Sorry it took me so long to post again. I've been busy and wanted to get this chapter right. I promise I haven't abandoned the story. And reviews are great.

He had been right. The Ducks noticed something was wrong with him the moment he met up with them in the Court Yard after arrival. They had looked at him and noticed the strain to his smile, the coarseness to his voice and the dullness to his eyes and had started questioning him. He had dismissed their questions, saying he was fine and that he didn't want to talk about it. They didn't look happy but they didn't push the matter. Instead they started talking about their own weekend. They all easily had had better holidays then him but they didn't need him to vocalise that fact to work it out.

By the time it was dinner, the team was worried. He had not laughed at their jokes, he had half-heartedly agreed to play street hockey with them on the next weekend before going to Leo's birthday party, and he hadn't touched his lunch, claiming he had had a large breakfast, which of course had been proven a lie by his stomach choosing that moment to grumble in complaint of its lack of nurturance.

"Banks, eat!" Portman growled, stopping from shovelling his food into his own mouth for a moment to bark the command.

"I am!" Adam protested, pushing his food around with his fork.

"Playing with it is not classed as eating," Connie scolded in a motherly fashion. "Adam, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said before putting some food in his mouth. "There, now stop complaining."

"There is still something wrong with you, so spill," Fulton ordered with a menacing glare.

Adam glared back with one of his own, which shocked the table. "You know what, I'm full. I'm going to bed." He left without a goodbye and stalked to his room, where he slammed his door closed with furry. He began to pace in a way to release his anger before a wave of fatigue hit him. He was tired from lack of food but he refused to eat. Whenever he did, he felt like throwing up, and he didn't want to do that. He reasoned that he would have to start eating soon, or risk playing badly in a game, but he wasn't looking forward to food, or his next encounter with the Ducks.
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Phoebe walked into the room to see Esmeralda sleeping. This was odd, seeing as it was noon and Esmeralda didn't sleep in very late. Worried, the blonde walked over to her friend and shook her shoulder, getting no response. She shook her harder, finally waking her. Esmeralda had trouble waking up from her sleep but when she saw Phoebe, she groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

"Phoebe, yell at me late," Esmeralda mumbled.

"Why would I yell at you?" Phoebe asked in confusion, looking down at her friend.

"I hurt your brother."

"I know, and I don't know why, but I'm not going to yell at you. It has nothing to do with me as long as you both don't drag me into it." Phoebe sat on the edge of her friend's bed and took a good look at her.

Her face was pale and had a slight pasty complexion, her eyes were dull and her hair lacked the shine it usually had. She looked like Adam.

"How... how is he?" Esmeralda asked slowly.

"Heartbroken," Phoebe answered truthfully. "He kinda looks like you actually. Essi, why did you do it?"

Esmeralda just shook her head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Well we agree on that! I don't understand! You love him! I know you do!"

Phoebe knew she had stepped a line when Esmeralda's face contorted with anger. "You have no idea how I feel so don't you dare make assumptions!" She threw the blankets back and jumped out of bed, revealing that she was in actual clothing. She grabbed her shoes and handbag and walked out of the room, leaving a confused Phoebe behind.
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Esmeralda didn't come back to the room till late. It was well passed curfew and how she managed to not get caught was beyond Phoebe's comprehension. She still looked awful but no longer angry. Truthfully she looked exhausted. When she saw that Phoebe was awake, she went and laid down next to her friend on her bed.

"Please don't ask me why? You don't want to know the answer and I don't want to tell you," Esmeralda pleaded Phoebe, her eyes facing straight up at the ceiling.

"Okay, I won't even mention it again unless I have to," Phoebe assured, hugging her best friend.

"Thank you."

"Are you alright though? You look like shit."

"Thanks, Phoebs. I'm fine, I just..." Esmeralda broke off as tears filled her eyes. "Every day of my life I've wished it was different. But never have I wanted it more then since rejecting Banks."

Phoebe just tightened her grip till Esmeralda stopped shaking with tears. When she did, she sat up and went over to her side of the room, getting her pyjamas out. As she changed, she informed Phoebe of something she had forgotten about. "You remember that Leo's birthday is next weekend and so is his annual party."

"Oh yeah... I hope I get to remember this one." Phoebe laughed. The last party had been the first one her mother gave her permission to drink. She accidentally drunk too much and woke up the next day at home with holes in her recollections. Thankfully she had her video camera there so she remembered most of it through that, and Maria had been there to look after her.

Esmeralda however, was lucky to remember any of it, but that had been who she was back then. She had changed drastically at the start of the year. Her New Years resolution was to change her act, which she had done a marvellous job of.

"So anyway, I got Leo a guitar stand cause he's always bitching about having to let it lean against the wall." Esmeralda slipped into her bed and looked over at Phoebe. "Want to go halves?"

"Nah, I bought him a t-shirt. I think he'll like it." Phoebe snuggled back under her covers comfortable. "Night, Essi."

"Night, Phoebe."
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Sighing Esmeralda reached over to her handbag and took out her phone. She looked at it for a moment, flicked it open, then flicked it closed and put it down. Again she did it, this time not putting it down. Instead she went into the message section and paused, not knowing what to text.

Banks, I'm sorry I hurt you, but... just believe me when I say I had to. Please forgive me, I really didn't mean to cause you so much pain. I care about you; you're a friend, even though we fight a lot. Please, please forgive me! I miss you! McGill.

She read it through three times before putting Adam's number in and sending it to him. She wondered if he would actually read it when he saw it was from her. She doubted it but she really hoped he would.

