Fulton and Charlie grew closer over the next few days as we continued to grow apart. The nights were cold, leaving the window open in the dead of winter but I kept thinking he'd show up one night and not be able to get in. He avoided me, and the rest of the team, like the plague but Charlie he was with almost every minute. The green feeling that resided in the pit of my stomach every time I saw them laughing and joking like teenage boys in the hall, grew with each passing day that he didn't speak to me. I knew how much I really missed him as I saw him walking up ahead of me at Thursday. He stopped to talk to Charlie and I passed by, avoiding his eyes as they grazed my blonde hair in passing. He glanced at me, not saying anything but his eyes showed he had something to say just couldn't form it into a sentence. I bit my lip, continuing down the hall as if I hadn't seen him. It was easier to pretend than to deal with the fact that Fulton and I weren't speaking anymore. Hell, we couldn't even look at each other anymore. That night I sat up waiting to see if he'd come over, he didn't as the last night of the week began to dawn. I wondered where he was and if he was okay. Where did he go at night since he didn't come to my house anymore? To the place he went before me? I looked at the window as the rain poured in the crack I'd left open, just in case. Before I knew it the tears were coming faster than the rain and I cried myself to sleep, resting my head on my soaked pillow.

I woke the next morning and my eyes felt like they had been glued shut; I blink twice before stumbling out of bed for practice that morning.

"Tammy, What's wrong with you?" My Mother yelled from the bench as I got up from falling for the 3rd time that practice. It all truthfulness, I would have preferred to stay on the ice. A cold relief to my aching mind and body.

"The competition is in a month and you're falling all over the ice!" She yelled as I felt like I wanted to cry, skating back into formation with Tommy.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, Tommy skating up to me to my right side,

"Hey, what's wrong, Tammy?" He asked, actually sounding like he cared.

"Nothing." I said pushing off on my skate with a heavy sigh. I went to do a triple Lutz, the move that landed me on the ice in the first place and fell, hitting the barricade hard. I cried out, holding my shoulder with my opposite hand, struggling to get up. My Mother looked at me with her nostrils flaring. She finally looked down with heavy sigh She was right, I was letting Fulton distract me...

"I'm sorry." I said looking down and sucking it up before gliding back on the ice.

I didn't see Fulton until Science that day, he sat behind me, putting Jesse in between us so I couldn't turn to look at him or try to talk to him. He'd deliberately sat in Jesse's seat to cause Jesse to move in between us. He kept his head down as the class was going on until a fight broke out while the teacher was out of the room. Karp had made a comment about Charlie's Mom to which he had attacked him, getting Connie to get up to referee then Guy got in it when Peter pushed her. Soon all the Ducks were fighting. I jumped in when Jesse and Fulton started fighting. I pushed my way in-between the two guys, pressing a hand to each of their chests

"Cut it out Jesse!" I said, pushing him a little more forceful than Fulton.

"What? You got to defend your boyfriend, we all know there's something going on between you two." Jesse accused, Fulton pushing me out of the way in retribution.

"Shut up Jesse!" He said getting in his face.

"Stop it!" I yelled as the principle came back in, yelling for us all to sit. We sat quickly as laughter broke out. The feeling that things were about to get back to normal after everyone had it out. Charlie stood, a grin perched on his flushed face. Karp and Jesse met eyes and I turned to look at Fulton. He smiled at me as the Ducks started quacking at the stuck up principle in protest.

Well, that landed us all in detention where everyone started talking again but Fulton was still staying away from me. His eyes scanned the room to meet mine for a moment before I turned to continue writing my lines on the board. My Mom was going to have a field day with this one. I could almost bet Tommy and I wouldn't see the light of day until spring. The creak of the old door of the classroom signaled someone had entered and I turned in surprise as Coach came in, standing in the entrance to the room. To make a long story short, he got us out of detention for a quick practice so we could play in the game the next night, after a lengthy talk to get the team to trust him again. I was dead by the time I got home that night. I collapsed on my bed and fell right asleep, not bothering to listen to my Mother as she ranted in the hall about the principle wanting to see her the next day about her children. She continued on until I could no longer focus on her and instead a dreamless sleep.

I woke up at three am and rolled out of bed to change out of the clothes I'd been in all day. I was dark as the lights from the street lamps shined in my window and I walked around my bed and to the closet, grabbing my nightgown and beginning to change. I heard a slight groan from behind me and pushed the article of clothes to my chest, turning quickly to look for the source of such a groan. Fulton lay sleeping on the floor as I backed up against the old oak of my closet door. His breathe was even and calm, letting me relax with reassurance he was sound asleep.

"When did he come in?" I asked myself quickly putting on my nightclothes and getting back under the covers, pulling them to my chin in embarrassment. I moved to look over the edge of the bed and saw his sleeping face distorted from a dream he was having. My heart raced with anxiety and fear, reaching out to take his hand in mine. His eyes fluttered open at the sudden movement and his grip tightened around my fingers,

"Hey." I said softly.

