Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Mighty Ducks. I wish I did. Cause then I'd be really rich.

WARNING: AS AN APOLOGY OF SORTS FOR LACK OF UPDATES, THIS FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THE WAY WE ROLL IS OF EPIC PORPORTION!

– Chapter Twelve –

Finale

"Connie…Connie, sweets…wake up."

"Banksie, you're too soft. Just flip her over."

"It's her birthday. I'm not flipping her over on her birthday."

"Will you shut up?" Connie growled, opening an eye. "Adam's right. It's my birthday so piss off and let me get some sleep."

"But we have presents!" Charlie grinned, flopping down next to her.

"And cake!" A cheerful Guy Germaine chortled, sinking down onto her other side.

Dylan Howard raised an eyebrow and leaned over to Adam. "You wake up to two ex boyfriends in the same bed with you on your seventeenth birthday. That's got to be awkward."

The hockey player rolled his eyes at the other's statement. He had no idea what went on in that messy blond head of his. "Cons, everyone's waiting for you. Come on."

"It's…it's seven thirty in the morning! On a Saturday!" Connie practically wailed, checking her alarm clock.

Dylan shook his head. He'd had enough. The Ducks were entirely too lenient when it came to their girls. Thank the Lord he was equally as spoiled as they were. Which explained why he had no qualms about reaching over and tossing the petite brunette over his shoulders.

"Dylan! Dylan Thomas Howard! Put me down right now!"

"You know, you're a lot heavier than you look. Well, I guess you would be. Because you look like a tiny shit."

"Dylan!" The tiny girl screeched, pounding her hands wherever they could reach.

He wasn't too worried. "A bit higher, Cons. I have a kink over there that I just can't get out. There! That's perfect."

The other Ducks stared at the irrepressible blond as he left the suite with a furious Connie slung over his shoulders like a dead cow. Then with a shrug, they followed him out. After all, what was there to say about a sight like that?

"Is…is…is that what I think it is?"

"A 1967 Camaro? Completely redone, reupholstered, repainted, all for your personal enjoyment?"

"Oh my God." Connie stared at the dark red car in disbelief. "You got me a car."

"Yes." Portman grinned, ruffling the small girl's hair. "Close your mouth, princess. It's not becoming."

"Do you like it, Cons?" Ken asked as he looked over at her fondly.

"Me and Dylan totally wanted to get you rims but some people thought it was tacky." Maddie sniffed, shooting a pointed glare towards a resigned looking Carmen and Adam.

Connie tore her eyes off the cream colored leather interior and turned dazedly to Julie. "You guys got me a car."

Julie slung an arm around the smaller girl. "Happy Birthday."

"You guys got me a car."

"Yes, we've gone over this point." Averman remarked cheekily. He let out a grunt of surprise however when Connie suddenly buried herself into his chest with a muffled wail. His surprised eyes were magnified by his glasses as he looked helplessly at the gathered assemblage. "Um…" He said awkwardly as he patted his baby girl on the back. "There…there?"

"I'm sorry." Connie hiccupped, wiping her eyes hastily. "I'm just happy. You guys…you guys are amazing. The best friends a girl could ask for…" And with that, she dissolved into a fresh deluge of tears. Wordlessly, Maddie reached over into Adam's pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

Even though he was itching to say it, Luis shut his mouth and swallowed the comment that he was going to make about the handkerchief. It was of rather obscene origins so perhaps it was best that he didn't say it in front of the Wailing Woman over here.

Charlie snickered. "How much do you want to bet that Connie's on the rag?" He sang, skipping out from Julie's reach.

Connie glowered at him. If her eyes and nose weren't so puffy and red, she would have looked quite menacing. "Spazway…shut up."

Ken Wu absently flicked a piece of lint off his velvet blazer as he waited for a certain golden haired Latina girl to appear. With a sigh, he pushed his sunglasses down to check the time. She was supposed to have shown up ten minutes ago.

A slight scowl creased his rather good looking face. The years had been especially good to him. Gone was the awkward, slightly goofy boy of yore. Ken smiled to himself as he remembered his shrimpy, pre-teen days. Sure he still wasn't that tall – he was Asian, after all…Maddie was just a freak of nature with abnormal growth hormones – but he felt that five foot nine was a good solid height for him. And with the height had come the confidence of his business prowess. And combined with his innate sense of fashion, Ken had no limit to female admirers.

Indeed, Ken wasn't a business man; he was a business, man.

It was almost by accident that he had stumbled upon stocks. And it was complete chance that he made a great deal of money the first week. It was chance for the first time. It wasn't the next eight times.

Ken knew the science behind economics now. And hell, if he wasn't amazing at it.

His new hobby – that was currently making him thousands – was the reason he was rethinking college hockey. For the past year or so, hockey and the stock market had pulled up even in his passions. But now…now he wasn't so sure.

He loved hockey. But there was only so much of the game he could take. Unlike the Bash Brothers and Banks, he just couldn't bring himself to watch game after game of brutal hockey. He'd much rather see how his gamble had paid off.

Ken knew that his mother worried about him. As a devout Christian, she held a healthy fear of gamblers and Ken was technically gambling. Technically. He preferred Charlie's term. Exploration of possible outcomes. Winner takes all. Only this winner had given a significant chunk of the money away to charity. He wasn't in it for the money. He was in it for the game.

Everyone had a vice, an addiction if you will. He "gambled" in stocks. Maddie hacked computers. Carmen's sleek black Corvette seemed to need new tires every other month from her impromptu drag races. Dylan was making his way through the female population at Eden Hall. Charlie seemed addicted to trouble. Banks played golf. The freak.

Ken shrugged. It was what made them human. And besides, they had each other. The Ducks always had each other. It was a handy support system for when they got into trouble. And boy, did they get into trouble.

Ken straightened as he saw a head of golden hair emerge from the Administrative Building. "Well?"

"He said no." Carmen answered flatly, her amber eyes sparking irritated flashes of fire. "Apparently we can't afford to risk losing the money we made from the auction."

Ken sighed as his hand absently touched up his faux-hawk. He had taken to wearing the hair style for the last few months and was extremely relieved when the effect wasn't as ludicrous on him as it had looked on others. "So how the hell are we going to get that cash?"

Carmen frowned, her face deep in thought. "How much is the minimum we need to invest again?"

"Five thousand."

"I'll have it to you by next Sunday."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

"No."

"Illegal?" He asked, feeling the bottom of his stomach drop in foreboding.

"You know, I'm actually really hungry. Let's go eat."

Fulton frowned as he checked his schedule for the fall semester.

AH? What the hell was AH?

He scowled as he trudged through the library. Stupid school with their stupid codes. How anyone could decipher the – hello, Charlie's ex girlfriend. His extremely knowledgeable ex girlfriend. Fulton beamed happily as he trotted over to her. "Linda! Hey, Linda!"

The brunette turned around and gave him a smile. "Hey, Fulton. What's up?"

"Do you know what AH is?" He immediately asked, shoving his schedule in her face.

"Art History." Linda murmured absently as she looked through his schedule. "Fulton, why are you taking art history?"

"That's a good fucking question. A better question is…what the fuck is art history? It sounds pansy." The burly hockey player demanded, snatching the piece of paper back from her and glaring down at it.

"What's art history? You can't be serious."

A look at his face immediately showed that he, in fact, was serious.

Linda sighed. Eden Hall and their uncultured jocks. "Come on."

"Where're we going?"

"I'll show you a couple books about the subject. You can read up on it."

"You want me to read?"

"Hey! Dylan! Charlie!"

The two turned to see Julie walk towards them. "Listen, could you guys go pick up Nick from school? Carmen can't make it today so someone has to cover for her. I was going to ask Adam but he told me to tell you."

Dylan nodded. "Yeah, sure, Jules."

"Good." She said with obvious relief before narrowing her eyes. "No funny business. And I mean, no funny business."

"Why, Miss Gaffney! What a thing to suggest!" Charlie snickered, mockingly holding up a hand to his heart. "We will be sure to be on our absolute best behavior!"

"Seriously, Jules, it hurts. Like we'd jeopardize Nick's reputation or safety or morality or virginity-"

"Howard!"

"Kidding!" He laughed, ducking out of her reach. "Hey, Charlie, guess what I heard!"

"About Julie and Portman? How they were K-I-S-S-I-N-G?"

"I thought it was more like H-O-O-K-"

"Pick him up now." She snarled, her face turning scarlet with fury and embarrassment.

"At once, your royal kissy-face." Charlie threw over his shoulder before the two skipped away, giggling to themselves.

Assholes, she thought bitterly.

A day later.

"You! And you!"

Dylan lazily turned his head and saw a figure by the name of Adam Banks looming in the doorway of the girls' suite with a pale faced Nick by the hand. To say he looked a little angry may have been an understatement. "Hey, Banksie. Want some popcorn? We're watching Mean Girls."

"Maddie, take Nick and go for a walk." The tall center ground out through clenched teeth.

"Hey, you can't make her go anywhere!" Charlie objected before quailing under his best friend's murderous glare. "Or maybe you can. Bye, Mads!"

"Banksie…what's crawled up your pasty white asshole now?" Averman grinned, scratching his flaming red hair absently. The hockey player just set his jaw and moved aside to let Maddie through.

"Am I in trouble?" Nick whispered, as Maddie hurriedly grabbed his hand to pull him out of the suite. "No, but they are. Come on!"

The minute they left, icy blue eyes focused on the two miscreants that were staring at him apprehensively. "Funny thing happened today when I went to pick Nick up." He started in a deceptively mild tone. "The principle really wanted to see me for some reason."

"Was she hot? Did you get her number?" Dylan immediately asked, his interest piqued.

"She's fifty three, married with three kids, one of whom is our age." Adam snapped irritably. "You see, it seems like one of the teachers was rather shocked by an event that happened yesterday afternoon involving a certain Nicholas Hunt. In fact, she was so shocked that she submitted a written inquiry regarding the incident."

"Sounds official." Charlie murmured to Averman, looking a little impressed.

"Shut up, Charlie." Adam snarled, losing his composure for a second. "The principal was kind enough to give me a copy of the inquiry. I'll just read it verbatim." He finally continued in the same mild, poisonous tone.

"By all means, Banksie! I sure as hell need a story." Dylan's charming smile faltered, however, under Adam's bad tempered stare.

"I was making sure that all the children had been picked up when I noticed one child by the name of Nicholas Hunt, still waiting. Just as I was about to make my way over to him, a silver BMW convertible sped into the parking lot – a school parking lot, mind you, with speeding regulations. Now, the natural process would be to stop and let the passenger in. However, upon seeing Nicholas, the two teenagers occupying the vehicle, immediately let out wild whoops and continued to drive towards him. Imagine my surprise when the dark haired boy leaned over the side and shouted for Nicholas to run over while the blond boy continued to drive on, albeit much slower. I watched in stunned disbelief as Nicholas leapt into the car with the aid of the dark haired boy that was practically hanging out the side. They then proceeded to drive through the garden and speed away, breaking an infinite amount of rules in the process." Adam paused to glare at them. "I'm going to ask this once. What the fuck were you thinking?"

"It's a drop-top for a reason!" Dylan cried defensively as Averman started laughing. "It's not like he's dead or anything! And his name's Nick! What the hell is Nicholas?"

"Yeah, we didn't want to stay too long anyway!" Charlie chimed in. "Gas prices are sky-rocketing!"

"If anything, you should be thanking us!" The soccer player accused, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "Hello, can you say Nick Hunt, future action star? We discovered his unbelievable, gravity-defying, stunt-star, physical prowess!"

Adam had turned a rather fetching abnormal shade of purple and a vein was throbbing prominently on his forehead. "Y-you-I-going to-all fucking insane-kill both-AARGH!" He suddenly howled.

Averman looked mildly alarmed. "Adam, are you okay? You should take it easy, your blood pressure can't handle this much stress!"

"Would you like to sit down?" Dylan offered solicitously, getting up. "Maybe have a nice, cold beer? We have a couple left."

"How about a back rub?" Charlie frowned, looking at his best friend with worry. "Have you been eating well? You're looking a bit peaky."

"I bet it's the golf team that's got you all bothered." Dylan mused sagely. "I knew you shouldn't have joined. They dress like my daddy."

Goldberg turned to look at the blond. "Well, Banksie dresses like your papa too."

"True." He conceded before looking at a haggard looking Adam. "I must say, dear chap, steady on there! Come sit."

"N-no." The only mature person in the room managed to gasp out. "I'm going to go back to my room and take a nap. Don't worry, none of you will ever have to pick up Nick again. Charlie…leave me alone for five hours at least."

Charlie looked mildly offended as he watched his roommate slam the door in his face. "Hey, that's my room too!"

Carmen Rivera was one of the few people in the world who could pull off looking angry.

It was something about the amber colored eyes or maybe it was the slight flush on her tanned skin. Perhaps it was the way her white teeth were ever so slightly bared and how her hair seemed to take on a hard, metallic glint as opposed to the soft, burnished, dark honey sheen of her in a neutral mood.

Jake Riley prided himself on being a connoisseur of women and he reluctantly conceded that Carmen Rivera in a flying temper was absolutely magnificent. It was a pity about the personality, really, or he might have even taken a shot at her himself.

Well, no, he wouldn't have. Carmen was a little too much woman for him. He didn't think he could handle that much sheer presence. Allie Howard had been enough to make his head hurt and they had only been fucking each other. Well, until she left him for that damnable cowboy. Bitch.

And then there was also the small matter of his best friend having laid claim to this curvy beauty before anyone else. Oddly enough, Dylan was the only other person Jake could think of who matched Carmen's gorgeous fury equally. No homo.

But it was okay now. He had let it slip to the general public that his best friend had "lost interest" in Carmen the other day. It was a better term for the sob story an extremely inebriated Dylan had moaned to him. Something to do with "too good for me" and "I'm done, man. I'm giving up." It would never have done to let that story leak to the Eden Hall population. Weakness was something for the Ducks.

All in all, Jake was as ecstatic as his filthy rich, snobby, white ass could be. His best friend was finally rid of that bloody harpy – and good riddance too! – and things could go back to the way they were. If only Charlie Conway would just choke on a bone and live out the remainder of his life in a permanent state of paralysis, Jake himself could die happy.

His musings were interrupted by a cold voice that cut clear through the entire chatter of the room. "This is the most ridiculous assignment I have ever heard of."

Jake's disinterested brown eyes wandered lazily back to Carmen, who was clutching the piece of paper in her freakishly small hand – abnormally small appendages creeped him out – and promptly let out a long-suffering sigh.

She was such a nerd. Only she could get so worked up over homework.

He was about ready to dismiss her screeching and go back to his own thoughts when a familiar voice caught his ear. "I hate to agree with Rivera…and trust me, I hate to agree…but I oppose this assignment as well."

Emily Parker? She was part of his crew. Why was she siding-just what kind of assignment were they talking about anyway?

The tall boy quickly snatched the sheet from his neighbor's hand and scanned it. Oh hell no. No no no no no.

Carmen barely registered Emily's "supportive" statement and glared at their idiotic teacher. She had known this woman would be trouble right from the beginning.

Health education, her ass.

"I feel this assignment is a violation of a student's right to privacy. This is a Health Education class, not a personal session with a therapist. It is a pointless bit of written work that has no real beneficial or academic merit." She bit out furiously, glaring at the young teacher.

Mia Slater looked calmly back at her. "By writing all the feelings and various thoughts you have during the day, this is a perfect chance to look at your own psyche. Perhaps, you may form some new opinions about yourself."

"I'm not writing a fucking diary!" Jake Riley suddenly growled, slamming his hand down on the desk.

"Language, Jake." Mia answered smoothly, her gaze still locked on Carmen's angry one. "Carmen, I know it's hard for you to express your feelings-"

"That's exactly what they are. My feelings. You have no right to even have a glimpse into them. Well, that is to say if I had any feeling. Which I don't. As I said before, this assignment violates a countless number of our student rights…not to mention, the line between a student/faculty relationship." The blonde snarled, shrugging off Goldberg's warning hand.

Her teacher's eyes finally flashed with anger. "Young lady, I assure you that the Board did not have any objections with this assignment when I submitted my syllabus at the beginning of the year. All of you will complete this assignment or you will fail this class."

Guy winced as he practically felt Carmen's rage break down her flimsy dam of control. The girl had been stretched to the max with taking care of her mountainous pile of schoolwork, handling administrative/financial duties for the orphanage and acting as a rather inept stepmother/big sister/babysitter/guardian person type…thing to an uncomplaining Nick. Her nerves were fried and everyone knew it.

"Fail?" She ground out dangerously, ignoring Jake Riley's smirk of interest. That asshole seemed to thrive on conflict and fights. Figured he was Dylan's best friend. "You'll fail me? Do you even know who I am?" She was screaming by now, almost shaking with rage.

"You're nothing but a little girl who has no self-esteem and over-compensates that by using her smarts to manipulate others into doing what she wants. You are a waste of an unearthly amount of talent that is too scared to let anyone get close to you, probably due to unfortunate childhood circumstances. So tell me, Miss Rivera, how on the dot, am I?"

"Now, hold on there!" Goldberg objected, feeling a little insulted by the abrasive portrayal of Carmen's character. "Miss Slater, that's a little out of line-"

"I'm going to ruin you." The Latina girl declared venomously, her eyes narrowed almost to slits. "You think you can fail me? Fail me? I'll fail you!"

"Okay, time to go." Guy said hastily as he scooped all her books into her bag. Tossing it over to Goldberg, he pushed the still yelling Rivera out into the aisle. He then promptly threw her over his shoulder to make a hasty albeit extremely loud exit.

"Fulton, what are you doing?"

"Reading."

Julie's brow furrowed slightly. "I didn't even know you knew how." She muttered before walking into his suite. Fulton didn't even look up from the massive tomb that was open on his lap. As compared to the ten other massive tombs that were surrounding him. "What are you reading?"

"A text."

"About?"

