As I sat in the group watching Bombay, I honestly thought this big announcement would be that he wasn't going to tolerate any more pranks and that we should all get along with one another.
I totally wasn't expecting what he had to say next.
"I received a phone call from my old high school biology teacher" Bombay started.
"Don't tell us, you're leaving us to perform autopsies for a living?" Averman squinted as if he was trying to read Bombay's mind.
Bombay looked slightly horrified at Averman's suggestion at him wanting to cut up dead people for a living.
What the hell goes through that kids mind?
Averman grinned at the group and I found myself smiling back at him. Well he is one of the few Ducks that had actually forgiven us for pulling a prank on him.
"No" Bombay replied. Surely he had to be expecting interruptions from the Ducks. I got the feeling some of them were born to interrupt important announcements.
I felt Fulton squeeze my hand. I stole a glance at him and found him watching Bombay, obviously wanting to find out what this was all about.
"Anyway, my old high school biology teacher called me and it turns out he is now the Dean of my old high school, Eden Hall Academy. Have any of you heard of it?" Bombay asked.
"Do we look like a bunch of preppy snobs coach?" Goldberg asked.
"With the exception of Banksie" Portman laughed. A few of the others giggled.
"Adam, have you heard of Eden Hall?" Bombay ignored the preppy comments.
Adam nodded "Yeah, my dad checked it out along with a few other schools in the area" he admitted.
The poor guy looked so embarrassed.
"Cake-Eater!" Jesse blurted out with a huge grin. This time all of the Ducks had to laugh.
"Okay, here's the big news" Bombay paused for effect. This guy was so damn cheesy sometimes. I wish he would just get on with whatever this "big" news was.
"Just say it coach!" Charlie had a huge grin on his face. Obviously he knew what was going on.
Figures. It was plainly obvious that Charlie was his favourite. Not that I minded, Charlie was a great leader and everyone else seemed to look up to him, even Fulton and Portman.
"Okay, Eden Hall has offered each and every one of you a full athletic scholarship to attend the Academy".
There. Coach had dropped the bombshell on us.
"That's like free right?" Russ spoke up. I knew he was seriously considering taking up the offer. I saw his neighbourhood in South Central, Los Angeles and it appeared to be one of those neighbourhoods where if you breathed in the direction of the wrong person you'd end up being shot or stabbed.
"Duh!" Fulton laughed from next to me.
I looked over at him to see he was grinning back at me. Then I realised what this meant.
We could actually have a shot at staying together.
I tried to be as enthusiastic as possible on the exterior but inside I knew I'd have a fight on my hands to be allowed to move to Minnesota to go to school.
My mother had her heart set on me attending Bangor Grammar, the school where the elite of Maine studied. Social status was quite important to her.
"This is awesome! You can come to Minnesota for good now" I heard Fulton telling Portman. I knew he was thinking the same thing about me.
"Yeah but dude, preppy school" Portman didn't sound too keen on the idea.
"Do y'all think I'd be allowed to wear my hat?" Dwayne asked looking fearful at the prospect of being forced to remove his beloved hat.
"Yes Dwayne" Connie replied sweetly.
Dwayne smiled broader than I'd ever seen it go. He had such a crush on Connie.
I glanced at Guy who looked really mad. He glared at Connie before turning to talk to Charlie who had obviously forgiven him for being in on the pranks.
"What's going on there?" Fulton nudged me and indicated to Connie and Guy.
I shrugged "I guess they didn't make up this time"
"They will soon, poor Dwayne though. He's hopelessly in love with Connie" Fulton replied squeezing my hand again.
"I know" I reply not really in the mood to talk right now.
"Are you okay?" Fulton asked concerned. I guess he could tell I sounded a little unenthused.
"Yeah, just shocked that's all" I replied trying to downplay my lack of excitement. I mean it would be great to be able to go to Eden Hall with the Ducks but my mother would never go for it. There simply was no point in getting my hopes up.
"I know but its gonna be pretty cool having you around more" Fulton said. I knew I should have felt happy he said that but I honestly felt like crying. It would be just my like that I finally found a boy that I really liked and he liked me back and my stupid mother was going to keep us apart.
I settled for nodding. I couldn't bring myself to speak.
I could tell he was about to take me away from the group to talk when Connie flopped down beside me after flirting shamelessly with Dwayne.
Connie sighed loudly. I knew something was up with her.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Connie looked from me to Fulton and back again before replying.
"Guy and I broke up" she sighed again.
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" I asked gently. I knew Connie and Guy had been together for quite some time.
"Yeah, I never noticed how cute Dwayne was" she turned and winked at Dwayne who I thought was going to have a heart attack.
"Careful Cons, he thinks the sun shines out of your ass" Fulton warned. He didn't want to see the Cowboy get hurt, he was too nice for that.
"At least someone thinks that" Connie ignored Fulton's warning. I had to admit, Fulton was right. Connie would most likely use Dwayne to make Guy jealous and then ditch Dwayne the second Guy takes her back. I saw her try to use this tactic with Luis at the beginning of the Goodwill Games.
Fulton rolled his eyes and I had to stifle a laugh. Connie certainly used her looks to her advantage sometimes. It wasn't like she purposely set out to hurt guys it just happened that way.
"Guy's boring anyway" she continued oblivious to Fulton's disinterest.
"I think you should at least wait a day before you start anything with another guy" I advise.
Connie looked at me horrified. Oops I think I just put my foot in my mouth.
"Whatever" she snapped before stomping off. She didn't get very far before Bombay informed her that it was time for her and Ken to start dinner.
"Poor Kenny, she's gonna be such a pain to work with now that she's pissed off" Fulton whispered.
I could see Connie grab Ken by his shirt and drag him over to the area that had been set up as the 'kitchen'. Basically it was a portable gas stove set up in the middle of a square of coolers that acted as "walls".
Thank god we were going home tomorrow.
A/N – sorry the announcement wasn't all that 'earth shattering' but we all know that Eden Hall comes after the Goodwill Games and obviously Bombay doesn't tell anyone (except Casey) that he wont be the coach until he tells Charlie at the start of D3.
I think I might turn this fic into a little 'trilogy' – the first being at the camp, the second in Bangor with Julie and the third one at Eden Hall. What do you guys think?