CALIFORNIA DREAMING ▹ ADAM BANKS [ON HOLD]

DUCKS REUNION

[ C A L I F O R N I A  D R E A M I N G ]

❛ ducks reunion ❜

          IT WAS FINALLY SUMMER and a lot has gone on in the past year. Mom is now remarried to our stepfather, who wasn't the worst of fathers. All of us Ducks still hang out from time to time but with summer things have spiraled. Some of the Ducks left, which made the rest of us sad but sometimes it was for the better. As for me and Adam, we're good friends, who just so happen to really like each other and everyone can sense it. Just none of us has the actual guts to make a move but I mean it is summer and a lot can happen in just 3 months of no school. This summer, Charlie and I began helping Jan with the shop. It was the perfect day too, Bombay was finally back after his tragic accident in the league. Charlie was sharping some skates as I organized some of the things on display in the store. I didn't notice how loud the sharping really was. I quickly ran back to where Charlie stood and yelled at him "Charlie! That's super loud, you might wake up coach." Suddenly the figure from the next room jumped up from his sleeping position.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Charlie chuckles through the small peek. I grip onto both sides of the sliding doors and slide it open as both, Charlie and I walked in.

"Hey, Charlie, Alex," Bombay tiredly greets.

"Hey, coach. It's good to see you," Charlie and I smile walking towards him. We all went in for a nice long hug.

"Good to see you," Bombay says.

"We really missed you," Charlie informs coach. Humming from the distance burst, my eyes traveled to the sound to see Jan with a platter full of breakfast, most likely for Bombay.

"For breakfast, my specialty: Jan's hasen—" Jan began but we all already knew what he was going to say so we joined in.

"Hasenpfeffer and eggs," we all chime in.

"Yeah," Jan gasps at us with his cute smile.

"I thought I smelled something burning," Bombay jokes as everyone takes their respective seat to enjoy the breakfast.

"I see you've met my new apprentices," Jan beams about us.

"Jan told us you did this job when you were our age," Charlie adds.

"That's right. I hope he pays you more than he paid me," Bombay mentions.

"You got paid?!" Charlie and I gasp in unison. 

"Eat, everybody, before the hasenpfeffer gets cold," Jan avoids the topic of us getting paid. I silently let out a smile towards the boys in the room. After a breakfast full of smiles and laughter, both Charlie and I went back to going to work for a bit. It's been like that for a while, ever since mom got remarried at least. Charlie and I would spend almost all our hours here maybe that's why Hans decided to hire us in the first place. Hans soon let us go back home which we both kind of dreaded but we did so anyway.

—

Charlie and I still somehow shared a room. This time instead of a plain empty room it was filled with ornaments from the Ducks and anything that had to do with history. Of course, Charlie's side had the most of the items. I laid on my bed listening to music and reading my book for our summer homework that our school always assigned. I couldn't concentrate over Charlie's music blasting through his headphones but they somehow managed to fill the whole room up.

I took my headphones off but then heard some sort of call right afterward. For a split second, I thought my headphones were broken so I gently lifted them to my ear and heard a voice yelling out from our window "Hey, Charlie! Alex!" the voice yells. I could recognize that voice from anywhere. It was Bombay. Charlie and I shared a look before happily running over to the window to see Bombay standing out there.

"Hey! You wanna play some hockey?" he asked with a smirk on his face. My smile grew as Charlie and I ran back into the middle of our room and prepared for a ride to gather the ducks together again.

I grabbed onto my skates and hurriedly place them on. My body glided out the door and onto the busy, yet loud streets of Minnesota. Charlie and I skated beside each other. He was, of course, wearing his team jersey in which he was very proud of. In Charlie's hands, he held the squeaker that Bombay used to call us with. My head turns to Charlie and all he could do was smile the brightest I've seen so far this summer. Our first stop was towards the courtyard where we knew the one person who was going to be there. Our teammate, Jesse Hall.

—

[ A U T H O R ' S  N O T E ]
First chapter of our sequel! I can't wait for you guys to read the rest of the books. I know you guys have been waiting patiently for this sequel to be published so I hope this was a good enough first chapter for you.