Author's Notes: In the following chapter we take a jump forward to the end of the JV vs Varsity game. Everything past Hans' funeral was covered. We decided not to cover the scholarships or the final game because, first off, you guys already know what happened, in this series, those events happened as they did in the film, if we wrote it, we'd just be transcribing the movie; and secondly, it doesn't really have any bearing on the story we want to tell.

Part 7 "The Fragmented Team"

Russ finished a glass of Dr. Pepper and shook the glass so the ice cubes spun around the bottom. He hadn't expected the Bar None to be anything like the clubs and bars back home, but he was more bored than he ever thought he could be.

He didn't even have Goldberg for company. Sure, his roommate sat next to him, a huge basket of french fries on the table in front of them, but as far as Russ could tell, Goldberg hadn't touched a single fry. Probably better anyway; they were greasy and Russ's stomach rolled from the handfuls he'd eaten just to pass the time.

The club was crowded, mostly filled with his teammates and the people they'd dragged with them. Russ hadn't realized the team had fragmented so much. When he'd first met the Ducks, they were insular and closed off to outsiders. Once he'd earned his place, he learned why: they were friends, good friends, and they didn't need anyone else.

Just a few months into freshman year and those friendships were falling apart. Russ shook his head and slammed his glass down on the table. Maybe it wasn't that bad, maybe all the new people would just make the team stronger. After all, they'd just won a huge game—not as important as the Goodwill Games, but still a big one—and now they were all celebrating together.

Boisterous laughter rang out from one corner of the room. Russ half-stood to see better; Dwayne was surrounded by people. As he watched, Rai stood and made his way to the food counter; his hair was striped with black and red and easy to track across the crowded room.

"I'm gonna go say hi," Russ told Goldberg. "Do you want to come meet Dwayne's friends?"

Goldberg didn't say anything, just shrugged. Russ rolled his eyes and left him to his brooding. He didn't know what was wrong, but Goldberg never wanted to talk anymore. All he did was play on the computer. Half the time he wasn't in the room when Russ came back after class, but he wouldn't say where he'd been.

Russ had seen the signs before. Goldberg didn't want to be friends, and Russ would miss him, but it happened. One day you think you know a guy and the next he's the world's biggest ass. Life sucked, but you made do.

By the time Russ made it to Dwayne's table, Rai was back with drinks for everyone else. He passed them out while Russ dragged up a chair. Everyone had to scoot around to make room for him, but he noticed Rai didn't look too unhappy to move closer to Anna.

"Good game," Rai said. "You guys really showed them up."

"Thanks," Russ replied. He shifted his weight in the chair, uncomfortable. He wanted to talk about Finito and the article, but there were too many strangers around everywhere. Half the table had started talking again, something about three day competitions, whatever that was, but Anna and Rai were both paying attention to him instead.

"It wasn't horrible," Anna said after he'd been quiet a moment. "Everyone always says it's unnecessarily rough, but it didn't look as bad as I expected." She grinned, sudden and surprising. "Bet it feels worse when you're on the ice, though." She hadn't taken a drink yet, and she shoved her glass in his direction.

Russ nodded and accepted the soda. He was pretty sure it was as much of an apology as he'd ever hear from Anna Valentino, but he was used to sideways communication, too. "Yeah, it gets painful sometimes, but it's a great game. Especially when we win."

He lifted the glass in silent salute; Rai touched his glass against Russ's.

"Your band sounds pretty good," Russ said. He decided music would be a comfortable topic, and easier to understand than the horse talk.

"Thanks." Rai passed his drink to Anna; she took a quick swallow and set it back on the table. "We just lost our Homecoming gig, though. Our drummer decided he had 'better' things to do with his time. The school will probably never hire us again, because now we look unorganized."

"It's no big loss," Russ said. He hadn't planned on actually saying anything, but the opportunity was too perfect. "I've only heard you practice a couple times, but he never sounded very good."

Rai laughed. "Yeah, but a bad drummer is better than no drummer at all. For some reason there aren't many people here interested in joining a rock band."

