Chapter 3: When Everything's Made to Be Broken

"Charlie, Charlie, wake up." He felt Bombay shaking his shoulder, and it took him a moment to realize where he was: Bombay's house. After telling Coach he didn't want to return to his dorm, Bombay called Charlie's mom and told Casey about what had happened and that Charlie would spend the night with him, and Casey didn't hesitate.

Charlie blinked slowly; he was still in the change of clothes Bombay had him get dressed in when they got to the house: an oversized Minneapolis Waves sweatshirt and sweatpants that barely fit him right. His boots were tucked in the corner, and his letterman's jacket hung on the peg near the door. He lay sprawled across the couch, head propped on a pillow with a throw blanket tossed over him.

He smelled the distinct smell of hasenpfeffer as he sat up, noticing Bombay had made up a plate of that stuff and scrambled eggs, Jan's specialty. But he didn't think he could eat much at all, not when Adam was still in the hospital and would be having surgery on his wrist that morning. The very thought of needing to go back to Edan Hall made him sick, knowing he'd be going back into the locker room, the very place where he'd found Adam after the assault took place.

"You should eat. I'm driving you to school today," Gordon told him, placing the plate in his lap and settling a cup of chocolate milk on the coffee table.

"I don't know if I can," Charlie admitted, pushing his food around.

"Try, even if it's two bites. You need to keep your strength up, and you have to go to your classes. You don't have any practice; Orion canceled it for you guys today."

"Wow, I never thought he'd do that. The world must be coming to an end." Charlie took a bite of the Eastern Euro rabbit stew, struggling to swallow it.

"He does care, Charlie, more than you know," Gordon whispered.

"Yeah, I saw that last night." Charlie closed his eyes as he gulped down the chocolate milk before eating another forkful of the hasenpfeffer.

"Though you still have your game against the Hawks on Saturday. And I know Adam wouldn't want you guys to forfeit just because he can't play."

"I don't know if I could face those guys, or look at Reiley's face and . . ."

"I know." Gordon wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close momentarily. "And I know he's gonna use this to get you guys where you're weakest. That means you gotta give it your best this weekend. I know Orion's not gonna want Reiley to have that satisfaction."

"What do you mean?"

"He and I were in the Hawks together. Orion quit after I quit the team, because he was sick of Reiley telling us we were losers because I cost us that championship. There's a reason Orion was so hard on you, Charlie: he sees you're him when he was your age. And Adam's me; I knew that from the moment I saw Banks play, and when Hans told me about the district lines getting redrawn, that Adam was meant to be a Duck, me getting him over to us would prevent Reiley from poisoning his mind further with that 'It's not worth winning if you can't win big' attitude. So, this weekend will be Orion's shot at putting Reiley in his place further because last I heard, Reiley got rid of most of his players after he lost the championship – he's got a new lineup of Hawks who are obsessed with winning, which means they'll be gunning for you guys."

"And without Banks, we're screwed," Charlie said bitterly.

"No, you're not," said Gordon. "You guys have the Bash Brothers, Russ, and Julie; you're still in good shape. And you know Connie's just as good."

"But the first time we played against the Hawks, we had Jesse, Tammy, Karp, Mark, Terry, and Tommy with us; we're one man down."

"So, you play harder and even the odds; you're the best scorer next to Adam and their captain. You and Orion will lead them well; I know you guys will. Be that man, Charlie, be that man."

Charlie nodded, feeling his eyes sting as he continued forcing himself to eat. When he ate as much as he could physically, which wasn't much, he pushed the plate away.

"Go get dressed for school. I've got some of your stuff in my closet; I ironed your shirt, too," Gordon said, patting his shoulder.