"Art history."

"Art what?"

"Art history. The Italian Renaissance, to be exact. It's fascinating." Fulton finally looked up and gave her an almost…apologetic glance? "No offense, Jules, but I'm kind of busy. If we can talk some other time…" And with that, he eagerly dived back into his textbook.

Julie stood there, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Fulton Reed had just passed up quality time with her to read about Botticelli.

What the hell.

"I just don't understand where it possibly could have went! Willy, be a dear and look in that pile over there. Although I'm fairly positive that it's not in there."

Rotten Willy the Rottweiler obediently stalked over to the mound of clothing and raised a massive paw to root around. This was what he had been reduced to. A scavenger for his master's missing items. He cocked his head to look at the frantic chit.

Her haircut suited her well, he mused before she started to tie it up. Dressed only in a pair of leggings and what appeared to be Dylan's old soccer jersey, she had found a scarf and proceeded to swath it around her head like a turban. Willy resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"We're house-cleaning, Willy. It's so dust doesn't get in my hair. Don't look at me like that." Maddie said primly, before her eyes brightened. "Ah ha! There you are, you tricky little rascal!"

She quickly wheeled her chair over to the shelf where the Ball was looking down at them with sleepy, blue eyes. "I'm coming, precious." Maddie chirped gaily, clambering up on the chair. Willy immediately sprang to his feet as the revolving device started to shake and turn. That stupid girl!

"Come here, you sweet little thing, you. There you are." Maddie cooed as the kitten jumped into her outstretched arms. Unfortunately that was the time when the chair she was precariously balancing on chose to roll away in a whoosh. "Fuck!"

She was then abruptly caught by a pair of toned arms. Beaming, Maddie turned to kiss Dylan's cheek. "My hero." She chirped as the blond set her gently on the floor.

He glared at her. "What have I told you about climbing on swivel chairs?"

'They're very bad, utterly stupid, only do it if your pride is on the line, blah blah blah." Maddie said dismissively, scooping the Ball up into her arms. "I just needed to get my precious."

"I was right outside! Next time, just give me a holler!" Her best friend growled petulantly, flopping onto her bed.

"What, and have you drop my kitty?" She snorted. "No thanks."

"I would not have dropped it." Dylan scowled before narrowing his eyes at her. "Is that my jersey?"

"Yes. Your mama gave it to me. It doesn't fit you anymore."

"Oh. Okay then. It looks almost as good on you as it did me."

"Thanks. I think." Maddie clambered over next to him and buried herself into his side. She sniffed contentedly. Dylan always smelled like winter. Minty fresh, sharp and clean. Together, she with her vanilla and he with his mint, they probably smelled like Christmas. She wrinkled her nose at the thought. "How's Carmen?"

There was a slight stiffening in his body that almost made Maddie wish she hadn't said anything. "She's stressed, I would imagine. I mean, she did start a fight with a teacher."

"I can't believe she said those things about Carmen!" The dancer frowned vindictively. "Would you believe I actually liked her? That old hag! Insecure little girl, my ass."

"Indeed." Dylan replied shortly, his eyes closed and his tone dismissive. Maddie sat up and scowled at him. "What is it now? I'm tired."

"It's my bed."

"Since when have we differentiated possessions?"

"Since now. You're not over her. Don't even say that you are."

"I am."

"You were her personal stalker for the better part of three years! And now you're done? I don't understand!"

"There's nothing to understand." Dylan suddenly opened his eyes. His stunning grey eyes were tired and held nothing of their usual metallic sheen. He just looked so miserable. "Maddie, baby, I just can't think of her anymore. It's too hard. Please, it's better this way."

She immediately felt remorse and looked down at her feet. Bad idea. Dancer feet were ugly. She looked at Dylan's defined stomach instead. "Is there anything I can do?" She asked quietly.

Dylan pursed his lips. "Yes, actually. Next Saturday night. Big gala event thing. It's going to be held someplace downtown. Be my date."

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Just trying to be polite."

"What's it for?"

"All the big names in the Twin Cities area are invited. Prime time to get some donations for the orphanage. If you'll take care of the old fogies, I'll charm the knickers off the women."

"So, pretty much the usual routine?"

"Well…yes. You there?"

"Of course."

"Look charming, pretty, witty, and gay, you know the drill."

"Yes." She paused, as she looked at her best friend. He looked so disillusioned. You weren't supposed to look like that until you were fifty and laid off with three kids at home to support and a mortgage to pay! "Is that all you need me to do?"

Dylan cracked open an eye. "No. Come here and give me a hug, please?" It was a quiet plea more than anything else. Maddie's stomach did a painful flop. He usually demanded that she do something in that rather spoiled yet lovable way of his. What was wrong with him?

What was wrong with everyone?

For Adam Nathaniel Banks, the week flew by entirely too quickly for comfort and before he knew it, it was Friday.

It was as if the planets had all realigned to speed up his impending doom.

But then again…what else was new? Bastards.

He yanked impatiently at his tie as he scowled at his reflection. Emily had sent over a new dress shirt yesterday, requesting he wear it. It was from Ralph Lauren and was red and white striped. It was absolutely dreadful. From far away, it looked pink and from close up…he looked like a damn candy cane.

"What do we have here?" Charlie whistled impishly, grinning at the murderous expression on his best friend's face. He stepped aside to let Connie and Dwayne through. "Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

"The name's Santy Claus." Adam snarled, yanking at the offending tie. It just wouldn't hang straight! "Why the fuck did I agree to do this!"

"So y'all could raise money to help the orphanage." Dwayne answered brightly. He immediately quailed under the other boy's bad tempered glare. "You did ask."

"Oh, honestly, Banksie." Connie tutted, bustling over to him. "Stop being so shirty with everyone. It's just a date. Granted…a date with Satan but just a date nonetheless."

"You make me feel so much better." He snapped, as Connie's hands fixed his tie. "I don't see why Dwayne didn't have to be auctioned."

"Oh shucks. Well that's easy!" The cowboy answered enthusiastically. He was entirely too happy for Adam's homicidal mood. "Allie told Carmen that if she even thought about puttin' me on that stage, she'd rip her limps apart like a rabid coyote!"

There was a silence before Charlie spoke. "That's kinda creepy." He made a face as he fixed his hair for his own date with the French exchange student. "She has your balls in a vice."

Dwayne nodded complacently. "That she does. She's awful gentle with them though."

She had officially gone off the deep end.

Carmen was well aware of that fact.

She had started a fight with a teacher, been forcibly dragged out of the classroom, had then proceeded to almost start a fight with a student for gossiping about her and now she was about to race other crazy people at 140 mph. All in the name of an orphanage that had burned down to the ground.

Oh, she was bloody insane alright.

Zipping up her jacket, she stared at her reflection. Her haggard face was framed by golden hair and the plain black jacket and faded jeans did nothing to help her appearance. It couldn't be helped. She wasn't going for the purpose of winning beauty contests. She was going because she needed to enter the preliminaries which she needed to place high enough in to qualify for the finals that were to be held tomorrow night.

She was about to leave when a scrap of paper caught her eye. Her eyes narrowing, she picked up the paper to see that it was Charlie's transcript. It figured that he would just leave something like this lying around. As she was putting it down, she glanced down almost absently at the grades before freezing.

What on Earth…she quickly scanned the rest of the transcript. This was…this was good. Charlie had good grades! The majority of them were B+'s, yes, but there were enough As present. For an amazing athlete such as Charlie, that was good enough to get him into a top university.

The wheels in Carmen's brain started working as she came to terms with her startling discovery. With the right phone calls, she could-

"Where're you going?"

Abruptly, Carmen turned to see a pajama clad Nick staring at her. "It's long past your bed time."

"I know. I just wanted to see where you were. Where're you going? Can I come?"

"No." Her voice softened slightly. "I'm not going to a very good place, Nick. It wouldn't be very safe for you to come."

"That's why I should go!" The little boy argued, his eyes drooping sleepily anyway. "Adam said to never let a girl feel unsafe. And he's awfully smart about these kind of things."

"Did he, now?" The corner of Carmen's mouth gave an involuntary twitch. "Well, I say that it's time for bed. Come on."

"I don't see why you won't take me." He still griped petulantly, taking her hand. For some reason, he sounded remarkably like Dylan Howard. The blonde made a mental note to limit contact between the two. She could barely handle one of them, she didn't need a miniature running around.

"It's not a place for little boys."

"I'll be eight in two months! And besides, I'm an orphan. I've seen it all." Nick rolled his blue eyes dramatically before tugging on her hand. "You're going to go race, aren't you? Can't I please come? Please?"

"I am not going to go race!" The older girl snapped, bodily picking him up into her bed. She yanked the covers around him. "I'm just going to drive with other drivers to see who can go the fastest and win the most money."

"That's what racing means." The sleepy little boy yawned, his fingers curling around the Ball who had leapt onto his bed. "You promised I could watch last time."

Carmen sighed and cursed her weak heart. "You can come with me tomorrow. Okay?"

Nick just gave her a big, drowsy smile before he fell asleep. She brushed away the brown hair from his eyes. The construction on the orphanage was almost finished. In about three weeks, she'd have to return Nick there and then figure out a way to reimburse the loan the city and Eden Hall had granted.

And then she had to work on that stupid, God-forsaken journal.

Luis was trying not to hyperventilate. He really was.

But it was so damn hard when a fifty-seven year old woman's hand was caressing your knee.

"You've been dreadfully quiet, kitten. Tell me more about yourself. You're from Miami, you said? I have a delightful little condo down there." The old woman purred, leaning her heavily perfumed body towards him.

The sound that escaped his mouth was hardly dignified. "Mrs. Hamilton, if you'll excuse me a second, I really need to use the bathroom!" And with that, Luis all but ran from the table.

Not stopping until the bathroom door was firmly placed behind him, Luis immediately began to curse his life with all the words he could think of in English. He then proceeded to curse in Spanish.

The joys of being bilingual.

"I would join you, Mendoza, but I can't really put into words how much my life sucks right now." Luis turned to see Adam leaning against the opposite wall.

"At least you haven't been pawed at by someone who's old enough to be your grandma!"

"True." Adam conceded, before taking a swig from a bottle he held in his hand. He then tossed the empty bottle into the trash. "That's beastly stuff. I hoped it would have gotten better as I went down. But no…"

The image of a slightly swaying, slightly slurring Adam Nathaniel Banks was enough to push the thoughts of suicide from Luis' mind. Oh this was too good. "Banksie, baby, are you drunk?"

"Unfortunately…no. Getting there? A definite possibility." The tall boy muttered before lurching to his feet. "I should get back to the shrew-I mean, her. She looks nice tonight. Her dress matches my shirt."

"Banksie, how much did you have? And where did you get it?" Luis demanded, steadying the center. "Christ, where's a camera when you need it?"

"Half that bottle." Adam jerked his head over to the garbage can. "And I swiped it when the waiter wasn't looking. He wasn't that bright."

While he realized the gravity of the situation, Luis couldn't help the corners of his mouth from twitching. The golden boy was turning into an alcoholic! "Maybe you should go back to the room. Hey, I'll take you there! We'll make some excuses-"

"No!" Adam suddenly declared vehemently, grabbing Luis' collar to hold himself steady. "We have reshponduh…rishdonsuh…responshi-"

"Responsibilities?" Luis supplied helpfully.

"Yes, that!" The blond nodded happily. "We have those. And those are all that I have left in my God-forsaken existence. She's waiting for me. Why is she waiting for me? She bought me this shirt."

"It's a very…nice shirt." The dark haired boy offered before muttering under his breath. "For one of Santa's helpers."

Adam leaned in conspiratorially. "I hate this shirt."

"Oh."

"She didn't like my tie. She made me take it off." From his pocket, he withdrew a wad of champagne coloured silk. "I like this tie. Maddie gave me this tie."

"It's a nice tie."

"Isn't it?" Adam beamed before looking towards the door. "The door's awfully far. But I guess I have to go. Don't sleep with the grandma, Luis."

"I won't." Luis answered, suppressing a shudder. "Don't sleep with Emily."

Adam turned to blink at him owlishly. "Never, ever again. I only did that twice, thank goodness. Stupid bitch took my virginity and stomped all over my heart."

It was the other boy's turn to blink. If memory served him correctly, that was probably the first time he had ever heard Banks call a girl a bitch. Ever.

"And that is precisely why I'm done with her." The drunk mess continued, jabbing a finger into the potted plant. "She can go fuck Josh Landon into the next century because I sure as Hell am not going to."

Luis raised an eyebrow at his friend's retreating back. "What do you know? Banksie gets vulgar when he's drunk." He paused before his pursed lips curved upwards into a smile. "Remind me to get him drunk more often."

"I'm looking for Damaine."

"You've found him." The big, black man turned and gave her a cursory glance. "Starter girls are down the street. You're going to have to take the jacket off if you want to get paid."

Carmen raised an eyebrow but let it pass. "I'm here to race."

The man turned to look at her. Cigarette dangling from his mouth, she could see how this intimidating beast of a man could run things around here. "Run along, kid. This isn't the playground. There's an entry fee. Maybe you could make it in ten years."

"I have the entry fee." Carmen answered coolly, aware that she was getting the unwanted attention of passerby-s as well. She withdrew an envelope from her jacket. "Four hundred…in cash."

Damaine stared at her. "You joshin', right?"

"I assure you, sir, I'm completely serious. Now, are you going to let me race or not?" She bit out, her tone as icy as it had ever been.

He narrowed his eyes as he took her in. She was a gorgeous thing, he'd give her that. And obviously not from these walks of life. Her clothes looked simple yet were obviously expensive and she held herself with a certain aloof class that others could only hope to emulate. "What you tryin' to pull, blondie? You obviously don't need the dough."

"I probably need it more than any of the other drivers."

"Oh? What for?"

"I wasn't aware that it was any of your business."

"Entertain me."

Carmen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm raising money for an orphanage."

There was three seconds of silence before the gathered assemblage burst into laughter. Damaine's laughter faltered as he caught sight of her stony face. The smile dripping away from his face, he cocked his head at her. "You ain't trippin', are you."

"No. I'm not." She said quietly. "Not when I have forty futures counting on me. Now I'm going to ask you one last time. Are you going to let me race or not?"

Damaine took a drag on his cigarette still looking at her. He took his time letting out a puff before he spoke. "You got a ride?"

"Over there."

"The PT Cruiser?"

Carmen's lip curled in disgust. "Absolutely not. The black one. Behind the Mustang."

The man rolled his eyes and then took a double take. "The Corvette?"

"Yes. 2007 Z06 Coupe. You're going to take this?" She asked, extending the envelope to him.

He took it as he regarded her intensely. "You think you can ride, kid? You honestly think you can beat all these motherfuckers?"

She sniffed daintily before she turned to walk away. "Well, I'm certainly not going to lose."

Damaine nodded, a slow, speculative smile breaking out on his face. "Skinny! Get over here. Place a bet on Blondie over there. And spread the word about her. She just might bring us some more money."

Emily smoothed her red dress as she saw her date approach. Well, that had been a twenty minute bathroom break. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the slight sway in his walk as he dodged the other tables that had been set up for the auction's dates in Eden Hall's ballroom.

"How was your trip?" She asked, a slight edge to her voice.

"They ran out of toilet paper. I had to wait." He answered mildly, looking blearily at his potatoes.

"I see." She then leaned in closer to him. She, however, moved back when she noticed his attempt at distancing himself from her. "You want to go somewhere a bit more private?"

Adam finally looked up at her. "No." He said simply, giving her a completely insincere smile. "I don't want to go anywhere with you."

"You're slurring your words…are you drunk?" She snapped as her eyebrows lifted sky high.

"Maybe."

Emily leaned back in her seat, a small smile playing at her lips. "Well, well. I thought I'd never see the day. Adam Banks. Drunk as a lord."

"No." Her former boyfriend said dismissively. "Drunk as a lord? Nope, not quite there yet. Drunk as a college frat boy on St. Patty's day? Definitely there."

She actually laughed. "Adam…I've missed you."

"Really?" He asked, rather surprised and not a little bitter. "I haven't."

"Don't be silly." She took his hand. "Don't you ever wish things were back to the way they were?"

Adam stared at her. Then he nodded and withdrew his hand daintily. "Yes. Yes, I do. All the time. I wish I was still eleven and playing street hockey with my brother. I wish they still served orange creamsicles in the cafeteria. But I don't miss the time I spent with you. You were trouble. And why are you hitting on me? Aren't you going out with Josh Landon anyway?" He demanded rather petulantly.

"Oh, him. I've been thinking about that for awhile and I've pretty much decided on tossing him. He's boring me."

There was a poignant pause before the hockey player spoke again. "That seems to be right on track. It's your thing, huh? Your plan of action."

"What?" Emily frowned. "You're not making any sense. Why the fuck did you decide to get drunk tonight?"

"Because, my dear," Adam said expansively, stretching his hands out. "It was the only way to tolerate you. I've had enough of you and your fucking games. Go back to Josh Landon, Em. You and your stupid vagina. Congratulations, you've made me hate female genitalia. We're so through."

Her eyes widened as though she had been slapped. "You-you-how dare you!"

"How dare I?" He snapped, suddenly looking extremely cross. "Don't even start with me, Parker!"

"Ladies and gentlemen! And that will be the end of the night! Thank you so much for your charitable donations and we hope you had a wonderful evening!"

Adam got up. Or tried to. Air seemed to get in his way as he did. When he finally managed to stand upright, he looked down at his stunned ex-girlfriend. "I'll see you around, Emily. I don't really have anything to say to you except…don't get…dead. Yes, that sounds about right." He muttered to himself, frowning slightly in concentration. "I may not like you very much but I don't want you to get dead. So don't do it. I think I got to go throw up now. Excuse me."

"Well?"

Carmen tossed her jacket onto the couch and turned to look at her best friend. "Well what?"

"Did you smoke the fuckers or not?" Maddie demanded eagerly, trotting into the sitting room.

