~Pucker face~ Charlie Conway

Chapter seven: Not Sorry

I would never tell a soul that I had seen Charlie on the roof that night. See, it wasn't that big of a piece of information, and nobody would probably do anything with it. But telling someone else felt wrong. I had strayed enough from my true self in the past month, I wasn't going to make myself even more so-called problematic.

The week of the big flu outbreak at Eden Hall, hockey practice got canceled. Granted, I wasn't on the team anymore, but most everyone didn't know that. Anyways, it gave me an excuse to not to show my face around any of the ducks. But now, school was back on and so was practice. One of which I would be attending by literally having to. So that's where my problem arises. The truth had to be told eventually, but who's mouth was it going to come out of?

A few days went by and I avoided any and all interaction with anybody. I called my parents more, which made me feel a little less lonely, but lacking human interaction made me crazy. I even started raising my hand in class just to talk! Thursday came that week with change in store.

I opened my eyes and rolled over to look at the time. The clock read 8:37 am. Seriously?! I slept through the alarm once again. Quickly getting up, I washed my face, brushed my teeth and threw a sweatshirt on over my pajamas, keeping on my sweatpants. Hurrying off to class in a pair of sandals, I tied my hair up into a ponytail. I tried to slip into class and quietly as possible, but of course Mr. Miller had ears like a bat.

"Ms. Hagen, you're late again" He reminded, turning around. I nodded, "Sorry Mr. Miller." I said embarrassed. Everyone was looking at me, so I avoided taking my usual seat next to Averman, instead, sitting in the back.

As soon as I sat down, a hand reached over and handed me a note. It was Connie. Opening it up, it read; "where have you been? Coach keeps wondering where's one of his star players is. Are you still sick?"

Dwayne and Julie sitting next to Connie were also looking my way. Charlie still hadn't told them I'd quit. That little bastard, it was all his fault. It wrote back, "No, not sick. Just not going." Passing back the note, I stared back up at Mr. Miller and his teachings. Connie tapped my shoulder, trying to get my attention. Frustrated, I turned to my left and mouthed "what?" She shrinked back a little in shock of my attitude. "Why?" She mouthed. "It's nothing!" I mouthed back, raising my eyebrows.

I knew Connie would get suspicious sooner or later, she and Julie were the best friends I had here and they absolutely knew something was off. I turned back to my work. Little did I know, the note was being passed around from duck to duck. Finally, it ended at Charlie.

Charlie's POV:

I was given a paper by Adam and out of natural curiosity, I opened it up.

In different handwriting read some sentences from all the ducks. First was Connie.

Connie: where have you been? Coach keeps wondering where's one of his star players? Are you still sick?

Sloane: No, not sick. Just not going.

Connie: guys, get this around. I can't figure out why Sloane isn't coming to practice. My plan is, we poke a little and find out. First to find out gets 5 bucks of my lunch money.

Wow, Connie was really determined to find out what had happened. Which WASN'T my fault. I rolled my eyes and crumpled the paper, standing up to throw it away.

"Conway, Hagen, Ducks, detention." Mr. Miller said, his back turned, "Note passing is a violation of class rules that has been broken several times now, you've been warned."

Seriously? This was all Sloane's fault. She always caused drama everywhere she went. Now I had to spend two hours in detention with her and the rest of the team. All the Ducks groaned as some kids on Varsity snickered and taunted.