"Disappointed"

The locker room door banged open and the exhausted JV team filed in. Goldberg flung his pads to the floor and collapsed onto the bench in front of his locker. "Somebody get a shovel, and bury me right here," he moaned.

Charlie stalked through the room to his own locker. "I'll teach you to play like WHAT!? Starts with a W!"

"Wussies?" Averman filled in wearily.

"That's right. Wussies on offense and defense!" Charlie shot back.

"Defense, defense, defense!" Russ chanted. "Hooah, hooah hooah! Hooah, hooah!" He punched his locker and abruptly straightened when the door was flung open again.

"The Eden Hall Academy requires you to maintain a C average to compete. I believe that's a bad rule." Orion was marching towards the bulletin board in the back, mindless of the cheers that statement was getting. Maurae and Julie exchanged looks as if to say, 'There has to be a catch.' "I don't want any C players on my team. Either it's B's or better, or you're going to be riding the pine pony." He tacked up a sheet of paper and turned. "Now, you've got fifteen minutes after every practice to clear this locker room; you've got homework to do." He turned to leave, and immediately swung back around. "Oh, one more thing. Stay clear of the Varsity until we play them in the JV-Varsity showdown. You got that?"

Without giving them a chance to reply, he was gone, and the door slammed behind him.

"Fifteen minutes?" Russ asked, incredulous. "Man, I cannot move!"

"Hey guys, look. He posted our positions." There was a rush to the board at Connie's words.

"I don't believe this! I play left side, not right," Fulton groused.

"Third line! Man that's a major diss!" Russ exclaimed.

Adam eagerly scanned the list. "I'm not even posted!" Maurae's head snapped up at that and she got up.

"Yeah you are! Adam Banks, third line, center...Varsity?" At that, her blood ran cold. This could not be good.

"I made Varsity?" Adam echoed, turning to look at Maurae, who managed a weak smile for his benefit.

"That's the great thing about being goalie, you know? You always know where you stand," Goldberg was saying. "I just mind mine business, and take my place between the pipes." Averman snorted, reading the list.

"You're riding the pine pony, pal."

"Haha, very funny! Haha!"

"Julie's one, you're two." Several people covered smiles as the chubby boy leapt up to verify his friend's words.

"I'm backup?" His eyes widened when he saw the list. "How could he do this to me? What am I, chopped liver?"

"Hey, who's Captain Tibid?" Dwayne asked. Maurae glanced up from untying her skates, a small frown on her face.

"No, that's captain T.B.D. To be determined?"

"Oh, I see! Well...no I don't. That's your job, Charlie." The room fell silent as everyone turned to look at their former captain. Maurae finished pulling the bulk of her equipment off and got up to look at the list.

Charlie, front line center.

Guy, left wing.

Luis, right wing...where am I?

Conversation had just started up quietly again when she found her name. "What!?" she exclaimed, silencing them again. Her name was just above Adam's on the list. "Nonononono! No! He's got me playing third line!"

"Maybe he saw you crash into the boards," Dwayne commented innocently. In her irrational state, however, this comment only made her angry.

"Well, thank you, Dwayne!" she shouted. "That makes me feel ever so much better!" She snatched up her backpack and stomped out of the room. First Adam makes Varsity, and then her position was given to Charlie. Those, she could handle, because in any sane mind, she'd get second line. But to put her in the third line? That was someone jumping up and down on her pride and dignity.

She slammed into her room and threw her backpack, books and all, at the wall with an angry exclamation. Carrie only blinked at her from her own bed. "Did someone put a wasp in your undies?" the redhead asked sarcastically. Maurae turned on her.

"I am so not in the mood."

"What happened to your eye?" Carrie asked, eyes widening. Maurae touched it gingerly and sighed.

"Long story."

"I have time."

Maurae sighed again but proceeded to tell her new friend the events of the day, right from breakfast to the posting of the list. Carrie nodded and sympathized, and by the time the tale was done, Maurae felt much better, though still a bit angry about the injustice of it all.

Someone knocked on the door and she got up to open it. "Oh, hey, Ads," she said, stepping back to let him in. "Um, congratulations on making Varsity. That's really awesome." He nodded and walked in, dropping his bag on the floor and dropping onto her bed.

"I feel terrible. I mean...I'm on Varsity and you're third line...Charlie isn't captain, Goldie's not goalie...Jess and Portman and Bombay are gone..."

"The world's falling out from under us," she supplied blandly. "But no sweat, right? You'll do fine on Varsity." Carrie raised an eyebrow, to which Maurae shook her head.

"Only you," Adam commented, looking at her, blue eyes sparkling.

"Only me, what?"

"Only you would be trying to get me to cheer up while you must be ready to kill someone." Maurae offered a wide grin.