"Language."

"Sorry." The Asian absently adjusted the cloth turban around her head before refocusing her attentions on Carmen. "So did you?"

"Came in fourth." The blonde said, running her fingers through her hair. "Tonight was just to see who would be able to compete tomorrow. Tomorrow's the big one."

"Can I come?"

Haven't I already gone through this conversation tonight, Carmen thought tiredly before looking at Maddie. "I suppose. Someone has to watch Nick. I promised him that he could go."

"Can I bring Willie too? And Dylan?"

"No. And definitely not."

"But what if we need protection? My own street cred can only go so far." Maddie remarked quite seriously.

The girl did have a point. Well…about the protection bit of it. The street cred was the product of her own delusions. Carmen frowned slightly, pulling off her shoes. That area really wasn't that safe. "It's probably not a bad idea to bring someone big…the only problem is…we don't know anyone big who'll keep their mouth shut."

"Portman?"

"No, he'll start a fight in ten minutes."

"Charlie?"

"He's trouble just waiting to happen."

"Dylan?"

Carmen's look of utter disgust was enough to change Maddie's mind. She was quiet for a minute before she clapped her hands in delight. "I know!"

"Who?" The blonde asked warily.

"Adam!"

"…"

"I'm serious! Adam can be quite intimidating when he wants to be! And he speaks ghetto!"

She raised an eyebrow. "He what?"

"I had the same reaction." Maddie shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, it's him, you know? But apparently one of his best friends – I just can't remember his name…Jerry, Joey, Jesse? Jesse! – grew up in the hood – almost the projects, mind you – so he understands the lingo! And he can speak it too! He totally put Russ to shame one day!"

As she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Adam Banks was apparently a closet thug, Carmen still managed to find one thing wrong with the picture. "And if he does go…what will we do about his…ah, wardrobe?"

Maddie blinked and looked stumped for a second. "Oh. Right. That pesky little thing. Well, I guess we could ask him to lay off the sweater vests for one night."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Julie stared at the sight of Fulton Reed firmly entranced by his computer screen. He hadn't even looked up as she came in, leading her to think that he was watching something of a pornographic nature.

Well, there were breasts on the screen.

The only problem was that the breasts were being suckled by a baby Jesus and the demure looking Virgin Mary was calmly regarding a trio of singing angels.

"Fulton Reed!"

The boy jumped and blinked owlishly at his friend. "Hell, Jules. Way to give me a heart attack. What do you want?"

"What are you doing?" She howled almost hysterically, her hands on her hips. "Just who are you and what have you done with my Fulton?"

"Ha ha." He scowled sourly before pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Very funny. I'm positively l-m-a-o. R-o-f-l. Real witty."

Julie rolled her eyes. What a drama mama. "Stop spelling out internet talk. It's tacky. You've been reading about art for the past four days. Excuse me if I find it a little strange that a Bash Brother has suddenly developed a passion for art history."

"Well, too bad, Jules. I think I've found my calling in life!" Fulton declared, his eyes alight with an unholy zeal. "This shit is amazing! I just can't get enough! I've decided to take the Advanced Placement course next year!"

Julie had no idea what to say.

Just what could you say in a situation like this?

"I-I'm really…happy for you, Fult. That's really…impressive. You're really…serious about this, aren't you."

Fulton nodded eagerly. "I want to major in it as well! Not only that, but Notre Dame has a great art history program! And they've contacted me about hockey too!"

She could see it now. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish webpage. Men's Hockey Roster. Scroll down to Fulton Reed. Defense. Six foot one. 205 lbs.

Intended major: Art History

That was one for the ladies, alright.

Yet Julie was happy for him. To have found something that you truly loved and were willing to spend hours at a time studying? How could she begrudge him that?

And so, as quietly as a mouse, she slipped out to leave him to his artistic happiness.

He didn't even notice.

"I'm going to make his life a living hell!"

Allie Howard nodded absently as she fixed her nails. She had realized a long time ago that letting Emily Parker rant without interruption was the quickest way to get her to shut up. Sure, Emily was her friend and all…but Allie didn't really care about her. She frowned slightly, pausing in the inspection of her nails. Come to think of it, she didn't really care about anyone except herself and Dwayne.

Oh well. She had come to terms with her shortcomings a long time ago.

"Allie, are you listening?"

"Of course, dear."

"Then what was I talking about?"

"Why Adam Banks is an asshole."

"Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks so!" And with that, the blonde continued to screech on about the apparent evils of one of the most pathetically mild-mannered specimens of the male sex Allie had ever had the misfortune to meet. And that was including her cowboy.

"And would you believe he accused me of making him hate vaginas?" Emily raged, throwing her dress off in a fit of anger. "He sure as hell didn't hate it when we were having sex!"

Allie gave a slight shudder. "Please, Em. I'd like to continue thinking about Banks as a vegetable."

The other girl gave no indication of having heard the comment. "For fuck's sake, I was a virgin when I gave myself to him!"

"No, you weren't."

"I was half!"

"Oh, that counts." Allie said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Mom and Dad were so happy about us being together! It's that fucking trash that he hangs out with that are turning him!"

Allie finally turned to give the angry girl a cold stare. "I'm going to pretend that my boyfriend was not included in that statement."

Emily glared at her right back. "Sorry, honey, but he was. He was in there, right along with your pitiful excuse of a cousin and that bitch of a chink."

The other girl was about five inches taller than her but Allie didn't even back down. Calmly smoothing some gloss onto her lips, her slate grey eyes never left the mirror. "Talk that way about Dwayne again, Em, and you will be sorry. I have nothing to say about Dylan because in all honesty…he really is a sorry waste of life." Allie surveyed her reflection critically. "And I don't get this hate you have for Madison. She's a gook, by the way, not a chink. And you should probably not use those terms, period."

"I don't care what she is! She's a jumped up little whore that has limited talent and is only here by affirmative action." Emily snarled, as she yanked a shirt out of her closet.

"Ouch." The shorter blonde murmured, applying a bit of liner to her lash line. "I wouldn't say that she has no talent. I heard she got asked to be in a music video over the summer."

"She's Asian." The other girl snapped disgustedly. "Of course, they're going to ask her. The whole fucking world seems to have an Asian fetish these days. It's not like anyone would actually be attracted to her. Where the fuck is my skirt? The Marc Jacobs one."

"Underneath your bed, maybe? Where're you going?"

"To see Josh. I think he might have a handle of vodka. I need some after tonight. Want to come?"

Allie gave her hair a final brush before giving her reflection a satisfied glance. "Nope. It's Freak-and-Leak Friday. I gotta go see my boy before he starts without me."

Emily snorted in disgust. "Please…spare me. That's actually revolting. The two of you are so incongruous that it makes my stomach turn."

"Well, I figure," Allie grinned cagily, pulling her shirt down lower. "that I'm attractive enough for the both of us."

There was a noncommittal grunt from her suite mate. "Where's Tricia, anyway?"

"I think she has a date. That redhead moves fast, I tell you. I'll see you later, dearie!" And with that, all that was left of Allie in the room was a whisk of expensive perfume and a few stray blonde hairs.

"Y'all must have had a window open. I heard her yelling from outside. Ain't really a fan of Maddie, is she?" Dwayne remarked as he got up from the bench.

"I wouldn't say so, no." Allie agreed quite calmly before reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I told Daddy that I'll be visiting you in Australia."

"Really?" He asked enthusiastically. "Are you being serious or just pulling my leg?"

"Daddy's going to be too busy with his new girlfriend, so yes, I would say that I'm quite serious." She answered as they started walking back to Dwayne's dorm.

"Oh." The cowboy bit his lip as he wondered what to say about something like that. "Ma wants you to come by the ranch."

Allie stopped walking and stared at him. "What?"

"Well," Dwayne said slowly, scuffing his feet on the ground. "I told her we were dating and she got all aflutter and she wants to see what you look like and Pa got real excited when I told him you ride horses and Chris, Mindy and Jamie don't really care or know who you are but I'm sure if they met you, you'd tickle their fancy too-"

"You want me to meet your family?"

"Well…yes'm. Just for a few days or so after school lets out." He muttered a little awkwardly, his ears turning bright red even in the darkness of the Minnesota night.

"They want to meet me?"

"They sure do." Dwayne started to babble again. He tended to do that when he got nervous. "I sent them a picture of us and Ma seems hell-bent on getting some meat on your bones. She's been talking about feeding you some grits and bacon for days now. I reckon she already has the cornbread in the oven. You don't have to come if you don't want to-"

"Of course I'll come, you silly man!" Allie suddenly cried as she leaped into his arms and peppered his surprised face with kisses. "Of course, of course, of course." She repeated as she felt two tears run down her cheeks.

"Allie, are you crying?"

She shook her head, burying her face into his chest. "No. No, I'm not. I'm just happy."

"Oh. Alright then."

On a good day, Adam wasn't exactly Miss Sunshine.

He had too much stress and angst in his body to be completely carefree like some other individuals who shall remain nameless.

Always polite and courteous, of course. After all, he was Adam Nathaniel Banks. But cheerful and upbeat 24/7?

Bitch, please.

But his now-legendary bad temper reached a new peak on Saturday morning.

Apparently, Hell hath no fury like a hung-over Banksie.

"Banksie, I'm telling you…just drink some more and you'll be fine."

He opened a blue eye testily. "Let me get this straight. You want me to drink that can of beer when I can barely stand the smell of alcohol? Because it will make me feel better?"

Charlie looked thoughtful for a second. "Yeah."

"Conway…" Adam began, almost conversationally. "Go fu-" Whatever he had been about to say was lost as he immediately began to empty the bottle of whiskey that he had drunk last night into the toilet.

"That's just gross, dude." Russ remarked from the doorway.

Charlie winced as he looked at his vomiting best friend. "I'd have to agree with you on that, buddy. Christ, Banks, you're like a woman. How much more liquid do you have in your body?"

Julie looked up in alarm as she heard an extremely loud string of curses erupting from next door. "What the Hell is going on in there?"

Ken grinned, finishing his differential equation with a flourish. "That, my dear, is Adam Banks, hung-over. Has a nice rhythm to his cursing, don't you think?"

The blonde suppressed a laugh as she listened to her ex-boyfriend give Charlie extremely explicit instructions on what to do with his spare time. "Not bad. Not bad at all. Quite honestly, I didn't even think he had it in him."

Carmen Rivera

Journal Entry ONE

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Woke up to sounds of Kanye West. Irritated.

Fed Maddie's dog. Detached.

Realized there is a scratch on car. Pissed.

Got oil changed for race tonight. Headache.

Yelled at freshman for getting in the way. Triumphant.

Did homework. Busy.

Tried to help Nick with art project. Useless.

Howard can make tissue paper flowers with no trouble. Bitter.

Listened to the drunk sod next door throw up the contents in his stomach. Oddly satisfied.

Opened this journal. Murderous.

Wrote that line. Murderous urges have not left.

Reminisced about throwing Wilson in jail. Anger dissipating.

Realized that I can do it to anyone. Almost happy.

Orphanage director called. Building is done. Nick has to go back in ten days. For some reason, nauseous.

"Adam?"

"Go away."

"Adam, it's me. Maddie."

"Fine. Please go away."

"I have to tell you something."

"Are you dying?"

"No."

"Well, I'm dying. So if you'll excuse me…"

"Don't be silly, you big goose. You're not dying. You're just hung over."

"Maddie, your voice seems to be coming from three different directions."

"If you get your head out of the covers, you'd be able to see that I'm right here."

"No."

"Adam..."

"Go away."

"But I have to tell you something."

"Then will you go away?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Shoot."

"You have to take me and Nick to the shady part of town because that's where Carmen's going tonight to race for money to invest in stocks for the orphanage. I'll see you in a couple hours!"

"…"

The sound of the door slamming shut followed the hurried footsteps leaving the room.

"Maddie! Get back here right now!"

"Tell me, Moreau. Why must you pollute my atmosphere?"

"Piss off."

"Tsk, tsk. Language, dear girl."

"Riley…get a life."

"Oh, I have one. It's just that you and your lovely feathered friends insist on ruining it."

Connie clenched her jaw in anger. This prick was so like his brother, it was actually astounding. Setting down her pencil, she turned to glare at the insolently lounging boy. "Riley, this is a library." She hissed with pure venom. "A large library. Go find yourself another table."

"I like this one."

"I was here first."

"But this one's mine."

"Says who?"

Jake merely smirked at her and pointed to the center of the desk. Leaning over, Connie was able to see Property of J.R. & D.H. carved onto the surface. Feeling utterly scandalized, she stared at him incredulously. "You desecrated school property?"

"Don't get all noble on me." The other boy sneered, pulling out a textbook. "It was Dylan's idea anyway."

She shook her head disgustedly. "I'm sure. You two never cease to amaze me by the sheer size of your arrogance."

"Oh, like you're any better?" Jake shot back, his handsome face drawn in anger. "Look at me, I'm perfect Miss Duck, I go around fucking whichever Duck isn't fucking each other, blah blah blah. Get over yourself."

Connie opened her mouth as if to say something but then abruptly closed it. Quietly, she pushed her books into the open brown leather satchel next to her and calmly stood up. Tossing the bag over her shoulder, she looked down at the disagreeable brat condescendingly. "You're not even worth it." She sneered as she walked away.

"I guess that means I won this round, huh, Moreau?" He called after her and smirked coldly as she flicked him off. He shook his head and tried to clear his mind of the irritation seeing one of the Ducks would give him. "Stupid bitch." The tall boy muttered, starting to work on his physics homework.

"Maddie, you try to talk to one more person and we're going straight back to Eden Hall."

The girl gave a slight scowl and settled back against the hood. "You're absolutely no fun."

"Tough." Adam growled, glaring at a few seedy individuals who were looking their way…or more specifically, Maddie's way. "And where do you think you're going?"

"The race is going to start soon." Nick explained quite seriously, yanking his hood over his head. "I'm trying to see where I can see the best."

"You can sit on my shoulders." The older boy sighed, already in the midst of having a migraine. "And put that hood down right now, you look ridiculous."

"I think he looks pretty gangster." Maddie chirped, shoving her hands into her pockets.

Adam refused to even look at her. "Down."

"Fine." Nick huffed, going over to Maddie. "I was just trying to fit in."

"I know, plum cakes." She cooed, picking him up. Mutinously, he settled his head on the crook of her neck and glowered at the hockey player. "Adam's just a little…unwell tonight."

"Who told him to drink then?" The little boy snapped, craning his neck over to where Carmen had disappeared to. "Cause and effect. Carmen told me all about it."

The older boy shot him a look that spoke volumes. "I had some bad seafood." He grunted sourly, although he started to look a bit uncomfortable.

Nick let out a disdainful snort. "Did it come in a bottle?"

Adam stared at him for a second before speaking. "Dylan. And Charlie. You've been hanging out with Dylan and Charlie, haven't you? Why the Hell has he been hanging out with them? They're going to corrupt him to the point of no return." He demanded, turning to Maddie.

"Banksie, darling, those two are amazing and you know it. They're just a little rough around the edges. And not only that, Dylan's the love of my life and Charlie's pretty much yours. Come to think of it, you probably love both of them very, very much, deep, deep down inside." The girl soothed, reaching out to fix his plain, black sweatshirt. "Now calm down and put a smile on. You're going to have an aneurysm if you keep this up. " She said cheerfully, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek.

Letting out a sigh, he stared down at her smiling face with resignation. "Fine. But don't do anything to get my blood pressure up. I think they're starting. Let's go." He grunted, reaching down to hoist Nick onto his shoulders.

As they started to walk towards the starting line, he felt the little boy bend down to whisper in his ear. "You're very tense. You should do yoga or something. Actually, you and Carmen should do yoga. It might loosen you guys up."

Adam craned his neck to look at the boy. "Excuse me?" He asked incredulously.

"You heard – Shh!" Nick scolded, his attention immediately riveted on a certain black Corvette. "Quiet!"

"Julie, you're absolutely no fun."

The blonde sighed in frustration to look at the lounging devils in her sitting room. "I'm on a deadline."

"Deadline, schmeadline." Goldberg scoffed, aiming a paper ball at Averman's head.

"Don't you guys have anything else to do?" She demanded, pausing in her typing to glare at them.

The two looked at each other and then at a despondent Luis, who shook his head morosely. "No, not really." They answered simultaneously.

Julie grit her teeth and looked around for some sort of salvation. "Ken."

The Asian boy looked over at her from the window. "Yeah?"

"Can you do something?" She hissed, jerking her head over to the blissfully annoying trio on her sofa.

He grinned slightly. "Honestly, Jules…they're really bored. I doubt anything is going to get them interested."

"Hey, we hear you!" Averman whined, pushing his glasses up and blinking at her owlishly. "I don't see why you won't just play with us."

"Yeah, you're always writing lately." Goldberg complained, sinking down into the armchair. "It's always the newspaper this, the newspaper that. Blah blah. No one actually reads that trash."

"Everyone reads it, Goldberg. You just don't do it because it makes your head hurt, we know." Luis scowled impatiently, looking at the time. "God, do you think they're done yet?"

"Who?" Ken asked, resuming his staring out the window.

"The bitch and her boy-toy." The Miami native growled, crossing his arms huffily. "I can't believe I've been sexiled by the cowboy."

"Word, dude. Dwayne's been getting a lot of nookie lately." The redhead nodded sagely. "She should give him some time to recuperate."

"Okay!" Julie cried, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "I have a deadline! I need to get this article in by midnight! It is now 10:46, I have four sentences written, that means I don't have time to talk about Dwayne's sex life!"

There was a poignant silence after her outburst before Luis sniffed delicately. "Sheesh, Jules. Way to turn into Banksie on us."

"Aaargh!" The goalie practically screamed.

"What I don't get is why you're working so hard at the paper." Remarked Goldberg. "You're taking on a lot more articles than ever before."

