RUSS' POV

Dah-am.

That one word in my 'brother accent' pretty much summed it up.

Connie and Averman DAH-AM

I'm not sure if it's a good 'damn' or a bad 'damn'.

Its no secret that every guy on the team thought Connie was pretty. We all thought Julie was pretty too but with Connie she had that certain quality about her. It must be the dark hair that makes her seem more, I dunno 'mysterious' perhaps.

Watching them now as Connie leaned heavily on Averman for support after Coach's punishing practice I couldn't help but think about how much Eden Hall has changed the Ducks.

Obviously the starting point was when Jesse turned down his scholarship. That was like a kick in the guts to say the least. I wasn't lying when I told Julie this place was low on the brothers' quotient.

Next came Bombay's shock departure. After that whole 'Ducks Fly Together' speech where he made us look like lame-asses with the who are you and where are you from crap he goes and dumps us smack bang in the middle of "Preppsville USA".

Then of course was Portman bailing which made Fulton the only remaining Bash Brother.

Then Charlie cracks the worlds biggest tantrum and actually leaves the team with Fulton in tow leaving me and Goldberg to protect the team, not very well I might add.

Then Hans dies and somewhere in all of that crap Connie and Guy had broken up in a nasty fight.

So I guess you could say that Connie and Averman were now the cherry on top of a really whacked out sundae.

I guess I felt a little sorry for Guy in all of this. Aside from having been bitch slapped by a girl, he had to see his ex-girlfriend with one of his best friends.

So far he seemed to be succeeding at ignoring all of this, but how long would that last.

My bet was not very long.

Guy seemed to revert to making a less than dramatic exit from the locker room and it didn't take a genius to work out that he'd had enough of the Connie and Averman show.

"Guys I really don't want to see that, get a room!" Goldberg complained loudly.

"How about your room then?" Connie smirked evilly.

"Good Lord, someone kill me now" Goldberg was horrified.

Note to self, never share a room with Averman.

"Hey Russ wanna get some icecream?" Dwayne asked me hopefully.

It always made me grin whenever Dwayne got that look on his face. He was so damn naïve it wasn't funny. Wait, yes it was!

"Sure Cowboy" I agreed. I might be from the hood but I still liked my icecream.

"Can I come too?" Julie asked us.

"Sure you can Catlady" Dwayne grinned. He always had a soft spot for the girls on the team.

"Thanks guys" Julie grinned.

I figured it must be a little difficult for her now having lost quality time with Connie and she didn't have any other female friends at Eden Hall.

"Come on Russ lets go!" Dwayne said excitedly.

"I'm comin' Cowboy, keep your spurs on" I replied in my cool manner grabbing my do' rag and shoving it on my head.

"I aint wearing spurs" Dwayne made his confused face.

It wasn't that he was stupid, it was that his farm lovin' Texas upbringing didn't teach him much on the way of sarcasm and street slang. He simply didn't know any better.

Julie, Dwayne and myself left the locker room after calling goodbye to everyone and headed off campus in the direction of the icecream parlour.

"So what flavour are you getting Julie?" Dwayne asked.

"I'm not sure, a toss up between Cookies and Cream and Strawberry" Julie replied thinking about it.

"I know what I'm gonna get!" Dwayne said excitedly.

We didn't have to guess. Every time Dwayne went to the ice cream parlour he always got the same flavour, Vanilla.

"How about you Russ?" he turned to me.

"I'm not sure yet Cowboy" I replied. I liked to see what was on offer before making my decision.

"Oh okay" Dwayne replied.

"Hey guys wait up!" Connie's voice cut in behind us.

We turned to see her running towards us with Averman in tow. He looked like he was struggling to catch up.

"Hey guys what's up?" I asked.

"Can we come get icecream with you?" Connie asked the question and I was sure I could see a slight hesitation in her expression. She probably thought we didn't want the happy couple around.

"You sure can!" Dwayne replied grinning broadly.

"Thanks guys" Connie said happily holding Averman's hand.

Averman on the other hand completely looked like the pimp with the hottest chick. The glint in his eye was more than enough proof that he was one happy man.

Dwayne then asked the couple what flavour they were going to get and Averman grossed us all out by replying with:

"Chocolate with toffee mixed with mint chip with hot fudge sauce AND strawberry topping"

"EW!" Connie and Julie said at the same time.

"But its good!" Averman protested.

"Dude that is weird" I replied.

"I'll say" Dwayne agreed.

"Well I'm a weird guy" Averman replied not changing his mind.

I had to admire that. He knew what he liked and didn't care what anyone thought.

Connie let go of Averman's hand long enough to start chatting excitedly with Julie about some school dance that was coming up.

"So dude how's things with Connie?" I ask to make conversation. Truth was all of us male Ducks were dying to know.

"Great, you know she's not as psycho as Guy said she was" Averman said thoughtfully.

"Wait until she breaks your nose" I laugh.

"Not gonna happen, not if I keep her happy!" Averman said as if it were the most logical thing on the planet.

"Good luck!" I laughed again. If there was one thing I knew about girls it was that they were never, ever happy. Especially girls in South Central.

"I don't need it!" Averman said smugly.

"Sure dude" I replied.

He was in for one hell of a ride then.