A/N HELLO!! *readers look at Sophie, puzzled. They can't quite remember who she is*. Yes, I know I've been away for an incredibly long time – please forgive me! My excuse is that for the last week I have been learning lines and being prodded with sharp pointed sticks…
My school ended this term with a "drama week" and each class was given a scene from a Shakespeare play to perform. We got Romeo and Juliet and that whole "a plague o' both your houses" scene. I was Mercutio – it involved fighting with Tybalt (swords really are great fun!!), being stabbed (until you're on the wrong side of one, that is) and then having a flipping long speech before I finally croaked. It was interesting to say the least. I won the best supporting actress award, though, which made me happier about the many bruises I got from the fights.
Other happy news is that I have finished my mocks (and didn't do too badly in them, even considering the lack of revision I put in), I have broken up for Christmas (YAY!!!) and I now have the time to write this chapter which I have had planned for over a week! Bad news is that I still have drama coursework, chemistry coursework and english coursework! Grrrr – our teachers don't know the meaning of Christmas "holidays".
I feel incredibly bad about the time I have made you all wait. I aim this apology especially at Ice Cube and Ashcake because their SECOND reviews really made me realise how long it had been since I had updated. I love you all and thank you for bearing with me!
Kate: Yeah – it is REALLY screwy when FF.net has something wrong with it and deletes your carefully crafted review! I tend to copy all of them before I send them, just in case! The problem with chapter notes in my case is that I don't keep to them! Seriously – I'll be writing and then an idea will randomly pop into my head and I'll be like "Ooo! What a great thing to add to my story…" I'm odd, I know… Have you written any of your story yet?! If so POST POST POST!! I'd really like to read! I'm glad you liked the "handle your stick better" line – I look back on it and am rather proud!! *beams happily*
I hope the wait was worth it… Feel free to hate me if it's not! Lol. I made this chapter quite angsty and quite… wait for it… VIOLENT!! Mwahahahaha!! I realised that though Reily does a lot of threatening and giving people evil looks, he doesn't really put his fist where his mouth is (figuratively speaking of course) and, from this realisation, this chapter was born… I hope you enjoy it!
Charlie skated cautiously onto the ice, having carefully placed himself behind the two Bash Brothers. He hadn't wanted to come to the practice but he knew that he had no choice: if he hadn't gone to the Coach, the Coach would have come and found him instead. At least at the practice he was surrounded by the Ducks and he hoped that their presence would prevent the Coach doing anything… nasty.
It was Monday, the first practice after the melted ice rink incident, and Charlie was very keen to stay out of Reily's way. He was amazed that he hadn't seen the man since the Saturday morning, and even more amazed that Reily hadn't actively sought him out to punish him.
After the Ducks had come back from their trip to the mall, it had taken all of Adam's persuasion to get his Captain back into Eden Hall, and back to the dorms. Charlie had been adamant that the Coach would be waiting for him in their dormroom and actually made Adam search the room and the bathroom thoroughly in case Reily was hiding out in there, ready to pounce, before he crossed the threshold.
Charlie had done very little on Sunday, apart from going on a very long trip to visit his mother at the diner. Casey Conway had been delighted to see her son but had been surprised and a little suspicious when Charlie had stayed the entire day, seemingly happy to just watch her serving food and to help with the washing up. She had asked whether there was anything wrong, whether he had fallen out with the Ducks or something, and he had told her resolutely that everything was fine. She hadn't believed him of course.
He had returned to Eden Hall late and had gone back to his room, fully expecting either a note from the Coach telling him to report to his office or the man in the flesh, perhaps wielding a brick.
There had been neither.
Charlie had been expecting retribution all weekend but there had been nothing. As a result, he was constantly on edge, waiting for the blow, and the lack thereof was having a profound affect on the boy. The anticlimatic events of the last couple of days had left Charlie exhausted and even more terrified of the Coach than he had been when Mr Trodd had come to tell him of the cup incident. He slept sporodically and, when he did, his dreams were always filled with large hands, searching him out, crushing him, with no possible escape…
Fulton and Portman skidded to a halt in front of him braking his current thought line, and he stopped skating immediately, only just managing to prevent a collision with the larger boys. He looked up to see what had merited their lack of movement and found himself staring straight into the blue eyes of the Coach. Charlie froze, wide eyes locked with the larger man's own pair, unable to tear himself away. Reily smiled predatorily, the expression sending barbs of fear through Charlie's entire body.
