"Do you feel any better?" Rick asked when he'd noticed she'd calmed down considerably.

"No, what are you doing here anyway?" Connie was highly embarrassed that he'd seen her like that.

"I told you, I missed you" Rick replied.

"You're a jerk" Connie told him.

"I know but I still missed you" Rick grinned at her.

"So what about Traci? Shouldn't you be missing her?" Connie emphasised the point that she knew that Traci was his girlfriend.

"Doesn't seem like she's missing me when she's all over your teammate" Rick replied evenly.

"You know about that?" Connie asked.

"Of course I know about it, it's not the first time she's cheated" Rick replied slightly amused by Connie's shocked expression.

"So why are you with her then?" Connie couldn't help but ask.

"Simple, she's the head cheerleader and I'm captain of the Varsity Hockey team. Keeps the parentals happy" Rick replied feeling a little grateful that they were having a 'normal' conversation without any yelling, punching and, to his dismay, kissing.

"And what would your dad say if he knew you were sneaking around with a Duck?" Connie asked.

"Is that what we're doing?" Rick replied.

"You tell me" Connie replied a little thrown. What the hell did he think they were doing?

"At the risk of sounding like a jerk, well you already think I am one anyway, I think you're hot and you think I'm hot so we follow each other around and do whatever we want to do" Rick put it in 'layman's' terms.

"I do NOT follow you around" Connie retorted feeling a little flushed that he admitted he thought she was hot.

"Oh you do so Moreau" Rick teased laughing when she shoved him.

"I do not!" Connie pushed him again. In fact she shoved him so hard that he fell off of the bench they were sitting on.

The combination of his facial expression and the image of him falling on his butt was more than enough to make Connie burst out laughing.

"Glad to see I can make you smile again Moreau" Rick said dryly as he got up and brushed the dirt off of his butt.

"Glad to see I can make you fall on your ass" Connie shot back.

"I'm sure you can do more than that" Rick teased feeling the urge to kiss her again.

"I know I can" Connie replied coyly.

Rick squatted down in front of her and placed his hands on her knees for balance.

"So do we feel better now?" he asked moving in close.

"For now" Connie replied feeling the grief returning.

She looked down at his hands on her knees.

"Hey don't get all sad again, my butt hurts still" Rick tried joking.

"Good" Connie replied giving a small smile.

Rick dropped to his knees and removed his hand from her knees to bring it up to her face.

"You can tell me what's wrong you know" he said gently.

Connie searched his face for any hint of a smirk but found nothing.

"Some one close to me died last night" she said feeling fresh tears pricking behind her eyes.

"I'm sorry" Rick said softly using his thumb to wipe away her new tears.

Connie allowed herself to be pulled into his strong chest once again. She liked this caring side of Rick Riley.


"Julie can I talk to you?"

Julie was startled to see Scooter standing behind her.

She hastily wiped her eyes and faced him.

"What?" she asked a little harshly. She couldn't let him see that she was interested. He could still be a jerk like the rest of his team.

"Are you alright? You look like you've been crying" Scooter asked softly upon seeing the tears in her eyes.

"I'm fine" Julie lied.

"Look I know you think I'm a jerk cos I'm on Varsity" Scooter began.

"Good guess" Julie mumbled.

Scooter shook off the last comment "But you can talk to me if you can't talk to anyone else" he offered.

"What's there to talk about? Hans is dead and there's nothing anyone can do about it" Julie fumed not meaning to say it aloud.

"Hans? As in Hans' Skate Shop Hans?" Scooter asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah, he died last night" Julie felt the tears rising up again.

"No way, he was like invincible" Scooter was talking more to himself now. He'd been going to Hans' Skate Shop since he was a little kid playing for the Huskies.

"You knew him?" Julie was surprised.

"Everyone knew Hans" Scooter replied looking sadder by the second.

"The funeral's Friday if you wanted to go" Julie took pity on the poor guy.

"Thanks" Scooter replied offering her a very small smile.

"I've gotta go" Julie told him.

"Bye" Scooter was still in shock at the news.

"I'm sorry" Julie reached out and gave his hand a squeeze before leaving.

Scooter just stared down at his hand craving the warmth that she'd left behind.


"This is stupid" Connie declared snapping her head up out of Rick's neck.

"What's stupid?" he asked.

"This, us. Its insane" she told him.

"Yeah I know but I cant keep away from you" Rick told her.

"I know the feeling" she admitted.

"Well its not like anyone knows about it" Rick reasoned.

"True, but if anyone ever did find out we'd be in so much shit" Connie argued.

"And who's gonna find out?" Rick placed his hand on Connie's leg.

"Oh shut up" Connie told him and he grinned.

"That's more like it" Rick murmured moving his head across to graze her lips.

"Rick!" Connie hissed remembering they were out in the open grounds of Eden Hall.

"What?" Rick looked confused.

"Look where we are" Connie scolded.

Rick looked around before grabbing her hand "Come on, lets go for a drive" he suggested.

I am freaking insane Connie thought when she found herself following him out to his car.

But he has a hot car! she thought happily when she saw his red convertible vintage Mustang parked in the car park.

I suppose there could be worse things she decided sliding into the car as Rick held the door open for her.


A/N - thanks for all of your reviews. I'll try to update again soon.