A/N Whoa, this chapter took me a while! I kinda started this the day after I last posted but then I got distracted and put it off. I can't believe I've made you guys all wait two weeks for this! I'm sorry! Will you forgive me?!?
This chapter is a bit different from the others. It consists of a lot of mini chapters I suppose. I was half-thinking of posting just the first bit up a week ago but I thought it was too short so I decided I'd go in for the long haul!
As before, I'm gonna put Kate's reply here. Everyone else just skip – unless you're nosy and feel it necessary to read!
Kate: I know! I know! Charlie is SO majorly hot in the third one! He is my fave after all! I think I replied to your plot idea in an email. You get? It's awesome and yet, at the same time, majorly sick and twisted – just my kind of fic! Banks is cool, I know, but nowhere near as fit as Charlie! Have you seen the nose on that fellow? Wow! I'm sorry about your socks *grins* I would offer to go and collect them but that would take at least one HUGE plane journey! You have a Coach Reily voodoo doll? Wow – gotta get myself one of those! Great idea! =)
I would like to dedicate this chapter to Ice Cube as it is because of her that I am able to sound like I have some clue as to what is going on in the world of hockey. By the way, for all you non-hockey buffs out there, a "zamboni" is the thing that Fulton, Jesse and Guy (is it?) drive into the wall in D2. See – I know these things now thanks to the awesomeness of Cube!!
Enjoy!
"Charlie!"
Charlie ignored Adam as he unlocked the door and walked stiffly into their dormroom. Charlie shoved the door closed but Adam caught it before it could shut properly and pushed it open, following Charlie into the room.
"Charlie, listen to me!"
Charlie didn't respond. He went to the desk and gathered up a couple of books. He grabbed his rucksack and shoved them into it, then he zipped it up, and slung it on his back.
He turned around and stalked across the room again to the door, his intention to leave, but Adam stepped skilfully into his way, effectively barring the one exit.
"Get out my way, Banks," Charlie said through gritted teeth.
"No," Adam's voice was stubbornly strong. "You've been avoiding me since the practice. You are going to listen to what I've got to say."
"Why should I?" Charlie asked, callously. He attempted to shove past Adam but the boy was taller than him and held firm.
"Because I know it was you."
Charlie looked up at the boy and scowled. "You don't know anything."
"Yes, I do," Adam was adamant. "You were the one who swapped that whistle, you did it after breakfast when you said you had to go and collect your skates. Your skates were up here all the time, weren't they, Charlie?"
"Piss off, Cake Eater."
Adam gritted his teeth. "No, Charlie. You're gonna tell me why you're doing this, and, more importantly, why you aren't including the Ducks in it."
Charlie shot the other boy a look of hatred. "It's none of your business, Banks. You gave up the right to question me about my actions when you gave up being my friend." He tried to shove past Adam again, more forcefully this time.
Adam grabbed his shoulders and pushed him angrily back into the room. "You made it my business, Conway," he said, breathing heavily, "when you got the whole team punished. Or did you, in your own self-centred way, think you were the only one skating round that rink for an hour and a half?"
Charlie winced as he rubbed the two painful spots where Adam had grabbed him, looking at the other boy in unconcealed surprise. "No, I didn't," he said, quietly, "but it couldn't be helped."
"Couldn't be helped?" Adam laughed harshly. "What – you've got a whistle swapping addiction or something?"
"Fuck you, Banks."
Adam's eyes flashed. "I don't think you've fully realised the consequences of your actions, Spazway. Not only is the whole team hurting and exhausted from this morning, but we've also all got a detention and, worst of all, Reily's gonna give us hell tomorrow morning. Or did you think that he'd sleep on it and forgive us all?" Adam's voice was incredulous. "It's Saturday tomorrow and that means he's got us for a whole extra hour. Can you imagine what he can do to us in that time span?"
The boy took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down. "Look, Charlie," he locked eyes with his Captain, "all I'm saying is that I bloody well hope you've got a good reason for all this…" he paused, "…and I'd wish you'd tell me what it is."
Charlie ran his hand through his curly hair and locked eyes with the centre forward, "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
Charlie's eyes flickered to the clock on the wall. "I can't. I've got detention in five minutes." He moved to the door again and stood in front of the taller boy. "Please get out of the way, Adam," he said quietly, gazing resolutely past the other boy, down the corridor.
Adam looked at the younger boy and sighed. He moved across from the door and Charlie brushed past him. Before Charlie could leave, however, Adam put out a hand and grabbed his upper arm.
