𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢 / 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚

"over the edge"

"He punched you in the face?" Marco's eyes widened as he leaned closer to me from across the table. We were in Physics class and supposed to be working on our lab but I had instead decided to catch Marco up on the events of the past few days.  

"No, Charlie didn't punch me! He accidentally elbowed me in the face."

"Mhm." Marco leaned back in his chair and stroked his non-existent facial hair. "On accident you say?"

"You think he purposely drilled me in the nose?"  

"No not really, but it makes things more interesting." He sat up and waved his hand. "Okay, continue."

I went on to tell him about Adam and the almost-kiss in the locker room.

Marco gasped and held his hand to his chest. "He's in love with you."

I leaned over and smacked his arm. "Oh shut up."

I was interrupted by my teacher, Mr. Flynn, calling my name. "They need you down in the office, now."

I nodded and stood up, looking back at Marco.

"You're in trouble!" He whispered and I shook my head and laughed, walking out of the room.  

The office was on the opposite side of the school from the Physics room, so it took me a few minutes to reach it. Once there, I pulled on the dark iron handle of the door and walked in. Inside stood all the members of my team. They looked upset. Connie was crying and Goldberg and Averman weren't messing around for once. Something was wrong.

I slowly walked over to Adam, who was leaning on the wall. "Did something happen?"

He let out a slow sigh and took my hands. "Ella... Hans is... he passed away."

My hands let go of Adam's and flew to cover my open mouth. I couldn't believe it. Adam wrapped his arms around me and let me cry for a little while.

Eventually I pulled away and looked around at my friends. Teammates or not, we were still family. And we all needed each other right now. 

_

I reached down and smoothed the wrinkle in my black sweater as a prayer was recited for Hans. Next to me was Adam and on the other side, Dwayne. 

Across from all of us was Charlie. I had just found out that he had quit the hockey team and was skipping school. I didn't know what had happened to the Charlie that had walked into Eden Hall only a few months ago, but I missed him.

I snapped out of my thoughts as Coach Bombay stepped out of the crowd. "Excuse me, one second." He then unfolded a Duck jersey and draped it over the coffin. "Every time you touch the ice, remember it was Hans who taught us to fly."

I silently nodded and stepped forward, placing a rose on top of the jersey. I then turned and gave Coach a hug. "Hi Coach. I've missed you."

"Hi Ella." He hugged me back. "How have you been?"

I looked up at Adam next to me and gave Coach a small smile. "It's been okay I guess. I know the team has really been missing you."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about you guys a lot lately. I heard that you two made Varsity huh?"

"We did, but it's just not for us." Adam answered for me and Coach gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"We tried to make it work Coach, we really did, but we belong with the Ducks. Since you're not around anymore, Charlie was supposed to hold us together but he quit and-"

"Charlie quit hockey?" Coach stopped me from talking and widened his eyes.

"Yeah. I think Coach Orion just... pushed him over the edge."

Things were quiet for a moment when Casey Conway approached Coach Bombay. I figured that was Adam and my's cue to leave.

"See you around Coach." Adam nodded at him and I gave him another hug. We then walked to Adam's father's car and got in the backseats. It was just the two of us as Adam's dad chatted with some other parents outside. 

Suddenly Adam turned to me. "Remember all the car pools we used have when we were Hawks? And then suddenly we were Ducks? And soon we started dating and then I did something stupid and ruined the best thing-"

"Adam what are you doing?" I leaned against the window, away from him, wanting him to stop whatever he was saying. 

"And now you hate me. And so does everyone else, I think. Gosh Ella, I'm just so stupid and I'm sorry-"

I turned and grabbed his hands, making him stop talking. "Adam if you want to do this, we're not doing it here." 

I was startled by the sound of a car door opening and immediately moved back to my side. Adam did the same.

"You two ready to head out?"

"Sure dad."

The car pulled away from the cemetery and I watched as the people there, got smaller and smaller. 

When I got home, the first thing I did was dial an old friend's number.

"Hello?" A deep and familiar voice answered.

"Dean? It's Ella."

"Ella hey! It's been way too long."

"Yeah, I know! We've really been missing you here." I sat down on my bed and closed my eyes, imagining that Dean was right there in person, talking to me. "How have you been? How's Chicago?"

"Not as cool as you'd think." I heard him laugh. "But I'm hanging in there. How are you? How's Eden Hall and everybody else?"

I started to tell him all about JV vs Varsity, Adam's weird behavior, Charlie's meltdown and everything in-between. When I looked up at the clock, I realized we had been talking for almost a hour.

"Hey, I hate to cut our conversation short, but I've got loads of homework left to do, courtesy of Eden Hall." I said and looked over at my overflowing backpack.

"It's no problem." Dean answered. "I've got some too. But call me again sometime, okay?"

"Definitely."

"And Ella? Things are going to work out for you. Don't be too hard on yourself. Sooner or later Adam and Charlie will screw their heads on straight." 

I laughed, "Thanks Dean, I sure hope so. I'll talk to you soon."

"Sooner then you think. Goodbye Ella."

I hung up and leaned against my headboard, a smile on my face. Good ol' Dean, always reassuring me that I would be okay.

Now all I had to do was believe it.

_

first off- i actually love marco?? idk but he's just a funny character that i'm glad exists. second- why is this book already over halfway done, i'm not ready to say goodbye to ella and this story!