Unfair Advantage ) Adam Banks

ch 18, friends? friends.

Tomorrow was the big day. The dreaded JV versus Varsity showdown.

It had been almost a week since receiving her Duck's jersey, and Ripley was ecstatic for the following day.

She couldn't wait to be out on the ice with her team, facing the boys she hated most in the school.

The previous week had gone by agonizingly slow for the girl, considering all her days consisted of school, practice, then going back to her dorm.

It wasn't that she didn't have anything else to do, she could've been hanging out with her friends or getting in some extra solo practice, but Ripley chose to be by her lonesome.

She needed time to think, lots of it at that, to help her understand what the her next best possible course of action would be. And the girl had finally come up with it.

Adam and Ripley weren't exactly talking yet, but weren't completely ignoring each other anymore, either. Adam still didn't wait at her locker like he used to, but they would look at each other every now and again if someone said something funny or stupid during class. In practice, it was the same. They wouldn't go out of their way to talk to each other, but would cheer for the other if one of did something worth cheering for during practice.

Tensions, finally, were starting to ease. 

But with the big game tomorrow, Ripley wanted them gone.

She knew that if her and Adam were back to normal, their chances of working better together during the game would go significantly up. She wasn't going to risk an important game just because of her stupid emotions, so she pushed all her dignity to the side and decided it was finally time to talk to Adam about everything.

They sat in silence side by side as English rolled on, paying strict attention to their teacher.

'Just ask him.' The girl thought to herself. 'You know he's not gonna say no.'

She huffed, as the teacher had her back turned to the pair, and prodded at Adam's leg.

The boy wasn't sure if it was an accident or not, considering they hadn't spoken to each other since the big blow out, but, nevertheless, he turned his face to her.

He found her looking at him, her mouth slightly open.

"You okay?" He asked, snapping the girl out of her daze.

"Yes," she nodded, "I was gonna ask if we could talk after school today."

Adam slightly frowned, "I have a makeup test after school today. I'm sorry."

Ripley nodded, tight lipped, and turned her attention to the papers before her.

"We can talk during lunch, if you want."

His proposal caught her attention, but she sighed, "That's okay, I was kinda hoping it could be one on one. Maybe another time."

She thought she had ended the conversation, but the boy spoke up again. "We could go to the library during lunch? No one else should be in there since it's, you know, lunch."

Ripley's eyes met Adam's again, nodding her head. "Yeah, we can do that."

He grinned at the girl, turning his head now back to his work. "As long as you promise not to yell at me."

The girl smiled, doing the same. "No promises."

-

Butterflies swirled in Ripley's stomach as she made her way to the library, preparing herself on exactly what she was going to bring up to the boy. They had way too much to talk about in such a short amount of time, so she only wanted to bring up the really important stuff.