"I'm worried about you, Charlie," he said, quietly, his eyes full of concern.
Charlie shrugged his hand off. "Don't be," he said, shortly. "I can look after myself."
He slung the rucksack further up his back and made his way down the corridor, not once looking back at Adam, who stood in the doorway, watching his Captain depart.
"Conway, Charles?"
"Here, sir," Charlie slid into his seat.
The short professor, raised his head and took in the boy's messy figure with bespectacled eyes, nodded curtly, and continued with the detention role call.
Charlie sighed and sank lower in his chair. He glanced at the clock: it seemed an awfully long time till 6 pm when he would be released. He sighed again, picked up his rucksack from its position on the floor and emptied the contents out onto his desk.
At least detention wasn't too bad here at Eden Hall, he thought idly as he sorted out his textbooks. It was, in reality, just like extra prep time.
I could almost thank Reily with the amount of homework I have to do, he thought to himself and grinned, imagining the Coach's expression if he did just that.
It was true that Charlie could do with the enforced extra prep time. He had a lot of chemistry to do and he had some maths which he could do. He knew that if he got it done in detention then he'd have a lot less to do at the weekend.
If I'm still alive to enjoy the weekend after the practice, he thought miserably to himself. Banks had been right about what was going to happen to them on Saturday. Though it was hockey season, their nearest match was still a way off so the Coach would be free to dedicate all of their two and a half hour practice to laps or something even worse.
Even with the idea of the hell they would be going through the next morning, Charlie still didn't regret the whistle prank. It had felt so good to get the Coach back, give him a taste of humiliation for a change. He did feel bad for the other Ducks, having to go through the punishment for him, but he knew they wouldn't mind if they did know it was him so he reasoned with his conscience that they wouldn't mind if they didn't.
He flipped open his chemistry book and stared blankly at page 168, trying to force his mind to take the information in. His lack of concentration was understandable really. Chemistry was an extremely boring subject.
When he had opted to do it as an option he had imagined a lot of big bangs and dangerous acids which would burn holes in you if you even looked at them. He could not have been more wrong. The reality consisted of a lot of maths and the theory behind the experiments instead of the experiments themselves. The most dangerous chemical they had been allowed to use was dilute hydrochloric acid, a liquid that's only highpoint was the fact that it could burn holes in stockings.
Charlie chuckled to himself, as he reminisced of that wonderful day when he, Averman, Julie, Guy and Ken, the only Ducks who took Chemistry, had discovered that wonderful property of the acid. There had not been one girl who had escaped that lesson without their tights in ruins.
Oh, good times, Charlie thought happily to himself. Times before Reily joined the school. He sighed again and returned to the book and the page.
He grabbed a piece of lined paper and scrawled the title: "The Freezing, Solidifying and Melting Points of Different Substances." He reread the title, grimaced, and looked disgustedly at the clock – it hadn't moved at all. He decided to resign himself to the work, knowing that the time would go even slower if he procrastinated. He focused on the printed words of page 168 and began reading.
He was about half way down when he stopped. He grabbed the book off his desk and leaned back in his chair, reading a paragraph again, more closely this time. He placed the book down and grinned widely.
Suddenly, the prospect of tomorrow and the weekend in general looked a lot brighter.
He settled back to work and began writing the answers to the questions eagerly, now and again casting sly glances at the clock, unable to keep the grin off of his face.
The alarm went off. Charlie blearily opened one eye and then shut it again. He rolled over and thumped the persistent machine. It shut up. Charlie smiled and nuzzled down into his pillow.
"Up, Charlie. You don't want to be late for this practice."
Charlie groaned and shoved his pillow over his head. "Go'way, Banks," he muttered.
Adam made his way into the bathroom. Charlie promptly went back to sleep.
Someone was shaking him. Shaking him hard. He opened his eyes, saw who it was, and groaned again.
"Up now, Captain." Adam moved away from the boy and opened the curtains, allowing the bright morning sunshine to shine into the room and, intentionally, directly onto Charlie's bed. Charlie moaned and threw his arms over his head, shielding his sensitive eyes from the harsh light. "You'll thank me for this once you've returned to your right mind," Adam said, sounding smug.
"Would you just bloody well go away, Cake Eater?" Charlie croaked, wishing for what felt like the hundredth time that he didn't share rooms with Adam. The boy's habit of waking up early was bad enough on good days, but, now that they had fallen out, his behaviour was a complete torment to his Captain. "It's not like there's gonna be a practice."