"My brother would be great," Russ said. "I wish he could have come here, too. He showed me some of his tricks, but he's the best performer I've ever heard."

Rai rocked his chair back onto two legs. "It sounds like a real shame he can't be here, but as long as he taught you some tricks … why don't you sit in for awhile? You'll at least give us the chance to find a permanent replacement and if you like it, maybe it'll all work out for the best."

Anna smiled. "Better a musician than a jock," she said, laughter threaded through her words.

Russ grinned back. She was more relaxed than he'd seen her, and though he found her tough-girl persona annoying most of the time, he realized he liked her a lot when she calmed down.

"You're just jealous," Russ teased. "You wish you could be a hockey player and a rock star, but you're just going to have to be happy being a detective."

Anna laughed again and reached for Rai's drink. Just then, a group of cheerleaders walked past the table. One of them stumbled, bumped Rai's chair, and sent him to the floor.

"Watch it, weirdo!" she snapped. Another cheerleader stopped at her side; the second had long blonde hair and looked so much like Anna Russ had to do a double take.

"Really, Angela, can't you reign in your freaks?" the second one asked. She smiled sweetly, but it didn't match her words and Russ immediately took a dislike to her.

Anna didn't say anything. Instead she stood and flung the contents of the glass down the front of the cheerleader's pristine sweater.

The cheerleader stood there, soda dripping from her top, staining it dark brown. After a minute, Anna placed the glass back on the table and deadpanned, "Sorry, Shona, I slipped."

Shona shrieked and lunged toward Anna, but the other cheerleaders had returned and she stopped herself. As Russ watched, her features transformed and settled back into a calm mask.

"You always were clumsy," Shona said and laughed, high-pitched and fake. "Come on, I need to get cleaned up." She headed toward the bathrooms and most of the other cheerleaders trailed along behind.

"You ok?" Anna asked. She offered Rai a hand up; he let her pull him to his feet and then righted his chair. Once he was seated again, Anna offered to buy the next round of drinks.

Russ looked around while she collected everyone's order. Life certainly wasn't boring now.

Charlie hadn't really considered bringing Linda with him to the team celebration, he had intended on taking her out for that coke he'd promised, then going on to Bar None, a club which wasn't actually as cool as it wanted to be. Bar None catered to the under-agers, which meant some parents dropped their eight year olds off there as a free babysitting service while they went out to work – or on dates. There was no alcohol, the music was about ten years out of date (and not in a cool retro way), and the floor that was supposedly for dancing was usually filled with ten-year-old boys who would take a run up then skid along on their knees. All the same, it was just about the only place a group of twenty teenagers could hang out without someone's mom getting in a mood, or the dorm supervisor grounding the lot of them.

He thought it would be a Duck-only celebration, but Luis had brought his cheerleader along, who in turn had brought some of her friends, Fulton had brought his girlfriend, who seemed to be in the middle of a war against a JV cheerleader, Averman had brought a couple of people from his drama class, and even Dwayne had come with a bunch of a non-Ducks, so Charlie had decided that he might as well skip the coke alone with Linda and go straight to Bar None with the group.

He glanced around, it was a weird looking group. Fulton leaning against a wall talking to his girlfriend, to Terri – his mind sneered at her name, who would be cruel enough to name their child that? – instead of next to Portman. Portman himself was headed outside with Adam, a cheerful look on his face. Luis was away in a corner, making out with Mindy, instead of surrounded by his usual flock of girls – it was Averman who had a harem. About five girls were crowded around him listening to his jokes.

"Charlie, are you listening to me?" Linda asked quietly from across the table.

He blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I guess my concentration's little shot from the game."

She smiled. "It's ok, I was probably boring you anyway. I get that a lot."

"No, no, you weren't –"

"Hey guys, can we sit?"

Charlie looked up and Fulton and Terri were standing by their table. "It's just this place is filling up quick and I'd rather die than sit with Satan."