What Phoebe said about him broke her heart even more then it already was. She couldn't believe she hurt him as much as she did. Esmeralda knew that Adam liked her but she had never thought he loved her. That had been a shock and made what she had to do so much harder.

After an hour, in which Esmeralda sat on the floor of her dormitory doing her homework, she finally got a reply. Timidly she picked up her phone and pressed the open button. The message was only two capital words that ripped into the brunette harshly.

PISS OFF!

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"Sir, my gracious Lord,

To chide at your extreams it not becomes me:

O pardon that I name 'em; your high self,

The gracious mark o' th' land; you have obscur'd

With a swain's wearing; and me, poor lowly maid,

Most goddess-like... most goddess-like... Arrgh, I can't get it!" Esmeralda dropped down onto the bench seat and closed the book in her hands, hitting herself in the head as she did.

Chuckling, the boy with her sat on the table, his feet on the bench next to Esmeralda. "You were doing fine a few days ago. What happened?"

"I ripped my heart and someone else's into a million painful pieces," Esmeralda confessed, sighing in exasperation. "And he'll never forgive me. Though, I think I'd loose respect in him if he forgave me so quickly."

"Well that was dumb," the boy replied.

"It was necessary." Esmeralda ran her fingers through her hair that had been looking limp for a while now. She really needed to do something about it. "Elliot, let's just try to get this bloody scene done!"

"Okay," Elliot agreed jumping off the table.

The two were in the workshop together and were currently at the park trying to rehearse their lines but Esmeralda could just not get into character today. As the brunette girl got up and opened her book to the lines, there was a shout of a familiar voice.

"Essi!"

Esmeralda turned and saw the Ducks decked out in skating gear, Goldberg having been the one to shout. Forcing a smile, Esmeralda waved at them before trying to go back to her script. Instead the Ducks decided to skate over, Adam being dragged along.

"What you up to?" Connie asked, giving the girl a hug.

"Nothing much, just reading my script for the workshop," Esmeralda explained, hoping the group would take the hint and leave. She did not want to be around Adam and she knew he didn't want to be around her.

"Cool," Averman said, bending over almost backwards to get a glimpse of the front cover. "Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. Who are you in it?"

"Perdita and Elliot plays Florizel."

"Who?" Dwayne scrunched up his face in confusion.

"I'm Elliot and Florizel is Perdita's love," Elliot added into the conversation, smiling at the group.

"Oh, so you two have to act in love?" Charlie asked in a taunting voice.

Esmeralda just gave him a blank look, not being amused at all. "Yes, that is the plot."

"You know what, I think we should get going," Adam spoke up, a bored expression on his face. At the sound of his voice, filled with a cutting tone, Esmeralda's brown eyes welled up with tears. "Aren't we supposed to be skating?"

"Right, yeah, we should go," Fulton agreed, looking from Adam to Esmeralda. "See ya girl." The strong boy stepped forward and hugged Esmeralda. "Have you lost weight?" He held the brunette at arms length with his hands resting on her thin shoulders. Her form was skinner and she was a few skipped meals away from being nothing but skin and bones.

"Yeah, there's a stomach bug going around, it turns you off your meals. Sucks I know. I have enough trouble keeping on weight as it is with my dancing," Esmeralda lied fluently. The only one who saw through her lie was Adam but he was blatantly not looking at her.

"You know, I think Cake-eater might have it," Averman said slowly, looking at the tall boy who had lost a fair bit of weight but still had muscle-tone.

With a few more hugs – none being from Adam – the skater crew decided to leave. As they went to walk off, Esmeralda grabbed Adam's arm without the other Ducks realizing.

"What?!" he snapped, gritting his teethe as he was forced to face the girl. "What do you possible want from me? What else is there for you to take from me?"

Esmeralda gasped at Adam's vicious voice. Tears ran tracks down her cheeks, leaving lines in her makeup. She wiped them away before reply in a shaky voice. "I'm sorry, Adam, but I had to. I really, really didn't want to hurt you and I'm sorry that I did. I never thought you loved me."

Adam was quiet for some time before finally uttering a dry chuckle. "Do you know what I find funny?" Esmeralda shook her head slowly, knowing she was going to regret the answer. "You were worried that I was taking advantage of you, using you for my own purposes, where really you were using me."

"Adam..."

"STOP!" Adam yelled, clenching his fist tightly. "Don't ever call me that!" The blond boy raised his hand and Esmeralda flinched, thinking he was going to hit him. Instead he put his hand on her neck and forced her chin up to look at him. Adam's expression softened slightly when he realized she thought he was going to hurt her, but his voice was still ruff with anger. "I never, never want you to call me that again." He then sighed. "No matter how angry I am, I still love you and I won't hit you. Alright?"

Esmeralda nodded mutely, her lip quivering and tears fell down her face. For a moment all the bitterness to the boy's face disappeared and he softly touched her lip with his thumb. Not even a second later he drew back his hand sharply and skated off angrily.

The girl stayed in shock over what happened till Elliot made himself known. "So he's the guy that you hurt!"

Esmeralda jumped and turned around. "How long have you been there?"

Elliot smiled sadly. "Don't worry, I walked off when you stopped that boy. I figured you didn't want witnesses to that."

Esmeralda sat down on the bench heavily. "I can't handle this! I need a change."

"What kind of change?" Elliot sat next to his co-star.

"I don't know. I just need a change. Can we pick this up tomorrow?" Esmeralda got up and grabbed her bag, obviously not caring what the brown-haired boy's answer was.

"Don't forget that Leo's party is tonight," Elliot reminded her as he nodded for Esmeralda to leave.

"I know, see you tonight." With that Esmeralda ran off, leaving a bewildered Elliot behind.