The next day at school, Charlie didn't let me touch his things, which was weird, I normally always help him put away his belongings or carry something for him. At lunch, I tried to ask him about it, but he would avoid the subject and change it. It really annoyed me, but I think he is hiding something.

During science class, once again, I found myself finishing the sketch of Banks and starting a new one. The teacher was going over information I already knew, so I decided to just sketch and not pay attention. The new sketch I decided to start on was Banks skating, without his helmet, from a distance. His hockey stick was in front of him as he was chasing the puck. The drawing was a bit bigger than the rest so I could fit in all the tiny details.

I first did a rough sketch of what it would look like, then I decided to go in an do the details and shading. I drew his eyes soft, but fixated at something in front of him, it was the goal but I didn't draw it. Then I went down to the outline of his lips. In real life, up close, they looked soft and plump.

"Vicki!" Charlie shook my shoulder.

"What?" I snapped my head up, not knowing what was going on.

"It's time to go," Charlie said, then looked down at my sketches of Banks, I snapped my sketchbook closed and gathered all my things, sticking my pencil on top of my ear, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and walking out of the class with Charlie to go to our last hour.

Hugging the sketchbook close to my chest, Charlie opened the classroom door for me, "Thank you very much my kind sir." I said in a funny voice.

We arrived into the classroom a bit early, sitting down on the top of my desk, taking my backpack off, I turned around to face Charlie, "Nervous yet?"

Charlie sat down at his desk, taking his books and pencils out, "Ya, I'm getting there," He nervously chuckled as rubbed the back of his neck. We sat in silence for a minute before Charlie spoke again. "Hey, um, I got ya something." Charlie reached down into his backpack.

"Oh, so that's what you've been hiding from me?" I teased.

"Ya, I wanted it to be a surprise." He pulled out a green box, held together by a yellow ribbon, symbolizing the team's main colors.

"Charlie." I sighed out of happiness and took the box. Uniting the bow, setting it on my thigh, and opening the lid to the box, there were patches inside. "Are these-?" Looking up at Charlie, he cut me off.

"Patches for your jacket. I'd figure they would be a good present for you." Charlie stared at the box full of patches.

One by one, I took them out of the box. The first one was a cheer microphone with my old school colors on it with bold letters in the middle saying 'CHEER'. The next one was a hockey skate. After the hockey skate was a hockey puck with two crossed hockey sticks in the center. Then, a patch of Minnesota with a circle and two crossed hockey sticks in the middle saying 'STATE OF HOCKEY'. The last two were circular, one was white with red writing saying 'Drop The Puck' with a hockey puck underneath and the other one was a mix of yellow, red, black, and white with the words 'BAD MOTHER PUCKER' in the center.

I cried happy tears as I laughed, "That's a good one!"

"I know right!" Charlie laughed along with me. "I saw that and I was like, that is so Vicki. She'll love that one!" Charlie also started crying happy tears, he wiped them away with his fingers.

"These are such amazing gifts. You don't know how many emotions are swirling around inside of my head."

"You don't have to say anything else. I already know. I'm the best brother there is." He smugly smirked at me.

I playfully slapped Charlie in the shoulder, "I know, you don't have to remind me, Conway." Then the bell rang, I sat properly back down in my seat, putting the patches in the box nicely and tying the ribbon back up on the box, and slipping it into my backpack before getting out my history binder and textbook, placing it on my desk.

In history class, we all found out we had a sub. today, which always made me feel better in the end. Our sub was pretty chill for her age, a nice middle-aged lady. She told us what we had to do today in class, which was to read three chapters, write down three things we learned, and turn it into the sub.

Once the sub. read out loud on what was assigned, I immediately started to get cracking on the assignment. Since I was a skim reader, I only read what I thought was important, it didn't fail me yet to this day, then make sure I knew the answers to the questions in the chapters.

What only felt like a few minutes, I finished reading and wrote down interesting things I found out about, signed my name on the paper in the top right, walked it up to the sub. and turned it in before coming back to my seat to sit. Charlie looked up for a brief moment to see what I was doing, then went back to work.

Once again, I opened my sketchbook and flipped to Banks's page, continuing to work on his sketch. From memory, I put down every detail I could remember from the Hawks jerseys and put it into my drawing before going to shade it in.

Each sketch probably took maybe 15 minutes because all my details and his face just gushed on to the paper. The next sketch I started, was a sketch of me and Banks. He was bent down on one knee on the floor with his skates on, looking up at me while tying the laces to my hockey skates, with me sitting on a bench looking down at him. This sketch was probably my favorite, it showed so much detail, emotion, and human-like features.

