I do not own the Ducks, sorry for mistakes, reviews are lovely.

awtr101fan- Thank you for another lovely review. I'm glad you liked the banter between Essi and Adam. I'll admit I have a bit of a dirty mind and it shows in this. There will be more of them two together. Not to mention there will be flashbacks to their past. The bruise will be answered in this chapter so you don't have to wonder anymore.

At the end of the night Esmeralda was pretty happy. She liked Julie, Connie and Tammy; they were fun and had a descent sense of humor. And getting to see Adam again! She had watched him on the Banks T.V. when he was at the Junior Goodwill Games, and she listened to his games on the radio but it wasn't the same thing. To be in the same room with him, to talk to him, to argue with him, it was… different.

She had been so sure she would never see him again unless it was a fleeting moment or a Banks wedding, but only one of his siblings. That's why she had done what she did at their last meeting. If she had known he would come back into her life and no longer look like a little boy but… well him, she wouldn't have done it.

The knot in her stomach tightened at that thought. Ignoring it, Esmeralda looked around the bowling ally. She snorted when she saw Tristan Riley looking at Phoebe. He had liked Phoebe ever since he had been forced to attend Cutlan, but Phoebe hated him. The moment he had appeared at the bowling ally Maria and Esmeralda had teased Phoebe, thus letting the Ducks know about the one-way crush.

"Hey, Girly," Maria said, sitting beside Esmeralda with a smile on her face. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, hang on." Esmeralda slipped on her sandals, grabbed her handbag and headed over to the counter with Maria to return their shoes.

When she went to head out the door however, Phoebe stopped her. "Clothes."

Looking down at her clothing, Esmeralda gasped and headed to the bathroom. She changed out of her loose pants and mid-drift tank-top and put on a simple blue dress that she had stowed away in her handbag. God those things could hold a lot. She then put away her old clothes and took out a compact, fixing her make-up so it suited her outfit.

Putting it back in her handbag and checking herself in the mirror, Esmeralda left the bathroom and returned to her baffled friends. They gave her new outfit a questioning look before Adam uttered an oh-so familiar phrase.

"Welcome to the life of the rich and shameless."

"My dad and David would go bonkers if they knew I was at a bowling ally having fun," Esmeralda explained, running her fingers through her hair. "So, I've been at the library." Everyone accepted her reasoning and left the building.

Her friends that were getting a ride with Maria and Adam decided to wait till their friends getting a ride from their parents were picked up. Esmeralda, however, was taking the bus so she couldn't wait. Giving Phoebe and Maria a hug, and a goodbye to everyone else, Esmeralda ran off to catch her bus. Once she was on it, she chose an empty seat at the back and took her book out.

It only took twenty minutes for the bus to get to her stop and when she got off she dreaded every step she took closer to the place she was supposed to call home. Entering the large mansion like house, Esmeralda tried to be quiet, not wishing to alert her brother or father. Lifting her eyes off the ground for a moment, Esmeralda looked at the foyer and had a flash of a haunting memory. Her hate of this house had tripled that day, at the very least.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Esmeralda dropped her gaze. She wasn't allowed to look males in the eyes. She was to beneath them. It had taken her a year to look Adam in the eye, and it was only after he had proven he wouldn't hurt her. After that day, storm blue had become her favorite color.

"Brat," a male voice called from the sitting room to her right. Everything in that room was old fashioned. Whether it was the glass table, with the lion paw legs or the china cabinet with wood inlay. It was all expensive and intimidating to visitors.

Turning to that room, Esmeralda put her toes at the threshold. Keeping her eyes downcast and her hands clasped in front of her. "Yes, Sir?" she asked the man with mud brown hair.

"Where have you been?" Mr. McGill spat at his only daughter as he twirled his scotch on the rocks.

"At the library, Sir, I have an assessment due and I did not wish to disgrace you with a poor mark." Esmeralda heard the footfalls that were her brothers.

"What do you think, David, my boy?" her father asked her brother as he sipped his drink. David walked up behind her and gave her a push, making her step into the room. She prayed her shoes weren't dirty even a little.

