I'm sitting at home, waiting for my dad to get home whilst I overthink about what happened at the locker room. I might have gone a bit too far.
The front door slowly opens and in walks Gordon Bombay. "Delilah! You home?"
"In the kitchen!" I shout and a few seconds later he walks into the the kitchen with a guilty look on his face.
"Delilah, there's something I need to tell you." He takes in a deep breath but I stop him.
"Wait, me first." I begin. "I think I went a little too far today. I shouldn't have exploded on you like that I just had a lot on my mind. The truth is... the past couple weeks me and Adam have kinda been hanging out/having civil conversations and I thought I somewhat understood him and like who he was but turns out I was wrong. And today when he was being a jerk about being a Duck got me thinking and I realised I know nothing about this kid. Then Peter, Jesse and Terry were being weird and not telling me that you don't think we deserve to live and that got me really really annoyed. And also what you said was a really douchey thing..." I ramble. "Oh and I have this thing where I always find out someone's middle name and if I don't know it I probably don't like them."
"Can I talk now?" Gordon asks.
"Sure, go ahead." I breathe out.
"Good. Okay, I accept your apology but I disagree. I'll admit the middle name thing was a bit off topic and very confusing, but all the other stuff was right. I should've shown more regret and mainly I just shouldn't have said it at all. That's why I just spoke to Mr Hall and he's gonna take over coach for the rest of the year." He reveals.
"You're quitting?" I ask.
"Stepping aside." He corrects. "To keep the team together. The guys can't play for someone they don't trust."
"B-but Charlie trusts you."
"And what about you?" He asks. "Do you trust me?"
"I-I... can't. I-I'm sorry." I stutter.
"That's what I thought." He nods.
"No, no. Because this job was meant to prove that- that I can trust you." I try explain. "The team will trust you they're just being stubborn, you've just gotta talk to 'em."
"I've done all I can."
"No you haven't." I shake my head. "You haven't tried to explain it. You can't just walk away... We're the Ducks. We're your team!"
"No you're not!" He denies.
"Yeah we are and you know it!" I point at him. "Hell, we weren't even called the Ducks until you came along! You made us and now you're stuck with us so suck it up and accept it, man!"
"Delilah, where are you going?" Gordon asks when I walk out the kitchen.
"Out!" I shout and slam the door. I can't believe this!
<^>
Two hours later I'm still laying in the middle of the road starring up at the dark sky without a care in the world, my walkman blasting Tears For Fears through my earphones.
I hear muffled voice in the background and then see a face blocking my vision of the sky. I see his mouth move but don't hear anything, so I take one of my earphones out. "What?"
"I said, what the hell are you doing in the middle of the road? You could be killed!" Adam repeats.
"No I couldn't." I wave him off.
"How are you so sure?" He asked.
I roll my eyes, "Because, Banks, for years I have sat in that house and stared out that window, slowly watching as the cars stop coming in. I've kinda learned a few things."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" He questions sitting beside me.
"Well, if you must know, I figured out that all cars come home for dinner probably at 6-8 in the evening, latest. On Fridays and Saturdays, the Smalls family -at 457- always go out for dinner and come back home at 10 o'clock latest. Oh and we all foolishly leave our spare key under a gnome, pot or mat in front of our door so we could all easily be robbed but no one ever moves it to a better hiding place. Do I need to go on?" I question.
"No, no. I guess not." He breathes out, impressed.
"Its 8:52 on a Sunday night, no ones driving by anytime soon." I state.
"Okay." He lays down next to me.
"What are you doing?" I ask him.
"I'm star gazing." He says like its obvious.
"Why?" I ask but before he can answer I say, "Actually don't tell me, I don't care I'm just a dumb Duck."
"Delilah..." I hum in response but he stays silent for a few minutes. "So what happened? Why are you upset?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." I tell him and we lay in silence.
Five minutes later I hand him one of my earphones which he accepts cautiously and we both lay their starring at the sky.
"Adam?" He hums in response. "What's your middle name?"
<^>
"That's right. The red is oxygen." My science teacher explains to the class like we're four years old. "Now what are the blue balls? Tommy?"
I zone out the class, slowly falling asleep, But I'm instantly snap out of it when Charlie pushes his desk aside and lunges at Karp. "Take it back Karp!"
Connie stands up and shoves Karp back, "Leave him alone Karp."
"You have no right shoving Karp!" Peter shoves Connie.
"Don't push me!"
Guy stands up to defend Connie, "Don't push her, she's a girl!"
"Don't shove Peter!"
"Lay off!"
"Hey!"
Fulton looks at me from the desk next to me and says, "Are you gonna do anything?"
"Probably not." I shake my head.
"Atoms away!" All the Ducks, except me and Fulton, are arguing and throwing the fake atoms around.
"I think now is the time to sort things out!" Fulton yells over everyone.
"Fine, whatever." I roll my eyes, stand up on my desk and whistle as loud as I can, getting everyone's attention. "Y'all need to stop and get over yourselves. Coach is a jerk, we all agree on that and he does show slight favouritism but that's not any of our problems. So get a grip and leave each other alone!"