Luis, who had been skating behind his Captain, had never been known for his clean stops and the sudden halt had caught him unawares. He collided with the curly haired boy, effectively breaking Charlie's eye contact with the Coach, and sending them both to the floor. The speedster got up quickly and helped the other boy to his feet, apoligising profusely. Charlie assured the boy that it was ok before fixing his eyes nervously to the floor, not wanting to catch the Coach's eye again.
Reily waited patiently for the rest of the Ducks to assemble before he addressed his team and outlined their lesson.
"Because of the unfortunate events that led up to our Saturday practice being cancelled, I have had more time to plan this lesson, and, as a result, I have come up with a new exercise which I feel you all may enjoy," he smiled widely, an expression which immediately quelled any of the more naïve Ducks' excitement about the possibility of a "fun" lesson.
"Conway."
Charlie looked up hurriedly, his heart hammering in his chest. "Yes, Coach?"
The man gestured to a large, red, plastic box beside him on the ice. "Take these ropes and tie your team's hands behind their backs."
Charlie looked at the man, shocked and extremely reluctant to comply with the demand. The Ducks looked at each other worriedly, feeling that the Coach already had a huge advantage over them at practice as it was. Tying their hands together would only gave him more control over them. Portman snorted derisively, as if he would frankly prefer to sell his soul to the Devil than submit to such a degrading act.
Reily caught Charlie's unwillingness to comply with his wishes. "Conway, do I need to remind you that I am your Coach? You will do what I say," he glanced meaningfully at the rest of the team, his gaze lingering on Portman for slightly longer, "without any questions."
Charlie moved forward tentatively, then stopped and bit his lip, glanced up at the man worriedly, then turned. He looked at the assembled Ducks, trying to gauge their reactions to what the man was ordering him to do. Most of the team had their eyes glued submissively to the floor. Charlie caught Russ' glance and the boy quirked his eyebrow suggestively. Charlie grinned, grateful to the boy for the light relief. His eyes moved on, skipping over Averman and Ken, until they found Fulton's steady gaze. Their eyes met momentarily, understanding passing between the old friends, then Fulton shrugged as if to say "what the hell". Charlie glanced to the left of the Bash Brother, to Portman, standing determinedly, jaw clenched, hands balled into fists by his side.
"Conway…" the Coach growled his name warningly but Charlie ignored the threat, wanting to get acceptance from his team first before he complied with the Coach's order.
Portman shot a look of hatred at his Coach, glanced at Charlie who was standing immobile on the ice, looking lost, then turned his head and looked at Fulton. His fellow Bash Brother gave him a look of understanding and nodded, almost imperceptively. Portman paused. Then he sighed angrily, turned back to Charlie and jerked his head in consent.
Charlie was relieved. He turned and skated cautiously forward towards the Coach. He grabbed the red box hurriedly and turned back to his team. The man's eyes followed the boy's movements, unblinking.
"Team, line up," Charlie said, his voice wavering only slightly.
The Ducks complied. Charlie skated to the first in line – Guy – pulled out a short length of rope, then stopped and looked around embarrassed, unsure of what to do with it.
"Hands out behind you, Germaine," Reily ordered quietly, watching the proceedings carefully. "Make your Captain's job a little easier."
Guy followed his Coach's instructions and Charlie skated behind him. He pulled Guy's hands together and awkwardly tied them in a loose knot. He then turned to the next in the line, Connie, pulled out another piece of rope, waited for her to put her hands behind her back, then tied them together as well.
The entire process took some time but gradually he became more expert with the tying of the knots and it sped up, until, finally, all the Ducks except Charlie had their hands tied securely behind their backs.
Reily then moved. He skated behind the Ducks, checking the knots, making sure that they were tight enough. He made Charlie redo Guy's and Connie's and when he was done, the man was apparently satisfied. He skated to the front of the Ducks and outlined what they were to do next.
"I want you skating up and down this rink for the rest of the lesson. Your arms are a vital part in your ability to skate and having them tied behind your back will make you realise just how important they are, and how much you rely on them. By the end of this lesson, I want to see you all skating well, even without your arms for balance or momentum. I want to see you increase your skill with your legs and your body."
He stopped and smiled, "I warn you, however, that if you fall you will not have your hands to keep you off the ice. This could make it…" he paused, "…quite painful. Don't worry, though, you are all at a suitable level that I don't expect anyone to fall, and if they do I shall be very disappointed." He paused, looked at the Ducks and smiled icily, then turned his gaze on Charlie. "Conway, bring me the last bit of rope – the rest of you, get skating."