David came over to her and put his thumb underneath her chin and put his index in front of her chin. He did this to control the direction of her face. When he forced her to look up, Esmeralda diverted her eyes, looking at the ceiling corner. He moved her head in different angles. Next minute, his small grip tightened and he pushed her back by only his two fingers. "You've been with Adam Banks," David spat. "I can tell." It probably didn't help the fact that she breathed in deep at Adam's name.

"I haven't," Esmeralda protested anyway.

"Liar, stay the fuck away from that traitor," David ordered. Anger welled in Esmeralda and she did something she had never done. She looked her brother in the eyes. She was pleased to see that she and he did not have the same color brown. He's were blue/brown. But that happy emotion didn't last long. The anger was taking over again. Before she could act on it however, she felt pain shoot through the side of her face as David back-handed her. She stumbled and fell. She registered more pain when her head hit the corner of the oak half table against the wall. After that, everything went black.

Adam couldn't believe it. He had thought he'd never see her again. Esmeralda McGill! Not a day had gone by without him at least thinking her name. Seeing her again was different. She was different. He had seen girls before but Esmeralda was the first girl he had ever noticed. Before that girls were girls. Back then Esmeralda had been wow but now she was… WOW!

That's the only way he knew how to explain it. He didn't just mean her appearance but her personality. She was strong willed and held her morals high but she was also secretive. She hid the true Esmeralda when ever she was around her brother and father. She even hid herself around others. She was also opinionated, frustrating, scared. The list was endless, well to him anyway. Adam wasn't sure but he might be the only person besides Esmeralda's mother to see her cry. Crying was forbidden in her house and to do it in front of someone, a male no less, was unheard of.

Sighing, Adam opened the second draw on his nightstand and lifted up the false bottom. Putting his hand in the draw, Adam felt what he wanted. Taking it out, he smiled and looked at the photograph.

Esmeralda woke up as she felt something collide painfully with her shoulder blade. Groaning, she turned to lie on her back and open her eyes. The moment she did, the pain in her head increased dramatically. Before her eyes had a chance to focus, pain shot through her side as the same thing to hit her shoulder blade, hit her ribs.

When her eyes did focus and she pushed back the tears, Esmeralda saw her brother standing over her, looking pissed. He had obviously kicked her… hard!

"Ah, look, the whores awake," David bit. He crouched down and grabbed the back of her head, pulling her hair as he made her stand up. "You won't see the light of day for the rest of the summer for what you did. How dare you look me in the eyes? You're beneath me." David dragged her out of the sitting room and across the foyer. He pulled her up the stairs, leading her forcefully to her room. "You will stay the hell away from Adam Banks, do you hear me? I don't want you talking to him, seeing him or even thinking about him. I know why he played badly in that game. He tainted you. Father and I can't even pay a man to take you off our hands now. Who would want a girl that kissed a traitor and liked it? Oh yes, I know, I saw you fucking kiss him back. I expected you to be disgusted but no! You're too much of a slut." All David's questions were obviously rhetorical because he didn't wait for an answer. They got to the door that hid the staircase to the attic. David threw it open and pulled Esmeralda up them. Getting to the top of the stairs, David threw open the other door and pushed Esmeralda in, letting go of her hair roughly.

The door was slammed shut before Esmeralda had even hit the ground. When she did, her head throbbed and her stomach churned. Pulling herself up off the ground, she ran to her bathroom and over to the toilet. She brought up the contents of her stomach as her ribs pounded in pain because of the muscles near them being strained.

Washing her mouth out when she was done, Esmeralda walked back into her room, thanking God that her brother and father didn't want her to 'dirty their bathrooms' with her presence, unless she was cleaning it of course. As she swayed on the spot because of her concussion, Esmeralda heard a thud of something hitting the door. Cautiously walking over and opening the door, Esmeralda saw her handbag about three steps down from it. Her brother had thrown it at the door. Quickly, Esmeralda retrieved it and brought it into her room. Going through it, she found everything still there. She knew David had gone through it though and she was probably in worse trouble because of the clothing. With a small smile, Esmeralda put her hand down the top of her dress and pulled her phone out of her bra, along with the napkin Adam had wrote his number on. She had felt odd putting something Adam had touched and written on in her bra but now she was glad she had. Otherwise she would have had it taken off her.

