Y/n's POV

I was doing everything in my power to stay awake. This class with, I figured out her names Ms. Damean, feels like prison. I'm glad it was Tuesday and she decided not to give us a surprise test. I still haven't talked to Charlie, haven't really got the chance. I guess I'm supposed to apologize? I don't really know, but it sucks not knowing if he's mad at me or not. Adam got moved into a dorm with some varsity dude named Trenton Reynolds last night. I don't really like the thought of Adam being on varsity, what if he gets caught up with those jerks? I don't think he would, but they could just turn him into their 'pet.' He's not happy about any of it. I looked beside me to Adam to see him actually asleep. I kicked his ankle to try and wake him up. It worked cause he woke up a little confused. Connie wasn't asleep, but she was dazed. Everyone was dazed to be honest. She just drones on and on and on, kinda like that first teacher in Ferris Buellers day off. Except she'd randomly toss a book down scaring everyone. I looked at the clock and there was 5 minutes left...

Longest five minutes of my life. I walked with Adam to the next class with Mr. Wells. I sat about 2 rows towards the back so I was like dead center, and he paces right around where I'm at. Honestly this dude scares me, and annoys me. I don't think I'm gonna learn anything here, like seriously. None of it sticks. Charlie sat up front and man he had an attitude with this dude, well a non-verbal attitude. He rolled his eyes every 10 minutes and mocked his words silently. This class went a little quicker. I only had one more class before I could talk to Charlie. I was gonna try and hurry outta social studies so I could catch Charlie up the stairs. I bet I'm overthinking this. Maybe not. Maybe I am. I don't know. I thought on it way too long cause I about lost it when the bell rang. I packed up my stuff and left with Adam.

"So how'd Varsity treat you last night?" I asked.

"It was ok. The guy wasn't rude, but he just didn't talk to me. I don't wanna hang out with them though. I have to sit with them at lunch now, it's stupid." Adam said.

"What? You can't even sit with us at lunch? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." I said.

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to any of this." Adam said.

"Me either, one of the selling points of coming here was getting to play hockey with you, and the rest of the team of course but still." I said.

"Yup, it's all dumb. Is there any chance you and Charlie have talked?" Adam asked.

"Not yet, I'm gonna try to catch him after this class." I said.

"Are you nervous about it?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"Me nervous? Nahhhh." I said sarcastically.

"Don't be nervous, I bet Charlie forgives you. He was just upset yesterday, and besides it isn't like he even said he was mad at you to begin with." Adam said.

"His face said it for him, you should've seen it." I said.

"I doubt it was that bad." Adam said. I looked at him for a moment trying to figure out if he was serious.

"It looked like I just killed his puppy or somethin." I said.

"Just don't over think it. Be like hey Charlie are you mad at me? And just talk about it I guess." Adam said.

"I can't just ask that." I said.

"Why not?" Adam asked.

"Because you don't just ask if someone's mad at you to begin with." I said.

"Well why are you telling me, you seem to know what you're talking about so just trust your gut and talk to him." Adam said.

"What if my guts wrong?" I ask.

"It won't be y/n, you're way overthinking it. Think about how much times you've worried about something like this just for it to end up fine. Like remember when you thought Guy was mad at you cause tripped him? And remember how he wasn't mad at you and you about had a breakdown worrying about it?" Adam said.

"I can't help it, I prepare myself for the worst." I said.

"I wouldn't go about life like that if I were you." Adam said.

"Yeah.... I'll just wait til I get to talk to Charlie and pray he's not mad at me." I said.

"He won't be, he went to talk to Hans yesterday. Usually when he goes there he tells Hans his problems and Hans gives him advice. You and Hans are like 5 year olds when you're around each other, so I bet he talked Charlie out of being mad at you." Adam said.

"You're right.... but if he's mad at me I'm blaming it on you." I said.

"What? I'm not the one that made you captain." Adam said.

"Never said you did." I responded.

"Ya know you're gonna make me have grey hairs at 15." Adam said.

"It'll be worth it." I said.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Cause you get to have the one and only Y/n Y/l/n in your life." I said dramatically.

"Didn't need to remind me." He said smiling. I was about to retort something when someone popped up beside me. I pretty much knew it was Beau, and shocker, it was.

