A/N Howdy ho to all you great people reading my story! Have I ever told you I love you all? Well, probably, but I'll tell you again.
God this story is turning out to be a bit of an epic, isn't it? I was considering reading it from beginning to end to see how well it flowed but I just really couldn't be bothered…
I have just realised something that really bothers me. My story, so far, has only chronicled one entire day so far. Can you believe it?? So, yeah, there was a half a day at the beginning and I'm about half way through the current day so altogether that totals around 48 hours. 48 hours!! Do you realise how many weeks this has taken to write?? AHHHHH! Can you imagine trying to write a book?
Seen loads of movies recently. Some of you peeps over the other side of the Atlantic might laugh at the thought that Holes and Finding Nemo have only just come out over here.
Great films! Loved them both! Holes the book was slightly better I thought but I love Shia whateverhisnameis (LaBeouf??) so that was great and they had more characterisation in the film, would you believe, which was also tremendously fabby!
There was this odd stalker guy at the cinema, though. I was filling my drink up (it was like self service) and he was like "Here you are", giving me the lid for the drink. I was like "thanks" and then he was like "here's one for your friend", giving me another one for Naomi.
I was beginning to think he was a trifle weird and kinda shuffled away from him and…
You guys really don't care about any strange stalker guys do you? You're just here to read my story. Sorry, I tend to ramble on a bit.
Kate: I will put you here so you don't have to scroll to the bottom – see I'm a considerate friend! (sorry to anyone else, just skip this) I hope you don't get confused and go to the bottom and can't find my reply. Ahh well, here's hoping you have some intelligence *evil grin*. I loved the whole "semi quick review"! My darling, how do you manage on your mobile when you're texting someone? Thank you for all the love you send me through your reviews – they're luverly! Seen Holes now and read the book! I see from your ff.net profile AND your msn profile that you liked Holes just a little bit (heavy sarcasm used here)! It was great, wasn't it?? I'm gonna try and find time to read your Holes stories just so I can see how great they are! Maybe then I could get a little no. 1 fan flag too! Oh happy days! I thought of something mildly upsetting. We might never be on msn at the same time because of the time difference!? *looks mournful* What will we do??
Anyway, to everyone out there, not just Kate, here it is. Hope you enjoy…
"So, dude, what happened with you and the asshole last night?" Portman's voice easily carried across the long table.
Charlie looked up from his toast and grimaced, "The usual 'you will do exactly as I tell you otherwise you will wish you've never been born' shit." He smothered a yawn, "Just got me a little more uptight than usual, what with the practice and all."
Goldberg paused in the demolition of the bacon and eggs in front of him and spoke through a mouthful, "Can totally see where you're coming from with that, Charlie. Pass me the ketchup, would you?"
Charlie shook his head at Goldberg's predictability. He scanned the breakfast table for the ketchup, found it on his right, and reached for it. However, before his outstretched fingers could touch the glass bottle, someone else scooped it up and passed it to Goldberg. Goldberg grunted, "Thanks, Banks," and continued eating.
Charlie looked up at the other boy. Adam raised one eyebrow and Charlie scowled: he had forgotten that he had told Banks what the Coach had really said. He shook his head slightly and Adam raised both eyebrows in a silent question. Charlie shook his head again, more forcefully, his eyes locked with Adam's. Adam met the confrontational blue eyes gravely, not budging an inch. Charlie growled under his breath and got up.
"See you at practice, guys. I've gotta go and collect my skates: they were being sharpened."
And with one last warning glance at Banks, Charlie exited the dining hall.
Adam leant back in his chair and sighed heavily, a frown creasing his brow. He didn't understand why Charlie hadn't told the rest of the Ducks what had really happened last night. So yeah, sure, they would be pretty upset that he wanted to leave them but they'd understand his reasons, they might even be able to help him out.
And anyway, Charlie said he wasn't leaving, that Reily hadn't allowed him to leave.
Adam stared gloomily at his cereal. That was another thing he didn't understand: how on earth could Reily keep Charlie at Eden Hall against his will? Surely he couldn't have anything on Charlie to blackmail him with.
Had he threatened him?
Adam didn't think so. He knew Charlie and he knew how he would have reacted if the Coach had tried anything like that on him. He probably would have laughed at him.
Adam took a drink of his lukewarm orange juice and swished it around his mouth, trying to think of other possibilities.
Had he hurt him?
It was possible, he supposed. Charlie was proud and probably wouldn't even tell his best friend if…
Adam got up angrily, making his chair scrape loudly on the floor, earning himself a glare from Portman.
I'm not his best friend anymore, God damn it! Get that through your thick skull, Adam!
