead of when I come up with an idea and going straight to the computer, I have found the wonderful world of pens and paper. *Gasps* Yes, now I have a Duck notebook where I keep all of my spiffy ideas. All I have to do is print a couple pictures of Adam and the Ducks off the internet and my notebook will be perfect! Yay! I'm glad you are waiting eagerly for my chapters! Can't wait for your review! Later!!
REVIEW!!
~Toodles
--KatieGurl!
I looked both ways before creeping out of my hiding spot following a path that was only marked by the grass that had been squashed by the many before me. After a few minutes of walking I stopped and looked through the reeds at a serene sight. A pond. I could feel a calm smile turn up the corners as my mouth as I aimed my shot. I'd only have one so I'd have to make it worth it. I wanted the leader of the pack . . . the flock. My finger twitched at the trigger, the gun going off with a blast, my eyes widening as I realize what I had done. . .
***
"Charlie!" I yelped, realizing I was in a forest with a gun, but in my Spanish classroom, with the first bell ringing in my ears, signaling lunch. "I killed him . . ."
"Hey Banksie, are you okay?" Kenny asked cautiously walking up to my desk and watching the rest of our class as the filed out of one of the many classrooms of Eden Hall.
I panted, my eyes widening as I stared down at my notebook. "I killed Charlie. I shot him in cold blood. I can't believe it, Charlie's dead!" I yelped my mind racing at what they were going to do with me; what would happen to me. I was just a scrawny white boy from Edina! What was I going to do! Imagine the headlines! My father is going to be either so angry . . . or so proud . . .
Kenny frowned, cocking an eyebrow and leaning on the desk parallel to mine. "I highly doubt that, Adam. I saw Charlie in the halls heading for his tech class before I walked in here. When I walked in here, you were talking to Julie." He replied calmly. "So unless you had an 'out-of-body' experience, which are completely bogus, you couldn't have killed our Captain." He was snickering by the end at the ludicrousness of it all. "Besides, you were asleep for more of the lecture. Mostly likely, cake-eater, you were having a bad dream."
"It was so real though." I whispered, as I slowed my breathing and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. I looked up at Kenny's calm brown eyes. "I could've sworn I shot him. I mean he was right there in front of me with the rest of the Ducks!"
Shrugging, Kenny crackled his neck. "Most bad dreams are. I've hear that dreams, when their as vivid as you explained it, mean something, but then again I'm skeptical of that." He walked away from my desk and began towards the door as I began shoveling my books into my bag. "Oh, and a word to the wise Banks, get more sleep at night. You're going to need more energy if Orion is going to make us run track and play hockey."
I nodded, trying my best to smile even though I was still a little jilted from that dream. "Thanks Wu."
He nodded back. "What are friends for?" He replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Later Banks," He waved as he walked out of the classroom leaving me alone in the room.
I breathed deep as I leaned against my desk. "Right. . ."
~*~
I sat down in one of the library's many enormous comfy chairs that were everywhere in this school, and wrapped my arms around my stomach. This morning when I said I was skipping lunch to come here I thought I was going to be kicking myself by the end of Spanish, but now, had someone even mentioned food, I think I'd yak, right here, right now.
The library was completely silent around me leaving me with my thoughts. Ok, so I have a guilty mind, but why would I dream about shooting Charlie? I've never even held a gun in my life, despite the fact my father owns a couple, but their just for show. Antiques that haven't been fired since the late 1800's and now reside in glass cases in my father's study collecting dust. If an intruder actually came into our house, they would be more use hitting him over the head with than actually firing at him with. Supposedly my father says their extremely temperamental (hey much like him!) but I wouldn't know, not that I want to find out; their completely barbaric and old fashioned. After hundreds of thousands of years of beating each other over the head with clubs, you would think we would actually stop and think about actually talking out our problems. But hey I'm just a fifteen year old, why listen to me?
Ok, hockey right? I'm not being a hypocrite either. Yes, hockey has violence with the checking and the fighting and all that hooey, but there are reasons for it. First of all, hockey is just a game and you may be surprised that I'm the one who said that, but it's true. If hockey were real life, we would be knee deep in shit, because by now, I would have more injuries than one bummed up wrist. And the fighting, well that isn't really hockey. That's just certain players (Like Dan McGill. . .) who don't know how to keep their emotional attachment out of the game. They have to make it personal, and that's just the type of person they are.
And the talking out our problems. . .
Oh screw you! I'm fifteen! I talk a whole lot of shit! Bugger off!
I crossed my arms defiantly. It must be time to get back to class now, seeing I've been sitting here thinking about gun control and hockey for the past . . . I looked down at my watch and groaned inwardly. I tapped my finger on my watch and brought it up to my ear. It didn't stop . . . I felt like crying silently. I've only been sitting here for five minutes.
