Epilogue

One of Them

Two Months Later

Adam came into the common room of the freshmen dorms, running a hand through his damp hair removing the melted snow. Dwayne was sitting in a chair, watching something on TV. Kenny and Russ were playing a game of cards, poker from the looks of it, on the floor. Luis was laying on the couch half asleep. Portman was doing push ups.

Some of the Ducks wanted to watch a movie in the dorms since it was the last weekend before the out-of-state Ducks were going to go home for Thanksgiving. The last day of school was Tuesday and classes would not resume until the following Tuesday.

"Hey Banksie, how was therapy?" The said name was now more out of jest then ridicule. Adam would have still preferred to be called Cake-Eater. Heck, he would have gone for Preppie.

Shooting Ken a mock glower, he replied, "It was grueling." Kenny only glanced his way, then back down at his cards. Making up his mind, he put two cards face down.

Grueling was an understatement. Adam had been fortunate that he had never had a broken bone, save for some of the hockey injuries he acquired. Now he had to have physical therapy on his arm and he had not realized how much strength he had lost in his right arm. Grant it, the doctor did say that he would he regain full use of his arm, but all in good time. That was the agonizing part. That and the damn therapy.

"Where is Julie?" he asked as he took off his coat setting it near the heater to dry.

"She went to the movies with Scooter," Luis answered opening his eyes.

His friends thought Scooter was alright. After what happened with Adam, they thought he was more of a Duck than a Warrior. Though none of them, other than Adam and Julie, hung out with him. And of course they tolerated him for Julie's sake.

Scooter was not the starting goalie anymore. Wilson had put Kenneth Johnson as the main goalie. Everyone on Varsity and JV knew that Scooter was better than Johnson, but it was Wilson's decision. Johnson was a senior this year, so Scooter could be the main goalie when he was a senior next year. Unless Wilson had Julie move up to Varsity, which would be unlikely.

As for Rick Riley and the rest of the Varsity, as well as the Ducks, neither team really liked each other. But for the most part one side left the other alone. Probably because no one wanted to get suspended. To some degree everyone was civil to one other. Most everyone in school got use to the Eden Hall Ducks, once Warriors. Some liked the change, others, like most of the Varsity team, hated it. It stripped them of their pride. Though secretly, some of the Warriors, now Ducks, did not mind or care about the name change. But they knew better then to let their captain know their opinion.

"What about you? No hot date with Mindy, Luis?" asked Portman getting up. He wondered why Luis was going to pass up a date with the sexy head cheerleader to hang with the guys.

"Nah. I think we're both getting bored with each other. I think it's time-"

"To look toward greener pastures," Dwayne finished for him.

"Thanks Cowboy," was Luis' dry reply. "Besides, Portman, you're not hurting for female companionship."

"What can I say? When you have it, you have it." Portman flexed his muscular arm.

Oh brother. Adam just rolled his eyes.

"Ha! Three of a kind. Beat that!" Russ said smugly throwing his cards down.

"Full house." Kenny said calmly laying his cards down.

"What the- Man, you cheated!" Russ said angrily.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did!"

"Did not."

"You did too!"

"Quiet! I'm missin' the good part!" Dwayne loudly snapped out.

Adam felt like he was starting to get a headache. He half figured going home was better then staying here. He thought he heard someone come up behind him.

"Are we watching a western?" Goldberg came in with the rest of the team. He eyed the show with disdain.

"No. Where's Connie and Guy?" asked Kenny, since the couple got back together six weeks ago. Russ had finally gave up and sat on the other sofa.

"They decided at the last minute to go with Julie and Scooter to the movies." supplied Fulton. He and the others were doing the same thing to their coats, putting them near the heater like Adam had done.

"Yep. No chick flick. So, what are we watching?" Averman inquired, still by the heater.

They had the choice of Twister or Mission Impossible. It was a toss up, but most everyone decided to watch Mission Impossible.

"Ok, you can't hog the couch anymore." Charlie said standing at the end of the sofa that had Luis' feet.

"What are you gonna do about it, Conway?"

"This." Charlie shoved Luis' feet out of the way and sat down. Luis just plopped his feet on Charlie's lap.

"Mendoza, get your big feet off of my lap."

"Yeah, I'd like to sit down too." Averman said.

With some words mumbled in Spanish, Luis sat up leaving the other end for Averman to sit down.

"Got anymore room?" Portman asked coming over with an unopened bag of chips.

"What is this, a can of sardines?" Luis just finally gave up and sat on the floor. Portman happily took his seat.

Adam had settled on the floor too, not bothering to fight for a seat on the other couch. Russ, Goldberg, and Ken had claimed it. Dwayne had not moved an inch out of the chair he was in; Fulton had taken the other chair in the room.

They got into the movie, which had a lot of good action scenes. Some other freshmen came in, some staying but others left after a few minutes.

One of the freshmen that left after staying for a few minutes had been Zack. Adam was not staying at the dorms anymore; he had not since his father came home from the hospital. He and Zack hang out every now and again, but with both boys' schedules that was not often.

