"Hey, check it out. He knows Wayne Newton." Charlie said as they looked at the pictures in Dean Buckley's office. "Charlie, man, this is not a good start to our year." Kenny said. "Don't worry, Kenny. These prepsters aren't gonna do anything to us. Check it out. Antsville." Charlie said, looking at the giant ant farm. "yeah that's not weird at all." I said sarcastically. "Look at em go." Fulton said from behind me. "You can learn a lot from ants." Dean Buckley said, looking at us through the ant farm. "These Brazilian fire ants can teach you a lot about successful societal structure. You see there's one queen in there. The rest are dedicated worker ants. Everybody pulls their weight. Nobody complains. There's harmony and growth. Same here at Eden Hall. Only you are the workers, the backbone." "And you're the queen?" Russ asked. I laughed. "Nice one." I said, giving Russ a fist bump.
"Every Monday you'll have a practice quiz, every Wednesday you'll have a real quiz, every Friday you'll have an exam, and anytime I feel like it you'll have a surprise quiz or exam." Our new English teacher told us. I looked at Fulton who gave me a "we're fucked" kinda look.
"It's been said, that the present is to the past, like a dwarf, on the shoulders of a giant." Our new history teacher said, holding up a dwarf puppet. "If the dwarf holds his seat, he can, indeed, see further than the giant. But beware if the dwarf should grow careless, and forget his place." He said, squashing the puppet with a book on Fulton's desk. "History, is a giant. Get ready to ride." The bell rang and we all left the classroom, passing Kenny on the way. "That was terrifying." I said to Fulton as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Even worse than the bears?" Fulton teased. "Oh god no." I said. "Nothing is worse than bears."
The team walked out to the new rink where we saw the Varsity team practicing. "Wow, this place is great." Charlie said. "This is a nice rink.
It's huge." "You know, I bet they even have a snack bar here." Goldberg said. "Big deal." Fulton said. "They look pretty good." Luis said.
"They sure won a lot of championships." Julie commented, looking up at all the banners hanging from the rafters. "They're huge."
"They're not so hot." Charlie said. "Come on, guys, we could skate out there." Connie said and we walked onto the ice.
"If it isn't Captain Ducky." Riley said, coming over to them. "Get your hands off him." Fulton said. "Ooh, look. A Bash Brother and his little Bash Babe." The blonde boy said. "I'm so scared."
"Break it up! Come on, men, let's go." Their coach said, skating over. "How about it, cowboy?
Round up?" Charlie said to Dwayne. "Hey, Charlie, shouldn't we wait for the new coach before we mess around?" Connie asked. "This is how we practice. Duck hockey, Connie. You'll have to get used to it sooner or later. Well, come on, cowboy. Hit it." "Yee haw! Round em up, doggies!"
I leaned against the boards as they all played around. Fulton skated over to me. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded.
Fulton brought me into a hug. I leaned up and pressed a kiss along his jawline. "Go have fun." I said. "I'd rather stay here with you." He said, leaning against the boards with me. Julie skated by us. "You've gone soft." She teased. "Shut up Julie!" I yelled as she skated away. We watched as Dwayne caught Charlie in the rope and Charlie fell to the ice, right in front of our new coach. Me and Fulton skated over to join the rest of the team. "My name is coach Orion. You can call me Coach or coach Orion." He said. "Well, you can call me Charlie." "That must be what that C on your jersey stands for, huh? It sure doesn't stand for captain." "Sorry, Coach. We were just messin with you, you know?" Russ said.
"Hey, Bombay gave him that C." Goldberg said.
"And I respect that, but that's the past. This is my team now, and I'll be selecting the captain."
"You gotta be kidding me, right? I mean, you're the rookie here. We all been together for four years." Charlie said. "Charlie, shut up." I hissed. "Okay, Charlie, laps. Right now." Charlie took off the rope from around his neck. "How many, coach Orion?" "I don't recall saying." Charlie left and began his laps around the rink.
"Now you listen up, and you listen up good. We are here for one reason and one reason only.
You know what that is? It starts with a W. "To win, coach Orion, sir!" Averman shouted out.
"No. To work! High school hockey is very hard work. And it all begins, with defense." I felt my face brightened up. That was my specialty. "I've seen your tapes. I know you can score goals. I just don't know if you can stop them." Goldberg laughed. "Hey." Coach Orion glared at him.
"Sorry, sir."
"You're not kids or little ducks anymore, so I'm
not gonna treat you that way. You're gonna learn to play two way hockey, offense and defense. It's gonna take one thing. It starts with a W." "To work, coach Orion, sir!" Averman yelled out. "Wrong." Coach Orion said as Dwayne hit Averman. "Will. It's gonna take real will, if you want to play in my barn. Alright.
Count off. Let's climb the ladder." We only counted into groups of threes. Goldberg couldn't block any of the shots but Julie blocked all of them.
The team walked into the locker room after practice was over. "Somebody get a shovel and bury me right here." Goldberg said, laying down on the bench. "I will teach you to play like what?
Starts with a W!" Charlie yelled out. "Wussies." Averman said. "That's right. Wussies on offense and defense!" "Defense, defense, defense!" Russ yelled slamming his things on medal. "Eden Hall Academy requires you to maintain a C average to compete. I believe that's a bad rule. I don't want any C players on my team. I want B's or better. or you're gonna be riding the pine pony." "Oh shit." I whispered and Fulton turned to me.
I looked at him. "I barely passed last year. I always get D's." Fulton grabbed my hand and rubbed the back of it. "Now you got fifteen minutes after each practice to clear this locker room. You got homework to do. Oh, one more thing. Stay clear of the Varsity until we play em in the JV Varisty showdown. You got that?" Coach Orion said and left the locker room.
"Okay, the grades won't be so bad." Banks said.
"No one can go from an A to a D that quickly." I chuckled. "Happened to me in eighth grade." I said.
"How?" Averman asked her. She smirked. "She wasn't talking about her grades. They were already that low anyway." Julie said. Everyone's eyes widened as Fulton looked down at my chest. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, not like you haven't seen them before." She said, and Fulton smirked. "True." "Fifteen minutes?
Man, I cannot move." Russ said. "Hey, you guys, look. He posted our positions." Connie told them. "I don't believe this. I play left side, not right." Fulton said. Harlow looked at the list.
"We're not even on the same line. This is bullshit." She said.
"That's the great thing about being goalie, you know? You always know where you stand. I just mind my business, take my place between the pipes." Goldberg said. "You're riding the pine pony, pal." Averman said. "Very funny." "Julie's one. You're two." "I'm backup?" Goldberg said and rushed towards the list. "How can he do this to me? What am I, chopped liver?" "Hey, who, who's captain Tibid?" Dwayne asked. "Oh, that's captain TBD. To be determined." Guy told him.
"Oh. Oh, I see. Well, no, I don't. That's your job, Charlie." Dwayne said "clearly not anymore" I commented.