Charlie slowly bent and picked up the final length of rope from the box. Ignoring the others' cries of surprise and the general hilarity ensuing from trying to balance and move without arms, Charlie moved slowly towards his Coach, fear coursing through his veins. When he was only a metre away from the man, he stopped. He looked up into the man's face and swallowed. Reily held out his hand and took the piece of rope from Charlie's grasp.
"Turn around, Conway," he said, quietly.
Charlie hesitated, then complied, the memory of the last time he had had his back to the Coach still fresh in his mind. Reily reached out and captured both of Charlie's hands in one of his large ones. He then drew the rope around them.
Charlie began breathing heavily. He was all too aware of how helpless he would be without his hands and a sudden fear of being totally at the man's mercy hit him and he began struggling, trying desperately to escape the large man's grip. Reily laughed and crushed the boy's hands together, elicitating a slight gasp of pain. He pulled the boy nearer, the task made easy by the frictionless surface of the ice, until Charlie could feel his breath on the nape of his neck.
"No use struggling now, boy," Reily said softly. "Far too late to try and back out of what you did."
Charlie stopped moving and stood still, desperately trying to calm his heartbeat. He knew the Coach was right: there was no escape.
"That's better. Now," the Coach swiftly tied the knots, smiling as he pulled the rope painfully tight, "you get out there and start skating." And with that, he gave Charlie a slight push.
Charlie almost overbalanced there and then. He desperately fought to keep upright and only just succeeded. He righted himself and grimaced again at the pain the friction from the rope was causing. He didn't look back at the Coach as he began making his way slowly to the far side of the rink. Reily was right – without his arms, skating was a lot more difficult.
He managed to avoid colliding with the other Ducks skating studiously across the ice, and finally made it to the end. He stopped and took a breather, leaning against the boards, and from his vantage point he watched his team mates closely.
Goldberg had fallen over. The Captain had to stifle a laugh as he watched the defender's antics. Good skaters would maybe stand a chance at getting back to their feet without hands, unfortunately, though, skating definitely wasn't one of Goldie's strong points. As a result he was rolling around helplessly on the ice, desperately trying to find traction on the slippery surface, and, at the same time, trying to kick Julie and Russ who were standing over him, laughing.
A peal of the whistle almost made Julie and Russ fall over themselves. The Coach skidded to a halt in front of Goldberg. He looked at the other two Ducks and ordered them back to their own positions. Then he grabbed the top of Goldberg's arm and dragged him upwards.
Charlie sighed and turned back to his own widths. He gingerly started skating, making slow, wobbily progress across the ice. When he got to the other end he almost fell over when he stopped, reflexively trying to put his arms out to steady himself. When he had finally regained his balance, he was then faced with another problem: how to turn around. Without the use of his arms, the final turn he decided on was far less impressive than what he would have done normally, but it worked. It involved picking his feet up and making dainty little steps around in a circle until he finally faced the way he wanted to go. He felt incredibly foolish and thanked anyone listening that there was no one watching from the stands.
Reily made his way up the line, watching all the Ducks' every move and every mistake. He commented to them as he passed, mixing constructive criticism with full blown insults and small sounds of praise.
When he reached the Captain, he stopped and leant against the boards, watching the boy's movements hungrily. Charlie was very much distracted by his Coach's presence and desperately tried to block him from his senses. He sped up, ignoring the man to all intense purposes, concentrating entirely on his feet. When he next looked up the man was gone, making his way back down the row. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.
At the end of the lesson, Reily blew his whistle sharply. All the Ducks made their way quickly him, having at last all mastered skating without the use of their arms.
"Line up," he barked.
The Ducks all speedily obeyed him.
Reily took out a large penknife, attached to his keys, and drew out the blade. Charlie shuddered, involuntarily.
"All of you hold out your hands behind your back and do not move, otherwise you might find yourself skating without the use of your hands normally."
The Ducks all looked at the knife and held out their hands behind their backs steadily, not wanting any accidents to happen.
Reily skated behind them and took hold of the first Duck's hands. Averman looked like he was going to pass out. Reily quickly and accurately cut the rope from around the boy's wrists, freeing him swiftly. Averman let out a long breath as the knife was taken away from him, then winced as he brought his arms back around to his sides having been made stiff from their enforced abnormal positions they had held for the last hour.