"Hi, I couldn't wake you, you looked so peaceful..." He said as I smiled.

"When did you get here?" I asked looking at the clock.

"About an hour ago?" He said groggy.

"Oh...are you still mad at me?" I asked.

"No...I wasn't really. I was afraid you didn't want to talk to me anymore, the way you avoided me." He said taking my hand that I'd extended.

"No." I said smiling at the misunderstanding.

"So are we okay?" Fulton asked as I smiled.

"Of course." I said laying back to look at the ceiling. I heard him laugh a little before turning over to get comfortable on the floor. We fell back asleep quickly after that.

The next few day, we were inseparable again, doing everything together from practice to homework. The first game back that night was the best one yet, we won and it was Fulton who made the shot to send us to the playoffs. Fulton and I celebrated by getting a chocolate shake at the diner later that night. He made me have some, breaking my diet but I didn't care, he was talking to me again and nothing could ruin my night. He walked me home feeling like he'd accomplished something, a huge grin on his face. I laughed at him, seeing his smile forming on his lips as we walked down the cold dark street. All the shops were beginning to close, it must have been close to 10 and it was beginning to snow again as Christmas was just a few days away. We stopped in front of a clothing store and I admired a red dress I liked in the window,

"Red's my favorite color." I commented, touching the glass. Fulton looked at a leather jacket they had hanging in the window and sighed,

"Yeah, I'll have to remember that." He said. I caught him looking at the jacket.

"That sorta looks like the one Guy has." I commented as he began to walk ahead.

"Yeah." He said not really saying much more about it.

"But it had that fur like stuff on the collar and it's a tinted brown." I started, looking at him, "Do you like it?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, but I can't afford that and I doubt my parents are doing any Christmas shopping this year." He laughed a little. We reached my house,

"Fulton? Why don't you come over here for Christmas?" I asked. He smiled,

"Nah, I should spend sometime with my Mom" He said, I nodded

"At least come over sometime." I said smiling. He smiled back at me nervously,

"Okay." He said as I nudged his shoulder. I punched him playfully in the shoulder as he grabbed me, picking me up and pretending to throw me down in the snow bank outside my house. I pulled him with me as we toppled into the pile of soft snow. The laughter was uncontrollable and we chuckled, his eyes meeting mine. The soft brown orbs were sparkling from all the laughter and I thought he was going to kiss me but he quickly stood, letting the cold return to my previously covered body. I felt a little disappointed but brushed it off with the snow as he helped me up, running his hand along my shoulder to rid me of the snow.

"So, you coming over?" I asked walking to the door.

"Yeah. I'll be here." He said with a smile.

"You coming over tonight?"

"Probably." He said dreading going home at all.

"Why do you go home every night when you know you're just going to end up here later?" I asked.

"Because he's my Father and I have to give him the chance to be a Father. Part of me wants to believe he can change." He said as I looked up at him. I gave him a hug before quickly walking into my house, out of the snow. I watched from the front window as he walked into the white blizzard that was raging outside before disappearing into the nearby forest.

The coach called us all the next day, telling us to meet him at the park with our gear.

"An extra practice." I groaned as Fulton was sitting at my desk with his bag at his feet.

"We do need it." He commented as I did my hair and put on my red and black baseball cap, straightening it in the mirror.

"I'm just tired." I said grabbing my bag from the closet and tossing it on my bed. My Mother stopped in my open door way,

"We're leaving in 5 minutes you two." She said heading down the stairs in a rushed pace, taking another look back at us. Fulton looked at me as he was flipping through my notebook on the desk, looking for something to read. He found a sketch of the house that I wanted when I was grown up. I had never told anyone but I had so many ideas for houses. I worked them out in my head just sitting around and I loved math. I think that was what I really wanted to do. I wanted to design houses. I wanted to design places to live. I had been working on at particular sketch for a few days now, just a dream I guess. I would never get to go to school for anything other than skating if my Mother had her way. I quickly saw him looking and jumped up on the desk, shutting the notebook.

"What?" He asked clueless.

"I don't want you to see that." I said smiling.

"Why?"

"Because I'll laugh at me." I said moving to fix my hair.

"No I won't." He said quickly.

"It's nothing...It's just the house I dreamt of having one day. I dream of a lot of different things." I muttered to myself as Fulton looked at it again.

"It's beautiful." He said as I quickly picked up my bags heading down the stairs.

"Yeah, well it will never exist because I don't have time to learn how to build it." I said with a sigh. Fulton took the picture, folding it and putting it in his pocket then followed Tommy down the stairs. When we arrived at the park we found a bus waiting to take us somewhere, no one had any idea where. We all loaded in, Fulton and I sitting together across from Connie and Guy. The ride wasn't long but everyone started yelling and hooting when they saw where we were. We were at the North Stars arena.