Zack had tried out for basketball and made the team. Though he was not one of the best players on his team like he was in peewee hockey, he could play basketball fairly well.

When Zack could make it to a Ducks game, which Adam was at all of them, he would sit next to him. Sometimes they would talk after the game if the Ducks were not going to get together afterwards. The Ducks were polite to Zack, most of the new Ducks were, but the old Ducks still did not like him much, though they were civil.

Adam still skated to stay in shape and sort of was assistant coach to Orion helping out with the practices. Now that Adam had his cast off, he could not just jump back into the game and play. Which Adam hated. He wanted to be back on the ice, scoring goals for the team. He needed to build up strength in his arm before he could start practicing with his friends. Even when that happened he would have to be very careful not to over do. But he hoped the doctor would give him the okay to play with the Ducks in January when they reached the playoffs. Adam and his friends had no doubt they would be able to make the playoffs.

His family was doing fairly well. His father's injuries took time to heal, but he was back to old self for the most part. Although his dad would have loved it if Adam went back on Varsity, he accepted that his son wanted to play for the Ducks. Adam knew that if something came up to boost his hockey career, his father would want him to take it. Adam had not had that opportunity yet, so he did not know what he would do. When that happened, his dad would let him make his own decision.

Drew was doing great in college. His finals were coming up in a few weeks; Drew was just going to stay with a friend for Thanksgiving. Adam got a chance to keep in touch with his brother at least once a week or so by phone.

Once the credits rolled, Dwayne had control of the remote and rewound the movie. The other freshmen that had came in during the middle of the movie commented about the movie whether they liked it or not, after awhile they got up and left. Soon it was just the Ducks.

"It's still snowing," Luis commented standing by one of the windows. He had stood up to stretch his muscles.

"Still?" Goldberg asked. Turning himself around while still on the couch, which was not an easy task, looking out the window.

"Looks like it is sticking to the ground this time." Luis said still looking out the window.

Adam knew Luis, Russ, Dwayne, and Kenny were not use to seeing snow on a regular basis. Adam would not tell anyone, but he liked the snow. In particular the first snow that covered ground, like this one. They would usually get snow at the end of October or early November. The weather had not been cold enough for snow to gather on the ground, when it would snow, but the ground had been still too warm for it to settle.

Kenny stood up, and went down the hall toward the stairs. A few minutes later, he came back down with his coat. "Come on," he told his friends. With that he turned around heading to the dorm doors.

"What, is he nuts?" Goldberg said.

"Naw." Dwayne drooled out. He went to get his coat too. He was the second one out the door.

Russ, Luis, and Portman went to get their coats, while the other Ducks put theirs on to join Ken and Dwayne. They got out in to time to see Ken stick his tongue out to catch falling snow flakes.

It was already dark, but the school had lights around it that shined brightly. It made the snow on the ground look like sparkling gems. The ground was covered with sixteen inches of the white stuff. Portman, Luis, and Russ joined them.

Portman gathered some snow and got it in ball then threw at an unsuspecting Averman. Feeling something cold in the middle of his back, Averman turned around at his friends, "Who threw that?"

"Portman." A moment later Russ got hit in face with a snowball by Fulton. After that, it was a free for all snowball fight. Some of the Ducks probably got hit more than others, but no one was keeping count.

Scooter, Julie, Connie, and Guy came upon their friends in this state. One of the Ducks, probably Goldberg, threw a snowball meant for one of his friends, but it ended hitting Scooter in the face.

The Ducks stopped dead. They had not noticed their friends and Scooter had come back from the movies. They did not know how Scooter was going to react to getting hit in the face. But if he was not happy, there was more of them and just one of him.

A giggle escaped Julie's mouth as Scooter wiped some of the remaining snow from the upper left side of his face.

"You think that was funny?" asked her boyfriend, none to happy. Scooter was not mad, but he was not going let the Ducks off the hook just yet. "Well see how you like it!" Scooter charged after his girlfriend.

Julie went running, Scooter hot on her heels. It did not take him long to catch her. He grabbed her and spun her around. "Scooter! Let me go!"

"Not a chance." Scooter whispered near her ear, causing some of the blond wisps escaping her bun to tickle her neck.

The Ducks just watched Julie and Scooter without saying anything. That did not last long. Averman made a crack. "Oh man! You two have got to get a room!" He got hit with a snowball for it. "Hey! What did I say?" he asked as he looked around to see who threw the snowball at him.

"Goldberg!" Russ yelled at the defenseman as he laughed. "At least you did not hit Scooter again."

Laughing along with the rest of his friends, Adam could not help but think that he would not want to be anywhere else but here. He had the greatest friends in the world. What more could he want?

Sure, Adam would want to make it pro in the NHL someday. But right now, he was a fourteen-year-old kid. And just a freshman in high school, playing in the snow with his friends.

The End

Finally - I'm done! I want to thank everyone who read and/or reviewed this story. You're the best. Jenn