maybe • adam banks

terrible news

we were standing on the platform outside of eden hall, for a press release. i was eighty percent sure we had only been given scholarships, as some sort of publicity stunt. i mean, we were the talk of the town, we had just won the olympics. this school obviously wanted a piece of it. we were wearing our ducks jerseys over our formal clothes for added effect, just so everyone's clear on what's happening.

adam and i were holding hands, looking at bombay about to make his speech. the only missing element was dean, and i figured he was just running late. he didn't strike me as the punctual type.

bombay smiled, taking the podium,"thank you. it's a great honor to be here today, to introduce you to a truly great group of kids. sure, they can be a little rambunctious. they've run me ragged, and played more than their fair share of pranks," he said causing us to let out a laugh,"i still haven't forgotten about the eggs."

"that was a fun day." i nodded, whispering to adam.

he chuckled, leaning down to me,"yeah, i liked that."

"but i hung in there and they hung in there for me. we became 'the quack attack, 'the flying v', and the bash brothers. i've never had a better time. these kids are winners. each and every one of them. but more than that, these are good people. i hope they enrich and enliven your school and your lives the way they have mine," coach finished his speech, and gestures to the dean,"now, i hand you over to the capable hands of my old biology teacher and the current headmaster of eden hall, dean buckley."

buckley smiled, taking the hot seat,"gordon bombay has a lot to be proud of. we are happy to welcome the ducks to our great educational institution. so, today it gives me great pleasure to award you these full athletic scholarships to eden hall academy. where we hope the ducks will be happy warriors and lead us into glory....and divisional championships."

i knit my brows together, finding the ending part of his spreads wholly unnecessary. it made it seem like us being here was conditional, which i guess made sense. it just rubbed me the wrong way.

we walked out into the crowd, answering a few questions from the reporters.

"scarlett gilinksy," a man with a microphone smiled at me,"nice to meet you."

i smiled politely,"nice to meet you too."

he flipped through his notebook, looking for the perfect question,"so, the people want to know: are you and adam banks together? we all saw the kiss at the end of the championship, and we've been trying to figure it out ever since."

i looked at him with confusion, wondering why that was the only question he had for me,"um, i feel like that's fairly personal, i don't really want to-"

"scar," charlie smiled, placing his hand on the small of my back,"coach is asking to talk to us."

i let out a breath, thankful for the save. i turned to the reporter, smiling apologetically,"sorry."

we walked away, trailing after coach, who wanted to get as far away from the scene as possible.

i wasn't sure why coach had wanted to speak to me, we weren't exactly best buds, like him and charlie.

we ended up on the shore of a lake, bombay staring at the water thoughtfully. i figured it must have been something pretty serious.

charlie looked around, stating lightly,"this school looks stuffy, but we'll loosen it up."

i nudged him playfully,"huh, coach? ready for the ducks to take over eden hall?"

i looked up at charlie, and noted that he was now taller than coach. i found it kind of funny, and a little sad. it just meant we were growing up, and that wasn't something i was interested in doing.