All of the Ducks had a spare change of clothes lying around his house; there were certain nights when the Ducks crashed at his place, whether it was for a pizza party after they won a game or they needed someone neutral to speak with if they were having problems at home or school. Usually, it was Fulton, whose dad told him about twice a month to leave and never come back. Charlie knew how much it bugged Fulton, even though his dad always gave him five or six dollars to make up for it the next day. Sometimes, it was Guy, whose father had passed away from a brain aneurysm shortly after they won the Jr. Goodwill Games, and he needed a place to go while his mother was working double shifts at the hospital, so he had help looking after his two little brothers, Will and Henry. Bombay was Guy's emergency babysitter if he couldn't look after his brothers. There were even nights Bombay took care of making dinner for Guy and the boys because Guy had homework to do and couldn't handle his brothers by himself, so Bombay would relieve him by cooking supper and sending Will and Henry out to the backyard to play one-on-one hockey while Guy did his homework; Bombay even tutored them from time to time. Even Connie sometimes crashed there after having a bad fight with one of her brothers; she claimed her brothers Mason (a big pest) and Billy (a little pest) were pains in her and her sisters' asses. There were times Connie's fights with them got under her skin so much that she left her house to go to Bombay's, where he would offer her a slice of chocolate cake and a glass of Dr. Pepper (Connie was a Dr. Pepper fiend; she could go through a six-pack of it in three days) and sit and talk with her until she cooled off; he almost always kept a chocolate cake in his refrigerator because he knew how much the Ducks had a sweet tooth, and that they loved chocolate cake even more than he did. Sometimes, Averman would come by unexpectedly, usually after having a run-in with some bullies, and Gordon would allow him to sit until he was ready to talk about it; he didn't press the issue and overly smother Averman the way Averman's mom and dad would. There had even been nights Charlie would stay there because he wanted to get away from his ex-step-father (whom Casey, fortunately, divorced not long ago, which was good because Charlie couldn't stand the guy because he drank too much, and after he nearly witnessed his former step-dad raise a hand to Casey, he told his mom to kick the guy out; Coach had even given her the name of the divorce attorney).

Gordon left his door open for all of them; they knew where to find the key buried under the flowerbeds and were free to come whenever they wanted; there were even days Gordon walked in to find Fulton, Connie, Charlie, Adam, Guy, or even Averman sitting on his couch unannounced, not that he minded it, though; he said it got lonely, living by himself. Averman's mom and even Connie's mom had worried about the kids being safe, that burglars or other criminals could get into the house if they learned where Gordon kept the spare key. But Gordon had assured their parents while smacking one of his hockey sticks in his hands and showing Casey and the other parents where he kept his handgun, locked in a safe in his home office. He said he would risk someone trying to break into his home if it meant the kids having a safe place to lay low. Plus, even if someone did try breaking in, he once said, he didn't have much that was worth taking unless they were looking to steal his Italian-brand shoes and suits, which he no longer cared about; he'd cleared his home of all expensive liquor and kept all his money in the bank. He also had a security camera at the front and back doors. So, his house remained a safe space for all of them. He wasn't getting rid of it any time soon because he planned on visiting Minneapolis often, at least two times a month, as well as for holidays (he threw the kids Halloween and holiday parties every October and December, complete with pizza and movies, a tradition he started since he coached them in Peewees; even when he was playing for the Waves, he made sure to return for those holidays to spend that time with them). Plus, he paid the kids to help him with his lawn in the summers when he needed to be away from the house for business reasons, and they also shoveled snow for him in the wintertime; he'd always give them five or ten bucks for their work.

Charlie sighed, rising from the couch before heading to Gordon's bedroom to change into the jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt he knew for a fact was there. After taking a hot shower, towel-drying his hair, and changing into clean clothes, he felt a little more awake and revived as he stepped into his shoes before he brushed his teeth. Bombay met him by the door, keys in his hands.

They drove to Edan Hall in silence, and Bombay stopped in front of the ice rink, knowing Charlie needed to go there first and speak with everyone.

"I'm going to be by the hospital; I'll be waiting for when Adam gets out of surgery, and when he gets discharged, I'll take him back to my house. He can rest there until your mom gets off her shift at the diner, and you guys can come pick him up. And you guys are welcome to stay at my place during the day if you want," Gordon said.

Charlie nodded. "Thanks, Coach."

Gordon patted him on the shoulder before beckoning him out of the car, and Charlie stalked up to the ice rink, entering the building before going to the locker room, where the whole team, plus Orion and Linda, were. The minute he entered, Linda raced up and threw her arms around him, and he held her tightly.

"Are you okay?" she demanded.

Charlie shook his head. As he looked at his friends, momentarily, he saw Adam lying there pale and bleeding and wet and scared after they'd found him the other night; he tried to shake the memory out of his head but found the mental image was too vivid for him to erase. He shuddered slightly, swallowing back the urge to vomit as he looked at his fellow Ducks and Orion. He knew he needed to get to the point as Linda disentangled herself from him, and he stuck with holding her hand.