Reily moved down the line, making quick work of the ropes. When he reached Charlie, however, the man passed over him, leaving the Captain's wrists still bound. Charlie was confused, and wondered if the man had simply forgotten, but soon realised that the act was intentional when the Coach slashed the rope from Adam's hands, then moved on to Dwayne. Charlie opened his mouth to say something but then shut it again. A heavy weight of fear and anticipation settled deep in his stomach.
When Reily was finished with the Ducks, he made his way back to the front again.
"You have all done well this lesson. Though your technique was frankly appalling at the start," he glanced at Goldberg who opened his mouth as if to argue, but then shut it again, "you have all improved." His face darkened, "Well, most of you, anyway." He paused, "Those of you who have had your hands untied are free to go." The man turned and caught Charlie's eye, "Those who don't will stay," he said, softly.
The freed Ducks all began making their way back to the changing rooms, chattering aimlessly, all except Adam. He stood where he was on the ice, unwilling to leave his Captain alone with the Coach.
"Banks?" Reily said, quietly, turning to the blond boy.
"I just… I wanted to… I don't think…" the boy tried to voice his worries but couldn't quite pick up the courage to do so.
"Go and get changed, Banks. Conway and I have to go over a few things."
Adam looked desolately at Charlie, his eyes full of guilt and sorrow. Charlie attempted a smile but it looked more like a grimace. Adam nodded and turned, slowly making his way across the ice to the changing rooms. Charlie watched him go, feeling totally alone. He looked up at the Coach and the man smiled thinly, sending a shiver down Charlie's back. The boy had to admit that he, Captain Duck, was scared.
Reily stepped nearer, making Charlie nervously back away. The man stopped and spoke.
"I was not impressed with your skating out there, Conway. I have kept you behind so that you can show me that you have improved. Start skating and don't stop until I tell you to."
Charlie looked at the man and nodded, slowly. He backed up a little and then began his widths once more, trying desperately to keep his movements fluid and strong. Gradually, his clumsy and sporadic progress across the ice became more and more refined and he picked up speed. Charlie almost smiled in triumph – the Coach couldn't keep him much longer when he was skating like this.
He was about halfway across the ice when he saw Reily move. The large man skated quickly and aggressively towards the boy, catching Charlie unaware. The Coach crashed into him, sending him hurtling to the floor. Charlie reflexively tried to put his hands out to break his fall, but of course they were still tied behind his back and the movement only propelled him even more forward. He crashed, face first, in the hard, slippery ice.
His Coach was quickly on him. Reily knelt, one knee on the ice, the other grinding into the small of the boy's back, preventing him from attempting to get up. Reily reached out and grabbed the boy's brown, curly hair and forced his head backwards until the boy's ear was on the same level as the Coach's mouth.
Charlie's nose was bleeding profusely from where it had smashed into the floor. As his head was lifted, the blood ran down his face and dripped onto the ice, making swirling red patterns on the cold surface. The grip the man had on his hair was excrutiating and Charlie cried aloud from the pain. He struggled pathetically: without the use of his arms he was pretty much immobile.
The Coach shook him by the hair, elicting another yelp from the boy but effectively stopping his useless attempts to free himself.
"You will listen to me and you will listen good, Conway," the man growled into Charlie's ear, shaking him again to emphasise his point. "You have pissed me off continuously this term, you little fucker. You thought you had got away with melting the ice rink, didn't you?" he shook the boy again and Charlie groaned. "Well you were wrong! I do not forget or forgive easily, as I'm sure you've noticed. You try pulling another stunt like that and it will be seriously bad for you, do you understand?"
He forced Charlie's head down into the floor again, grinding the poor boy's nose relentlessly back into the ice. Charlie yelled from the pain and bucked his hips, desperately trying to get away from his tormentor, but to no avail.
"I said, do you understand?!" Reily spat out.
Charlie whimpered and nodded, his eyes watering from the pain.
"Good!" The man let go of Charlie's head but didn't get off him. He leant down towards the boy's head and whispered into his ear, "Just remember, Conway, that this was a warning. If you are foolish enough to allow a next time, then you will seriously regret it."
And with that, he pulled out his penknife and unsheathed the blade. Charlie caught the flash of silver, realised what it was, and desperately tried to escape. The man chuckled, a deep and unpleasant sound, and grabbed Charlie's wrists. Charlie fully expected to feel the blade on his flesh, so when he felt the knife shred his bonds he almost cried in relief.
Reily stood up and pocketed his knife, staring down at the boy's trembling body, a small smile flickering on his face.
