A/N:
Another Mighty Ducks one-shot, separate from my previous work Iris. This is just a one-shot I thought up after reading HPfanatic12's story Finally Home, where they wrote a piece of dialogue Gordon says to the kids about a time he got even with some bullies; Gordon says, "Not exactly. They tied me to a flagpole and threw syrup and feathers on me and took pictures," and that got me thinking of something like this. Hazing is a common thing in sports, though nowadays, living in 2024, it's more a time of cyber harassment and humiliating people through social media; back in the 90's, it was much more old-fashioned with bullying that was physical, and I could only imagine how pissed Rick Riley probably was after Varsity lost to JV at the end of D3, so I could also picture him targeting Adam even more than the other Ducks.
Now, this will have details of hazing, but it's not anything sexual. Though it does end up having a happy ending, that I can promise. The title is taken from the Bowling for Soup song, "The Luckiest Loser." Hope you enjoy.
The Luckiest Loser
Adam Banks was aware of how he was somewhat inadequate. Before Eden Hall, he'd been sure of himself. He'd been one of the best of the Ducks, one of the players that scored them to victory during the Jr. Goodwill Games. He, Charlie, and the others felt like hot shit because they were invited to attend school. His father had been proud that he got in.
But then, when he stepped through those doors and had his first practice with the Ducks, he was quick to realize his own inadequacy. It nearly reminded him of when he first got transferred to the Ducks, how none of the Ducks respected him. Granted, he'd been an asshole to them when he'd been a Hawk; he'd been a horrible person who thought that the Ducks being poor and living in District Five was some sign of weakness, a terrible example set by his dad and Coach Jack Reiley who put it in his head that he was much more talented, too good for the Ducks.
The only difference was that this time, the inadequacy came in a much blunter way. When he'd transferred to the Ducks at the age of eleven, the group had been tightly bound from years of knowing each other; luckily, they'd accepted him after he started scoring goals and helping them out. He'd taken Goldberg under his wing and helped him improve on his skating. He'd gone out of his way to assist Averman with being a little less of a klutz and taught the nerd how to get out of the corner. He'd helped Charlie practice that triple deke. By the time they went to the Jr. Goodwill Games, he, along with Charlie, Fulton, and Jesse, had become inseparable. He was convinced things would stay that way.
But then, Eden Hall came. Within that first week, his inadequacy hit him harder than he thought it would. Not only was he intimidated by Coach Ted Orion – a former North Stars player who'd actually gone pro – but Orion somehow saw he had more potential and talked to Coach Wilson about placing Adam on Varsity.
But that was when Adam began feeling even more inadequate if that were possible. His older brother Robby had already played Varsity, so no one was impressed that he made it. On top of that, he went from the starter – which he'd typically been for the Ducks along with Charlie, or sometimes, he would be Charlie's winger along with Guy; the three of them were like the Finnish Sandwich for the Ducks – to third-line center, meaning he was on Varsity, but he never truly got the chance to play at all. All the glory went to Riley, who made it very clear to Adam that he didn't belong.
As if that weren't enough, the Ducks dropped him. And it had hurt. Not only that, Riley, Cole, Mabina, and Labine went out of their way to ensure Adam continued feeling inadequate. At first, it was subtle, like all praise going to Riley and not acknowledging Adam when he did score, or being left out of conversations with them during lunch. But it soon escalated after the dinner prank; Charlie hated him, that much he was sure; after all, Charlie told him to "go cry to his rich parents," the sure sign that Charlie was pissed and didn't believe him. Riley escalated the bullying after the whole dinner fiasco and the Ducks started pranking Varsity back. It went from ignoring Adam's existence to acknowledging that he did exist, but only for the sole purpose of making Adam's life miserable. Riley would corner him after each of his classes, telling him he should just go crawling back to the Ducks because he wasn't Warrior material, and it soon went to name-calling.
Loser.
Daddy's boy.
Faggot.
White trash.