After drawing Banks' face, I looked up from the book, then I looked back down at the page.

"Am I crushing on Adam Banks?" I mumbled under my breath. "Am I seriously falling for this rich pervy asshole?" I mumbled again, dropping my pencil on the page.

Running my fingers through the light blonde strands of hair on my head, I exhaled deeply, "Wow, I think I am. I've never hated a person so much in my life to have a crush on them." Mumbling again, Charlie tapped my shoulder.

Turning to face him, he was twirling his pencil in his hand, "Vicki, are you ok?" He whispered, leaning forward.

"Ya, why?" I shrugged.

"Your mumbling." Charlie raised a brow, he knew something was going on.

"K? Your point would be?"

"You mumble when you're nervous," Charlie added.

"Ya, I'm fine Charlie." Nodding my head, I turned back around to look at the page, then I continued the sketch.

10 minutes before the bell rang, I finished the sketch. I had already put my things in my backpack, so I was ready to zip out of the classroom, go to my locker, and get picked up by Ms. Conway.

Charlie was still trying to figure out what to write for his assignment, "Charlie just fudge it at this point, just take some random fact you saw in the chapters and just fudge it down."

"Ok fine!" Charlie raised his hands in defeat before writing down some bullshit facts to get a good grade on the assignment. "K, I'm good now!" Charlie then signed his name in the top right, ran up to the teacher's desk, and turned in his work before jogging back to his seat.

I raised my brow, "It seriously took ya that long to write down three things?"

"Ya," He said while putting his things away. "History is hard, Vicki," Charlie said sarcastically.

"Right, Mr. History Is Hard." I shook my head, then went back to staring at the clock on the wall above the door. Two minutes until school gets out for the day, it felt like a lot longer.

"God, why are clocks always slow when someone is looking?" Charlie scoffed.

"I really dunno," Turning to look at Charlie, the bell rang. "Seriously bell!?" Charlie and I jumped up and dashed out the door like every other student.

The two of us split for our lockers to dump out our books and binders from our bags. Since the spot where Ms. Conway normally parks is closer to Charlie's locker, I always walk to his locker. Dumping all my books and binders in my locker, slamming the door closed, I ran all the way to Charlie's locker, pushing and shoving everyone out of the way.

"Come on! Come on! Hurry up!" Charlie waved. Once I passed him, we ran out to Ms. Conway's car, where she was inside waiting for us.

"Hey, guys! How was school today?" She smiled in the rearview mirror as we hopped in and put on our seatbelts.

"Pretty boring," Charlie responded, Ms. Conway, pulled out of the school parking lot and started to drive home.

"Got game jitters yet?" She asked.

"Well, mine are getting there," Charlie responded.

"I don't have any," I paused. "Yet." Finishing my statement, Ms. Conway smiled on the rearview mirrors.

"I would, I mean you guys get a new team member and it's an important game to determine if the Ducks make it to the playoffs." Ms. Conway spoke her mind.

"Crap! Right!" I facepalmed my forehead. "I forgot we get to see Banks today."

"Oh, yeah." Charlie elongated his words before turning to look out the window.

"Well, maybe he isn't as bad as you guys think he is." Ms. Conway looked at us through the mirror.

"Believe me, Ms. Conway, he's bad," I scoffed. "I wouldn't be saying it like the way I did if I didn't mean it."

"I mean, I dunno why you'd be nervous, I mean you stood up him and two other Hawks." Charlie reminded me.

Turning to look at him, I half smiled, "Ya, your right, I dunno why I'm nervous." Nodding my head, I went back to staring out the window.

When the three of us arrived back at the apartment, my mom had also just pulled up because she was just about to go inside the building when she stopped and turned around. The four of us all scampered up to the apartment and frantically did our own things.

Ms. Conway and my mom we're making dinner, while I went to take a shower, and Charlie took my jacket, the box of patches from my backpack, and started ironing them on to my jacket in the laundry room.

"Dinners ready!" My mom banged on the door to the bathroom.

"K!" I yelled and turned off the water, stepped out, dried myself off, then put on some underclothes, so my good coaching clothes wouldn't get wet.

Taking the brush to my sopping wet snarled hair, I dragged it thought my hair, ripping out all the knots in my hair.

Then I plugged in the blow drier and started drying my hair while brushing through it with my brush, "Vicki! Come on! Dinner is ready!" Charlie banged on the door.