I shifted in my chaired and looked around me. There are only two other people in the library other than me. The librarian, with her stiff knee cracking away as she putters about putting books away casting glances at me suspiciously, and some guy I know from my World Geography class in the morning. He's like the smartest guy in the entire school or something, but I haven't quite learned his name yet. Billy, or Bobby or something. The sad thing is that he looks like the stereotypical nerd, with slightly too short dress pants, a plaid dress shirt complete with pocket protector and extremely thick glasses. I think the only difference between him and a stereotypical nerd is the fact that his clothes and glasses are name brand. I think his father is some big shot at some computer company.
I sigh and look down at my watch again. Ok, so our lunch hour is an hour and thirty-five minutes long, and it took me two minutes to get here, and I've sat here thinking for about six minutes thinking, if my calculations are correct, I have quite a while until my next class, which is math, with Josie, sitting behind me, not knowing that I did something really really really stupid over the Christmas holidays. I think I would have a better chance at living if I had just kissed another girl, because then I would have been able to play it off as a mistletoe blunder or something.
But I read her diary that was on a disk that one of our arch-enemies gave to me. Like, it's not like I could say, I was carrying it upstairs and it fell open and I just 'happened' to glance at a page and it just 'happened' to be the page where you were talking about Peter and all that. I wouldn't even be able to come up with a good lie either because there was no excuse! I could just imagine her face as I said to her, "Oh yeah Josie, I was doing research for a school project and it called for me to read a sister's, friend's or girlfriend's diary." She's kill me, slowly. She'd probably ask Kenny to show her Chinese water torture, despite the fact that Kenny wasn't Chinese, but Korean.
I blinked. I was in a huge library full of books. Kenny said that sometimes when dreams are really vivid, they mean something, so I guess I could find out what my dream meant. I mean our library must have some sort of book of dream analysis, and I certainly had plenty of time, so why not? I got up and wandered over to a computer and typed in dream analysis, getting a couple hits in our library. I copied down the code on a sheet a paper and went off in a search. I ran my index finger along the shelves and after a couple minutes finally came to the correct area. I looked at the titles at all the spines. 'Dreams and you', 'What do your dreams mean?', 'Dream Dictionary'.
I shook my head thinking of the fact that I must be the only guy to probably ever look at these books. I grabbed the 'Dream Dictionary', because it seemed the most credential, even though it was a dream book, so how credential could it be. . . and walked back to my original chair, collapsing into it and looking down at the cover. It looked dusty, and old. It honestly looked like it hadn't been touched since before this school opened but I figured what the hell.
I ran my fingers across the top coming across a tiny bit of fabric acting as a makeshift bookmark and opened it up. It opened to the D's. Well, I didn't need the D's; I needed the F's, for friend, or the M's for murder, or the S's for shoot . . . or the A's for Adam is going completely psycho so lets go get a straight jacket off E-bay and toss him in a white room with squishy walls, and inject him with medication so he's nice and calm and only thinks about the cute little ducks that quack and wattle around him!
I was about to flip the page when something at the top of the page caught my eye. This book was like a real dictionary, so it had like a heading like this page, dismemberment (uh . . . yikes. . .) – duck. Hmm . . . well, technically Charlie is a Duck, and I remember in my dream wanting the leader of the 'flock', and people don't usually come in flocks, so I figure I'll read that, just for fun.
Duck- in dreams, ducks can mean a wide range of things . . . yadda yadda yadda, ok not helping me . . . duck over clear water means lucky journey . . . nope . . . ducks flying means a good omen . . . shooting a duck! Ah ha! Exactly what I'm looking for! If you shoot ducks, it means you have enemies working against you.
Enemies working against me? What enemies? I don't have enemies! Except, William Hayworth, but that's only because I'm going out with the girl he likes . . . ok I have one enemy. Ok, and I have Riley from Varsity, but that's only because I became a Duck again; ok, make that most of the Varsity team then because I helped the Ducks win the JV/ Varsity showdown, and Erica that cheerleader that was rooming with Josie for a while, and Daniel McGill . . .
Shit! My enemies ARE working against me. Shit!
"Hey Banksie."
I jumped out of my skin, dropping the book out of my lap and tossing it on the floor and spinning around to see Charlie smiling his usual friendly grin. "Oh thank God!" I yelped giving him a quick hug, out of the blue. He wasn't dead! He was alive scaring the shit out of me!
The librarian shushed us angrily from her spot behind her desk and turned back to her book, flipping the page and continued reading.
Charlie frowned. "Uh . . . hi . . . Are you feeling ok?" He replied after my over zealous greeting.
I nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh. Great, fine! Perfect! I feel wonderful!"
He nodded and bent down to pick up the book I had dropped. He looked at the cover and his expression changed from surprised and slightly frightened to completely confused. "Dream interpretation? You?" He asked. "I was expecting a hockey magazine or a textbook or something, but this? You blew off the Ducks to interpret your dreams? No . . . You blew off your upset girlfriend to interpret your dreams." He stopped and shook his head. "Who are you, and what have you done with our star hockey player?"
I bit my lip. Ok, after hearing what Charlie said I feel like I really big jerk. I mean I feel like I'm like the uber jerk right now. "It was on the chair and a page caught my eye."
He blinked and shook the book upside down in hopes of finding something that was stuck inside the gigantic book. "Ok, there is no hockey magazine stuck in here, like what I would've done." He began to thumb through the book quickly, probably in hopes of finding a picture that represented hockey. "Ok . . . This can all be explained." He nodded placing the book on the coffee table in front of the chair. "You aren't really Adam. You're a body-snatching alien and you're using Adam's body to find out the finer points of hockey so you can teach it to the other aliens in your spaceship and take over the NHL. The only thing I request is that you either a) make the Wilds win the Stanley Cup when you take it over, or b) bring back the North Stars back to Minnesota and make them win."
I snorted. Charlie and his over-active imagination. "Charlie, I did something really stupid."
"Yes, you're obviously not Adam Banks because he never does anything stupid." He retorted shaking his head. It looked like his entire world was crumbling apart. It was he just found out everything turned opposite: right was wrong and Michael Jackson was black.
"Charlie seriously."
"If you tell me your quitting hockey I'll kill you myself."
"No!" I yelped half laughing. "No! I love hockey! I'm not quitting!"
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok then Banksie, as long as this stupid thing you did has nothing to do with you in result having to quit hockey, I'm all ears." He jumped into the chair next to the one that was beside mine.
I sat down slowly and lowered my head. "I can't tell you, Conway."
Charlie smirked. "Adam, I'm Captain Duck. I am the King of Stupid things! Believe me, anything you did, will never match the stupid things I've done."
"Oh believe me; you've never done anything as stupid as what I did." I bit my lip.
Charlie crossed his arms stubbornly. "I once shot myself in the foot with a bee-bee gun!"
I rolled my eyes. "You're right. You're the King. Long live the King." I replied unenthusiastically. Normally I would have laughed at him, but now, I know that my deed would go far far past any of his infractions.
"Thank you my humble servant." He bowed smirking. "Ok, so what did you do that was so stupid that you thought you could threaten my ruling on the throne of Stupid?"
I shrugged. "It's nothing."
Charlie smiled. "Ok. Then how about you tell me what's up with you and Josie." He asked leaning over the arm of his chair. "I asked her if you guys got into a fight last night and she was under the impression that you guys were better than fine. I mean yesterday you guys were all fairy tale like. I swear you guys were like glowing! Then today, ok, let me put it this way, if Orion saw you run out of the cafeteria as fast as you did, he would have kicked you off the hockey team and made you focus solely on track."
I sighed. "I did not run."
"There were road-runner clouds behind you, dude."
"Were not!"
Charlie smirked. "Mendoza is now calling you Adam 'the Blur' Banks!"
I frowned. "Is she ok?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah, of course. I mean it took a couple make-out sessions with Fulton, but yeah, she's fine." He grinned widely.
"Charlie . . ." I threatened.
"Josie is fine. She looked pretty close to crying at first, but we calmed her down. Then Averman came in and told her you've been acting funny basically since you've woken up. Something about his shoes. I think. He had half a bagel shoved down his throat so I'm not sure." Charlie shrugged. "He said you were acting like Speedy Gonzalez this morning with him too. He said you were there one minute and gone the next."
I nodded silently, my eyes locked on my shoes.
"Are you sure you're okay Banks?"
I looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah . . . fine."
Charlie bit his lip nervously. "You do know if something is wrong you can come to any of the Ducks right?"
I forced a little smile onto my lips. "Yeah. I know."
He nodded and got up. "Talk to Josie ok? She's worried about you."
I nodded. "Thanks Charlie." I whispered quietly.
He shrugged. "No problem." He turned to leave and quickly spun around. "Get something to eat ok?"
I nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'll get right on that."
I watched Charlie go as I sat there again alone in the library.
I heard about this one guy who said that you can never step into the same river twice or something like that. Saying that the water is always changing. I think my father made me read a book with that in it or something. It means that when a moment is lost, it is lost forever.
Well I just lost a chance of coming clean.