Fulton gently nudged Terri towards the seat next to Charlie, while he sat next to Linda. The gesture was not lost on Charlie. Fulton seemed very conscious about putting a fair amount of distance between himself and Charlie since that Kiss. It had got to the point where Kiss needed a capital letter, in Charlie's mind. It had been a small thing at first, but now it seemed to be the whole reason that he no longer had a best friend, and such an event was worthy of a capital letter.

"She means Shona," Fulton explained. "The head of the JV cheerleaders. They don't get on."

This was followed by an awkward silence. Charlie stared at the table, refusing to meet Fulton's eyes, he really wanted to talk to him, but not here, not with an audience. He stared resentfully at Terri. She shouldn't be here, what was she doing with Fulton? And why the hell was she wearing Fulton's Use Your Illusions shirt? Fulton had washed and worn that shirt almost daily over the summer, it was his favourite. He had told Charlie that he had done a month's worth of hard chores for his mother before she gave him the money to buy it and it had been worth every penny. And now he'd given it to some girl? What was he thinking? How could he like a girl he barely knew enough to give her his favourite shirt?

"I'm gonna get a drink." Fulton said at length. "Can I get you guys anything?"

"OJ would be nice." Linda said politely.

"No thanks." Charlie grunted, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"OJ for me too, please." Terri said. "I get sugar-highed on soda, I annoy people then."

You annoy people now, Charlie thought.

Again, there was silence. This time Terri broke it. "So, uh, what were you guys talking about before we rudely interrupted? Or was it some couple thing and I'm really getting in the way." She exhaled loudly. "Boy, do I feel like a third wheel."

Linda shifted in her seat, then smiled at Terri. "I was chewing Charlie's ear off about Homecoming next month. I was thinking of boycotting."

"Not going?" Terri sounded interested. "I'd love to, but I thought we had to go if we were living the dorm life."

"No, I'm going, I was thinking more of boycotting the Homecoming King and Queen and I'll look far more innocent if I'm present and being shocked by the boycott."

"I'd love to pelt them with eggs," Terri said. "That would take the smug smiles off their faces."

"I've got something a little more elaborate in mind. This school is all about snobbery, it's about rewarding the most popular and stomping on those who aren't. Take Homecoming King and Queen for example, the prettiest and most popular are nominated – not those people who actually contribute to the community, and I would like to see some less shallow people made King and Queen."

Terri got up from her seat and sat down next to Linda. "Tell me more about this, I'm interested, and I'm happy to volunteer my services."

Charlie glanced up. Linda's face with lit up with excitement that she'd found another devotee to her cause, Terri looked happy about the plan Linda was laying out. Charlie felt like punching something. He went back to moodily staring at the table top.

Adam leant against the exterior wall of Bar None, breathed in the fresh air, and gazed at Portman levelly. "You hopped a plane and flattened Cole." He said accusingly.

"I did." Portman agreed.

"You said, and I quote, 'it's not like I'm gonna hop a plane and flatten the guy'."

Portman held up a hand, "At the time, that was the truth. Bombay turned up a couple of days after that call. Then, when it turned out that I could go to Eden Hall, it began to seem like a good idea."

Adam sighed, the corners of his mouth twitching as he fought a smile.

"I'll have you know that I had to take anger management classes when I was twelve. I thought I was very restrained." Portman added.

Adam gave up fighting the smile. "I'm sure you mom would be very proud." He said finally.

"I did it for you, you know." Portman said, his tone suddenly serious.

"I know."

"No, I mean, the fact the check was legal. That's what I did for you."

Adam met Portman's eyes and smiled at him, understanding what Portman was saying. I played nice because I didn't want you to be ashamed of me. "I've really missed you." It wasn't quite what he meant, but it was as near as he could get at the moment.

Portman nodded. "I know."

And he did. He knew it wasn't what Adam meant at all, but all the same, he knew.

Fulton returned to the booth, a little surprised by the change in seating. Now he'd have to sit next to Charlie. Charlie glanced up at him, then back to Linda. "Linda, do you want to choose some songs on the jukebox with me?"

Linda barely turned away from Terri. "In a minute, I'm just telling Terri about my plan. After that, sure."