"Whatever Princess." Karp rolls his eyes and all the arguing starts again. Someone pushes Goldberg into my desk and I fall off it.
I roll on my back, groaning at the pain in my wrist and head. "Aw shit..."
"Delilah, are you okay?" Fulton asks, coming to help me up.
"I'm f-" I'm cut off by Connie's hand hitting me in the face by accident. I fall back into Fulton, gripping my mouth where she hit me.
"Jesus! Are you okay?!" Fulton exclaims.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." I reassure, and retract my hand from my lip and see blood coating my fingers.
"Shit, no you're not." Fulton shakes his head, a place a finger on my eyebrow causing me to wince in pain.
"Fulton, listen to me, I'm fine. Its just a little blood." I tell him and head to the front of the class, getting shoved by multiple people on the way. Assholes!
"Woah Dee! What happened?" Guy asks, coming to my side and inspecting my eyebrow and lip.
"It was an accident. It probably looks worst then it really is." I reassure him. "Please, help me find the tissues?"
"Sure." He looks over our science teaches desk with me as everyone else carries on arguing giving me a head ache. "Hey Dee? I found the tissues..."
"Great, where are they..." I trail off when I see the empty box in his hands. "Great. Now what?"
"I-"
He's cut off by the sound of our science teacher. "My atoms!"
"You! Sit! Sit now! In your seats now!" The principle demands and we all rush to our seats, but Charlie couldn't find his so I quickly grab mine and slide it over to him, then crouch at my desk, as if I was sitting.
"I have never in my life..." The principle shakes her head. "What have you got to say for yourselves?!"
"Quack." Jesse says and we all share a knowing look.
"Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!" All of the Ducks chant.
<^>
"I will not quack at the principle." We all repeat, not in sync at all, as we right lines on the black board in detention. I look like I murdered someone because I have blood coating my hands and a little on my shirt as well as my face.
"What do you want?" I hear Karp ask and turn around to look at the intruder, but when my eyes fall upon my dad I quickly turn back around and face the black board so he won't see my face.
"I wanna talk to you guys." Gordon answers.
"People." Tammy corrects as she gets offended by being grouped with the guys as she is a proud woman and doesn't like to be male dominated. She's a huge feminist.
"People, right." Gordon corrects himself. "Sit down please. All of you."
No one moves. "Okay don't sit down." Gordon sighs, "Look, what's done is done. I wanna be your coach again."
"You wanna coach a bunch of losers?" Averman asks.
"No. I wanna coach the Ducks." Coach says confidently.
"What about the things you said? You said we didn't deserve to live." Karp reminds.
"Karp, I was being sarcastic. Do you know what that means?" Coach asks patronizingly.
"No!" Karp replies, sarcastically.
"Okay, then you do." Well done Captain Obvious. "I didn't mean those things the way they sounded. You guys know what its like to be misunderstood, right?"
"Yeah, of course. We're kids." Peter answers truthfully.
"So...? Can you forgive me? Can I be your coach again?" He asks hopefully.
"What about Banks?" Guy asks.
"He can be on the team if he wants. He should've been with us all year, it was you guys that were cheated." Gordon explains. "But let's forget all that crap! We're a team, right?"
"Yeah." The team agrees.
"I made you guys and I'm sticking with you." Coach says and I hear him stop behind me. "So what's it gonna be?"
"We can play tomorrow night and still have a shot at the playoffs... or we can forfeit again and the seasons over." Coach explains. "Peter, what do you think?"
"Well," Peter sighs. "I guess it would help if we practised first."
"Alright." I can practically here the smile on his face. "Delilah, what about you?"
"I'm a Duck... and so are you. And like you said, we stick together... till the end." I reply, still not turning around.
"Well, will you look at me?" He asks, but I just shake my head. "Come on, I'm sorry about the other night."
"I know and I forgive you." I tell him.
"Then why won't you look at me?" He asks.
"I don't want to."
"Come on, please?" He continues to ask me to turn around and say how he didn't mean it for ages. Does he ever shut up?!
I whip round, "Stop. Stop talking. You're giving me a head ache."
"Jesus Christ Delilah! What the hell happened to your face?!" He walks up to me and grips my face inspecting it.
"There was a rumble, with guns and knives and Tom Cruise came and he saved me from being stabbed by hooligan!" I joke.
"This is not a joke young lady, what happened?" He asks sternly.
I sigh in defeat, "There was a fight in class and I got in the way and fell off and table. Fulton and Guy helped me out."
"You're covered in blood. Why didn't you get a tissue?" He asks.
"There weren't any." Guy speaks up for me.
"Ever heard of a sink or a bathroom?" He questions me.
"Ever heard of detention, smart guy?" I retort.
He glares at me and I fake smile at him, "Anyway, let me see if I can get you out of detention."
"Yes!" We all whisper to ourselves.
"You really quacked at the principle?"
"Yeah." We all laugh.
"Are we Ducks or what?" Coach laughs.
"Yeah!"