"Is he okay?" was the first thing Julie asked; she looked like she hadn't slept all night, and Charlie gave her a sympathetic look. He knew how close Julie and Adam were – apart from himself and Jesse Hall (who moved to Boston when his dad had gotten a better job opportunity out there), Julie was Adam's best friend. They'd gotten very close during the Jr. Goodwill Games, and Adam had always been the one to stick up for her if Portman dared to say something sexist. It was no mystery why she was the most upset out of everyone over what happened to Adam, next to Charlie and even Fulton. Although Julie and Adam had drifted apart when Adam got put on Varsity, and it caused her to become a little interested in Scooter, there was no denying how deeply Julie cared about Adam. She was one of the most forgiving when he returned to JV.

Charlie sighed. "He's having surgery for his wrist today. Though he's not okay, they had to give him a sedative last night to help him sleep. He's a wreck." He ran his hands over his face, which he was certain showed his exhaustion and how sick he felt over this.

"Well, what are we gonna do about it?" Portman asked.

"Yeah, someone's gotta put Riley in his place and not let him get away with it!" added Russ indignantly.

"Russ, the police were on campus last night; they arrested everyone you listed off. In order to make sure they had the right guys, they put a wire on Scooter. Needless to say, Riley and the others confessed on tape and incriminated themselves. They also pulled the security camera footage of the ice rink, and it shows Riley and the others dragging Adam into the locker room," said Orion. "I talked to Dean Buckley; they're suspended indefinitely until after the court hearing. And I talked to Bombay earlier this morning. He will work with someone at the DA's office to get a plea deal; he's hoping we can get this done quickly since all of the evidence is there. If Riley and his friends confess to assaulting Adam and plead guilty, they'll get time served. For how long, though, I don't know, but the hope is ten years with a possibility of parole."

"That's not nearly long enough!" spat Fulton angrily.

"It's better than having Adam be forced to go on the stand and testify," Orion reasoned. "In the meantime, we also have that game against the Hawks on Saturday."

"If they're as tough as they were when we were on Peewee's, they'll kick our asses in," said Averman.

"Shut up, Averman!" Guy snapped.

"They won't," Charlie said. "When we played them last time, we didn't have the Cat, Dwayne, Russ, Ken, Luis or Portman with us. We have the advantage of the Bash Brothers on our side for enforcement, and Julie, you're even better than Goldie was; Goldberg, your defense is some of the best we've had in a while. And Connie, next to me and Adam, you're our best scorer – the Hawks should know by now how good you are because you got us several winning scores during the Goodwill Games; that makes you a formidable threat now, which means they'll gun for you harder, so Fulton, Dean, I want Connie and Jules covered, because the Hawks aren't going to show mercy. They don't see our girls as girls, which is a problem for us."

"He's right," Orion agreed. "Let's say one of you gets hit too hard in the lower region of the body; it could lead to a severe straddle injury resulting in trauma to your . . ."

"Spare me the details," Connie pleaded, her face paling as she shared a look with Julie, who looked sick at the thought. Guy reached over and grabbed Connie's hand in his, squeezing gently.

"But he's right. It was a risk we always took letting girls play with us. I also think we need to call some reinforcements back in." He turned to Goldberg. "Goldberg, you still have the Duncans' number?"

"But I thought they quit after we won our Peewees season; Tammy didn't even want to do it; she did it because her brother wanted her to, and they had to be in the same activities," Goldberg said.

"Doesn't matter; I heard they were offered scholarships at Edan Hall because they gave us our win at the Peewees championship, and they're so good at figure skating; apparently, Tommy skipped a grade or two. But they turned the scholarships down in favor of going to public school because they wanted to stay away. Though I'm sure they'll come back if you ask. What happened to Adam will be in the papers; they'll see it, and if they're true Ducks like they were when Coach brought them in, they'll come back. And it wouldn't hurt to have an extra girl; Tammy was one of our best wingers, and you know she'll help us even the odds."

They all nodded in agreement. But Ken brought up the question they'd all be asking.

"When can we go see Adam?"

Charlie sighed. "He doesn't want you guys seeing him like that."

"Bullshit! He's gotta know we won't think of him any differently!" cursed Portman.

"Logically, he knows that. Emotionally, he doesn't feel that way. He needs time. But if he decides to come back here, then he's gonna need all of us, because even without Riley around, there will be lots of people on Varsity who will give him a hard time. Varsity's also got the baseball, basketball, soccer, and track team members in their pocket."