"I know! I'm going as fast as I can!" I yelled while drying and brushing my hair as fast as I could to get it to dry and look decent enough.

Once it was half dry, I ran out to the dining room where everyone was eating. Ms. Conway had made some stove burgers and she had out salad from the other night. Sitting down at the table, my mom had already fixed my plate and got me some water to drink.

The table was silent as we ate our food, then I looked up to see Charlie wanting to say something, "Vicki, I finished ironing on the patches to your jacket."

"You did?" I said with a mouthful of salad. "Thank you so much, Charlie, I didn't even know if I had time to iron them onto my jacket."

"That was very nice of you Charlie." Ms. Conway smiled at her son.

"What patches?" My mom asked with a confused look on her face as she looked at each of us.

"I went to Hans shop and got Vicki some patches for her Ducks jacket as a gift," Charlie explained.

My mom nodded her head, "Oh, I see now."

Swallowing the food in my mouth, "Ya, they're quite amazing actually." I added.

There was a moment of silence before Ms. Conway looked at her watch, "Oh jeez! We gotta hurry!" She snapped up from her chair, taking her dishes to the sink.

Charlie and I exchanged looks before shoveling down the remaining food on our plates, then taking our dishes to the sink, and running into our shared bedroom. Charlie looked around for his thick wool socks while I slipped on a white button-up collar shirt, and black pants over my black Cuttle Duds to keep me warm in the rink.

Then I got out a pair of my own wool socks and threw them at Charlie, "Just give'em back after the game." We smiled at each other.

Charlie sat down on his bed to slip the socks on, "Thanks, mine must be with my gear in my locker."

Going over to my closet, I grabbed my Timberlands to complement my outfit.

"Hey," Charlie said from behind me, I turned around to face him. He was holding out my jacket. "Here's your jacket, Coach."

I smiled and took the jacket, "Thanks." Slipping the jacket on, I went into the bathroom to look at the patches Charlie ironed on my right sleeve. My eyes lingered over every patch.

My lips let out a small chuckle as I looked at my favorite patch. Then I took my Ducks cheer bow, wrapping the bow in the high ponytail.

"Come on guys!" My mom yelled from another room.

"Coming!" The two of us yelled back in unison. Running over to my bed, I sat down, slipped on my boots, and laced them with ease before Charlie and I ran out the door with Ms. Conway and my mom behind us.

The four of us then piled into my mom's Lincoln Grand Marquis Station Wagon and drove to our rink. When we arrived, like always, my mom dropped the two of us off at the door before driving through the parking lot to find a spot.

Right as the two of us stepped inside the rink, Coach Bombay came running up to us, "Hey have you guys seen Adam Banks yet?"

"Coach, we just got here." Charlie reminded Coach.

"Right," He nodded his head. "Go down to the locker room and tell the team I'll be down in a minute."

"K." I nodded as the three of us parted ways.

Charlie and I walked shoulder to shoulder down to the Ducks locker room. Right as Charlie opened the door for me, the loud anxious chatter poured out. Automatically, Charlie walked over to his locker and started getting his gear on.

"Guys! Coach will be down in a minute!" I yelled so everyone could hear. Some of the team members responded and others didn't, but hopefully, they got the message.

Fulton stood by his open locker while getting his shoulder pads on, he then threw me the canister of black face paint, "Time to got your war paint on Coach." He smiled as I caught the canister.

"Oh hell ya." I unscrewed the canister, dipped my fingers in the paint, then dragged the black paint uncaringly over my face. Then I tossed the canister back to Fulton who sat down to tie his skates on a stool, he smiled at me as he caught the canister.

My mind went into a different world for a moment and the locker room went unnaturally quiet.

Coaches voice could be heard from behind me, I turned around to see Coach and Banks, "Hey there you are, I thought you weren't gonna show up." The team stared at Banks, giving him the disappointment glare.

"Ya, whatever, I just wanna play hockey." He mumbled and looked down at the floor.

Coach placed a hand on his shoulder and led him towards the Ducks, "Ducks, you all know Adam Banks."

"On behalf of the Ducks, I'd like to say wel-" Charlie stepped forward only to be stopped by Jesse standing up, placing a hand on Charlie.

"Cake-Eater." Jesse glared at Banks.

"Oooh, the Jess Man, dising the new guy. The Jester-" Averman mocked.

"Shut up Averman!" He snapped, then walked over to Banks. "Just because you put on a Ducks jersey, doesn't make you a Duck." He snapped, Jesse then went in between Coach and Banks, lightly hitting his shoulder on the way out.

