Part Four

Belonging

After saying goodbye to his mother, Adam entered the grounds of Eden Hall the next morning. Hearing the sound of roller blades from behind him, he did not bother to turn around.

"Hey, Spazway," he called over his shoulder and continued walking.

"How'd you even know it was me, Cake-Eater?" Charlie asked in kind, blading next to him.

"Do you even want me to answer that?" he looked questioningly at his friend.

Charlie shook his head. "Are you and the others still pissed about the crash landing on the stage yesterday?"

"I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm not going to skate to school anytime soon."

"As for me, I'm never roller blading again!" Goldberg said coming up on Charlie's other side unwrapping his Egg McMuffin. He was sure he was going to have nightmares about skating through Minneapolis for years to come.

"Good thing Coach had us tie you up to the goal posts years ago." Charlie chuckled at the memory.

"Coach Bombay did what?"

"You guys left me there!" Goldberg jumped in angrily. He took a bite of his McMuffin, munching on it hard. He was still mad about Orion making him the second goalie more than what Bombay had done.

"And they should have, goalie boy." None of them could mistake Rick Riley's voice. The three freshmen turned to see him, Cole, and some of the other Varsity players.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Charlie said in a low voice.

"I'm going to do just that. Banks, lets go." Rick answered without breaking Charlie's stare.

Adam just looked at Rick with surprise.

Charlie spoke out loud what Adam was thinking. "What do you want him for, Riley?"

"It's none of your damn business."

Adam stepped in front of Charlie to stop him from saying anything to the Varsity captain. "Fine I'll go," he said quietly, not even looking at his friend. Charlie just stared at him for a moment. Falling behind Rick, Adam followed him toward the school.

As Charlie and Goldberg watched Adam go with Riley and his friends, Guy walked up to them. "What's going on?"

"That." Charlie said with some anger, still looking toward Varsity, who was now at the doors.

Running a hand through his blond hair, Guy said, "Here we go again."

"What do you mean?" Goldberg asked and popped the last bit of McMuffin in his mouth.

Guy looked at Goldberg like he was dim witted. "Adam is on Varsity now, he's gonna be a Warrior."

"No, he isn't. He's a Duck despite the fact that he is on a different team." Charlie cut in.

"Adam was a Hawk first, Charlie." Guy stated quietly. Fulton and Averman came up in time to hear this.

"He's different now." Charlie said adamantly. But his thoughts were diverse. Adam's changed from the time when he was ten; he's learned a lot since than, hasn't he? He skated to the nearby bench, sat down and began to undo his blades.

"Where's Connie?"

Guy glared at Averman and said, "Most likely still doing her makeup or looking for the perfect pair of shoes." He rolled his eyes. "Frankly, I don't care where she is."

Connie and Guy must've gotten into a fight yesterday. Charlie had long ago stopped keeping track of their on and off again relationship. "Come on, we'll be late for class if we don't move it." he said standing up, then put on his ball cap and headed for the front doors. His friends fell in step behind him.

Adam had gone to the office to get his dorm information before his first class. The morning classes had been uneventful for him. Heading for lunch, Adam contemplated if he could skip it altogether.

Rick told him that he was going to be sitting with them that morning. When asked why, the Varsity captain just said that Varsity did not associate with JV. Adam was not looking forward to the upcoming noon meal.

Going in the direction of the cafeteria, Adam was ready to go a different way. His stomach growled, which the teen tried to ignore. When Adam went down one of the hallways that led to Eden Hall's dining hall, Riley and some of the Varsity team were waiting for him.

"Banksie, here." he said as he handed Adam a red Warriors jacket.

As Adam looked at the jacket, he frowned. For some reason Rick wanted to call him Banksie. Why doesn't Rick just call me Banks like everyone else usually does?

Rick observed Adam's expression. "What's wrong Banksie, don't you like it?"

Adam had not been aware that Riley had been watching him. "No, I was just surprised to be getting a jacket so soon. But it's neat." He forced himself to smile.

"Well go on, see if it fits." Adam remembered the black haired guy was Mark Labine.