"So Adam, I heard you're on Varsity now?" Beau asked.

"Somehow, Yes." Adam said.

"Not really surprising though, you're pretty good at hockey." Beau said.

"Not Varsity good." Adam said.

"I beg to differ." Beau said making me laugh a little. We didn't get to say much more cause we were in the class. I actually kinda liked this class, the teacher was awesome. Her names Mrs. DeFrancisco....

The bell rang signaling the end of class. I felt the nerves settle in as I packed up my stuff quickly. It was a bit more of a walk for me to the stairs so I had to get out of there quicker. I got close to the stairs and I seen Charlie. Looks like I actually timed it right. I walked a little quicker catching up to him, he hadn't noticed me yet though.

"Hey Charlie." I said causing him to look up.

"Oh hey y/n, finally I can talk to you. I'm sorry about how I reacted yesterday, I was just mad at coach and well, wouldn't look at you. I kinda forgot it wasn't your choice whether or not to be captain to be honest and I'm sorry about that." Charlie said. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he wasn't mad at me, except that meant Adam was right.

"It's alright Charlie, I'm just glad you ain't mad at me. Besides I don't wanna be captain, I think I'm gonna attempt talking to Orion about it. I can't make any promises though cause he kinda scares me." I said.

"You don't gotta do that, but how come he scares you?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know he's just...intimidating. I'm not trying to get him pissed and have to do laps." I said.

"He's not intimidating, if anything he just makes me mad." Charlie said.

"Yeah, I could tell." I said laughing a little.

"He's trying to break up the ducks, and I don't like it one bit. I'm not letting him step all over me." Charlie said. In reality, at least to me, he wasn't too bad. Yeah, he yelled a lot, but he was being a coach.

"He can't just break the ducks. It doesn't matter if we're wearing the Warriors jersey or the ducks jersey. Once a duck, always a duck." I said. That was kinda cheesy, but it got the point across.

"You're right, but I'm not taking crap from a guy who uses hair gel." Charlie said.

"Well... I guess thats understandable. Don't let him get under your skin though, you two will just end up going back and forth til one of you quits." I said.

"I doubt I'll quit anytime soon. Hold on I gotta question, why don't you wanna be captain?" Charlie asked.

"I dunno exactly, it's just not that appealing for me. I wanna play, not do the technical crap. No offense, it's just not my cup of tea." I said.

"I get that, it's not really hard though." Charlie said.

"I doubt it can be that hard, it's just odd. Don't want the responsibility of it." I said.

"Oh well, you'll get used to it. Unless somehow you manage to get coach to make me captain, which is not likely to happen. If you put him under a spell or something maybe he'd reconsider." Charlie said.

"I mean you never know, I could get him to make you captain instead." I said.

"If you can do that I will buy you dinner." Charlie said.

"For real?" I asked.

"Yes for real." Charlie said.

"I'm holding you to that Conway." I said.

"You do that, in the mean time, I'm gonna try not to disappear from this school." Charlie said.

"I don't think you mean the whole school." I said smirking.

"And what do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Seems to me you've got the hots for a black hair blue eyed girl named Linda." I said.

"What- how do you even know any of that?" Charlie asked confused.

"Well I seen you speechless talking to her yesterday, and her getting annoyed and walking away." I said.

"I didn't mean to annoy her, she thinks I'm a jock." Charlie said.

"I mean... technically you are a jock." I said.

"Not in the way she thinks, she means it like I'm Rick Riley." Charlie complained.

"Oh... well talk to her and explain the pros of Charlie Conway. Let her figure out the cons herself." I said.

"What cons?" Charlie asked.

"No cons.... just an example." I said quickly.

"Totally, just an example." Charlie said sarcastically.

"Yup, examples, don't you just love examples." I said.

"Examples are the best, best excuses at least." Charlie said.

"Was not an excuse." I said.

"Was so an excuse." Charlie said.

"Was not."

"Was to."

"Was not."

"Was to."

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Wa-"

"What in the world are you two arguing about?" Guy asked cutting me off.

"Nothing, just Charlie not believing me." I said.

"Y/n why would I believe a lie?" Charlie asked.

"It is not a lie." I defended.

