Title: And I Fell… (Part 9 - "So Disarming" )
Author: Wari
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating/Genre: R for bad language, drug use, and slash/ Absolutely AU…really, I mean it
Archive?: Sure, just ask for my permission.
Feedback: I crave your comments so bring them on!
Comments: This chapter really was a big mess. I just threw it all together. Goodness KNOWS how many times I've revised this hunk o' junk!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Mighty Ducks characters. Disney does. :P
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Strolling purposely away from the lunchroom and Jesse, Charlie squinted to block out the rays of bright sunlight threatening to blind him. He approached a group of girls standing in the center of the ill-weeded courtyard. Several of them turned their heads to him as he neared.
"Charlie!" an attractive, dark-haired girl squealed excitedly as she skipped away from the other girls and up to him with a dazzling smile.
"Hey, Linda," Charlie gave a tight smile, but in return, allowed his super-oblivious, head cheerleader ex-girlfriend to hang onto his arm.
"I haven't seen you since last school term! So what brings you to me today, hon?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Charlie. She was so excited that he had finally come around!
Charlie quickly ran a hand through his unruly hair. "Well, I've been trying to find a girl named Julie. Do you know anyone with that name?"
"A girl named 'Julie'?" she questioned, crinkling her nose. Charlie raised an eyebrow, noticing that her grip on his arm had loosened quite considerably.
"Yeah."
"Julie, Julie, hmm…" she pondered to herself. "If I remember correctly, I think a girl named Julie played field hockey last year. Julie…Gaffney? I think she was the goalie. I don't know. Sports confuse me. So is that who you mean?"
Charlie tuned out Linda's babbling until a name finally struck his ear. Julie Gaffney? He gave it some consideration. Oh, hell. He had nothing else to go on, so what did he have to lose?
"Uh, yeah, her," he replied, deciding to agree with whomever Linda came up with.
"Really? Oh, ok," she said, seemingly uninterested. From the corner of his eye, he saw Linda slowly nod, a familiar expression creeping up on her fair face. A moment later, she stared at him openly with an accusatory gleam in her eye. "So, what do you WANT with her, Charlie?" she finally questioned, looking indignant. Charlie had to refrain from shaking off Linda's arm and walking as far away from her as possible.
"Linda, don't start…" he warned in a low voice. Even an entire year after their breakup, the poor girl was still as jealous and delusional as ever.
Linda gasped, eyes wide. The mere thought of HER Charlie hooking up with another girl nearly sent her into a serious fit of hyperventilation. And she so was not in the mood for one right now…
"Charlie!" she whined, tugging on Charlie's arm like an annoying toddler. "Are you going to ask her out? If you are, I don't see why. I mean, she is, like, NOT pretty at all! Besides, why would you, King of Hill Haven, want to date such a loser tomboy like her? I demand an answer, now!"
Charlie sighed. Linda always did have a knack for trying his patience to an extreme. But he did have to admit that it was her stubborn ways that initially attracted him to her.
"Linda, we broke up a long time ago. You shouldn't give a damn about the other girls I meet," he reminded her, wishing that he was somewhere far away from her and her nonsense. Why couldn't she get it through her head that they were OVER?
"Well, I'm sorry. I can't help it if I still have feelings for you," she declared with something akin to a pout on her lips. She was putting on her puppy-dog face just for him.
Charlie almost rolled his eyes at her. Almost.
"Just tell me where she is, ok?" he suggested, irritation laced in his tone. He'd had enough of Linda's crap. Period. The itch to jerk his arm away from her nearly consumed him.
Fortunately before he could've done anything drastic to remove her vice-like grip, he felt her withdraw her arm from his and shrink away from him. "Fine. If that's what you want," she conceded and sulked, eyes shifting from him and flitting across campus. At last, she found who Charlie was looking for.
"She's that blonde girl standing by the bench over there."
Charlie glanced at the girl by the bench then back at Linda. "Thanks," he mumbled and made his way across the grounds.