He quickly gathered his breakfast stuff up, nodded absently to the Ducks in way of goodbye, and walked stiffly across the polished wood floor to the serving hatch. He forced his mind off Charlie as he handed his tray to the kitchen staff and focused on the upcoming practice, trying to figure out what he needed to get from his room.
"Clean jersey, socks, collect my skates…"
He stopped dead. Yesterday, in the changing rooms, he had realised that his skates needed sharpening and he had offered to take Charlie's along with his. Charlie had declined his offer, saying that he had only got them sharpened on Wednesday.
His mind darted back to the conversation at the table and his eyes narrowed. Charlie had said he needed to go and get his skates – another lie he had told to the Ducks in a matter of minutes.
What the hell was Charlie up to? Adam chewed worriedly on a fingernail as he hurriedly made his way to his room. He had a most disconcerting feeling that the two lies were connected. He grabbed his hockey stick and turned to the door, fervently wishing that he believed in a God. If he had, this would be a great time to start praying.
Charlie, he thought desperately, please don't do anything stupid!
Charlie arrived at the changing rooms and began to get changed quickly, not wanting to miss the start of the lesson. The other Ducks followed suit, unconsciously taking the lead from their Captain. There was a palpable air of tension in the room. After the last practice, none of the Ducks were looking forward to meeting Reily again.
As he bent down to do up his skates, Charlie felt someone's eyes on him. He ignored them, knowing full well they belonged to Banks. He sighed angrily, the adrenaline that had been building in his veins since he had put his plan into action being dampened by Banks' obvious suspicion and disapproval.
He stood up, grabbed his stick, and made his way out onto the ice with Russ, the Bash Brothers slightly behind, with the rest of the team behind them.
"Warm up, guys," Charlie called to the Ducks. "Like Reily would want us. We don't want to give him any excuse to get mad again. I personally like my bones unbroken."
The rest of the team chuckled and began skating in a formation that Reily had shown them a week ago. Charlie joined them, skating leisurely, his eyes fixed on the door where Reily would appear, trying, rather unsuccessfully, to smother a grin.
When Reily opened the door and skated onto the ice, whistle around his neck, Charlie called an immediate halt to the warm up and signalled the Ducks to be still, waiting patiently for the man to reach them.
Reily's eyes gleamed at the apparent change of attitude in the Captain. He nodded sharply in Charlie's direction, a knowing smile spreading to his lips. Charlie's grip tightened on his hockey stick until it hurt, his knuckles white, successfully keeping his face emotionless.
"Take a knee."
The team, obediently, knelt.
"Today, I want to practice our passes, especially slap shots. Icing the puck is often a very effective technique, a technique I do not think you take enough advantage of. Pair up and practice length ways down the rink. Any questions?"
No one moved.
"Good." Reily raised the whistle to his lips, "Go!" and he blew it.
However, instead of the sharp piercing noise which should have been emitted from the instrument, another lower, more obscene noise was made.
Silence descended. The Ducks looked at each other, each biting their tongues to prevent them from laughing out loud. Averman grew steadily redder as he rocked backwards and forwards, a strange expression of pain on his face.
Dwayne looked around.
"That sounded like a…" Dwayne was obviously puzzled. "Goldberg?"
Goldberg looked indignant, "No way can any of you blame that on me!"
Adam's eyes swiftly darted to Charlie and he wasn't surprised by what he saw. The boy was looking too innocent: frowning puzzledly, his eyes wide with shock. Adam looked anxiously back at the Coach, fear building up inside of him at what the man's reaction would be.
Reily was deadly still, his eyes narrowed to slits. His gaze darted from the Ducks, to the whistle, back to the Ducks again. He shook the whistle jerkily and rubbed it stiffly on his jacket, then raised it to his lips.
He paused and spoke dangerously softly, his voice carrying to every single one of the hockey team, "If this whistle doesn't sound like my whistle when I blow it then someone is going to find themselves in a lot of trouble."
He blew. Same effect.
Averman couldn't restrain himself any longer. His high laugh carried eerily loudly across the ice. It was as if he had broken a dam: the Ducks just couldn't hold it in. All the anger, the fear, the restrained emotions that Reily had caused them over the few weeks he had been their coach finally found an outlet. They couldn't stop. It began as the gut-wrenching laughter which hurt but felt so good at the same time, but it grew until it was nearly hysterical, as if the Ducks refused to stop laughing, as if they refused to go back to reality and the reality of their Coach's reaction.
Reily glared furiously at them all.
"Laps! All of you! Now!" he barked over the bedlam.
