After our win with the Hornets, the Ducks went on to face the Cardinals again for the Semi-Finals.

The game was after school, the homework was piled high today since it was Monday. Charlie continued to struggle with his science homework, so being the kind person I am, I decided to help him before we had to go to the game.

Inside I was nervous, to see Banks. He didn't really say anything to me last game but we caught ourselves looking at each other. I really do like him, I'm just afraid that the Ducks won't accept my feelings since he was a Hawk. Banks has really changed drastically from being a snobby Hawks player to becoming an athletic confident Duck. I still continued to draw sketches of him in my sketchbook, currently having three whole dedicated pages of him. Banks really was a different person when he started playing for the Ducks. He gave me those cute little butterflies in my stomach. When he smiled either at me or someone else, he always made my knees weak like butter.

When we arrived at the rink, everyone was getting changed in the locker room. Right as I walked in with Charlie, Fulton threw me the canister of black face paint, smiling at me.

"Thanks, Reed." I applied the paint to my face while walking to the back of the locker room with Charlie.

Charlie and I sat down side by side. While Charlie was getting his pads on, I was untying his skates. The two of us had developed a system before the game. I would untie his skates while he would get his pads on.

Then Adam came over to me, his skates making clomping sounds on the carpet, "Hey Vic." He gave a small smile.

"Hey." A happy sigh escaped my mouth.

"So, after we kick some Hawk butt on Wednesday," In embarrassment, I looked down chuckling. "I'll give you an hour to get ready for dinner, which will be at 7."

"K, thanks Cake-Eater." I teased with a smile.

"No problem, Coach." He winked before walking off.

"Ok, now I'm gonna kill'em." Charlie crossed his arms.

"Charlie!" Smacking Charlie in the chest, playfully, an 'ow' escaped his lips.

"Well, I'm gonna!" He retorted. "You're my sister!" Then Fulton popped his head around the corner.

"What about killing someone?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" I frantically spitted out, waving my hands in the air.

"Banks winked at our sister, Fulton." Charlie shook his head.

Fulton's face dropped, "He did not! I'm gonna go show him who's boss!" He started storming away when I jumped up, grabbed his arm, and tried to drag him away but instead, he dragged me with him.

"Fulton! No! No! No!" My feet dragged across the carpet as he stormed over to Banks.

"Hey, Banks!" Banks then turned his head to Fulton, his face dropped. "Don't you ever wink at my sister!" He grabbed the collar of his jersey to send him a message.

His face turned white as a ghost, "Ya got that?" Fulton snapped.

Banks nodded his head and looked at me for a quick second, "I am not here. I do not know these people." I mumbled to myself while trying to hide my face behind my hand. Banks nodded his head frantically before Coach Bombay waltzed in.

Coach caught a glimpse of Fulton gripping Banks' jersey before letting go quickly and wiping a fake smile on his face, "I'm not gonna ask what just happened." Coach shook his head.

"Ya, wise decision." I poked my head out from behind Fulton's towering body.

"Anyway!" He clapped his heads together. "Let's go, let's go! We got warm-ups!" Everyone then grabbed they're gear and made they're way out to the ice.

Coach and I walked side by side out on to the ice, going towards the benches in our matching Ducks varsity jackets, waving to the audience who cheered us on as the team skated around on our side of the blue line doing laps for warm-ups.

When Coach and I got to the benches, we sat down next to each other while watching the team, "Ok, seriously, what happened?" Coach looked at me.

Biting the inside of my cheek and fluttering my eyes in annoyance, "It's nothing, really."

"Well then why is there talk about Banks asking you to dinner at his place?" Coach blackmailed me.

Sighing deeply knowing he saw right through me, "Ok fine, Banks winked at me after he was talking to me about dinner and Fulton kinda almost went psycho on him."

Coach nodded with a smirk on his face, "Ahh, I see, boy jealousy. I wouldn't blame hi-"

"No Coach! Fulton and Charlie are like siblings to me. Fulton was only trying to protect me." I cut him off.

"Well whatever the case may be if I were Banks," He patted my shoulder. "I'd get my crap together."

My face went from anxious to confused, "What do ya mean?" I stared at Coach.

"Come on Vic, don't pull that card with me. Charlie told me about the drawings-"

"He saw them!" I groaned and put my face in my hands again. "God why!"

"You like him, don't you?"

Looking back up at Coach with sympathetic eyes, "Ya." My voice croaked out in shame, looking down at my shoes.

"Vic, you don't have to hide anything from anyone, it's all normal." Coach tried to reassure me.

"No, it's not that," I deeply exhaled. "I'm afraid if I do put my feelings out there I'll get rejected or the team won't accept it." Tears started forming in my eyes.

"Vic, as a friend, as your Coach, I will always support your decisions and will always try to find happiness for you," Sniffing my nose, I rubbed it with the side of my hand. "Does Adam make you happy?"

Looking at him, once again I sniffed, "I dunno. He must feel something since he asked me to have dinner with him."

Coach smiled, "Well then there's part of your answer!"