And now I'm hoping like hell God will be kind and give me another one because I don't know how long I can live with this secret.
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A/N: Ok, I wrote this in two halves. One yesterday and the other today. I woke up really early (6:45 am!) for some weird reason and began writing. I found out that my brain really works well early in the morning and WAY late at night. I think it's when I'm sleep deprived or something. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Shout outs!
Beaner- Oh well I don't care. Screw the stupid spell checker! Yes the Ducks are really mature eh? And it's so Averman to go into a joke shop or something and find something as weird as 'spray stench'. Yeah that wasn't good of Adam to be mean to either girl. Doesn't he know that girls can be vicious when they are threatened? Well I guess not seeing he only has a brother and his mother is living off in la-la land and Josie is basically his first girlfriend. Do you want to know why Guy wasn't taken when I asked you that you wanted him? You were the first one I asked! Ok, so I was the author and I had first dibs on Adam and I think I gave Luis and Portman to Tara as a peace offering because I 'stole' Adam, so yeah, you basically go first choice. Oh, and I just found out why my Spanish translation came out 'Hello class are we ready to begin?' That's because that's the way I typed it in! Yeah, so it turns out my translator is really really good. But I think next time I'll come to you because well just because my translator was super awesome, I still don't trust it. Did you think my dream came out ok? I wasn't too sure with it. I was like . . . hmm . . . But I like the rest of the chapter so I'm not going to scrap it. So yeah that's it. Talk later!
Shelbers- I'm glad you liked last chapter. Last chapter was harder to write than this one, mainly because I wasn't sure how to start. Now that I've sort of gotten back into the swing of things, I think I'm good again. Oh, you want to say hi to the Ducks? Just a second, it's 9:20 am so I'm going to wake them up. *Author runs away from computer and upstairs where cawing is heard. Three thumps immerge from upstairs* *Author rushes back to the computer* Ok give them a sec. Their getting off the floor. I'm planning on keeping up the good work. Oh . . . here they are. *Fulton, Adam and Charlie trudge into room with bed head looking rather peeved* Fulton: "What!" Charlie: "I don't remember asking for a morning wake-up call." Adam: "And I'm pretty sure I didn't ask for you to crow in my ear." *author frowns* A reviewer wanted to say hi to you. Charlie . . . remember Shelbers? She housed you for about a month? Charlie: "Oh yeah. Hi! You didn't wake me at all hours of the morning!" *Charlie narrows eyes at author* Adam: "Exactly. I say we disconnect her internet." Fulton: "No, I say we make her watch really bad movies without us in it!" *author's jaw drops* You wouldn't dare because I could make you *points at Adam* break up with your girlfriend, you *points at Fulton* faint at the sight of blood in front of the team and you *points at Charlie* you wouldn't want the return of Linda would you? *Duck's jaw's drop* Charlie: "Y-you w-wouldn't." Now say hi to her and go back to sleep. The Ducks: *panicked* "Hi!" *All the Ducks hurry back upstairs* Ok that's it! Later!
Angela- Hey hey! You really liked last chapter? That's good! I hope you like this one! No I didn't know there was only one story about Sandlot. Maybe you could start up a whole new fandom! I'm quite sure that there are plenty of people around here that like that movie. I haven't seen it in a while, but I remember really liking it. Uh . . . watching a movie about three times a day probably would make you obsessed, but I doubt the nice people in white coats will drag you away. You're too good of a reviewer for me to let that happen. OK? No Worries. Later!
Rach- It was so Quack! I'm planning on having a couple more Duck pranks. I'm not exactly sure where I came up with the spray stench though. That one just came to me. For some reason I'm going to have Averman obsessed with messing up Adam's clothes. *blushes* I know I would be! Yeah, Adam is fighting that right now, but he has to have a guilty conscience for a while. Yeah I'd do the same thing if someone (my boyfriend especially) read my diary. Especially if it had something really personal like it did with Josie's. If it were about him and how he's cute . . . blah blah blah, I might not care, as much. But if it were something else, his butt would be on the curb so fast he wouldn't know what hit him! Oh, my parents know my 'greatness', they just would sometimes like to check their e-mail . . . and do their taxes . . . and maybe . . . if there's time . . . play a game. But no worries. My updating shall be regular. I've figured a way around this problem. Instead of when I come up with an idea and going straight to the computer, I have found the wonderful world of pens and paper. *Gasps* Yes, now I have a Duck notebook where I keep all of my spiffy ideas. All I have to do is print a couple pictures of Adam and the Ducks off the internet and my notebook will be perfect! Yay! I'm glad you are waiting eagerly for my chapters! Can't wait for your review! Later!!
REVIEW!!
~Toodles
--KatieGurl!