Then, one by one, the team started walking in between Coach and Banks. Banks then stepped back to make space and looked down at the floor in shame.

Then Charlie started walking out behind Fulton, "Charlie. Charlie, come on guys!" I whined. "This isn't what a team is supposed to be like." Once all the team members left the locker room, leaving Coach, Banks, and I.

"They're a good group once you get to know them." Coach nodded.

"I bet." Banks mumbled again.

"Suit up, I'll see ya on the ice." He nodded before walking out of the locker room, now leaving Adam and I alone.

Banks looked at his new hockey jersey hanging from the locker and his new gear on a stool underneath. His Hawks hockey bag slung over his shoulder and his stick in the other. When he looked around the locker room, our eyes met.

"Hi," I said in a soft confident voice.

"Hi." His voice was soft, full of disappointment and embarrassment.

Taking a deep breath, then exhaling, I walked over, "Look, I know we didn't get off on the right foot, Banks, but I'm willing to give ya a clean slate and start over," Blowing a loose strand of hair from my face, I then secured it behind my ear. "Now let's just put our past behind us," I held my hand out. "Hi, my name is Vic Reed. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan, I am 13 years old, I live with Charlie and Ms. Conway in they're snug apartment, and I am the Junior Assistant Coach for The Mighty Ducks."

Banks then shook my hand, "Adam Banks. I'm from Edina, Minnesota, I am also 13 years old. I have an older brother who plays hockey for his college and he was a former Hawks player. I live with my parents. I was a former Hawks center player, now I'm a center player for the District 5 Mighty Ducks."

I smiled at his response, "It's very nice to meet ya Banks. I hope the team can warm up to ya and stop giving ya the cold shoulder," Banks chuckled. "Now get your new jersey on, Banks. We gotta game to win."

"Alright," Banks and I parted ways. "Princess." He mumbled.

"Shut up, Banks." I scolded him before walking out, I could hear him chuckling.

When I went up to the benches, the team was on the ice doing they're practice drills. Coach was on the ice cheering for the team, when he turned to me, "Where's Banks?" He was probably expecting Banks to be at my side on the ice.

"He'll be out. Give 'em a minute." Folding my arms over my chest, I watched the team do drills.

I could feel Coach still looking at me because he let out a small chuckle from my new patches on my jacket, "Bad Mother Pucker." Coach chuckled.

"You can thank Charlie for that." I looked at the patch on my right arm sleeve while cracking a smile.

Hearing the opening of the gate, our heads looked over to see Banks stepping out on the ice in his new Ducks uniform, his helmet under his one arm. Banks threw his helmet aside on the ice and skated past the two of us with his hockey stick to do some laps, then he joined in with the other teammates to do warm-ups. Banks looked over at me, raising my hands I golf clapped for him, nodding my head at him. He nodded back before receiving the puck Averman had passed him, he skated up towards Goldberg at the goal, he slapped the puck into the goal, causing Goldberg to fall on his side in an attempt to catch the puck.

"Nice try Goldberg!" Coach yelled out to Goldberg while clapping for him. Banks skated from the back of the line where Connie, Guy, and Averman applauded his score. As the line progressed, Banks skated up to Goldberg and fake him, hitting the goal post and making it in.

I cheered for him, clapping my hands together, "Nice one!"

Then the ref blew his whistle which meant the start of the game. Coach called specific players to the bench and kept Banks in the game.

When we started the game, our competitors were hard players but we managed to defend our ground. In the 1st period, it was 0-0. Once Coach realized that Banks wasn't needed in the 1st period, he benched him for the time being and let Charlie take over in the 2nd period.

Right when the 2nd period started, our competitors scored a point, so Coach sent Banks back into the game. No other point was scored for a good while.

We were down to 52 seconds left, Banks had blocked one of the players in front of the goal, "Hey! Up front! I'm open!" He skated back and forth, making shavings from the ice, hitting his stick on the ice to get his teammate's attention. "Come on! Do something with me!"

Charlie and Guy passed the puck back and forth, trying to avoid our opponents from snagging the puck from under us.

"Pass it to Banks now!" I yelled at Charlie who then passed the puck to Banks as he slipped it in the goal.

"Yeah! All right!" He ran over to Connie, Guy, and Charlie who all gave him a quick group hug, while Jesse shook his head skating towards us. The crowd cheered.

"Go, Banks!" Coach and I applauded the goal. We were now tied 1-1 at the beginning of the 3rd period.