"Which means more assholes to put up with until we're out of here in four more years," spat Russ.

"If Scooter goes along with that, I'm dumping his ass," Julie said angrily.

"Scooter may be an idiot, but if he cares for you like he claims he does, he won't go along with it, Jules," said Luis. "You've gotta believe that after what he did last night for Adam."

"The only way we'll get Adam through this is if we fly together. And remember what Coach told us when we faced Iceland: We're not goons or bullies; we're better than that, which means we do this by the book this time, so we let the law handle it. Because after what Riley did, he's not getting away with it this time. We'll make sure of it," Charlie finished.

The others nodded as Orion said, "You all should go to class."

"Do we have to?" asked Goldberg.

"It wouldn't be worth getting thrown out of school," Orion reasoned.

"Great, I gotta go to English class without Adam. Varsity's in that class; Adam's the only one who makes it tolerable because we pass notes to each other, betting on which wrong answer they're gonna give," Averman groaned. "That means I've gotta put up with Sheedy, Ringwald, McCarthy, Swayze, Lowe, and Cruise for forty-five minutes."

"How do they even stay in advanced classes if they don't actually do the work?" asked Ken.

"How should I know? They probably sleep with Mrs. Sheen."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. They'd be stupid enough to try," commented Dwayne.

Lunch proved to be the most difficult hour, seeing as there was little adult supervision. Luckily, Coach Orion was on lunch duty, meaning he would catch anything that was happening. The Ducks and Linda all sat together, though Julie seemed disdained to see that Scooter wasn't sitting with them; rather, he was sitting with the Varsity players – she knew he was doing that out of blind loyalty to his friends. Normally, Scooter would eat lunch with Varsity every Friday and Wednesday, and the rest of the week, he'd sit with Julie and her friends, which didn't make him very popular with anyone on Varsity – he'd been getting a lot of crap lately for dating a Duck from the JV team, even though Julie wasn't sure what the status of their relationship was, whether they were boyfriend and girlfriend or just really good friends. Julie hoped that Scooter staying behind to check on Adam meant he wouldn't go along with his friends in the bullying and would have enough sense to take up for the Ducks or at least acknowledge what Riley and the others did wrong. But as she kept glancing at the table, Scooter was barely sparing her a glance, and Charlie knew that had to be hurting her.

"Cat, don't worry about it," he told her. "Just because he's sitting with them doesn't mean he condones what happened to Adam. He stayed behind. He went with the cops voluntarily to give up what Riley and the others did. He's just sitting with them because of peer pressure."

"I hope you're right," Julie whispered, struggling even to eat her salad, the lightest thing she could think of; she didn't have much of an appetite after what had happened to Adam the night before; she even said it before they went to lunch together.

Charlie tried his best to eat his slice of pizza, only to hear one of the Varsities, Toby McCarthy, yell out, "Hey, Ducks! We heard Riley put your center on a rotisserie last night! How'd he like it? I bet he loved it since that's the only time he'd ever get screwed!"

Charlie clenched his fists as Linda whispered, "They're trying to get in your head. Just ignore them."

"Hey, Spazway!" yelled Larry Swayze. "How's your butt buddy Banksy doing? Riley showed us some pictures; you wanna buy 'em?"

"GO TO HELL!" Portman and Fulton yelled together.

"Knock it off! That's enough!" Connie shouted, moving to stand up from her seat, only for Guy to lean a hand on her shoulder as the Varsity members, minus Scooter, started to laugh, causing the cheerleaders to laugh right along with them. "I said that's enough!" She pushed Guy's hand off and stood up, only for Marc Lowe to get up from his seat and stalk over to her.

"Why don't you mind your own business, babe?" He pushed her back, causing Guy to leap from his seat.

"Her name's Connie, not 'babe,'" Guy said angrily. "And keep your hands off my girlfriend!" he added as Orion came over, arms crossed over his chest.

"Is there a problem here?"

"Why don't you mind your own business, Dad?" sneered Lowe.

"And I'm still a faculty member, which means for that, I'll draw you up a detention slip," Orion said sternly. "Now leave these kids alone. I don't want to hear anything more out of your mouth for the rest of the hour."

"Need to hide behind your coach, I see," sneered Kyle Ringwald from across the way.

"Shut up!" snapped Connie as he came over, getting into her face.