Fulton handed out the drinks and took a seat. Terri was half turned, facing Linda, listening with rapt attention to what Linda was saying. Fulton picked up one of Terri's hands. She gave him a brief but brilliant smile, then turned back to Linda, though she did scoot around a little so holding hands wasn't so uncomfortable.

Over the past couple of weeks, Fulton had become very good at being a boyfriend, and Terri had become very good at being a girlfriend. He walked her between classes when he could, they ate together, except when he was with the Ducks or she was with Anna. He had learnt that Anna didn't seem to like him permanently, it had nothing to do with her mood with Terri, and Terri was intimidated by the Ducks. He carried her books when her hip hurt. They always remembered to hold hands. Terri had raided his closet, taking a few shirts, including his most cherished Illusions shirt – he had fought her kicking and screaming over that, but she had told him that boys always let their girlfriends wear their clothes. He suspected that, while that was true, she had stolen that particular shirt because she was a fan too. Finally he had let her have it, throwing an off-hand comment at her, "Fine, everyone knows that Appetite is the superior album anyway."

That was the day of their first row, with Terri rallying hard for Illusion II. They had nearly made up, but Terri had stopped him, and told him to go ask his friends how he should make up with his girlfriend. He had given her a hug for her brilliance. Then told her she was evil and rotten. She was proud of him. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then flounced off, shirt in hand, slamming the door behind her.

Fulton had sought Luis' counsel over how to win Terri's affections back. Luis, who was talking to him again at that point, had suggested flowers, and maybe poetry. Fulton didn't go for poetry, so he tried flowers instead. He got her a bunch of roses. She accepted them, then said in a quiet tone that she always felt sorry for bunches of flowers, because they were dying in front of her eyes. She liked potted plants that had a chance to live better. Fulton told her they should continue the row. She said that he was a genius.

He went back to Luis, telling him what Terri had said, only dramatising it to make it more of a fight and less of a strategic discussion. Luis suggested poetry again, apparently quoting Shakespeare's sonnets was a key part of his (very successful) bid to win his girl. Luis was now officially a fan of romantic gestures, because in his words, "Let's face it, they work". Despite this, Fulton still wasn't a fan of poetry and he knew that Terri wasn't. Instead he translated Luis' advice slightly and went into town and bought a poster of Axl Rose with his then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, a still from the November Rain video, and the lyrics from Estranged on it. Terri was suitably won over (and confided in a low tone that she adored Stephanie Seymour). She found some girls to tell about it, making a point to coo over how thoughtful her boyfriend was.

They were a very good couple. And the weird thing was, it was kind of fun. It was nice to have someone know his secret, but cover for him. Terri was like a comfort blanket that he liked to keep close by. He had also learnt lots of things about Terri, like more details about her hips (she had CHD – congenital hip dislocation – which meant she was born with dislocated hips, they operated on her when she was eighteen months of age, since then she had a prominent limp because of the 4cm difference in the length of her legs, she had pain on a very random basis and one day would have to have a double hip replacement), she liked to draw, she smelt of vanilla and coconuts, and was allergic to touching, but not eating, popcorn. Things that boyfriends would know. They were good together. They just didn't lust after each other.

Charlie made a move to take Linda's hand, after he saw Fulton playing with Terri's rings. Linda looked surprised but pleased, and Charlie flashed Fulton an odd, almost triumphant, look.

Just as Fulton was wondering whether he should try and make conversation with Charlie while the girls talked, or continue to pretend to listen to Linda, they were interrupted once more. This time by Adam and Portman. Neither of them looked entirely enthused about joining the group, and it was hard to tell who had forced who to come over.

"Can we join you?" Portman asked, looking straight at Fulton.

Fulton grinned, if Portman was asking him, it meant that he was well on the way to forgiving Fulton for his snotty behaviour towards him recently. Forgiveness was something Portman had in abundance and something he offered frequently, which was a good thing, because nobody else in the team seemed particularly good at seeking it. "Sure, let's grab some chairs." Fulton replied.

Adam looked around and quickly nabbed the nearest empty chair. A further scan of the room proved that all other chairs were taken.