"I want to be considered for an editorial position, Goldberg!" Julie snapped acidly. "I need to show that I'm a serious and capable journalist, okay?"

"But you're already the Editor-in-Chief." Averman mumbled through a mouth full of nachos. "At least, that's what it said in the letter."

The blonde froze and stared at him for a second. "What letter?" She asked quietly and dangerously.

"The letter that some guy named Matt sent you." Luis chimed in, rummaging around a pile of papers. "It's in here somewhere…"

"Matt Baldwin? The current Editor? My boss?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Goldberg nodded cheerfully. "We thought he might be a new love interest or something and we didn't want that to turn into another you and Portman fiasco – I still can't believe you guys hooked up, by the way, so gross – so we opened it to see what kind of guy he was-"

"You opened my letter?"

"Don't interrupt, it's very rude." The other goalie scolded. "Yes, we opened your letter – oh don't look so offended, nothing juicy was in it, anyway."

"Yeah, just telling you that he chose you for Editor next year." Averman finished before rolling his eyes. "Big deal."

"Ah ha!" Luis emerged with a torn envelope in his hand. "Found it!" He smirked triumphantly, tossing it over to the stunned girl.

Her goalie reflexes kicking in, she caught it and tried to process what had just happened. "Congratulations, Jules!" Ken grinned at her.

"I-I-I…don't ever read my mail again." She breathed, collapsing into her desk chair.

Averman snorted. "Yeah…okay."

Even though her body was moving instinctively, Carmen's senses were completely aware of everything that was going on. Her extremities were almost tingling with adrenaline as her foot stepped on the gas pedal a little harder.

Carmen's flawless brow furrowed in determination as her car zoomed down the track, trying to get the royal blue Viper off her tail. Out of the twenty cars that had started, there were only four in front of her. That was four too many, in her opinion.

The frown was wiped off her face, however, when she was violently jerked from her seat. "Fuck!" She snarled, looking into her rearview mirror and now completely enraged. The asshole in the Viper had just slammed into her!

"This car is worth more than your fucking life." Carmen muttered, fighting to keep control of the car as he did it again. She took a deep breath as she readied herself for the third collision.

"Get off the road, you shit!" Nick howled, pounding his hands angrily on Adam's head. "Man up!"

The hockey player winced slightly but let it go as he was too busy hoping that Carmen came out of this ridiculous situation alive. "Language, Nick." He admonished absently as he clenched his hands, watching the big screen that was set up showing the race.

"Come on, Carmen! Pound that sucker's hood in!" Maddie screamed, jumping up and down. "Or do something! Get out of there!"

Carmen must have heard them. Because as the Viper moved in for a third hit, her car suddenly slowed down and dropped back, leaving the Viper to miss her car entirely and come to a tremendous crash into a fence.

"Oh my." Maddie blinked in surprise. "That was quick."

Nick didn't really care about the other driver so much. Or the fact that he was sitting on an actual human being. "Yes! Go, go, go!" He cheered, grabbing two fists full of Adam's hair and yanking them as if they were reins on a horse. "You're closing in on them! She's closing in on them!" He sang, as the Corvette neatly bypassed the wreckage and flew past a neon green Nissan Skyline and towards a white Escalade.

Catching Maddie's suppressed giggle, Adam gave her a glare that spoke volumes.

"Ken? What up, boy? The night is hoppin'."

Ken looked up at his roommate with a slightly strained smile. "I'll meet you guys there, Russ. I just got to take care of some business."

The black kid raised his eyebrow in distaste. "Oh…that stuff?"

"Yeah." Ken answered with a slight grin. Russ hated anything to do with math and didn't understand how Ken could voluntarily read the fluctuating numbers that comprised the stock market. "This is kind of important, man. I'll be there in a bit."

"Yeah, whatever." The black boy muttered over his shoulder as he walked out of the suite. "Just remember that business men are always the first to keel over and die."

The other boy merely raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Russ had no idea what was going on. Carmen had guaranteed that a substantial amount of money would be in his hands by tomorrow morning and he had to have everything ready for it. They were already set back in the game enough; they couldn't afford any more delays.

"Mr. Hartwick? Yeah, hi, it's Ken Wu." He spoke into his phone. "I'm calling to confirm the stock distribution for tomorrow."

Andres was considered to be the greatest racer in the Twin Cities area. Perhaps it was because he won by pure skill, never resorting to the dirtier tactics of his fellow competitors. Not that they didn't try to use it on him.

The only problem was…he was too fast for them to fully try.

His yellow Porsche cleanly avoided all forms of skirmishes, just like the owner. Indeed, Andres never lost his temper. Nor did he say much, period. He just drove…and he drove fast.

So you, my dear reader, could imagine his surprise when the bright red Maserati that usually behind him as his runner up was replaced by a sleek, black Corvette.

Ah. The new girl.

He had heard a rumor that some little girl had entered the competition. One of those elite boarding school preps. She was fast, though. Goodness, she was fast.

"The little brat is catching up to me." Andres marveled softly. He then realized what he had said and abruptly pressed his foot harder on the pedal. His eyes widened in disbelief as the Corvette just kept speeding up until they were hood to hood. Risking a look out the window, he saw the girl, brow furrowed in concentration. She was a pretty thing, he'd give her that.

The only problem was…that was all he was willing to give her.

The smell of burning rubber reached the assembled crowd's nostrils as the two cars tore down the belt. Each of them seemed to be battling for the lead as the noise in the crowd rose to a fever pitch.

"GO, CARMEN, GO!" Nick screamed, almost toppling from his precarious perch on Adam's broad shoulders. The teenager calmly lifted an arm to set the unaware boy upright. He had reached the point where his headache had robbed him of all thought.

"What! No! Booo!" He heard Maddie scream in disgust. Adam frowned and looked at the finish line.

Oh dear God. He had went through Hell and back for this?

Immediately, he wanted to start cursing about the indignity of it all. They had tied. They had fucking tied.

Carmen slammed her head back onto the seat and closed her eyes, wiling herself to remain calm. Irrationally, she felt hot tears prickling at the back of her eyes. Maybe she was about to get her period. She had been feeling rather emotional lately.

But…she had been so close. So goddamn close…

So caught up in forcing the large lump down her throat, she almost didn't notice the knock on her window. Looking up, she saw the other driver standing outside.

He took a step back as she opened the door and climbed out. The two stared at each other. From the corner of her eye, she saw her three person entourage nearing them. Nick looked far too awake for this time of night, Maddie looked disgustingly cheerful and Banks looked grumpy. All in all, they looked normal.

After a brief pause, the other driver lit a cigarette and nodded at her. "You drive well." He spoke with a slight accent, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

"Thank you. So do you."

There was another slight pause. "You can keep the money. I have no use for it."

Carmen jerked her head from her intense perusal of her shoes to stare at him. "I-I-what?"

"You can have the money. Rumor has it that it's for a good cause."

Speechless, she continued to stare at him, slack jawed.

The man gestured over to another man who brought him a briefcase. With a respectful inclination of his head, he handed it over to the shaking girl.

"Well…have a good life. I'd imagine this place isn't really your scene." And with that, the tall, fierce looking man turned on his heel and walked away towards his admirers.

Her entourage had showed up to catch the tail end of that conversation. And typically, Maddie had immediately started beaming. "Oh, I love him!" She gushed happily, clasping her hands to her chest. "He's a babyface, I just wanna hug him!"

"Please don't." Adam murmured dryly, pressing a large hand to his temple. Privately, Carmen agreed. How anyone could call that fierce looking, coiled sprung of a man a babyface was beyond her understanding.

"That was awesome! You were awesome! Man, the way you creamed that Viper! Pow! Will you teach me how to drive?" She opened her arms to catch an extremely excited little boy in her arms. Still spinning from her fortune, she merely brushed a little kiss on the top of his head. "Not for ten years, sweetheart."

She then turned to look at her other two friends. Maddie hugged her, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Seriously, Car, this is great. Ken will be so happy. Everyone will be so happy." She whispered into the blonde's ear. Carmen just squeezed her tight, a lump in her own throat. "I know."

"Come on, let's go home." Adam suggested firmly, staring at the rowdy crowd uneasily.

"Good idea." The blonde agreed as Nick yawned loudly. Maddie immediately took his hand and started walking back to Adam's car. The hockey player turned to look at her. He gave her a tired grin and ruffled her hair. "Congratulations, Carmen."

"Thanks, sweets." She answered, before jerking her head over to Maddie and Nick. "I think they're making a pit stop."

Adam looked over and rolled his eyes. "They're going to get sick tomorrow if they eat those."

Carmen smiled slightly. "It's just funnel cake. I think."

"It's also probably in violation of fifty health regulations."

"True." She conceded, opening her car door. "But the vendor doesn't seem to want to kill her."

"What?"

She jerked her head over to the scene where the young vendor was obviously not interested in making a sale to Maddie. Well…maybe he was…in a whole different sense of the word.

"What-oh hell no." Adam scowled as he spun on his heel and started walking over.

Carmen gave a slight laugh and climbed into her car. He's a good kid, she thought fondly as she started up her engine. He always took such good care of Maddie…

Her eyes widened suddenly.

Adam blinked in surprise as the black Corvette suddenly jerked to a stop and screeched back to him. The window rolled down to reveal Carmen's visage. She stared at him and then at Maddie and then back at him with a stunned expression on her face. "You…and…her…you…Banks!" After a few seconds of shocked sputtering, her amber eyes softened slightly, causing them to gleam a liquid gold in the streetlight.

That softness was short lived as her eyes then narrowed at him. "I think I'm going to be keeping an eye on you. A very close eye." She frowned, wrinkling her nose slightly as if whatever idea she had in her head was completely throwing her world off balance.

Adam just stared at her as her window rolled up and she sped away. What the Hell was she talking about?

Dean Buckley frowned at the memo on his desk.

It was from the Head of the Economics Department, stating a bizarre incident that had taken place that morning. Apparently, a good chunk of the Eden Hall Varsity hockey team had stormed his office, asking for an in-depth lecture on the stock market the sooner the better. The stunned professor had agreed to give a seminar that every evening.

As he had been surrounded by burly hockey players, Dean Buckley doubted that the professor had had any inkling of a refusal floating around in his mind.

What were those Ducks up to? Again?

He was getting too old to keep up with them. He needed someone younger…more fresh…his eyes brightened. Happily, he reached over to his intercom. "Meredith? Is Landon in his office? He is? Brilliant. Send him in. I have an assignment for him."

"Charlie!"

The boy turned around to see Carmen waving at him frantically. After weighing for a split second the importance of going to class or seeing what Carmen wanted, he immediately bounded over to her. "What up, baby girl?"

"Are you presentable?" The blonde demanded, her eyes roving over his figure critically. "Fix your hair." She snapped, her own hands trying to smooth the wrinkles in his shirt.

Half-heartedly, he rubbed at the strands. "Car, what's going on?"

Squinting up at him, she wet a handkerchief and rubbed at his cheek. "Must you sleep in class?" She muttered exasperatedly, coming away with blue ink stained on the cloth. He smiled sheepishly at her. "Don't answer that." She warned him. "Come on."

"Where're we going?" Charlie asked, following her like a little puppy down the hallway.

"I want you to meet someone. He's important so make sure to make a good impression."

"Who is he?"

"There he is." She walked over to a tall man in a business suit. "Mr. Jameson!"

"Miss Rivera!" The man turned to smile at her broadly. "I was wondering where you had gone."

"I had to go fetch your prospect." She smiled and reaching behind her, yanked Charlie forward. "Mr. Jameson, this is Charlie Conway."

Slightly awkwardly, Charlie stuck out his hand. What was going on? "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Michael Jameson. I'm the Head Scout for Cornell University." The man introduced himself. "Carmen, here, tells me you're quite the player."

"S-she did?" His voice so did not squeak. He looked over at his friend. "Oh, right. She did."

Carmen looked as smug as a cat who caught the canary. Graciously, she inclined her head towards the two men. "Well, if you'll excuse me…I believe I have some business to take care of. Until later, gentlemen."

Charlie stared at her retreating form and then at the business card the man was holding out to him. This was so not happening. Cornell?

Julie didn't know what was more odd.

The fact that Luis was reading the Wall Street Journal or the fact that Luis knew what the Wall Street Journal was.

She nibbled on a carrot stick as she watched the inhabitants of her living room. It had turned into the headquarters for Operation M.M.C.W.M.

The first time she had heard that she had nearly snorted her drink up her nose. Honestly…the things Russ came up with.

Operation Make Money Cause We Money?

Maybe it was because she was from Maine that she hardly ever understood the words that came out of the L.A. native's mouth. The only slang word she had up there was "wicked" and she didn't even say it because Dylan made unbelievable fun of her when she did.

"Have anything else except carrots?" Ken asked, dropping into the armchair next to her. He looked exhausted. Carmen had temporarily placed all responsibility of the money on his shoulders. He had accepted with no comment, knowing she wanted to devote all her time to Nick at the moment. He was due back at the orphanage in three days.

"Yeah, we have tofu lasagna, pita chips and hummus, chocolate soy milk, couscous and a couple apples." Julie grinned as she leaned over to look into the fridge. Maddie had gone on an impromptu grocery shopping spree.

"How…vegetarian." Ken groaned as he heard the list. "Be a dear and check the freezer?"

"Sure…I'm not sure anything's in there, though…oh! You're in luck. Well…if you're in the mood for ice cream." The goalie announced, raising an eyebrow. "Christ, Maddie." The freezer was chock full of at least fifteen pints of ice cream, thanks to the insatiable sweet tooth of a one Madison Kim. Being vegetarian didn't mean that she was going to give up her sweets.

"What're my choices?" The Asian boy asked, looking up in interest.

"Vanilla, cookie dough, butter pecan, raspberry sorbet, coffee-almond crunch, rocky road, mint chip – that's probably Dylan's, no one else eats that around here – and green tea."

Ken pursed his lips. "Throw me a pint of cookie dough. Luis, you're reading the graph upside down."

The Latino boy looked up in consternation. "That would make a lot of sense." He mumbled, quickly switching it around.

"Yeah." Ken said through a mouthful of ice cream. He then swallowed. "I don't see why all of you are getting so worked up over this. We have a couple days before there's going to be any major breakthrough in prices."

"Excuse us for not being Mr. Stock-man." Goldberg snorted, completely immersed in a "Stocks for Dummies" textbook. "We're just trying to figure out how you're going to make thirty grand from Carmen's five grand."

"Especially since we just lost seven hundred dollars." Portman said accusingly as he glared at his suite mate. "What the fuck? I thought we were trying to gain money."

"We've invested in mining." The Asian answered thickly, wincing as the cold entered his brain. "They haven't reached the silver vein yet. Once they get to the silver, it'll be huge."

The three other boys turned to look at each other. What had they gotten themselves into? Making money was supposed to be easy. There weren't supposed to be all these fucking variables. Supply and demand or some shit like that.

Connie quietly packed another shirt into Nick's duffel bag. The little boy himself was staring out the window listlessly. She had a feeling that he didn't really want to talk so she didn't press him.

She carefully folded a pair of jeans and tucked that into the bag as well. In about two hours, Carmen would be taking him back to the orphanage. The suite was oddly quiet as all the Ducks felt the somber atmosphere which permeated the girls' suite.

"Nicky?" Connie turned to see Maddie in the doorway to Carmen and Julie's room. She clutched the Ball in her arms and looked thoroughly miserable.

The little boy looked up as she walked over and crouched down next to him.

"Hey, sport. I just wanted…" Maddie's voice broke and she held out the kitten to him. Her eyes were glassy and her lip trembled uncontrollably as she spoke. "Take care of her. She'll miss you too much if he's not with you."

Nick's eyes were wide as he took the kitten from her arms. Immediately, the white ball of fur started to purr and knead against his chest. "Maddie…"

The girl roughly swiped her eyes and gathered him into an embrace which he returned fiercely. Finally pulling away, she looked at him as if trying to memorize every detail of his sad, little face. "I'll come to visit you as-" Unfortunately, she never finished that sentence as tears began to roll unstoppably down her cheeks and with a final kiss, fled the room.

As she heard the door slam to her own room, Connie breathed heavily, wiping away the tear that had made its way down her cheek. She felt a warm arm encircle her shoulders and turned to see compassionate green eyes staring down at her. "Hey." She croaked, making an attempt at a smile.

Charlie gave her a little squeeze and dropped a faded sweatshirt in front of her. "In case he ever wants anything more worn in. It was mine when I was his age. All his other clothes are pretty new." He explained quietly, moving over to the little boy.

Connie nodded as she started folding the sweatshirt. This had been going on for the last twenty minutes. The Ducks and the other Eden Hall students that Nick had befriended had been coming in to say goodbye. She bit her lip as she listened to the quiet goodbye that was being exchanged behind her. It got harder and harder to listen to.

But then…it was even harder to watch. The Captain's demeanor was more subdued and almost defeated as he left the room with a ruffle of the smaller boy's hair.

The smell of Carmen's perfume was enough to alert the tiny girl to the other's presence. She looked over at her. "I think that's everything." Connie whispered.

Carmen nodded somberly, her golden eyes suspiciously bright.

It had been a quiet drive to the orphanage. As the two of them climbed out of the car, they gazed at the new building. It was definitely a nicer sight than the previous one had been.

"It's bigger than I remember."

"Only a little." Carmen answered, removing his duffel bag from the trunk.

"Where is everybody?"

"Inside, I would imagine. It is raining."

"Is that Mama Finch?" He asked, pointing to the figure waiting by the entrance.

"Yes. Do you have everything with you?"

The little boy nodded mutely, clutching the Ball to his chest protectively.

"Come on then." Silently, he took her outstretched hand and started walking towards the building. Carmen tried to ignore the odd lump in her throat as she felt the child's almost desperate grip on her hand. It was really for the best that he was leaving. Really.

It was all too soon when they reached the door. "Come in, come in. It's raining cats and dogs outside!" Mrs. Finch said, flapping them into the warm foyer.

