The day had gone by slow again. I was tired but incredibly grateful that it was lunch right now. But, instead of eating with my friends, I was wasting my time talking to my math teacher, "See now look here. This is where you keep messing up. You kept forgetting to change the negative to a positive."

"Yeah, but I don't understand why I have to change it."

Mr. Thompson grabbed my pencil and moved it the problem, "Well look. Both problems are in parentheses but they're being subtracted. So you have to distribute the negative to the second equation so you can write it out and solve it." He started to show me what the problem would look like written out.

"Wait, so why do I give the negative to this set but not that one?"

"Because there's no subtraction sign in front of the first one. If there was, you'd distribute it."

It finally clicked in my head, "Oh!"

"Making more sense?"

"Yeah, thank you Mr. Thompson. I appreciate it."

"Of course, Wren. Come back if you need more help but go an enjoy lunch."

I stood up, putting my things into my back pack, "Thank you, sir."

He nodded at me as I left the room. I liked Mr. Thompson, he was the only teacher who would actually take time out of his day to explain things to me. He didn't make me feel stupid, which was rare when it came to math teachers.

I entered the cafeteria, bumping into Charlie, "Oh, hey Charlie."

He rolled his eyes at me and kept walking, Fulton and Russ following behind him. I shook my head and sat down next to Guy, "What's up, guys?"

Kenny sat down next to us, "They stole my lunch again."

I moved my tray towards him, "You can have mine. I'm not really hungry anyways."

"Thanks."

"Of course."

Full honesty, I liked Kenny a little more than everyone. He was always super respectful and sweet, even when he got mad at us. He never made belittling comments either, some of the other guys did, they just didn't realize what they were doing.

I looked around at the table, "Where's Adam?"

Averman gestured over to where the Varsity players were sat at, "Where else would he be?"

I scoffed and stood up, walking over to the table, Adam turned and saw me, smiling, "Hey, Wren."

"Why aren't you sitting with us?"

Cole answered for him, "He's sitting with the big boys now. He doesn't need to waste his time with little Duck games."

I rolled my eyes, "You're an idiot. You know that, Cole?"

Cole's face dropped, "Hey, don't call me an idiot."

"I'll call you whatever I want." I turned back to Adam, "C'mon, come sit with us."

He looked around at the table, all the Varsity players were staring at us, "I-I can't."

"Right." I sighed and left him, he called after me but I just ignored him. I took my seat between Guy and Kenny as I saw Charlie walk past the Varsity table.

Cole and Rick immediately grabbed Charlie's lunch and I rolled my eyes, whatever he was doing, I didn't want to be a part of it. I focused on my friends again, listening to them talk about whatever thing was on their minds.

There was a big commotion as the three started running, the Varsity team running after them. We all turned to look at what was happening. The team started to run after everyone so I got up and followed them, not sure where this was leading.

We reached the courtyard where Rick, Cole, and Scooter were all holding one of the boys by their shirt collars, a circle forming around them. The team joined it quickly, hearing every threat leave Rick's mouth.

"You know, we should just kill 'em. Can we kill them Rick?" Cole asked.

"How would your coach feel about that?" I called out to them as I fought my way to the front of the crowd.

Rick turned around seeing me, he dropped Charlie, "Why's it always you?"

I shrugged as I walked into the circle, "I don't know. You bother my friends which bothers me. You know, Rick. I don't really like you. You annoy me with your stupid haircut and pretentious attitude. It really makes me wonder why you turned out that way. Which then makes me remember your dad. You're both assholes who think you deserve more than you actually deserve. Maybe you're just upset with your perfect little life and end up taking it out on those idiots."

"You need to shut up." Rick pointed a finger at me.

"Or what, Rick? What're you going to do about it?" I raised my eyebrows in mock surprise, "Would you really hit a girl?" Rick looked around, seeing the circle of students, he started to stutter, "See, now you look stupid." I turned to face the circle, "Alright, kids. Nothing to see here. Scurry along."

Cole and Scooter dropped Russ and Fulton and the circle started to slowly disband as Rick approached me, "See, I don't really like the way you talk to me. One day, you're gonna get it."

I smiled, "Are we talking about karma? Yeah, it might be coming for me but I'm so excited for the day that it hits you." Rick was thinking of something to say, "Have a nice day. Let's go boys."

I turned around to walk away, the Ducks walking after me.

"You need to stop causing a scene." Charlie ordered as he grabbed my arm.

"You need to stop starting them. Stop starting things you can't finish. Besides, you really want to get benched, we both know Orion will bench you." Charlie let go of my arm as I walked away, the bell for classes to start ringing across the courtyard.

I still got to science early, this was the only class that I didn't have with the Ducks.

We didn't have assigned seats in here because the teacher was more laid back then the others, but she was still a shit teacher. I liked being able to sit wherever I wanted, that opinion quickly changed when a boy sat down next to me, "I don't really like the way you talk to my brother."

I looked over to see him, he bore a very similar appearance to Rick. Kind of creepy how much they looked alike. But hey, that was siblings for you, "Oh, great. Another Riley kid."

"Yeah. You diss my whole family when you go after Rick."

