per the dean's request, i walked into his office, ready to show the ducks around the school. i couldn't help but think this was an idea suggested by riley, but it's possible the dean had thought of this himself.

i walked to the doorway, seeing both the dean and the ducks looking at the ant farm that sat in the middle of the office.

i knocked lightly on the door, though it was already open, as i leaned against the doorframe.

buckley turned, smiling brightly once he realized it was me who wanted his attention, "sawyer, thank you so much for coming in."

i nodded, walking over to him and the rest of the group in the room,"no problem, sir."

"everyone, this is sawyer nguyen," the dean introduced me, though none of them seemed particularly happy to see me,"i thought she could show you around, because she also plays hockey, and she's a sophomore, but she's your age. it seemed like a perfect idea."

"perfect." the ducks captain reiterated, staring at me blankly.

i cleared my throat, smiling awkwardly,"yeah, so, i'm sawyer-"

"we know." captain ducky spoke once again, causing his friends to snicker.

i rolled my eyes, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. i was trying to be nice, but they were making it extremely difficult.

i sighed, deciding to just cut to the chase,"look, you don't have to tell me your names, but i am missing my ap world history class for this, so i would appreciate-"

"i'm charlie," the captain stuck his hand out, deciding to be civil, "anything else you need to know before we start the tour?"

i grasped his hand gently, looking around at the rest of the team. honestly, i wanted to know if any of them were single.

but it wasn't something i could ask if i wanted to keep my wits about myself. not to mention, they were off limits. riley would have my ass if he caught me with a duck.

"nope, think you covered it, charlie," i replied, taking my hand back,"so, if that's all, walk with me."

i turned on my heels and left the dean's office, the ducks trailing close behind.

"okay, so this is the administrative office, which i'm sure you could gather," i spoke, gesturing to the bunch of different offices,"this is where you can meet with counselors, the secretary is super sweet, and you can talk to the dean if you need to."

i pushed open the doors that led into the hallways of the school, which were currently pretty empty.

"alright, our hallways are coded by letters," i explained, stopping where all the hallways fed into each other,"if you're facing this way," i turned to the direction they would be looking at,"a is on the far left, and d is on the far right, b and c are between them. if your room number starts with one, you're on the first floor, and if it starts with two, you're up top on the second. got it?"

they nodded, glancing down at their schedules, to get room numbers.

"where's the rink?" a blonde duck asked. he was the only one wearing a tie, which i actually thought to be very cute. it went well with the grey vest he wore over it.

and it didn't take long until i realized that instead of answering his question, i had just been staring.

i quickly shook out of my thoughts, feeling my cheeks heat up slightly, worrying that he had noticed what i had been doing,"um, it's on the other side of campus, it's at the very end of the hall, where the trophy cases are."

"thanks." the boy smiled, glancing down at his schedule.

i nodded, before addressing the rest of the group,"i'll take you guys around to the cafeteria, and show you some stuff along the way, alright?"

they all had their various answers and i snapped my fingers as an acknowledgment of their words, before continued to walk once more.

•

i stood at my locker with riley, cole, and scooter, shoving various books in as they made plans to go see a movie tonight.

"sawyer, can we count you in?" riley asked, shutting my locker for me while i walked.

i frowned, not loving the idea of going to a movie theatre with these boys,"uh...maybe."

"come on, kid," scooter nudged me, trying to get me to join them,"i'll buy you your favorite snacks."

i pursed my lips, figuring as long as i sat next to scooter and not cole, i should be alright. plus, it didn't hurt that scooter was offering to buy me food.

"it has to be at seven, that's when i get off of work," i gave in, causing them to smile,"we'll probably be out past curfew-"

riley laughed, shaking his head,"don't worry your pretty little head about curfew, doll." 

i rolled my eyes at the nickname. all of the team members either called me kid or doll, for reasons i kind of understand, but mostly hate.

"i won't, doll." i replied, adjusting the sleeves of my letterman.

cole nudged riley, as they watched one of the ducks, number 22 to be specific, creepily following mindy, the head cheerleader/riley's girlfriend,"the hell is he lookin' at?"

riley simply grunted, speeding up to check the boy into the lockers that ran parallel to him. i sighed, wondering why we had to be so violent in our approach to hurt the ducks.

though, to be fair, he was being a total creep.

"ooh, a hard check into the boards!" our school's hockey announcer spoke, like he was in the middle of a game,"that has to hurt."

number 22 glared at the announcer, as we walked, continuing to torment the ducks any way we see fit.

cole grabbed the olympic figure skater's lunch, growling at him,"all this work, makes me hungry."

i rolled my eyes,"you're always hungry, cole."

"and what?" he asked, rifling through the bag to pick what he liked,"you want the potato chips?"

i stared at the bag for a moment, feeling guilty because if i took the chips, that basically meant that i had also taken the poor kid's lunch, and i didn't want that to be the case.

but, at the same time, his lunch had already been stolen, and i didn't want the chips to go to waste.

i grabbed onto to them, before we took our seats in criminology class. the desks were really two person tables, because of the amount of partner work with this class, so i sat with scooter.

i know it seems weird to have a bunch of hockey players in criminology, but it seemed like a fun elective.

"so," riley turned to me, from the table that sat adjacent to scooter and i,"how was your little tour with our favorite duckies?"

i rolled my eyes, tired of every conversation we have being about the ducks,"you know, you were way more fun before you became obsessed with a bunch of non-threatening kids."

he scoffed, shaking his head,"don't stray from the point, doll."

"it was fine," i replied, pulling out a blank notebook to prepare for the class,"i wasn't nice, but i wasn't mean, i was perfectly....civil," i looked at him with narrowed eyes,"is that satisfactory, captain?"

he raised his eyebrows, clearly offended that i had spoken to him in such a tone. it was something i had never done before, but i wasn't entirely sure i regretted it.

"it'll do, for now," he eyed me a little, before turning to face the front,"thanks, kid."

"you got it." i answered harshly, opening my notebook.

"hey," scooter nudged me, gesturing to the front of the room,"that's one of the guys you called hot, right?"

i looked up to see the blonde duck, whose name i still had yet to learn. i smiled lightly and nodded,"quite a memory you have, holland."

"perfect." he stood up, grabbing his stuff. i gasped in surprise, wondering what he was doing.

i took hold of his arm, looking at him with wide eyes,"what are you doing?"

he smiled, leaning down to whisper,"you'll thank me later."

"i don't- i don't think i will," i matched his volume, trying to get him to come back to me, as i watched the boy walking towards the now empty seat,"scott holland, get your ass-"

"is this seat taken?" the duck smiled lightly, gesturing to scooter's old seat.

i turned to him, trying to act like i hadn't just been freaking out seconds before,"all yours, man."

"thanks," he took the chair, setting his stuff down on the ground, and holding a hand out to me,"i'm adam, by the way."

"sawyer." i took his hand, noting how much bigger it was than mine.

"yeah, i know." he chuckled, glancing at the board as we waited for the bell to ring.

"right, sorry i-" i cut myself off, not wanting to tell him that i was nervous.

i mean, i was, i just didn't want him to know that.

he nodded, pulling out a pencil and a notebook, "it's alright."

scooter, who had sat down in the empty seat in front of me, turned around to see an angry riley, who had been watching this whole ordeal go down.

he simply shrugged, smiling innocently as the bell rang overhead. he winked at me, and i glanced nervously at adam, hoping that was something he hadn't seen.

luckily for me, he seemed to be trying to fix his tie.

i mouthed a quick 'i hate you' to scooter, as our teacher handed out the syllabus.

secretly, i was grateful that he was playing match-maker, but i would never tell him that.