Setting down the duffel bag, the blonde turned to the little boy. "Well, I guess this is goodbye."

"Am I ever going to see you again?" Nick asked quietly, a telltale tremble in his voice and his big, blue eyes watery.

Carmen knelt down to him, uncomfortably aware that Mrs. Finch was still watching them. "Of course you are, kid. You're coming to see me in D.C. in a month and then we'll go to Sydney from there. You'll be practicing tennis all summer. Hey, don't cry." She said quietly, as she brushed away the lone tear that coursed down the boy's cheek. She resolutely chanted the sentence in her own head as tears threatened to overtake her outwardly stoic features. "Come on. Big boys don't cry."

"I know."

The older girl then suddenly reached around to the back of her neck. Unfastening the amber pendant that always hung from her neck on a silver chain, she placed it on the boy. "Here. Every time you miss me, you look at that and know that you'll see me soon."

He held the tear drop shaped pendant in his hand and stared at him. "It's the color of your eyes."

"Yeah. That's why my grandpa got it for me." She said softly, memories clouding her mind.

Nick gave her a brave smile. "Thank you."

She returned it before pulling him to her in a tight embrace. He hugged her back with equal strength before she pulled away and stood up shakily.

"Take care of him, please." Carmen managed to whisper to a compassionate Mrs. Finch before quickly walking out of the orphanage with a final caress to his soft, brown hair.

She had only gone a few steps before she was stopped.

"Carmen! Carmen! Wait!"

"Nick, sweetie, you're going to get soaked." She admonished, holding her umbrella over his head.

He absently shook the droplets from his hair before clutching the edge of her trench coat. "Am I going to see you before then?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"So is that a no?" He asked desperately, the tears on his cheeks mingling with the rain.

Carmen stared at him, her eyes a glorious shade of amber. And of course, being who she was, she set her jaw and calmly pulled out her Blackberry. Scrolling through her calendar, she paused on a date. "How does Thursday work for you? From 5 to 9?"

"Thursday?" Nick thought carefully, readjusting the kitten in his arms. "That's two days from now?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

She smiled at him. "I'll write you in."

Ken stopped typing and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he leaned over and scowled at the senior who was "absorbed" in his book.

"Hey, Landon." He hissed.

The older boy looked up in feigned surprise. "Yeah?"

"Get off my dick." The Asian boy snapped, disregarding the titters that arose in the library as everyone heard his loud remark.

"Get off-what the fuck are you on?" Josh Landon sneered, his ears turning red. The other boy simply ignored him as he clicked his laptop shut and shoved his books into his bag. Throwing it over his shoulder, Ken glared at him. "I mean it, Landon. I don't know what you're looking for. But stop stalking me. I'm not doing anything illegal."

"Then just what are you doing?" The Student Body president demanded, all pretenses dropped. "Because you and the other Ducks have managed to grab the attention of the faculty and they're very, very curious."

Ken's nimble mind whirred at this unexpected development. The figure skater turned hockey player made to walk away, throwing over his shoulder a few choice statements. "You really need to stop being Buckley's bitch, Landon. Tell me, how does his ass taste? You're licking it enough."

The blond boy bared his teeth in anger. "Be careful, Wu. I have a lot of power at my hands."

Ken stopped and turned back to him. "You don't even know how to use that power, Landon. Not unless Buckley tells you to. I kind of miss Carmen and Dylan being in charge. At least, they didn't take shit from anybody." He sneered, before stalking out of the library.

A few tables away, a tall, lean figure pursed his lips speculatively. His light green eyes flickering past Landon's sputtering visage, he replayed Ken's final words over in his head. "Carmen and Dylan, Carmen and Dylan…perfect." He murmured as he found the solution to one of the obstacles in his plan.

Maddie stared at her reflection fretfully. "Connie…"

"Hold still, dear." The smaller girl mumbled through a mouth full of pins. "Let me just finish adjusting…there we go!" She stepped back to see the finished product proudly. "Someone hit you with the pretty stick."

The charity ball that Maddie had agreed to go with Dylan to had crept up on the Ducks suddenly. As Maddie was feeling the absence of Nick rather severely, it had been a shock when she had realized that the ball was that night and she didn't have a dress.

It was during times like these that it helped to have several costumes from ballet performances lying around. It doubly helped when your roommate knew how to sew. It was like having your own personal fairy godmother.

Indeed, Maddie did look somewhat like a princess. Her Sugar Plum Fairy costume from last year's Winter Showcase had been slightly modified into this concoction. The full skirt reached to her knees in an ocean of pure white tulle. The strapless bodice was of gathered white chiffon and had a sweet heart neckline which did justice to Maddie's rather attractive shoulders.

The petite hockey player had thoughtfully removed the edging of clear rhinestones that the dress had originally held around the neckline, deciding that Maddie was, in fact, not the Sugar Plum Fairy and that it was too much, anyhow. Upon seeing the Jimmy Choo's made of hot pink satin that Maddie would be wearing, Connie had added a wide ribbon of the same color and fabric around the dancer's small waist, which gave just the right splash of color to the overwhelmingly white ensemble.

Her hair smoothed into a complex coil at the back of her head, make-up done to perfection, and her hands clutching a clutch made entirely out of tiny silver discs, Maddie would have looked straight off the cover of a magazine. Except for the morose look that had taken up residence on her face.

"Maddie?" Adam asked, poking his head through the door.

"Yeah?"

"Dylan sent me over with your earrings."

"Oh. Right." She took the box from his outstretched hand and opened it. "Christ, these are big."

Adam raised an eyebrow at the large cluster of diamonds that comprised each earring. "Are they real?"

She nodded, fastening them onto her ears. "They're his mom's. She wanted me to wear them." She then sighed as she saw herself in the mirror.

"What's the matter?"

"I look like a doll. A life size doll. When am I going to get boobs?" Maddie replied glumly, still staring at her reflection.

The boy gave her a fond smile. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I look ridiculous." She breathed, almost in awe of herself.

Adam just gazed at her quietly for a second. "Maddie. You look beautiful."

She turned to look at him beseechingly. "You think so?"

"Yes."

"Well," The dancer sighed resignedly. "I guess I can wear this then."

Dylan irritably adjusted the cuff links on his dinner jacket as he stalked over to the girls' suite. He had to say, whoring himself out for the benefit of others was not near the top of his list of favorite things to do.

Just why, oh why, did he have to be so goddamn good at it?

"Well, don't you look precious." Connie came out of the bathroom and grinned at him. "I kind of want to take a picture."

"Tell me if you want to sell them…might as well make a profit out of that for the orphanage, right?" The blond scowled, yanking on his collar for good measure.

"I thought I heard your whine." He turned to see Carmen walk out of her bedroom in Julie's prom dress from last year. Connie had slightly altered the bronze satin gown for Carmen's smaller frame and it currently hugged the girl's curves as if there was no tomorrow. Her hair pulled back and a thick heirloom necklace of pearls gleaming on her throat, she was a vision straight out of Heaven. Dylan was quite sure that no one in Eden Hall could fill out that gown as well as she could.

But it's best not to think about past obsessions, now isn't it, chap? Dylan briskly told himself, tearing his eyes away from her curves and focusing on his cufflinks once again. "Bite me." He replied half-heartedly to her jibe.

The girl continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "I'm going to go ahead, if you don't mind. The invites are on the coffee table, Maddie and you are on the guest list so there shouldn't be a problem even though it's you. You may or may not have a chance to check in with me tonight so please, please behave. I'll see you in a bit. Bye, Cons." And blowing a kiss to the brunette, she disappeared through the door.

"Where the Hell is my date?" Dylan demanded sourly the second she left, feeling extremely ill-tempered for some reason. He withdrew a flask from the inside of his lapel and took a swig, defiantly ignoring Connie's narrowed eyes.

"That's a very bad habit, Dyl." She scowled at him, to which he merely shrugged and tucked away the tiny canteen for later irritations. "Anyway, she's inside. She looks absolutely gorgeous." Connie smiled, walking towards the room she and Maddie shared.

"I'll decide that." The blond boy replied grumpily as he followed her into the room. Abruptly, he stopped. And stared.

"Dear God, you look like a cupcake." He stated flatly in disbelief.

Portman shook his head. "I've lost him."

"Well, let's not be hasty." Guy said diplomatically.

"No." The Bash Brother replied glumly. "I've lost him. He's gone."

Guy pursed his lips and tried to look for a ray of shining light in the dark situation. "Well…at least he's pimping it."

Portman just sank his head into his hands and let out a muffled groan. The other boy patted him on the back reassuringly and then turned to look at one of his closest friends.

Fulton Reed sat in a coffee shop, surrounded by a gaggle of girls – dressed in a wide…variety of clothing options – and with large books of paintings held open in front of him.

Indeed, it seemed as if Fulton Reed was gone and in his place, now stood an artsy-fartsy pansy.

"I mean, it's not that I'm not happy for him!" Portman suddenly burst out agitatedly. "Sure, it's a pretty gay major to choose but I mean, whatever! It's his life! I don't have a problem with it, you know? Art History! He gets to look at naked women 24/7! That's fucking great! But does it have to take over his life?"

"I don't know, man." Guy sighed, as the two sat on the bench outside the coffee shop. "I don't know."

Their staring was interrupted, however, by the vision of their illustrious captain walking nearby. "Yo, Charlie!" The blond called out to his childhood friend.

The tall boy looked over at them and immediately bounded over. "Boys, let me tell you that you look nothing short of queer, sitting together like that."

"Shut up." The Bash Brother growled, resuming his staring at his best friend. "What's gotten you all giddy?"

"Plotting." Charlie answered happily, squeezing himself in between the other boys.

Guy frowned slightly. "Plotting what?"

"Senior year."

"I don't get it."

"I'm done with my standardized tests, boys. I finished the last one this morning. I know where I want to go to college and I got two dates coming up. All that's missing is my senior year." Charlie rubbed his hands together, his light green eyes taking on an almost unholy gleam of delight. "I've been waiting and planning for senior year for a long time, boys. It's going to be un-fucking-believable. Time to show these preppy snots who really owns the school."

"So you've been…plotting?" Guy asked slowly, his eyebrow raised.

"Yes, sir. It's going to be a good time, trust me." The Captain beamed, smiling at nothing in particular.

Portman snorted. "Yeah? Well, why don't you plot a way to fix that?" He jabbed towards the coffee shop.

"What's that?"

"That is Fulton, deciding he'd rather spend time with some artsy, weird broads than us. So unless you want him out of your senior year plotting or whatever it is, go get him back to normal!" The burly hockey player huffed, crossing his arms over his chest rather childishly.

"Oh." Charlie frowned, wrinkling his nose slightly. "Is he still on that? I thought he'd be over it by now."

"Over it?" Guy snorted. "He's been working himself up to a fever pitch. Now he has friends because of it."

"Really, now." Their Captain furrowed his brow in speculation. This was a new development that he hadn't even foreseen. "Why hasn't anyone told him off?"

Ignoring Portman's grunt of displeasure, Guy raised an eyebrow at his childhood friend. "Spazway, art history or not, Fulton's still Fulton. Meaning he's still big and angry and won't hesitate to use his fists if he feels offended."

Charlie slowly nodded, narrowing his eyes. All his planning would be for naught if Fulton didn't get his act together. Fulton and him were buddies from the hood. Senior year wouldn't be the same if Fulton was too busy ogling paint strokes to hang out with the Ducks. "Alright, boys. I'll take care of it."

"It's legs for me. Legs that stretch for days." A portly, grey-haired gentleman chuckled confidingly. The small group of gentlemen laughed knowingly as they each acknowledged the man's point. The man clapped Dylan on the back and winked at him.

The boy smiled back. "And you're never coming near Maggot." He murmured to himself decisively as he continued to ingratiate himself into the group.

"What was that, my boy?" The man wheezed, tipping back another glass of champagne. "What about you? What womanly attribute does it for you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of white. "Curves, sir. You can't go wrong with an hourglass figure." He smirked, patting himself on the back as the assembled gentlemen raucously agreed with him. "Well, gentlemen, I believe midnight has come and the pumpkin awaits."

The inebriated men roared with laughter. "Alright, alright, let Cinderella go!"

"Tell your father hello for me!"

"And your lovely mother."

"Jenkins, you dog!"

"We'll wire the donation to you first thing Monday morning!"

"Good night, Cinderella!"

"Quickly, Cindy, before your carriage turns back into a pumpkin!"

With a rakish grin, Dylan turned on his heel and weaved his way to his best friend's side. "Ready to go?" He muttered into her ear, tossing a few charming smiles over to some girls his own age.

She nodded swiftly, taking his arm. "Was it just me or did they call you Cinderella?"

Dylan shrugged unconcernedly, walking tall and straight. "What can I say? They think I'm beautiful and everyone loves me unconditionally because of my devastating charm."

"And so modest." Maddie giggled, blowing a farewell kiss to the doorman.

"Just stating facts, Maggot." The blond sniffed, signaling the valet for his car. "Besides…I'm Daddy's little princess. He told me so."

Dwayne grinned and stretched out on the sofa. Blushing slightly, he ignored the catcalls and lewd comments of his friends and concentrated on opening his soda can. "Will y'all relax?" He finally hollered.

"Nah, man." Russ grinned, leaning back in his chair. "What's the matter, cowboy? Allie got tired tonight?"

"Or was it you who couldn't keep up?" Averman snickered.

Dwayne glared at them. "She had a birthday party with her friends. Girls only."

"Figures." Portman laughed, tossing an empty can in the direction of the garbage can. It was caught mid-air by an irritated looking Julie who dropped it into the trash. He remained unmindful of her glare.

"Easy, Jules." Connie soothed, coming out of her bedroom. "They're just boys."

"Yeah, but we have to live here." The blonde stated angrily, trying not to stamp her foot. "He has his own living room, why does he have to come to ours and mess it up? We always clean their shit in the morning."

The petite brunette looked at her shrewdly. "Are you talking about the boys or Portman?"

"Everyone!" Julie huffed, raising her eyebrows pointedly as another can missed the trash and clattered to the floor. "Seriously, why do they all come here?"

"Probably because your room smells good. Most of ours smells like shit." Adam replied, reaching down to pick up the can. He tossed it into the garbage and walked over to them. "And because they like you girls."

"Do they like us or do they like the fact that we clean up their mess?" Julie snapped, her blue eyes boring an angry hole into the back of Portman's head.

Connie smiled slightly and tossed her long braid over her shoulder. "Jules, babe, come here." She said soothingly, opening her arms to the bigger girl.

At first, it looked as if she was going to refuse but then suddenly, all the fight went out of her and with a disgruntled sigh, she allowed the smaller girl to envelope her in a hug. "Life blows, Cons." She mumbled grumpily, her voice slightly muffled in the other's hair.

"I know, dear." The brunette replied calmly, winking at a laughing Adam. "Now, cheer up. It's Saturday night, all our friends are here and we're going to have a good time."

"Indeed, we're going to have a good time." A new voice joined their group. Looking up, they saw Maddie and Dylan beaming in the doorway. The girl raised her arms in triumph. "We made so much money!"

Dylan's grin threatened to split his handsome face. "You can't even begin to realize how much money I made tonight! Like seriously…if I was a hooker, I'd make millions." He announced as he leaned over to give Julie a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "What's up with you? No smiley for Papa Dyl-y?"

"Ew! Dylan!" She grimaced, her hand coming up to wipe her cheek. "That's gross."

"You're gross." He retorted, reaching over to pull on Connie's plait. "Connie doesn't think I'm gross. She loves me." The brunette laughed as Maddie pointed to the blond behind his back and mimed drinking.

"Let go of my minion, you fiend!" He then ordered, pointing imperiously at Maddie who was hugging Adam. She stuck her tongue out at him rebelliously. "He was mine first!" She argued.

Dylan shook his head and pulled her away from him. Giving her a slight twirl so that her skirt flared out, he laughed. "Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but I knew Adam since I was seven. We were on the Hawks together. Until I quit. But he didn't like me very much cause I accidentally pushed him into the cake at his friend's birthday party."

"Yeah. Chad wasn't too happy about his cake getting ruined either." Adam mused, thinking back to his childhood friends. "I don't know how you didn't get kicked out."

The soccer player shrugged and made a slight face. "He wanted to get with my sister. I never liked him. McGill. Blech."

"That makes two of us." Connie muttered, remembering an extremely rude little prick.

The door opened again and Ken suddenly rushed in. His hair was rumpled and his face was flushed. "Carmen! Where's Carmen?"

All eyes turned to him. "Still at the gala. Ken, buddy, you okay?" Charlie asked immediately, half rising to his feet in concern.

"I'm fucking fantastic." Ken gasped, his face breaking out into an elated smile. "Guys, we did it. We broke twenty-five fucking thousand!" He yelled.

There was approximately half a second of silence before chaos ensued. People were jumping up and yelling, food was forgotten as everyone gathered around Ken. "Someone call Carmen!" He yelled, before being enveloped in a massive hug by his roommate.

A whooping Dylan turned to give Connie, Maddie and Julie each a noisy peck on the mouth. Giving Adam an arch look, he sniffed daintily. "Sorry, Banksie, but you're just not my type." His eyes suddenly went wide with realization. "Maddie! Party time!" He cried, pulling out two bottles of Moet & Chandon White Star champagne from inside his jacket.

Her face brightened in realization. "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot!" She laughed as she pulled out three more bottles of champagne out from her voluminous skirt.

Julie stared at them for a second before she started to laugh uncontrollably along with Adam and Connie. "You didn't!" She gasped incredulously.

"Oh, we did! We whored ourselves out to the max tonight, we needed payment!" Dylan grinned as he struggled with the cork. "Oh, there she goes!" he cried as they were showered with a cascade of golden foam.

As the month of May started, things settled down at Eden Hall. The juniors had just finished up standardized tests and were now preparing for college. An anonymous donor had given about thirty thousand to the school for the orphanage and had secured a prosperous beginning for them. And of course, the Ducks had nothing to do with that. Obviously.