"What?" Adam moved to Charlie's side and looked down at him critically.
Charlie didn't reply.
"What do you mean there isn't going to be a practice?" Adam pressed.
Charlie groaned one last time and sat up, his hair even more tousled from sleep. "What?" he asked blearily.
"You said there wasn't going to be a practice." Adam was getting impatient. He'd had enough of Charlie's games.
"Did I?" the boy looked puzzled. "Must have been a dream." He got up and stretched. "Sorry to disappoint you, Banksie," he smiled wryly at the other boy. "Nothing's gonna save us from Reily today."
Adam looked at the boy and nodded curtly. "You're right." He didn't bother mentioning whose fault that was. "Jesus, man, you sleep like a dead man who's been overworked and drugged up with sleeping pills."
Charlie nodded his head in agreement, "But only because I'm up half the night having to listen to your snores."
"You're kidding me, right?" Adam sounded indignant. "I don't snore!"
"You wanna bet?" Charlie grinned, annoyingly. He strode across the room in his boxers and pulled open his sock drawer. He rooted around until he found what he was looking for, then pulled out a black box with a wire attached to a microphone dangling from it. "I'll get proof!"
"What the hell is that?"
"A bugging device. I've been led to believe it's very high-tech and can pick up just about anything. I doubt I'll have any problems with your snores though as they almost take the roof off!"
Adam paused, raised one eyebrow and gave the other boy a strange look. "Why do you have a listening device?"
"Please, Adam!" Charlie snapped. "I'm morally hurt by the implications of that statement. Give your overactive and twisted imagination a break would you?"
Adam held up his hands defensively, "Well, why else would you have it then?"
Charlie scowled and shoved the device, unceremoniously, back into his sock drawer. "If you gotta know, that jerk my mom married and who likes me to call him "Dad"," his voice was mocking, "gave it to me."
He crossed the room and picked up his trousers from the floor where he had thrown them last night. He shoved one leg into them, "I don't mind if he wants to try and buy my affection but I'd appreciate it if he didn't give me a present suitable for a 5 year old wannabe spy. I'm a hockey player, for Christ's sake!"
Adam grinned, mockingly, "So predictable, Charlie." He looked up at the clock and sighed, "I'll see you downstairs. You'll want to hurry up and get dressed otherwise you won't have time for breakfast."
Charlie scowled and waved him away, "You just worry about your own life, yeah, Banks? I can take care of myself and my own stomach."
"Amen to that," Adam muttered audibly as he made his way out of the room. He ducked a misguided trainer and looked back at the affronted Charlie.
"I resent that remark!"
Adam chuckled, nastily, "Good job you're a hockey player, Spazway. I'd hate to have to watch you attempt your hand at baseball."
Charlie picked up his remaining trainer and aimed, hard, for Adam's head. The missile missed totally, hitting a lamp on the shelf by the door. Charlie could hear Adam's mocking laughter receeding down the corridor.
He went to the door and yelled after him, "I meant to do that!"
He returned to the privacy of their room and grabbed a t-shirt, pulling it roughly over his head. Then he retrieved both shoes and pulled them on.
"Stuck up cake eater," he muttered under his breath, before making his way down to the breakfast hall.
The mood around the half-deserted breakfast table was sombre. Charlie sat down and began shovelling warm waffles half heartedly into his mouth. He was only half through his generous portion when he put his fork down, his stomach already uncomfortably full.
"Where's Russ?" he looked around the table. "And Guy and the Bash Bros?" He directed his question to Julie, who was sitting across from him.
"On their way to the changing rooms probably." She glanced at her watch, "How come you're so late?" she asked.
"Couldn't find my shoes."
Adam snorted as he walked by, having caught Charlie's last remark.
Julie watched the blond boy make his way out of the double doors before turning back to Charlie with concern visible in her eyes, "How's it going between you and Banksie?"
Charlie shrugged. "We've come to an agreement."
"How so?"
"I chuck things."
"What?" she was obviously confused.
"Doesn't matter." He looked down at her nearly full tray. "You finished?"
She looked down, startled at the amount of food still on her plate, "Yeah, I guess so. I'm not really very hungry this morning."
Charlie laughed shortly, "Yeah, I guess I can sympathise. Come on," he got up, "let's go and put our trays away."
They returned to the table and Charlie bent down to talk to Luis about the hockey result from the previous night. He had missed it because of his detention and he hadn't bothered asking Banks.