The laughs subsided, all of the Ducks wrestling with their facial expressions, trying desperately to get them back to looking respectful. They weren't very successful.
They stood up and, wobbily, started their laps, now and again a laugh escaping from someone's guarded lips.
Reily's wrath was immeasurable. He turned and skated angrily off the ice.
"I will be back. And, if I were you, I wouldn't dare slack off those laps!"
"Did you see his face?" Guy asked, delightedly. "He looked like he'd swallowed a live skunk!"
Russ chuckled, "I don't think that quite covers his exact expression, Guy. I'd say it looked more like he'd swallowed a live skunk with an acute case of gas!"
Connie skated past them. "What a colourful image," she grinned. "You guys are gross!"
"No, Connie, you just don't understand us. We're not gross, we're geniuses!"
Julie skated up behind the threesome. "You got it wrong, Russ. The real genius is whoever pulled that stunt."
Luis sped past them. "Maybe someone should go check on Averman," he called to them. "He ain't looking too good."
They looked across the ice at Averman's clumsy figure. He still hadn't recovered properly and had developed a severe case of hiccups. It looked like he was having problems breathing.
Fulton skated up behind him and shoved him lightly, almost sending him into the boards and dislodging his glasses. "Hey, Dude," Fulton sounded highly amused, "Deep breaths and think of the Dean watering his flowerbeds. That should calm you down a bit."
Portman whooped loudly into the cold air. "Who did it?" he yelled to the whole team skating around the ice. "Come on, own up. I wanna congratulate you, then pound you for not including me!"
Kenny laughed. "Like anyone's gonna admit to it now."
Portman slapped Kenny on the back, almost making him fall over. "Good point, Wu. Okay, okay," he placed his hand over his heart, "I swear I will do no harm to the Duck who did."
Everyone looked at each other but no one took the credit for the swap.
Portman looked crestfallen. "Come on, guys, I gave you my word as a Bash Brother. I swear I won't hurt you."
"How do you know it was one of us?" Dwayne asked, pausing on the ice.
"Come on, man," Charlie skated past him, turned around and grinned at the Texan, skating backwards down the ice. "It was a Duck trick! Who else would target the bastard's whistle? Who else could predict his reaction? And who else," he flung out his arms gestured around him, "in this preppy hell hole would dare?"
He laughed and directed his voice out to the rest of the team, "That was priceless, whoever did it. So simple, yet so effective. Who was it, hey? Come on, you can tell your Captain. I swear I'll protect you from our resident pit bull over there," he gestured towards Portman and grinned at the large boy.
Adam skated past him and brushed into the other boy. "I dunno, Captain," his voice was mocking, "prankings usually your expertise, isn't it?"
Charlie didn't rise to the bait. He turned around and skated next to #99. "True, Banks. Someone's obviously after my title." He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder and leant towards him conspiratorially, his voice cold, "To tell you the truth, Banksie, I would have done something slightly more flamboyant than exchanging whistles."
Adam's eyes flashed angrily. "Sure you would, Charlie."
Charlie smiled wryly at him and touched his hand to his brow in a mock salute, "Whatever you want to believe, Cake eater." There was nothing friendly about his use of the familiar nickname. He picked up his speed and drew ahead of the other boy.
Adam was about to say something cutting back to his Captain but, before the words could leave his lips, Reily returned.
The whole team was immediately silent, waiting in dreadful anticipation for the Coach's reaction. Subconsciously, they picked up their speed until they were practically flying around the rink. The man waited for a few minutes, watching their progress silently.
The Coach then raised the whistle he wore around his neck and blew a sharp, powerful blast. The noise was ear piercing and perfectly whistle like. The team looked at each other warily before skating over to the man.
They knelt before him without being prompted. The man was silent for a few minutes, then he drew back his hand and flung another whistle down onto the ice, in amongst the Ducks, right in front of Charlie. There was so much power in his throw that he managed to chip a sizable piece of ice out of the rink.
Charlie barely flinched as the whistle landed only a few inches from his knee. He watched as the ice shard spun crazily on the slippery surface and he reached out a hand and touched it, immediately halting its movement. He raised eyes and found the Coach glaring right back at him.
"That whistle was put in my sports bag," Reily's voice was cold. "There are only a select number of people who know I even have a sports bag, and guess what?" He grinned, an abnormally wide grin which showed too many of his teeth for the team's comfort, "You guys are the majority of the chosen few. And that makes me extremely suspicious, especially as the culprit had a sense of humour as immature as some of you."
Portman looked across at Fulton and couldn't suppress a grin.
The Coach noticed. "You think this is funny, Portman? You find my anger amusing?"