Riley called him white trash solely because of Adam's association with the Ducks; in Riley's world, if you hung around scholarship kids, that meant you were on the same level they were. And it didn't matter to Riley that Adam's ex-friends were no longer speaking to him. Riley still saw him as white trash even though Adam had just as much money as he did.
After the name-calling came the shoves and checks during practice. Riley made it a point to have Cole body-slam Adam into the plexiglass during practice every single time, or have Mabina take a cheap shot on Adam's knee with his hockey stick. Even Riley took it upon himself to grab Adam's right wrist – the same one that got hurt in the Jr. Goodwill Games – and squeeze it until he felt it bruising up again; he even made it a point to break his stick over Adam's wrist during one practice, aggravating his previous injury, only Adam wouldn't wrap his wrist or use his sling; he'd just take his painkillers because he didn't want to give Riley the satisfaction.
Then came the threats, the threats that Riley would do something far worse if Adam left Varsity; it was confusing; on the one hand, Riley would goad him to go back to the Ducks, and on the other, he'd threaten him into not leaving. And nobody on Varsity noticed how he'd changed: he'd lost weight because he was barely eating, and he hardly slept anymore. To make matters worse, the Ducks were too angry and hurt to notice how hurt he was. To boot, the Ducks forgot his fifteenth birthday; the Varsity players didn't even acknowledge his birthday, which meant he had to spend it alone at Eden Hall, with no Ducks, no friends to acknowledge him. That made it hurt even worse, like a gaping wound that wouldn't stop bleeding. The only thing that kept his birthday from being absolutely miserable was Coach Bombay giving him a phone call, leaving behind a message on his answering machine.
But after Hans died, Adam decided he was done with those guys. He couldn't stand being part of a team that hated him, and he missed his friends, his real friends, who quickly took him back after Hans's death, with Dwayne and Averman even inviting him to play some old-fashioned schoolyard puck with the Ducks, because in the words of Guy, "You might be on Varsity, but you also knew Hans; you're still one of us. We're sorry we forgot about that. Can you forgive us?" Even Julie had kissed him on the cheek in apology, and Connie had hugged him tightly. He would've nearly cried with relief, especially when Charlie and Coach Bombay arrived and joined the game. It made him feel better knowing he and his friends were good again. And hearing Charlie declare to Riley that Adam was theirs once again, it made him feel a lot better. He was back with the Ducks, and he was there to stay.
However, the looming fear that Varsity would go after him hung over his head like a thick, black cloud. He constantly looked over his shoulder, scared that Riley or Cole were following him, that they were waiting on just the right moment to give him hell. So far, it had been subtle, like an occasional shove or verbal taunt. Nothing major. Nothing he couldn't handle.
But he was still scared.
Which was why he wanted to kick himself.
He'd stayed behind after JV practice to get extra time in that night. Coach Orion had even trusted him with the keys to the rink, which he'd told Adam to leave in his office after he finished. After a few more triple dekes and some laps around the ice, Adam decided that he'd had his fill for Thursday night and that he needed to start heading back to the dorms. He was grateful when Portman transferred, which meant Portman moved into Fulton's dorm and Adam moved into Charlie's dorm. Everything felt right, like it was the way it should be. Looking at the clock, Charlie was probably in bed, asleep. And he felt bone tired, himself. Sighing, he skated to the side to put his sneakers on and head back to the dorms. But just as he shouldered his hockey bag, he heard the doors of the rink opening; he stayed silent, hoping whoever was arriving wouldn't notice him.
He had no such luck when Riley entered with Cole and Labine, who grinned widely upon seeing him.
"Well, well, well, lookie here, boys. We've got a lost little duck," Riley sneered.
"Back off, Riley. I don't want any trouble." Adam tried his hardest to keep the bravado in his voice, ignoring how scared he was of Riley. Riley was twice his size and towered over Adam by a full foot.
"You asked for trouble when you decided to go back to those losers," sneered Cole.
"Shut up!" Adam snapped. "What the hell is your problem? When I was on Varsity, you practically begged me to leave and go back to them, and then you'd tell me I shouldn't if I valued my life! I'm sick of you guys putting them down all the time! They're here on scholarship! What's the big deal?"