"Don't mention it," Linda dejectedly replied and stared after him longingly before returning to her cheerleader friends.
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Julie strolled around the huge school alone. The chattering of other students surrounding her made her mind wander back to Adam, whom she'd been actively avoiding since their little spat yesterday afternoon. She bowed her head, studying her shoes as she walked, and a wry smile found its way to her lips.
She was alone and it was all Adam's fault.
If only he hadn't have been acting like such an idiot, they wouldn't be in this situation right now. They wouldn't be fighting. Sometimes, she wished that he would grow up and face his problems instead of running away from them and hiding. She sighed, idly wondering when Adam would eventually give in and come crawling back to apologize to her.
Not paying attention to where she was heading, Julie walked right into a solid, yet yielding body before her.
"Whoa!"
Before she could lose her balance and fall flat on her rear, a pair of sturdy arms reached out to steady her. Julie instinctively extricated herself from the stranger's hold and jumped back, ready to give whoever it was who dared to harass her a serious verbal lashing.
"Hey! Watch where you going, you jerk-off!" she snapped, bringing her head up to see who it was that stood in her path.
"Julie Gaffney?" a cool voice inquired.
Charlie Conway stood there and blocked her way.
Julie's eyes widened momentarily before she regained enough composure to manage a weak reply.
"Y-yeah."
Charlie nodded and motioned to speak. "Hi, I'm Charlie Conway --"
"I know who you are," she curtly acknowledged, cutting off his introduction. She nervously stared at Charlie, who merely raised his eyebrows, a bit taken aback by her bold interruption.
"So I see," he said, clearing his throat. "Well then, Julie, I need to talk you," he began, slowly taking a step forward. "It's about something very important." The action prompted Julie, who had the reflexes of a cat, to take a quick step back.
"How do you know who I am?" she asked defensively, panic overtaking her rationale. She hugged her school books against her chest, as though they were a shield.
"My ex told me," clarified Charlie, who jerked a thumb in the direction of Linda's clique.
Julie almost grimaced as soon as she caught sight of Linda. Ugh, she thought. Linda Madison, the psycho-bitch cheerleader, who was always at the hockey games last year.
Julie turned back to Charlie only to find him staring peculiarly at her. Not really knowing what else to say, she side-stepped Charlie. "Well, I have to go," she hurriedly excused herself and quickly continued down the path leading to the main building.
Charlie shook his head disdainfully. Why was this girl acting so skittish? Well, maybe something else would make her change her mind and stay. Unzipping his backpack, he pulled out the missing notebook. He hoped she was the Julie mentioned in Banks' notebook.
"Hey, do you recognize this?" he called out to her, holding the notebook in front of himself. Julie risked a glance at the tall brunette and immediately recognized what was in his hand.
Holy shit -- Adam's diary!
"That's --"
Bingo, thought Charlie with a smug grin. "Your boyfriend's, right?" he asked, amused at the astounded look on Julie's face. Slightly out of breath, she hastened back to where Charlie waited.
"He is NOT my boyfriend."
Charlie flashed a smirk at hearing her contradiction and amended. "Well, then, it's your friend's?"
"Yeah, it's his," she hesitantly confirmed. "But how did you get it?"
Charlie shrugged in a careless manner. "I found it the other day."
Julie blinked, surprised, then eyed him warily. "So…you just found it?? Like, by accident??" she asked tentatively, not wanting to say anything that might set him off.
Charlie sat down on the bench then uncaringly arranged his 6'0 ft frame on it.
"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're getting at," he said, giving her a sideways glance and catching the embarrassed look on her face. "It was just lying on the floor and I found it," he finished, tilting his head back to stare up into the branches of the tree that shielded them from the sunlight.
A moment of awkward silence passed between them. It was starting to unnerve Julie, who shuffled from side to side on her feet. She had to get away. NOW.