"Totally was a lie." Charlie said.

"Was not." I said.

"Don't you start that thing again." Guy said. Me and Charlie laughed a little and I realized we were at our next class with Coach Taylor. Fun...

~

I was walking to lunch with Adam, I wish he didn't have to sit with Varsity. We talked along the way and finally made it to the line. Goldberg was infront of us complaining about Julie being 1st goalie. Long story short, Goldbergs jealous. I paid for my food and separated from him at his new table. There was a few open seats but I didn't feel like sitting right beside Guy, so I sat beside Connie who was across from Guy. I was there for about 5 minutes when Averman sat beside me and Goldberg had a tray of sweets walking towards us. They both looked like they were up to something. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ken getting picked on by Varsity. They were taking his lunch, just like yesterday. There was so much going on in this cafeteria it was hard to focus on one thing. I spotted Luis flirting with Ricks girlfriend. Desperate I swear. She waved to Rick and Luis dipped under the table quickly. He startled crawling looking at the girls.

"Ew." I said.

"What's wrong?" Connie asked confused.

"Look at the perv named Luis." I said pointing to under the cheerleader table.

"He's gross sometimes." Connie said. I nodded in agreement. Goldberg sat down a seat away from Julie with the sweets. He slid the tray over to her smiling like an idiot.

"Just wanted to congratulate you on being number one." Goldberg said. "I didn't have time to bake you a cake so I bought you a yummy array of goodies."

"Thanks Goldberg." Julie said.

"Hey, no problem. You know you're gonna need a lot of energy to play on this level. Carbo loading ya know? You see this thing, it packed with energy. Give it a shot." Goldberg said handing her a pastry. "See? Good huh? Now uh, I could even be your, uh, nutritional advisor if you want. No charge. What do you say?"

"Great." Julie said still eating it. Nutritional advisor? What is happening. I turned my head just in time to see Charlie, Fulton, and Russ walking in by Varsity with a bag. They were smiling suspiciously, this is gonna be good. Cole and Rick acted quickly and grabbed the bag from Charlie. Charlie said something when Cole started digging into the bag.

"What the hell kind of brownies are these?" I heard Cole asked disgusted. Next thing I knew the 'brownies' and Russ' tray went flying in the air. Charlie, Fulton, and Russ ran out of the cafeteria with Varsity on their tails. The cheerleaders started squealing and ran out behind Varsity. Then some other group squealed and they ran out too.

"What did those idiots get themselves into." I groaned. We got up quickly to see the show that was about to unravel. Everyone was running out of the cafeteria at this point. It didn't take long to learn that the 'brownies' were horse turds. Not gonna lie that was smart. Charlie and them got away from Varsity, barely. The day rolled on with no major hiccups. Finally after what felt like forever, it was time for practice. We got our stuff and skated out. Coach had us do laps first. I was skating beside Julie for like the first 5 when she started slowing up.

"Work those legs Gaffney! Wheres your energy?" He yelled to the now stopped Julie. I skated away watching as she quickly shot over the side and started puking. I cringed involuntarily. Goldberg did it. That's what the goons were laughing about.

"Julie the cat! What's the matter you eat a fur ball?" Coach yelled to the still puking Julie. Goldberg went up him fake laughing. Imma get Goldberg for this. I wonder if I can get MiraLAX anywhere local, that should fix him up...

We were mostly working on defense now. Coach was yelling Someone was skating blah blah.

"Make him make the first move Charlie!" Coach yelled. Charlie did not make him make the first move. He missed it and circled the goal rebounding the puck.

"Freeze! I said freeze!" Coach yelled. Most of us stopped, then there's Luis. Poor kid still can't stop, he flew sideways into the boards. Charlie just gliding til he stopped, making coach even more angry.

"Where's the one place, you never want to clear the puck?" Coach asked going up to Charlie.

"It looked open." Charlie said.

"Just answer the question Conw-"

"Listen, I'm not a defensemen, I'm a scorer!" Charlie said angrily taking off his helmet. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Follow me." Coach said gesturing with his hand. I could feel Charlie's eye roll as followed Coach. Charlie was put in the penalty box.