"What on earth makes you thin I want to kill someone?" she asked innocently. Adam laughed, and Maurae had to follow. "Okay, so I do. I guess my being off the ice so long was bad for my game. I just didn't expect it to be this bad." Her smile turned wry. "I'm starting to wonder if I'm not going crazy," she added. "Everything that's changed this year. It's weird. I mean, I didn't flatter myself by thinking I'd make Varsity like you have or anything. I kind of just thought I'd at least end up playing my own position, same as before. Being bumped to third line is...it's a bit of a wake-up call."

"He'll move you up after a game or two, Ro. You know you're good enough." Maurae nodded thoughtfully. "So, you want to help me with that homework we've got piled up?" Maurae shrugged.

"Now is as good a time as any, I suppose. It's not like we've got anything else to do."

"Great. And afterwards, you can help me move into my new dorm room." He'd purposefully waited to drop that on her, and it took a minute for the words to sink in.

"You're moving into a new dorm now?" she asked.

"Yeah. Coach Wilson wants me to move in with the rest of his team, so I have to do that before practice tomorrow."

"Which means tonight. Let's do it now. The others will eat dinner and be ready to study with us, hopefully, and we'll get done faster." They both knew that was far from true, but if she wanted to move him first, he wasn't going to argue. He got up, waved a farewell to Carrie and led his friend from the room. "What did Charlie say?" she asked quietly. Adam halted. "Or did you refrain from telling him?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"He's your best friend as much as I am, Adam," she reasoned. "He'll want to know. Moreso, since he's your current roommate."

"I know, I just..."

Charlie walked out of the room then, and flung a grin at them. "Hey, Ro, Banksie. What're you two up to?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Adam to flush and Maurae to lift one eyebrow that made him flush. "So, um, have you started that biology homework?" Maurae giggled.

"Not yet. We'll start our homework in a while."

"Are you telling me that the two study bugs of the team are putting off studying? Call the newspapers! This is a front-page story!" His grin was teasing, and the three best friends shared a laugh. Charlie put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry." She waved it away.

"I'll deal just fine. At least I'm not on Varsity like our Ads. I don't think I'd be able to handle it." She glanced pointedly from Adam to Charlie and back again. Adam cleared his throat.

"Speaking of...Varsity, Charlie...um, Coach Wilson wants me to...move into the Varsity dorms before practice tomorrow." He waited.

"You mean...but why? Just because you're playing with them doesn't mean they can take you away from us! That's not fair!"

"That's what I told him, but he said that since Varsity and JV aren't supposed to have anything to do with each other before the showdown, that my living with you would compromise my loyalties or some such bullshit. It's worse because I'm friends with you." Adam's blue eyes begged Charlie to understand that it wasn't his choice. Charlie nodded slowly.

"Well...let's get you moved, then. This doesn't affect our friendship, though, right?" Adam's smile was loaded with palpable relief.

"Never."

Maurae grinned and stretched up to kiss both boys' cheeks. "That's my boys," she said. Taking their hands in hers, she pulled them into their room. "Now, let's get started. I have homework to do."

It only took two hours to pack all of Adam's things into their boxes. Then Maurae went down the hall to enlist Fulton's help. To her immense shock, she found Fulton and Shayne in the study lounge, buried in the biology textbook. Half her mouth quirked into a wry smile.

"You work fast," she commented. Shayne looked up, looked at Fulton, sitting awfully close to her, and back up. "But that's not why I'm here. Fult, can I beg your help for some box duty? We have to lug all Adam's boxes upstairs to the Varsity dorms."

"He's moving?"

"Wilson's orders. But yeah."

"Sure, I'll help." He set his book down. "Shayne, do you want to help?"

"Sure, why not?" The three teens headed back to Adam and Charlie's room, and Fulton picked up two boxes, leaving one each for the remaining four, and Adam's hockey bag which had been jammed with some of his clothes as well. "Where exactly are we taking this stuff?"

"Just up one flight," Adam said, not really surprised that Shayne had come. He'd noticed the way she and Fulton really seemed to like each other. He led the way to the stairwell and up the stairs to the Varsity hall. He found his door and kicked it.

The door was opened and Scott "Scooter" Reynolds looked at them. "Right, Wilson said you'd be moving in." He stepped aside and held the door open. "Left side's yours."

"Thanks," Adam said, setting down his box and the hockey bag on the bed. Everyone else stacked their boxes at the end of the bed. "I'll unpack it later. Let's get going on that homework before we go to bed." The rest of them filed out, but Scooter stopped Adam.

"You know the rules, man. Stay away from them." Maurae stopped and started to turn when she heard Adam's low voice replying.

"They're my friends. My best friends. And I'm not going to abandon them simply because you and your teammates have a beef with them." He nodded sharply and caught up to them, waiting for him at the stairs. With his lop-sided grin, he followed them down the stairs and into the study lounge.