"This school shouldn't be handing out money like it's a charity case," laughed Labine. "Everyone in this school knows those Ducks aren't good enough to be here. They wouldn't be here if they hadn't won gold for America. And even that was a sham."
"I was part of that, you asshole!" Adam snapped. "Leave me alone! I've gotta get back to the dorms!"
"Oh, you're not going anywhere, punk!" Riley grabbed his wrist tightly – the right one – squeezing and twisting, and Adam bit down on his tongue to prevent himself from screaming in pain. "Aww, am I hurting you, wittle Banksy?"
"Get off of me," Adam whispered as Riley grabbed him in a headlock. He struggled, trying to get out.
"We're gonna teach you a little lesson about respecting your superiors, Banksy," sneered Cole, grabbing his hair in his fist and forcing him to look up before slamming a hand over Adam's mouth as Riley began dragging the freshman out; Adam's hockey bag falling to the ground forgotten as Labine grabbed Adam by the legs, reaching for the waistband of Adam's sweats. Adam went wild, biting down on Cole's hand and starting to scream, only for Cole to brandish a roll of duct tape from his backpack. He stretched a thick piece of it over Adam's mouth, muffling his screams as Adam started to cry. He heard Labine dropping Orion's key to the ground with a ping as he felt his pants getting pulled down, exposing his underwear as they dragged him out of the rink to the field where the soccer players and track stars practiced, and Adam felt his breathing hyperventilating as they neared the flagpole.
Charlie and Linda walked across campus from the JV boys' dorms to the main building, where fortunately, they only had to deal with seven hours of hell before the weekend started. However, Charlie was in a significantly better mood than he'd been in weeks. He and Linda were steadily moving things along, and he really liked her a lot. Eden Hall's official team name was the Ducks. Adam was back on JV. Coach Bombay would be coming home soon to visit them for the Ducks' annual Halloween party that he threw them every year since they'd all been in Peewees together, a tradition the Ducks looked forward to that Bombay started when he got drafted into the Waves. And even Orion had loosened up a bit after that win against Varsity; practices were a little more fun, and Orion's trash cleanup drill was actually not so bad; it reminded Charlie of Bombay's chicken eggs drill he made the original Ducks do.
Though Adam hadn't returned to the dorms last night, or so it seemed. At first, when Charlie awoke that morning, he'd been worried that Adam never made it back because his bed looked like it hadn't been slept in, but then he figured he was just worrying for nothing. Adam was probably already at the dining hall, eating breakfast and trying to get some studying in. They had a quiz that day on Fahrenheit 451 in English comprehension class, and they also had an Algebra I test. Adam was also in the same film class as Charlie and Linda, and they needed to hand in their essays on Repo Man that day because they were starting Edward Scissorhands, something Charlie could hardly complain about; both movies were great. He'd even called Bombay up and teased him that the actor in Repo Man kind of looked like him, which Bombay vehemently denied.
However, as he and Linda walked toward the building on main campus, he was startled to see a white-faced Julie running up to them, screaming.
"Charlie!"
"Cat, what is it?" Charlie asked, his worry suddenly coming back.
"It's Adam! He's in trouble!" Julie gestured for them to follow her toward the soccer field, which was also home to the track where those who ran for track practiced. It was then Charlie saw the crowd that had gathered around the flagpole, which consisted of what looked like members from Varsity mixed with a few of the cheerleaders and some of the other snotty cake-eaters who thought they were better than everyone else. Charlie knew whatever those people were laughing at, it couldn't be anything good. A tight feeling of apprehension twisted his stomach as he and Linda followed Julie, pushing their way through the mess of teenagers who all peered toward the flagpole. Portman and Fulton were screaming at everyone to leave, and they looked about ready to kill somebody.
"GET OUT OF HERE! UNLESS YOU WANT US TO BASH YOUR HEADS IN!" Portman roared as Charlie and Linda finally saw what everyone was staring at.