"Well, they shouldn't send a lady in to do a man's job," Ringwald laughed.

"I'm no lady; I'm a Duck!" Connie spat, glowering at him as he shoved her, to which she shoved him back, which led to Orion stepping in between them.

"Enough, both of you!" Orion snapped, and Connie sat back down in her seat while Ringwald tried stepping around Orion, only for the JV coach to say, "You shut your mouth! Go back over there before I write you up, too! And I can report you to Buckley and have you suspended for putting your hands on another student!"

Ringwald and Lowe glowered at him before moving back to their table. Orion turned sternly to his team. "Don't even talk to them. They aren't worth it. Because the more you react, the more you give them what they want. I know they're jerks. But you can't let them get to you. Not for a second. Remember what I said: You'll hit them where it hurts most when Riley gets what he deserves, and they'll learn never to talk to you guys like that again."

"Yes, Coach," whispered Ken.

"Are you kids going to be okay?" Orion asked them.

"I don't know. Would you be?" asked Averman sarcastically.

"I wouldn't," Orion agreed. "But I need you kids to be smart. This means staying out of trouble until the game on Saturday; we'll beat the Hawks and do it for Adam."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "For Adam."

Gordon sat in the hospital waiting room; Adam had just gone in for surgery for his wrist, and all he could do was sit there and wait with Luke, who kept staring down at the ground.

"Dad's still not here," Luke said bitterly. "I guess he's still too embarrassed."

"Maybe he just needs time."

"No, you don't get it, sir. He's been embarrassed ever since Adam left to play for the Ducks. He sat in the Hawks' stands for a reason that day at the championship. He still thinks you guys aren't good enough, even though you won for Team USA; it doesn't matter to him at all."

Gordon sighed. "Then I'll talk to him, eventually. Because he needs to be there for his son."

"I'm sick of Adam feeling he's gotta defend our dad," Luke whispered, his blue eyes seeming to harden as suddenly, Gordon saw someone approaching them; he recognized her as Maria Del Rossi, one of the juvenile court judges. He felt his chest tighten with apprehension; if Maria was approaching him as a judge approaching an attorney, that could only mean one thing . . .

"Maria," Gordon said, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because you've been assigned to represent Richard Riley, Jacob Cole, James Greene, Abraham Parlato, and Casey Harlowe in the juvenile case for the sexual assault of Adam Banks," she said.

"Find somebody else," Gordon immediately responded, suddenly feeling sick at the thought of needing to defend the kids who did this to Adam. He didn't want to so much as look at their faces, let alone represent them in court; that would kill Adam, and it would hurt Charlie worse than when he told him he would no longer be his hockey coach. The only thing he could picture was the looks on his Ducks' faces if he told them he was representing the people who sexually assaulted Adam. If Jesse Hall were there, he'd call him a "cake eater" and a traitor of the worst kind, and Charlie would most likely cry; Julie and Connie would be disgusted with him and unable even to look him in the eye, but Adam would be hurt even more, and that alone was enough to make him want to refuse – he didn't care whether he'd get paid for representing those boys in court, it was about the principle of sticking with his kids and keeping the thought of "Ducks fly together" in the back of his mind; he was the father-figure many of them never had, and he wasn't going to let his kids down, especially Adam.

"Gordon, you know how this works," Maria said, her voice strained.

"And I don't work as an attorney anymore; I'm not with Ducksworth. I'm on the Jr. Goodwill Games Committee as a board member. I haven't practiced law since my DUI," he argued back.

"But you are still technically a defense attorney."

"It doesn't matter. I won't represent the kids that put my former player in the hospital. Go to Ducksworth's office and find somebody else to handle the case; I won't do it. Because then I'll just be letting my kids down. And I'm allowed to deny representing a client. It's part of my rights."

Maria sighed. "Okay, Gordon. Though I am sorry for what happened."

"Yeah, me too." Gordon's tone remained curt as he watched her leave, and he sighed heavily as he turned his gaze back to Luke, who looked relieved.

"Thank you."

"I wouldn't ever do that to Adam," Gordon insisted. "He's like a son to me."

"You're a better dad than ours is, that's for sure, and you're a better coach than Reiley."

"Don't speak against your father. He loves you. You've got to believe that."

"When he stops only caring about winning, maybe I'll forgive him," Luke said hotly, his teeth clenched. "And he could start by visiting Adam, who's been asking for him since last night."