Portman looked at the man critically. "Well, now you mention it, sir, your nostrils do flare a little too much for me to take you entirely seriously."
The look the Coach gave Portman could easily have been compared to that of an extremely angry shark.
"Well done, Portman," he said softly. "You've just earned the entire team a detention." He glanced at Charlie, "That's three now, isn't it, Conway?"
Charlie glowered at the man but kept silent.
Reily turned to the rest of the Ducks. "And if you feel that that is unfair, then you'll really begin to hate me now."
The words "too late" passed through every Duck's mind.
"You see," his voice was calm, "if I don't know which one of you children owns that whistle," he gestured to the whistle on the ice, "then I guess I'll just have to punish you all." He paused, "Unless, of course, someone wants to escape punishment and tells me who did it?"
No one moved. Adam's eyes flickered over to Charlie and took in the boy's angry frown but he kept perfectly still.
"No?" the Coach sounded vaguely happy. "Continue with your laps then, children."
A/N Did you enjoy? I know the whole whistle prank was a bit lame but I just cracked up when I thought of what Reily's reaction would be! Don't ask where Charlie got a whistle which farted and looked exactly the same as the Coach's because I don't know. You'd just have to ask Charlie that one…
I know what all the pranks are gonna be and, believe me, they're gooood! Wel, I think they are – you might think they suck but you'll have to wait and see!
*Jumps madly up and down* Go on! Pleeeeaaase review!
Adriana3: More Banks in this, so you should be happy : ) There'll be plenty more in the next chapters as well! Thanx for the review!
Cube: I sent you an email. You get it? There was something I had to ask you but… Oh no, I've got it. This isn't story related, just something that's been bothering me. How do the players get their specific numbers? Do they just choose them or what?? Thanks for the info – it's gonna help with an up and coming chapter. Also, thanks for being a continuous reviewer – means a lot!
Goldfish: You don't mind me shortening your name, do you *grins evilly*?? Banks: friend/hero/enemy (I think the last one has to be said in a low, foreboding voice) – you'll just have to wait and see *grins evilly again*. What is it with you that makes me want to continue grinning evilly? Do you get a lot of people grinning evilly at you? Your order me?? Oooo, I might get a little uptight if your name didn't suggest you were a goldfish! Hee hee! Love you really and, come to think of it, I do need people to order me to do stuff otherwise it never gets done – I'm such a lazy ass!
CakeEatersGirly: You are so nice! I mean that! Thank you for loving my story – makes me want to update just so you can read more! Hope this chapter came up to your expectations!
Chelsea: I don't really think you can use this prank on the girls who were bugging you unless they have some strange attachment to whistles… The gum on chair would probably work well – that'd get me pissed off no end! Yeah, I get uncomfortable with the whole intensity thing too. I can really annoy people when they try and be serious I just have to laugh to ease the tension! Ha ha! Serves them right for trying to be intense around me!
Cat: Tried to reduce spaces. Sorry if it bugged you. One of the good things about having them at the end though is that you can just grab the bar thing and drag it down. Thanx for reviewing especially if it took a long time to get to the end!
Nellie: I won't be too harsh on Adam… well I'll try not to be (I am an angst writer after all)!! We're all adults here, well, nearly, and some times bad language is the only way to get your emotions across! I'm glad my story affected you so much that you felt the need to say a rude word!! Love you loads!
PlainJane: Yep *nods happily*, "sick, sadistic, schmuck" was exactly the character I was going for! You read 5 of my chapters in a row?!? Wow, that's perseverance for you! Thank you! It's very much appreciated. 4.30 is definitely a bad time – people should be sleepybyes by then! I'm glad you're back too because you give me nice reviews! Merci beaucoup!
Chelsea my little Cabbage (hee hee): You do realise that your review took up a page and a half on Word? And before you think it, no I don't copy them and save them or anything strangely freaky like that, I transfer them to Word so I can reply to them without having to be online! What a clever duckling I am! You seem to have far too much geography to do! "Customised CD"? *raises eyebrow* Is that legal?!? Sod this – I'm gonna send you an email direct because I simply have too much to say to you! It might be a bit odd though because you might read my email before you read this so you might get confuddled…
Anne918: Silly Sophie! *slaps self round head* I just assumed your name was Anne because of your ff.net name. It isn't!! It's Gina! No I'm not some mad stalker, I am, in fact a member of a yahoo group you joined – don't know which one precisely, I'm joined to so many. I just use the facilities, ie. Pictures, without writing anything. I should maybe think of contributing to the community some more. So I'm sorry, Gina, for calling you Anne. Why is your sign-in name Anne?? Or is that being too nosy?? Thanks for reviewing!