It was Adam. He'd been stripped to nothing but his boxers and was pinned to the flagpole, his wrists, ankles, shoulders, arms, and knees tied tightly against it, a piece of duct tape stretched across his mouth with the word "LOSER" scrawled across it in Sharpie. But that wasn't the worst of it. He was covered in something thick and sticky, which allowed duck feathers to cling to his naked skin. Connie, Luis, and Guy were desperately trying to get Adam down, but they were having no luck; he was tied far too tightly, and whatever adhered the feathers to him was either maple syrup or honey. They'd need something sharp to cut through all those knots.
"Oh, God!" Charlie whispered, running over. He noticed Adam's eyes were filled and that he'd been crying. "Oh, man, Banks."
"Why the hell would someone do this?" Linda asked, her face paling.
"Varsity's been gunning for him since we beat them," Guy said, shaking his head. "They'd been waiting for an opportunity to embarrass him."
"This is ridiculous!" Connie said, shaking her head as her brown eyes filled; she blinked them, and a few tears rolled down her face.
Charlie sighed before turning to Luis, Connie, and Julie. "Luis," he barked, "go back to my dorm and find some clean clothes for Adam. Connie, Cat, go to Orion's office and tell him to meet us in the locker room."
"On it." Luis being the fastest runner, Charlie knew the speed skater would be able to grab clothes for Adam and make it to the rink in record time. The girls both nodded and ran off toward the rink while Charlie grabbed the corner of the duct tape covering Adam's mouth, and Linda and Guy worked trying to untie him. They managed to get a few knots loose from Adam's wrists as Charlie slowly peeled the tape back, trying his best to make it as painless as he could for Adam's sake. Adam spat a few times after the tape was removed, and his wrists were freed as Guy worked on the rope around his arms and Linda got his shoulders, her nails digging into the knots.
"Adam? Are you okay?" Charlie demanded as he got to work, examining the knots around Adam's ankles. Even brushing his fingers against Adam's skin, he could tell the other boy was freezing, having been left outside overnight. He saw the goosebumps on Adam's skin, the way the hair on his legs stood straight up, and Charlie felt worried Adam would catch pneumonia or worse; the boy was shivering from the cold.
Charlie heard his friend sobbing as he and Linda managed to remove the rope, moving onto Adam's knees while Guy got his arms freed. As soon as the ropes fell away, Adam collapsed to the grass, still crying as Charlie raced to his side. He moved so that Adam's arm was wrapped over his shoulders, and Linda grabbed his other arm; together, they pulled him to his feet and pushed their way through. Charlie kept his arm around tightly over Adam's waist, keeping the boy as close to him as possible to try and warm him up.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Charlie roared at everyone who was still staring. "IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA HELP, LEAVE!"
That caused the crowd to disperse as the Bash Brothers came up behind them, guarding them and shooting death glares at anyone who dared to look at them.
Charlie and Linda trudged along, pulling Adam with them while the other boy kept sobbing, his face twisted into a mask of humiliation and turning an ugly shade of red as he cried.
"Banksy, it'll be okay," Charlie murmured. "We're getting you to the JV locker room; we'll get you cleaned up and into some warm, dry clothes. It's okay. You're gonna be okay."
Adam shook his head, sobbing miserably even as Charlie and Linda tried to reassure him quietly. Fulton moved to stand in front of them, and Guy came up beside Charlie; he winced as he noticed Adam's right wrist.
"Charlie, his wrist," Guy whispered, and Charlie peered over at Adam's right arm, which was draped over him.
Adam's wrist was severely bruised and looked a bit swollen; it looked like there were handprints, as though someone had deliberately squeezed his wrist and twisted it, aggravating a previous injury. Charlie knew that was the same wrist that suffered a sprain during the Goodwill Games. From the looks of it, Adam's wrist got injured once again, though it couldn't have come just from his wrist being grabbed and twisted; somebody on Varsity had to have been physical with him during his time there, and the very thought sickened Charlie as he suddenly felt nauseated. That was when he also noticed several bruises near Adam's shoulders, a clear sign from multiple body checks, and that the boy had lost a significant amount of weight, that he hadn't been eating, and one look in Adam's eyes showed he was tired, that there was something in him that was just done. How come he hadn't noticed this before?