Reluctantly, he put on the jacket. It did fit. Now that he was putting it on, he would fit in with the rest of the Varsity team, right?

Rick nodded his approval then headed for the cafeteria. The rest of his friends followed. Adam started to at a slower pace, when a voice stopped him.

"Hey."

Adam turned around and saw Varsity's goaltender walking up to him. He had only met some of Varsity team that morning. Scooter had not been among them.

"Scott Vanderbilt," he said amicably. "But it's Scooter to most everyone who knows me."

"Adam Banks," he answered quietly.

"Hey, Scooter, how was Sanders' trigonometry review?" asked Justin Kabine as he came up to them.

"Not too bad. As long as the homework was done, you'll do fine."

"Damn. I'm gonna to be in the library." Kabine made a U-turn and headed back the way he came.

Turning back to Adam, Scooter commented, "I see Rick gave you the Warriors jacket."

Nodding to Scooter, Adam had to wonder if it had somehow been planned for him to play for Varsity even with his friends here on scholarships. Nah, I'm probably just jumping to conclusions.

He doesn't talk much, from what I remember of Drew Banks he was popular and talkative, but his little brother is quiet. This was Scooter's first thought of Varsity's new third line center. "Let's get something to eat," Scooter said aloud. He heard Adam fall in step behind him.

It felt a little strange to Adam that he was not sitting with the Ducks. He had gone to private schools most of his life, but that changed once he appealed to his parents to let him go to public school. Before seventh grade started, he talked to his parents about letting him go to the same school as his friends. They had been appalled; particularly Philip had been against the idea. Adam struck a deal with his father, let him go to public school throughout junior high, and Adam would not complain about going to Eden Hall when it came time to go to high school. That was only two years, but it was two years that Adam got to go to same public school that the Ducks went to.

He just began eating when Cole and Rick got a hold of Ken and started to distribute his lunch. He was about to say something, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Kenny gave him a dirty look. Adam wanted to say something, but what could he do to help him?

After they let Ken go, Varsity left everyone else alone and ate. That is until Charlie, Russ, and Fulton came by. For as long as Adam had known Charlie, he never brought a lunch to school. Which meant…

Horse manure. Adam had many thoughts as he ran with the Varsity team as they tried to catch the three JV members. One of them was that he could have easily told Rick and the rest of the team that they were not going to catch his friends.

Adam slowed down and fell behind the Varsity team. He knew without a doubt that Charlie, Russ, and Fulton were hiding somewhere, and Varsity would not find them. Finally stopping, Adam sighed.

"You're gonna stick up for them aren't you?" a spiteful voice asked from behind.

Turning around, Adam was face to face with a boy that had light brown hair, but the resemblance to Rick Riley was there.

"Ian, right?" Adam remembered the boy from the playoffs when the Ducks played the Cardinals in peewees.

Ian laughed coldly, "I'm flattered you remembered, Banks. But of course, you have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"If you're talking about the scholarships, that wasn't my doing, Riley."

"So you say. But if you had never gone on the Ducks, you wouldn't have made it to the championship game with them. Nor got them in this school with you either."

Adam shook his head. "Now you're going to bring up what happened almost four years ago?"

"Face it, Banks, without you the Ducks wouldn't have gotten where they are. Bombay sure knew what in the hell he was doing when he got you off of the Hawks."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Adam wondered if there might not be some truth in what Ian said.

"Go ahead, believe your lie. But come the JV/Varsity showdown, the Ducks are outta of Eden Hall. Varsity is going to beat them into the ground. They've never lost. The Ducks are nothing but poor nobodies. They'll never belong." Laughing, Ian turned and walked away.

That's not true, Ian Riley. The Ducks do belong here. Adam knew that he would have to hope and pray that the Ducks would beat Varsity in the showdown. That would technically be going against his team. It meant that he would be on Varsity, which meant he hoped he would lose the game.

It would mean that I'd be playing against a team I've been on before. Again. The next thought that came to Adam's mind was one that disturbed the most. No matter what the team was called, Ducks or JV Warriors, to Adam they were his friends. Not only will I'll be playing the Ducks, I'll be playing against my friends as well.