Guy started in the center with the puck, he passed it over to Jesse. Jesse passed it back and forth from himself and Terry, skating towards the opposing goal. Banks skated up the side, past the benches to sneak his way to the goal, but when he got there, the competitors had snagged the puck and skated down towards our goal. Banks then raced back the same way he came, cutting in front of the player, taking the puck down the wall side and around the goal. When he went to go shoot, the goalie caught the puck and threw it back out on to the ice.

Connie grabbed the puck and stuck to the wall but got pinned by two other players who tried to grab the puck from Connie, "Come on Con! Fish it outta there! Fish it outta there!" I yelled over to her on the opposite wall with two players pinning her to it.

When Connie fished the puck out, she passed it to Charlie, who skated up towards the goal where Banks was waiting and keeping a player back by the goal again.

Charlie decided to shoot the puck, but it also got caught and thrown back, "Time out! Time out!" Coach did the time out symbol with his hands, everyone skated back towards the benches, taking off they're helmets.

"Ok, Goldberg, your gonna sit this one out." Coach looked at Goldberg.

Everyone, including myself, argued against Coach pulling Goldberg saying we need a goalie, "Coach, this is crazy. We only got 16 seconds left."

"Yes it's crazy," Coach turned to look at me. "But possible," He said before looking at the team again. "Fulton, your our extra man. Get the puck to Fulton." He pointed at Fulton.

"Are we pullin' The Statue of Liberty plan?" He asked.

"No, I don't think we are," I said nervously.

"No, you take your shot. It has to be a good one." Coach looked over at Fulton.

"But Coach, we're down one to one," Fulton said with a worried look on his face.

Guy then spoke up, looking at Fulton. "Remember Fulton, soft hands, concentration, not strength." Guy then looked over at Connie, shooting her a wink before she blushed, smiling at her boyfriend.

Fulton, took in the advice, nodding his head, he stepped out on to the ice with Banks at the center, Charlie, Jesse, Connie, and Guy defending Fulton so he could shoot.

When the puck dropped, Banks snapped it over to Fulton who skated backward a bit and did a fake shoot, letting one of the opposing team players fall down and steal the puck so he could race down to our net. Fulton then pushed the guy out of the way, stealing the puck.

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" Jesse cried out. Fulton had a clear line straight shot for the goal.

"Shoot Fulton! Shoot!" Coach yelled.

"Do it, Reed!" I cried out.

Fulton the brought back his stick and shot it towards the goal, opposing team players decided to stand out in front of the goal, only realizing it was flying towards them, they jumped out of the way, even the goalie jumped out of the way, letting the puck go in. The puck sailed into the net and broke it, sending it out the back when the buzzer sounded.

The crowd roared with applause and cheers, the whole team then jumped up from their seats and skated out to Fulton who had his arms in the air as he embraced everyone.

Coach and I ran over to Fulton, pushing past people in our team. I jumped into his arms and tackled him down to the ice hugging him, "I knew you could do it!" Laughing at the towering boy under my body. "Way to get'em brother!" I smiled before we picked ourselves up off the ice.

"Vicki we did it! We made the playoffs!" Charlie screamed. The two of us tackled each other in an aggressive joyous hug.

"I know! You were amazing! You were resilient Charlie!" His sweaty jersey stuck to my coat and button-up shirt, but I didn't really care.

The next person I decided to tackle in an aggressive hug, I really didn't look at, "We made it!" A familiar voice chuckled.

Breaking away, I smiled, "I know!" When I realized it was Banks, we separated immediately and smoothed our clothing.

He cleared his throat, "Nice game." He nodded.

"Ya, let's pretend that didn't happen and we didn't just hug each other." I fake coughed.

"Ya." He mumbled.

When we went back to hugging more of our team members, Fulton decided to hoist me up on to his shoulders while the rest lifted Coach in the air only a little. A news reporter for a hockey paper came over to us with his camera. He snapped a few pictures before I actually smiled for him.

I was exhilarated and overjoyed about the Ducks making it to the playoffs, I was also happy for Banks. He was actually willing to start over with me. Not only was he a good skater, but he was also a good team player. I guess he only had a rotten personality due to the toxicity of his team and coach he was playing for. He opened up to his new team and vice versa for everyone else except Jesse. I could tell he was still not sure about Banks and how to feel about him. Although I did learn one thing today, that was to never judge a book by its cover. In reality, it was a really cheesy lesson, but it was true. I overstepped and misjudged Banks, but now I know his true hockey personality. The only thing I was worried about was his non-hockey personality.