"Do you want me to go and speak with him?"

"If you think it would help. I doubt it would, though."

Julianne Monroe "Julie" Gaffney considered herself pretty tough. She'd been part of an all-girls ice hockey team in Bangor, and for years, her team wasn't taken seriously. Boys from the opposing teams would make their share of sexist remarks about how she and her friends should stick to ballet or figure skating, but each time, she'd prove them wrong. She proved Gunnar Stahl and Olof Sanderson wrong during the Goodwill Games, and she even proved Scooter and Varsity wrong. And while she had harder skin due to being raised by a single dad who loved hockey and having two older sisters who were a pain in her ass, Julie was just as sensitive and caring as Connie was.

It was why she'd gotten so close with Adam when they were in the Jr. Goodwill Games together. While she could handle herself against Portman's stupidity, Adam sticking up for her proved chivalry wasn't dead – he treated her no different just because she was a girl, and she'd even grown to like him very much. But after Adam got put on Varsity, even Julie couldn't lie about how hurt she was – not only was she upset about Bombay leaving, but Ted Orion seemed to think less of her because she was a girl (she later learned that not to be true; he was tough on her and Connie because he wanted them to have an even tougher skin – the Varsity players were bigger thugs than the Iceland team had been and went after her and Connie for no other reason than that they were girls; they didn't see her or Connie as girls, but Orion did; he wanted to make sure that they were safe), and Charlie got stripped of his "C," which put everyone on the team in a pissy mood because Charlie's anger and angst affected all of them. The other girls at Edan Hall looked down on her for playing hockey; the cheerleaders decided they hated her the first moment they looked at her and still picked on her and Connie by putting pieces of chewing gum in their hair. Adam leaving them was just the icing on the cake of all the horrible things that happened, and even Julie admitted she'd treated him unfairly.

After Adam moved back over to JV, she made it a point to apologize to him. For the past few weeks, while the JV vs. Varsity problem remained, it only escalated after Rick Riley assaulted Adam the other night. And while Scooter may have tried helping Adam, that didn't make up for the fact that he'd been there and didn't tell Riley to stop.

Sighing heavily, she closed her locker door and gathered up her backpack. She had one last class before her free period, and she planned on using the free period to get a head start on heading to the hospital. She wanted to be there when Adam got out of surgery; hopefully, she and the other Ducks could see him. She understood why he didn't want them visiting him, but it didn't feel right not being at his bedside, knowing he was hurting and would be out of practice until his wrist healed. And as she prepared to go to her last class of the day, she heard someone approaching her.

"Julie," said Scooter. "Can we talk?"

"No." She shouldered her bookbag and continued toward the office.

"Jules, you know why I had to sit with them. If I didn't they'd –"

"God, you really are mindless, aren't you, Scooter?" she demanded, turning around to glare at him. "I thought you were different than them!"

"I am!" Scooter insisted. "I stayed behind and gave my statement to the cops, didn't I? What else would you want?"

"Turn against Riley and be Adam's witness, if this gets taken to trial," Julie said angrily. "Can you?"

Scooter looked uncomfortable, and Julie felt tempted to slap him. "I don't know. Honestly."

"Well, make your choice! Because I cannot be with someone in any way if they can't have integrity!" Julie snapped at him. "Though it's clear you made your choice. You're still sitting with them."

"Jules, that's not fair!" Scooter said.

"Well life's not fair, isn't it?" Julie asked coldly as she heard someone else approaching.

"Everything okay?" asked Luis – they were in the same algebra class.

Julie sighed. "It's just fine." And with that, she stalked off her class with Mendoza on her tail; he was quick to catch up with her. Not only was he the speediest skater, but he ran very fast, too.

"Julie, if he can't do the right thing, then he's not worth your time," Luis said.

"Yeah, thanks. I know that," Julie said angrily. "I'm just sick of it being all about status: who has money and who doesn't! This crap isn't gonna matter in twenty years from now!"

"I know what you mean," Luis said, muttering something under his breath in Spanish. "Do you think we'd be able to see Adam?"

"I hope so." Julie bit at her lower lip. "Connie and I might get him flowers or something, and I know she wants to make a posterboard for him that we all sign. Because he might not want any of us to see him, but he's gotta know we're not abandoning him and that we still care about and love him. We're not leaving him again."

Luis nodded in agreement. "Yeah."