Suddenly, the double doors banged open and Guy, Russ, Fulton and Portman ran in, closely followed by Adam who was going at a slightly more respectable pace. Charlie stood up and looked at the excited Ducks with one eyebrow raised.
"And what's got you guys so excited?" he asked wryly. "Did Reily die?"
Portman halted in front of his Captain and grinned wickedly, "No, but it's something almost as good!" he crowed loudly.
"What?"
"The ice rink, dude," Fulton cut across his fellow Bash Bro, excitedly. "You should see it. It's like… nonexistent!"
"Come on, Fulton. Make sense!" Connie obviously wasn't buying any of it. "What? Someone blew up the ice house?" her voice was heavily sarcastic.
"No seriously!" Guy looked like he was verging on hysteria, jumping up and down excitedly. "It's amazing! The ice – it's gone!"
"Have you guys been drinking?" Ken looked at them strangely.
Portman growled. "No!" he snapped. He cracked his knuckles threateningly. "If you just listen to what we're saying…"
"Guys, chill!" Russ held up his hands, stopping the argument before it could turn nasty. He turned to Charlie. "What my inarticulate friends are trying to tell you is the truth. The ice has gone! It's melted! The rink is flooded with water!"
There was silence.
"You're kidding us, right?" Luis' voice was strangely weak.
Fulton shook his head happily. "No joke! Come and see it for yourself!"
The Ducks all looked at each other. Suddenly, there was uproar, as all the team got up from the table and ran across the hall, all attempting to push out of the double doors at once.
They ran madly across the campus, whooping noisily and ignoring the complaints of other Eden Hall residents as they shoved past them in their haste. They all piled into the ice rink building and ran until they reached the stands.
There was a silence as all of them took in the scene before them. The rink wasn't entirely water, but the broken slush, which took the place of the normally smooth ice, certainly ruled out any skating. Two janitors were staring, aghast, at the scene in front of them, not understanding what had happened and the driver of the zamboni, the guy whose sole job was the upkeep of the rink, was actually standing in the icy mush, his eyes wide with disbelief.
All the Ducks looked at each other and then burst out laughing.
A hand fell heavily on Averman's shoulder and he turned around. The transformation of his expression, one from complete hilarity to terror, was almost comical as he looked up into the eyes of his Coach.
Reily raised his whistle and blew three short, sharp blasts. The Ducks were all immediately silent. They slowly turned around until they were face to face with their angry Coach.
"And what do you all find so funny?" the man asked, softly.
No one dared answer. They all looked at the ground, unwilling to look him directly in the eye. The man didn't expect an answer, so they sure as hell weren't going to give him one.
"As you can see," Reily continued in the same soft tone, "there's been a little mishap."
He turned his head and glanced at the rink before turning back to the Ducks, eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately, the nature of the mishap means that I will have to cancel today's practice. This pains me, as I had certain," he smiled, thinly, "new exercises for you all to try."
The Ducks glanced at each other nervously, all of them having no difficulties imagining what the Coach meant by "new exercises".
The Coach was silent for a moment. Then he barked, "Get out of here!" making the majority of the teenagers jump.
They scrambled around and made a mad dash for the door, all wanting to get out of the Coach's sight before he changed his mind and decided they could still practice, even without the ice.
Reily watched them go, a cruel smile etched on his features. He turned and smoothly made his way down to what had formally been the ice. He bent and touched the freezing slush, then scooped out some on his gloved hand. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. Nothing. He flicked out his tongue and tasted it.
Salt, he thought grimly to himself. So this was intentional, was it?
He glanced after the way the Ducks had retreated and narrowed his piercing blue eyes.
A/N Would you believe it? There was point in me doing Chemistry!! Not only does Hydrochloric acid rock! (Yes, I did do that with the tights *evil grin*) But I can also work my knowledge into my Mighty Ducks Fic – how great is that?!
I am extremely apologetic for how long this took and the sad thing is that it'll probably take me a long time for the next chapter too because I have some big exams coming up! Damn it!
By the way, for anyone confused at the relationship of Charlie and Adam at the mo, here it is – just to make it clearer. Charlie feels betrayed by Adam and so refuses to be his friend. Adam is hurt by this and wishes Charlie would still be his chum. However, the blond lad is getting annoyed with his captain at his apparent insensitiveness towards getting the team in trouble by, what Adam sees as, pointless pranks. He does not know why Charlie has resorted to this tactic but feels there might be a reason and so gets even angrier when Charlie refuses to tell him.
So vaguely complicated but aren't all relationships??
