Eden Hall Ducks - Adam Banks

Chapter 2 : "We're the Ducks"

    "Is that--" Indiana began, watching as a few familiar faces began walking up to the girls.

    "Well, if it isn't the Gaffney sisters," said Russ smiling brightly at the girls. Following Russ was Luis Mendoza, Dwayne Robertson, and Kenny Wu. The group took turns giving each other hugs, excited to be back together once again.

    "Where's--" Indiana began.

    "Banksie?" Dwayne interrupted the girl. "He was supposed to be meeting us here, but he's late."

    Indiana scoffed, "I was going to ask where Charlie was, but I'm assuming they're all together?" The group laughed, Dwayne nodding. Indiana nudged Dwayne with her elbow, causing him to pretend to act hurt, Kenny Wu coming to his assistance. Indiana rolled her eyes in response and chuckled lightly at their first interaction.

    "This place is--" Indiana began.

    "Running low on the brother's quotient," interrupted Russ.

    "Yes," agreed Indiana, sighing. "I agree. But the next person that cuts me off is going to get hit." The boy raised his hands up in defeat.

    "Hey, I want to know who this new Coach Orion is," Julie began walking towards the doors. "My dad said that if I didn't like him, I could come right home." It was true, Julie had been texting her dad during their conversation with Bombay, and she had the conversation in writing. Unfortunately for Indiana, she felt like whether she liked or hated the new coach, she would have no choice of leaving based on the scholarship she was given.

    "My dad said I better stay in on scholarship or he'll whip my butt," said Russ. Indiana raised her eyebrows at the boy, who continued smiling.

    "You know, I heard in the dorm that the guy played for the Minnesota North Stars and got suspended for punching out his own coach," explained Luis. Julie and Indiana shared a knowing look-- the two girls had experienced coaches with similar pasts before.

    "You mean the Dallas Stars," began Dwayne. "I heard he was a Buddhist. You know, like King Fu or Richard Gere."

    "Kung Fu wasn't a Buddhist. He was a Trappist monk," explained Kenny.

"Are you talking about the old Kung Fu or the Further Adventures of the New Kung Fu?" Russ asked.

"Y'all watch too much TV," groaned Dwayne.

"For real," stated Indiana. "I don't even know what you losers are talking about."

"Shoot, that's the safest thing to do in my hood," explained Russ. Russ stopped walking, noticing many people walking through the auditorium doors.

"I guess we go in here," instructed Indiana, taking the lead and walking first. A well-dressed woman sat at a table ahead of them, smiling graciously at the group. Indiana began to walk over, "Excuse me, ma'am. We're all new here, y'know, we're the Ducks!"

The woman's smile dropped, and her expression was perplexed, "the Ducks?"

Indiana continued, "The uh- new hockey team?"

The woman took a moment to think before smiling, "Oh, yes. I'm sorry, you can all sit in row eight." Indiana smiled softly at her before motioning for her team to follow behind her. She led them down to the doorway and past the back rows and down to row eight. The whole row was empty, so the girl chose to sit closer to the middle. The group took a moment to settle in before beginning to stir up conversation.

"Hey, you know what?" A loud voice from behind Indiana caused her to perk up and turn to face him. "You Ducks don't belong here at Eden Hall." Indiana furrowed her eyebrows at the boy. He had a long, chiseled face and dark brown hair— clearly a jock.