"But what about the other part?" Then I wiped away the tears on my face.

"You'll have to find it," He then placed a hand on his chest over his heart. "In here," He tapped. "Your heart will tell you everything ya need to know."

I nodded my head in understanding, then wiped the tears away from my eyes to compose myself, "Thanks for understanding me, Coach." I smiled.

"Vic, just remember, you can come to talk to me whenever you want to." He rubbed my shoulder.

I nodded my head, "K, thanks, Coach." Then the ref blew his whistle, signaling the start of the game.

Everyone skated for the benches where Coach gave a pep talk, "Ok guys, remember to hold your heads high and fly strong!"

"Yeah!" We all cheered.

"Let's fly Ducks!" I added before everyone put their hands in the middle.

We all pumped our arms while quacking, "GO DUCKS!" Charlie, Averman, Karp, Tammy, Tommy, Peter, and Fulton stayed behind on the bench.

Banks was in the middle, when the whistle blew, Banks passed the puck to Connie who then skated her way around the players while Banks followed her. Connie then passed it to Banks, who was near the goal, to put it in the goal.

The next play was with the Oreo Line. Coach thought it was a good name for the technique so he kept it, it really wasn't that racist anymore to me. Banks passed the puck to Guy who was being defended by Jesse and Terry. Cardinals were flying and falling down everywhere I looked. Guy and Banks passed the puck to each other for a hot minute before Banks put it in the goal again.

"Nice one Banks!" Clapping my hands together, I cheered for the Cake-Eater. Everyone from the Ducks on the ice gave Banks a group hug. Banks skated past me smirking at me before he went to the center.

The rest of the game went amazingly well. In the 2nd period, it was 2-0. Banks was really racing and ripping on the ice. Cardinals were falling on the ice, flying everywhere, being shoved into walls, the whole works. Charlie was absolutely amazing. Him and Banks worked well together, besides from them internally hating each other, they worked really well on the ice together. When the 2nd period ended, right out of the gate, the Cardinals scored two points leaving a 2-2 tie. The 3rd period, there were hardly any points scored except for the Cardinals two beginning period points.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! What a game so far! The Ducks versus the Cardinals!" I heard the announcer say from the announcer's box.

The Cardinals had the puck in their end of the blue line, trying to get it into our goal, but Banks just snatched it right out from beneath them as he raced towards the Cardinals goal as he skated down the middle.

"It's the Ducks All-Star, Adam Banks!" The announcer said with an excited voice which made me smile.

"Come on Banks!" I yelled out to the ice, Banks then spun around a player, then dodged another player, sending the puck straight into the goal.

The crowd went nuts for Banks. Then when the puck dropped again Jesse and Banks teamed up to protect the puck by going around the Cardinals goal. One Cardinal almost rammed Banks into the wall but instead, he slammed himself against it. Everyone in the benches was cheering on Jesse as he tried to get back the stolen puck. Guy then snatched the puck who passed it to Averman. Averman then said the puck over to Banks while Guy set himself near the goal. When Banks passed the puck to Guy, he scored making the crowd go nuts again, finishing off the game 4-2.

Connie and I screamed while jumping, "We made it to the finals!" I grinned while everyone came back to the benches embracing each other and congratulating Guy on his last move.

I turned to Charlie as we embraced each other tightly. Then Fulton spun me around, which made a giggle escape my mouth, then we embraced each other. Due to the height difference, he picked me up from the floor while he hugged me. When he put me down, I went to go embrace another person, it was Banks. We stared at each other for a brief moment.

I remembered the last time we aggressively hugged, "Oh! Whatever!" I tackled him. He took my hug as a shock but then soon hugged me back. His sweaty cheek stuck to mine, which was pretty warm. His hands were placed on my middle back while his face nuzzled into my neck. My chin was rested on his shoulder.

We were apparently hugging for a hot minute because Charlie had come to drag me away into the locker room. Everyone shook cans of Coke, Pepsi, and Root beer, opened them, and started spraying it all over the place. I laughed at the pop getting in my hair and getting on my clothes. Then suddenly, ice-cold water was dumped on my head. Coach smiled widely while he slicked back his hair. Lewis smiled as he put down the bulky cooler. The pop was gonna be a bitch to get out of my jacket and clothes but who cares, we had made it to the finals.

I then had taken a moment to stop, pause, and look around at the team. Everyone smiling, laughing, Connie and Guy making out while soaked in pop, Fulton side hugging Karp and Averman, and Banks violently hugging Charlie before breaking away. He then turned to notice my gaze. In response, I smiled, pulling a loose strand of pop soaked hair from my face, behind my ear, smiling while a crimson color sprayed my cheeks. Banks then responded with a wide smile. It felt like all time stopped at the moment and everything went by so slowly, feeling like only me and Banks were going normal speed. His piercing blue orbs sang to me and his eyes curled in happiness. His hair was a different color from the pop soaking it and his face was all shiny from the sweat dripping down his face. Adam Banks, what will I ever do with you, you Cake-Eater.