Some best friend I am, he thought bitterly.
Sometimes, he hated that Adam's injury during the Jr. Goodwill Games had been televised. All of their downfalls in that match against Iceland had been viewed worldwide. That meant Varsity knew Adam's weakness was his wrist because Adam was right-handed. Sure, Adam could play with one hand just fine. But he was a stronger player with two good wrists. And with Adam having been third-line center, Charlie guessed he hardly got to play at all when he'd been on Varsity, so the Varsity players must've thought going after him wouldn't matter, because he'd hardly get his chance even though being on Varsity as a freshman would look good on an Ivy league application. Or rather, Riley and Varsity went out of their way to ensure Adam wouldn't get to play at all.
It was all Riley. This had to be Riley, and maybe Cole, too. That meant throughout his time with Varsity, Adam had been getting bullied. But Charlie and the Ducks were too blinded by their anger and jealousy to notice Adam had been suffering.
Never again. He'd never allow this to happen again to one of his own.
"We'll have Orion look at it when we get to the rink," Charlie panted, hauling ass. It seemed to take an eternity when they finally got to the rink. They moved as fast as they could, pushing the doors open and trudging to the JV locker room. Fulton yanked the door open, and they were met with Julie, Connie, Luis, and Orion. Orion's face seemed to drain of color as he took in Adam's condition.
"Banks," he whispered, concern evident in his voice, and Adam looked further down in shame, his whole body shaking. Orion shook his head in disgust. "Conway, get him cleaned up and dressed. We'll talk about this after."
Charlie nodded. "C'mon, Adam." He led Adam over to the showers as Luis beat them to it, turning on the water as hot as Adam could tolerate. A bar of soap, shampoo, and some Old Spice body wash was ready for them as Linda disentangled herself from Adam, pulling off her sweater, which left her in just a t-shirt.
Charlie turned to his girlfriend. "I'll buy you a new one," he promised her.
Linda smiled sadly. "Just take care of your friend." She squeezed Charlie's shoulder before leaving to wait with the others.
Charlie sighed, guiding Adam toward the hot spray. "C'mon, Banks." As soon as the hot water hit Adam's head, he seemed to relax as Charlie worked on scrubbing shampoo into his hair before lathering up the body wash, scrubbing it over Adam's skin to remove the syrup and feathers, which fell into clumps around the shower's drain. Adam gasped as Charlie helped him wash and strip free of his dirty boxers. Charlie quickly reached for a towel and wrapped it around Adam's naked waist tightly to give him the decency of privacy while he rinsed Adam's hair out, and Adam seemed to sigh with relief as more tears ran down his face. The hot water was warming him up, and Charlie noted how Adam seemed to relax and he looked a lot less tense.
Charlie wanted to keep Adam under the steaming spray for as long as possible, even after his skin had been cleaned of the feathers and syrup. They stayed until the water ran to lukewarm, and Charlie turned off the shower before reaching for dry towels, drying Adam and himself off before they stepped out. Charlie was relieved that Luis had thought to grab them both fresh clothes. He watched as Adam quickly got dressed, and he followed suit, changing into the dry clothes, though Adam's hands shook so badly he could barely pull his shirt over his head, and his wrist had to be hurting badly. Charlie stepped forward, helping him yank the sweater over his head and pulling his arms through the sleeves before leading him to the bench, where Orion awaited them. Julie moved and sat beside Adam, grabbing his left hand and squeezing softly.
Charlie turned to Luis. "Thanks, Mendoza. I owe you one."
"No problem," Luis said, shaking his head.
Orion knelt in front of them. "Banks, let me see that wrist."
Adam released a shaky breath as he showed Orion his right wrist, which looked even worse. Orion took Adam's wrist with a sort of gentleness none of the Ducks would've expected.
"Can you rotate it at all?"
Adam shook his head silently.
Orion applied gentle pressure, causing Adam to wince and swear under his breath as tears gathered in his eyes again.
"Banks, this doesn't look good. Who did this?"
