Practice went off without incident. Julie noticed Portman staring at her weirdly throughout but she managed to ignore him and he seemed to get the hint.

"Did you read that note yet?" Connie asked skating up next to Julie.

Julie shook her head "Nah, I still can't bring myself to do it. I mean I already know what Riley and Scooter think of me but I don't need to see it in writing" she answered ignoring Connie's amused smile.

"Can I read it then?" Connie asked hopefully. It had been driving her crazy ever since she found the envelope in the message basket the day before.

Julie laughed "Yeah, if you must" she said shaking her head at her friend. She was all too aware of how Connie's inquisitive mind works.

"Cool, thanks Jules. You want me to tell you what it says?" she asked playfully.

Julie thought for a moment "Only if its nice" she decided picking up her water bottle and heading for the change rooms.

She showered and changed as quickly as possible before she was roped into going for pizza with the team. She didn't feel like socialising. All she wanted to do was grab her books and head for the library to lose herself in a few hours of studying.

………………………………………………

"You think she got the note?" Portman asked Fulton impatiently.

"How would I know?" Fulton replied lacing up his boots. Portman had been driving him insane all afternoon. He couldn't get mad at him though, he was trying really hard to make things right with Julie.

"What's taking her so long?" Portman almost yelled in his frustration. He was nervous and excited about meeting her.

"If you're talking about Julie she's already gone" Banks informed them placing his hockey stick in his gym bag.

Portman's eyes nearly bulged out of his head "What? When? Where'd she go?" he demanded feeling flustered. Had she already gone to the mall?

Banks shrugged his shoulders "She left about 10 minutes ago, said she had somewhere to be. Didn't say where though" he replied taking a step backwards cautiously in case a certain Bash Brother decided to take his anger out on him.

"DAMN IT!" Portman quickly grabbed his gear and bolted for the door leaving a bunch of confused Ducks staring after him and Fulton, Banks and Connie shaking their heads with a smile. Portman had it bad.

…………………………………………………

Julie entered the library and was surprised to see it half full. Ah finals she thought realising why so many seniors were there.

On the way to an empty desk she caught sight of Rick Riley still in his chair. She stared for a minute before looking away quickly before he noticed her. She pulled her text books out of her bag and spread them on the desk in front of her trying her best not to look in Riley's direction again.

"You know it's a ploy to get sympathy" a voice to her left startled her. Julie turned around to see her classmate Anna standing behind her.

"What?" Julie asked surprised.

"Riley, the chair is just a ploy to get more sympathy" Anna replied taking a seat next to Julie.

"Are you kidding? He was bashed pretty badly" Julie struggled to keep her voice neutral. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah but not that badly. His father makes him use the chair to get sympathy from the Board, and to scare whoever bashed Rick into confessing. All he had was a bit of concussion. His nose wasn't even broken" Anna answered scoffing at the antics people pulled to get attention.

"Really? Just concussion? Wow, but all the blood….." Julie's voice trailed off before she said something incriminating.

"Yeah I heard there was heaps of blood too. Guess Riley's just a heavy bleeder. He's perfectly fine. Personally I think its his ego that's been broken. About time though, that guy is the biggest tool I've ever met." Anna commented giving Riley a disgusted look.

"Got that right" Julie replied half heartedly her thoughts on Portman.

"I wish I knew who did it though, that guy deserves a medal. Wait! No, he deserves a big fucking statue right in the centre of the school with a plaque that reads I beat the shit out Rick Riley!" Anna laughed.

Julie smiled feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Portman does deserve a medal she thought to herself, he was only protecting me from that asshole because he cares too much to let anything bad happen to me! Julie came to the stunning realisation.

"Oh my god, I have to go" Julie exclaimed jumping out of her seat. She quickly gathered her books and shoved them into the bag. "See ya Anna and thanks" she said patting her friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks for what?" Anna replied confused.

Julie didn't reply and Anna and the rest of the library watched Julie run out of the library ignoring the "no running" warnings from the librarian.

…………………………………………..

"C'mon Connie we've got to meet the guys at the Pizza place" Guy complained.

"Shut up Guy, I'll be ready in a second. I just have to get something" Connie replied rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. The truth was that she couldn't wait to open the envelope containing the note from Julie.

Connie threw the door to her dorm room open and raced across to Julie's desk snatching the envelope up. Her eyes quickly scanned the message.

"Aw, so sweet" she exclaimed smiling.

"What's so sweet?" Guy asked confused.

Connie just handed him the note "This" she replied.

Guy scanned the note, his face turning pale, "Oh my god" he exclaimed sending an uneasy feeling through Connie's mind.

"What?" she asked knowing that when Guy turned pale like that there was a good reason for it.

"That" he said pointing to the message whiteboard on the girls door, for other students to write messages for the occupants on.

Connie read what was written there and she too turned white. "Shit, we've gotta go" she managed to get out.

The message read:

Julie

You'd better pray you get to him before I do.

They raced over to the pizza place to get the others.