"I didn't."

"You did."

I put down my pencil and turned to look at him, "Look. Rick continuously goes after my friends. How would you feel if your friends were being harassed by an upperclassman? Would you roll over and show your belly?"

Both of our heads turned as the teacher started the lesson and then he whispered to me, "I'll admit, Rick's a bitch but he's still my brother. He'll make it worse if you keep fighting with him."

"I know." I whispered back.

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"What's your name?"

"Henry."

"It's because I don't roll over, Henry."

He gave me a you're stupid look but we both turned our attention to the lesson.

At the end of the day, I made my way to the rink. Varsity practiced right after school so I just decided to go to their practice instead of the Duck's. I wanted to see what Adam was like on a different team.

As I walked in someone called my name, "Hey! Wren!"

I turned to see Scooter skating over to the railing and I walked over to him, "Hey, Scooter."

"I just wanted to say sorry for today. Rick can get a little out of hand sometimes."

I shook my head, "All good. Sometimes Charlie goes too far too. It was fair."

Scooter looked over his shoulder and then back at me, "Word of advice: I'd leave Rick alone. He's just going to get worse if you guys keep retaliate."

"I know. You're the second person to warn me today." Scooter's eyes held a question in them, "Henry told me I should back off."

"Yeah, well. You should probably listen." The Varsity coach blew on his whistle, calling for the start of the practice, "Have fun with your homework, Wren." Scooter said as he started to skate away from me.

I laughed at him and made my way up to the top of the bleachers. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who came to watch the Varsity practices. There was a couple kids scattered around on the bleachers.

The Varsity practice was gruesome. Just watching it exhausted me. I really tried to focus on my homework but the boys on the ice kept yelling at each other. It was much louder than a Duck practice but I still got some work done.

I waited on the bleachers as the boys went to the locker room and the Ducks came in.

Adam came out and paused at the doors to leave, he looked up at me and motioned his head towards the door, telling me to come with him.

I grabbed my back pack and made my way down the bleachers, meeting him at the door, "So, how was your first Varsity practice?" I asked as we walked out.

"I'm so tired."

I laughed, "We can go back to my room so you can take a nap."

"Please."

We got to my room and I unlocked it, letting Adam through first so he could plop down on my bed. He groaned as he laid down, "Why is it so hard?"

I closed the door behind me, "There's a million jokes I can make right now."

Adam flipped around so he was laying on his back, "Shut up."

I raised my hands up, "Hey, you're the one who said it."

I pulled out the chair to my desk and my math things as I sat down. Adam reached over and grabbed it, "No homework."

I tried to grab it back but failed, "I have other homework I can just work on."

"Just take a nap with me."

I snorted, "Yeah, let me just take a nap with a teenage boy real quick."

"We both know I have no intentions."

I looked over at him and rolled my eyes, "Sure you don't."

"Promise. C'mon, I know you're tired."

"Maybe, but if I sleep I won't be able to later. Besides," I grabbed my math things back from him, "I have homework."

"Wren."

"I'm serious, Adam."

"Just thirty minutes."

I looked at the clock on my desk and then back at Adam, "Fine. 30 minutes." I joined Adam on the bed and he rolled so he was laying on top of me, I groaned at the added weight, "Adam, really?"

"I'm already asleep."

"I hate you."

"You could never hate me."

"Wanna bet?"

"No." He answered quickly.

I smiled and put my hands on Adam's back, his head on my chest, "Thought so."

Adam fell asleep quickly. His practice had clearly knocked him out. I took longer to fall asleep but I still did.

I started to wake up when I heard the door open, "And see, I never thought they'd get a room." I heard Averman whisper to a giggling Julie.

"I'm awake, you know." I mumbled.

"Oh, shit." Averman whispered.

I opened my heads, my eyes aligned with Adam's chest. I finally realized the position we were in. One of Adam's arms was around my waist, his other one resting under his head, our legs were tangled together.

I turned so I was facing Julie and Averman, Adam's arm tightening around me, "So, how was practice?"

"Fucking Goldberg made me throw up. I hate him." Julie answered quickly.

Averman smiled at me as he sat down on Julie's bed, "Yeah, but then that Varsity kid, Scooter I think, gave her a towel and she was all like, 'Oh my god Scooter. Marry me.'"

Julie threw one of my books at Averman who grabbed his head in pain, "I was not like that."

"Of course, you weren't." Averman said, but he turned back to me and mouthed, "She totally was."

I smiled, "What time is it?"

"Its like 6:30." Julie answered, taking her hair down.

"What?" I grabbed Adam's arm off of me and sat up, gently pushing him, "Adam. Wake up." He stayed silent so I slapped him lightly which caused him to finally open his eyes, "Your dad's gonna be here soon."

Adam jolted up into a sitting position and then noticed the two Ducks in the room, "Oh, hey guys."

They both said hey but I smacked his chest, "Your dad."

"Right." Adam got off of my bed and grabbed his things, "Bye guys."

"Bye."

Adam closed the door and Julie turned to look at me, "You gonna lie and say there's nothing going on between you two, still?"

I threw my pillow at her, "Shut up."

Averman and Julie shared a smile.