"Uh, thanks for returning the notebook. I'm sure he'll appreciate it! Well, I'll just be --" Julie reached out for the notebook, only to have Charlie pull it out of her reach. " -- going! Yeah…"
"Wait," he said, reaching up and seizing by her elbow. "If I give this back, you have to tell me a couple of things."
"What?"
Charlie ignored her. "Do we have a deal?"
"Yeah, okay. Wha-what do you want to know?" she stuttered, desperately trying to keep her cool despite the uncomfortable hold Charlie had on her.
"What happened yesterday?" The grip on Julie's elbow tightened noticeably, making her wince. "And don't bother lying because I WILL know," he added and abruptly let her go.
Julie gazed at Charlie in guileless contempt as she rubbed her sore arm. "Look, Adam didn't do anything, okay? This is all a big misunderstanding, " she explained.
"Really? Tell me about it," he said, an infuriating smirk working its way to his lips. Julie seethed internally. Guys like Charlie Conway, who think they run the show, always pissed her off.
"Fine. I'll tell you. Adam and I, we were in the bathroom yesterday. I was helping him clean up after YOUR boys threw him in a garbage can. We hid in a bathroom stall when YOUR friend came in to deal drugs. When he was done, he was trying to open our stall door so we freaked and ran out. End of story."
At the end of her tale, Charlie suddenly laughed, the reaction bringing a scowl to Julie's face. If there was one thing that Julie hated more than being intimidated, it was definitely being ridiculed.
"What's so funny?" she ventured to question.
Charlie stopped laughing and stared intensely at Julie, making her squirm. "You mean, that was it?" he asked with interest.
Julie nodded once.
"So…you and your friend didn't jump my friend?"
Julie surprised herself by scoffing at his question. "No! We just pushed open the door and ran out. I guess your friend just happened to fall and hit his head in the process. Maybe that's where his warped accusation came from," she finished confidently, but jumped as Charlie stood up and grabbed her arm again.
When he spoke, his tone was firm.
"You'd better be telling me the absolute truth."
Julie shook her head. "I'm not lying. That's what happened."
After a several moments of standing there together, Charlie let go of her arm. "Ok, I believe you," he said and sat down on the bench again. His words caused Julie to sigh in relief and relax a little. She was stunned, however, when Charlie patted the seat next to him and stared up at her. It was an invitation. She looked back at him doubtfully.
"Don't freak. If you don't want to sit, then fine."
Julie didn't know why she did it, but the next thing she knew, she was sitting down beside him.
Charlie appraised her with a casual glance. Julie sat up stiffly, looking like she was ready to bolt at a moment's notice. She could practically feel Charlie's eyes boring into her profile.
"So, now that we've got that little matter out of the way, tell me one more thing I wanna know."
"What now?" she asked calmly, waiting.
"Tell me where your friend is."
His demand caught Julie off guard. "What? But he didn't do anything. W-what do you want with him?"
"That's none of your business, but if you wish to get his notebook back, then you'll have to answer me. Remember our deal, Julie?" Charlie waved Adam's notebook tantalizingly in front of her, looking smug.
Julie bit her lip. "Honestly, I don't know where he is," she supplied helplessly. "But you'll still give me that notebook, right?"
"No can do, Julie. You only fulfilled half of the deal, so I'll just have to hang onto it for now," he said with a complacent smile, while Julie gaped in shock. In one fluid motion, Charlie tucked the notebook he'd been carrying into his bag and got up from the bench. Immediately, Julie jumped up from the bench after him.
"Please, give that book to me! You can't-- I mean, you can't just…" Julie faltered, looking somewhat flustered at the sight of his easy smile. He strode up to her and leant down, softly whispering into her ear.
"Do me a favor, will you?" he asked and pulled back from her. She heard the distinct flick of a lighter and cocked her head to stare Charlie, who now had a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. "Tell him that I have what he wants. If he wants it back, he's going to have to come to me himself. No exceptions, you understand?"
Julie stood there dumbfounded, gazing after Charlie as he turned towards the cafeteria and walked away, a faint stream of smoke trailing behind him.