"If you aren't out of here when I come back in ten minutes I'll give you a detention, Conway," he said, his voice void of emotion.
Only when Charlie heard the sound of the man's skates moving away from him, did he dare to move. He brought up his newly released hands and cradled his face and nose with them, ignoring the blood still dripping from them. He brought his knees up to his chest and lay curled in the fetal position, trembling. He lay like that for an eternity, tears dripping silently down his face.
Adam was waiting patiently for Charlie, sitting stock still on one of the wooden benches facing the door. He was worried. Surely the Coach didn't need this long to just "go over a few things". He was debating going back in when the door was pushed open…
"SHIT!" Adam exclaimed when he caught sight of Charlie's ruined face. He got up and moved towards the staggering boy, trying to help him to the bench he had just vacated.
Charlie pushed him off. "Don't, Banks, it's not as bad as it looks," he said, wearily.
"Bullshit it's not! What the hell happened?!" Adam asked, fervently.
"I fell over," Charlie stated, blandly.
Adam gave him an odd look, then got up and fetched tissue from the toilets. He wetted them slightly and took them back to his Captain. Adam took a couple of dabs at the dried blood but the pain was too much for Charlie and he grabbed the tissue off of him and did it himself.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Charlie gently trying to staunch the trickle of blood still coming from his nose, and the blond boy watching him closely.
Adam was the first to break the silence.
"Was it Reily?" he asked, matter-of-factly.
"I told you, I fell," was the other boy's staunch reply.
"Yeah. I didn't believe you when you first told me and I still don't believe you now."
Charlie got up, exasperated, and made his way to the toilets, dumped the old tissues in the bin and grabbed a load more. He leaned against the sink and looked into the mirror, blotting carefully at his purpling nose. There was a long silence.
"Would it matter if it was?" the dark haired boy asked, simply.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, even if I told you that it was Reily, what difference does it make? What would you do if I said it was Reily that tripped me up, threatened me and smashed my face into the ice?" Charlie's voice was hard.
Adam was silent for a moment. He looked at his Captain, sadly. "Nothing," he finally admitted.
"Exactly," Charlie turned and looked at the other boy. "I can't go to the Dean, Bombay already knows and is trying to do something about it and the rest of the people who could make a difference don't give a shit." He turned back to the mirror, "Therefore, to all intense purposes, I fell."
He turned on the tap and splashed cold water onto his face. Then he moved back to his locker, banged it open, grabbed his towel, and rubbed his painful face gingerly. Adam watched him get out his normal clothes and start pulling off his skates.
"So that's it?" he asked, incredulously. "You're just gonna let him get away with abusing you?"
Charlie looked at the other boy and grinned, a determined glint in his eye. "Of course not," he replied, softly. "I've got just the thing to get my own back on Reily."
Adam looked at the other boy, confused. "But aren't you worried about what he's gonna do to you if you piss him off again?"
Charlie laughed sharply. "Nah. You see the ironic thing is that when he was busy grinding my nose into the ice rink floor, I realised that I wasn't actually scared of him – I'm scared of what he can do to me. And the truth is that he can't actually do anything much worse than busting my nose because otherwise he'll be caught." He looked down at his hands and shrugged, "It's a funny old world I suppose."
Adam shook his head in amazement, "You're mad, Spazway, you know that, I suppose?"
Charlie grinned, "Let me finish getting changed then we'll go back to the dorms and I can show you exactly what I have in mind for the Coach."
A/N You likey?? I am very evil, non?! I was very impressed with myself for coming up with another "exercise" which would be vaguely legal and have a teaching point to it. I can't very well have Reily order the Ducks to chuck knifes at each other or anything foolish like that because… well, it just wouldn't happen! See! I do try and make my fics as realistic as possible!! Lol! By the way, thank you very much for whoever nominated me in the Mighty Ducks Awards. Do tell me who it is in your next review so I can heap flowers and presents upon you!
Review blurb following…
NYGoldfish: Thankyou for reviewing so soon!! And thank you for being so nice!! I loved the whole "OH BOY" at the beginning – made me laugh… dunno why *shrugs*.