All in all, everyone expected a quiet and happy end to a very eventful year.

Until one faithful morning in mid-May when a piece of paper was posted on the bulletin board outside the Main Office.

That piece of paper listed the names of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the next year. Being a rather liberal school, Eden Hall allowed anyone to run as long as they were nominated and seconded. However, the responsibilities of being in a executive position were so numerous and demanding, people rarely wanted to even commit to the idea of running in the elections and so there was never more than a few running parties in a year.

One of the parties had been extremely vocal about their campaign and most of Eden Hall knew that the opposing team would stand no chance against this power duo. After all, for all their faults, Tricia Manning and Brett Reynolds were popular, good looking and intelligent.

The election was supposed to be a shoo-in.

So nobody expected a third choice on the ballot. Least of all, Tricia Manning.

But on Monday, May 14th, 2007, two more names appeared underneath the four known ones. And the names were enough to send the whole school reeling.

"Did you hear?"

"About the elections?"

"Yes!"

"Can you believe it?"

"I thought they hated each other-"

"I hear they're friends now-"

"I heard Tricia Manning was in the physics lab when she heard and threw a beaker clear across the room!"

"Really? Brett Reynolds was in swim practice when he found out. He actually fell into the pool!"

"I hear someone told him between classes and he walked right into a locker!"

"You mean, he didn't know?"

"No! Apparently someone entered them without their knowledge!"

"Oh, why didn't someone enter me with him?"

"He's so gorgeous, isn't he?"

His light green eyes twinkling, a boy allowed himself a broad, self-satisfied smile and whistled quietly as he walked to his next class.

People were talking.

Publicity. Check.

Connie blinked as a textbook was slammed down in front of her. She looked up to see a normally pretty face twisted into a scowl of epic proportions. "Hey, Carmen. Something wrong?" She asked delicately, taking a sip of her water.

"I. Want. Blood." The blonde grit out, her eyes sparking with fury.

"Um…why don't you take a seat and then I'll see what I can do?" Connie suggested diplomatically, putting aside her lunch tray. "Car…sit."

"I'm going to mutilate whoever entered me in that election." The other girl vowed, ignoring the stares she was getting from all over the dining hall. "And then I'm going to make them wish they went to public school!"

"Alright, alright, sit down." Portman ordered, using a large hand to push the irate girl into her chair. "Now, take a deep breath and eat your sandwich. Oi, Carmen!"

The sandwich was currently being squished into a pancake by the girl. Guy winced as her hands wrung out the life force of the lunch food. He almost felt bad for it.

"Car…I don't know who entered you into the election but we'll find out. Okay?" Connie said, reaching over to pat her friend's hand reassuringly. "Do you think Dylan knows?"

"I haven't seen him." Carmen growled, finally releasing the unrecognizable sandwich. "Why him? Why did I have to be entered with him? Why did I have to be entered period?"

"Why her? Why did I have to be entered with her? Why did I have to be entered period?" Dylan howled, echoing Carmen's exact words.

Jake Riley raised an eyebrow and looked over at him. "How the fuck do I know?"

"I was this close! This close to forgetting about her!" Dylan cried desperately, agitatedly shoving his thumb and index finger underneath his best friend's nose. "And now this? It's as if fate just keeps on bringing us the fuck together!"

The other boy rolled his eyes. "Don't bring fate into this, Dylan. It doesn't exist."

"Then how do you explain my life?" The blond bawled, both hands buried in his hair.

Jake sighed and brought his knee up. Instead of bringing the distraught boy to the crowded dining hall, Jake had opted for the quiet outdoor hallways of the Academic Building. His back resting against a stone pillar, he lounged idly on the matching railing and looked out onto the gardens just below him. "What I don't get is why you don't just drop out?"

Dylan had collapsed against the wall by this point. "Built in safety precaution." He mumbled hollowly, his face buried in his arms. "Anyone nominated has to run. Prevents random people from running on a whim. That was the first thing we implemented when Carmen and I were instated into office two years back."

"So you pretty much fucked yourself over." Jake stated, popping a cookie into his mouth. "It figures."

"Shut up and help me figure out a way to salvage this mess." The blond moaned, half-heartedly taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Hanging out with the Ducks really must have made him stupid, Jake mused to himself. Swallowing, he looked at his best friend. "You're not serious, right? I can't believe you can't see this. The answer is so obvious."

Dylan took a swig of water and glared at him. "Enough with the commentary and just tell me."

He leaned forward. "Throw the election."

The blond blinked.

The other leaned back and stared at him smugly.

"But-but," Dylan frowned up at him indignantly. "I've never lost at anything in my entire life!"

Jake groaned.

"You want me to lose?" Carmen demanded, staring at Guy.

"Not lose, per se." He said, giving a slight shrug. "Just don't win."

"It's not a bad idea, Car." Connie nodded thoughtfully. "It has merit."

"Yeah, it's just a surprise that it came from Guy." Portman snickered. "I mean, trying to purposely lose? Blasphemy!"

Guy scowled at him and looked back over at Carmen. "Listen, just talk with Dylan. I saw him heading outside with Jake Riley before lunch. He didn't look too happy either."

Carmen nodded slowly and popped a raspberry into her mouth.

"We throw the election."

"We throw the election."

Two sets of eyes, one gold, one silver, stared at each other in consternation.

"That's what I just said!"

"That's what I just said!"

"Stop talking when I'm talking!"

"Stop talking when I'm talking!"

Carmen shook her head in irritation and held up a hand to quiet the other. "Do you have any idea who put our names on the ballot?"

"No. If I did, they'd be missing a head." Dylan sneered. Carmen couldn't help but agree. "Why, do you?"

She scowled. "No. But I'll find out." She then looked at him sharply. "If I find out who it is, do you think you can handle ruining our chances by yourself?"

The smile he gave her was positively evil. "Oh, I think I can manage." He said sweetly.

Julie smiled happily as she sat in her new office. This had been one of the reasons why she had wanted the position as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. She got her own office.

Okay, it was a tiny office, no bigger than a janitor's closet, really, but what mattered was the tiny plaque outside that spelled out her name in gold leaf. Giddily, she spun around in her chair.

"Having fun?" With a yelp, she jerked to a stop and gazed at Matt Baldwin, the recently stepped down Editor, who was looking at her with amusement. "Don't stop on my account!" He grinned, taking a seat in the chair in front of her.

Although blushing furiously, Julie smiled at him. "It's a nice chair."

"I know." Matt grinned. "I'm not going to lie. I did that myself the first time I stepped in here." He looked around at the room fondly. "Lots of memories, Jules. Lots of memories."

Julie smiled. "Indeed. Congratulations on Northwestern, by the way. I hear it's amazing for journalism."

"Thanks." He said almost bashfully, though his grin threatened to split his face in two. "Congratulations on Dartmouth."

"I'm not in yet."

"Technicalities." Matt said dismissively, waving his hand. "Anyway, I came here for a reason."

"Yeah?"

"The paper runs interviews for the upcoming candidates for the Upperclassmen elections. It's a big thing, you know? Anyway, I want you to cover Manning and Reynolds so I switched you with a freshman. I hope that's alright."

Julie's eyes went wide. "No. No, that's not alright! Oh my god, I asked for Dylan and Carmen for a reason!"

"Jules, I know they're your friends but I don't see what the big deal is. It's just a filmed interview." Matt said, raising an eyebrow. "She's doing it as we speak."

"Oh my god. They will rip her apart! She doesn't stand a chance!" The blonde cried, grabbing her bag. "Come on!"

"Where're we going?" The boy demanded as he followed her out of the office.

"The studio!"

"Ready?"

Carmen turned to look at the blond. "It doesn't really matter, does it? I'm only planning on staying for ten minutes."

"Oh?"

"The orphanage is having a science fair. Nick's project is going to be on display. Anything else you want to know?" She said acidly.

Dylan shrugged elegantly, his slate grey blazer complementing his eyes and the white t-shirt he wore underneath perfectly. "Just making small talk. What happened to your necklace?"

"What?" She asked distractedly, pulling her hair up into a twist.

"Your necklace. The amber one you always wore."

"Oh. I gave it to Nick."

"Really."

"I didn't have anything else to give him." She said shortly.

The boy nodded quietly. He was silent for a minute before speaking again. "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

Carmen gave him a searching look before smoothing the front of her black silk shirtdress. "Yes, I suppose he does."

Dylan straightened and his normal, rather mischievous look returned. Giving his hair a shake, he brushed a piece of lint off his sleeve. "So I'm allowed to be as much of an ass as I want out there?"

"That and so much more." She practically purred.

"The TV! Turn on the TV!"

Maddie blinked as Charlie came hurtling into the room. "Charlie! What's going on?"

"TV!" The boy almost howled as he leapt for the remote.

"Hey!" Goldberg yelped and squirmed away from his friend's attack. "Stop it! Logan's about to find out that Jenna's pregnant with Carter's baby!"

The Captain stopped and stared at him incredulously. "Goldie, what the fuck are you talking about? Who's Jenna?"

"The redhead!" Averman rolled his eyes, pointing at the screen. "The only girl in the scene!"

"You watch soaps?" He asked, his eyes then resting on a quiet Banks who had a baseball cap covering his eyes. "Banksie watches soaps? That explains a lot."

"Banksie's asleep." Maddie informed him quite seriously. "Watch this." Leaning over, she blew hard into his ear. He shot up with a yelp as she snuggled back into Goldberg's ample side smugly.

Charlie blinked before realizing what he had come for. "TV! Dude, turn on the TV!"

"What for?" Averman surrendered, tossing his friend the remote.

"The presidential interviews. It's Carmen and Dylan's turn today." He answered distractedly, flipping through the channels until he got to Eden Hall's.

"Hold it! Hold it!" Julie gasped, running into the studio with Matt in tow.

The boy in charge turned to look at her. "Sorry, we're on air."

"Dear God." She moaned, staring into the studio. The two of them were seated on a couch with a petite little brunette next to them.

They were trying to throw the election. They would have no problems ruining this girl's interview.

"This is Tiffany Wallace, reporting live from Studio 3 at Eden Hall. I'm here with Carmen Rivera and Dylan Thomas Howard, two unexpected candidates for the 2007-2008 elections. Carmen, Dylan, welcome."

Carmen gave a slight inclination of her head, obviously bored with the proceedings.

Dylan almost felt sorry for this girl. Oh well. Journalism was a rough field.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Thanks, babe. You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" He leered, his eyes raking her figure.

"Oh. My. God." Charlie breathed, staring at the screen in horror.

Maddie's eyes were wide. "He's hitting on the freshman. Gross."

Blushing furiously, the girl valiantly tried to bring the conversation back to the elections.

"Now, as I understand it, you two had no idea that someone had entered your names. Does that matter at this moment?"

"Yes, it does." Carmen answered, smiling quite cheerfully. "It matters because that someone is going to be in a ridiculous amount of pain very, very soon."

Tiffany gulped. "S-so you're not happy with this situation?"

"Well, well, beauty and brains." Dylan drawled insolently. "Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that you can put your legs behind your head and then there's no telling what I'd do to you."

Matt Baldwin blinked. "Maybe you were right."

"You think?" Julie bit out dryly as she cradled her head in her hands, trying not to listen to the lewd comments being made.

Carmen had to give this girl props. She struggled on even through all of Howard's brilliant bullshit.

"So, Carmen…I understand the relationship between you two has been rocky, to say the least. Is there any chance for an amicable partnership in the near future?"

The blonde girl stared at her, a perfect brown eyebrow raised slightly. "I don't understand the question."

"Car, you're a bitch and a half." Connie murmured admiringly, a laugh bubbling out in spite of herself. The girl had stammered out an explanation of it while Carmen merely looked at her condescendingly.

Connie had a feeling that the freshman would rather have had Dylan answer all the questions than suffer through all of Carmen's cold and short replies.

"If, by any chance, you win this election, is there anything you'd like to implement in the school system?" The girl asked desperately.

"Yes. Corporal punishment. Goodbye." Carmen said coolly before gathering her purse.

"Wait-the interview's not done-where are you-" Tiffany sputtered, staring at the door which closed behind the older girl.

"She has to go check on her kid." Dylan said carelessly.

"Her kid?"

"Yeah, he's seven."

Tiffany blinked confusedly. "How old is she?"

"Seventeen." He answered calmly, inspecting his nails.

The girl stared at him and then set her jaw. "What about you, Dylan? Is there anything you'd like to implement in the school system if you win the election?"

"You know, I never really thought about it." The blond mused, frowning slightly. "I guess…world peace, push up bras, mud wrestling as a gym option for girls…and chocolate chip pancakes!"

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" Tiffany squeaked, reaching for a glass of water.

Dylan nodded, warming to his subject. "Yeah. Do you realize we never have chocolate chip pancakes? Like what the fuck – oh excuse me – but seriously. I think we've had chocolate chip pancakes once in my three years here at Eden Hall. And let me tell you, they were God awful. But they're better than nothing. Sure, we've had pancakes but chocolate chip? No way! I don't know why. Chocolate chip pancakes are like God's gift to the world. I could get a hard on for that shit. Man, what I would give for some good chocolate chip pancakes."

"Oh my." Maddie breathed incredulously.

Charlie grasped his hair hysterically. "Dylan, I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Adam grinned and popped a soda can open. "Is it wrong that I'm enjoying this?"

"Nope, not at all." Luis laughed, clapping a horrified Charlie on the back. "What's the matter with you? Why do you even care?"

The tall boy ignored him and continued to stare at the screen, vowing all sorts of dire threats for the blond.

"Well. This has been an interesting interview." Tiffany muttered despairingly. Her journalistic reputation was ruined. "But we also ask the questions our viewers want to know."

Dylan raised his eyebrow as she pulled forward a thick stack of papers. "That's all for me?"

The girl nodded dryly. "It appears you're our most popular candidate."

"Huh."

"Anyway…where do you plan on going to college?"

"South Harmon Institute of Technology."

"Um…Do you have any hopes before you graduate Eden Hall?"

"I'm going to screw a girl on Dean Buckley's desk." Dylan offered quite calmly.

She paled slightly and her hands trembled as she reached for the next paper. "Are you really going to Australia to compete for the Goodwill Games this summer?"

"Affirmative."

"Are-are you single?" Tiffany asked reluctantly, crumpling up the sheet vengefully.

A shadow passed extremely briefly over his face before he smiled broadly. "Single, seventeen and loving every second of it."

"I see." She carefully selected another one. "What is your life goal?"

Dylan looked at her slyly for a second before answering.

"Well, I've always wanted to be in a porno."

Julie dropped her head down on the table with a dead clunk. And again. And again.

Matt didn't bother stopping her as he, too, had collapsed in a chair and was rubbing the bridge of his nose.

At least the interview was over. If you could call that an interview.

Fulton looked up in shock as one of his best friends slammed into the room. "Charlie? What's going-"

"No!" The Captain yelled. "I talk, you listen!"

"Okay." The bigger boy mumbled. "Talk."

"Thank you." Charlie sneered before pointing an accusing finger at him. "What exactly do you think you're doing? Huh? What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Fulton blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about, Charlie."

"This! And this!" The other boy all but howled, picking up two textbooks and then throwing them to the floor in his rage.

"Hey!" He scrambled to pick them up, cradling them to his chest protectively. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you?" Charlie screeched, looking positively livid. "Fulton, don't get me wrong, no one of us hate the fact that you like a-a-art but-"

"Art history."

"Yes, yes. That. But what we do hate is the fact that you've pretty much cut all of us out of your fucking life!" His voice rose to a crescendo. "I thought we were your buddies, Fulton! I had plans for us! Big plans!"

Fulton gulped nervously and took a step back. Although he was bigger, he knew not to further antagonize Charlie when he got in one of his rants. "Plans?" He managed to squeak out.

"Yes, you idiot! Remember freshmen year? How it was Hell?' His friend jabbed a finger into the air. "Come senior year, I vowed, Fult, vowed that this school was going to be ripped apart! And you, you were supposed to be there doing it with me! All of us!"

"Oh."

"Oh is right, you effing bastard!"

The Bash Brother blinked as he remembered the ridicule and general shit that the Ducks had gone through because of the snobby, upper-crust nature of the Eden Hall population. His eyes darkened in memory. "I hated them." He ground out, his grip tightening on his book.

"Yes, I know." Charlie snapped. "That's why I wanted to leave our legacy! I've been planning for ages. Then Carmen and Dylan had to go fuck it up! Would you believe that blond freak is still going on about chocolate chip pancakes?"

Fulton smiled suddenly."Yo, that interview was epic."

"Shut up!" The other boy shrieked, stamping his foot down. "It almost ruined me! Ruined!"

"Ruined?" Fulton asked confusedly before his eyes narrowed. "Charlie, did you enter them in the election?"

"Not technically." Charlie answered evasively, before all the fight left him. "Fult, senior year comes along once in a lifetime. Those books aren't going anywhere. They'll be there even if you hang out with us. We're your buddies, Fult, don't leave us behind. I need you, man!"

Guilt squirmed around in the larger boy's insides. Charlie had a point. He had been neglecting the Ducks with his new found obsession. With a sigh, he put the book on his desk. "I won't, Charlie. What do you need me to do?"

His friend beamed at him.

Adam groaned and sat up. Grabbing his phone, he gazed blearily at the time. 8:17 on a Sunday morning. Who the Hell would be ringing their doorbell at 8:17 on Sunday morning?

Knowing that everyone else in his suite wouldn't even wake up for the fire alarm, Adam sighed and pushed himself out of the bed. Grumbling, he yanked a pair of shorts over his boxers and stumbled out to the entrance, pulling on a T-shirt as he went.

Opening the door, he raised an eyebrow. A pretty girl stared back at him nervously. "Can I help you?" He asked slowly, looking behind her to see another girl clutching a wrapped package in her hands. Oddly enough, another girl was walking down the hallway towards them. What the Hell.