She knew that people with concussions shouldn't sleep because there was a chance they wouldn't wake up, but she didn't care. She viewed death as a blessing right about know. At that thought, something, or more someone, popped into her head. Dying would mean never seeing Adam again, but then again, it was probably safer.

As much as she wanted to see him again, she knew it would raise a lot of problems. David had been telling the truth when he said she kissed him back.

"What was with your brother in today's match?" Esmeralda asked as she and Phoebe played a clapping game together.

"I don't know, he played the last match badly but he was half dead with the flu," Phoebe answered. The two seven-year-olds were sitting in the empty stands near the rink their brothers had played on and were waiting for their brothers to get out of the changing room.

"Maybe he's still sick," Esmeralda suggested. "Although, that wouldn't explain why my brother looked so happy when Banks started play poorly."

"He looked pissed after he saw Adam look at you though," Phoebe pointed out. She had seen her brother take off his helmet after their win and look directly at Esmeralda. His face was blank besides for a small blush but Phoebe knew her brother and saw something in his eyes that said there was a reason why he was looking at Esmeralda.

Just then the boys came out of the changing room and walked towards the girls. The girls halted their game and stood up.

"That was sad, I mean disgraceful," David was saying to Adam as the latter boy just looked at the ground. "I wouldn't even show my face next match if I was you."

"Shut up, David. My brother is ten times better then you. So what, his still sick, he still got a lot of goals," Phoebe defended her brother. "Oh, Essi, don't forget you and your mom are invited to the lunch at our house on Saturday."

"You are?" David spat. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Because it's one of our dad's get-together's. He told me and mom we could invite people to hang out with, so we did." Phoebe rolled her eyes as Esmeralda looked at her feet and tried to suppress a smile. Adam kept shooting her looks before blushing and looking at the ground. Something was up.

"Why didn't you invite me?" David directed at Adam.

"Because I'm playing Meet-and-Greet," Adam replied, looking David straight in the eyes.

"What ever, hurry up, I want to go." This statement from David confused the girls but before they could question it, Adam took a deep breath and sighed.

Stepping towards Esmeralda, Adam lifted her head, making her look at the ice rink instead of his eyes. She may look him in the eyes on regular basis's but not around her brother. She darted her eyes to Adams lips to see him give a half smile before leaning forward. He cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to hers, holding them there long enough for Esmeralda to get out of her shock and respond.

When he drew back, Esmeralda put her fingers to her lips and looked Adam in the eyes. He licked his lips and smiled before turning red. "Umm, Phoebe, I think we should get going know. Mum and dad are probably waiting for us."

"Ar, okay," Phoebe said, looking between Esmeralda and Adam with a perplexed look on her face. "Only if you explain that to me."

Adam nodded and he and his sister walked off, Phoebe looking over her shoulder at Esmeralda as she did.

Esmeralda removed her fingers from her lips as she looked at the ground in confusion. She only half registered David walking off and her following, her mind was still on the kiss, forever implanted into her memory. Later on David had told Esmeralda why Adam had done it. He had hoped it would hurt Esmeralda to be used as a punishment to Adam but it didn't. Something told her that he didn't see it as a punishment; whether it was the way he blushed or the fact that he licked his lips that had her taste on them. Either way, neither of them saw it as a punishment.

Esmeralda sighed as her eyelids drooped with sleepiness. She scrambled over to her bed, her shoulders slumped. She was thankful her mom's mom was so nice and insisted on buying her a queen bed for her sixteenth. Her brother and father had said she would only use it for one thing and that wasn't sleeping but her Gran trusted her.

With one last thought at the memorable kiss, or at least one of them, Esmeralda smiled, thought about what a great kisser Adam was, and fell asleep. Still in the storm blue dress, her favorite colour.

Thank you for reading. I changed the age Adam was when they kissed in the second chapter. I just liked the idea of Essi being seven instead of six. It just fitted better.

You see that green button. Be nice and click it! …o0Black-Sand0o…