Adriana: Ok, rereading your review makes me feel really bad about the time I took over updating. As in bad – I'm going to go and stick my head in a blender – bad. I'm sorry!! I am mortally ashamed by my slackingness! I hope that after this chapter you will find it in your heart to forgive me…
Chelsea: Darling, your reviews just simply get longer and longer – not that I'm complaining of course *grins*. I love you for it, in fact *hugs*!! To tell you the truth, I don't know how I get the italics to work in my stories. I always change my word document to a webpage before I upload it, which might be it. Either that or the ff.net God smiles down on me *shrugs* either one… *grins evilly* I intentionally made it seem as if Banks was Reily. HAHAHAHA! I'm so cunning I sometimes astound myself!! I didn't think that Mr Trodd knocking could have been the coach as well *mouth drops open* GOOD POINT! I missed that! Obviously I'm so talented at this writing thing that I do all these great things unintentionally, lol (MAJOR joke!). "The guy is so abused...you are so evil" – I know, I know, it's quite disturbing isn't it?! Well, if I'm evil that certainly makes you evil too! Lol! We can be evil together! Projects suck big time! I have pity – believe me! Big up to the procrastinating rebels of the world!! "Black hose?!?!" *smirks, grins, tries to control laughter but it is too much, hysterical laughter ensues* You have black HOSE??? *Tries to control herself - fails* I'm sorry – I should have sympathy but… Heehee, hose… *stares out into distance for a second before jerking out of trance*. Anyway, continuing with the review. I so wanna add that whole thing with the shoe in but I can't think of anywhere it will fit, dang it! Maybe I could just add it in randomly at the end and then blame it on you when everyone is all confuzzled! Lol! Why don't you tell your parents that you are an aspiring author and that you need the time on the computer to work on your creative genius and if you don't have it then you will end up being a sewage cleaner or something… That'd get my parents to relent, lol! I would just like to retell you how much I am LOVING "One Way Ticket" at the mo! Update soon, pretty please!! Hang on, random thought, what the…? Oh yeah *smirks* HOSE!! Hee hee!
Katie: Bean? Beaner? Inside joke? Oh wowee! Can I be in on it?? Pretty please? *gets excited* Can I call you Bean? *explodes into giggles*. Unless of course *looks sad and dejected* you don't want me to… *sniffs loudly* Don't worry – I'll live… I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you weren't too worried with the violence. *grnis happily* We all love it, don't we?? Lol! I'm sorry I didn't update soon! Forgive me PLEASE!!
PlainJane: Heehee – yeah, *smiles uncertainly* great pranks… (note to self: make up great pranks…) I'm glad you enjoyed the last few chapters. Don't worry about not reviewing religiously – it's nice to know that you're reading it though! You got a burn mark through your shirt?! *gasps* No way! That's harsh! Sue your Chem teacher for losses, lol! Hope you keep reading!!
BanksiesBabe: You are very fair in your giving of pity!! Lol! I thought of you and your love of the fellow, so I stuck the bit with Adam in at the end. I could have left it till the next chapter but I thought, no, you've been waiting so patiently and then I don't even give you any Banksie?? That would just been plain cruel! Hee hee! I hope I didn't stretch even your patience with the time I took over writing this… I love you for being so nice about it!!
Ashcake: Ok – for both your reviews!! I'm glad you enjoyed my story so much! And I'm sorry that I took so long in updating that you actually had to ask me again! I was utterly ashamed! The fact that you reviewed twice is very sweet and I am eternally grateful that you rate my story that much!
Ice Cube: *bounces back* Thank you so much for liking my story so much that you're having withdrawals – ok that sounded bad but you know what I mean… I'm sorry that I didn't update for the "tomorrow" of your second review but you will be glad to know that your review spurred me on to greater efforts and this was the finished result. Don't worry – I will ask you if I have anything – I'm annoying like that *grins annoyingly to prove point*. *hugs* - you deserve that purely because you are such a great person to have reviewing my story!! Love ya loads!
Gina: I take ages over reading chapters too. *scratches chin* Hang on uno momento! Did I actually read the last chapter of your story?! *looks pensively into the distance* I know I meant to, but did I? I'll have to check tomorrow! Apologies if I haven't but I'll be there soon if not! Charlie and Adam working together! Yay! Funfunfun!
Lauren: *looks in awe at review* A new reviewer?? *squeals in excitement* Yay! I really like it when people comment on my writing style – makes me feel loved. I'm glad you liked the whole tension with Adam – he is a very fun character to write!
Sloane Miette: I hate that McDonald's advert too! Bloody annoying! I hope that you weren't disappointed in Reily's reaction. Don't worry about sounding perverse – for God's sake, I write the damn thing, lol! Thanks for reading and I hope that you didn't have to wait too long to read it!