"Oh. Um, hi. Does Dylan Howard live here?" She asked breathily, clutching a platter of some sort in her hands.

He nodded, still looking at her suspiciously. "Yeah. Who are you two looking for?" He asked, jerking his head towards the girls behind her.

"Dylan Howard." The two girls said simultaneously before glaring at each other.

"Uh. Hold on, I'll…get…him." Adam muttered, giving them one last distrustful glance. He would have invited them in but the circumstances were extremely suspicious at the moment. The sleep-induced fog was gradually leaving his mind, leaving him extremely aware of the bizarreness of the situation.

He opened the door to Guy and Dylan's room. Adam remembered belatedly that Guy had gone home for the weekend and was coming back later that day. He also remembered with a frown the curvy, nameless brunette he had run into at three in the morning. She had been coming out of Dylan and Guy's room while he had been coming out of the bathroom. They had stared at each other for a second before she had all but run out of the suite with wide eyes.

He stepped over to the mass of grey silk sheets. Maddie had bought him the sheets for Christmas. In Adam's opinion, the silk and satin bedding just encouraged the blond's promiscuous activities. "Dylan."

There was no answer from the lump on the bed.

"Dylan!"

There was a slight twitch from underneath a satin pillow.

"God damn, get up, you little bitch!" Adam demanded crossly, reaching down and flipping the mattress over with a grunt.

A messy blond head appeared from underneath the bedding. Muffled curses were heard as Dylan sat up, rubbing a hand over his face. "What the fuck, Banks?" He growled.

"Late night?" The hockey player asked insincerely, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Late-oh fuck. Sharon." Dylan's vision seemed to clear and he swept his gaze around the room as he wrapped his sheet tighter around his naked body. Finally he seemed to come to a conclusion as he stared up at Adam in indignation. "That bitch took my boxers!"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "She also took your shirt. I ran into her leaving last night."

The other's brows knitted in frustration. "That shirt was from Hugo Boss! God damn." He then reached over to pick up a red, lacy scrap of fabric between his thumb and index finger. "Hey, she left her thong."

"Indeed." Adam said dryly, before he got back to the situation at hand. "Anyway, get up. You have visitors." He tossed back over his shoulders.

"Now?" He asked confusedly, scrambling up after him. "And more than one?"

Adam jerked open the door and felt his jaw drop. "They seem to have multiplied."

Indeed, the three girls he had left at the door had now turned into eleven. All holding a package of some sort, they seemed to have dressed up to come here. Adam didn't need three guesses to figure out who they were waiting for.

"Banksie, what are you-oh." An adorably sleep-rumpled Dylan stopped next to his friend, with just a sheet wrapped around his hips. "I suppose this is what you were talking about…" He mumbled, staring at the assembled girls. Adam smiled sardonically. "You think?"

Dylan ignored him and stepped forward. "Ladies…how can I help you?" If he felt awkward in his state of undress, he sure as hell didn't show it.

"Hi, Dylan! I'm Sarah. I'm in your physics class." The first girl bubbled, blushing as her eyes were level with the silver dog tags that hung on his muscular chest. "Anyway, I heard that you liked chocolate chip pancakes so I took the liberty of making you some-"

"Hey, Dylan. How've you been? You never called me back. But no matter, I made you some chocolate chip pancakes too-"

"Yes, well, mine are made from a secret recipe that has been in the family for generations. I'm Kristy, by the way-"

Woken by the noise, Charlie ambled out to Banks' side. "What the hell is going on?" He grumbled thickly, his eyes growing wide at the sight of crowd of girls. From his height advantage, Adam could see three more girls, all clutching what were probably chocolate chip pancakes, walking towards their suite. "I don't believe this." He breathed, exchanging a look with his best friend.

"Does anyone have anything to eat?" Goldberg moaned, stumbling into Charlie's living room. "I'm absolutely famished."

"You can have a pancake." Dylan offered solicitously, pointing to the table and couch which were piled high with containers and platters of the food. "You can have five pancakes, if you'd like."

Goldberg's eyes went wide as he saw the mountain of pancakes. "I've just died and gone to heaven."

"Not really. I would hope that Heaven has better tasting pancakes than this." Dylan mumbled through a mouthful. He turned to Adam. "Was that the last one?"

He nodded. "I think so. No good?"

The blond shook his head sadly. "I don't believe this. I just sampled twenty four batches. And not one of them was extraordinary. What the fuck?"

"Your life is so hard." Julie rolled her eyes, jotting a note on her legal pad. "By the way, Tiffany Wallace resigned from the newspaper. Good job, dickweed, she was one of our best freshmen."

He threw her a sheepish smile. "Should I take her out to dinner and apologize?" He asked blandly. Laughing, he then ducked the container of peanut butter Julie proceeded to throw at him. "Kidding! I will apologize to her though. She's a smart girl, she'll understand my reasons."

"Oh, I'm sure." The goalie muttered, pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail.

Guy looked up from his pancakes. "I hear, afterwards, she locked herself in her room and cried for three hours straight."

"And that she couldn't stomach anything for a day, she was so upset." Goldberg swallowed thickly. "Poor thing. Imagine not being able to eat." He shuddered visibly.

"Goldie!" Adam suddenly said, with an odd note of complaint in his voice. He looked at the stack of pancakes in front of the fatter boy meaningfully. "That's totally counteracting my work!"

"Shove off, Banksie, it's Sunday. I follow your diet every other day." Goldberg replied, bringing the plate closer to himself protectively. "I'll just work out double tomorrow."

"You barely finish the workout I give you!" The other said exasperatedly.

Julie noticed that Dylan was quiet. He stared at the coffee table as if lost in thought, a slight frown tugging at his lips.

Good, she thought rather vengefully. He should feel guilty.

Carmen absently adjusted the heavy, black leather satchel as she hurried down the hallway. God, it seemed heavier than usual…Suddenly, she stumbled as a hand grabbed her and pulled a blindfold over her eyes. "What the fuck?" She yelled as she felt herself being pushed into a room. A cloth was then shoved into her mouth as she continued to scream.

Desperately, she struggled as she was slammed down into a chair and her wrists were rather…gently…tied to the arms of it. Thrashing to the side, she suddenly felt a warm body tied next to her. She froze as the scent of the other person reached her nostrils. Mint.

Oh fuck. Howard.

"Remove their blindfolds."

The cloth was taken off and Carmen shook her hair out of her eyes, the golden orbs immediately taking in the scene before her. In what looked to be an empty classroom, Charlie Conway stood in front of her, his arms crossed and looking extremely petulant indeed. Howard was tied up and gagged similarly next to her.

Craning her neck behind her, she saw Fulton give her a nervous smile. Her eyes narrowed at him and his smile faltered.

"If we take the gags off, will you promise not to yell and let me talk?" Charlie asked.

Dylan let out a muffled sound and twisted his bound wrists enough to lift his middle fingers up at him. Carmen privately thought that was a rather appropriate response given the situation.

"Dylan!" A new voice scolded. "That's not nice!" Two sets of eyes, one silver, one gold, stared at the newcomer in shock as the smell of vanilla invaded their senses.

Maddie smiled at them cheerfully and reached out to Carmen's face. Quickly, she undid the cloth and slipped it out of her best friend's mouth. "Maddie…what is going on?" The blonde asked dangerously.

"All will be explained if you'd just let me." Charlie answered crossly.

By this time, Maddie had released the gag on Dylan and the soccer player had been spewing curses nonstop. "Dylan…quiet." The dancer murmured absently, giving a little pat to his head.

"You guys really fucked me over." The Captain announced, glaring at the two bound presidential candidates.

"Excuse me?" Dylan sputtered, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

"Shut up." Charlie scowled. "Do you know how much planning went in to get your names on that ballot? I thought of everything! Made sure that every little inch was covered!"

Carmen's eyes narrowed. "Charlie, what the Hell are you talking about? You put our names on the ballot?"

"You guys, I have big plans for next year! I have events planned that will leave a mark on history! Plans that will finally show those preppy snots their fucking place!"

"What does that have to do with us?" Dylan snapped.

"Everything!" Charlie howled, grasping his hair with his hands. "You guys were supposed to make Upperclassmen Prez and Vice-Prez and take care of all the formalities while I wreaked havoc in the background! Not only that, I needed you! You guys are amazing at manipulating people! And then you idiots went and ruined it! You utter and absolute idiots!"

"Please, don't stop there. By all means, continue." The blond boy muttered sarcastically.

"And besides…don't even deny that you can do a better job than Reynolds and Manning. If I decided to be all noble and think in the interest of the school – which I don't really feel like doing – I obviously would realize that you two are the best equipped to handle the administration."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Conway." Carmen snarled, still looking angry.

"Thank God people actually seemed to like your interview. Your popularity ratings are twice the other candidates." Charlie said, sighing in relief.

"What?" Dylan yelled in disbelief at that shocking statement.

Charlie blinked innocently. "Oh, why, didn't you hear? Manning and Reynolds are absolutely furious about it. Right now, in the student body, you and Carmen are in the lead for the popular vote! Guess people do like comic relief, after all!"

"You incompetent jackass!" Carmen practically screeched, turning to glower at a scandalized Dylan. "I thought you had this under control!"

"I thought I did too!" The blond wailed. "How the hell do I fuck up fucking up?"

"I don't know how anyone can do that! But then again it's you!" She snarled, giving a futile jerk of her wrists. "Now, we're in the lead for a position neither of us want!"

Charlie smiled to himself. He'd always had a way with words and right now, he was going to lure Carmen right where he wanted her. "I'm surprised, Car. I would have thought the orphanage mattered more to you than this."

Her head shot up. "What are you talking about?"

He looked over at her almost pityingly. "Do you honestly think that Reynolds or Manning give two hoots about that orphanage? It's built, hooray, it's over in their minds. More help isn't going to come from them. If they get elected, Eden Hall's support will be withdrawn quicker than the drop of a hat. And poor Nick will be wondering why his superhero isn't coming." The boy said quietly, knowing the impact of his words.

Carmen's eyes were wide and almost vulnerable as she took in what the other was saying. He was right. She hadn't even thought about this. The orphanage wasn't high on the list of their competitors. Actually, the orphanage wasn't even listed on their campaign outlines. Next year, the orphanage would be forgotten once again.

And Nick…Carmen closed her eyes as she struggled to fight down the panic and nausea that was enveloping her.

Charlie resisted the urge to crow with delight. Hook, line and sinker!

"So those are the reasons you put our names on the ballot?" She croaked out, staring at the floor.

"Technically, I didn't put your names on the ballot. I can't. I'm not on the Student Council." He conceded, before pointing to Maddie. "She did. I just implanted the notion in her head."

The blonde whipped her head around to look at the girl who was sitting quite comfortably in a chair nearby. "You?"

"Maggot, why?" Dylan snapped, looking as if he had a splitting headache.

"Because I don't like Tricia Manning." The girl answered cheerfully.

Carmen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Neither do I but-"

"If that bitch made president, I don't know what I'd do. She'd probably kick me out of my job just because she felt like it. Granted, I could wheedle myself back in because Reynolds is the biggest pushover ever but that's not the point now, is it? And not only that, she's friends with Emily Parker. That alone speaks for itself."

Dylan pursed his lips. "True." He conceded before shaking his head indignantly. "Well, it doesn't matter! I'm not running! And neither is Rivera!" He then slanted her a glance. "Right?"

The Hispanic girl closed her eyes despairingly. "Shut up, Howard."

"Fine! I'm not running! It's going to fucking take over my life and let me remind you that it's senior year for me too!" The blond declared obstinately, his jaw jutting out.

Charlie nodded agreeably. "You do know that the president and vice president get their own office, their own secretary, and a master key to the entire school? Including Dean Buckley's personal office?"

Dylan blinked.

"Yeah. Actually…they get access to everything the school has to offer. Files, the computer mainframe, student records. Everything." The captain said cheerfully, leaning over and untying the two's bonds. "Perfect for any kind of information you want."

He straightened, beckoning over to Maddie and Fulton. "I think you guys have a lot to talk about so we'll leave you two alone. I hope you make smart decisions." He then paused, his voice dropping to his usual tone. "Listen, guys, we're sorry we put you in without your permission but…"

Maddie spoke up, smiling softly at them. "No one can do the job like you. And I think deep down inside, you guys know it too."

Dylan rubbed his wrists absently as the door clicked shut behind them. He let out a sigh. "I think we do need to talk."

Carmen nodded slowly, her eyes preoccupied. "Yes. Yes, we do. Is lunch over?"

"We have ten minutes…" The boy said as he checked his phone. "Unless you want to skip the rest of the day and go get real food. I kind of need real food after that."

"Well, I'm not really in the mood for classes right now anyway." The blonde murmured, as she stood up. "Paolo's?" She asked, lifting her heavy bag onto her shoulder.

After a moment's hesitation, Dylan reached over and took the bag. Ignoring her protest, he nodded. "Sure. I'll drive."

"No." Carmen stated flatly. "I'll drive."

"What? Why?" He demanded.

"Because you're an awful driver."

The blond shrugged his shoulders elegantly. "I suppose you have a point." He acquiesced blandly. "We really need to talk about that Tiffany girl too."

Tiffany Wallace frowned as someone knocked on her door. She looked over at her roommate, who sat up in interest. No one ever knocked; they usually just barged right in. Getting up, she opened the door.

"Hey, Tiffany."

She gaped in shock as Carmen Rivera and Dylan Howard stood in the doorway of her dorm room. The two exceedingly good looking people stuck out like a sore thumb in her dingy freshmen hallway. Indeed, they looked almost shiny compared with the dullness of the faded wallpaper.

The soccer player held out a large bouquet of yellow freesias to her. "These are for you. I hope you're not allergic." Shaking her head, she took them with trembling hands and stared at the two juniors.

They were dressed in the same clothes as the day of the interview and both of them were smiling at her sincerely. Carmen spoke first. "We treated you rather badly that day. It was for extremely petty and inconsequential reasons of our own and we came to apologize. It was rude and juvenile of us to take out our own frustrations upon you. You were nothing except gracious and we treated you wrongly. We're so sorry."

Dylan's statements weren't nearly as pretty or eloquent. "Yeah, what she said. Um, listen, I know I came off as a complete sketchball and I'm not really…usually…but anyway, yeah, we were trying to throw the election and we used you. We're really, really sorry. I would totally take you out to dinner to apologize but then Jules would have my head – oh yeah, Julie would really appreciate if you came back and wrote for the newspaper. She says you're one of her most promising journalists."

"Really?" Tiffany asked, brightening up at the compliment.

"Yes, she did." Carmen said, giving her a warm smile. The younger girl inwardly marveled at how electrifying the change on her usually dispassionate face was. "And if it's okay with you…we'd like to redo the interview. At your discretion."

Dylan nodded cheerily. "Yeah. We're actually running for real now. I know, I was surprised too." He added dryly. "So what do you say?"

Tiffany smiled at them and slowly nodded. "T-that would be wonderful. When's good for you?"

"How about now?" Carmen offered.

"Now? O-oh. Well, no time like the present, right?" The young journalist beamed, opening the door to her room. "Let me get my notebook and we can head on over to the studio."

"Peachy." Dylan then waved to her gaping roommate. "Hi, I'm Dylan. By the way, do you girls want some chocolate chip pancakes? I brought a couple…" Carmen coughed into her hand. "dozen." He finished lamely.

"This is an outrage! It's totally undermining the student government's authority and reputation!" Tricia Manning shrieked, slamming her folder down on the huge walnut table.

Maddie sniffed in disapproval. "Someone seems a little unhinged." She said snootily as the people around her chuckled.

"Quiet!" Dean Buckley ordered, taking a sip of his own coffee. "Everyone calm down and take a seat."

"Dean," Tricia stated, her ears as red as her hair. "This election is turning into a circus. As I said before, sir, you need to put an end to this!"

Dean Buckley nodded his head and pushed his glasses up. Never before in his twenty-two years of teaching, had he encountered a student election as frustrating as this. The two candidates that were in the lead for the presidency were two of the biggest troublemakers that he had ever had the misfortune to meet.

Hence, Tricia Manning had unearthed some obscure passage in the Eden Hall Code that said if the existing Student Council wanted an unfit leading party to be disqualified, they were able to do so after a vote.

"Sir, I assure you that we hold every inclination to seriously run in this election." Carmen Rivera said coolly, crossing her hands on the table.

"Really? How do you explain that interview? That was a joke!" The redhead shot back.

"We redid it!" Dylan protested.

Brett Reynolds scowled at him. "That doesn't even count!"

"What do you know?" The blond sneered.

"You two think this is a big game! Well, some of us are serious about it!" The swimmer growled.

"We just said we're serious about it!"

"You don't know what serious means, Howard!"

"Go back to California, you veggie loving, hippie freak! No offense, Maddie."

"None taken."

"Better than a Midwest country bumpkin!"

"Newsflash, Reynolds! I'm originally from Boston!"

Carmen pursed her lips at the slight, Boston twang that did appear in his speech when he got agitated.

"The Red Sox suck!"

Maddie nodded her head vigorously. "I agree!" She was a Yankees fan til she died.

"You sit tight and shut up!" Dylan snarled, glaring at his best friend.

"Enough!" Dean Buckley thundered. He looked out among the assembled gathering patiently. "Miss Rivera, I don't think you'll argue with me that I'm right in being doubtful of you and Mr. Howard's commitment to this position. I must say, I'm inclined to agree with Miss Manning on this issue."

She breathed deeply. "Sir, I admit, this was an unexpected development on our part as well. And yes, we weren't serious about this election…at the start. However, both of us have come to realize that it does, in fact, matter to us and that we intend on following through with this to the best of our ability."

She then turned to address the rest of the Student Council. "All of you have worked with me at some point during your time here. Me nor my running mate is trying to demean the establishment. I've personally worked too hard to make this Council what it is today. Please believe me." She pleaded softly. She wasn't too proud to beg for Nick.