"Riley, Cole, and Labine," Adam replied hoarsely. "They've had it out for me for a while."
"How long has your wrist been injured this way?" Orion asked.
"He got hurt during the Goodwill Games, but that injury should've healed by now," Julie said.
"This came from Riley this time," Adam explained. "He brought his stick down on my wrist during practice; he also had Avery trip me, and it caused me to fall on it."
"How long has it been since it happened?" Orion demanded.
"A little before I left Varsity." Adam's voice broke as more tears streamed down his face, and Charlie threw an arm across his shoulders protectively, holding him closely.
"What've you been doing?" Fulton demanded. "How the fuck were you playing with that wrist?"
"On Varsity I was barely playing at all," Adam explained. "I guess Riley thought that meant it wouldn't matter because I wouldn't get used during games. I'd been wrapping it and taking meds for it."
"Dude!" Portman said, shaking his head. "Did you not learn anything from when we were in the Goodwill Games? You can't depend too much on painkillers!"
"What were you taking for it during the Goodwill Games?" Orion demanded.
"Tylenol, before Coach Bombay took me to a doctor over there who filled me a prescription for oxycodone. I still had some leftover from the games, and I'd been taking that for the pain. I ran out of it last week."
"You could get addicted to that stuff, Banks! Use your head!" Portman snapped.
"Portman, shut up!" Julie snapped back.
Orion shook his head. "Adam, Portman's right. This is bad. Until that wrist heals, I'm benching you. This looks like a stress fracture, though I'm taking you to the doctor myself so we can get your wrist x-rayed. But before we do that, we've gotta go report this to Buckley. This isn't just a couple of guys playing grab-ass; this is a hazing, and it violates the player contract agreements you kids sign. Those contracts prohibit you guys from assaulting teammates; you and your parents had to sign those from the beginning of the semester when you accepted your scholarships. I never thought anyone, especially the upperclassmen, would screw up their chances by doing something this stupid."
"They never cared," Charlie said angrily. "If they gave a damn about anything, they would've stopped! Sure, we might've done the fire ants and the liquid nitrogen on the letterman jackets, but we never touched them physically. They've done a hell of a lot more damage to us than we did to them."
"I see that now," Orion said, his voice surprisingly gentle as he leaned a hand on Adam's shoulder. Adam drew a quivering breath and quit crying, wiping his eyes impatiently. Orion just squeezed Adam's shoulder softly before saying, "Easy, Banks, they're not going to hurt you again."
Adam nodded.
"Now come on," Orion said, "let's get you to the dean's office so we can report this. Conway, Gaffney, you're coming with me. Help him up; I don't want him walking without assistance."
"Let's go, Banksy," Charlie murmured, rising to his feet and pulling Adam up with him. He and Julie stayed on either side of Adam, exiting the locker room. Linda went up to him.
"Charlie, what can we do?" she asked.
"You should all head to first period," said Charlie, nodding at Luis, Fulton, Dean, and Linda – Linda was in first-period AP History with Adam, and Luis and Charlie shared the same math class with Julie and Fulton. "We probably missed it at this point. Make sure at least at least some of us understand the homework."
Linda, Fulton, Dean, and Luis nodded. Linda kissed Charlie quickly before leaving, and Charlie, Julie, and Adam followed Orion out of the locker room, making the long walk toward Dean Buckley's office. But as they walked, Charlie could see Adam starting to cry again, and he was trembling, not from cold this time, though.
"This is ridiculous! We never touched him!" Riley was saying.
"Oh, please, everyone saw what happened!" Charlie was yelling, his eyes red. "Adam told us everything you did! You jacked up his wrist to make sure he'd never be able to play the whole season, and you threatened him not to say anything! You're a loser!"
"Conway, enough!" Orion barked.
"But Coach –!"
"I don't care! I said that's enough! I know you're upset over what happened, but now's not the time for this. Calm down!"
Adam watched as Charlie inhaled and exhaled, though he still looked pissed. Adam's mom and dad, Phillip and Linda, stood there looking infuriated, and Charlie's mom, Casey, looked just as mad from where she sat next to Charlie.