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Author: Wari
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating/Genre: R for bad language, drug use, and slash/ Absolutely AU…really, I mean it
Archive?: Sure, just ask for my permission.
Feedback: I crave your comments so bring them on!
Comments: This chapter really was a big mess. I just threw it all together. Goodness KNOWS how many times I've revised this hunk o' junk!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Mighty Ducks characters. Disney does. :P
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Strolling purposely away from the lunchroom and Jesse, Charlie squinted to block out the rays of bright sunlight threatening to blind him. He approached a group of girls standing in the center of the ill-weeded courtyard. Several of them turned their heads to him as he neared.
"Charlie!" an attractive, dark-haired girl squealed excitedly as she skipped away from the other girls and up to him with a dazzling smile.
"Hey, Linda," Charlie gave a tight smile, but in return, allowed his super-oblivious, head cheerleader ex-girlfriend to hang onto his arm.
"I haven't seen you since last school term! So what brings you to me today, hon?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Charlie. She was so excited that he had finally come around!
Charlie quickly ran a hand through his unruly hair. "Well, I've been trying to find a girl named Julie. Do you know anyone with that name?"
"A girl named 'Julie'?" she questioned, crinkling her nose. Charlie raised an eyebrow, noticing that her grip on his arm had loosened quite considerably.
"Yeah."
"Julie, Julie, hmm…" she pondered to herself. "If I remember correctly, I think a girl named Julie played field hockey last year. Julie…Gaffney? I think she was the goalie. I don't know. Sports confuse me. So is that who you mean?"
Charlie tuned out Linda's babbling until a name finally struck his ear. Julie Gaffney? He gave it some consideration. Oh, hell. He had nothing else to go on, so what did he have to lose?
"Uh, yeah, her," he replied, deciding to agree with whomever Linda came up with.
"Really? Oh, ok," she said, seemingly uninterested. From the corner of his eye, he saw Linda slowly nod, a familiar expression creeping up on her fair face. A moment later, she stared at him openly with an accusatory gleam in her eye. "So, what do you WANT with her, Charlie?" she finally questioned, looking indignant. Charlie had to refrain from shaking off Linda's arm and walking as far away from her as possible.
"Linda, don't start…" he warned in a low voice. Even an entire year after their breakup, the poor girl was still as jealous and delusional as ever.
Linda gasped, eyes wide. The mere thought of HER Charlie hooking up with another girl nearly sent her into a serious fit of hyperventilation. And she so was not in the mood for one right now…
"Charlie!" she whined, tugging on Charlie's arm like an annoying toddler. "Are you going to ask her out? If you are, I don't see why. I mean, she is, like, NOT pretty at all! Besides, why would you, King of Hill Haven, want to date such a loser tomboy like her? I demand an answer, now!"
Charlie sighed. Linda always did have a knack for trying his patience to an extreme. But he did have to admit that it was her stubborn ways that initially attracted him to her.
"Linda, we broke up a long time ago. You shouldn't give a damn about the other girls I meet," he reminded her, wishing that he was somewhere far away from her and her nonsense. Why couldn't she get it through her head that they were OVER?
"Well, I'm sorry. I can't help it if I still have feelings for you," she declared with something akin to a pout on her lips. She was putting on her puppy-dog face just for him.
Charlie almost rolled his eyes at her. Almost.
"Just tell me where she is, ok?" he suggested, irritation laced in his tone. He'd had enough of Linda's crap. Period. The itch to jerk his arm away from her nearly consumed him.
Fortunately before he could've done anything drastic to remove her vice-like grip, he felt her withdraw her arm from his and shrink away from him. "Fine. If that's what you want," she conceded and sulked, eyes shifting from him and flitting across campus. At last, she found who Charlie was looking for.
"She's that blonde girl standing by the bench over there."
Charlie glanced at the girl by the bench then back at Linda. "Thanks," he mumbled and made his way across the grounds.
