SOMEBODY ELSE ⇢ LUIS MENDOZA [2]

one

Summer was over within what felt like the blink of an eye to Hailee. She'd spent a lot of time Luis during it, as they had both planned.

She was now walking with Luis, who had his arm wrapped around her, Ken, Dwayne, Russ and Julie towards Eden Hall.

"You know, I think this place is running very low on the brother's quotient." Russ stated.
"Yeah." Julie sighed.

"Anyone really wanna know who this Coach Orion is?" Hailee asked.
"I do." Julie said. "But my dad said if I didn't like him, I could come right home."
"That's nice. My dad I better stay in on scholarship or he'll whip my butt." Russ said.
Hailee laughed.

"You know, I heard in the dorm that the guy played for the Minnesota North Stars and got suspended for punching out his own coach." Luis told them.
"You mean the Dallas Stars?" Dwayne corrected. "I heard he punched out a fan."

"I heard he was a Buddhist. You know, like King Fu or Richard Gere." Julie added.

"King Fu wasn't a Buddhist. He was a Trappist Monk." Ken spoke up.
"Are you talking about the old Kung Fu or the Further Adventures of the New Kung Fu?" Russ asked.
Hailee chuckled. "Now y'all have got me confused."

"Me too. Y'all watch too much TV." Dwayne agreed.
"Shoot, that's the thing to do in my hood." Russ stated, making Hailee chuckle.

Once Hailee and her group of friends sat themselves down in the auditorium, she took a look around at the rest of the student body. She sighed. "This place looks like it's full of assholes." She thought to herself.

"Hey, you know what? You Ducks don't belong here at Eden Hall." A jock from behind them spoke up.

Hailee scoffed and turned around. "And who are you exactly?"
"Hey, easy, babe." Luis said, taking his hand in hers.
"Yeah, they probably just think we're someone else." Dwayne told her. "Um, I'm Dwayne. We're the new hockey team. And you are?" He held out his hand for him to shake.

The jock took his gum out of his mouth and put it in Dwayne's hand. "Varsity. The only hockey team."
"State champs." Another brunette jock added. "You know, my little brother lost his J.V slot when they brought in you yo-yos in here."

"He probably wasn't good enough." Julie said, making Hailee laugh.
The dark haired jock leaned forward. "See, that's my dad. He's gonna get the board to revoke your scholarships. Just you wait."

Hailee turned around to face the jock. "Because we replaced your little brother? How tragic."
He shot her a glare.
"That's your dad? Nice outfit. Did it come with a yacht?"
The group laughed and the jocks mocked them.

Hailee rolled her eyes. "Jerks." She muttered to her boyfriend, who chuckled.

"Welcome. Since it's inception in 1903, Eden Hall Academy has taken great pride in its illustrious tradition of excellence. Yet, as we approach the coming millennium, we dare not shrink from the spectre of inevitable change."

"What'd he say?" Hailee heard Dwayne ask Russ.
"Something 'bout a shrinking sphincter." Russ replied.
Russ looked over at Julie and Hailee, and chuckled.

"Thus, myself, the board, Tom Riley of the alumni association and Varsity Coach Wilson, who has led us to ten consecutive state championships,"

The students applauded. Hailee awkwardly looked around before joining in.

"We have all made a change for the future. So, today, after much debate on both sides, we proudly open our doors via full scholarships..."

"Hey," Luis whispered to Hailee.
She turned to him.
"Where's everyone else from The Ducks?" He asked.
Hailee shrugged. "I have no idea."

"To a truly gifted group of student athletes."

"That's us," Hailee whispered to Julie with a grin, making her chuckle.

"So, will you please join me in giving a big, rousing Warrior welcome to the gold medal winners if the Junior Goodwill Games! I present to you-" Buckley was cut off when Goldberg, Charlie, Connie, Averman, Guy, Adam and Fulton crashed into the curtain, ripping it and making it fall on top of them.

Everyone laughed as they pulled the curtain off of them and stared at the student body. "Hi... we're The Ducks." Adam said, awkwardly.

Hailee laughed as Luis playfully rolled his eyes. "Those are our friends."

***

"Charlie, man, this is not a good start to our year." Ken stated.
"Don't worry, Kenny. These preparers aren't gonna do anything to us." Charlie reassured.
"Don't be so sure." Hailee mumbled.

"Check it out! Antsville!" Charlie exclaimed to his friends.
They all bent down to look at the tunnels within the glass.
"Look at 'em go."
"Woah."

"You can learn a lot from ants." Buckley made them jump. "These Brazilian fire ants can teach you a lot about successful societal structure."

"And how, exactly?" Hailee cocked an eyebrow.
"Come here. You see, here's one queen in there." Buckley pointed at an ant. "The rest are dedicated worker ants. Everybody pulls their weight. Nobody complains. There's harmony and growth. Same here at Eden Hall. Only you are the workers, the backbone."

"And you're the queen?" Russ questioned.
Russ' friends snickered.
"Hmm." Buckley said, walking off.

"He never answered my question." Russ fake frowned, making Hailee snicker even more.