"Bullshit." Tricia's nostrils flared. "This is just another way for you to get in control of the school again. Dean Buckley, I demand that there be action taken!"

"Very well then." The Dean murmured, throwing an apologetic glance to Carmen and Dylan. "All those in favor of letting Miss Rivera and Mr. Howard run in the election?"

Seven people raised their hands.

"Those against?"

Seven people raised their hands.

Dean Buckley raised an eyebrow and looked at his current Upperclassmen President. "Mr. Landon. I believe you will be the tie-breaker."

The blond haired boy looked up from where he had been sitting quietly the whole meeting. Carmen thought he looked rather tired and ill. He turned to look at the Dean. "I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Your vote will shift the tide, young man."

Dylan buried his head in his hands. There was no hope. Landon hated them.

Josh looked around at the Student Council and barely acknowledged Tricia's steely gaze. Instead, they locked on a pair of golden eyes. He stared at her, as months of tension passed between them. Carmen then dropped her gaze and stared at her trembling hands in defeat.

He set his jaw and turned to the Dean. "Sir, as much as I don't want to say this…this school reached a new height of efficiency under Howard and Rivera. I'm afraid I am in…favor of letting them run."

Carmen's head shot up and she stared at him, her eyes glistening with an unknown emotion. "Thank you." She mouthed to him. He nodded to her once. Just once.

But she understood.

Three days later, Carmen Rivera and Dylan Howard were announced to be the new President and Vice-President of the Upperclassmen of 2007-2008.

Charlie Conway walked around, grinning like a Cheshire cat, for the rest of the week.

Tricia Manning was noticeably absent as she had locked herself in her room.

"Looks like trouble in paradise." Ken whistled, jerking his head to the left.

Slamming her locker shut, Carmen looked over to where he had indicated.

Emily Parker and Josh Landon were in the midst of having a full-on argument in the middle of the hallway. So busy shouting at each other, they neglected to see the crowd that had formed. Needless to say, people loved a scene.

"You're overreacting!"

Emily tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder angrily. "I am not! Nice to know where you really stand in our relationship!"

"Em, I hate to say it but they're a lot more competent than Tricia or Reynolds! They're a better choice for this school!"

"Whatever!" Emily cried before glaring at him. "You know, forget this. I'm so sick of you! We're done."

Josh grabbed her arm angrily. "What do you mean we're done?"

She sneered up at him. "I mean we're done! Looks like you've lost yourself a girlfriend and a prom date! Oh wait…." She paused and cocked her head innocently. "Prom's this Saturday, isn't it? Boo. Well, I hear Caitlin still doesn't have a date. Maybe you could go with her." Emily jerked her head towards a rather overweight, pimply girl who immediately reddened with embarrassment.

"You can't do this." Josh muttered quietly, aware of the public setting they were in.

"I just did. Have a nice life, Landon." Emily said mockingly as she turned on her heel and walked away.

"He must feel terrible." Carmen and Ken turned to see Adam staring at the president with compassionate eyes. "God only knows I did. I'll see you guys later." And with one last look of pity towards his fellow ex, Adam walked away.

"That girl really is a bitch and a half." Ken muttered. "She's just ruined his prom. That's just low, man. That's just low."

Carmen nodded as she saw the blond boy stalk through the crowd, his head held high nonetheless. "Yes, it is."

Guy stared at his roommate. "Dude…"

"Guy, this sucks!" Dylan whined. "I've been so good. I agreed to be in that stupid election! I've done all my homework! I pulled off straight As! My SATs scores are near perfect! I haven't gotten a girl pregnant! I've got a kick like Ronaldinho and yet I haven't had any chocolate chip pancakes worth eating!"

"Why don't you just make your own then?" His roommate asked, putting his feet up on the coffee table. He immediately dropped them when he saw Julie's warning look. The girls were extremely adamant when it came to their furniture.

The soccer player just moaned into his hands. Maddie patted him comfortingly before turning to Guy. "Dylan doesn't do cooking. Like really. He can't even do macaroni and cheese. Come to think of it…he could probably burn water." She said thoughtfully.

"I just don't get it. We have two hundred fifty kids in each grade. That means we have a thousand kids in our school! Someone is bound to be able to make chocolate chip pancakes! Good ones!" Dylan complained grumpily. "I've been working harder than a whore during prime time here and it was all everybody else's bitch work. I'm just asking for a chocolate chip pancake! An unbelievable, chocolate-y, mouth watering, bit of fluffy goodness!"

"Jesus Christ!" Connie suddenly stalked out of her bedroom, her white sundress swirling around her bare legs. "Honestly, Dylan, do you even realize how spoiled you are?" She snapped, pulling on a pair of flats.

He blinked at her before nodding affirmatively. "Yeah. I do."

Pulling on a cardigan, she rolled her eyes and grabbed her car keys. "Why do I even bother? Come on. Get up."

"Where're we going?" The blond asked plaintively as Maddie gave him a slight push in the petite girl's direction.

"Just shut up and move." Connie's eyes flashed as she held the door open for him. Obediently, he followed her out.

"So what kind of plans are these exactly?" Russ asked suspiciously.

"Just a little bit of this and that." Charlie answered evasively. "Hit me."

"And Charlie busts with twenty-two." Ken answered, flipping the card over.

"This is a stupid game. Why couldn't we play poker?" The Captain scowled.

"Because blackjack is so much more interesting." Goldberg said, shuffling all the cards in.

Just then, Carmen created a small diversion by coming out of her room in a scandalously cut dress of teal green satin. She fumbled through her clutch, completely oblivious to the confused looks she was receiving from her boys.

Ken raised an eyebrow at the low cut dress. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Hmmm?" She finally looked up. "Oh. Prom."

"Prom." Russ repeated slowly, feeling as if he had misheard. Prom and Carmen Rivera did not go together in the same sentence.

"Mmhmm." She nodded, giving them a brilliant smile. "Good night, gentlemen."

The boys stared at her in shock as she sailed out the door, only leaving the slight scent of her perfume behind.

"Well, I've found a way to shut him up." Connie muttered into her phone as she expertly flipped another pancake. She then turned to look over at her house's dining table where a messy haired blond was currently devouring his second plate of chocolate chip pancakes.

"I figure I'll give him a few more rounds and then bring him back to the dorms." Connie smiled, wiping her hands on her apron. "Alright, Aves. Love you too. Bye." She clicked her phone off as her father walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Dad."

Her father smiled at her before gesturing to the soccer player. "That boy has a one track mind, doesn't he?"

"He just really likes chocolate chip pancakes."

"Well, your flapjacks are amazing." He chuckled, rinsing his coffee mug.

"Thanks." She said, flipping another one. "Do you want any, Dad?"

"No, I'm good, sweetheart. I think I'm going to bed." Her father bent to give her a kiss. "Come visit more often, bumblebee. It's only a ten minute drive."

She gave him a sad smile, her heart giving a painful thud at her childhood nickname. "I would if the house wasn't empty every time I came."

Chris Moreau sighed, staring at his only daughter. She looked more and more like her mother by the day. "Bumblebee…"

"It's getting late, dad and I know you have an early meeting tomorrow. I'll try to come for Sunday dinner." She hastily said, sliding a new pancake onto a stack.

Her father bit his lip. "Actually, I'm going to be in Montreal. I have a business-"

"Don't worry about it." Connie interrupted, smiling brightly. "Give me a call when you're back." She reached up to give him a kiss on his cheek.

The man nodded quietly. "I will. Good night."

"Good night." She smiled at him, even though she felt as if her heart was breaking in a million pieces. Taking a deep breath, she picked up another plate of pancakes and brought them to the dining room table.

Dylan's eyes lit up as he saw her come in. "Connie. You probably make the best pancakes known to mankind." He marveled as she set down the plate in front of him. Happily, he speared another forkful. "You're totally my favorite person in the whole wide world, Cons." He mumbled through a mouthful.

She laughed and ruffled his hair fondly. He was in such high spirits of chocolate-y wonder, that he let her. As long as she kept the pancakes coming, she could do whatever she wanted.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Josh Landon scowled, as he jerked open the door. "What the fuck do you – Rivera?"

"Landon." The blonde nodded at him, raising an eyebrow at him critically. "Why aren't you dressed?"

He stared at her, his mouth hanging open as he took in her tight dress of teal green satin. While the bottom covered her legs to her kneecaps, it hugged every curve on the way down. And as for the top…well, she was fairly bursting out of it. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"I'm your prom date, Landon." She answered calmly, tucking a golden strand of hair behind her pearl studded ear. They appeared to be a match to the thick braid of pearls around her neck.

The immature and petty part of him sprang forward. "I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity, Landon. It's appearances. It wouldn't do for the class president to show up at his own prom without a date. And it definitely wouldn't do if the class president didn't show up at his prom at all." She smiled at him kindly. "Now go on. Get dressed."

Josh stared at her before he felt the corner of his lip tilt upward.

Maddie sighed and finished taping one box shut. She pushed it over to the other boxes that were to be taken into Connie's garage for storage and turned to survey the rest of her belongings. She was officially done with her junior year as she had taken her last exam that afternoon.

Because the Pavlova program was so intensive, it ran starting from the beginning of June. Which meant that Maddie's school year was to be cut short a week or so early.

She was leaving on Monday morning for New York, where she'd barely have four days to stay with her family before climbing on a plane to St. Petersburg, Russia. Never mind the fact that she didn't speak a word of Russian or the fact that she didn't know a soul in the huge country. At least she could dance her feet off.

Maddie took a deep breath as she started to pack another box. Well, one must make sacrifices, right? She halfheartedly reached for a textbook when someone else picked it up and handed it to her.

Adam's kind blue eyes glimmered down at her. "Need some help?"

"Yeah. That'd be great." She smiled at him, taking the offered textbook.

Quietly, the two began to box up her things, knowing that they were closing yet another chapter in her life.

"What I don't get is how you've managed to never have a boyfriend through all this time."

Carmen shrugged. "It wasn't important."

"But you're sixteen…seventeen? You're seventeen and you've never had a relationship with a guy."

The girl sighed irritably. "Yes, Landon. We've established that."

Josh shook his head. "My god. Next thing you know you'll be telling me you've never kissed one as well…" He then turned to look at her. She stared at him confusedly. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Well, you never know where that mouth has been." Carmen stated defensively. "And I'll get around to it one of these days. I just haven't had the time so far. I'm a busy person." She continued up the steps to her dorm huffily.

The boy followed her, holding up his hands in disbelief. "What were you doing that took up so much of your time?"

She turned to glare at him. "You know…getting criminals posing as teachers arrested, rescuing dogs from the pound, finding replacement hockey coaches in the middle of the season, saving orphans, trying not to fail Health Education, that sort of thing."

"Okay, okay. I get it." Josh blinked and opened the door for her. The two continued to talk as he walked her back to her suite. Who would've thought he'd actually have a good time with Rivera of all people? Who would've thought he'd actually go to prom with Rivera?

He had to hand it to her. She was a genuinely good person. She stuck by his side throughout the event, smiling graciously to people and being the smooth, collected person she was. Even when they ran into Emily – he couldn't believe the nerve of her to come to his prom with another guy – Carmen merely raised an eyebrow and walked away.

Not only that but she was bloody gorgeous. Jaws had dropped when he had walked in with her in all her stunning glory, on his arm. Josh shook his head.

He really did owe her. For saving his reputation more than anything else.

She stopped in front of her door. "Well…surprisingly, I had a good time." She said wryly.

"Thanks. Me too." Josh smiled at her. "Really…thank you. For tonight. You didn't have to come." He held out his hand.

She reached out and shook it. "I think I did." She then smiled at him kindly. "Good luck, Landon. Emory's gaining a good man."

"Thanks. I'll see you around." With a wink, the boy turned to leave.

Carmen allowed herself a small smile before opening her clutch to retrieve her key. Before she was able to do so, however, she was stopped by a warm hand on her arm. Turning around, she saw Josh staring at her hesitantly.

"I-oh hell." He then slowly leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. Pulling back after a few seconds, he smiled at her. "Good luck, Carmen."

She just stared at him as he disappeared through the staircase, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

The door opened and Charlie leaned against the door frame as he munched on an apple. "Want me to go beat him up? I will if you want me to." He asked thickly through a mouthful.

Dazedly, Carmen turned to look at him. She then smiled at him fondly. "No. It's okay. He took care of something for me."

Charlie swallowed and shrugged, his eyes clearly showing his distrust of the boy. "If you say so. Come on. It's been a long night."

Still smiling, Carmen allowed him to wrap an arm around her bare shoulders and lead her into her noisy suite, where most of the floor seemed to have gathered.

Julie turned at the sound of a honk and smiled. "Hey, you."

Dylan grinned at her, his aviators reflecting the sunlight. "You leaving?"

She nodded, shading her eyes from the sun. "Banks is driving me and Luis to the airport. They're bringing the rest of my stuff down. What about you? You're going home?" She asked, nodding her head towards all the boxes that filled the BMW.

"Yeah, just finished my last final an hour ago. Mom wants me home, she's making dinner."

"I feel you." The goalie laughed. "I'll miss you."

He snorted. "Don't get all sentimental on me, Jules. I'll be seeing you in a month."

She scowled at him before her eyes widened. "Hold on a sec." Rushing over to Adam's Range Rover, she fumbled through one of her suitcases before pulling out something. She walked back to Dylan and handed it to him. "Here. I want you to have this."

He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's a journal." Julie rolled her eyes as the boy continued to stare at the mahogany leather book in consternation. "I think it'll be good for you. You keep too many feelings inside. Write them down. It'll clear your mind. It may even improve your game."

"My game doesn't need improving." He protested. "Especially not with your Zen bullshit."

"Hush." The goalie grinned nonetheless. "Just do it. For me."

"Whatever, Jules. Anyhow, thanks." The blond tossed the journal into a box and turned to look at her. "Now come here and give me a kiss." Laughing, Julie bent to do that.

She straightened and stepped back. "I expect a drunk dial in the near future. Preferably with all my Minnesota boys together."

Dylan shot her a heart stopping grin. "Of course, Jules. You wouldn't get anything less. After all, that's the way we roll."

AHHHHHH! FINALE!

This is 81 pages of pure madness.

The Way We Roll is done but never fear, my dears!

A one-shot, maybe two-shot is coming up. I'm planning it to be Dylan's diary as he and the Ducks participate in the Goodwill Games.

Then be on the lookout for Their Legacy which is going to be their senior year.

Put me on Author Alert if you don't want to miss anything!

Thank you, guys, so much for sticking with me! I hope you continue to read and review!

Oh and have a great HOLIDAY SEASON! May peace be with you all!

Alcoholz: Hahaha, your name made me giggle. What can I say, I'm a college student, I think everything is about alcohol. Thanks for reading and reviewing, sweets!

lkwREADer: Adam is a sexy beast, we all know, haha. Don't worry, I promise to continue to write my epic saga until the finish. You're totally going to kill me for this but I'm not going to lie…as appealing as a topless Adam is, I'm more attracted to the idea of Jake Riley. Tall, dark and handsome…and a complete asshole. I'm such a girl. Thanks for the review, my dear!

Megan: Oh, thanks, sweetie. Don't worry…Portman/Julie isn't resolved for now…but it will be very shortly. I promise! Thanks for the review!

Jas120: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you love it!

Cat: Aww. I'm your first shout out? Okay, that was kind of a "that's what she said" moment but anyway! Thank you so much for reviewing!

Sphinx005: Ahhh! It's not even freezing here in the States! It doesn't feel like the Christmas season because of that. But anyway, your reviews always make me happy cause they're so nice and fat and bursting with juicy goodness. Hahaha love you, girlie!

Joanna: Who doesn't love a fussy Adam? And outrageous Dylan is enough to make anyone's heart melt. Thanks for the review, sweetums!

Jess: Seriously, I just can't write unless I sit down and do it! Haha, this was actually two days of me skiving off work and papers. The muse had invaded my brain and wouldn't let me concentrate on women's rights until I had finished this! Thank you so much for the review, darling!

Truth-behind-your-lies: No, I don't watch One Tree Hill but I think I saw the trailer for that episode…which is probably why it subconsciously got stuck in my mind. But anyway, thank you so much for the review!

Lyndal: Looks like Sydney's going to be a bona fide party. As for shopping…I have a feeling that Dylan's going to be doing a lot of that. Haha, thanks for the review, hun!

LoudandQuiet: Stealing sweaters from the guys is always good. They should expect it, you know? Well…Carmen and Dylan are now on speaking terms at least. And Maddie and Adam? Senior year will bring lots of dramaaaaaa. Wink. Thanks for the review, sweets.

Spunky-hyper-girl: Oh thanks so much for your praise! I'm actually really proud of creating Nick. He's a cutie, for real. And Carmen and Dylan seem to be coexisting, don't they? Who knows….thanks for your review!

Taryn Sparrow: Dwayne and Allie are kind of busy at the moment…but I put in a scene just for you! I'm not going to lie, it's getting harder and harder to juggle all my plotlines! But at least most of my characters only make an appearance for one or two updates and are gone by the next! Thanks for the review, sweets!

Flyinghawk: The fact that you have just compared me to Punkteacher has just set my heart all aflutter. Thank you so much for your praise. I've been really worried about the personalities of my OCs and have tried to make them as real as possible. Thanks so much!

The Crane of Fire: Did someone ask for some Kenny expansion? There you go. Thank you so much for your review and I hope I was able to satisfy your request!

GT Spuddie: Hey, you! Thanks for taking those three hours to read my story…it's people like you who make my world go round. I know I've been awful about posting but I've been swamped with schoolwork. If it's any consolation, I totally ditched my weekend plans to write this, only pausing to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. Okay, you probably didn't need to know that but anyway, thank you so much for your review!

IaMaSlYtHeRiN: Oh thanks, sugar plum! I hope that bit of Adam/Emily resolution was okay for you!