The moment Phillip and Linda arrived at Buckley's office, Adam had practically darted into his dad's arms, burying his face in Phillip's chest as if that were an avenue for hiding from Riley, Cole, and Labine, who'd spent the entire time glowering at him in fury. And when Casey showed up with Coach Bombay – who'd arrived in town early to surprise them and had been called by Casey, of all people, about what happened to Adam – Adam, Charlie, and Julie practically launched themselves at their former coach in a group hug.
Adam now sat silently, huddled under his dad's arm as Phillip stroked his hair. On the other hand, Riley and Cole's fathers were trying to placate the situation. At the same time, Coach Bombay stood beside Coach Orion, who'd surprisingly gotten into a shouting match with Coach Wilson over Riley, Cole, and Labine's behavior.
"Wilson," Orion said heatedly, "you know this violates school policy, yet you let them keep going! You should've kept your players on a leash a long time ago. I could've told you their behavior would've escalated to something like this!"
"Look, I'm sorry that this happened, all right?" Coach Wilson said.
"Your players have been harassing the JV team since they came here!" Casey snapped. "Guess what? When it comes to my kid's safety, 'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it!"
"Look, Dean Buckley, this was only the first offense. Can we please just let this one slide?" Mr. Riley was asking.
"No, it can't," Bombay said coolly. "It says specifically in the player contracts that any hazing, harassment, or physical assault of a teammate could get you thrown off the team, and you won't be eligible to play for the rest of the season and for the rest of your time at Eden Hall. It's part of the code of ethics; you guys put your signatures on that paperwork, knew this was unacceptable, and yet you did it anyway."
"Well, what about what they did? Fire ants? Freezing the jerseys?" demanded Labine's father.
"Fire ant bites are minor; they'll heal," Charlie retorted. "What happens when something gets doused in liquid nitrogen? It freezes. That's nothing. They scammed us into paying an eight hundred-fifty-dollar dinner check, stole our teammate Ken's lunch every day; threw our clothes into the showers so we had no clothes to change into after practice; I'd say that's worse. And what they did to Adam, what they've been doing to him, is wrong."
"It was nothing, Conway! It was a stupid joke! Lighten up and take that stick out of your ass!" Cole spat.
"What part of you gets off on torturing Adam? He and others in this school might be afraid of you, but I'm not!" Charlie snapped. "I see your miserable threats and harassment for exactly what they are! Misguided lashings of a stuck-up, low-life, cake-eating, over-privileged brat who only feels good when somebody else around him feels worse."
"Charlie," Casey started, but she was cut off by Orion saying, "Conway, let us handle this." Orion turned to Buckley. "Dean Buckley, this has got to stop. Because I'm with my kids." He said the words my kids with a sort of impassioned protectiveness that caused Adam to feel more tears flood his eyes. "What Riley, Labine, and Cole did was wrong. And not only that, they've broken almost every code of ethics since the beginning of the semester. So, what's it gonna be?"
Dean Buckley sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. The man seemed even more aged, somehow. But finally, he said, "There's no denying that the three of you and most of the Varsity hockey team have broken the code of ethics in the player contract agreements. I would suggest a two-week, out-of-school suspension, and you will not be eligible to play for the rest of the season. That includes the three of you, Mabina, Avery, Thompson, Jameson, Turner, Nelson, and Carr."
"But that's the whole Varsity hockey team minus Scooter!" yelled Riley, his eyes bulging. "Are you kidding me?"
"I'm not," Dean Buckley said sternly. "I'll be filing this report to the board, and your suspension will begin effective tomorrow. Maybe that will give you all some time to think about what it means to treat your underclassmen teammates with respect and dignity. And it'll also give you some time to think about what happens when your actions border on assault."
Riley rolled his eyes and sneered at Adam, "You'll always be a loser as long as you're with them, Banksy."
"And you'll always be a jerk, Riley," Adam replied coldly. If "loser" was the best insult Riley could come up with, then Adam considered himself the luckiest loser out of all of them. Because at least he had the Ducks. And ducks fly together.