"Don't mention it," Linda dejectedly replied and stared after him longingly before returning to her cheerleader friends.
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Julie strolled around the huge school alone. The chattering of other students surrounding her made her mind wander back to Adam, whom she'd been actively avoiding since their little spat yesterday afternoon. She bowed her head, studying her shoes as she walked, and a wry smile found its way to her lips.
She was alone and it was all Adam's fault.
If only he hadn't have been acting like such an idiot, they wouldn't be in this situation right now. They wouldn't be fighting. Sometimes, she wished that he would grow up and face his problems instead of running away from them and hiding. She sighed, idly wondering when Adam would eventually give in and come crawling back to apologize to her.
Not paying attention to where she was heading, Julie walked right into a solid, yet yielding body before her.
"Whoa!"
Before she could lose her balance and fall flat on her rear, a pair of sturdy arms reached out to steady her. Julie instinctively extricated herself from the stranger's hold and jumped back, ready to give whoever it was who dared to harass her a serious verbal lashing.
"Hey! Watch where you going, you jerk-off!" she snapped, bringing her head up to see who it was that stood in her path.
"Julie Gaffney?" a cool voice inquired.
Charlie Conway stood there and blocked her way.
Julie's eyes widened momentarily before she regained enough composure to manage a weak reply.
"Y-yeah."
Charlie nodded and motioned to speak. "Hi, I'm Charlie Conway --"
"I know who you are," she curtly acknowledged, cutting off his introduction. She nervously stared at Charlie, who merely raised his eyebrows, a bit taken aback by her bold interruption.
"So I see," he said, clearing his throat. "Well then, Julie, I need to talk you," he began, slowly taking a step forward. "It's about something very important." The action prompted Julie, who had the reflexes of a cat, to take a quick step back.
"How do you know who I am?" she asked defensively, panic overtaking her rationale. She hugged her school books against her chest, as though they were a shield.
"My ex told me," clarified Charlie, who jerked a thumb in the direction of Linda's clique.
Julie almost grimaced as soon as she caught sight of Linda. Ugh, she thought. Linda Madison, the psycho-bitch cheerleader, who was always at the hockey games last year.
Julie turned back to Charlie only to find him staring peculiarly at her. Not really knowing what else to say, she side-stepped Charlie. "Well, I have to go," she hurriedly excused herself and quickly continued down the path leading to the main building.
Charlie shook his head disdainfully. Why was this girl acting so skittish? Well, maybe something else would make her change her mind and stay. Unzipping his backpack, he pulled out the missing notebook. He hoped she was the Julie mentioned in Banks' notebook.
"Hey, do you recognize this?" he called out to her, holding the notebook in front of himself. Julie risked a glance at the tall brunette and immediately recognized what was in his hand.
Holy shit -- Adam's diary!
"That's --"
Bingo, thought Charlie with a smug grin. "Your boyfriend's, right?" he asked, amused at the astounded look on Julie's face. Slightly out of breath, she hastened back to where Charlie waited.
"He is NOT my boyfriend."
Charlie flashed a smirk at hearing her contradiction and amended. "Well, then, it's your friend's?"
"Yeah, it's his," she hesitantly confirmed. "But how did you get it?"
Charlie shrugged in a careless manner. "I found it the other day."
Julie blinked, surprised, then eyed him warily. "So…you just found it?? Like, by accident??" she asked tentatively, not wanting to say anything that might set him off.
Charlie sat down on the bench then uncaringly arranged his 6'0 ft frame on it.
"I didn't steal it, if that's what you're getting at," he said, giving her a sideways glance and catching the embarrassed look on her face. "It was just lying on the floor and I found it," he finished, tilting his head back to stare up into the branches of the tree that shielded them from the sunlight.
A moment of awkward silence passed between them. It was starting to unnerve Julie, who shuffled from side to side on her feet. She had to get away. NOW.