"Anybody share his opinion?" Coach yelled looking to us. Nobody said anything. "Alright then take a knee." We all took a knee taking off our helmet as he skated over to us. He picked up the puck and looked at it for a moment like he was trying to figure something out.

"What's the great thing all teams have in common?" Coach said.

"Great coaching." Averman said.

"Don't try sucking up to me Averman..... Defense. You see unlike scoring, defense never quits. But to play defense you need one thing above all else." Coach said pausing.

"Bet it starts with a W." Averman muttered not so quietly.

"Confidence. Listen if you learn nothing else when you're here, you learn this. Alright? Cause it's not just about hockey. It's easy to be confident when you have control of the puck, it's very, very difficult to keep that confidence when you gotta take whatever strange bounces life throws your way. Don't be careless, but don't be too careful either. You cannot be afraid to loose. That's how you gain the confidence to attack the gam when the puck isn't yours. That's how you attack life, even when you think you don't have any control....And that's how you play real defense." Coach said. That was some philosophical stuff man. We went back to practicing after that, eventually Charlie started playing again. Practice came to an end and we had the 15 minutes to get out of there. Charlie talked crap about coach again, not surprising. I walked down to my dorm slowly. I opened it to see Allison digging around in her bag.

"Oh hey. Your boyfriend stopped by like 5 minutes ago looking for you." She said.

"Ok, thanks for tellin me." I said throwing my stuff down.

"No problem, was practice that tiring?" She asked at my throwing the bags down.

"Just long. Had to do like 30 laps in total, that's way to much after a school day." I said.

"He's working you guys hard." She said laughing a little.

"To say the least, but probably just cause we got a game Friday." I said.

"Really? Can I go, I haven't been to a hockey game since I was like 5." She said excitedly.

"Yeah of course, it's right after school. Against like the blakely bears or somethin like that." I said.

"Alright, I'll definitely be there." She said happily.

"Sweet, anyways I'll see you tonight." I said walking toward the door.

"Ok, bye." She said.

"Bye." I responded before I shut the door. I walked all the way down to where I knew Varsity dorms were. I didn't know exactly which one Adam was in. I looked at the door and to the side there was a little plaque with the boys names on them. I read the names as I went down. I got towards the middle when I found it.
Trenton Reynolds
Adam Banks
Dorm 312
They have it all fancy over here. The doors were nice and everything. Once I was done looking around I went to knock on the door. I raised my hand up and was about to knock when the door opened making me scream a little, and scaring the guy opening it half to death. I recognized it as the goalie for Varsity.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you!" He apologized quickly.

"No, no you're fine, I just wasn't expecting the door to open." I said laughing a little.

"Yeah my bad, wait aren't you one of the ducks?" He asked.

"Yup." I said.

"Well uh, I'm Scott, but you can just call me Scooter." He said sticking out his hand.

"I'm Y/n Y/l/n, call me whatever." I said shaking his hand.

"It was nice meeting you Y/n, I'll get out of the way now... you two are a thing I'm guessing?" Scooter said motioning to me and Adam who was on his bed.

"Yeah." I responded.

"Nice, well bye banks, see ya y/n." He said walking out of the doorway.

"Bye." I responded. I walked in the dorm to Adam.

"Ok so that was odd but, guess not all of Varsity are jerks." I said.

"Almost all of them are, Scooters the only nice one. I'm assuming Allison told you I stopped by?" Adam asked.

"Yup." I said.

"I wanted to see if you were up to hangout?" Adam said.

"Sure." I said shrugging.

"Cool, just gotta get my shoes on." He said getting up. Like he said he put on his shoes and we walked out of his dorm.

"How was practice?" I asked.

"It was normal, they didn't check me too much." Adam said.

"That's good." I responded.

"How was your practice with the infamous coach Orion?" He asked.

"It was eh. Julie threw up for a good 5 minutes, worked on defense, Charlie got put in the box, got a speech about confidence, and practice rolled on like practice." I said.

"2 questions, why was Julie throwing up, and why was Charlie in the box?" He asked.

"Well Goldberg and Averman set up Julie having her eat a bunch of sweet, which caused her to throw up. And Charlie,... Charlie just isn't doing well with Orion. Yelled at Orion and was put in ze penalty box." I explained.

"Oh, that sounds....interesting. What do you think of Orion