charlie, russ, fulton and i walked into the lunchroom late. we had to stay after in history to get a lecture, because apparently,"history books are not hockey sticks and balled up paper are not hockey pucks."

russ sighed,"god, you two always get me into so much trouble."

i held my hand up, waiting for him to high five it,"worth it."

he narrowed his eyes at me,"i'm not high-fiving you for that."

i shrugged,"suit yourself."

we stopped in our tracks, watching as kenny was picked on by varsity, once again.

fulton nudged me,"scar, go work your magic."

i rolled my eyes,"i only did it that one time, and now they all know my game. it'll never work."

fulton grumbled,"i could maim that big goon. but with portman here, we could take em' all."

charlie smirked,"if they want lunch...we'll give em' lunch."

i looked up at him with confused eyes,"what are you talking about?"

"you'll see," he answered, looking at the boys, "you guys in?"

they nodded and we all left the lunch room.

we walked outside, sitting on the ledge outside of the horse stables, and i slowly started to piece together what was happening.

my face scrunched in disgust,"oh god, charlie, no."

he turned to me, smiling devilishly,"they left us no choice."

i stared at him for a second, eventually caving and giving in,"fine, but i'm not picking up any shit for you guys, okay?"

he nodded understandingly,"that's fair," he turned to the guys,"alright boys, let's dive in."

i gagged obnoxiously,"charlie, please."

he smirked,"make sure it's fresh."

"steam is a very good sign." fulton added.

i covered my mouth with my hand, wondering why they felt the need to do this. there were pranks way less gross, that they could pull off.

"very good." russ reiterated, jumping off the ledge with charlie and fulton.

•

we walked back into the cafeteria,right by the varsity boys, hoping they'd take the bait.

"scar," adam called me over. i looked at the boys apologetically and went to him,"where you been?"

i glanced nervously, waiting for cole to figure out what was happening,"we did a thing."

he looked at me quizzically,"you guys did a thing?"

i nodded, continuing to watch the scene, not bothering to look at adam,"yeah."

cole grabbed the bag, and charlie pouted,"oh come on, my mommy made me brownies."

adam grabbed my hand, trying to get my attention,"what'd you guys do?"

i pressed my lips together, deciding it'd be best if he found out when everyone else did,"you'll see soon enough, but you might wanna get up."

"babe, what are you-"

i turned to him hastily,"dude, trust me."

he nodded, still confused, but got up and stood behind me, watching intently.

cole smiled, pulling out the grass covered mess with his bare hands,"what kind of brownies are these?"

charlie could barely contain his laughter, as he clapped cole on the shoulders,"i gotta tell her to stop using horse turds in the recipe."

russ and fulton threw their lunch trays in the air, distracting the team, hoping to get away clean.

of course, they all ran after him, but adam and i stayed behind,"you did that?"

i looked up at him, shrugging,"my participation in the matter is ambiguous at best."

he stared at me for a second, chuckling,"we should probably get out of here."

i nodded and we made our way out of the cafeteria, leaving the scene.

"so," i started, watching as charlie and the guys rounded the corner,"how's varsity treating you?"

he shrugged,"i don't know, it's not that bad. except riley is oddly interested in you, which i don't enjoy."

i knit my brows,"yeah, i picked up on that. with all the 'captain's stick together' talk. i figured he just wants to get under my skin."

adam looked at me cluelessly,"i have no idea."

•

at practice we did laps to warm up. i was skating next to julie, which i would soon find out, was a big mistake.

"work those legs, gaffney!" coach yelled at her,"where's your energy?"

she groaned, clutching her stomach,"i think i'm gonna be sick."

she went for the box, and i realized i was right in the splash zone,"woah!"

i skated away quickly, deciding it would be best to skate with danny.

coach looked at her, a little perplexed,"julie the cat! what's the matter, you eat a fur ball?"

i suppressed a laugh and turned to danny, trying to get to the bottom of julie's sudden illness,"mads, do you know why she's so sick?"

he looked down at me, not exactly sure, but he had a theory,"i have sneaking suspicion that goldberg had something to do with it."

"what'd goldberg do?" i questioned, biting my lip.

"at lunch, before the whole horse shit fiasco," he started, causing me to laugh,"i saw goldberg practically spoon feeding her a lot of desserts."

i scoffed, shaking my head,"i'm gonna kill him."

soon thereafter, we started to work on defense with our new positions. i mean, my position wasn't new, i had always played center, but most of the other guys were flying blind.

it wasn't long before charlie had poked the bear once again. he had tried to clear the puck from behind the net, which was never a good idea.

"freeze, i said freeze!" Coach yelled after only a few minutes of playing.

a certain latino fireball, of course, couldn't stop, and he barreled straight into me. my back hit the boards and we both fell.

i groaned, doubling over in pain,"are you kidding me, mendoza?"

"i did freeze." he grumbled, helping me up.

i rolled my eyes, pointing out,"yeah, only after you rammed into me."

coach began to yell at charlie for his mistake,"where's the one place you never wanna clear the puck?!"

charlie slid his helmet off, just as fired up as coach,"it looked open."

"just answer the question, conway."

charlie yelled louder, surprising everyone in the arena,"listen, i'm not a defenseman, i'm a scorer!"

i watched in shock, my bruised ribs long forgotten about. i just wanted to see what would happen next.

"follow me," coach led him to sit in the box and he threw his stick to the side angrily.

coach looked at us expectingly,"anybody share his opinion?"

none of us said a word, not wanting to enter the time out box.

he continued to talk, taking our silence as the answer,"what's the one thing all great teams have in common?"

averman smiled, suggesting,"great coaching."

coach stared at him flatly,"don't try and suck up to me, averman," he veered back on track,"defense. see unlike scoring, defense never quits." coach continued on with his speech, which seems like it lasted hours.

•

i walked out of the locker room after practice, and sighed, seeing riley. it was as if he was waiting for me, which i couldn't assume that he wasn't.

"riley, to what do i owe the pleasure?" i questioned, continuing to walk.

he smiled, walking with me,"just wanted to thank you."

i raised my eyebrows,"for?"

"for giving us banksie. he's great."

i chuckled sardonically, shaking my head,"well, it wasn't my choice, so."

"still," he continued,"thanks."

i knit my brows, tired of speaking to him,"is there a point of us conversing, riley? cause if there isn't, i'd prefer that we didn't do it."

he chuckled, as if i were joking,"actually, there is."

"well, then can you get to it?" i turned the corner.

adam and i were supposed to meet each other on the front steps of the school, and riley's talking was messing with my peaceful walk.

"did you do the women's studies homework?" he asked, causing me to laugh.

i shook my head,"tell me again, why you take women's studies."

he shrugged,"i like to be educated."

i nodded slowly,"okay, well, banksie and i were actually getting together to do it, so why don't you get it from him after."

he smiled facetiously,"but don't you enjoy our little chats?"

i scoffed,"is that an actual question?"

we had arrived at the steps, and adam stood up, looking between the two of us suspiciously,"what's going on?"

"i was just asking her for the women's studies homework." riley answered, smiling innocently.

adam nodded slowly, wrapping an arm around me,"okay, well...i'll get it to you after."

we walked away together and he immediately looked to me for an explanation. i shrugged,"i honestly have no idea what happened."

he laughed,"how do you have no idea?"

i looked at him cluelessly,"i don't know, it wasn't significant enough for me to remember. he's got one of those forgettable voices, you know?"

adam chuckled and shook his head,"fine, but if he says anything else to you, tell me."

i saluted him and we continued to walk back to my dorm.