"Terri, come here." Fulton said, suddenly filled with cheer. "If you sit on my lap, someone can sit where you are – and I think Charlie might like to talk to his girlfriend at some point tonight, which he can't do with you hogging her."

Terri smiled at him and moved around to sit on his lap, Portman took her seat and Adam shunted the chair closer to the table. Once everyone was seated and Portman had introduced himself and Adam to Linda and Terri, there was an awkward silence once more. It was strange that it had only taken the past few weeks for this cluster of Ducks to lose the ability to communicate.

"Right," Portman said, taking charge. "Not to go all AA-meeting style on you, but I think everyone here, bar the ladies, owes someone an apology, and I think we should all get it out of the way and get back to being friends, because I, for one, am sick of getting calls and getting someone yelling at me because they're pissed at someone else and have decided to offload on me. I'll go first. Fulton, I'm sorry for the things I said, I had no idea that Hans died that day, and even so, I should have told you what I had to tell you before Bombay did."

Fulton looked at the table, he'd never felt so pathetic. Portman was apologising, in front of everyone, for being unreasonable, when really all he'd done is be a friend. "No, it was my fault. I hadn't even heard about Hans when we talked. I read the letter that night. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Fulton." Adam added.

"No problem. I meant to talk to you instead of pushing that note through your locker, I just couldn't find you."

All at the table seemed to turn towards Charlie, except the girls who were looking at each other in mild bafflement. Charlie continued staring at the table top. "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting." He glanced at Fulton, then Adam. "Sorry, Adam."

"Forget it," Adam replied.

"God, I wish I had a sin to confess or an apology to make, I feel really left out here." Terri said.

"You could apologise for you lousy judgement. Everyone knows that Appetite rocks so much harder than both of the Illusions together." Fulton replied, and most of the tension at the table seemed to float away. Though Fulton was still getting some strange vibes from Charlie.

"Oh, Fulton, don't tell me your girlfriend is a newbie." Portman groaned. "Otherwise I will have to revoke my apology."

"I'm not a newbie," Terri responded heatedly. "I just think that Estranged is a work of genius and that song, especially when it's with the rest of the trilogy, takes the Illusions albums to heights that Appetite could not reach."

"Well," Portman said. "At least she knows about the trilogy. Quick quiz: better drummer, Sorum or Adler?"

"Sorum, at least they didn't have to dumb the Illusions songs down for him. Adler was stoned off his face so bad they had to make Appetite simpler for him."

"Gilby or Izzy?"

"Gilby. And Axl's a twat for firing him so often."

Fulton shook his head. "If that's true, why haven't we seen Duff wearing a 'Where's Gilby?' sign on his ass?"

"At least Gilby wasn't the one who bailed out the day that the Don't Cry video was being shot!" She replied hotly.

Portman pulled a face. "Well, she's wrong, but she knows the answers. One final question, and your entire relationship hinges on this, so answer well. Fill in the blank, Slash is…"

"God."

Portman nodded. "I'll let you keep her."

"Thanks, man." Fulton replied with a grin. Terri might be a flake at times, but she knew her GN'R. "So, who are you rooming with?"

"Adam, he's got a room to himself at the moment, and they like us hockey players rooming together, it means that we're less likely to wake up the entire floor when we're getting ready in the morning."

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, with Portman's cheerful presence, even Charlie and Fulton were able to talk to each other occasionally. Linda and Adam found they had a shared interest in history and, more importantly, a shared fear of Mr Barber, and his strange fascination with squashing the dwarf to make a point.

Terri brought up Homecoming again, eager to get more involved with Linda's plan, then she casually turned to Fulton and said, "You're taking me, right?" Fulton had nodded agreeably, like a good boyfriend, and turned back to his conversation with Portman. After that, Charlie asked Linda if she wanted to go with him. She also agreed.

The six of them walked back to Eden Hall together. It wasn't far and Terri seemed to be having a good day with her hips. However, she was cold, so Fulton gave her his jacket, with the stern words, "That you can't keep. I am serious on this." She had replied, "Of course you are, darling," complete with a very patronising pat on the shoulder, then resumed her chat with Linda.

