in reverse-adam banks(1)

chapter 18 - quack quack

Adam's POV

What. Just. Happened. Oh god why did I say that. I mean maybe she needed to know that stuff but why did I say it in the middle of the school for everyone to hear. I'm walking back to my dorm finally after the eventful conference and equally eventful after events. After that most exciting chat with Layla I guess I got what I wanted. It wasn't 'weird' between us anymore and we were friends. But after everything I told her and just what got said i'm general I had no clue what was going to end up happening. The hockey showdown was rapidly approaching and I honestly wasn't sure how it was going to go. We had been training super hard and the ducks had definitely made some improvements since the scrimmage. But still. Varsity was varsity. They still had a really good chance of destroying us.

And as much as I hated to admit it, there wasn't much we could do. Almost the whole varsity team had been there for two or three years. The exception was of course Layla, Scooter, and Riley with this being their first year on the team. Yeah I know it was weird that Riley and Layla were captain and assistant captain their first year on varsity. But I guess that is one of the perks of being the alumni's kid and his best friend. And Scooter was just that good so it made sense he was on the team.

The rest of the team was just as good. They all deserved to be on that team. And they were going to kill us. After everything the ducks had gone through, after everything they had helped me through I had been pulled apart from them again. But varsity pushed me back. The ducks said they forgave me and that we could forget it all.

I knew that wasn't true.

Varsity put them through too much hell for them to ever forget that it had all happened. And I would forever live with seeing the pain and the anger on their faces. Knowing that I had helped cause that even if by accident. The truth was I had become varsity and so I was just as much to blame as the rest of the team.

I felt displaced again.

"Adam," someone called out from down the hall. I turned to see the voice belonged to Charlie. "Don't forget the JV-Varsity showdown is tomorrow. Game starts at 6 but coach wants us there at 5."

How could I forget.

"Okay thanks Charlie." I watched as he ran back into his dorm then I entered mine. I collapsed on the bed and soon fell asleep.

The next school day passed quite uneventfully. Nobody was really giving anybody a hard time, the school was just generally quiet. You could feel the tension in the air. Possibly the most important game of the year was approaching and people knew. The ducks hardly talked. This was the game that determined if we belonged at this school or not. And as much as I wanted to stay I didn't know if we could pull through against varsity. Not that I didn't have faith in my team. Just that I didn't want anything bad to happen.

It ended up being one of those days that dragged in and went by super quick somehow. We all knew Varsity thought that they had us easy after the failed morning game.

Time seemed to fly by in the 3 hours we had between the end of school and when coach wanted us there for the game.

Before anyone could really think about it, the ducks were lined up about to go out onto the ice.

Here it was. The moment the whole school was waiting for. The moment that determined if we actually belonged at this school.

"For Hans," Charlie whispered. The team murmured various responses before skating out onto the ice. As a Norwegian symbol of respect to Hans, we touched the ice before we started. I knew that this game wasn't only for us. It was for him. To prove him right. To prove that the ducks were worth believing in. After everything we had been through as a team, Hans never wavered in his faith in us. We had to make him proud.