"Uh, thanks for returning the notebook. I'm sure he'll appreciate it! Well, I'll just be --" Julie reached out for the notebook, only to have Charlie pull it out of her reach. " -- going! Yeah…"
"Wait," he said, reaching up and seizing by her elbow. "If I give this back, you have to tell me a couple of things."
"What?"
Charlie ignored her. "Do we have a deal?"
"Yeah, okay. Wha-what do you want to know?" she stuttered, desperately trying to keep her cool despite the uncomfortable hold Charlie had on her.
"What happened yesterday?" The grip on Julie's elbow tightened noticeably, making her wince. "And don't bother lying because I WILL know," he added and abruptly let her go.
Julie gazed at Charlie in guileless contempt as she rubbed her sore arm. "Look, Adam didn't do anything, okay? This is all a big misunderstanding, " she explained.
"Really? Tell me about it," he said, an infuriating smirk working its way to his lips. Julie seethed internally. Guys like Charlie Conway, who think they run the show, always pissed her off.
"Fine. I'll tell you. Adam and I, we were in the bathroom yesterday. I was helping him clean up after YOUR boys threw him in a garbage can. We hid in a bathroom stall when YOUR friend came in to deal drugs. When he was done, he was trying to open our stall door so we freaked and ran out. End of story."
At the end of her tale, Charlie suddenly laughed, the reaction bringing a scowl to Julie's face. If there was one thing that Julie hated more than being intimidated, it was definitely being ridiculed.
"What's so funny?" she ventured to question.
Charlie stopped laughing and stared intensely at Julie, making her squirm. "You mean, that was it?" he asked with interest.
Julie nodded once.
"So…you and your friend didn't jump my friend?"
Julie surprised herself by scoffing at his question. "No! We just pushed open the door and ran out. I guess your friend just happened to fall and hit his head in the process. Maybe that's where his warped accusation came from," she finished confidently, but jumped as Charlie stood up and grabbed her arm again.
When he spoke, his tone was firm.
"You'd better be telling me the absolute truth."
Julie shook her head. "I'm not lying. That's what happened."
After a several moments of standing there together, Charlie let go of her arm. "Ok, I believe you," he said and sat down on the bench again. His words caused Julie to sigh in relief and relax a little. She was stunned, however, when Charlie patted the seat next to him and stared up at her. It was an invitation. She looked back at him doubtfully.
"Don't freak. If you don't want to sit, then fine."
Julie didn't know why she did it, but the next thing she knew, she was sitting down beside him.
Charlie appraised her with a casual glance. Julie sat up stiffly, looking like she was ready to bolt at a moment's notice. She could practically feel Charlie's eyes boring into her profile.
"So, now that we've got that little matter out of the way, tell me one more thing I wanna know."
"What now?" she asked calmly, waiting.
"Tell me where your friend is."
His demand caught Julie off guard. "What? But he didn't do anything. W-what do you want with him?"
"That's none of your business, but if you wish to get his notebook back, then you'll have to answer me. Remember our deal, Julie?" Charlie waved Adam's notebook tantalizingly in front of her, looking smug.
Julie bit her lip. "Honestly, I don't know where he is," she supplied helplessly. "But you'll still give me that notebook, right?"
"No can do, Julie. You only fulfilled half of the deal, so I'll just have to hang onto it for now," he said with a complacent smile, while Julie gaped in shock. In one fluid motion, Charlie tucked the notebook he'd been carrying into his bag and got up from the bench. Immediately, Julie jumped up from the bench after him.
"Please, give that book to me! You can't-- I mean, you can't just…" Julie faltered, looking somewhat flustered at the sight of his easy smile. He strode up to her and leant down, softly whispering into her ear.
"Do me a favor, will you?" he asked and pulled back from her. She heard the distinct flick of a lighter and cocked her head to stare Charlie, who now had a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. "Tell him that I have what he wants. If he wants it back, he's going to have to come to me himself. No exceptions, you understand?"
Julie stood there dumbfounded, gazing after Charlie as he turned towards the cafeteria and walked away, a faint stream of smoke trailing behind him.
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