At this point Charlie offered Linda his jacket. She gave him a strange look, and pointed out that, unlike Terri, she had remembered to bring her own.

Terri and Linda were in separate dorm blocks, so Charlie and Fulton walked their respective girlfriends together towards the girls' dorms, while Portman and Adam headed back to the boys' blocks. Linda's block was behind Terri's, so they split up at Terri's, Charlie and Linda continuing along the path, while Fulton walked Terri to the main entrance.

Terri and Fulton made show of canoodling in the alcove of the doorway to her block until they were sure Charlie and Linda were gone, then broke apart feeling slightly foolish. They had laid a ground rule of no making out; when called for, they would only peck on the cheek, but neither had wanted to fake that aspect of their relationship. While there were plenty of real couples who were happy to make out with an audience, there were also plenty who weren't. Terri and Fulton had decided to pretend to be one of the latter. Canoodling simply consisted of hugs and giggles. It always made them feel very stupid that they were going to such great lengths to fool the world, themselves included, that they were normal. The rest of what they did wasn't so bad, it was just an extension of their friendship.

Terri glanced around the edge of the alcove, making sure Linda and Charlie were out of earshot. She looked up at Fulton. "It's Charlie, isn't it?" She said softly.

He knew what she meant immediately. He was almost sure that hers was Anna. The reason for this stupid charade. He nodded. "But how did you know?"

"Well, not that Charlie's behaviour wasn't a big flashing neon sign, but I was watching you too. His behaviour could be explained, I don't know the guy. Maybe he's shy, maybe that's why he was copying you. But I do know you. You were weird, vibey. You two barely said two words to each other all night." She glanced out into the night. "It's a shame, because Linda has no idea. I like her, she's going to get hurt if he keeps on with her."

"What about us, will we get hurt?" Fulton asked.

"No, we won't. We made the rules, we both know where we stand. It's a shame about us too, because if we liked each other like that, we'd be great together." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Night."

"Night." He echoed, then turned to walk back to his dorm. He shivered in the cold, and realised that Terri had successfully walked away with another of his items of clothing. He shook his head, smiling a little. They really were faking it well.

He noticed that Terri had spoken as if Fulton had admitted that he really had feelings for Charlie. He thought back over all of their conversations and realised that he had never told her otherwise. And Terri had also implied that Charlie was playing the same game as Fulton was. Pretending to like a girl to get away from his feelings of confusion. Maybe since Fulton had admitted it to Terri, it was about time he admitted it to himself. He did seem to have feelings for Charlie, what they were, he wasn't sure, but he should really find out. And that would only happen if he actually got to talk to him.

As luck would have it, he could see Charlie making his way back down the path, so Fulton stopped and waited for Charlie to catch up. Charlie seemed to be taking his time, so Fulton waved, making it clear that he was not going to get bored and walk back by himself. Charlie obligingly sped up.

Before Fulton could speak, Charlie jumped in. "You know, I was thinking about what Portman said, and I think I owe you an apology." He finally met Fulton's eyes for longer than three seconds, something that hadn't happened for a long time. "I'm sorry about… you know. I miss us being friends, and that… incident, well, it didn't mean anything. We can be friends again, can't we?" He didn't wait for confirmation, he just kept going, his words coming out in a rush. "We could even double-date, since Terri and Linda seem to get along. And this Homecoming thing, I hear you have to buy the girls flowers, I'm not so good at that. Maybe we could go into town to buy them together. What do you think?"

What did he think? Well, he didn't know what to think, since his heart was too busy being crushed between two steel hands after hearing that the kiss – no, "that incident" – had meant nothing. He didn't want to double-date with Charlie, he didn't want to have to watch Charlie be with a girl – a girl that maybe he genuinely did like after all – he didn't want to go shopping for stupid flowers for the girls (especially since Terri was morally opposed to dying flowers and would rather have a potted plant). He wanted to understand what he was feeling, now instead it was all being swept away under the rug because Charlie had already processed and moved on.

But what did he say?

"That sounds great to me."