Please review! I love it when you do! Do you think I can break 100 this time?? *squeals excitedly* Yay! Hope I can!
Review blurb… This is gonna take a while due to the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter! *sighs happily* Love you all!
Ice Cube: As I said, I formally dedicate this chapter to you! I hope you liked it! Thank you for the info – as ever, you rock! What happens when someone has the same number as you when you transfer? Do you have to change, even if you're really famous and everyone knows you by that number??
Goldfish: Antichrist hey? Let's just pretend you are because that means I know someone famous! Hee hee! I'll attempt to not mess up regular Adam. I like the dude too and I find it vaguely depressing when he's trying to kill himself and all… I'm sorry that you demanded and I ignored – well I didn't ignore as such, it just took a while!
Percussion: Hello new reviewer! An Adam/Charlie fight with the encouragement of Reily? I'm intrigued… It probably won't fit into the storyline I've got planned at the mo but if it changes and it does – I'll give you the credit! You don't like Charlie!?! Noooo! But he's so adorable! It was pretty harsh what he did in D3 but still… He's so cute! I'm gonna have to try and change your mind with this story! Mind you – he is coming off as a tad insensitive at the mo… Damn it!
Adriana3: Wow – I got like three reviews from you in one night! I was well impressed! I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating more! I really should but I never seem to have the time! I'll try for you, I promise! Yeah, about the whole Love and Hate… I was a little over optimistic about my free time when I posted it – God! I can hardly keep one fic going, let alone two! Therefore, it's discontinued at the mo but it will be started up again just as soon as this one is over! Thank you for reading it! It makes me happy when people do because it has fewer fans than this one!
CakeEater'sGirly – Katie: I hope the explanation in the second A/N helped you with the Adam/Charlie relationship – it is pretty confusing! Thank you for liking the whistle prank! I liked it too! Again – I am ashamed! I did not hurry up and update. You may feel free to slap me…
Chelsea (rock&roll): Your review made me laugh! Yep – it's sad to admit it but farting noises make me laugh to. I had this great image of you being there with Averman… Odd, hey? Zero is so cute in Holes and so is Squid… but ZigZag?!? Don't really see where you're coming from with that one, hee hee!
CakeEater'sGirly – Joc: Phenomenal hey? Wow – that makes me feel special! I want a farting whistle too! Would be faintly amusing! Thank you for reviewing!
Sloane Miette: Are you yelling at me? *sniff* I don't like it when people yell at me… I'm sorry I took so long. Hopefully this prank was slightly more refined for your tastes *grins* - I was pretty impressed with it myself. And yeah, you're right, the whistle prank wasn't much more than cute… Ah well, anything goes in my story!
Flat*Out*Crazy: Well, they were gonna get punished bad but well… this sort of happened. Don't worry! I'm working my way up to it! Ohh, it's gonna be full of angsty goodness! Can't wait! Whistle happy PE teacher, hey? I should introduce her to mine – then they could just blow whistles at each other all day long…
Chelsea my little cabbage: I feel that someone might have had a little too much sugar the last time she reviewed? Hmmm? Ha ha! You should do it again! It's fun to read! Dr Pepper out the nose? Wow – gotta be painful! Your poor keyboard?! Is it ok? I would just like to say that I can't believe you serenaded me! Wow! That's taking reviewing to a whole new level! 100? Wow – I am immensely proud of you! Obviously not just a great fan fic writer then hey? That gal's got brains!
BanksieBabe (I got really confused when I saw that name by the way! Ha – I'm dumb!): That has got to be the nicest review anyone has ever done for me… You read my story more than once? Wow! I love you so much! Highlight of your life?? I feel so special! Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much!
Gina (see, Sophie learns!): Hey! I thought that too! Once upon a time! It explains my email being "SOP222222" I figured that that was so significantly different from "Sophie" that I was safe! Meh! I was a tad silly, non?? As you write nice Charlie bits in your story for me, I'm writing Adam and Charlie conflicts for you! They are well fun to write!!
xoMEGSxo: Yay! Your back! Sophie is happy! Sophie missed you! Thank you for reviewing my story even when you were tired! That makes me feel happy and wanted! *beams happily* I hope you aren't tired this time around – that would be just too weird!!
Angelfury: Again, I apologize for not updating sooner! I feel really bad! I should go and sit in the corner… I'll do that later, otherwise I won't be able to post this and that would be even worse! Whistle prank was ingenious? Wow! Thanks *blushes* that's really nice!!